Act of Mercy

Chapter Seven

Fidelma was up, washed and dressed and just putting the final touches to her hair when there was a knock on the cabin door.

It was the Breton mate, Gurvan.

‘I beg your pardon, lady.’ With an inward sigh, Fidelma noted the form of address. Doubtless it was all around the ship that her brother was King of Muman. Gurvan did not notice her irritated expression and continued, ‘I was checking that you were recovered from the storm and that there were no problems?’

‘Thank you, I am fine,’ Fidelma acknowledged. Then she hesitated. She vaguely remembered being disturbed just about dawn when the storm had died away. She had the impression that someone had opened the door of her cabin, looked in and then closed it. She had been too tired to open her eyes and had fallen back to sleep immediately. ‘Did you attempt to call me earlier?’

‘Not I, lady,’ the mate assured her. ‘The others will be breaking their fast shortly if you would join them.’ He made to go, then turned back. ‘I hope that I was not lacking manners when I ordered you back into your cabin during the storm.’

So it had been Gurvan outside her door when she had a momentary panicky desire to go on deck.

‘Not at all. I should not have attempted to go out on deck but I was worried.’

Gurvan smiled shyly and touched a hand to his forehead.

‘The breakfast will be served in a moment, lady,’ he repeated.

Fidelma realised that she had probably overslept a little.

‘Very well. I am coming now.’,

The mate withdrew. She heard him go into the cabin opposite and close the door.

When she left her cabin, she was amazed at the sight that met her eyes. It was as if they had entered a cloud, for a thick white mist enveloped The Barnacle Goose. Fidelma could barely see the top of the mast, let alone the stern of the vessel. She had encountered such conditions before, often high up in the mountains when such mistscame down suddenly. It was always best to halt and wait for them to disperse, unless one knew the safest mountain route by which to descend.

There was a strange, echoing silence, with the soft breath of the sea lapping all around the ship. The mist swirled and eddied like smoke from a fire. It was not being dispelled, however, and Fidelma found that strange. She felt an uncontrollable urge to attempt to blow the mist away, so easily did it move as she waved her hand at it.

Gurvan suddenly re-emerged from his cabin.

‘It’s a sea mist,’ he explained unnecessarily. ‘It rolled up on us in the wake of the storm. I think it is something to do with the warmth of the seas in this area and the coldness of the storm. There is nothing to be afraid of.’

‘I’m not afraid,’ Fidelma assured him. ‘I’ve seen such mists before. It was just unexpected after the storm last night.’

‘The sun will chase it away as soon as it climbs higher and warms the skies.’

He turned to speak with a couple of sailors, who were hardly discernible in the shroudlike atmosphere. Sitting cross-legged on the deck, they were apparently engaged in sewing some pieces of canvas.

Fidelma made her way along the misty deck towards the stern of the ship. She was surprised, after the stormy weather of the previous night, to feel the soft air on her cheek which caused the mainsail to flap languidly, a birdlike fluttering in that echoing silence. The ship was steady, indicating that under the blanket of mist, the sea was flat and calm. She could see no sign of storm damage amidst the shadows. Everything appeared shipshape.

Barely able to see a few feet in front of her, and walking too rapidly, Fidelma bumped into a figure shrouded in a robe with the hood over his or her head. The figure grunted as Fidelma collided with it.

‘I am so sorry, Sister,’ Fidelma apologised, realising that it was one of the religieuses. There was something familiar about her.

But to her surprise, the figure kept her face turned away, muttered something indistinguishable and hurried off to be absorbed into the mist. Fidelma gaped at this lack of courtesy, and wondered who it was who would not exchange a civil greeting.

Then Captain Murchad himself materialised in front of her. He was descending the wooden steps from the stern deck to the main deck. Recognising her, the captain raised his hand in greeting.

‘A curious morning, lady,’ he said as he joined her. She could seethat he was looking irritated. ‘Have you ever seen the like of this before?’

‘Up in the mountains occasionally,’ she nodded.

