Hemlock at Vespers sf-9

by Peter Tremayne

  Sister Fidelma felt no urge to reply to the young man’s brusque manner.

  She let her restless green eyes travel over his features, which gathered into a frown at her lack of response. She paused a moment and then moved her gaze to the muscular warrior at his side, before allowing her eyes to move to the clearly nervous Sister Ethne. Fidelma’s raised eyebrows asked a question.

  “This is Tírechán, Tanist of the Uí Failgi.” Sister Ethne’s voice was breathless.

  The Tanist was the heir-elect to the kingship or chieftaincy; an heir was elected during the reign of a king or clan chieftain which prevented any successional squabbles after his death or abdication.

  Sister Fidelma moved back to her chair and sat down, motioning Tírechán to be seated on the opposite side of the table to her.

  The young prince’s face showed his astonishment at her behavior. Angry blood tinged his cheeks.

  “I am Sister Fidelma,” she announced, quietly, before he spoke, for she saw the words forming to burst from his lips. “I am a dálaigh of the Brehon Court, qualified to the level of Anruth.”

  Tírechán swallowed the words that had gathered on his lips and a look of understanding, mingled with respect, spread over his features. A dálaigh, an advocate of the Brehon Court, especially one qualified to the level of Anruth, could meet and be accorded equality with any provincial king or chieftain and could even speak at ease before the High King himself. An Anruth was only one degree below the highest professorship of Ollamh whose words even a High King would have to obey. He regarded Sister Fidelma with a slightly awed air of surprise at her attractive youth-fulness for one who held such authority. Then he moved forward and seated himself before her.

  “I apologize, Sister. No one had informed me of your rank, only that you were investigating the death of Sillán.”

  Sister Fidelma decided to ignore the apology. The Tanist’s bodyguard now drew the door shut and stood before it, arms folded. Sister Ethne, a worried expression still on her features, realizing that she had neglected to introduce Sister Fidelma in proper form, still stood where she had halted, her lips compressed.

  “I presume that you knew the man Sillán?”

  “I knew of him,” corrected the Tanist of the Uí Failgi.

  “You came here to meet him?”

  “I did.”

  “For what purpose?”

  The Tanist hesitated and dropped his eyes.

  “On the business of my chieftain, the Uí Failgi.”

  “The man is dead. Poisoned. Perhaps it might help in this inquiry if you were more specific.”

  Tírechán exhaled in annoyance.

  “Very well. The man Sillán was commissioned to come to this district by the Uí Failgi…”

  Sister Fidelma smiled thinly as the man hesitated again. He obviously had difficulty speaking of the private business of his chieftain.

  “Perhaps I can help?” Fidelma encouraged, as the thought suddenly took shape in her mind. Indeed, the logic of the idea was unquestionable. “Sillán was from Kilmantan whose hills are full of gold mines, for do we not speak of that area as Kilmantan of the gold? Sillán was a bruithneóir, a qualified artificer. Why would the king of Ráith Imgain ask such a man to come to Kildare?”

  The Tanist stirred uncomfortably beneath her amused but penetrating gaze. Then he responded with almost surly defiance.

  “I take it that what I say shall be treated in confidence?”

  Sister Fidelma showed her annoyance at such a impudent question.

  “I am a dálaigh of the Brehon Court.” She spoke quietly. The rebuke needed no further embellishment.

  The cheeks of the young prince reddened. But he spoke again as though he had need to defend something.

  “Since the twenty-sixth High King of Milesian descent, the noble Tigernmas, first had gold dug and smelted in Ireland, gold has been searched for throughout the country. From Derry and Antrim in the north, south to the mountains of Kilmantan and the shores of Carman, gold mines have been worked. Yet our need for gold to enhance our courts and to increase our trade is not diminished. We look for new mines.”

  “So the Uí Failgi asked Sillán to come to Kildare to search for gold?” Fidelma interpreted.

  “The production of gold has not kept pace with the demand, Sister Fidelma. We have to import it from Iberia and other far off places. Our need is keen. Are not the Eóganacht of Glendamnách at war with the Uí Fidgente over possession of the gold mines of Cuillen in the land of holly trees?”

