Peter Tremayne - Smoke in the Wind

A din had arisen in the hall at Fidelma’s accusation. The noise rose while Prince Cathen and Cadell shouted for order and calm.

Buddog sat without expression. By not even a blink of the eyes did she register her feelings. There was no hysteria, no denial. Just a blankness on her face. It was as if she were no longer in her body.

Elen was sitting in her seat staring at Buddog with horror on her pale face. ‘But if. . if Buddog killed Mair, then. .’ She swung back to her father, sitting tense and pale and tight-lipped. ‘You and Mair were lovers!’ She screamed at him in disgust. ‘You and Mair-’

It took some moments before a semblance of order was brought to the hall again.

‘As the woman, Buddog, does not deny or confirm the charge, you may continue your arguments,’ Cathen instructed Fidelma.

‘Buddog had been brought to Gwnda’s house as a hostage as a young girl. Over the years Gwnda and Buddog had become lovers. Buddog developed a blinding love for him. I don’t know how his relationship started with Mair. Maybe it was because of Mair’s promiscuity. Maybe he was flattered at her attention.’

She paused when she realised that Gwnda was trying to speak.

‘Buddog was dear to me; I would have done anything to protect her. But Mair. . Mair was young and vital. She gave me strength. She reinvigorated me!’

Fidelma expressed satisfaction at his confession. ‘I began to suspect Buddog’s involvement in this affair on the first night I arrived here,’ she went on calmly. ‘The trouble was that it was not the mystery I had come to investigate so I left it to Brother Meurig, not realising the danger he would face if he began to unravel the threads which I had already seen.’

She paused for a moment before continuing.

‘Gwnda was in the forest that morning. It may have been entirely chance that he came across Buddog just after she had strangled Mair. Remember, Gwnda still cared for Buddog. He has just told you so himself. In those few moments he decided to attempt to cover up her guilt. He told Buddog to take the letter and return to Llanwnda and he would deal with things. After she had gone, Fate intervened. Idwal returned to find Mair and apologise to her. Gwnda hid himself. .’

Gwnda was groaning and nodding now. ‘I did not plan anything at first,’ he said. All his strength and authority seemed to have evaporated. He was an old man, hunched and frail. ‘I hid hoping not to be seen. Idwal came to the body and bent down. He could not believe she was dead. He tried to revive her. Then I heard the cries of the people coming. It was then that I knew what I should do.’

‘You caught Idwal and pretended to Iorwerth and Iestyn that you had caught him in the act. You pretended to be the conscientious and honourable lord and told your people to imprison Idwal, sending to the abbey of Dewi Sant for a barnwr . You had to be seen to be above reproach in this matter.’

There was a silence and then Elen said: ‘There is one thing wrong, Sister. There were signs that Mair had been raped. We heard the story of blood showing. .’

Fidelma held up a hand. ‘It occurred to Gwnda that many thought Mair was a virgin. This was the most distasteful part of Gwnda’s cover-up. He took his knife and stabbed the upper inside thigh a couple of times to draw blood and went to pains to point it out to Elisse the apothecary, claiming the girl was a virgin and must have been raped before she was killed. What he did not realise, in his haste to lay a false trail, was that Elisse’s wife, preparing the corpse for burial, would see the wounds.’

Elisse took up in his place and identified himself. ‘I confirm that the blood was made by such wounds, Prince Cathen. When Gwnda tried to tell me it was hymenal blood, I had to inform him that it was not so. Further, as my wife here will observe, Mair was no virgin and sought my wife’s advice as to methods of avoiding pregnancy.’

‘It must have seemed Fate to Gwnda when Idwal came back to make amends to Mair and found her body,’ sighed Fidelma. ‘But Gwnda was too clever by half. When he heard that the apothecary would not support him about the rape, and he realised that the barnwr for whom he had sent might ask too many questions, he decided on the next best course of action. If Idwal was already dead, what need was there of a trial?’

Gwnda straightened up, realising that he should attempt some defence. ‘I was imprisoned in my hall when the mob seized the boy. You know that. I had no part in that.’

‘I know that you, fully armed, were being held by two unarmed young men, whom I see in this hall today.’

Two men stirred uneasily at the back of the hall.

‘Do they deny the charade? I believe that even if you did not persuade Iorwerth to fan the flames of the mob’s emotions to lynch Idwal, you certainly took advantage of the situation and made no attempt to stop them. But you wanted the barnwr to believe that you were not part of that attempted lynching. You wanted to safeguard your reputation and deflect any suspicion from yourself. You allowed Idwal to be taken and thought he would be hanged. Once dead, that would be an end of the matter and no accusation could be levelled at Buddog, or at you for covering up her crime.’

Buddog had remained sitting like a stone statue. Fidelma was regarding Gwnda without pity. ‘As you have told us, Gwnda, in spite of your affair with Mair, you still have feelings for Buddog. That’s the curious part. Your compulsion to protect was such that when poor Brother Meurig came close to the truth, you followed him and Idwal to the woodsman’s hut and killed him.’

Gwnda began to protest his innocence. Fidelma cut him short. ‘When we told you that Brother Meurig had been killed, you feigned surprise. Then, without our telling you where he had been killed, you left us saying that you would take men to the woodsman’s hut to retrieve his body. Isn’t it curious that you knew where the body was when you did not even know that he was dead?’

Gwnda groaned despairingly as he realised his error. He held his head in his hands and rocked back and forth in his seat. It was a few moments before he started to make some articulate sound.

‘He would not listen to reason,’ he muttered. ‘I tried to convince him that the boy was guilty. He argued. We struggled. He cried to the boy to run off, to find you, to tell you what was happening. I broke free. . I swear I did not intend it. . I was only defending myself. The axe. . I just swung it. .’

Fidelma gazed at him dispassionately. ‘When you had killed Brother Meurig you came back to the township. Why didn’t you chase after Idwal?’

Gwnda continued rocking back and forth, moaning softly; a strange, almost frightening behaviour in a man of his years and position.

‘I didn’t know what to do. You and Brother Eadulf had returned and I had to wait to see whether Idwal had spoken to you. Only after I heard that you had no suspicion did I call on Iorwerth. He and some others started to hunt for the boy. He was found and. . you know the rest. You were right that I persuaded them that they would not be punished.’ Gwnda raised an arm and let it fall in a gesture of defeat.

‘Were you there? Did you watch an innocent boy hang when you could have saved him?’ demanded Cathen with loathing.

Gwnda seemed to have retreated in on himself. He made no reply.

Fidelma addressed herself to Cathen. ‘My suspicions about Gwnda were confirmed when I saw that he realised I would not be shaken from my belief that Idwal was innocent. This was the point where coincidence played its hand. Coincidence plays a much stronger part in the progress of our lives than we ever give it credit for. Elen had, by chance, overheard a meeting between the outlaw Clydog and some others. She hid but was discovered and fled. Although she had escaped, she was in fear that she had been seen. Then Mair was killed. Because Mair and Elen superficially looked alike, Elen came to the mistaken belief that Mair had been killed in mistake for her by one of Clydog’s men. Then, by chance, one of the men at the meeting in the forest passed through the township. Elen thought she had been recognised and it would be realised that Mair had been killed by mistake. She told her father and he saw another chance to throw us off the scent. He agreed that she come to me with the story.