‘So you would,’ agreed Murchad. ‘Yet it should clear away soon. The sun should rise and its warmth ought to dispel the mist.’ He was making no move to continue on below decks. ‘How did you fare during the blow?’ he asked suddenly.

‘Blow?’ Then Fidelma remembered that this was the sailors’ term for the storm. ‘I eventually fell asleep but more from exhaustion than anything.’

Murchad let out a long sigh.

‘It was a bad blow. The storm has driven me a half-day or more off my course. We’ve been pushed south-east — far more easterly than I was intending.’ He seemed preoccupied and far from happy.

‘Is that a problem?’ Fidelma queried. ‘Surely no one is worried about an extra day or so on this voyage.’

‘It’s not that …’ He hesitated.

Fidelma was bewildered by his hesitancy and his seeming reluctance to join the others below.

‘What’s wrong then, Murchad?’ she pressed.

‘I am afraid … we have lost a passenger.’

Fidelma stared at him in incomprehension. ‘Lost a passenger? You mean one of the pilgrims? How, lost?’

‘Overboard,’ he elaborated laconically.

Fidelma was shocked.

After a pause, Murchad added: ‘You did the right thing by remaining in your cabin during the blow, lady. Passengers have no right to be on deck when such a sea is running. I will have to lay down a rule that this is so. I have never lost anyone overboard before.’

‘Who was it?’ Fidelma asked breathlessly. ‘How did it happen?’

Murchad raised his shoulders and let them fall in an eloquent shrug, disclaiming knowledge.

‘How? That I don’t know. No one saw anything.’

‘Then how do you know that they were lost overboard?’

‘Brother Cian suggested it.’

Fidelma drew her brows together.

‘What does he have to do with it?’

‘He came to see me just after dawn. Apparently he feels that he should be in charge of all the pilgrims on board this ship — be their spokesman.’

Fidelma sniffed disparagingly.

‘You may rest assured that he has no authority to speak for me,’ she said tightly.

Murchad did not take any notice. He went on, ‘After the storm, he took it upon himself to go round and see if everyone was all right. He even went to your cabin.’

‘He did not check on me.’

‘Begging your pardon, lady,’ Murchad contradicted. ‘He said he looked into your cabin but saw that you were still asleep.’

So that was what had awoken her! The soft sound of a door shutting. She felt anger and a sense of violation that Cian, of all people, had entered her cabin and looked on her while she slept.

‘Go on, then.’ She decided that she would make very sure that, in future, Cian did not have such easy access to her cabin again.

‘Well, he found that one of the party was nowhere to be seen. Their cabin was deserted. When he came to me and told me his fears, I ordered Gurvan to conduct a thorough search of the ship. He found nothing. I have how sent him to double-check.’

So that explained Gurvan’s curious visit to her cabin a few moments ago. As if thinking of him had caused him to be drawn to them, Gurvan came swinging along the deck.

Murchad gazed anxiously at him. The first mate shook his head at the captain’s unasked question.

‘Stem to stern, skipper. No sign.’ Gurvan was not a man who believed in wasting words.

Murchad turned back to Fidelma with a mournful look.

‘That was our last chance. I had hoped that she might have become so scared of the storm that she had found some hole on board ship to hide in.’

Fidelma felt somewhat deflated. It was not an auspicious beginning to the pilgrimage. The first night out from Ardmore and a pilgrim lost overboard.

‘Who was it?’ she asked. ‘Who is the missing person?’

‘It is Sister Muirgel. We’d better get below, for the others are breaking their fast. I’d best give them this sad news of their companion. I do not want to lose any more passengers on this voyage.’

He dismissed Gurvan to look after the running of the ship while he went below. Fidelma was feeling shocked as she followed him down the companionway.

Yesterday, Sister Muirgel could barely raise her head from her bunk; she had been so sick and ill. The idea that, in the middle of such a terrifying storm, the pale-faced young woman had been able to leaveher cabin, climb up on deck unnoticed and then get swept overboard was startling in the extreme.

