The Council of the Cursed

Chapter Twenty-one

Fidelma was awoken by the noise of several armed men entering the cellar. They were shouting orders and the women were jolted from their sleep in confusion. The young children started to cry and the warriors cursed and threatened them when they wouldn’t fall silent, which only made matters worse. Valretrade was already awake and shivering slightly in the dawn chill. Fidelma rubbed the sleep from her eyes and glanced up at the window. She was satisfied to see that it was still dark, but the men had brought several lanterns. There was no sign of Verbas of Peqini among them.

‘Stand in line here,’ shouted one of the warriors. Fidelma thought it was the burly man who had addressed them on the previous night. He held several lengths of chain in his hand with manacles on either end. The length of the chain between the manacles was about a metre.

‘What are you going to do?’ demanded one of the women, a Latin speaker.

The guard grimaced evilly. ‘You will be manacled together. So if you have any ideas of running away, you can forget them.’

Fidelma grabbed Valretrade and moved quickly to the line. Instructions were being given in Burgund and in Latin. At Fidelma’s prompting, Valretrade asked the warrior: ‘Are you not going to provide wagons for us to ride in?’

‘Wagons for slaves?’ The man chuckled in amusement. No, my lady, you will walk to the river and like it. From there you will have a nice trip by boat.’

Fidelma uttered a silent cheer. It meant there would be an opportunity to escape as they walked through the small streets and alleys of the city, but the manacles would create a problem. She tried to assess the attitude of the guard as he locked a manacle shut on one woman’s right wrist and then fastened the other end to a second woman’s left wrist.

The guard fitting the manacles was not doing it haphazardly, she could tell. He was choosing to place the strong with the weak-looking. He was obviously a clever man. There was a thickset and tough-looking woman standing just before her and Fidelma saw the guard considering her. She decided to gamble.

‘I’d like to be shackled to her,’ she said, moving forward and pointing to the woman.

The guard stared at her for a second and then burst out laughing as he viewed her would-be companion. Grabbing Valretrade’s wrist, as she stood close behind Fidelma, he fastened one manacle on it and placed the other on Fidelma.

‘I suppose you think that you stand a better chance of escape with someone who is so strong?’ He spoke with a sneer in his voice. ‘I say to whom you are to be shackled.’

As they were pushed back into line, Valretrade was clearly puzzled.

‘Why did you want to be shackled to her?’ she demanded in a whisper.

‘I didn’t, but I had to be sure that I was shackled to you. That guard was clearly choosing who was being joined to whom, and he might not have put us together.’

Valretrade still didn’t understand.

‘He obviously wanted to ensure that two fit-looking women were not placed together,’ explained Fidelma patiently. ‘I had to distract him by pretending I wanted to be placed with that woman, who stood out as being strong. He was so taken off-guard that he reacted and only saw that you were slimmer than the person I asked to be bound to. He thought he was thwarting my chances.’

Valretrade stared at the iron chain that united them by the wrists.

‘I don’t see how this will improve our prospect of escape.’

‘We are going to be walked through the city to the river. The streets are narrow.’

‘Some of them,’ agreed the girl.

‘Then we must ensure we are placed about the centre of the column. There will be guards at the front and at the back. We need to be the furthest away from them.’

‘Then what?’

‘Do you know any narrow lanes or streets where we have a chance to break away? We need to start running and get enough of a lead over our pursuers to have time to find a hiding place.’

Valretrade was suddenly thoughtful. ‘It will depend which side of the villa they march us out from,’ she said. ‘Both afford some good opportunities, but we need to start soon. In daylight we will not have much of a chance.’

As if on cue, the door opened again and Verbas of Peqini stood on the threshold, legs apart and hands on hips. Fidelma had quickly thrown her hood over her head.

‘Well?’ he called to one of the guards in Latin. ‘Are they all ready?’

‘All ready, lord,’ was the reply.

‘Then take them outside and get them into a line. I want to be out of the city before daybreak.’

The guards herded the women through the door and up the stone steps into the side garden of the villa. Thirty women and seven children, one only a babe in arms, were shackled in twos. But there were other guards waiting for them outside.

