Dancing With Demons

‘Very well. Let us examine the High King’s chambers as our first step.’

The abbot moved to the first door that he had indicated to their left.

‘As we have discussed, this door was usually locked from the inside when the High King retired for the night. There were only two keys — one in the possession of the High King and the other in the possession of Cenn Faelad.’

Abbot Colmán opened the door and ushered them in.

The room was spacious, as one might expect of the chamber of the High King. It contained two fairly large seinester or windows of opaque glass, one of which was directly behind the great tolg or bedframe. The walls were of red yew panels, and the one directly facing the end of the bed had a large ornate cross of native design hung on it. Fidelma was not sure what wood it was made of. Apart from the bed, the other furnishings were fairly simple a brothrach or couch along one wall, a table by the bed and a few assorted boxes. The bedframe was devoid of any covering.

The abbot saw Fidelma’s scrutiny and offered: ‘The coverings, including the dergud, the mattress, were removed and disposed of. Likewise the adart, pillow, and setigi, blankets. In fact, all of Sechnussach’s personal belongings have now been removed.’

Fidelma made no response, merely looking from the door to the bed. All the assassin had to do was take a few swift steps from the door … She raised her head and looked to the far side of the room. There were two doors in the opposite wall.

‘Where do those lead?’ she asked.

‘One is the room that is used as the fialtech, the privy, and it is where the High King usually took his bath. It has an outside door and staircase. Water is heated on the lower floor and brought up to the bath by this stair. That door was bolted from the inside. Next to the privy room is the erdam, a side room where the High King kept his clothes and weapons. It has a window but there are no means of entering it, apart from the door in this chamber. The bedchamber can only be entered by the door we came in by, or by the door to the privy room. Irél checked all the rooms and bolts at the time. If the assassin had an accomplice, they could not have entered nor left by the outside door. The bolts were still in place.’

‘Let’s examine these other rooms,’ Fidelma announced, and walked around the dark wooden bedframe to open the first door.

The small room beyond had another opaque glass window. The bottom of it came up to her chest height and she saw that it could be opened from the inside.

Abbot Colmán saw her examining its frame.

‘It was designed to open from the inside so that the steam from the bath, the dabach, could be released from the room. Also, of course, the fumes from the … ’ He gestured at the covered receptacles in the corner.

Fidelma looked at the door and examined the bolts. There were two strong bolts as well as a lock.

‘And Irél, the commander of the guard, was sure that these bolts were in place on the night of the assassination?’

‘As I say, as soon as the body was discovered, Irél examined the chamber in case of anyone being in collusion with the assassin. The bolts were firmly in place so that no one could have escaped from the chamber through that route.’

‘Similarly, this window was secured that night?’

‘It was. Although, had it been open, it would have been a tight squeeze for anyone and it is a long drop to the ground below.’

She nodded absently and moved back into the bedchamber before leading the way into the second small chamber. In this side room there was, indeed, no separate outside door although there was another opaque glass window but again positioned at chest height and with no means of it being opened. Like the bedchamber, the walls were covered in red yew panels. Apart from a double line of wooden pegs and hooks along one wall, which was doubtless where Sechnussach hung his clothes, or weapons or even book satchels, all the rest of the furniture had been removed.

Fidelma stood examining the room for a moment and then shrugged.

‘As you say, Colmán, there is only one means of entry and exit if the other door and windows were secured that night from the inside. They could not have been secured after anyone had passed from this chamber. But there is one thing that bothers me …’

Abbot Colmán waited.

Fidelma pointed to the lock on the bedchamber door. ‘Why didn’t Sechnussach leave the key in the lock? Had the key been in the lock then the assassin would not have been able to insert his own, or if he was ableto push the other key out, he would have made enough noise to rouse the High King from his slumber before he struck.’

The abbot looked thoughtful. ‘It didn’t occur to me …’ he began.

‘As a matter of fact,’ interrupted Eadulf, ‘where was the High King’s key found?’

‘On the table by the bed.’

‘Then perhaps there is no mystery there,’ suggested Eadulf. ‘It might have been his habit to lock the chamber door and remove the key to the bedside.’

Fidelma glanced round the room again before speaking.

‘I have seen enough. Now I can, at least, visualise where and in what manner this crime was committed. I think we may now begin to examine the witnesses.’

CHAPTER SEVEN

The abbot had conducted her to the tech screpta, the small royal library house. She chose a chair in a corner and Eadulf borrowed some ceraculum, writing tablets of beechwood base covered in wax or cera from which their name derived. With a stylus he could then make notes on them which could be transcribed to parchment or vellum at a later stage. Thus prepared, with Abbot Colmán acting as their steward, Fidelma had asked to see the physician who had attended Sechnussach.

As she expected, the physician merely confirmed the facts of the High King’s manner of death. However, it was important in her eyes that nothing, and especially no one, was overlooked in this matter. The physician, appropriately named Iceadh, for the name actually meant ‘healer’, was elderly with a curious habit of issuing his sentences in staccato fashion as though he had to get them out in one breath.

‘His throat was cut. The jugular vein severed. Short stab in the heart. Either wound fatal. Sharp instrument found with assassin. A hunter’s knife. Honed to sharpness. Could slice anything. No chance of saving his life. Died almost instantly.’

‘So, in your expert opinion,’ Fidelma smiled encouragingly, ‘would you say that the High King was attacked while asleep in his bed?’

‘Asleep? Assuredly. No time for a struggle. Doubt if he would have known anything. The assassin knew what he was doing.’

‘And did you also examine the body of the assassin?’ queried Eadulf.

The physician sniffed. ‘Dubh Duin? Of course. He was also beyond help. Expert knife-thrust into the heart. Self-inflicted when caught by guards. Told he survived a few moments. Said something to one of the guards.’

Fidelma nodded and dismissed the man, calling for the warrior Lugna to come in.

The warrior was deferential and stood uncomfortably before her. He was a tall young man, red-headed, tough-looking and typical of the muscular members of the Fianna, the elite warriors of the High King.

‘I am told that you were the senior guard at the royal house on the night of Sechnussach’s assassination. Is that so?’

Lugna replied stiffly, ‘Even as you have been told, lady.’

Fidelma frowned at the warrior’s awkward manner, knowing that unless he relaxed it would be hard to