In the mess-deck cabin, young Wenbrit was serving a meal of bread, cold meats and fruit to the pilgrims who had gathered there. Fidelma immediately noticed that Brother Bairne had now joined the company. There was a muttered greeting, not hearty in the circumstances, as Fidelma took her seat and Murchad went to the head of the table. Everyone had obviously been told about the missing Sister Muirgel. Cian was the first to ask the news from Murchad. The captain addressed the entire assembly.

‘I am afraid that I have some very bad news for you,’ the captain began. ‘I can confirm that Sister Muirgel is no longer on board. A thorough search has been made of the vessel. No other explanation remains except that she was washed overboard in the night during the storm.’

There was a grim silence among those at the table. Then one of the religieuses, Fidelma thought it was the broad-faced Sister Crella, made a sound like a suppressed sob.

‘I have never lost a passenger before,’ Murchad continued, in a heavy tone. ‘I do not intend to lose another. Therefore, I am forced to tell you again that you must remain in your cabins, or below decks, should any further bad weather strike. Then you will only come on deck at my specific orders. In calm weather, of course, you may come on deck but only when one of my men is there to keep a watchful eye on you.’

The red-haired Brother Adamrae was frowning.

‘We are adults, Captain, not children,’ he protested. ‘We paid for our passage, we did not expect to be confined as if we were … criminals.’ He had paused a moment to search out a suitable word.

Cian was nodding in agreement.

‘Brother Adamrae does have a point, Captain.’

‘You are not trained sailors,’ Murchad countered brusquely. ‘The deck of a ship can be treacherous in bad weather unless you know what you are doing.’

Cian flushed with annoyance.

‘Not all of us have spent our lives closeted within abbey walls. I was a warrior and-’

The grim-faced Brother Tola raised his voice in interruption to add to the debate.

‘Because a silly woman who, by all accounts, was too sick to know what she was doing, went on deck when she should not and was lost overboard, surely there is no need to make us all suffer?’

There was an angry exclamation from Sister Crella. She sprang up, leaning across the table.

‘Apologise for those words, Brother Tola! Muirgel was the daughter of nobility before whom, if you did not wear that brown homespun robe, you would have to fall on your knees as they walked by you. Muirgel was my cousin and my friend. How dare you insult her?’ Her voice had risen hysterically.

Sister Ainder, tall and commanding, rose and, without any apparent effort, drew Crella from the table and led her away to the cabins, making strange noises like a mother comforting her child.

Brother Tola sat looking uncomfortable at the reaction he had provoked.

‘What I meant to say was that we paid our passage money, as Brother Adamrae has said. What if we refuse to obey this order?’

‘Then the captain has the right to imprison you.’ Fidelma spoke quietly and yet her voice penetrated the muttering which greeted Tola’s s words so that a deathly hush fell as everyone turned towards her.

Brother Tola was frowning at her, clearly disapproving of what he considered to be her impertinence.

‘Oh — and by what right?’ he demanded. ‘And how do you know?’

Fidelma glanced at Murchad as if ignoring his questions.

‘Do you own this vessel, Murchad?’

The captain replied with a curt nod, although he seemed puzzled by her question.

‘And where is your home port?’

‘Ardmore.’

‘The ship, then, is to all intent and purposes, subject to the laws of Eireann.’

‘I suppose so,’ agreed Murchad reluctantly, not understanding what she was getting at.

‘Then that is the answer to Brother Tola’s question,’ she explained, not bothering to turn to him.

Brother Tola was not appeased.

‘It is not.’

Only now did Fidelma look towards him and without humour.

‘Yes, it is. The Muirbretha, the sea-laws, apply in this matter.’

Brother Tola looked astonished, and then his features formed in a patronising smile.

‘And what would you know of such laws?’

Fidelma sighed and started to open her mouth but Cian cut in.

‘Because she is a dalaigh, an advocate of the courts. Becauseshe is holder of the degree of anruth.’ There was a scathing tone to his voice.

Everyone knew that the level of anruth was only one degree below the highest qualification that the ecclesiastic and secular colleges could bestow.

