Peter Tremayne - The Spider's Web

Crón leant forward with scepticism on her features.

‘This is all very poetic, Sister Fidelma. Does your rhetoric have some purpose?’

Fidelma turned quickly to her with a look of appraisal.

‘You have seen my methods, Crón, and have expressed your appreciation of them. I do not think I need defend my procedure.’

The young tanist flushed and sat back. Fidelma confidently turned back to her audience.

‘Let us start with the first thread. This thread is Muadnat of the Black Marsh.’

‘What has Muadnat to do with the murder of my husband?’ Cranat demanded in a dry, rasping tone. ‘He was Eber’s friend and once his tanist.’

‘By patience you will have a linen shirt from the flax plant,’ replied Fidelma good naturedly, uttering an old saying that had been a favourite of her mentor, Morann of Tara. ‘My involvement in this affair actually began with Muadnat, so it is fitting that I should start with him. Muadnat in recent times became possessed of a gold mine. He found it on the land which he had tried to claim from his cousin, Archú.’

There was an immediate expression of surprise from the young farmer.

‘Where was this?’ demanded Archú. ‘I have never heard of a gold mine in the Black Marsh.’

‘The mine is located on the far side of the hill whose land was too poor for cultivation. You dismissed it as axe-land. I should say that it was probably not Muadnat who made the discovery but a miner named Morna. He was brother of a hostel keeper named Bressal, who keeps a hostel not far from this valley on the western road which leads to Lios Mhór and Cashel.’

The young farmer looked astonished, glancing to Scoth at his side.

‘Do you mean the hostel where we stayed?’

‘The same,’ confirmed Fidelma. ‘Remember that Bressal spoke about his brother Morna who had brought him a rock which he claimed would make him rich? That was from the cave on your land which had begun to yield up gold.’

‘It’s a lie!’ Agdae intervened angrily. ‘Muadnat never mentioned a gold mine to me. You all know that I was his nephew and his adopted son.’

‘Muadnat wanted to keep his mine a secret,’ went on Fidelma, unperturbed. ‘The problem was that he had a cousin who was claiming the land as his own. This cousin, Archú, decided to take the matter to law. Muadnat fought desperately to keep hold of the land. You see, Muadnat believed in bending laws for his own purpose but not breaking them entirely. The matter was embarrassing. Muadnat had a piece of luck, however. Archú took the matter to Lios Mhór rather than have the case heard before Eber. Eber was a crafty man and might have asked too many questions about why Muadnat was keen to hang on to the land.’

Agdae looked sour.

‘Why didn’t Muadnat make me a partner in his gold mine?’

‘You were not ruthless enough for the enterprise,’ called Clídna.

Fidelma saw Crón about to rebuke her for daring to speak in the hall of assembly and interrupted.

‘Clídna is right,’ she confirmed. ‘Agdae is not the sort of person who would be mixed up in illegal mining. Muadnat wanted someone who would obey orders without questions asked. He chose his cousin Menma.’

‘Menma?’ frowned Agdae. ‘Was Menma working with Muadnat?’

Fidelma regarded him sadly. ‘Menma was his overseer. Menma ran the mine, recruited the miners, saw that they were fed and ensured that gold was shipped south where it would be held securely. How do you secretly feed and house a group of hungry miners in a peaceful pastoral valley without the local farmers knowing about them? A place to hide was no problem. Themine itself provided shelter. But what of food?’

‘What you do is carry out raids on farms and carry off the livestock,’ replied Eadulf triumphantly. ‘Not too much, a cow or two here and there, perhaps.’

‘But Muadnat had a rich farm,’ Crón pointed out. ‘He could have fed those miners without resorting to such subterfuge as cattle raids.’

‘That would mean that Agdae would come to know what was happening. You forget that Agdae was Muadnat’s chief herdsman. Agdae would know if Muadnat was killing more cattle and supplying food to a source which he could not account for. And if Muadnat dismissed Agdae from that job it would look very suspicious. After all, Agdae was Muadnat’s closest relative.’

Agdae was flushed in mortification.

‘What made you think that the cattle raids were not genuine?’ demanded Dubán.

‘I have heard of cattle raiders, of outlaws, running off cattle. But, as Eadulf pointed out, never in ones or twos. Outlaws seek cattle to sell. That being so they would move entire herds or certainly enough cattle to make the sale worthwhile. I suspected that these cattle were being taken for food only. This was confirmed when we encountered some of the raiders when we were coming back from Gadra’s hermitage. They were moving south, with asses loaded with panniers. The panniers were doubtless filled with gold.’

‘Some of the raiders?’ queried Dubán.

‘Menma was not with them and neither were others we will identify shortly,’ explained Fidelma.

‘But I do not see the connection between Muadnat’s gold mine and the death of Eber and Teafa?’ Agdae protested sullenly.

‘We will eventually get there, following the strands of the spider’s web,’ Fidelma assured him. ‘Muadnat’s wish was to hang on to the mine. He did his best to do so. Perhaps even against the advice of his partner.’

There was a silence.

‘Muadnat would never take Menma’s advice about anything,’ sneered Agdae.

Fidelma chose not to ignore the jibe.

‘Even while he was at Lios Mhór, Muadnat’s partner had probably decided that he would take over the gold mine,’ Fidelma said. ‘The reason was that Muadnat was drawing too much attention to himself in arguing law with Archú. The mine was meant to be secret. More importantly, Muadnat had fallen out of favour with Eber.

‘Muadnat had been Eber’s tanist until a few weeks ago. He had been due to be chieftain when Eber died. But suddenly he found himself dispossessed. Eber had persuaded the derbfhine of his family to accept his daughter Crón as tanist instead of Muadnat.

‘The raid on Bressal’s hostel, for example, was probably conducted without Muadnat’s knowledge. The raid was led by the man I later recognised as Menma. He had been told that Morna, Bressal’s brother, the miner who had discovered the mine, was being too free with his tongue. In fact, Morna had taken a rock to his brother, a rock which contained a gold trace, and told his brother that he would grow rich by it. It was not realised that Morna had not passed on any specific information. By chance we happened to be there and thwarted Menma’s attack.’

‘What happened to this miner named Morna?’ demanded Dubán. ‘Was he killed?’

‘He was, indeed. He had been captured, killed and was later left at Archú’s farm where, it was thought, he would simply be regarded as an outlaw killed in the raid. His relationship to Bressal was only obvious to me by the similarity of the features of the two brothers.’

‘Are you saying that Muadnat knew nothing about the raid of Bressal’s hostel and the slaughter of Bressal’s brother?’ asked Eadulf in surprise.

‘I do not see how this story of Muadnat’s gold mine relates tothe murder of my father,’ Crón insisted impatiently.

Fidelma allowed herself to smile briefly.

‘I have but unravelled the first thread of the spider’s web. Muadnat’s death became inevitable because of two old human emotions — fear and greed. Menma killed him, of course. Menma slaughtered Muadnat as one might slaughter an animal. It was the same way he had slaughtered Morna. It was the cold professionalism that pointed to Menma. One of his tasks was to slaughter meat for his chieftain’s table. I am not sure whether it was his idea to have Muadnat hanged on the cross after the act. Presumably this was a method of distracting me. Menma made one mistake. Before dealing the death blow, Menma allowed Muadnat to grasp some strands of his hair and pull out a tuft by the roots. It was left at the scene.’