The Monk Who Vanished

‘I saw him but fifteen minutes since coming from the morning service. But I do not know where he was going.’

Fidelma’s face suddenly showed a curious purpose as she thanked the bemused abbot and hurried away with Eadulf trailing in her wake.

Eadulf groaned at her abrupt change of direction.

‘This isn’t the way to the refectory, Fidelma,’ he protested breathlessly.

She silenced him with a cutting gesture of her hand. ‘Don’t you see?’ she pressed.

He shook his head in bewilderment. ‘See what?’

‘The mystery of Brother Bardán’s disappearance is explained.’

He thought a moment and then saw what she meant.

‘Are you telling me that Brother Bardán was hiding from us down a well shaft?’

‘Perhaps the well shaft has another purpose. We must go back directly and examine it. What I do not like is that Solam has been asking about that oratory. What does Solam know about it?’

Eadulf suddenly halted. His expression was defiant.

‘I will not return …’ he began. He paused as he caught the glitter in her eyes and continued, ‘not before I find some food and drink to take with me.’

Impatiently, Fidelma allowed herself to be hurried to the refectory. The long tables were almost deserted for most of the community had already broken their fast and started their daily routine.

‘We might as well take some food with us,’ Fidelma suggested. ‘There is not much time to be lost. Solam is up to something, I am sure of it.’

Eadulf grabbed a couple of loaves of freshly baked bread, still warm. He added to the bread several pieces of cold meat and some cheese as well as fruit. He found a sacullus hanging among several nearby and confiscated it, putting the food in it. Fidelma had found a water container, filled it with water and handed it to him to place in the bag.

‘Now let us return to Gort na Cille,’ she said when he had indicated that he was ready.

As they passed out of the refectory, Eadulf could not resist the temptation to seize another piece of bread and some meat and thrust it into his mouth, experiencing a pleasing sense of satisfaction as he began to chew on it.

The day had turned quite warm by the time they reached the tiny oratory again. They had once more left the abbey by the side gate through the herb garden and, so far as they were aware, they were not been observed by anyone. By the time they had reached the field in which the tiny oratory stood, Eadulf had devoured a large quantity of his share of the food from the sacullus. Fidelma was not hungry and merely contented herself with a drink from the water container they had brought.

The oratory was still deserted and gloomy.

Eadulf lit one of the candles on the altar table to help them identify the flagstone covering the well entrance. It was easy to spot now that they knew what they were looking for. The flag had a small iron ring in it. Eadulf bent forward and heaved. He nearly stumbled backwards for the flag was fixed onto some pivotal device which made it swing upright with little effort.

A large back hole plunged beneath them.

Eadulf held out his candle. It was of little help except to illuminate the first few feet.

‘Total darkness,’ he muttered. ‘There is nowhere that anyone could hide in that blackness.’

‘Examine your candle,’ Fidelma advised him.

Eadulf did not understand. ‘Examine …? What do you mean?’

‘Your candle is fluttering and flickering when you hold it out over the well head. What does that mean to you?’

Eadulf regarded the spluttering candle flame in silence. Then he glanced to the doorway. He was beginning to understand what Fidelma was trying to indicate to him.

‘There is air rising from the shaft here and you think it indicates that there is something more than water down there?’

Fidelma pointed. ‘That fact coupled with another. See, just there … a wooden ladder is fixed to the side of the shaft. Now why have a ladder leading down into a well?’

Eadulf peered dubiously downwards. ‘It’s dark. I’d better go down and look.’

He held out the candle to Fidelma but she shook her head.

‘I am lighter than you. We do not know how firm the ladder is.’

Before he could protest, she had swung over the edge and was already starting downwards into the blackness.

‘It seems firm enough,’ she called up after a few moments.

Eadulf lost sight of her as she disappeared down into the darkness of the pit.

‘You will need a candle to see,’ he called down.

There was no answer.

‘Fidelma!’ called Eadulf anxiously.

Her voice came back immediately.

‘It’s all right. I have found a tunnel. There is some sort of faint light along it.’

‘I’m coming down then,’ Eadulf replied firmly, swinging the sacullus around on his back and, holding the candle firmly in one hand, he began to descend into the well shaft using one hand to grip the outside edge of the ladder.

He had descended some ten feet into the blackness when he saw the opening which Fidelma had discovered. She had already moved from the ladder into the tunnel. She held out her hand for the candle so that Eadulf could more easily negotiate the tunnel entrance. He passed it across.

‘There is plenty of space in the tunnel,’ she assured him.

Eadulf saw that she was right. It was about three feet in width and five feet in height, so that he had only to bend forward and be cautious of hitting his head on the low, rocky ceiling. The tunnel, judging by its shape, which was almost oval, appeared to meander and its course marked it as a natural cavity formed by the corrosion of water in the limestone. It was very damp and the atmosphere was fetid. Like Fidelma, he realised that further along the tunnel there was a faint light but it did not seem natural.

‘What is it?’ he whispered.

‘I have seen it before. It is a substance which is luminous in the dark, an odd waxy matter which I have seen craftsmen use to make fire from. It is inflammable. I think the Greeks name it after the Morning Star.’

They exchanged no further word as they followed the passage. It was some time before Eadulf heard Fidelma utter a suppressedexclamation as she suddenly found she was able to stand upright. He saw that the passageway had emptied into a moderately sized cave. It was about ten feet in height, rounded and maybe twenty to thirty feet in diameter.

‘There’s no one here,’ Eadulf muttered, stating the obvious, as he examined the emptiness of the cave.

Like the passageway along which they had come, the cave was very wet and there was a small pool in the centre. There was a constant drip, drip of water from the roof striking the pool’s surface. The noise echoed and re-echoed and to Eadulf the sound seemed unbearable for any length of time.

‘It is not the sort of place anyone would remain,’ Fidelma said, appearing to read his thoughts. Then she pointed across the cave. On the far side there were two black holes marking entrances to other tunnels.

‘Two entrances. Which one shall we choose?’ she asked.

‘The right-hand path,’ said Eadulf unthinkingly.

Fidelma glanced at him but the light distorted her features so that he could not discern her expression.

‘Why choose right?’ Her voice was amused.

Eadulf shrugged. ‘Why not?’

They crossed the cave floor, which was slippery with lichen and some moss-like growth, and went into the tunnel. It was not long before the narrow passage bulged into a wider chamber. This chamber was dry and dusty. Eadulf felt the dust as he breathed in, feeling its tiny particles coating his mouth and windpipe. He coughed for a few moments.

There was dust and rocks on the floor. Fidelma stood still and held her candle up high to spread the maximum possible light.