The Council of the Cursed

‘A fraction more and the muscle might have been sliced; a little further and Brother Eadulf would have been unable to complain,’ he remarked cheerfully, as he applied a poultice of mosses to ensure that the blood coagulated in healthy fashion. Then he proceeded to bind it with strips of white linen. He stood back and glanced at Eadulf. ‘I don’t suppose it is any use to tell you that you should rest now to allow the healing process to start?’

‘I shall walk with a stick if I have to,’ Eadulf declared.

‘I would advise against it,’ Brother Gebicca replied seriously. ‘You do not want to invite further injury or the bloodflow to turn bad. Wait a few days and allow the wound to heal. As for you,’ he chided Fidelma, ‘you should have rested for a longer period.’

Having finished binding the wound, Brother Gebicca excused himself to go in search of a salve that he said would help if applied to the other scratches that the falling stone had caused to Eadulf’s leg.

Alone, Brother Eadulf was studying Fidelma’s expression. Her look told him that she knew something but would not say anything until they had complete privacy. He was about to speak but, at that moment, Brother Chilperic came bursting into the physician’s room. He stared anxiously at Eadulf.

‘I heard that you had been injured by a falling statue.’

‘It is nothing. Just scratches.’

‘I was told there was a terrible accident in the…where the mason works. I was on my way there when one of the brethren saw you being helped here by Brother Benevolentia.’

‘That is true. A statue fell and I was hit by fragments, that is all.’ Just then, another of the brethren entered, obviously in search of Brother Chilperic.

‘The stonemason has been killed,’ he said without preamble. ‘You must come quickly!’

With a muttered word, Brother Chilperic hurried out of the room.

Eadulf turned to Fidelma in astonishment. ‘Did you hear that? The stonemason has been killed!’

‘I think they have found the body of the young Brother who just tried to kill me,’ Fidelma responded quietly. ‘This religieux saw that I was suspicious when I went to examine the place from where the statue fell. He tried to push me from the same spot. Instead he fell and broke his neck.’

‘What?’ Eadulf could not help the exclamation.

Just then, Brother Gebicca re-entered bearing the jar of salve he had gone to fetch.

‘Did I hear you cry out in pain?’ he asked.

Eadulf nodded. ‘I moved too quickly,’ he lied. ‘A moment’s thoughtlessness.’

Brother Gebicca shook his head. ‘I told you to be careful, Brother.’ He held up the clay pot of ointment. ‘Now, from tomorrow you will apply this to your abrasions and they should heal quickly.’

As he handed the pot to Eadulf, there was a knock on the door and Abbot Ségdae entered. He looked anxious.

‘There is a report that a statue fell and that a Brother was killed. I was told Brother Eadulf was brought here. Are you both all right?’

Fidelma nodded. ‘As you see, Abbot Ségdae. Eadulf was nearly caught by the falling statue and is mildly injured by fragments but certainly not killed.’

‘But one of the brethren has just assured me that he has seen a body…’

At that moment, Brother Chilperic re-entered slightly out of breath. Brother Gebicca frowned with annoyance.

‘Everyone seems to be making free of my apothecary. Is this to be the new meeting hall?’ he complained.

Brother Chilperic was trying to recover his breath. ‘I came to get you, Brother Gebicca,’ he gasped. ‘Brother Andica has been killed. Please come at once.’

‘Brother Andica-the stonemason?’ Brother Gebicca looked amazed. ‘How did that happen?’ he asked, as he turned to find his physician’s bag.

‘It seems that he fell from the very alcove where the statue fell,’ said Brother Chilperic. He was regarding Fidelma and Eadulf somewhat suspiciously. ‘Did either of you see a member of the brethren in the alcove before you left?’

Fidelma decided that in the circumstances mendacity was a better path to follow. ‘Apart from Brother Benevolentia who helped Eadulf here, there was no one. Perhaps this Brother…?’

‘Brother Andica. He was one of our stonemasons,’ replied the steward. ‘Brother Eadulf was asking about him only yesterday.’

‘That is true,’ admitted Eadulf. ‘I had just met him coming from the women’s community and wondered who he was.’

‘He must have gone up to the gallery to investigate why the statue fell, lost his footing and gone over the edge to his death,’ suggested Fidelma.

‘This is a great tragedy.’ Brother Chilperic was clearly upset.

‘Some of the brethren heard a cry and when they rushed into the corridor, he was lying in the debris with his neck broken by the fall.’

Brother Gebicca sniffed. It seemed a habit with him.

‘I will say what is broken and what is not. I am the physician and no one has consulted me yet. I am finished with the Saxon Brother so I will go to have a look at Brother Andica. Rest as much as you can, Brother Eadulf. And you, Sister Fidelma, should also be resting with that leg of yours. Come, Brother Chilperic.’

Brother Chilperic gave a deep sigh. ‘I thought Brother Andica was too experienced to make a mistake like that,’ he said as he was leaving. ‘He has been working on the roof and towers of this abbey for many years.’

‘It is just sad when a young man falls to his death before he has had time to live,’ Fidelma reflected.

Brother Gebicca called impatiently and the steward turned again with an apology and left.

‘Another death in the abbey,’ Abbot Ségdae said, ‘but at least this one is clearly an accident.’

Eadulf, who had been sitting patiently, now stirred.

‘Forgive me, I feel quite fatigued,’ he said. ‘I must go to our room and rest a while.’

At once, Abbot Ségdae was apologetic and helped Eadulf negotiate the stairs of the hospitia to their chamber.

After they had been left alone, Fidelma turned with some eagerness to him and told him exactly what had happened. Eadulf was horrified.

‘He actually attempted to kill you?’ he gasped. ‘But why? What reason could there be? And why push the statue down on us in the first place?’

She looked at him sorrowfully. ‘Aren’t we investigating a murder?’ she asked. ‘If this Andica was involved, then that is reason enough. It means, also, that we are close to our quarry.’

‘But why would the local stonemason be mixed up in Dabhóc’s death?’

‘To be honest, I cannot see the connection between Dabhóc’s death and the disappearance of the women from the Domus Femini. All right, Sister Valretrade was on her way to meet Brother Sigeric, or Sigeric was on his way to meet her, when the body of Dabhóc was discovered. She disappeared after that. But it seems she was not the only one to do so.’

‘Often, in an investigation, one gets a feeling that something is not right. One has to follow that feeling until it is explained or dismissed,’ Eadulf said, and then contradicted himself. ‘Of course, intuition can also be wrong,’ he added.

‘Often the feeling is not intuition but the accumulation of facts in the dim recesses of the mind,’ Fidelma said. ‘They remain there in shadows until another fact or event causes them to fit into place. For instance, the disappearances, the behaviour of the abbess and her steward, the connection with Lady Beretrude and our friend Verbas of Peqini, Brother Andica’s attempt to kill us and the missing reliquary box…I see the strands, but they need something to connect them all together.’

‘Maybe there is no connection,’ pointed out Eadulf.

‘Then we must establish that and move on,’ Fidelma replied. ‘But how?’ She suddenly groaned. ‘Ron baithaigeis hí!’

‘And why do you consider yourself a great fool?’ Eadulf asked, surprised.

‘Lord Guntram.’