The Council of the Cursed

‘Tell me what happened.’

‘Well, there is not much to it, really. That night, Valretrade put a candle on the windowledge there,’ she indicated with her head, ‘which was what she did whenever she arranged to meet Brother Sigeric. When she saw the answering candle in his chamber window, across the courtyard…’ The girl paused and frowned as she glanced out of the window. ‘Why, there is a candle burning across there now-in Brother Sigeric’s cell. What does that mean?’

‘That is to guide me to the right room,’ explained Fidelma. ‘Go on.’

‘I saw his candle alight that night,’ continued the girl. ‘Valretrade put on her robe and left to meet him.’

‘She didn’t return?’

Sister Inginde shook her head.

‘She left her clothes and belongings here?’

‘That was a curious thing. They were here when I went down to the wash house first thing in that morning. I was wondering why she was so late back. When I returned-they were gone. I presumed that she had come back while I was at my ablutions and had taken them.’

‘And she departed from the Domus Femini without saying goodbye to you but finding time to write a note to the abbess?’ Fidelma spoke in a tone of disbelief.

Sister Inginde shrugged. ‘What else could I think?’

‘When were you told that she had left the community for good?’

‘At the midday meal. That was when Sister Radegund told me that Valretrade had left a note and gone.’

‘How long had you known Valretrade?’

‘Since I came here a year ago.’

‘And you had always shared this chamber with her?’

‘Since my arrival,’ confirmed the other.

‘Therefore, you must have thought it odd that she had left without a word to you. Also, didn’t you think it strange that it was at the same time as the abbot was killed?’

‘From what we were told, the abbot’s death had nothing to do with Valretrade.’

‘Did Sister Radegund show you this note that Valretrade had written?’

Again came the shake of the head.

‘Did you ask to see it?’

Sister Inginde chuckled softly. ‘You don’t ask questions of Sister Radegund and certainly not of Abbess Audofleda.’

Fidelma could agree with the girl’s statement.

‘Did she give any indication of why she wanted to see Sigeric that night?’

‘Surely that much is obvious, Sister? They were lovers.’

‘Nothing else? There was no other concern?’ She noticed the slight hesitation. ‘Go on,’ she urged. ‘There was something then?’

‘It was just her attitude,’ replied the other. ‘I think there was some air of excitement when she came to the chamber that evening, something on her mind. I am sure that she had heard or seen something that had…I suppose “upset” is the word I am looking for. Yes, that had upset her. I asked her what the matter was but she refused to say.’

‘Would you agree that if she was leaving the abbey of her own free will, she would have mentioned it to you or spoken to Sigeric?’

‘So far as I suspected, she had met up with Sigeric and they had run off together. I did not know that she hadn’t until Sigeric came to the community a few days later to enquire where she was.’

Fidelma frowned. ‘I thought Sister Radegund was the only one who knew that?’

‘I was near the doors and overheard him speaking to her.’

‘Didn’t it make you suspicious?’

The girl shrugged. ‘Valretrade was from Autun. She had a blood sister living here. I thought she might have gone there and waited for a time when she could have contacted Sigeric. I know nothing else.’

Fidelma sat silently for a while, turning the information over in her mind. She felt that there was nothing more to be gathered from Sister Inginde. It was disappointing. There seemed no obvious link between the death and disappearance that she could see.

‘Thank you, Sister Inginde,’ Fidelma said, rising. ‘There is no need to tell you that this matter must be kept strictly between ourselves.’

‘Are you going to try to find Valretrade?’ asked the girl softly.

‘Yes, I shall try,’ Fidelma replied grimly. ‘I promised Sigeric that I would do what I could.’

‘I hope you may be successful. Remember, Abbess Audofleda is powerful. I would be careful of her.’

‘I intend to be,’ Fidelma replied as she moved towards the door. ‘If you need to contact me urgently, the only way I can think of is by the same method that Valretrade used-the candle in the window.’

‘I shall remember. But only if it is urgent.’

‘Thank you, Sister Inginde. You have been very helpful.’

Fidelma turned out of the chamber and moved back to the stairwell. The Domus Femini was silent. Nothing stirred. She returned to the door to the vaults without incident. As soon as she came down the stairs and entered the vaults, Eadulf and Brother Sigeric came forward anxiously.

‘Did you see her? Did you see Sister Inginde?’ demanded Brother Sigeric immediately.

‘She confirms that Valretrade vanished last week,’ Fidelma said. ‘She says that she did not return that night, having set off to meet you.’

‘Did not return?’ Brother Sigeric was aghast. ‘But the signal was made that she had been at our meeting place and was returning to her chamber.’

‘I think we should return to the scriptorium where we may discuss things more comfortably,’ Fidelma advised. ‘It is better than discussing it here.’

Brother Sigeric reluctantly picked up the lantern and led the way back out of the abbey’s catacombs.

Once in the scriptorium they seated themselves in a corner while Fidelma recounted the conversation she had had with Sister Inginde.

‘So, according to what Sister Inginde was told by Sister Radegund, Valretrade was supposed to have left a note with Abbess Audofleda explaining that she was leaving Autun,’ she concluded.

Brother Sigeric’s reaction was immediate.

‘Lies!’ he snapped. ‘I swear she must be a prisoner in the Domus Femini. It is some fiendish punishment of that woman Audofleda.’

‘We can ask to see this note,’ Eadulf suggested. ‘I suppose Valretrade had the capability of writing it?’

Brother Sigeric frowned. ‘Of course she could write.’

‘Ah yes.’ Eadulf suddenly remembered. ‘I am sorry. You told us that she had worked in the scriptorium with you. So, would we recognise her handwriting?’

‘All scribes write with their own peculiarities,’ Sigeric said. ‘She wrote with a distinctive hand, and with the letters “b” and “d” she had a tendency to put a short diagonal line across their stem.’

‘Very well,’ said Fidelma, ‘we must remember that and see if we can have sight of this letter.’

‘Letter or not, she would not leave without communicating with me. I insist that she did not leave of her own accord.’

‘Are you saying that she was abducted?’ Eadulf asked.

‘That is precisely what I am saying. There are rumours…about other women and their children…’

‘Rumours?’ demanded Fidelma. ‘What do you mean?’

‘They say that wives and children have disappeared from the Domus Femini.’

‘You mean the wives and children of some of the brethren here?’

Brother Sigeric nodded and Fidelma exhaled in irritation.

‘Why was I not told before? Never mind! When did you hear such rumours?’ she asked.

Brother Sigeric ran the fingers of one hand through his hair as if the motion would spark off memory.

‘I am not sure. They began during the last two or three weeks. Some of the brethren were speaking of it. Valretrade once mentioned that some of the married women had decided to leave.’