manacles that linked her with Fidelma, and she stepped back, eyes wide. The man had now set the lantern on a table. He heard the gasp and turned to see the reason for it.
‘By the holy icons!’ he muttered. ‘Have you run away from the abbey?’
‘It is a long story. This is Fidelma from Hibernia,’ Valretrade said, indicating her companion. ‘We must speak in Latin for she does not understand our Burgund tongue. Fidelma, this is my sister, Magnatrude and her husband Ageric.’
‘I am afraid I know little of your language,’ Fidelma apologised.
Algeric strained to understand her and then said: ‘My wife and I have Latin. It is a
Fidelma was relieved.
Magnatrude was examining them with a worried expression Her features bore a strong resemblance to Valretrade’s except that she was a few years older than her sister. Her husband was of the same age, a big man with strong shoulders and dark hair. There was something humorous about his expression, as though he were permanently amused with the world.
‘What has happened? Why have you run away from the abbey? Why did they manacle you?’
Valretrade shook her head. ‘It’s a story long in the telling, sister. The truth is that I didn’t run away. I was…we were…being taken to be sold as slaves. We escaped.’
Ageric stared at her in amazement. ‘Sold as slaves? Have slavers raided the abbey, then?’
Valretrade smiled bitterly. ‘I said it would be long in the telling. But two important things first. Can you remove these manacles, Ageric? And is there something to drink and eat? We can then tell you the story as we proceed.’
Magnatrude at once set about the refreshment while her husband examined the manacles critically.
‘Not a hard job,’ he said, inspecting the lock. Then he turned and left them, going into another room.
‘Ageric is a blacksmith,’ Valretrade reminded Fidelma.
‘One of the best in the city,’ confirmed her elder sister, returning with beakers filled with cider and some bread and goat’s cheese.
As they drained their beakers, Ageric came back with several keys in his hands.
‘No need to even break the locks, nor saw through the chains. I believe one of these will do the task.’
As he sat down and started to pick at the locks, Valretrade quickly told their story while they nibbled on the welcome bread and cheese. By the time Valretrade had ended, the manacle and chain lay on the ground. It was well past dawn and the bird chorus had died away.
‘But if Bishop Leodegar and the Lady Beretrude are part of the conspiracy to sell the women off as slaves,’ commented Magnatrude, ‘who is there to appeal to for justice?’
‘The only thing for you to do is to hide up for today and then leave the city tonight and get to some other place where the writ of Beretrude and her family and of Leodegar does not run,’ advised Ageric.
Valretrade did not look happy.
‘Leave the city I grew up in? Leave you, my relatives? And what of poor Sigeric? It is not a good choice.’
Magnatrude looked at Fidelma who had been following the conversation without comment.
‘You are from Hibernia. You will want to go back there. Why not take our sister with you? I hear that life is good there. Perhaps Sigeric can follow later.’
Fidelma sighed. ‘I am afraid that my duty is to remain in Autun for a while yet.’
‘Your duty?’ asked Ageric.
It was difficult to explain to them that she was a
‘There is someone I need to get in touch with in the abbey,’ she began.
‘Sigeric?’ asked Valretrade eagerly.
‘Not Sigeric; not yet. I need to contact Brother Eadulf, but it would be hopeless to return to the abbey and seek him out. There are too many enemies about and I would doubtless be captured before I came near him.’ She looked speculatively at Ageric. ‘Are you known at the abbey, Ageric?’
The blacksmith looked startled. ‘Not exactly. I used to work for the old abbot before Leodegar took over, but I have not been there for some years now. All my business is in the town.’
‘Then you might not be recognised as the brother-in-law of Valretrade?’
‘I doubt if anyone knows that,’ he agreed.
‘It would help, Ageric, if you went to the abbey and sought out Brother Eadulf in order to give him a message. But don’t make it obvious if you can avoid it.’
‘If I am questioned, I could say that I went to see if the abbey had work for a blacksmith,’ he volunteered.
‘Good. If you can speak to Eadulf alone, tell him that I want him to return here with you. Of course, ensure that you are not followed. If you have to speak to him with others in the vicinity, tell him that you had heard Alchú misses him and arrange to speak alone with him. Remember the name…Alchú. He will know that you have come from me.’
Ageric repeated the name.
Fidelma glanced at Valretrade and caught her in mid-yawn. She was sympathetic for she, too, was exhausted by the recent events.
‘We had little sleep last night,’ she explained, ‘so while you go to the abbey, we shall rest awhile.’
Magnatrude took her sister’s arm in sympathy.
‘You may use our bed for the time being until you have thought out what it is you want to do.’
It was Fidelma who asked: ‘Does anyone at the abbey know that Valretrade is your sister?’ She was worried in case Beretrude was able to trace them to her sister’s home.
‘It is some time since I have seen my little sister, so I have had no cause to speak of her to anyone recently.’
Valretrade yawned again. She was almost asleep on her feet.
In fact, both Fidelma and Valretrade were fast asleep by the time Ageric the Blacksmith left on his errand to the abbey.
It seemed that Fidelma had not been asleep but a moment when she felt her shoulder being roughly shaken. She came awake abruptly, heart pounding. Valretrade was already moving from the bed while Magnatrude was still shaking Fidelma.
‘Lady Beretrude’s warriors are coming along the alley,’ she hissed. ‘There’s no time to lose. Follow me.’
She turned and led the way into what was apparently a storeroom off Ageric’s workshop and forge. She went straight to a corner and bent down. Already they could hear the tramp of the warriors at the gate outside the building. Magnatrude pulled up a trapdoor and pointed down.
‘A souterrain. I can think of no other hiding place. There is no more time.’
A harsh voice was calling, demanding entrance.
Fidelma dropped down into the dark food storage area and crawled further back so that Valretrade could follow her. A moment later the trapdoor swung shut and they were in total darkness. It was cold. Black and cold. Fidelma shivered at the sudden change from the warm bed to this icy darkness.
She heard something move over the trapdoor and guessed Magnatrude was trying to obscure the entrance by placing some object on top.
A moment passed before they heard the harsh voices again and Magnatrude’s tones replying.
‘My sister? I haven’t seen her for over a year or so. She is a religieuse up at the abbey. Why don’t you try there?’
The harsh voice replied.
Fidelma could not follow much of the conversation even though it was conducted in Latin. It was too muffled.
There was a lot of movement above them. It was obvious the warriors were looking around. Then voices were close by. They were very clear. Fidelma’s jaw tightened as she waited for the trapdoor to be discovered.
