Peter Tremayne - Valley of the Shadow

Fidelma examined him suspiciously.

‘And what does Sechnassuch say to this?’

‘You have met Sechnassuch,’ Ibor replied. ‘His principle is the law. He is king of the southern Uí Néill of Tara and acknowledges the courtesy accorded by the laws of the Míadslechta of being High King. But as the Míadslechta says — why are the provincial kings greater than the High King?’

‘Because they appoint and ordain the High King,’ interrupted Fidelma quoting the text, ‘the High King does not ordain the provincial kings.’

Ibor nodded appreciatively at her knowledge.

‘You are correct, dálaigh of Cashel. Sechnassuch would give his entire honour price of fourteen cumals in forfeit if he ever broke this law.’

‘Is there any likelihood of him doing so?’

‘Not while he is alive. But this cannot be said of the northern Uí Néill; nor of Mael Dúin of Ailech. He has ambition. And that ambition has grown since he went on a pilgrimage to Rome before he took the crown of Ailech.’

‘How so? What has a pilgrimage to Rome to do with this matter?’

‘He saw the greatness of Rome and became enamoured of the Roman path of the Faith. He went to a Roman-trained confessor and priest who taught him about the great temporal empires and the peoples who fell under the suzerainty of the emperors of Rome.’

‘There are several in the five kingdoms who have already accepted allegiance to Rome,’ observed Fidelma. ‘Allegiance to Rome is surely a matter of individual conscience? My companion, Eadulf, bears allegiance to the Roman ways, unlike myself being committed to the Church of Colmcille. We do not fight but we discuss in fruitful amity.’

‘Fair enough, Fidelma of Cashel. Each to his own path. But when one is forced along a path one does not wish to take, then there is dissension in the land.’

‘This Mael Dúin believes, then, in forcing his beliefs on others?’

‘That he does. And he does so in two ways. Firstly with his religion and secondly he has been fired to create in this island the feudal empire of the type which he has learned about in Rome, a central kingdom ruled by one emperor. And he wants that emperor to be himself.’

Fidelma let out a soft breath.

‘I begin to see where you are leading us. Mael Dúin of Ailech wishes to firstly subsume the southern Uí Néill to his kingdom of Ailech. Then he wishes to claim the High Kingship and turn it from an honour alternated between the provincial kings into a single dynasty which will maintain a supreme authority over all of the five kingdoms in the manner of the Roman emperors?’

‘That is exactly what he proposes,’ confirmed Ibor.

‘Then the kings of the provinces must be warned against Mael Dúin’s ambitions. They would never stand for such a usurpation of law and morality.’

‘But there is something further.’

‘What more can there be?’ Fidelma’s expression was grim.

‘Mael Dúin has, as I say, won the support of Ultan of Armagh.’

‘I knew that Ultan has long been in favour of adopting the rules of Rome in our Church and prefers to use the title of archiepiskopos instead of Comarb. Indeed, many have, out of courtesy referred to him as such. Even I myself. I know he would wish to reorganise our Church on the model Rome has provided but not even Ultan can believe that he can change our law of kingship.’

‘Why not? If Mael Dúin of Ailech thinks he can, so can Ultan. If Mael Dúin can create a powerful High Kingship at Tara which favours Roman rite and organisation, then Armagh will also prosper being within the puruchia of the High King. Ultan plans to become the head of the Faith in Ireland just as Mael Dúin plans to become a High King with real central power.’

Fidelma was troubled as she contemplated the enormity of Ibor’s revelation.

‘This explains much of what Brother Solin was boasting about. So then Ultan will use the powerful centralised authority of Mael Dúin to exert the authority of Armagh over all other Churches of the five kingdoms?’

‘Just so.’

Eadulf intervened for the first time.

‘One thing you forget,’ he said quietly. ‘Even if this king of Ailech overcomes the southern Uí Néill, he could not be in power in Tara for long. Cashel, supported by Imleach, would be among the first to challenge such preposterous claims.’

Ibor glanced at him almost sadly.

‘So therefore Imleach and Cashel would have to be made weak,’ he pointed out.

Fidelma jerked her head up quickly; her flashing eyes sought those of Ibor.

‘You have news of such a plot?’

‘The plot has already begun here in Gleann Geis,’ he replied. ‘It is Mael Dúin and Ultan who are behind it. If the northern Uí Néill move in force then the southern Uí Néill might not long delay them. There are too many ties of kinship and blood for a serious contention between Mael Dúin and Sechnassuch. Once that happens …’ Ibor threw out his arms in a gesture of resignation.

‘But Cashel would not allow it to happen,’ Fidelma vowed. ‘Wishing Cashel to be weak does not make it so.’

‘True. It has to be made so. Cashel represents the biggest barrier to the northern Uí Néill’s ambition to take over the High Kingship. Mael Dúin has been probing for Cashel’s weakness for a while now. And where is Cashel’s greatest weakness?’

Fidelma paused for a moment’s reflection.

‘Why, among the Uí Fidgente in north-west Muman,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘And among the clans west of the Shannon. They have been the most restless clans of Muman. The Uí Fidgente have tried many times to overthrow the kings of Cashel and split the kingdom.’

‘There is the weakness of Muman — the Uí Fidgente,’ Ibor declared like a schoolmaster summing up his lesson.

‘So Brother Solin was sent here to create new dissensions between the Uí Fidgente and the Eóghanacht of Cashel? Is that what you are saying?’ Eadulf asked.

‘He was sent as Ultan’s agent and through Ultan as an emissary of Mael Dúin.’

‘And why were you sent here? To kill Brother Solin?’

‘No. I told you that I had no hand in his death. I did not kill him. But I was sent to discover the details of Mael Dúin’s plot.’

Fidelma was finding difficulty encompassing the fiendishness of what the lord of Muirthemne was revealing. She looked at Ibor directly.

‘What of the slaughter of the young men? The ritual killing?’

‘You have a reputation for working out puzzles. You came as an emissary from Cashel and Imleach and stumbled across what you thought to be a ritual killing. Who would stand to gain had you reacted as you were supposed to react?’

She stared at him in incomprehension for a moment.

‘How was I supposed to react?’ she asked uncertainly.

‘Those responsible for the slaughter simply knew that a religieuse was due to arrive at Gleann Geis. The ritual slaughter was arranged by them in the belief that such a religieuse would understand the pagan symbolism in it and then see nothing further.’

Fidelma began to understand.

‘They thought that the religieuse would panic and go riding back to Cashel and call for a religious war to exterminate the barbarians of Gleann Geis for having perpetrated such a crime?’

‘Exactly so,’ Ibor agreed. ‘Cashel would come down with all its might and fury on Gleann Geis to seek retribution. Gleann Geis would be protesting its innocence and indeed some evidence would be placed in the hands of the friends of Gleann Geis to indicate that it was Cashel’s own hand in the slaughter. The surrounding clans would be told that Cashel was the evil doer and had used the slaughter as a justification to annihilate Gleann Geis. Indignant, the clans would also rise up in support of Gleann Geis. The Uí Fidgente would be persuaded, and not with difficulty,to also rise once more against Cashel. Civil war would split the land.’