Peter Tremayne - Valley of the Shadow

The fat woman turned to him.

‘Why, someone who believes in your God. A noble from the north, I think he is.’

‘A noble from the north?’ Fidelma intervened, abruptly serious.

‘Well, he is richly dressed and with much fine jewellery on him.’

‘Do you know his name?’

‘No. That I don’t. But the other, his companion, is called Brother Dianach and is his servant, so I believe.’

‘They are from the north, you say?’ repeated Fidelma as if to make sure there was no mistake.

‘From the distant kingdom of Ulaidh, I am told.’

Fidelma stood thoughtfully.

‘If this is Ultan’s emissary, I wonder what Armagh seeks in this …’ She nearly said ‘godforsaken place’ but it seemed, as the populace did not believe in God, it was not the best of descriptions. Orla had said that Ultan of Armagh had sent gifts to Laisre the chieftain. Gifts from Armagh. But that didn’t make any sense. Whywould Armagh send gifts to a pagan chieftain in a kingdom where it had no jurisdiction and where the people did not even follow the Faith? The rotund hostel keeper interrupted her thoughts.

‘I have little idea who they are or what they want. I only know that people come and stay and then I must work. Better people stay where they belonged than travelled from one place to another.’ Cruinn sighed deeply, a curious wheezy sound and an action which caused her figure to wobble dangerously. ‘Well, it is not my place to complain but that is my view. Come, lady, I will draw your bath first.’

‘I will wait here,’ Eadulf offered, ‘and perhaps there is mead that I might refresh myself with while I am waiting?’

‘You will find it in the cask there,’ indicated Cruinn, speaking over her shoulder as she propelled Fidelma to one of the bathing chambers. ‘But the second bathing tub is ready should you wish to take your bath now.’

Eadulf caught Fidelma’s eye and bit his lip.

‘In that case, it will save time if I bathed now.’ He gave in reluctantly.

As a Saxon he always found the bathing customs of the people of Éireann somewhat extreme. They washed twice daily, with the second wash being a full body bath. Every guests’ hostel had its bath house or houses, each with a large tub or vat for which there were several names but most usually dabach. After the bath, guests would anoint themselves with sweet scented herbal potions.

Not content with a complete bath in the evening, which was called fothrucud, they would, immediately on rising in the morning, wash their face and hands. In both bathing and washing they used a tablet of a scented fatty substance called sléic or soap, which they applied with a linen cloth and worked into a lather. They would even have, at certain times, ritual steam baths in what they called Tigh ’n alluis or ‘sweating houses’ where, in a small stone cabin, great fires were kindled so that the place became heated like an oven and the bather would enter and stay until they were perspiring after which they came out and plunged straight into a cold stream. Eadulf disapproved of this practice vehemently. Surely this was a way to an early grave? His own people were not so enamoured of bathing.

The upper classes of the Saxons bathed weekly, usually a swim being deemed sufficient for the cleansing process. Eadulf was not a dirty person in body, manners or habit but he still felt that the bathing rituals of Éireann were excessive.

An hour later they were finishing their meal when the door of thehostel opened and in came a heavy-jowled man. That he was a cleric was not in question. He wore the tonsure of St Peter but he was clad not in the simple robes that most religieux wore but in elegant silks and embroidered linens and with a bejewelled crucifix the like of which neither Fidelma nor Eadulf had seen since they were in Rome together. Fidelma eyed the man in disapproval. Here was someone whose riches seemed to betray the very teachings of Christ.

The eyes of the man were dark and watchful. They had a curious quality of staring, unblinkingly, like the eyes of an animal watching its prey. The eyes were made small by the largeness of the surrounding features. He was a short man, stocky rather than fat, although the fleshy face made one think he was obese until one noticed the powerful muscular shoulders and thick arms.

‘I am Brother Solin,’ he announced officiously, ‘secretary to Ultan, archbishop of Armagh.’ He intoned his introduction in accents which corroborated that he was from the kingdom of the Uí Néill of Ulaidh. There was something about him which caused Fidelma to take an immediate dislike to him. Perhaps it was the way he stared at her with an almost speculative gaze which left no doubt that he was a man judging her as a woman and not as a person. ‘Orla has informed me of your arrival. You are Sister Fidelma and you must be the foreign cleric.’

‘You are a long way from Armagh, Solin.’ Fidelma rose, unwillingly, but courtesy prompted her to be civil in respect to the position of the northern religieux.

‘As you are from Cashel,’ the stocky man replied, unperturbed, coming forward and seating himself.

‘Cashel is the royal seat of this kingdom, Solin,’ responded Fidelma coldly.

‘Armagh is the royal seat of the Faith in all five kingdoms,’ the man replied with an airy dismissal.

‘That is a question to be debated,’ snapped back Fidelma. ‘The bishop of Imleach makes no such recognition of Armagh.’

‘Well, it is a debate of such delicacy that we should leave it for a future time.’ Solin dismissed the matter with an air of boredom.

Fidelma stood her ground. She decided to be direct.

‘Why is the secretary of Ultan of Armagh in this small corner of my brother’s kingdom?’

Solin poured a mug of mead from the jug on the table.

‘Does Cashel forbid wandering clerics?’

‘That is no answer,’ Fidelma responded. ‘I think you are hardly in the category of a peregrinator pro Christo .’

An angry look came into Solin’s eyes.

‘Sister, I think you forget yourself. As secretary to Ultan …’ he protested.

‘You secure no privileges of rank before me. I am envoy to my brother, the king of Cashel. Why are you here?’

The blood drained momentarily from Solin’s face as he fought his rage at being so bluntly addressed. Then he regained his composure with a tight smile.

‘Ultan of Armagh has sent me to the farthest corners of the five kingdoms to see how the Faith prospers. He has sent me with gifts to distribute …’

The door opened again with abruptness.

It was Orla. She entered with an annoyed expression furrowing her features.

‘What does this mean?’ she snapped. ‘My brother is being kept waiting. Is this the courtesy Cashel extends to its chieftains?’

Solin smirked, rising from his seat.

‘I was just trying to persuade the good sister to accompany me to the chieftain’s council chamber,’ he said obsequiously. ‘She seemed more concerned with the reasons for my presence in Gleann Geis.’

Fidelma opened her mouth to challenge his lie but then snapped it shut. She turned to Orla and met her anger with a stony look.

‘I am ready. Precede us.’

Orla raised an eyebrow, disconcerted for the moment by the haughty expression on Fidelma’s face for she was quite unused to having her authority challenged. Without a further word, she led the way from the hostel. Eadulf and Solin brought up the rear.

The chambers of Laisre were housed in the largest of the buildings in the ráth. A centrally situated three-storey building which, when entered by the great door, revealed a large reception chamber with passageways leading left and right and with a stone stairway to the rooms above. A tall inner door then gave entrance into a large chamber. There were several people gathered there in the high-ceilinged, smoky room. Large tapestries draped the walls and hanging lamps illuminated the room, although the central fire, on which logs were blazing, gave out a strong glowing light and was the cause of the smoky atmosphere.