The Council of the Cursed

‘Valretrade disappeared on the night Abbot Dabhóc was slain,’ Fidelma said. ‘I think it is important that we find someone who is willing to talk about her.’

‘Such as?’

‘Budnouen mentioned someone who knew Valretrade…what was her name?’

It was Eadulf who remembered it: ‘He mentioned a Sister Inginde.’

The young man’s eyes widened. ‘She was Valretrade’s closest friend in the community! They worked together.’

‘Then we need a method of trying to contact her,’ Fidelma said.

‘There is one easy way of sneaking into the Domus Femini, but if one is caught…’ Brother Sigeric ended with a shrug.

‘Perhaps that is a risk that should be taken for the sake of truth.’ Fidelma’s expression was grim.

Brother Sigeric looked at her closely. ‘Would you be willing to chance this? After all, being a woman you would have a better chance of escaping detection than a man would have.’

Eadulf protested immediately. ‘There is only one way into the house of women, and that is through the main gate. I doubt whether Sister Radegund would allow Fidelma to walk in again, especially to speak with any member of the sisterhood.’

‘But there is another easy way in or out of the Domus Femini, isn’t there, Sigeric?’ Fidelma was looking at the young man expectantly. ‘The passage through the vaults under the abbey.’

‘That is so, but I would need to show you the way. In fact, it is the same passage through which the sisters of the Domus Femini come each morning and evening to attend service in the chapel.’

Eadulf raised another objection to the plan.

‘So you enter the Domus Femini-but what then? You would also need to be able to find Sister Inginde. How would you do that?’

Brother Sigeric was enthusiastic.

‘She shared the chamber with Valretrade. I can draw you a plan that would show you how to get there, if you could follow it.’

‘I can follow it,’ replied Fidelma firmly. ‘So long as it is accurate.’

Eadulf was still not convinced. ‘I think it foolhardy. What if you were discovered?’ he protested.

‘I will ensure that I am not discovered,’ Fidelma replied simply. ‘We must find out about Valretrade. I believe that some of the answers to all this mystery might be resolved when we know why she disappeared.’ She turned to Sigeric. ‘So when would be the best time to undertake this underground route?’

His answer was immediate. ‘This very night.’

‘Excellent,’ Fidelma said. ‘The best time is when the sleep period is at its deepest.’

‘You must give yourself sufficient time to enter the Domus Femini, find the chamber of Sister Inginde and then question her. Then you will have to retrace your steps,’ pointed out Brother Sigeric.

‘And all without being observed,’ muttered Eadulf.

‘Show me the way into the Domus Femini and your plan of how I might find the chamber of this Sister Inginde, and I will do the rest,’ Fidelma said confidently.

‘That is good,’ replied Brother Sigeric. ‘I will wait for you here, in the library, after the midnight bell has sounded and the last prayers have been said. Then the brethren go to their slumbers. We will wait a while and then go to the vaults.’

Fidelma and Eadulf left the young scribe in an excited frame of mind and returned to the hospitia.

As they entered their room they heard the distant toll of a bell.

‘Time for the evening bathe,’ Fidelma sighed. ‘But I suppose it must be in cold water again. I can never get used to these foreign customs where people do not heat water for an evening bath. In fact, I have noticed that these people hardly ever bathe, just have a wash with cold water in the morning and perhaps take a swim in the river every so often. They do not even use soap. How can people exist like this, Eadulf?’

Eadulf controlled his expression for a moment. He had grown up in such a fashion and even now he could not get used to the bathing customs of the people of the five kingdoms of Éireann.

Each morning it was the custom to rise and wash their hands and face but then in the evening, before the evening meal, they bathed, a full body wash, with hot water. And this was the daily custom! Eadulf shivered. When he was growing up, he swam in the river near his home once a week and that was his bath. But the rituals of Fidelma’s people continued to amaze him. The soap they used called sléic and linen towels and the sweet scented herbs and oils that were used for the bath took some getting used to.

When the toiletry demands had been met and they had changed into clean robes, Fidelma and Eadulf went down to keep their appointment with Nuntius Peregrinus.

The envoy from the Bishop of Rome was already waiting in the calefactorium and rose to greet them when they entered. He had been talking to his ever-present custodes, the Lateran Palace bodyguard. The warrior discreetly removed himself to another corner.

‘More bad news, I hear,’ Nuntius Peregrinus said sombrely as they seated themselves.

‘You mean about Brother Gillucán?’

‘The young Irish Brother,’ he agreed. ‘He was the servant of Abbot Dabhóc. That is sad.’

‘Not only sad but a mystery,’ replied Fidelma softly.

The envoy’s eyes widened a little. ‘I do not understand.’

‘That death strikes down both the abbot and then his steward in different circumstances but so close to one another: is there some connection?’

‘But this young Brother was attacked by robbers after leaving the abbey. That has nothing to do with the abbot’s murder, surely? It is a sad fact of life that there are robbers in our world, those who waylay and attack strangers, to steal whatever wealth they think they have on them. Those of the religious are not immune to such evil people.’

‘Odd that no one saw him leave-and not even the vigilant guards at the city gate saw him pass through,’ mused Fidelma.

‘And what items of worth would a young religieux have on him? I understand the young man was not possessed of wealth, unlike someone of substance-such as yourself,’ Eadulf added with a touch of malicious humour.

The Nuntius did not appreciate Eadulf’s jocularity.

‘Robbers will rob even for a good pair of leather sandals these days.’ He hesitated and repeated, ‘You surely do not think there is a connection between this young man’s death and the murder of his abbot?’

‘My task is to come to no conclusion until I am in possession of all the facts,’ Fidelma replied.

‘Did you know Brother Gillucán?’ Eadulf asked.

‘No. I met all the delegates but not their stewards or advisers,’ said the Nuntius. ‘I was present at the opening of the session and saw the enmity between some of the delegates.’

‘The argument between Ordgar and Cadfan, you mean?’

The Nuntius nodded briefly. ‘That prelates of the Church can be so antagonistic to each other is a cause of sadness when we should be united in Faith. I had to intervene in order to help Bishop Leodegar bring them under control.’

‘The more vehement the proclamation of the Faith, the more vicious the denunciation of others who deviate from that person’s vision,’ interposed Fidelma. ‘The Faith can breed great hatreds.’

‘You surprise me, Sister!’ The Nuntius was scandalised.

‘Surely you cannot be surprised by reality, Peregrinus?’ Fidelma replied. ‘We must accept that we are all frail creatures. I have not studied my country’s law and pursued its practice these many years without a realisation that humans are not perfect and rational beings. They can be sly and oft-times evil, whatever their calling in life.’

‘We of the Faith must aspire to higher codes of behaviour.’

‘Aspire, yes,’ she agreed, ‘but I am afraid there is often a gap between aspiration and achievement. What was your opinion of Abbot Dabhóc?’ Fidelma swung back to the original subject.