In the moment of silence which followed Cian’s announcement, Sister Ainder returned to the cabin.

‘Crella is resting,’ she announced, unaware of the new tension. ‘We must remember that she was Sister Muirgel’s close friend and relative. Her death has been a great shock to her. It does not need thoughtless remarks to be made in such circumstances, Brother Tola.’

Brother Tola scowled and turned to Cian.

‘What were you saying about this woman?’

‘Fidelma of Cashel is an advocate of the law courts; one with a reputation that has extended to Tara and the court of the High King.’

‘Is that true?’ demanded Tola, not convinced.

‘That is true,’ confirmed Murchad, intervening. ‘She is also the sister of the King of Muman.’

There was a crimson splash on Tola’s cheeks and he lowered his head to hide his confusion by examining the table before him.

Fidelma would have preferred that her rank had been left out of the matter. She glanced uncomfortably at them.

‘All I am saying is that under the Muirbretha, the sea-laws, Murchad as captain of this vessel stands in the same position as a king. In fact, he has more power for, as well as a king, he also has the authority of a Chief Brehon. In other words, he is the ruler of everyone on this vessel. Everyone. I think I have explained the position clearly. Or do you have another question, Brother Tola?’

The tall religieux glanced up in irritation at her.

‘No other question,’ he replied frostily.

Fidelma turned to Murchad.

‘You may be assured that your rules will be strictly obeyed and that everyone here is aware that disobedience invokes punishment.’

Murchad smiled in nervous appreciation.

‘My purpose is only to safeguard your lives. This … accident with Sister Muirgel should never have happened.’

He was about to leave them when the youthful Sister Gorman stayed him.

‘Can we … may we at least hold a small service for the repose of Sister Muirgel’s soul, Captain?’

Murchad looked uncomfortable for a moment.

‘It is our Christian duty to do so,’ pressed Sister Ainder, coming to her support.

‘Of course,’ muttered Murchad. ‘You may hold your service at midday when I hope the mist will have cleared.’

‘Thank you, Captain.’

Murchad left them as Wenbrit began to pass round the mead and water. The meal was taken in total silence and Fidelma was thankful to escape back onto the deck. The mist was still thick and swirling and it had not cleared by midday.

The service was, indeed, simple. Everyone gathered on the main deck apart from Gurvan and another sailor who controlled the steering oar, plus a lookout perched out of sight atop the mist-shrouded mainmast, whose duty it was to see when there might be a clearing of the skies. It had been some time ago when Murchad had lowered his sails and thrown out sea anchors in case the ship drifted into danger. But Fidelma could feel that the vessel was drifting despite the anchors and Murchad’s anxious eyes were darting around, attuned for trouble.

It was a strange group that stood there, surrounded by the wispy mist, like wraiths in an Otherworld setting. Surprisingly, Brother Tola led the prayers for the repose of the soul of Sister Muirgel. His voice echoed as if he were speaking in a sepulchre. He ended his prayer and then, without preamble, began to intone lines which Fidelma recognised from the Book of Jeremiah. Lines she found a strange choice:

‘We have left our lands, our houses have been pulled down,

Listen, you women, to the words of the Lord,

That your ears may catch what He says.

Teach your daughters the lament,

Let them teach one another this dirge;

Death has climbed in through our windows,

It has entered our palaces,

It sweeps off the children in the open air …’

Fidelma gazed at the forbidding monk in some bewilderment, for she thought his harsh cadences were not suited to a service for the repose of a soul. She glanced round at her fellow mourners and found, even through the swirling mist, that Sister Gorman’s eyes were bright and that she was nodding in time to the rhythm of the recitation. Next to her, Cian stood looking absolutely bored. The others appeared to be standing impassively, perhaps mesmerised by the tenor of Brother Tola’s religious declamations.

‘The corpses of men shall fall and lie like dung in the fields, Like swathes behind the reaper …’

Brother Bairne suddenly cleared his throat noisily. It was meant to interrupt and it did.

