The Council of the Cursed

as you are ready.’

‘We have finished here,’ she replied, with a smile to Brother Sigeric as she moved towards the door. ‘Thank you for your assistance, Brother. We shall not forget and will doubtless see you again soon.’

Brother Sigeric smiled sadly in response.

‘Do you need to look at Ordgar’s chamber again?’ asked Brother Chilperic, ‘or should I give orders for it to be cleaned and tidied?’

‘I have done with it. However, you may indicate where we will find Abbot Cadfan.’

‘He will be found on the third level. You recall where I showed you the chamber of Bishop Ordgar? Good. Along that corridor to the right, you find a small corridor leading off it, and Abbot Cadfan will be found there.’

‘In that case we will speak with Bishop Ordgar first and Abbot Cadfan afterwards. We will not need your services in that for we can find our way.’

Brother Chilperic seemed reluctant to be dismissed but Fidelma and Eadulf were already moving off. He shrugged and turned away.

Chapter Five

Bishop Ordgar did not stand as Fidelma and Eadulf entered his chamber, but remained seated, the scowl on his saturnine features giving the impression of an angry and forbidding personality. Behind him stood a young man with black curly hair who watched their entrance with pale blue eyes. He made a step forward as if to greet them, then halted and glanced nervously at the seated bishop before drawing his tongue across his lips as if to moisten them.

‘You are Brother Eadulf of Seaxmund’s Ham?’ The young man directed his question at Eadulf. ‘You are the gerefa that Bishop Leodegar has told us of?’

‘I am he,’ Eadulf confirmed, replying in Saxon, for the question had been asked in that language albeit accented in the way of someone who spoke it as a foreign tongue. Then he switched to Latin. ‘This is Fidelma of Cashel, sister to King Colgú, King of Muman-an advocate of the courts of the five kingdoms of Éireann-my wife.’

Eadulf knew that Fidelma did not like to announce herself in such a grandiose manner but, from what he had heard of Bishop Ordgar, he knew that they had to impress him from the outset. Eadulf had heard stories of the Saxon bishop’s arrogance and was aware that if it was not challenged from the start, it would be impossible to conduct any form of interrogation with him. Eadulf spoke with his eyes focused unswervingly on the gimlet gaze of the bishop.

‘I was told the woman’s name was Sister Fidelma,’ the bishop replied, still speaking in Saxon, his thin mouth twisting in a sneer.

‘The Faith encompasses people of many backgrounds,’ Eadulf responded evenly, ‘but, of course, you are right. We are all equals in serving the Faith, bishops or abbots. And “the woman” is my wife.’

Again he chose his words carefully and with emphasis to bring Bishop Ordgar away from any mistaken sense of importance.

Eadulf then turned to the young man who had greeted him. ‘And who are you?’

‘I am Brother Benevolentia, steward to my lord, Bishop Ordgar.’

‘But you are not a Saxon?’

‘That is true, Brother. I am a Burgund.’

Fidelma had struggled to follow the conversation; although she had a rudimentary knowledge of Saxon, she was uncomfortable in that language when it came to nuances and complicated subjects.

‘May we speak in Latin?’ she asked, speaking for the first time.

Both Bishop Ordgar and Brother Benevolentia looked surprised and the bishop shrugged. Fidelma took it as an affirmative.

‘Good, since we need to seek answers to some questions.’

‘I was told it was Brother Eadulf who was to represent me,’ Bishop Ordgar said. ‘You know that I have a position of some importance? I represent Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury. As soon as this council is ended, I am to continue my journey to Rome to consult with His Holiness Vitalian.’

‘Then you have not been accurately informed of my role,’ Eadulf said.

‘But we are told that you are of the kingdom of the East Angles and a gerefa,’ intervened Brother Benevolentia. ‘My lord, Bishop Ordgar, has naturally presumed that you would want to support one of your own kin in this matter.’

Eadulf nearly smiled at the arrogance of the presumption.

‘Sister Fidelma and I have been asked by Bishop Leodegar to investigate the matter of the death of Abbot Dabhóc and report to him. That is all. There is no question of representing the interests of anyone except the interests of the dead abbot in the discovery of who killed him.’

Bishop Ordgar did not look happy.

‘Then let us hope you have not forgotten your duty to your own people,’ he snapped. ‘I understand that you have been many years among the people of that western island. I trust you know where loyalty and duty lie.’

‘My duty to my own people is a duty to truth-where ever that truth might be,’ Eadulf snapped back. ‘And until we obtain some answers from you, Ordgar of Kent, the truth will not be known.’

‘You forget to whom you speak, Brother.’ Brother Benevolentia sounded aghast at Eadulf’s tone.

‘I am well aware that I speak to a witness to a murder. Our purpose here is that we require answers to questions,’ replied Eadulf, unperturbed. ‘Can we now proceed to obtain them? And let us return to speaking in Latin!’

In the angry exchange they had lapsed into Saxon.

Bishop Ordgar opened his mouth to respond but suddenly checked himself. He breathed out slowly and composed his thin autocratic features.

‘Ask your questions then, Eadulf of Seaxmund’s Ham,’ he commanded.

Eadulf glanced at Fidelma, who nodded with amused approval to indicate that the bishop might respond better if Eadulf, not she, continued to put the questions.

‘Describe what happened on the night that Abbot Dabhóc was found in your chamber.’

Bishop Ordgar was dismissive. ‘Since I was drugged, I cannot say.’

‘Tell us, then, what exactly you remember of that night. You remember going to your chamber, I suppose?’ Eadulf could not help the sarcasm in his voice.

‘Of course. After evening prayers in the chapel, I went to see Bishop Leodegar to register a complaint about the behaviour of Cadfan who had been discourteous to me earlier. Then I returned to my chamber. I composed myself for sleep having taken, as was my custom, wine. I came awake feeling ill, with an oppressive headache and unsure of my surroundings. I think I remember someone shaking me and raised voices all round. I become unconscious again, and when I awoke for the second time I was in this chamber with the physician tending me. The headache and nausea lasted for some time. It was only after I recovered that I was told that Abbot Dabhóc had been discovered dead in my chamber, with Abbot Cadfan nearby on the floor. When I was found, I was told that I had been regaining some degree of consciousness on the bed but I cannot be sure. That is all.’

‘It gives rise to several questions,’ Eadulf asserted.

Bishop Ordgar sat back with eyes narrowed. ‘Then ask them,’ he said.

‘Let us start with the wine. You imply it was drugged?’

‘I state it was drugged,’ the man corrected. ‘Nothing but drugged wine would have such an effect on me.’

‘Where did this wine come from?’

‘I don’t understand.’ Bishop Ordgar seemed confused. ‘Do you mean what vineyard supplied it?’

‘Who gave you this wine?’