Suffer Little Children

She groaned and lowered herself to both knees, pushing at the slab, trying to compel it to move, first in one direction and then another. Her efforts were without success.

Finally, and reluctantly, she rose to her feet.

'That sepulcher holds a valuable key to this business,' she said thoughtfully. 'Someone has opened it and just recently. I think I am finally beginning to see the path through the darkness of this mystery…'

Brother Rumann came padding swiftly back to where they stood. They could see from his face that he was bursting with some important news.

'Sister Grella has been seen,' he blurted.

'Has she returned to the abbey?' asked Fidelma in excitement.

Rumann shook his head.

'Someone saw her riding with Salbach in the woods of Dor. It would seem that the chieftain of the Corco Loigde has found her. Excuse me, I must take this news to the abbot.'

Fidelma watched him hurry away. Cass was doing his best to conceal his excitement.

'Well.' He smiled with satisfaction. 'I think our mystery is near its end, eh?'

'How so, Cass?' she asked wearily.

'If Salbach has found Sister Grella, then we have found the culprit. You gave orders yourself to detain her. She was the person who was most implicated by the evidence,' he pointed out. 'Doubtless she stole that evidence from the abbot's chamber.'

'Yet Sister Grella has not been seen in the abbey since she disappeared.'

'Well, maybe she returned without being noticed. I say, there is your thief and if she is the thief, she is also Dacan's killer. She would surely know that the evidence in that marsupium proves as much. It is logical that she would wish to destroy it. She probably heard from someone in the abbey that Brocc had the evidence.'

Fidelma suddenly gazed thoughtfully at him. She had neglected to tell him that the evidence that had been left behind implicated Grella rather than the reverse. She decided to keep this information to herself for the time being.

'It is a possible explanation,' she conceded. 'Where are the woods of Dor?'

'Cuan Doir is Salbach's fortress which is situated between the woods and the sea. It is less than a quarter of an hour's journey across the headland,' Cass replied. 'We may meet Salbach escorting Grella along the road, that is if he is bringing her back to the abbey.'

'Much power in that word 'if,' ' muttered Fidelma but did not explain herself further: 'I think we shall discover something else about Grella and Salbach as a result of this journey. Let's get our horses from the stables.'

Cass suppressed a sigh of irritation. He found Fidelma a most exasperating woman.

Chapter Fifteen

Cuan Doir, Dor's harbor, was a short ride across the headland from Ros Ailithir. In fact, it was little more than three miles from the gates of the abbey. The track ran within sight of the stormy sea through wild scenery of granite rocks, gorse and heather, a landscape devoid of trees because of the nearness of the expanse of ocean with its prevailing coastal winds. Almost halfway along this path they crossed the remains of an ancient stone circle. Tall, gray granite sentinels stood as silent testimony to the beliefs and practices of the ancients, forming a circle some thirty feet in diameter, while just beyond was a small stone cabin. It seemed to fit so naturally into the wild, windswept landscape and conjure images of times past.

A little further on, the path descended into an inlet which seemed as natural a harbor as the one offered by Ros Ailithir. It was an area replete in fuchsia-strewn hedgerows which laced a breathtaking scenery. There were a few ships anchored in the small harbor. Several buildings comprised the township but dominating them was the fortress of Salbach: a round, stone-walled stronghold, well appointed to control the sea approaches as well as the road to the harbor. Fidelma saw that, like many of the fortresses she had seen, its walls, which rose some twenty feet high, were of dry stone. She estimated the circular fortification was probably some hundred feet in diameter with only one entrance, a large gateway with sloping jambs big enough for only one horse and rider to pass through at a time.

Armed warriors lounged at this gate watching with ill-concealed curiosity as Fidelma and Cass rode up.

'Is Sister Grella of Ros Ailithir within the gates?' called Fidelma as they halted. She had not bothered to dismount.

'This is the fortress of Salbach, chieftain of the Corco Loigde,' came the uncompromising reply from one of the guardians of the portal. He did not bother to change his lounging posture as he leant against the wall staring at them.

Fidelma decided to change tack.

'Then we should like to see Salbach.'

'He is not here,' came the wooden response.

'Then where is he, man?' demanded Cass, moving forward so that the warrior could see his golden collar emblem and know him for one of the elite warriors of Cashel.

The man made no sign that he had observed the emblem. He gazed insolently back at Cass.

'He went riding a while ago.' As Cass was about to make a sharp retort, the warrior relented and pointed with his spear. 'He will probably be hunting in the wood of Dor, which is in that direction.'

'Was anyone with him?' demanded Fidelma.

'Salbach likes to hunt alone.'

This statement brought forth a low chuckle from the other guard as if it were some witticism.

Fidelma motioned Cass to follow and they turned in the direction of the distant woodland which the warrior had indicated.

'If Grella is not with Salbach, what need to go in search of him?' inquired Cass as he realized her intent.

'Perhaps Salbach does not hunt alone?' Fidelma suggested. 'The idea seemed to amused our taciturn friend's companion.'

They walked their horses at a quiet pace along the track as it twisted upward again from the shoreline, crossing undulating ground for a few miles before entering a thick woodland area which was, Fidelma noticed, rich in the variety of its trees although it was predominated by conifers intermixed with many birch and hazels. Heather grew everywhere in abundance. They followed the main track as it cut through the forest.

The woodland suddenly halted to make way for a river, cutting its way tempestuously down from the distant hills and heading in a broad sweep towards the sea behind them. It was wide but looked shallow enough. Fidelma was about to cross when Cass called softly to stay her.

He pointed wordlessly.

She saw, a short distance along the banks on the farthest side, a small woodsman's bothan or cabin. There was smoke rising from its chimney.

Outside, in front of the cabin, stood two horses. One was fairly richly accoutred while the other was in plain harness.

Fidelma exchanged a meaningful glance with Cass.

'We'll cross,' she instructed, and proceeded to urge her horse through the rapidly flowing water. The track had, in fact, come to a natural ford and the water was little more than two feet in depth at its deepest point. They eased their horses carefully across to the far bank.

'We'll leave our horses in that clearing,' Fidelma said, pointing to a small, sheltered spot a little way ahead of them. 'Then we will make our way to the bothan. It is my guess that we will find both Salbach and our missing librarian there.'

Cass shook his head in perplexity but did not say anything.

Fidelma choose to make her way to the cabin surreptitiously, for she had embarked upon a series of thoughts which had brought her to a conclusion that she found scarcely creditable but whose progression seemed to fit the facts she had gathered so far.

They followed a small path which kept parallel with the river bank and brought them to the small clearing in which the woodsman's cabin stood.

They halted at the edge of the trees before the open area and Fidelma raised her head to listen.

There came the sound of a woman's peal of laughter from within the cabin.

Fidelma smiled in grim satisfaction towards Cass. It seemed that she had been right in her prediction.