‘Children in the front, the rest behind. Hurry now!’

The women began to arrange themselves, and Fidelma and Valretrade hurriedly inserted themselves into the middle of the column that was forming.

A horse had been brought, and Verbas mounted it, staring disdainfully down at his charges.

‘Anyone escaping will face the lash,’ he called harshly. ‘Guard, if anyone does not understand Latin, ensure that their companions tell them the penalty. You will move quickly and in silence. Is this clear?’

‘Clear, my lord,’ called the chief guard.

Without more ado, Verbas waved his hand in a forward gesture and moved slowly through the side gates of the villa.

The women were forced in a shuffling movement over the cobbled street.

‘I am relying on you,’ Fidelma whispered to her companion. ‘Tell me when we approach the next small alley. We must run as we have never run before.’

Valretrade nodded surreptitiously.

They had traversed two streets, working their way from the villa and into a complex of intersections, when she said: ‘Down this street, on the right-hand side is a small alleyway. It is like a maze, criss-crossing and with sometimes barely room for one person.’

Fidelma moved closer to her and gripped her hand. ‘We will move together when I give the word.’ Her voice was firm.

‘Together,’ agreed Valretrade quietly.

The alley loomed up in the semi-gloom too quickly for second thoughts. As they reached it, Fidelma snapped, ‘Now!’ and the two women suddenly leaped for its dark mouth. Holding hands to make the manacle more easily handled, they started running down the cobbled way. Behind them they could hear shouts and screams.

It had been well after midnight when Brother Chilperic had returned from his mission to report that the major domus at Lady Beretrude’s villa had informed him that Sister Fidelma had not been seen. By the sound of it, the man had not even consulted his mistress but had cavalierly dismissed Brother Chilperic at the gates of the villa. This was exactly what Eadulf had feared.

It was Abbot Ségdae who had prevented Eadulf from going directly to the villa himself.

‘It is no good. And if you think that the major domus is lying and, indeed, that Lady Beretrude is involved, then it could be dangerous for you as well as Fidelma.’

‘But what can we do?’ asked Eadulf in anguish.

‘Let us wait until daylight. Things are always so much clearer in the morning hours. You need the rest.’

‘Little rest I’ll be getting,’ muttered Eadulf.

‘Relax and meditate. After the morning prayers we shall tell Bishop Leodegar that we mean to go to the villa and demand to see Beretrude.’

It was after some intense discussion and still with much reluctance that Eadulf agreed to return to the hospitia to rest. It is true that sleep did not come easily to him but, nonetheless, it came eventually and when he awoke it was just past dawn and a distant bell was ringing for the morning prayers.

As Fidelma and Valretrade ran into the darkened alley, the other women, seeing what had happened, began to block off the entrance with their milling bodies while the guards tried to get into the alley to pursue the escapees. Frustrated by the women in their way, the warriors started to lash out. Verbas of Peqini shouted useless instructions but then, two of the guards broke through and started to run after the pair.

Fidelma and Valretrade moved as quickly as they dared in the darkness of the confined space.

‘Do you know where this alley leads?’ gasped Fidelma, as they came to a maze of small passageways.

‘Yes. Not far now. I know where we can hide,’ replied her companion.

Then Valretrade twisted and turned through the dark passageways until Fidelma was hopelessly confused and had to put her faith entirely in the hands of the young woman.

Suddenly she halted, breathing hard, in front of a wooden gate set in the black stone wall.

‘Here we are!’ She reached for the latch and it gave with a groaning sound of wood against wood.

She went through it, dragging Fidelma with her. Then she thrust the gate shut behind them.

Fidelma saw that they were in a small yard; a few chickens clucked irritably but were not particularly disturbed while a tethered goat gazed at them with an expression that seemed to imply it resented their intrusion.

‘There’s a hay pile there,’ gestured Valretrade. ‘Let’s catch our breath.’

They flung themselves down in a dark corner away from the gate.

