Peter Tremayne - The Council of the Cursed

‘Then let us hope you have not forgotten your duty to your own people,’ he snapped. ‘I understand that you have been many years among the people of that western island. I trust you know where loyalty and duty lie.’

‘My duty to my own people is a duty to truth -where ever that truth might be,’ Eadulf snapped back. ‘And until we obtain some answers from you, Ordgar of Kent, the truth will not be known.’

‘You forget to whom you speak, Brother.’ Brother Benevolentia sounded aghast at Eadulf’s tone.

‘I am well aware that I speak to a witness to a murder. Our purpose here is that we require answers to questions,’ replied Eadulf, unperturbed. ‘Can we now proceed to obtain them? And let us return to speaking in Latin!’

In the angry exchange they had lapsed into Saxon.

Bishop Ordgar opened his mouth to respond but suddenly checked himself. He breathed out slowly and composed his thin autocratic features.

‘Ask your questions then, Eadulf of Seaxmund’s Ham,’ he commanded.

Eadulf glanced at Fidelma, who nodded with amused approval to indicate that the bishop might respond better if Eadulf, not she, continued to put the questions.

‘Describe what happened on the night that Abbot Dabhóc was found in your chamber.’

Bishop Ordgar was dismissive. ‘Since I was drugged, I cannot say.’

‘Tell us, then, what exactly you remember of that night. You remember going to your chamber, I suppose?’ Eadulf could not help the sarcasm in his voice.

‘Of course. After evening prayers in the chapel, I went to see Bishop Leodegar to register a complaint about the behaviour of Cadfan who had been discourteous to me earlier. Then I returned to my chamber. I composed myself for sleep having taken, as was my custom, wine. I came awake feeling ill, with an oppressive headache and unsure of my surroundings. I think I remember someone shaking me and raised voices all round. I become unconscious again, and when I awoke for the second time I was in this chamber with the physician tending me. The headache and nausea lasted for some time. It was only after I recovered that I was told that Abbot Dabhóc had been discovered dead in my chamber, with Abbot Cadfan nearby on the floor. When I was found, I was told that I had been regaining some degree of consciousness on the bed but I cannot be sure. That is all.’

‘It gives rise to several questions,’ Eadulf asserted.

Bishop Ordgar sat back with eyes narrowed. ‘Then ask them,’ he said.

‘Let us start with the wine. You imply it was drugged?’

‘I state it was drugged,’ the man corrected. ‘Nothing but drugged wine would have such an effect on me.’

‘Where did this wine come from?’

‘I don’t understand.’ Bishop Ordgar seemed confused. ‘Do you mean what vineyard supplied it?’

‘Who gave you this wine?’

Brother Benevolentia coughed nervously and stepped forward to say, ‘It was I who placed the wine by the bed of the bishop. I do so every night, since it is his custom to take a drink before retiring. It helps to induce sleep and…and…’

Eadulf saw a look of annoyance form on the bishop’s features as if he felt the steward was revealing flaws in his nature that he would best like to keep hidden.

‘And this wine was bought from where?’ pressed Eadulf.

‘I purchased a small amphora in the local market.’

‘And where was this amphora kept?’

‘In the chamber of the bishop. It was a small amphora of red wine so there was no need to take it to the cooler cellars.’

‘So wine had already been drunk from it before? It was not newly bought wine?’

‘The bishop had been served from the same amphora during the preceding three or four days.’

‘And, that night, you poured the cup with your own hand,’ Eadulf went on.

‘I did.’

‘Where is the amphora now?’

‘It was thrown away as it had been emptied that night.’

‘I suppose the cup was also thrown away?’ Eadulf remarked dryly.

‘It was washed and cleaned the next day,’ replied Brother Benevolentia complacently.

‘So we have only Ordgar’s word that the wine was drugged.’

‘Since when is my word to be doubted?’ Ordgar demanded in a threatening tone.

Eadulf was unabashed. ‘It is not a question of doubt but a question of confirmation. Tell me, if you are used to drinking wine, how did that wine taste that night?’

‘Taste?’ Brother Ordgar frowned. ‘How do you mean-taste?’

‘Was there anything unusual about it?’

‘No.’ Then he suddenly paused. ‘Except…’

‘Yes?’ Eadulf prompted hopefully.

‘I thought there was a sweeter taste than usual to it. But it was not disagreeable,’ the bishop admitted.

‘Very well. Now, Brother Benevolentia, at what stage in the evening did you pour the wine?’

‘The bell rang in the chapel at the end of prayers. Thinking that the bishop would return straightway, I hurried to his chamber and poured the wine.’

‘Except that I did not return straightway,’ pointed out Ordgar. ‘I went to see Bishop Leodegar to complain about the conduct of the Briton at the council.’

‘Did you wait in the bishop’s chamber until he returned?’ Eadulf asked Brother Benevolentia.

The young man shook his head. ‘I left the wine by the bedside as usual and then returned to my own chamber, where I fell asleep immediately.’

‘And your own chamber is where?’

‘Next to the bishop’s, so that he could call me in the night if I am needed.’

‘Was the door of the bishop’s chamber locked?’

‘Locked? No door is locked in the abbey.’

‘Then anyone could enter the room and have access to the wine at any time?’

‘Yes. The empty amphora was stored in a cupboard out of sight but after I had poured the wine, the cup was left at the bishop’s bedside.’

‘And you were asleep very quickly? You said that you did not hear the bishop return to his chamber.’

‘I did not.’

‘Did you hear the arrival of Abbot Dabhóc or Abbot Cadfan during the night?’

Brother Benevolentia made a negative gesture. ‘As I say, I am a sound sleeper.’

‘When did you wake?’

‘Not until the physician of this abbey, Brother Gebicca, knocked upon my door and told me the bishop had been taken ill; he said he needed my help to remove him to a new chamber where he could be nursed. It was when I entered the room that I saw the body of the Hibernian and the blood and also the unconscious form of the Briton.’

‘And the next morning, was it you who cleared away the remains of the wine and washed the cup?’

Brother Benevolentia shook his head. ‘I think it was Brother Gebicca. He cleared up when the body was taken away.’

‘How long have you been steward to Bishop Ordgar?’ Eadulf asked suddenly.

It was the bishop himself who answered.

‘My last steward died from fever on the voyage. It was while I was visiting the abbey of Divio, on my way here, that I met with Brother Benevolentia and offered him the post.’

‘Divio?’

‘It is a city of the Burgunds which lies north of here,’ supplied Brother Benevolentia. ‘I served in that abbey there as a scribe so have been with Bishop Ordgar for only three weeks.’

Fidelma had stood silently listening in approval to Eadulf’s questioning. Now she felt compelled to ask the bishop a question of her own.

‘How well did you know Abbot Dabhóc?’

‘I knew him not at all. We met formally before the council opened but barely exchanged a few words.’

‘You did not express a difference of opinion in debate?’

‘There have been no debates.’

‘I was told there was an opening session at which acrimonious remarks were passed.’