  “But why would the Uí Failgi think that there was gold at Kil-dare?” demanded Sister Fidelma abruptly.

  “Because an aged man recalled that once the lands of Kildare held such a mine, knowledge of which has long passed from the minds of men. Seizing on this old man’s recollection, the Uí Failgi sought out Sillán whose fame for seeking the veins of gold was legend among the mountain people of Kilmantan. He asked Sillán to come to Kildare and seek out this lost mine.”

  “And did he find it?”

  An angry spasm passed the face of the Tanist.

  “That is what I came to discover. Now I am told that Sillán is dead. Dead from poison. How came this to be?”

  Sister Fidelma wrinkled her nose.

  “That is what my investigation shall discover, Tanist of the Uí Failgi.”

  She sat back in her chair and gazed meditatively at the young chieftain.

  “Who knows of Sillán’s mission here?”

  “It was known only to Sillán; to the Uí Failgi; to myself as Tanist and to our chief Ollamh. No one else knew. A knowledge of the whereabouts of gold does harm to the minds of men and drives them mad. It was better not to tempt them by spreading such knowledge abroad.”

  Fidelma nodded absently in agreement.

  “So if gold had been discovered, it would have been of benefit to the Uí Failgi?”

  “And to his people. It would bring prestige and prosperity to our trade with other kingdoms.”

  “Sillán came from the territory of the Uí Máil, might he not have spoken of this enterprise to his own chieftain?”

  “He was paid well enough,” frowned the Tanist of the Uí Failgi, his features showing that the thought had already occurred to him.

  “But if the Uí Máil, or even the Uí Faeláin to the northeast, knew that there was gold in Kildare, surely this might lead to territorial dispute and warfare for possession of the gold? As you correctly state, there is a war between the Uí Fidgente and Eóganacht of Glendamnách over the mines of Cuillin.”

  The Tanist sighed impatiently.

  “Kildare is in the territory of the Uí Failgi. If the neighboring chieftains invaded Kildare then the wrong would be theirs and our duty to prevent them.”

  “But that is not what I asked. Might this discovery not lead to enmity and warfare?”

  “That was why the mission was so secret; why none but Sillán was to know the reason for his being in Kildare.”

  “Now Sillán is dead,” mused Sister Fidelma. “Did you know he was leaving here to return to Ráith Imgain tomorrow?”

  The Tanist’s face showed his surprise. Then a new look replaced the expression, one of scarcely concealed excitement.

  “Which means that he must have found the gold mine!”

  Sister Fidelma smiled a little as she sought to follow his reasoning.

  “How do you arrive at that conclusion, Tírechán?”

  “Because he had only been here eight days and no other reason would cause Sillán to return to the Uí Failgi other than to report his success.”

  “That is a broad assumption. Perhaps he was returning because he realized that this search for a legendary gold mine in Kildare was a hopeless task.”

  The Tanist ignored her observation.

  “Are you sure that he was leaving Kildare tomorrow?”

  “He told our timthirig, Follaman, that he would be leaving,” Fidelma assured him.

  The Tanist snapped his fingers, his face agitated.


  “No, no. The mine must have been found. Sillán would not have given up the search so soon. But where, where did he find it? Where is the mine?”

  Sister Fidelma shook her head slowly.

  “The more important question to be resolved is how Sillán came by his death.”

  “By the grace of God, Sister Fidelma, that is not my task,” the young man replied in a thankful tone. “But my chieftain, the Uí Failgi, will need to know the location of the gold mine which Sillán must have discovered.”

  She rose, inviting the Tanist to do so.

  “You and your men are doubtless staying the night at our tech-óired. I suggest, Tírechán, that you now go and cleanse the dust of travel from yourself. I will keep you informed of anything that you should know.”

  Reluctantly, the Tanist rose and motioned to his bodyguard to open the door of the tech-screpta. On the threshold he turned hesitantly as if he would press her further.

  “Benedictus benedicat,” Sister Fidelma dismissed him firmly. He sighed, grimaced and withdrew.

