Peter Tremayne - The Haunted Abbot

‘Eadulf, I don’t care what you give me,’ she moaned. ‘I feel like death.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Eadulf responded brightly. ‘You will be back to normal in a day or two. I’ll guarantee it.’

Fidelma suddenly sneezed and looked ruefully at Eadulf. Something of her old self shone through as she tried to smile.

‘I thought that we didn’t have two days?’

Eadulf frowned and then remembered. ‘You mean the order of Abbot Cild to quit his abbey? Don’t worry about that. I will go to see him and tell him that you cannot be moved. Anyway, there has been a new development here which I must tell you about.’

He turned back to the fire, and while he was preparing the medication for Fidelma he told her about the events of the night before. Fidelma was intrigued, almost forgetting her woe.

‘A troscud? Are you sure he used that word?’

Eadulf nodded, sitting at the edge of her bed and waiting as she sipped the brew that he had prepared.

‘I know that it is some sort of ritual fast,’ he offered.

‘A very serious one,’ she confirmed. ‘It does not happen often, for most people are happy to have arbitration in cases of dispute. The law is considered of importance, so both sides will abide by it and one rarely has to force the other to accept it.’

‘But Abbot Cild is not subject to your laws here, in his own country.’

‘That is true enough,’ Fidelma agreed, interrupting herself with another coughing spasm.

Eadulf handed over another beaker of the infusion. She sipped for a moment.

‘But you say that this man — Garb was his name? — you say that he claimed that Abbot Cild was at the Plain of the Yews when he married his sister?’

‘A girl called Gélgeis,’ confirmed Eadulf.

‘And he married her according to our Laws of the Fénechus?’

‘That is true.’

‘Plain of the Yews? Garb was speaking in Saxon and he translated this name into Saxon?’

Eadulf nodded.

‘Maigh Eo — Plain of the Yew. It is a place in the kingdom of Connacht. I can see why it would be claimed that Cild should submit to the Law of the Fénechus if he married under it at that place. Is it possible for you to find out any further details about this matter?’

Eadulf grimaced sourly. ‘Not from Abbot Cild.’

‘Then you must find out where the father of Garb is planning to hold his ritual fast.’

‘Does it matter?’

‘I think so. In my country, the ritual fast is usually carried out within sight of the door of the person against whom it is directed. It would be sacrilege and a crime for any man to harm the faster while engaged in the troscud. But here, in your country … I do not know how such a fast could be carried out for, to be brutal, your people would not respect our custom and probably do harm to the person who was fasting.’

‘This is a fact,’ Eadulf agreed. ‘The fast would be a useless gesture among our people.’

Fidelma sank back onto her pillow. She was having difficulty breathing and her cough was irritating her. She caught Eadulf’s hand.

‘Try to find out something more. I think Garb’s father must have realised this and made some other plan to safeguard himself. But something as serious as a troscud could lead to war.’

Eadulf smiled reassuringly at her. ‘I will make some discreet inquiries. First, though, I have to tell Abbot Cild that we cannot move from the abbey today. Meanwhile, I will ensure you have enough medication to ease your discomfort.’

After he had prepared more of the infusion from the herbs that he always carried with him, Eadulf left Fidelma fitfully dozing and made his way to Abbot Cild’s chamber

The abbot greeted him sourly. ‘I suppose that you have come to bid farewell? You need not have bothered.’

Eadulf controlled the flash of irritation he felt at the abbot’s abrupt manner.

‘My companion and I cannot leave the abbey this morning-’ he began.

He was interrupted by a look of anger which formed on the abbot’s features.

‘You dare attempt to disobey my orders?’

Eadulf raised a hand, palm outwards, to quell his rage.

‘I regret to say that my companion, Sister Fidelma, has been taken ill. She cannot be moved in this weather. She has to stay in bed in the warm with some medications that I have provided for her.’

Abbot Cild regarded him with narrowed eyes. ‘I am not accountable for her health. I did not invite you or her into this abbey.’

Eadulf was shocked at the callousness of the man.

‘It is your Christian duty to provide visiting religious with hospitality. What manner of holy man are you that you would depart from the rule of the faith in this way?’ Eadulf’s voice was cold as he sought to control his own temper. ‘You refuse hospitality to a member of the faith on the claim that this is a house for males only but you seem to accept women guests who are not members of the religious. By the holy rood, I will ensure Archbishop Theodore learns of it.’

Abbot Cild’s face had paled a little as Eadulf swung away.

‘Wait!’

Eadulf was forced back by the sharpness of the man’s command.

‘What do you mean? What are you talking about … women guests who are not members of the religious?’

Eadulf smiled maliciously. ‘I caught sight of the lady when I was on my way to the chapel last night. Is it some secret that she is here?’

The muscles on Abbot Cild’s pale face were suddenly twitching. It seemed, for a moment, that all his aggression had suddenly left him. He sat down and stared up at Eadulf with an almost pathetic expression.

‘Tell me exactly what you saw,’ he said quietly. The tone was pleading. Eadulf heard a curious catch in his voice.

Tersely, he told the abbot of seeing the young woman in the quadrangle behind the chapel. He suddenly realised that the abbot was trembling slightly.

‘Fair, you say, and clad in a red dress with jewels?’

‘That is what I said,’ confirmed Eadulf, wondering what had produced this astonishing change of attitude.

‘You are not lying to me?’ The question might have been insulting but the abbot’s voice was almost entreating. ‘You swear to me that you actually saw this woman?’

Eadulf was about to retort harshly, but the man seemed too pitiful.

‘Of course I did,’ he replied gruffly. ‘I am not in the habit of recounting things I do not see. But enough of this. What I say is that you cannot claim to adopt one set of principles and disguise the fact you do not keep them. I promise that Archbishop Theodore shall hear of your ill treatment of Sister Fidelma. Woe betide you if harm falls on her by your callous indifference to her illness.’

Eadulf turned for the door again and again Abbot Cild halted him. He still seemed nervous, ill at ease, and Eadulf put it down to his threat to inform the archbishop.

‘I will send the apothecary of the community to examine this … this Sister Fidelma. If he confirms what you say, you may stay here until she is well enough to travel.’

Abbot Cild reached forward and picked up a small bronze handbell. Brother Willibrod appeared almost immediately.

‘Send Brother Higbald to see Sister Fidelma and ascertain her condition. Tell him to report directly to me as to the extent of her illness.’

Brother Willibrod looked startled. ‘Illness, Father Abbot?’ Heglanced nervously at Eadulf. ‘Is she ill?’ he whispered fearfully. ‘It is not … it is not the Yellow Plague?’ He crossed himself quickly.

Abbot Cild gave a snort of displeasure that his order was not being carried out immediately. Gradually, a flush had spread over his features and he seemed to be returning to his old self.

Eadulf shook his head. ‘It is only a bad cold for which she needs some warmth, rest, and alleviation of her discomfort. And perhaps some Christian charity,’ he added crossly.