Peter Tremayne - Penance of the Damned

‘Then she has been married?’

‘Many years back,’ he said. ‘Donennach and the family disapproved of the choice, for the man was unworthy. However, Airmid is a determined woman and she had to find out the hard way. Donennach was trying to get her to divorce the man.’

‘On what grounds?’

‘Oh, that he beat her. She once appeared with a blemish on her face where he had struck her. Donennach ordered her to take her coibhe , the dowry, and leave, demanding full compensation according to law.’

‘And did she?’

‘It was unnecessary, for the husband was then reported killed at the battle of Cnoc Aine, but-’

He was cut short by a guard entering the great hall together with Enda, who was looking strangely agitated. There was something in his stance that caused the warlord to excuse himself, then rise and hasten over to him. Conri bent his head to listen to the guard’s urgent whispering. Fidelma saw a worried expression cross the warlord’s features and he turned towards Brehon Faolchair and beckoned to him. The Brehon immediately rose and went to join the warlord. It was clear that something had happened.

Brehon Faolchair stood still for a moment listening, his face a mirror of the warlord’s grim expression. Then he shook his head from side to side as if in disbelief as he returned to the table.

‘A problem?’ queried Prior Cuan, looking up.

Brehon Faolchair looked straight towards Fidelma, addressing her with a voice that was now very grave.

‘I am afraid that the attempt to buy time with a new investigation of Abbot Segdae’s murder has come to nothing, lady,’ he said tightly. ‘There can be no point in renewing the hearing, for Gorman has now demonstrated his complete guilt.’

Fidelma felt apprehensive as she returned the Brehon’s angry gaze. ‘What has happened?’ she asked.

‘Gorman has escaped from his cell and fled the fortress with the woman, Aibell.’

After Brehon Faolchair and Conri had left the great hall and the clamour that had greeted the Brehon’s outburst had subsided, Fidelma asked Enda what exactly had taken place.

‘It is very confusing.’ It was unusual for her to see the phlegmatic young man so utterly at a loss. ‘This morning, as you know, I went with Ciarnat and saw Aibell to pass on your message. We were then allowed to visit Gorman in his cell. It was true that he and Aibell had been fretting because you had not visited or contacted them since our arrival. Gorman was morose, of course, but seemed thankful when I gave him your message and assured him that you were doing everything to help him.’

‘So what has gone wrong?’ Eadulf demanded.

‘I don’t know. Gorman was vehement that he was innocent but relieved that matters were now in your hands; he was anxious to speak with you. After that, Ciarnat and I left him. I did not bother to come and find you afterwards as there was no need. Your message had been passed on. I went to the barracks and was chatting to some of the warriors there. You can learn much in a barracks when warriors are relaxing and speaking freely.’

‘Probably so,’ Eadulf agreed. ‘But when did you learn about the escape?’

‘Just now. I was in the barracks when a guard came in looking as if he had been in a fight. I recognised him as the guard from the prison. He shouted that the prisoner had escaped. Some of the men leaped to their feet and went haring off to give chase. I could not believe the guard meant Gorman, so I asked him what had happened. As he helped himself to a jug of corma , he told me that the prisoner’s woman, Aibell, had come with a meal. As he bent to open the cell door, he was knocked sprawling by a blow from behind and was rendered unconscious. When he came to, the prisoner and the woman had disappeared.’

‘Is he saying that Aibell knocked him out?’ Fidelma sounded sceptical.

‘The commander of the guard came in at that moment and I hurried here to find you but was overtaken by him – hence we arrived together in the hall.’

‘Have Gorman and Aibell been caught? You say the warriors set off when the guard sounded the alarm. It would be hard to leave the fortress without being seen or to hide without being discovered.’

‘I do not know, lady.’

‘Where is Ciarnat?’

‘That, also, I do not know.’

Fidelma put her hand to her head in disbelief. ‘I do not understand it. Of all the stupid things to do!’ She moved quickly to the doors of the hall, with Eadulf and Enda in her wake. ‘Come, let us follow Conri and Faolchair,’ she called over her shoulder. ‘Whatever possessed Gorman to do this? Things were difficult enough but now this action has made them impossible.’

‘It is unlike Gorman,’ Eadulf replied.

‘But maybe not unlike Aibell.’ Enda showed his bias. ‘She has a mind of her own. And I haven’t seen Ciarnat since I left her to go to the barracks.’

As they started to cross the courtyard, they saw Conri hurrying towards them from the direction of the main gates. By his side was a dishevelled-looking guard.

‘Have they been recaptured?’ Fidelma demanded before the warlord could speak.

Conri shook his head. ‘It was a well conceived plan,’ he replied bitterly. ‘It seems that Gorman’s wife had two horses ready at a side gate, just behind the prison house. That gate is usually locked. There is no sign of them but they can’t have gone far. I have sent Socht and some men after them. Socht is a good tracker. They can’t be allowed to escape.’ He then added as if in apology, ‘Even though I sympathise with Gorman’s plight.’

‘So they escaped through a side gate on horseback?’

‘The cells for prisoners are entered by a separate entrance from the main barracks, lady,’ explained Conri. ‘As I said, the gate there is usually locked and bolted. We don’t often use it, since its main purpose is as a strategic exit for our warriors should the fortress be under attack at the main gates. A party of warriors can leave at the side to encircle the raiders at the main gates.’

‘Are you claiming that Aibell had planned this and had two horses waiting outside with this gate already unlocked and unbolted?’ Eadulf could scarcely believe this.

‘Yes. They even used the horses they arrived here on,’ the warlord informed them. ‘My guess is that if Gorman is the warrior I think he is, then he will head south across the stony ground to hide their tracks, and then cross the river and follow it further south, hoping to disguise the tracks by riding in the shallows. He will think that we will expect him to immediately turn due east. We should be able to recapture them shortly,’ he concluded with satisfaction.

‘It sounds incredible,’ Fidelma said.

‘I doubt Aibell could have accomplished this alone,’ agreed the warlord, and Fidelma noticed that his eyes flickered towards the guard at his side as he spoke. The man in question was an ugly-looking fellow, with overhanging brows, and hardly any neck to speak of. He was small and thickset, with a look of cunning about him.

‘Are you the guard who was knocked out by a young woman?’ she asked.

The man reddened as he defiantly grunted an affirmative.

‘Explain what happened?’ she demanded.

‘The woman came with a meal for the prisoner,’ the man replied sullenly. ‘I bent to unlock the door to let her in and she hit me. I knew nothing more until I recovered my senses, by which time they had fled.’

‘She arrived carrying food. You turned your back, bent to the door … and she knocked you out?’

‘Exactly as I said. I had no suspicion, see, for the girl was always visiting the prisoner and bringing him meals. I had often opened the cell before in such a fashion.’