Fidelma looked at him inquisitively. ‘Why obvious?’ she demanded.
‘One moment, Sister.’ The smith rose and went to a cupboard at the back of the room. A moment later he had returned bearing a round warrior’s shield, a broken sword and a knife. ‘These were found with the bodies of the religious. Do you need me to identify their markings and their origin?’
Fidelma turned to Eadulf, who was looking at the markings with an uncomfortable expression. She knew what he would answer before she asked the question.
‘They are Hwicce,’ he confirmed.
‘Can you be sure?’ she pressed.
Eadulf nodded. ‘Observe the double lightning stroke on the shield, the symbol of Thunor, god of lightning? If that is not enough, one can see the riveting and construction. .’
‘Indeed!’ interrupted the smith, smiling maliciously. ‘No Briton would do this work. This is a Saxon shield and weapons.’
‘And you say that these were found by the bodies of the religious? Who discovered them?’ The questions came sharply from Fidelma.
‘Some travelling merchants brought us word. Dewi with two companions went down to Penmorfa to confirm their story.’
‘Did you see any Saxons, Dewi?’
The youth shook his head. ‘There were only the bodies of the slain religious.’
‘Did you see any sign of the Saxon ship?’ she asked.
His father, Goff, laughed sourly. ‘Saxons raid swiftly. They come and then are gone. Once they have attacked, they do not wait for retribution.’
‘Tell me more about the bodies you found, Dewi,’ invited Fidelma.
‘What more is there to say?’ The youth frowned uncertainly.
‘Did you recognise them as being religious from Llanpadern? How were they lying? How were they killed?’ Fidelma shot the questions in rapid succession.
Dewi gave the questions some consideration before replying. ‘I have frequently been at Llanpadern, so I was able to recognise two or three of the brothers.’
‘Did you know Brother Rhun?’
‘The son of the king? He served as the steward of the abbey at Llanpadern. He conducted the business of the abbey with traders and merchants. I met him often.’
‘My son drives our cart, transporting the goods I make to those who cannot come to the forge to collect them,’ explained his father.
‘I remember a forge at the abbey,’ Eadulf said reflectively. ‘By the barn.’
‘They had their own smith, but now and then he needed help or materials. Is that not so, father?’
Goff nodded slowly.
‘From what you say, I presume that Brother Rhun was not one of those slain?’ pressed Fidelma.
‘I can name only two of the brothers who were. He was not one of them.’
‘And you are sure they were all of the community?’
‘Positive.’
‘And there were seven bodies?’
‘Seven,’ the young man confirmed.
‘And you were going to tell me how they were killed.’
‘Sword strokes mainly.’
‘In what manner?’ pressed Fidelma.
‘Mostly from behind, across the back of the neck.’ The young man apparently understood what was wanted of him. ‘One was stabbed from the front, through the heart, while another had an upward stroke to the stomach. They lay in a small group, as if they had been huddled together for the purpose.’
Fidelma’s brows were drawn together. ‘In a group, you say? Where were the shield and weapons found?’
‘Just by them.’
‘Just by them?’ She turned and took the broken sword. Its blade had been snapped off. ‘This was where, exactly, in relation to the bodies?’
‘It lay at the feet of one religieux.’
‘Did you wipe the blood off?’ The weapon she held was clean and almost shining.
‘It was like that when we found it,’ Goff the smith put in.
‘And where was the other part of the weapon? In one of the corpses?’
‘No, the wounds were clean and-’ Dewi stopped abruptly as he suddenly realised the significance of the question.
‘And the knife and the shield? Were they just lying close by?’
The young man considered. ‘The shield was on top of one of the bodies and the knife alongside another.’
‘So what happened after this discovery?’
It was Goff who answered.
‘Dewi came back to fetch some more of us down to Penmorfa. I retrieved the weapons and searched the bodies in case there was a means of identification. There was none. No jewellery or crucifixes — nothing. So we buried them by the cliffs where they had fallen.’
‘Are you sure that they were killed at that spot?’ asked Fidelma.
‘Oh yes. There was a great deal of blood on the ground around the bodies.’
‘And then?’
‘When we had ensured that we were safe, I told my boy, Dewi, to ride to Llanwnda and tell Gwnda, the lord of Pen Caer, what we had found; the slaughter and the sighting of the Saxon warship along the coast. It does not need much imagination to work out what happened.’
‘That Saxon raiders attacked the community at Llanpadern? Are you sure of that?’ Fidelma asked. ‘Are you sure that they carried off the community and, for some reason, slaughtered seven of them on the cliffs before they went back onto their warship?’
‘Of course. This is what must have occurred.’
‘Do you know that there is no sign of an attack at Llanpadern? No building is burnt or destroyed. Nor are there signs of any religious slaughtered there.’
Goff grimaced.
‘That’s easily answered, Sister. The Saxons came at night and surprised the brethren so that there was no opportunity to defend themselves. They were rounded up like lambs for the slaughter.’
‘But-’ began Eadulf. Fidelma silenced him with a sharp look.
‘And has there been any further sign of this Saxon ship, either before or since?’ she asked.
‘We keep a special watch along the coast for such raids. There has been no further sign of it.’
Fidelma suppressed a sigh. ‘You have been most helpful, Goff. You, also, Dewi.’
‘Where do you go now?’ asked Goff, offering them more mead.
‘Back to Llanwnda. We will rejoin our companion from the abbey of Dewi Sant there.’
‘I hear there is also trouble at Llanwnda.’
‘That is so,’ confirmed Eadulf, now tucking into some bread with relish. ‘Our companion, Brother Meurig, is investigating-’
‘Meurig the
‘Did you know Mair?’ Fidelma asked.
‘Here, under the shelter of Pen Caer, Sister,’ Goff nodded towards the distant peak, ‘we are a close community. Besides, Iorwerth is a fellow smith and news travels quickly from forge to forge.’
‘So you know Iorwerth as well?’
‘We were apprentices together at the same forge when we were young. For two years I slept cheek by jowl with him before our smith-master drove him out.’
Fidelma was immediately interested. ‘Drove him out? Can you be more precise?’
