when one is so young and inexperienced as Lerben.’
The girl was silent for a while.
‘Sister Lerben has never liked me. I cannot stay here now. You heard what she said? Abbess Draigen has made her the steward of the abbey now Sister Síomha is dead.’
‘An unwise, indeed, foolish choice,’ conceded Fidelma. ‘And I will talk about this matter with the abbess. Lerben is too young to be
‘If they fear me so much then that fear will never be diminished but grow into hate. I will never be safe here.’
‘Give them a chance. At least, allow me to speak with Abbess Draigen.’
Sister Berrach said nothing. Fidelma decided to take it as a sign of acceptance of her suggestion.
She rose and went to the door, glancing back briefly.
‘Will you be all right here for a short while?’ she asked.
Sister Berrach looked gloomy.
Fidelma left the cell and walked grimly towards the Abbess Draigen’s chamber. Now that she thought about the matter, hot blood poured into her brain. She felt a rage at the conduct of the abbess. How could she have given such power to Lerben? How could she have induced the novice into encouraging her sisters to attempt nothing less than an act of murder? What hatred did the abbess feel for Berrach? Everywhere Fidelma looked a cloak of hatred hung about this place. She felt furious and then a thought came into hermind. It was easy to fly into a temper but didn’t Publilius Syrus argue that one should always shun anger? Anger made people blind and foolish. She recalled the words of her mentor, the Brehon Morann of Tara: whoever experiences the white heat of anger will then experience the ice cold of regret. Better to be calm.
She had no sooner made the resolution than she found herself outside the door of Abbess Draigen’s chamber.
She thrust it open and marched in without knocking.
Abbess Draigen was sitting at her chamber, upright and stiff-backed, her mouth set determinedly. Sister Lerben was standing by the fire, evidently having eluded the escort of Sister Brónach. She stared with dislike as Fidelma entered and strode firmly into the room.
‘I will speak with you alone, mother abbess.’
‘I am …’ began Sister Lerben.
‘You are dismissed,’ snapped Fidelma.
Abbess Draigen let her eyes flicker towards the young novice and then made a dismissive motion with her hand. The young woman bit her tongue, almost bringing her teeth down painfully on her lower lip. She went, head high, from the room.
Before Fidelma could speak, Abbess Draigen’s face dissolved in wrath.
‘This is the second time you have interfered with the orders of someone appointed by me. Sister Lerben was appointed acting
Fidelma smiled thinly against her anger.
‘Fear betrays unworthy souls,’ she replied as she seated herself.
Abbess Draigen grimaced.
‘This is also the second time that you have quoted your Latin philosophers at me.’
‘You did not allow me time to report on my interrogation of Sister Berrach before you allowed Lerben to whip up the fears of your community,’ Fidelma ignored her riposte.‘What did you think she could achieve by inciting such a killing? Did you think that you, responsible for such an action as abbess, could do this without punishment?’
Abbess Draigen met her eye firmly.
‘I was aware that Lerben and her fellow sisters had condemned Berrach. They acted in accordance to the law of God. I would stand by their decisions. I believe that Berrach was guilty of killing Sister Síomha. The pagan signs spoke of evil. The book of Deuteronomy says that those that practise such evil are guilty of an abomination to the Lord and must be driven out. Sister Lerben was acting in accord with the teaching of the Archbishop Ultan. I approved of her actions. My authority is Armagh.’
Fidelma decided that there was wisdom in Aristotle when he said that anyone could give way to anger but the secret was knowing when to be angry with the right person to the right extent and in the right way. It was really Abbess Draigen whom she had to deal with. Young Sister Lerben was only her voice. Clearly, Abbess Draigen had told Lerben what to do. Yet this was not the time to be angry with Abbess Draigen either for her anger would merely meet with a brick wall.
‘Let us be clear that there is as much evidence to convict Berrach of the killing of Sister Síomha, at this time, as to convict you or Sister Brónach Your incitement of Lerben to violence is based on the hidden fears that others have because of poor Berrach’s deformity. It is not the way a member of the Faith should act. So I want you to guarantee that no harm will come to Berrach until I have finished my investigation.’
Abbess Draigen pursed her lips.
‘I shall not swear for it is against the Scriptures.’
Fidelma smiled cynically.
‘I know the passage to which you refer, mother abbess. It is the fifth chapter of Matthew. But while Christ said one should not swear by any sacred object he exhorted people tosay “yes” or “no”. Therefore, I shall exhort you to say “yes”, that you will guarantee the safety of Berrach. The other answer is “no” and, if this is so, then I shall have to refer the matter to Abbot Brocc at Ros Ailithir and safeguard Sister Berrach myself.’
Abbess Draigen sniffed angrily.
‘Then you have your “yes”. I shall say no more than that I will also refer this matter, not to Brocc, but to Ultan of Armagh himself.’
Fidelma’s eyes narrowed.
‘Am I to understand that you prefer to accept the rule of Rome in this land?’
‘I am of the Roman school,’ the abbess conceded.
‘So we know where we stand,’ Fidelma replied softly.
Fidelma was well aware of the growing conflict between the church in the five kingdoms of Eireann and Rome. There was also a growing debate on the systems of law. The five kingdoms had long been steeped in legal tradition ever since twelve centuries before the High King Ollamh Fodhla had ordered the laws of the Brehons, the judges, to be gathered into a unified code. But with the coming of the New Faith, new ideas were entering the land. From Rome, the advocates of the New Faith had, despising the laws of the lands which they converted, devised their own ecclesiastical laws. These canon laws were based on the decisions of councils of bishops and abbots, which ostensibly dealt with the government of the churches and clergy and administration of the sacraments and were now beginning to challenge the civil laws of the land.
In a few instances, some religious foundations had tried to claim that they were above the civil laws, indeed, even above the criminal laws. But these were few and far between. However, she knew that Ultan of Armagh favoured a closer merger with Rome and encouraged ecclesiastical legislation. Ultan himself had become a figure of controversy for, since he had succeeded Commené as archbishop six years ago, hehad demonstrated time and again that he wanted to centralise the church of the five kingdoms after the manner of Rome.
‘I stand by the teachings of Ultan and in the evidence that he has revealed showing that we should not be governed by the laws of the Brehons,’ Draigen said.
‘Evidence?’
The abbess pushed forward a small manuscript book that was resting on her table.
Fidelma glanced at it: ‘The bishops Patrick, Auxiliius and Isernius greet the priests and deacons and all the clerics …’ She put down the manuscript.
‘It was no secret that Ultan is circulating this document,’ Fidelma told Draigen. ‘I know that he claims it to be the record of a council held two hundred years ago by those who took a leading part in converting the five kingdoms to the new Faith. Archbishop Ultan claims that the thirty-five ordnances of this supposed synod are the basis of ecclesiastical law and the first ordnance states that any member of the Church who appeals to the secular courts of Éireann merits excommunication.’