  When he had gone, she resumed her seat and spread her hands, palms downward, on the table. For a moment or so she was completely wrapped in her thoughts, forgetting the presence of Sister Ethne. Finally, the bean-tigh’s rasping cough, as the steward tried to attract her attention, stirred her from her contemplations.

  “Is that all now, Sister?” asked the bean-tigh hopefully.

  Sister Fidelma rose again with a shake of her head.

  “Far from it, Sister Ethne. I should now like to see Sillán’s chamber in the tech-óired. Bring one of the lamps.”

  The chamber in the tech-óired, or guest’s hostel, was not dissimilar to the cells occupied by the members of the community. It was a small, dark, grey stone room with a tiny slit of a window over which hung a heavy woven cloth to keep out the chill night air. A small cot of pine wood, with a straw palliasse and blankets, stood in one corner. A stool and a table were the only other furnishings. On the table stood a single candle. The hostel was provided with only poor lights. The candle was simply a single rush peeled and soaked in animal grease. It gave scant light and burned down very quickly which was why Fidelma had the foresight to bring one of the oil lamps with her.

  Sister Fidelma paused on the threshold of the room and examined it very carefully as Sister Ethne set down the lamp on the table.

  Sillán had apparently already packed for his journey, for a heavy satchel was dumped on the foot of the bed. It was placed next to a smaller work-bag of leather.

  Sister Fidelma crossed to the bed and picked up the leather work-bag. It was heavy. She peered inside and saw a collection of tools which, she supposed, were the tools of Sillán’s profession. She laid the bag aside and peered into the satchel. These were Sillán’s personal effects.

  Finally, she turned to Sister Ethne.

  “I will not be long here. Would you go to the Mother Abbess and tell her that I would like to see her in her chamber within the hour? And I would like to see her alone.”

  Sister Ethne sniffed, opened her mouth to speak, thought better of it, bobbed her head and left the room.

  Fidelma turned back to the satchel of personal belongings and took them out one by one, examining them minutely. When she had done so, she explored the interior of the satchel with her fingertips, raising the lamp in one hand and examining the dust on the tips of her fingers with a frown.

  She then repeated her careful examination with the tools and implements in Sillán’s work-bag. Once again she ran her hand over the dust in the bottom of the bag and examined it carefully in the light.

  Only after a careful examination did she replace everything as she had found it.

  Then she lowered herself to her knees and began a microscopic examination of the floor, slowly, inch by inch.

  It was when she was peering under the wooden cot that what seemed a small lump of rock came in contact with her hand. Her fingers closed around it and she scrambled backward into the room and held it up to the light of the lamp.

  At first sight it seemed, indeed, just a piece of rough-hewn rock. Then she rubbed it on the stone flagged floor and held it once again to the light.

  Part of it, where she had abraded it, gleamed a bright yellow.

  A satisfied smile spread over her features.

  Abbess Ita sat upright in her chair, her calm, composed features just a little too set to be an entirely natural expression. It was as if she had not stirred from the chair since last Fidelma had seen her. Abbess Ita regarded Sister Fidelma with her amber eyes wary as a pine-marten might watch a circling hawk.

  “You may be seated, Sister,” the Abbess said. It was an unusual invitation, one showing deference to Sister Fidelma’s legal status rather than her religious one.

  “Thank you, Mother Abbess,” Fidelma replied, as she lowered herself into a chair facing Abbess Ita.

  “The hour grows late. How does your inquiry progress?”

  Sister Fidelma smiled gently.

  “It draws towards its conclusion,” she answered. “But I am in need of further information.”

  Abbess Ita gestured with one hand, a motion from the wrist only, as if in invitation.

  “When Sillán came to see you this afternoon, what was said which caused him anger?”

  Abbess Ita blinked; the only reaction which expressed her surprise at the directness of the question.

  “Did he come to see me?” she asked slowly, parrying as if playing for time.

  Sister Fidelma nodded firmly.

  “He did, as you know.”

  Abbess Ita let out a long sigh.