It was not a moment too soon, as heavy footsteps pounded by. They could hear the stertorous grunt of the guards who had been chasing them, then the sound faded away. The women crouched in the corner listening, but the tethered goat had grown restless and its movements had disturbed the chickens that now decided to protest. Suddenly, a door opened and the figure of a muscular man appeared with a lantern in one hand and a large blacksmith’s hammer in the other.

‘Come out, you thieves!’ he called. ‘Careful, for I am armed.’

The light fell on them in the corner.

‘Come out!’ he called again.

It was Valretrade who moved first. ‘Ageric-it is I!’ she called softly.

The man stepped forward, the lantern raised. ‘By the holy powers! Valretrade?’

The girl moved swiftly and caught him by the arm.

‘Quickly, let us go inside and douse the light. Be as quiet as possible. There are pursuers near by. I have a friend with me.’ Her words came out in a breathless whisper.

The man did not say anything more but turned and went inside the house, with Valretrade and Fidelma following. Once they were inside, he bolted the door.

‘Who is it, Ageric? What is happening?’ A woman entered from the adjoining room and paused when her eyes fell on them.

‘Valretrade!’ She grasped the girl in an embrace. As Valretrade went to respond, the woman saw the 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 lingua franca still among us, for this was once a province of the empire. Most people who have had some learning speak it a little.’

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 dálaigh, an advocate of the laws of her people, and what that entailed.

‘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. Suddenly she recognised the voice of one of the speakers, and shuddered. It was Verbas of Peqini. She was thankful that his common language with Beretrude’s guards was Latin so that she could understand what was said. Verbas was not happy.

‘This means another delay,’ he was complaining. ‘Why didn’t the Lady Beretrude tell me that one of the prisoners was this Fidelma of Cashel! I knew the cunning vixen. I would have taken a special care of her.’

There was an apologetic cough and a gruff voice said: ‘My lady did not know you knew the foreigner, lord.’

‘Well, I am forced to leave now. It is up to Beretrude to kill or recapture that troublemaker. I would have liked to have done so myself, but I have a boat waiting on the river. It takes many days to navigate down to the southern sea and my ship. I cannot wait for ever.’

‘A cargo of slaves fetches a good price, lord, so surely it is worth the wait until these women are recaptured?’

‘And your mistress has collected a good price,’ muttered Verbas of Peqini. ‘No, I cannot wait any longer.’

His voice died away and it was obvious that the men had moved towards the door. It seemed an eternity before Magnatrude’s voice came from above them.

‘They have gone. Are you both all right?’

‘We are cold and it is dark down here,’ Valretrade called back.

‘I am sorry, but it is best to leave you there for a short time in case they return to catch us out. I will let you up as soon as I think it is safe.’

Fidelma thought the woman was wise.

‘Let us up as soon as you can,’ Valretrade shivered. She was clearly not enjoying the confinement.

A good hour or so later, Magnatrude returned. She removed whatever it was covering the trap door and pulled it open, then helped Valretrade first from the narrow confines and then Fidelma.

‘Your warning was very timely,’ Fidelma told her as she stretched to get her blood circulating again.

‘It was a lucky thing that this house has an upper floor and I was there in time to see the warriors approaching from the top of the lane,’ Magnatrude told them grimly.

Valretrade was trembling, more from the effects of being in the claustrophobic souterrain than from near recapture by Lady Beretrude’s warriors.

‘Have they gone?’ she whispered.

‘Of course,’ replied her sister. ‘But not before a thorough search of this place.’ She suddenly went pale.

‘What is it?’ asked Fidelma in alarm.

‘The manacles!’ Magnatrude stared with wide eyes. ‘What if…?’ She scanned the workroom. ‘Ageric brought them in here.’

Fidelma pointed with a smile.

‘They say that the best way to hide something is to leave it in plain view.’

The workroom of the smith had several nails and hooks along one wall from which an assortment of chains and other devices were hanging. Among them Ageric had hung up the manacles and chain from which he had released Fidelma and Valretrade. They were so obvious that the warriors would not have taken any notice of them, thinking they were just part of the smith’s equipment.

