Our Lady of Darkness

Mannanán Mac Lir. I had assumed that she was going to join the Abbey of Maughold. Now I think she meant to go to the island with her brother, simply to live in comfort on the money she had made from her evil enterprise.’

Coba stood up.

‘Chief Brehon, I have just spoken to the messenger that I sent to the abbey. He confirms that when he went there on my instruction to tell the abbess that I had granted the Saxon sanctuary, Fainder was not available. He gave that message to the rechtaire. Étromma knew where Brother Eadulf was on the evening before Gabrán came to my fortress and attempted to kill him.’

‘I have been suspicious of Étromma for some time,’ Fidelma told them all, ‘but I could not work out why. It was only when I realised that Fial had been taken from the abbey and placed on Gabrán’s boat that I was certain she was at the centre of this enterprise.’

‘Why?’ Barrán wanted to know.

‘I had asked to see Fial. Étromma left me with the physician Miach while she went in search of her. Instead of waiting for her at the apothecary I went back to see Eadulf again. When I arrived, Brother Cett, who had been his jailer, had disappeared. The new man told me that he and Étromma had gone down to the quay. The reason why, I later deduced, was so they could get Fial out of the abbey and onto Gabrán’s boat before I could speak with her. Étromma then returned to tell me Fial was missing. Very convenient! A short while later, I learnt that Gabrán’s boat had left the abbey quay.’

‘I think the path has now been made clear, Fidelma,’ Barrán thanked her. ‘However, can you shed some light on why this woman could bring herself to engage in such wicked work?’

‘I think the immediate motive was acquisition of sufficient wealth to live in some degree of comfort and independence. What is it that Timothy tells us in his Epistle? Radix omnium malorum est cupiditas. The love of money is the root of all evil. Étromma is an unfortunate woman: many people know that. She is of the royal family, but a poor relation. She and her brother were taken as hostages when they were children, and not one of the branches of the royal family offered to pay the honour price for their release.’

Fianamail stirred uncomfortably but said nothing in defence of his family.

‘Étromma and Cett effected their own escape and, being still children, entered the service of the abbey. Cett was, through no fault of his own, simple and mainly dominated by his sister. Étromma was not outstanding enough to rise beyond the office of rechtaire. She was bitter because of that, although it was an influential enough position. She had been rechtaire, running the day-to-day business of the abbey for ten years, when Fainder was brought in over her head and made abbess. It was a considerable blow to her. Perhaps it was then that her thoughts turned to acquiring enough wealth to be able to leave the abbey and become independent. She worked out the plan and her brother Cett and the boatman Gabrán became her willing accomplices.’

‘It seems clear enough now,’ muttered Forbassach begrudgingly.

Fidelma smiled but without humour.

‘As my mentor Brehon Morann would have said, it is afterwards that events are always understood.’

While Barrán was instructing the scribes and explaining the law tothe Brehons, Eadulf turned to Fidelma and spoke for the first time since the hearing got underway.

‘When did you start to suspect Sister Étromma?’ he asked. ‘You said that you had had your eye on her for some time, but only confirmed your suspicions when you realised Fial had been on Gabrán’s boat.’

Fidelma sat back and gave the question some thought before answering.

‘I suspected her when she was showing me the quay on the very first day that I arrived.’

Eadulf was astounded. ‘The first day? How can that be?’

‘I had, as I said, learned that she and Cett had gone to the quay when she was supposed to be looking for Fial. She had come back to tell me that Fial was missing. Then we went to the quay. A religieux interrupted us to say a river boat had sunk and it was thought to be Gabrán’s. Étromma seemed unduly concerned, although she did her best to disguise it. She went off immediately to investigate. Had it been Gabrán’s vessel, Fial might have been rescued or the wreck searched, in which case the terrible trade in young girls might have been revealed.’

She paused for a moment.

‘That was one thing. Then, of course, she lied about having witnessed me finding the wand of office and letter to Theodore in the mattress where you had placed it. She had seen me find them: I knew it. I thought at first she might simply have been in awe of Forbassach and the abbess, but the real reason was that she wanted my enquiries to end with your execution …’

Several days later, Eadulf and Fidelma stood together on the quay by the side of Loch Garman. It was not technically a loch or lake at all but a big opening to the sea, a main port for ships from Gaul, Iberia, from the lands of the Franks and Saxons and many other countries as well. Loch Garman was the busiest port in the five kingdoms, standing at the south-eastern tip of the island and thus being the most easily accessible stopping off point; a fact which benefited Laigin by a rich trade as well as bringing a curse by attracting frequent raids from buccaneers.

Fidelma and Eadulf stood facing one another with the wind gently ruffling their hair and tugging at their clothes.

‘So,’ Fidelma sighed, ‘that is that. Young Fianamail has been summoned to Tara to be admonished by the High King. Forbassach has been stripped of rank and can no longer practise in law. He has beensent to some obscure community and his wife is divorcing him. Abbess Fainder has already gone abroad again, presumably to Rome, and Abbot Noé … well, I think he too will be heading to Rome now that he is no longer spiritual adviser to Fianamail.’

‘Fainder is a curious woman,’ Eadulf reflected. ‘On the one hand she is a fanatic about the Penitentials and the Rule of Rome. On the other, she had no compunction about using her sexuality to claw her way up to the position of abbess. How she could dominate both Abbot Noé and Bishop Forbassach, I cannot understand. I did not even think she was attractive.’

Fidelma threw back her head and chuckled. ‘De gustibus non est disputandum.’

Eadulf grimaced wryly. ‘I suppose it is so: that what I find abhorrent others may find attractive.’ He pursed his lips reflectively. ‘So, as you say, that is that. I presume that Laigin will now return to the rule of the Fénechus Law?’

Fidelma smiled confidently. ‘It will be a while before the cruel punishments of the Penitentials are tried again. I hope that may be never.’

There was an awkward pause between them before Fidelma raised her eyes to his.

‘Are you determined on this course?’ she asked abruptly.

Eadulf seemed sad but resolute.

‘I am. I have duties both to Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, as well as to your brother, for whom I undertook to take these messages.’

Fidelma had been confused these last few days at Eadulf’s quiet determination to continue his journey back to the lands of the Saxons. She had made it as clear as she felt possible that she would welcome him returning with her to Cashel. She had never seen Eadulf so stubborn before. Her pride had not permitted her to unbend further to him. He must surely know how she felt and yet … yet he would not return with her. He had insisted on travelling to the seaport to seek a ship and she had accompanied him, thinking to change his mind and persuade him to return with her. Brehon Morann had once told her that pride was merely a mask for one’s own faults. Was she at fault? What else could she say or do? Fidelma was hesitant, as if finding it difficult to express herself clearly.

‘Are you sure that I cannot persuade you to return with us to Cashel? You know that you will be most welcome at my brother’s court.’

‘I have my duty,’ replied Eadulf solemnly.

‘When duty becomes a creed then we may as well say goodbye to happiness,’ she ventured, remembering her own excuses about duty which had previously caused her to deny her feelings towards him.