Peter Tremayne - The Seventh Trumpet

‘Is it true?’ he finally asked. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

She spread her arms as if in surrender. ‘I cannot be blamed for who my mother was,’ she replied. ‘In truth, I had little knowledge of her except her name. She left when I was a baby.’

‘Did your father ever divorce Étain?’ pressed Colgú.

‘As your sister says, I was brought up by his dormun , my father’s concubine,’ the girl said defensively. ‘For many years I even thought she was my blood mother.’

‘But Étain had been married before she married your father, hadn’t she?’ Fidelma pointed out.

The girl nodded. ‘It was only a few days ago that I was told that my real mother had originally married a noble of the Déisi Muman, by whom she had two sons. When he died, my mother married Drón. Then, when she deserted my father, she left me behind and I understood she returned to the Déisi fortress at An Dún where she raised her sons. She never acknowledged me.’

‘When did you last see your mother?’ Colgú asked.

‘I saw her once some years ago when she passed through Osraige on her way to Gleann an Ghuail.’

‘You had not heard that she was condemned to incarceration in the Glen of Lunatics earlier this year after she had murdered one of her sons?’

‘I did not.’ Fidelma found there was little to learn from the fixed expression on the girl’s features.

‘You did not know that she had escaped and was leading a band of rebels in the west?’

‘As I did not know she was there in the first place, then I could not have known that she had escaped,’ replied Dúnliath flatly.

‘You did not know that she had been brought here, to Durlus, as a prisoner this very day?’

‘I did not.’

‘This is all hard to believe,’ sighed Colgú, having exhausted himself with his rapid questioning.

The girl’s chin came up defiantly. ‘I can only tell you the truth.’

Colgú suddenly remembered what Fidelma had said first of all. ‘You say that Étain is dead?’ he asked his sister. ‘How? Did she refuse to surrender?’

‘She was murdered.’

The King’s eyes widened a little. ‘Murdered? I don’t understand. She escaped from her confinement and …?’

‘She did not escape: she was released. I suspect that whoever released her tried to persuade her to come here and murder you. They failed because Étain had become hopelessly deranged. She was impossible to control and more of a hindrance than a help to the conspirator, and so they had no choice but to kill her. I will speculate, although it is not in my nature to do so, that they hoped that her body would remain undiscovered until they could come to your chamber and kill you.’

All eyes had turned on to Dúnliath. The girl was trembling.

‘It is not so. I did not … it is all a fabrication!’

Eadulf spoke quietly. ‘You will be interested to know that when we found your mother, she was not quite dead. She said two words before she expired.’

‘She identified her killer?’ Colgú asked.

Eadulf regarded Dúnliath sadly. ‘Your mother had two sons by her first marriage. That we know. How many daughters did she have?’

‘As far as I know, I was her only daughter,’ the girl replied, puzzled.

‘The two words that she spoke were — my daughter .’

Dúnliath staggered and would have fallen, had not Colgú caught her and lowered her to a chair.

‘Get water quickly,’ he ordered as he tried to massage her hands.

Eadulf handed him a goblet from the side table, but Fidelma suddenly struck it from his hand. She smiled apologetically.

‘Let us take all precautions,’ she advised and then asked Gorman to go for fresh water.

The girl was moaning and coming back to consciousness by the time Gorman returned.

‘Are you charging her with being part of this conspiracy, Fidelma?’ asked Colgú in a hollow tone.

To everyone’s surprise she replied, ‘Not yet. It is late now. I suggest that we ask Áedo, as Chief Brehon of Muman, and Brocc, as Gelgéis’s Brehon, to convene a court in the Great Hall tomorrow so that they may judge my explanation of these events.’

‘Very well,’ Colgú agreed, almost in relief.

‘Tonight, my brother,’ Fidelma said softly, ‘you must heed my advice and be very well-guarded.’

The morning heralded a bright, crisp and clear early-autumn day. There were no clouds in the azure sky but the sun was weak and high and there was a chill in the air. That morning, the news arrived that Fidelma had been waiting for. It came in the persons of Enda and Tormeid. Spealáin conducted them directly to Gelgéis’s personal reception chamber where she and Colgú were breaking their fast with Fidelma and Eadulf. It was clear both newly arrived warriors were excited.

‘Well, it seems that you have good news for us,’ Fidelma observed as she welcomed them.

‘Good news, indeed, lady,’ Enda confirmed with a smile. ‘Cronán is dead and Spillán is among the prisoners, and all the Uí Duach that were forced to serve Cronán have been released.’

‘Including Ségnat?’ Fidelma asked immediately, and then relaxed with a smile at Tormeid’s affirmative.

‘Were there many casualties?’ Colgú asked after the murmurs of satisfaction subsided.

‘Very few, considering. A company of us entered the fortress-’ began Tormeid.

Enda interrupted immediately. ‘We followed Tormeid’s plan. We were to sneak into the fortress through the underground tunnels and then open the gates for Dego’s men.’

‘I merely showed the way through the tunnel that led into the bowels of the fortress,’ Tormeid said modestly.

Enda interrupted again: ‘No — Tormeid commanded us. We were joined by some of those Uí Duach whom Cronán had kept as daer-fuidir . We surprised the defenders. They were watching from the walls, observing Dego’s main force, who had lit fires and taken up positions to act as a distraction while they waited for our signal. We came up into the courtyard and a group, led by Tormeid here, fought their way to the gates and opened them. Then Dego and his men rushed in.’

Tormeid was looking embarrassed. ‘It was almost too easy,’ he said. ‘Surprise was on our side.’

‘Tormeid came upon Cronán and bested him in a single combat,’ added Enda.

‘I gave him the opportunity to surrender, but when he saw all was lost he ran on my sword and even with his dying strength tried to take me with him to the Otherworld. I would have liked to have captured him alive,’ Tormeid added ruefully. ‘As soon as they saw that their leader was dead, the others began to lay down their arms. Sillán among them preferred surrender to death. Once he surrendered, the fortress was ours.’

Colgú rose smiling and held out his hand to Tormeid. ‘Then this was well done, my friend. You have saved the lives of many of my warriors and, I hope, have restored peace to this kingdom.’

‘There are other matters to be resolved before peace can be declared,’ Gelgéis reminded them.

‘Oh … you mean the Laigin army gathered on our border?’ Colgú asked.

‘I do not think that we need fear them,’ Fidelma pointed out. ‘As I said before, I doubt they will attack now that both Étain and Cronán have been defeated. Laigin has no excuse to invade us now. But Gelgéis is right: there are other matters to be resolved.’

‘We know that Étain was in league with Cronán to create disturbances in this kingdom and that the King of Laigin was awaiting his chance to interfere. What more do we need to know?’ demanded Colgú.

Fidelma knew that Colgú was not usually so obtuse. She guessed that he was trying to protect Dúnliath. It had been a shock for him to learn that she was actually the daughter of Étain of An Dún.