  “It would be foolish to attempt to conceal the truth from you. I have known you too long, Fidelma. It always surprised me that you chose the life of a religieuse rather than pursue a more worldly existence. You have a perception and a reasoning that is not given to everyone.”

  Sister Fidelma ignored the praise. She waited quietly for the Abbess to reply to her question.

  “Sillán came to apprise me of certain things which he had discovered …”

  “He had discovered the lost gold mine of Kildare.”

  This time Abbess Ita could not conceal the faint ripple of muscle as she sought to control the astonishment on her face. She struggled to compose herself for some moments and then her lips became thin in an almost bitter smile.

  “Yes. I suppose that you learnt this much from the Tanist of the Uí Failgi, whom I am told has just arrived seeking hospitality here. You doubtless know that Sillán was a man skilled in the profession of mining; that he had been sent here by the Uí Failgi to find an ancient gold mine and explore its potential.”

  “I do. But his mission was a secret known only to Sillán, the Uí Failgi and his Tanist, Tírechán. How did you come to learn about it?”

  “Sillán himself came to tell me about it this very afternoon.”

  “Not before?”

  “Not before,” agreed the Abbess with emphasis.

  “Then tell me what transpired.”

  “It was after noon, well after the noon Angelus, that Sillán came to see me. He told me what he was doing in Kildare. In truth, I had suspected it. He had arrived here eight days ago and carried credentials from the Uí Failgi. What could a man from Kilmantan be doing here with approval of the Uí Failgi? Oh, I had heard the ancient legends of the lost gold mine of Kildare. So I had suspected.”

  She paused for a moment.

  “And?” encouraged Sister Fidelma.

  “He came to tell me that he had found it, had found the old gold mine which had been worked centuries ago and had explored some of its passageways. Furthermore, he declared that the gold seams were still in evidence and were still workable. He was leaving Kildare tomorrow to report his find to the Uí Failgi.”

  “Why, then, Mother Abbess, did he break secrecy with the Uí Failgi and tell you this?”

  Abbess Ita grimaced.

  “Sillán of Kilmantan respected our community and wanted to warn us. It was
as simple as that. You see, our abbey lies directly above the mine workings. Once this was known, then there is little doubt that the Uí Failgi would have ordered our eviction from this spot, this blessed spot where the Holy Brigid gathered her disciples and preached under the great oak, founding her community. Even should our community be simply ordered to move a short distance, we would have to give up the holy soil where Brigid and her descendants are buried, their clay mingling with the earth to make it sanctified.”

  Sister Fidelma gazed thoughtfully at the troubled face of the Abbess, listening to the suppressed emotion in her voice.

  “So the only purpose he had in telling you this, Mother Abbess, was to warn the community?”

  “Sillán, in his piety, thought it only fair to warn me what he had discovered. He merely wanted to give our community time to prepare for the inevitable.”

  “Then what angered him?”

  Abbess Ita compressed her lips a moment. When she spoke, her voice was firm and controlled.

  “I tried to reason with him. I asked him to keep the secret of the lost mine. At first I appealed to him by virtue of our common faith, by the memory of the Blessed Brigid, by the faith and future of our community. He refused, politely but firmly, saying he was bound by honor to report his discovery to the Uí Failgi.

  “Then I tried to point out the greater implications. Should news of the gold mine be broadcast, then war might follow as it has done at Cuillin.”

  Sister Fidelma nodded slowly as Abbess Ita confirmed her own thoughts.

  “I am aware of the conflict over the mines at Cuillin, Mother Abbess.”

  “Then you will realize that Kildare, while in the territory of the Uí Failgi, is but a short distance from the territories of the Uí Faeláin to the northeast and the Uí Máil to the southeast with only the desolate plain of the Bog of Aillín to protect us. The word ‘gold’ will cause a fire to be lit in the hearts of chieftains avaricious for the power it will bring. This dear, green spot, now so peaceful and so pleasant, would be stained red with the blood of warriors, and of the people that once lived here in harmony with the green plains and hills of Kildare. Our community of Kildare will be swept away like chaff from the wheat.”