‘I, too, would offer a word from the Holy Book for the soul of our departed sister,’ he announced, as Brother Tola fell silent. ‘I believe I knew her just as well as everyone else who is gathered here.’

No one seemed to contradict him.

He began to recite and Fidelma realised that he was doing so with raised eyes and a grim expression on his face as if he were addressing the words at someone. He was focusing his gaze across the gathered circle. From her position, and with the mist still thick, she could not quite tell who he was looking at. Was it Sister Crella, standing with downcast eyes; or was it Cian, gazing upward in his boredom? And there was the naive young Sister Gorman by Cian’s side. It was difficult to follow the line of his eyes.

‘I will not punish your daughters for playing the wanton

Nor your sons’ brides for their adultery,

Because your men resort to wanton women

And sacrifice with temple prostitutes.

A people without understanding comes to grief …’

Sister Crella raised her head abruptly.

‘What have these words to do with Sister Muirgel?’ she demanded threateningly. ‘You did not know her at all! You were just jealous!’ She turned to Sister Ainder, who was looking shocked at the interruption. ‘Make an end of this farce. Proclaim a blessing and let’s have done.’

Already, in embarrassment, those members of the crew who had attended were drifting quietly away. Fidelma wondered what hidden passions were being enacted in this little memorial.

Sister Ainder, flushing, intoned a quick blessing and the group of religieux broke up. Only Brother Bairne stood with his head bowed at the spot as if in silent prayer.

When Fidelma turned away she encountered Murchad. He was looking perplexed.

‘A strange group of religieux, lady,’ he muttered.

Fidelma felt inclined to agree.

‘What was that last piece about temple prostitutes?’ went on Murchad. ‘Was it truly from the Christian Holy Book?’

‘Hosea,’ affirmed Fidelma. She pulled a doleful face. ‘I think Brother Bairne was quoting from the verses of that fourth chapter.

‘The more priests there are, the more they sin against me;

Their dignity I will turn into dishonour.

They feed on the sin of my people

And batten on their iniquity,

But people and priest shall be treated alike.’

Murchad gazed at her in admiration.

‘I have often felt like saying that about some of the religieux I have met.’

‘It seems that God said it first, Captain,’ she rejoined solemnly.

‘How do you remember such things, lady?’

‘How do you remember how to sail this ship, knowing the winds and tides and the signs that keep The Barnacle Goose from danger? There is no secret to it, Murchad. We all have a memory and can memorise things. The more important thing is how we act on that which we know.’

She turned down the companionway back to the mess deck in search of some water. At the doorway, she found Wenbrit. He had not come up on deck during the service but had excused himself on the grounds of his duties. Now she noticed for the first time how pale his face was, and how strained he looked. He seemed relieved to see her.

‘Lady, I need-’ He stopped abruptly and his eyes focused on something above and beyond Fidelma’s head.

She frowned at the young boy.

‘What is it, Wenbrit?’

‘Er …’ He looked distracted for a moment. ‘I just wanted to remind you that the midday meal will be served soon.’

The boy pushed past her towards the cabins, lowering his voice so that she hardly caught his words.

‘Meet me in the cabin which the dead sister used. As soon as you can.’

There was a cough slightly above her head; she looked up and saw that Cian had followed her down the companionway. He stood, leaning down, a few steps above her.

‘I must talk properly with you, Fidelma.’ He still had that confident smile. ‘We didn’t really finish our discussion yesterday.’

Fidelma swung round to hide her anger. It seemed obvious to her that Wenbrit had wanted to speak urgently with her but not in the presence of Cian.

‘I am busy,’ she replied in a cutting tone.

Cian did not seem perturbed by her attitude.

‘Surely you are not afraid to speak with me?’

She gazed at him with open dislike. There was no escaping his presence. She could make no further excuse. She had known that sooner or later they would have to talk with one another. Perhaps it was better sooner rather than later. There were many days of the voyage yet to come. She hoped that Wenbrit’s news could wait awhile. She was busy remembering.