Behold a Pale Horse

Brother Eolann seemed to have some difficulty with translating. ‘A neighbour saw a man in religious robes taking the box and climbing down to his horse.’

‘It was taken by a religieux?’

‘Someone looking like a religieux,’ added Brother Eolann hurriedly.

‘Did this neighbour describe him or his horse?’ Fidelma waited impatiently for Brother Eolann to pose the question.

‘The neighbour could see no more,’ said Eolann, after a further exchange. ‘I asked where this neighbour was and she says that he has gone to the market of Travo and will be gone for some days.’

Fidelma thought for a moment and then rose slowly. ‘We will not damage the cairn. Be assured.’

‘Then I would be grateful for your blessing and your prayers before you leave. Forgive a grieving mother for my sharpness.’

It was Brother Eolann who intoned the prayers in the locallanguage before they bade farewell to the woman and followed the path indicated by her.

Although they were high on the mountain, they were still within the treeline, where tall beech trees interspersed with rowan were still dominant. Here and there were other trees which reminded Fidelma of oak, but were different. She had noticed these curious oaks before. She took the opportunity to ask Brother Eolann if he knew what they were. He told her that they were called turkey-oak and were native to the area. Here and there, birds flitted from branch to branch and she caught sight of white and yellow wagtails and sparrow-hawks.

Brother Eolann cast a glance at the sky, saying, ‘We mustn’t delay in reaching the sanctuary at the top. It will not be very long before twilight is upon us.’

‘Are there dangerous animals on the mountain if we do not make it and have to encamp for the night?’

‘In terms of big animals, I have seen foxes and wolves. But the one thing I hate is something that is not seen in our land.’

‘Which is?’ asked Fidelma curiously.

‘There is a snake called a vipera; its bite can be dangerous, for it injects a poison.’

Fidelma shivered a moment and glanced around her feet. ‘I have heard of the like but never encountered one.’

‘I have only once seen one,’ confided Brother Eolann. ‘Brother Lonán found it in the herbarium last autumn. It was curled up basking in the sun. He tried to pick it up, thinking it was a slow-worm, and it bit him and he was in pain for several days. Thankfully, Brother Hnikar had some potion and told Lonán to go and lie down and not to exert himself, for the action would carry the venom through his body. He recovered but it took many days.’

‘Then you must warn me if you see such a creature in my path,’ Fidelma said fervently. ‘Wolves and foxes do not worry me, but the idea of such creatures as snakes …’ She shuddered again.

They moved out of the shaded pathway on to an open rocky path on the mountainside. To their left the hillside rose steeply and was studded with boulders and dark grey rocks. To their right, the hillside fell equally steeply.

‘Ah!’ Fidelma exclaimed and pointed to a small pile of stones that lay a little way ahead of them. ‘That must be Hawisa’s cairn.’

There was nothing remarkable about the cairn, which Hawisa had raised in memory of her son.

Fidelma looked about with a critical eye. Then she moved to the edge of the path, to where the hillside fell away steeply. Some twenty metres or so below them was a broad track which was obviously used frequently.

‘What track is that?’ she asked.

‘It is a track that leads across the mountains from the north and, if one continues down into the valley, it comes to the abbey,’ confirmed Brother Eolann.

Fidelma peered over the edge. ‘It’s quite a fall, but easy to climb down. That is doubtless where this person who took the box left his horse, climbed up and then returned with the box.’

‘It is also where the boy must have fallen, to be found by Wulfoald as he rode by.’

‘How would a sure-footed lad who had tended goats on these mountain slopes all his life manage to fall from this place? The edge is so clear and the dangers obvious.’

‘Maybe one of the goats had wandered too near the edge and in trying to rescue it, he slipped?’ suggested Brother Eolann. ‘I think we should consider that.’

‘Perhaps,’ Fidelma admitted, albeit with reluctance. ‘However, speculation is not going to reveal any secrets to us. I shall climb down.’

Brother Eolann protested at once but she waved his concerns aside. ‘There are more difficult descents among the high peaks in Muman,’ she said.

‘But what are you seeking?’

‘I won’t know until I see it,’ she replied, and then she walked to the edge, examining the rockface carefully.

‘Careful!’ called Brother Eolann nervously.

‘If you are going to shout like that,’ admonished Fidelma, ‘you will cause me to start and fall. Ah, I see a way …’ She climbed over the edge and began to move down the rockface. As a child, she and her brother, Colgú, had scrambled over the hills of Cnoc an Stanna and Sliabh Eibhlinne. Such climbs held no fears for her. Her descent was as nimble as one of Wampa’s goats, and in a short time, she stood on the rocky path below.

‘Stay there,’ she called up. ‘If there is anything to be seen, I shall see it.’

She walked along the base of the rockface, her eyes searching the ground but unable to see anything that seemed out of place. Not that she really expected to see anything. If the boy had been killed or, if he had fallen, there would be no traces left, so long after his death. As she walked up and down the stony area below the rocks, the only thing that caught her eye was what appeared to be a small piece of smashed twig among some pieces of coloured pottery and glass beads. There was something odd about the twig. She picked it up and turned it over in her hands before suddenly realising what it was. It was less than a finger-length and about as thick. It had been smashed at both ends but washollow, like a piece of cane. Halfway along were two neatly cut holes. At one end were markings which showed something had been attached there. A mouthpiece?

‘Are you all right?’ came Brother Eolann’s anxious voice from above.

She glanced up and realised that he could not see her because of the overhang.

‘All is well,’ she called up. Standing away from the cliff face so that she could see Brother Eolann, she added, ‘I won’t be long.’

‘Have you found something?’

‘Nothing yet,’ she replied. She moved back to where she had found the items and peered around before gazing up the rockface. There was a shelf of rock a little way above the spot where she stood. It was just above the level of her head, but she was able to find some holds so that she could scramble to head height.

A crude box lay on its side on the shelf, its lid open. It was made of rough wood and no more than twenty centimetres in length and ten in width, and not very deep. Fidelma lifted it carefully so that the few things still in it did not spill out as she climbed down again. The box was of very unskilled workmanship indeed. The two hinges were of metal but it was obvious that the hand that had made them had not made the box. Letters had been burned on the underside of the lid. They were badly formed and probably made with the point of a hot poker. WAMBA.

It was obviously the box stolen from the cairn. But the thief must have dropped it as he scrambled down to his horse. It must have caught on the rock shelf when the thief had dropped it, having taken flight when he saw himself observed. The observer had not seen where the box had fallen,however, since it had not been recovered. Inside were some curious little knick-knacks of no particular value, the mouthpiece that went with the pipes and some cheap ceramic jewellery and clay items.

Why would a thief desecrate a memorial? She began examining the items in the box — then she noticed something. Emptying out the contents, she shook the box. It rattled as if something was still loose. She began to run her fingers over the bottom of the inside. It did not fit tightly and she was able, with care, to prise it free. Underneath it lay a small object. She lifted it out between thumb and forefinger. It was a gold coin.

She replaced the false bottom and the other items, but put the coin into her marsupium.

‘What’s happening?’ called Brother Eolann from above.