Peter Tremayne - Dancing With Demons

Brónach looked critically at the younger girl. ‘Well, she has many duties to fulfil, Brother Eadulf. And time is pressing. This place must be cleaned, for a start. Anyway, I was looking for Báine. Have you seen her, Cnucha?’

The young girl shook her head and with a sigh the older woman left.

Cnucha looked at him gratefully and mouthed a silent, ‘Thank you.’

Eadulf went to the door to check. It was clear that Brónach had left the guesthouse altogether. He turned back to Cnucha.

‘You need not take any abuse from Muirgel, even if you feel that you are in the wrong,’ he counselled her. ‘Why didn’t you want Brónach to know about it? She might have been able to help as she is in charge.’

‘I know Brónach was very friendly with the High King when he was alive and with his family, so I doubt whether she would stand up for me against Muirgel,’ Cnucha said despondently. ‘And saying anything to Báine is like saying it to Muirgel. They are as thick as thieves, those two. I have often seen them together. Even when her duties are over, Báine often goes to the house of the High King’s — the late High King’s — wife. I am sure she does not go there to see Gormflaith.’

‘I have seen the way Muirgel treats her attendant,’ Eadulf remarked. ‘It is neither courteous nor proper. But what manner of relationship could she have with Báine?’

Cnucha grimaced sourly. ‘Báine! That one! She is a strange person.’ She rubbed a hand across her eyes. ‘But now I must go, Brother Eadulf, lest either of them return and the work is not done.’

‘I will take the blame,’ replied Eadulf to reassure her.

‘I am the one who has to live here,’ replied the girl, unimpressed. ‘You do not.’

Picking up a broom, she began to sweep and thus dismissed, Eadulf left.

Fidelma entered the residence of the wife and children of the High King at the Tech Laoghaire and a maid confirmed that Gormflaith was in her chambers. While the maid went off to see if Gormflaith would receive a visitor, Fidelma moved to the window that provided a view down the hill to the stables. She was about to turn away when she spotted the tall figure of Brehon Barrán strolling to the stables in the company of a young woman. They seemed to be engaged in earnest talk, the young woman leaning close to the elderly judge and touching his arm as if to make a point now and then.

It was only when Fidelma realised that the girl was Muirgel that she paused to take a second look. She wondered if Muirgel was telling him what she had revealed to Fidelma. They had halted and someone was bringing out a horse from the stable. Once again, the girl leaned close to the Brehon and touched his arm, though not in an imperious way; more of an intimate expression. Then she mounted and rode away with Barrán gazing after her for a few moments before turning and walking slowly back in the direction of the royal house from which they had obviously come.

At that moment the maid returned and announced that the lady Gormflaith would see Fidelma immediately.

Eadulf had left the guesthouse and was walking towards the stable buildings when no less a person than Cenn Faelad emerged from them. The commander of his guard, Irél, was at his side and another warrior walked two paces behind, eyes watchful and hand on his sword. Cenn Faelad beckoned in friendly fashion to Eadulf to join him.

‘How are things going with your investigations?’ Cenn Faelad asked. It was the greeting of an equal, with no differentiation of rank or of nationality, and Eadulf felt slightly flattered, although he had heard that Cenn Faelad, in his role as tánaiste, the heir apparent, had earned popularity by being accessible to all his people.

‘We are making some progress,’ Eadulf replied. ‘Fidelma is even now conducting an interview with-’

‘With my brother’s widow,’ intervened Cenn Faelad with a grim smile. ‘I saw the lady Fidelma going into her residence a moment ago. She is very thorough, that wife of yours.’

Eadulf smiled with pride. ‘There is little that escapes her attention in these matters.’

‘But I see that you do not attend all her interrogations?’

‘In this instance it was thought more circumspect for me to stay away. Diplomacy … ’

‘We do not stand on ceremony here, Eadulf,’ Cenn Faelad said immediately. ‘Or should not. You have been in our country long enough to know that. After all, there is a saying here that we are all kings’ sons.’

‘Alas, Cenn Faelad, not all of us can prove it,’ replied Eadulf wryly.

The High King elect’s features broadened and he burst out laughing.

‘That was well and truly said, my friend. Well done! You show a ready wit. But it is true, in our system we say that a people is strongerthan a lord, for they have the final vote at the clan assemblies.’

Irél coughed pointedly at his side.

‘My commander reminds me not to delay,’ Cenn Faelad said. ‘We are on our way to the marketplace below,’ he motioned down the hill outside the walls of Tara. ‘A foreign merchant ship has arrived and we wish to see what goods it brings. It is one of the privileges of my rank that I can see his goods first before he opens his stall in the market. Thus I can make first choice of anything new and interesting.’

Eadulf asked slyly: ‘And does that fit in with your people being stronger than a lord?’

Again Cenn Faelad laughed.

‘I can see that you have the same quality of humour as Fidelma,’ he beamed. ‘But I will answer — I said it was a privilege, not a right. Anyway, perhaps you’ll walk with us and see? It will not take long and I doubt whether Fidelma will be brief in talking with my sister-in-law.’

Again, Eadulf stifled a feeling of being flattered.

‘I would be delighted. Is it known where this merchant ship comes from?’

‘It’s from Gaul, I think. From the port of An Naoned.’

They fell in step and began to move towards the gates of the palace complex.

‘Merchant ships from Gaul are large,’ observed Eadulf. ‘Do they anchor at some coastal port and bring their goods on overland or by smaller vessels?’

‘Some ships can negotiate along the main river, which we call the Bóinn. There is an island in the river just north of here, beyond which it is dangerous to proceed. But a good local river man can pilot a fairly big vessel to the island there and that is where goods are offloaded at a place we call An Uaimh and then brought here overland. We have a good trade with Britain and Gaul.’

Eadulf noticed that Irél had now moved ahead and that both he and the guard behind were looking round cautiously.

Cenn Faelad observed his interest. ‘I am told,’ he said in a low voice, ‘that it is wise for me to be closely guarded until we know the reason for the slaughter of my brother.’

‘I presume that you have some theories?’ Eadulf replied.

The young High King elect gave him a searching glance. Then he said quietly, ‘I suppose that we all speculate.’

‘As Sechnussach was your brother, your speculation would be interesting.’

‘My brother was High King. In that office one is never universally loved. What is justice for one can be construed as injustice for another. Dubh Duin was a man of fixed ideas and he was known for these ideas in the Great Assembly. They were ideas that were not shared by my brother. But that should be no motive for assassination. The place to really change matters is in the assembly, not with the High King — for you can change a High King but the decision of the assembly can only be changed because it is the will of the majority of its members. As I said before, it is the assembly who constrains the High King.’