Our Lady of Darkness

neck of the victim after the killing.’

‘But you said that he told Bishop Forbassach of his concern?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did he do anything further about all this? Did he pursue the matter with Gabrán?’

‘You are a dálaigh. You should know well enough that Daig was just a watchman. He was no lawyer to pursue such enquiries. He told Forbassach and, from then on, it was his task. Bishop Forbassach was content with the evidence.’

‘But nothing of this came out at Ibar’s trial?’

‘Not as far as I know. My Daig drowned before the trial, so he was not able to raise his questions.’

Fidelma sat back in her chair to reflect on what Deog had told her. ‘Bishop Forbassach appears as both accuser and judge again. That is not right.’

‘Bishop Forbassach is a good man,’ protested Deog.

Fidelma regarded her with curiosity. ‘There is one thing I find fascinating, Deog,’ she observed. ‘For a countrywoman, and one who does not live in Fearna, you have a lot of knowledge of what goes on there and seem intimate with some influential people.’

Deog sniffed deprecatingly. ‘Wasn’t Daig my husband and didn’t he keep me informed? We often talked about what he did down in Fearna. Isn’t it thanks to that fact that you have now learnt answers to the questions that you asked?’

‘Indeed. But you know more than what your husband has told you. I understand that you are visited by Bishop Forbassach and Abbess Fainder.’

Deog was suddenly nervous. ‘So, you know that?’

Fidelma smiled thinly. ‘Exactly so. Abbess Fainder rides out to see you regularly, isn’t that so?’

‘I will not deny it.’

‘With respect, why would Abbess Fainder ride out here so regularly? Why would she feel the need to tell you, the widow of a member of the river watch, a man she told me that she hardly knew, the details about Brother Ibar’s trial?’

‘Why shouldn’t she?’ demanded Deog defensively. ‘Fainder is my young sister.’

Chapter Twelve

It was some moments before Fidelma recovered from the unexpected reply.

‘Abbess Fainder, the Abbess of Fearna, is your young sister?’

Deog gave a swift affirmative gesture.

‘Does it surprise you that a powerful, rich abbess should have such a poor relation?’ she demanded, a note of belligerence in her voice.

‘Not at all,’ Fidelma assured her. ‘Talent and ability deserve important rewards, although it does occur to me to ask you — is Abbot Noé related to your family?’

Deog looked bewildered. ‘Why should he be?’

‘Are you sure that he is not related to you? Or is any other member of his family so related?’ she pressed.

‘He is not related. I do not see why you should ask such questions.’

‘Just idle curiosity, that’s all,’ Fidelma assured her. ‘Now, you were telling me that the abbess has wealth?’

Deog seemed mollified. ‘My sister has made a good life for herself.’

‘To be a servant of the Faith is not a usual way of gaining riches.’

‘Perhaps not. But as abbess in the King’s capital, she has to mix with rich and powerful people and it would not be seemly that she should go abroad in threadbare attire. I presume the abbey ensures that she has sufficient for her needs.’

Fidelma decided not to pursue the matter.

‘Why did Abbess Fainder pretend not to know your husband? Why was that? Did she not like her brother-in- law?’

‘We agreed that things were best kept from people until Fainder was settled firmly in her office. You see, she had only returned from Rome three or four months ago to become abbess. That was why she rode covertly each day to meet with me. This was where we both grew up. Luckily, she had been away for so long that many people had forgotten her. We thought it better that way until she had established her position.’

‘Are you saying that Fainder was fearful that she would lose her authority as abbess if it were known that you were her sister?’

Deog hesitated, embarrassed at the truth, then raised her head defiantly.

‘It is not so unusual, is it? If you sit on the council of the kingdom with the King, then the fact that your sister’s husband is merely a watchman could undermine your authority.’ Then: ‘Fainder was too long in Rome, perhaps. She had adopted their ways and not our ways,’ confessed Deog. ‘I am told that the great lords do not mix with peasants there, nor do the great church-leaders come from the peasant people. Apparently it is the position of the family which dictates what a child will be in those lands. Alas, Fainder has become imbued with that snobbery.’

‘But not so much that she turned her back on you.’

Deog smiled cynically. ‘There is an old saying. The thing which grows in the bones is hard to drive out of the flesh.’

‘Tell me about your sister.’

‘You should ask her such a question.’

‘You are her older sister. You will know her best.’

For a moment Deog’s expression softened.

‘It’s true. I am five years older than Fainder. When I was fifteen our father was killed in one of the wars against the Uí Néill and soon after my mother died of grief. I was of the age of choice then and took charge of this cabin and the little bit of land. Fainder remained with me until she reached the age of choice and then she went into the abbey at Taghmon to become a religieuse. I did not see her until she was eighteen years old when she came to me and said she was going away. She was joining a party of religious who were going to Bobbio where Columbanus had built his religious house.’

‘A bird flies away from every brood,’ quoted Fidelma.

‘A fine saying, although there is another; a bird had little affection that deserts its own brood.’

‘Go on. You felt that Fainder had little affection for her home and family?’

‘When she left, it was the last that I heard of Fainder until a few months ago. Then she came riding up to my door and announced that she had returned and that she was Abbess of Fearna.’

‘You had not seen her since she was eighteen years old?’

Deog smiled sadly. ‘She had been ten years at Bobbio and then moved south to Rome. It was at Rome that she attracted the attention of Abbot Noé who happened to be on a pilgrimage there. It was he whoinvited her back to Fearna and persuaded her to become the abbess.’

Fidelma was perplexed. ‘Abbot Noé actually persuaded Fainder to return to Laigin to become abbess in charge of the abbey in his stead?’

‘So she told me and so I tell you.’

‘I believed that Noé was of the creed of Colmcille but Fainder seems to have adopted many of the ways of Rome.’

‘She has become zealous for Rome,’ agreed Deog. ‘She has adopted the austere, high and mighty ways of the Roman clerics. But, I think, that is only on the exterior. She is certainly zealously committed to bringing the ways of our church into communion with the rules of Rome.’

‘Are these executions a manifestation of that determination?’

Deog looked unhappy and did not reply.

‘She seems to have exerted her will over Bishop Forbassach and over the King in his turn,’ observed Fidelma