Olcan had missed the silent warning and was smiling viciously. He seemed proud of his reputation.
‘Is that why you continue to take your orders from Uaman the Leper?’ Fidelma asked quietly.
Olcan turned to her with a brief look of puzzlement that was gone before she had time to register it. Then he burst out with a short laugh.
‘You must have heard, woman of Cashel, that Uaman is dead. He died in the month of Cet Gaimred.’
‘And so we must assume that it is his troubled wraith that rides through the Sliabh Mis valleys with you?’
‘It would be hard to take orders from a shade from the Otherworld, woman. Oh, but have no fear. The seed of Eoganan will lead the Ui Fidgente against Cashel once more and that very soon.’
‘That will be difficult,’ interjected Conri. with a sneer. ‘The true Ui Fidgente do not follow ghosts or voices from the Otherworld.’
Olcan smiled knowingly for a moment.
‘They will hear a voice shortly. A voice crying vengeance for our people. And, indeed, it will not be a voice from the Otherworld.’
‘You are in no position to be truculent, Olcan,’ Fidelma warned him.
The man, however, relapsed into a pugnacious silence.
Fidelma uttered a deep sigh of disgust and rose to her feet.
‘Very well, Olcan, chief of the wolf tribe. We can be patient also but not too patient. You have much to answer for. Your crimes are many in the counting. As I have said, the path you choose may be hard or easy and that is your choice. Your future is black-’
Olcan glanced up belligerently. ‘And your future, the future of all the
Fidgente will find their backbone again and come against you — even in spite of your lapdog’ — he gestured to Conr
– ‘or a thousand treacherous U
Fidgente like him. They will not alter the course of the river we have set in flood. That river will lead the U
Fidgente not only to recover their lost lands but to claim Cashel, and beyond Cashel they will claim Tara, the seat of the High Kings. The master has prophesised it and so it will come to pass.’
He suddenly seemed to realise that he might have said too much and returned his sullen gaze to some distant point before him.
There was a silence after his outburst.
‘Very well, Olcan,’ Fidelma finally replied. ‘We will leave you to think on this during the forthcoming night. If you continue to take the hard path, then I can assure you that it will be harder than you can ever imagine. I will come to speak to you in the morning when you have contemplated your future more carefully because, whatever your prognostication about my future, and the future of Cashel, your future is a certainty and you will never live to see your master’s prediction come to fruition.’
They left the man still staring into space.
Outside, when they had relocked the cell door and hung the key back on the hook, Conr was apologetic.
‘I suddenly remembered hearing tales about this man,’ he explained. ‘I never knew him personally and he was not at the battle of Cnoc Aine, but I think he was with Torcan, the son of Eoganan, in the south-west.’
‘Well, your comment at least provoked the man to speech.’
‘I fear that he is a die-hard, lady,’ Conr replied. ‘If, as we have been told, Uaman still lives, then it seems that some of this activity must be concerned with an attempt to place Uaman in control of the U
Fidgente…’
‘But that would never happen because the law is specific. No one with a physical blemish can be king. Even one of the greatest of High Kings, Cormac Mac Art, had to abdicate when he was blinded by a spear cast. Even Olcan seemed to discredit the idea that he took his orders from Uaman.’
Conr did not agree.
‘We have had Uaman identified. If it is not Uaman, then I can think of no descendant of the U
Choirpre Aedba who can claim the chieftainship of our people.’
Eadulf looked blankly at him.
‘I thought that the U
Fidgente were the descendants of Fiachu Fidgennid? That Donennach is just as much a descendant as was Eoganan?’
Conr was patient.
‘It is easily explained. Our current ruler, Donennach, is descended from the line of the family we call U
Chonaill Gabra, from Fidgennid’s grandson Daire. Eoganan was descended from Fidgennid’s grandson Coirpre, hence that line is now called the U
Choirpre Aedba.’
It didn’t clear Eadulf’s understanding at all. He knew that the Eirean-nach placed much store by their ancient genealogies, delineating cousins and distant relatives; more store, he felt, than the Saxon kings set by their own simple direct father to son genealogies. He shrugged but did not pursue the matter.
Fidelma, however, seemed to follow the argument.
‘You have never heard of any other legitimate successor to Eoganan who might be persuaded to attempt a coup against Donennach?’
Conr shook his head at once.
‘Uaman was certainly the only male descendant of Eoganan who survived after Cnoc Aine.’
They had emerged by the closed doors of the tech-screptra and saw Brother Eolas standing before them, talking to Sister Buan and Sister Uallann.
‘Brother Eolas,’ Conr called, before Fidelma could stop him. ‘Do you have a genealogy of the princes of the U
Fidgente?’
The librarian turned curiously in their direction.
‘We do have such a manuscript,’ he confirmed.
‘Is it up to date? I am interested in the children of Eoganan.’
Brother Eolas shook his head.
‘It is as up to date as time allows. My assistant and I have much to do in maintaining the records of the library and there was the fire
…’
‘Can we see it now?’ interrupted Conr.
Brother Eolas sniffed in irritation at Conri’s demanding manner.
‘The library is closed. You will have to return tomorrow.’ He inclined his head in farewell to his companions and turned on his heel.
Sister Buan and Sister Uallann seemed to decide their presence was no longer required, muttered an excuse, and also left, leaving Conr looking a little crestfallen.
‘I thought that it might have given us some further information,’ he
Eadulf was shaking his head in disagreement but he said: ‘There must be a means of getting Olcan to talk further about this master.’
Fidelma was not optimistic.
‘I doubt it.’ She found that the steward, who had waited outside so that he could ensure the cell was locked, was still standing with them. ‘We will not detain you further, Brother Cu Mara,’ she said, bidding him good night before leading the way back to the hospitium. Once out of earshot of the steward she lowered her voice.
‘I’ll wait until tomorrow, but I now realise that I may have something up my sleeve that might induce our friend Olcan to talk. He has a close relation in the abbey and that fact may induce him to speak.’
Conr and Eadulf stared at her in surprise but her expression forbade any further questioning.
