quickly told the story of Ordwulf and Drón and the reason for their journey to the Glen of Eatharlaí.
She listened quietly.
‘It must have been Brother Drón who attacked Fergus,’ she commented at last. ‘He is an evil man. If he tried to kill Fergus, then he will try to kill me.’
‘We will protect you,’ Eadulf assured her. ‘Brother Drón is safe under lock and key in Cashel. He will not escape to harm you.’
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Fidelma had caught up with Caol in the main square of the township below the great rock of Cashel. He had selected four other warriors of Colgú’s bodyguard and together with the tracker Rónán they had ridden from the fortress down into the town. Already Rónán had pointed out to them the hopelessness of his being able to pick up any tracks of Brother Drón’s in or around the township. He had spent some time examining the stall where Drón’s horse had been kept and discovered that there was nothing significant about the animal or its tracks. Caol had sent his men about the town to see if anyone had seen the religious from Cill Ria, but by the time Fidelma joined them he had had no success.
She found Caol standing morosely outside the main inn or
‘There are still many strangers in the township, lady,’ he said in a resigned tone.
‘It is true, lady,’ added the innkeeper. ‘People find it hard to tell one from another. I can’t recall any northerner making such inquiries as you ask.’ Fidelma was about to thank him when he added: ‘Perhaps Delia might know something. I know she gave shelter to a young female religieuse from the north last night. Perhaps, if she is still there, she would know the man you are looking for?’
‘Della?’ Fidelma was astonished at the mention of her friend, the mother of Gormán. ‘Last night? Are you sure?’
The innkeeper answered in the affirmative. There was not much that happened in the township that he did not know about, he boasted.
Fidelma suggested that Caol’s warriors wait for them at the inn while she and Caol went directly to seek out Della. If the innkeeper was so free with the information about a northern religieuse staying at Della’s, then Drón would have probably been there before them.
Delia was standing at her open door when Fidelma swung down from her horse. She was a woman of short stature, in her forties, but her maturity had not dimmed the youthfulness of her features or the golden abundance of her hair, or the trimness of her figure.
‘You are welcome, lady.’ She smiled. ‘I was hoping that by now I would be at your wedding feast.’
‘Alas, there are matters to be sorted out first,’ responded Fidelma. ‘You have heard of what has happened, of course?’
‘My son. .’ she spoke the words with an added pride, as it had been only recently that she could admit in public that Gorman was her son, ‘has told me some of the details.’
‘I am told that you also had a visitor last night? Is she still here?’
Della’s eyes widened and her hand crept to her throat.
‘She left at midday. Surely, lady, she was not connected with the murders?’
Fidelma smiled reassuringly. ‘Do you know her name?’
‘Indeed. She told me that she was Sister Marga from Cill Ria.’
‘How did she come to stay with you?’
‘It was late last night. I was aroused by a noise in the little barn at the back where I keep my pigs and goat during the cold of winter. I know there are wolves about at this time of year and so I rose and lit a lamp and took my blackthorn stick and went to investigate. It was cold and the rain was falling so hard it was difficult to see one’s hand in front of one’s face. I went to my barn and there in a corner was this young, frightened girl.’
She paused and Fidelma waited patiently.
‘She told me that she was fleeing from some man in her community who wished her harm. She was on foot and had come to the barn, driven there by the cold and rain and night. She had thought to go east to Laigin but felt the man would guess her intention so she was going to attempt the western road but was overcome with tiredness and the rain. She was also exhausted. Naturally, I offered her shelter and warmth in my house.’
‘Did she give any further details?’
‘Only that she kept on about this man, Brother Drón, who wanted to harm her and how she had tried to escape from him once, and fallen in with someone whom she thought she could trust to help her. I gathered it was some young man. She did not tell me his name. She told me that he had betrayed her because he did not believe in her and so she had decided to flee from Cashel. We talked awhile and then she slept. In fact, the poor girl was so exhausted that she slept almost until midday.’
‘She left here at midday?’
‘Shortly afterwards,’ Della agreed.
‘I don’t suppose you noticed in which direction she went?’
‘Is the girl in trouble?’ Della demanded.
‘She will be unless I reach her first and speak to her.’
Della hesitated a moment and then sighed. ‘I put her on the road to the glen of Eatharlaí.’
Fidelma was surprised. ‘Why there?’
‘As I have said, she was fearful of going east to Laigin. I have a cousin among the Uí Cuileann who dwell in the glen. I told her to go to Rumann the smith. I loaned her my horse and told her to go there and that he would protect her. I promised that I would send word to her when all the guests had departed from Cashel.’
‘Having just met the girl, you are very trusting, Della.’
The older woman smiled wanly. ‘In my lifetime, with my experience, lady, I have come to know people. Not their outward appearances but their inward beings. I am sure there is no harm in that girl, only fear.’
‘I hear you, Della,’ replied Fidelma grimly. ‘Nevertheless, I will have to send one of the warriors after her. The thing is, news of your guest was known by the innkeeper and if he was passed that news on. .’
Della looked troubled. ‘The innkeeper was passing the house just as the poor girl was leaving. I told him that she was a friend who was staying with me but he picked up on her northern accent. Send Gormán after her, lady. My son will treat her gently.’
Fidelma shook her head. ‘Coincidence is a strange thing, Della, for not long after Sister Marga departed on that road, Gormán set out for the glen of Eatharlaí on an unrelated errand.’
The woman looked surprised but Fidelma was frowning as she considered matters.
‘The main thing now is whether Brother Drón has discovered the road on which she was travelling.’
‘He has not,’ Della offered unexpectedly. ‘A short time after the innkeeper left, this northern brother came here asking where Marga was going.’
Fidelma tried to hide her surprise. ‘He came here?’
‘The innkeeper is a blabbermouth. He had told someone and that someone told this Brother Drón. Well, he came here looking for her and I told him that she had gone. He wanted to know where.’
‘But when was this?’ Brother Drón had left the fortress in the early hours of the morning before dawn. Where had he been overnight?
‘It was about an hour or so after Sister Marga left here. After midday.’
Fidelma groaned softly. ‘That means he could catch up with her before she gets to the glen of Eatharlaí. .’
She noticed that Della was smiling broadly. ‘Unlike you, lady, with your religion and your law, I am not governed by a rule that I have to tell the truth.’
Fidelma glanced at her uncertainly. ‘What did you tell him?’
‘I sent him along the road south-east to Rath na Drínne. I said that she had mentioned something
