Peter Tremayne - The Spider's Web

Fidelma took the bottle hesitantly.

‘Take it,’ insisted the old hermit. Adding with a smile: ‘Unless you believe that I am seeking to poison him.’

‘I am truly grateful, Gadra.’ Fidelma felt churlish.

‘Go quickly, then. Let me know if there is anything else I can do for him.’

Clutching the bottle in her hand, Fidelma returned to the guests’ hostel.

Eadulf was still sitting, looking considerably paler. There was a bluish tinge round the eyes and mouth.

‘Gadra has sent this for you. You must drink it at once mixed with water.’

Eadulf took the bottle suspiciously from her hand.

‘What is it?’

‘A mixture of ground ivy and wormwood.’

‘Something to cleanse the stomach, I suppose.’

He took off the stopper from the bottle and sniffed, screwing up his face as he did so. Then he poured the contents into a beaker and added water. He stared at it distastefully for a moment then opened his mouth and swallowed.

For a moment he was consumed by a paroxysm of coughing.

‘Well,’ he said, when he could manage to speak. ‘If the poisondoes not finish me, I am sure that this infusion will do so.’

‘How do you feel?’ asked Fidelma anxiously.

‘Sick,’ confessed Eadulf. ‘But it takes an hour or so before the poison has a real effect and …’

His eyes suddenly bulged.

‘What is it?’ cried Fidelma in alarm.

Hand to mouth, Eadulf leapt to his feet and disappeared in the direction of the fialtech. She could hear his terrible retching through the door.

‘What can I do, Eadulf?’ she asked in concern when he finally re-emerged.

‘Little, I am afraid. If I find Dignait, if she has made me suffer thus, I shall … oh God!’

Hand to mouth, once more he returned to the anguish of the privy.

There was a knock on the door and Crón entered.

‘It has been confirmed that Dignait is no longer in the rath,’ she said. ‘It seems to confirm her guilt.’

Fidelma regarded the tanist moodily.

‘I expected as much.’

‘I have sent a man to look for Dubán to inform him of what has happened,’ Crón added.

‘And where is Dubán now?’

‘He is up in the valley of the Black Marsh. There is still the matter of Muadnat’s death to be considered.’ Crón hesitated and sighed. ‘It is difficult to believe that Dignait would attempt to poison you.’

‘At the moment there is nothing to believe or disbelieve,’ replied Fidelma. ‘We will not know what part she has played in this matter until she is found and questioned.’

‘She has been a good servant of my family.’

‘So I have been told.’

Eadulf re-emerged, saw Crón and contrived to look self-conscious.

Crón examined his pale features with apparent distaste.

‘You are ill, Saxon,’ the tanist greeted him dispassionately.

‘You are perceptive, Crón,’ Eadulf replied with an attempt at humour.

‘Is there anything that I can … that we …?’

Eadulf seated himself, outwardly cheerful.

‘Only wait,’ he cut in. ‘Perhaps I can do that alone?’

Fidelma smiled apologetically to him.

‘You are right, Eadulf. We are bothering you too much. Rest now. But I have asked the young girl Grella to look in on you from time to time.’

She turned and led Crón gently but firmly from the guests’ hostel.

‘Where is Crítán, incidentally?’ she asked when they were outside. ‘Has he sobered up after yesterday?’

‘He was not so intoxicated that he did not remember what happened. You humiliated him and he will not forgive you.’

‘He humiliated himself,’ corrected Fidelma.

‘Anyway, after raging before me last evening, just before you returned to the rath, he took his horse and rode off, saying that he would sell fiis services to a chieftain who appreciated his talent.’

‘That is what I fear. His talent lies in arrogance and bullying. There are unscrupulous men about who wish to use such talents. Anyway, you say that the young man is no longer in the rath ?’

Crón’s eyes widened.

‘You do not think that he conspired with Dignait to …?’

‘I do not waste time in speculation without facts, Crón.’ A thought suddenly struck her. It did have something to do with Crítán. She was about to act upon it when she suddenly caught sight of Menma, the stableman, riding out of the rath. He was mounted on a sturdy mare but leading an ass on a rope behind him. There was a heavy pannier strapped to the animal’s back.

‘Where is he off to?’ demanded Fidelma suspiciously.

‘I have asked him to go to the southern highlands to round upsome stray horses,’ replied Crón. ‘Did you want his services? Shall I call him back?’

‘It does not matter for the moment.’ Fidelma was reluctant to be distracted from her immediate thoughts.

There was, however, a further distraction with the sound of horses entering the rath, across the wooden bridge. It caused them to turn. It was Cranat and Father Gormán. They passed Menma without acknowledgment.

Crón crossed to her mother immediately and began explaining what had happened. Sister Fidelma held back, observing the interplay between mother and daughter with interest. There seemed a curious distance between them. A formality which could not quite be explained.

Father Gormán, who had been listening, had dismounted and, while someone came to take charge of his horse, he approached Fidelma.

‘Brother Eadulf is a follower of Rome,’ he said abruptly. ‘If his life is in danger I should tend to his needs.’

‘His needs are well tended to, Father Gormán,’ replied Fidelma with some amusement. ‘We can only wait now.’

Father Gormán coloured.

‘I meant his spiritual needs. A last confession. The last rites of our church.’

‘I have not quite consigned him to the Otherworld yet,’ she replied. ‘Dum vita est spes est,’ she added. While there is life there is hope.

She turned towards Cranat who was about to move off.

‘Cranat! A word with you.’

The haughty woman turned, flushing in annoyance.

‘It is usual to request …’

‘I have no time for etiquette, as I told you before,’ Fidelma said. ‘We are speaking of life and death here. I believe that you saw Dignait this morning. Did you observe her preparing breakfast for the guests’ hostel?’

‘I do not busy myself in kitchens,’ sniffed Cranat.

‘Yet you saw Dignait this morning?’

‘I saw her while I was crossing the hall of assembly. She came from the kitchen. I paused to speak to her on a domestic matter. I do believe that the servant Grella came in and Dignait instructed her to go to the kitchen and take the breakfast tray to the guests’ hostel. That is all.’

‘Dignait needs to be found. Do you know where she might go?’

Cranat returned Fidelma’s look with distaste.

‘I am not in the habit of busying myself with the personal affairs of servants. Now, if that is all …?’ She stalked off before Fidelma could reply.

Father Gormán was still determinedly standing his ground and he now took his opportunity.

‘I insist upon seeing the dying Saxon brother,’ he said. ‘You must take a portion of the blame on yourself for this death, sister. You released that spawn of Satan knowing full well that our lives might be in danger still.’

Fidelma turned irritably to him.

‘Are you sure that you are an advocate of the Christian doctrine?’

Father Gormán flushed.

‘More so than you, that is obvious. The Christ himself said:

“If your hand offend you, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched; where worm dies not and the fire is not quenched.” It is about time that we cut off this offence. Destroy and drive out the evil in our midst!’