‘Don’t worry, Magnatrude. As soon as Eadulf gets here, we will not trespass on you much longer and put you in fear of this Beretrude.’

Magnatrude shook her head. ‘You mistake my fear. My sister Valretrade is the only relative I have. I will do anything to protect her.’

‘They say Beretrude has the second sight.’ Valretrade was still nervous. ‘How did she know to send her warriors here?’

‘Second sight?’ Fidelma was disapproving. ‘For shame-and you a Sister of the Faith. Beretrude must have known or been told that Magnatrude was your blood sister. There is no mystery to it. But she has been remarkably well informed.’

‘I told only my close friends like Sigeric and Inginde.’

‘Not Sister Radegund?’

‘Radegund knew as steward.’ The girl looked deflated. ‘She is Beretrude’s niece. I should have realised.’

Magnatrude led them back to the other room and offered them a bowl of hot broth.

‘The Lady Beretrude is said to have spies everywhere. She is a powerful woman. More powerful than her sons.’

‘Her sons? Oh, you include the younger son who was sent away when he was young. I have spoken to Guntram,’ Fidelma added, explaining her knowledge.

‘Guntram is the elder son and technically, the ruler. In reality, it is Beretrude who controls this province,’ replied Magnatrude.

‘What of the other son?’

‘No one knows what happened to him. He was sent away from home when he was young to enter the religious.’

‘Do you know the story?’ asked Fidelma curiously.

‘Gundobad was his name, I believe. The story is that he went into the abbey there when he was seven years old because his mother rejected him. She wanted to lavish her attention on Guntram, being the heir to the lordship of Burgundia, but only succeeded in spoiling him and making him indolent.’

Magnatrude offered them more broth but sleep was catching up with them again.

‘Let’s hope Ageric returns with Eadulf soon.’ Fidelma noticed that Valretrade had already fallen asleep again. But she herself was too nervous to sleep, and just wished Eadulf would come. However, she must have fallen asleep in spite of herself, for the next thing she knew, she awoke to hear Eadulf’s anxious voice. Ageric had returned with him.

‘You were not followed from the abbey?’ she demanded after they had exchanged enthusiastic greetings.

‘We were very careful, and no one saw Ageric contact me, except Abbot Ségdae, whom I have taken into my confidence. We were very lucky. We were just setting out to search for you again when Ageric approached and asked where he might find Brother Eadulf.’

‘So Ségdae knows where we are?’

‘When you did not return by dark last night, I approached Ségdae and told him where you had gone. We went to Bishop Leodegar and demanded that he send to Beretrude to enquire if you were in the villa. We wanted to go ourselves in case there was trouble. Instead, he sent Brother Chilperic, who was told that no one at the villa had seen you.’

Fidelma’s face was grim. ‘Beretrude is guilty of selling members of the Domus Femini as slaves,’ she told him. ‘But I think I can now explain what has been happening here.’

‘She has many warriors to back her.’ Eadulf was no longer surprised at the news. ‘What is your plan?’

‘Are Ségdae and his companions still at the abbey?’

‘I told him not to say anything further until I had spoken with you. I said I would get word to him as to what must be done.’

‘Did you discover the answer to my question?’

‘About Benén mac Sesenén?’ Eadulf was surprised at what he saw as a sudden change of conversation. ‘Oh yes. You were right. He did have a Latin nickname.’

‘And Benignus was his Latin sobriquet?’

Eadulf looked surprised for a moment and then said: ‘It was.’

Fidelma nodded slowly as if everything now fitted together.

‘What of Bishop Leodegar-what was his reaction to my disappearance? Was he concerned, or do you think he knew what was happening?’

Eadulf paused for a moment’s thought. Then: ‘He is either very good at disguising his feelings, or he was more concerned at the reaction from Nuntius Peregrinus when he heard you were missing. Tell me what has happened to you.’

As briefly as possible, she told him the details.

Eadulf looked grim when she mentioned the role of Verbas of Peqini.

‘My movement is restricted now, Eadulf, so I must rely on you. Tonight I need to re-enter the abbey unseen. Apart from Abbot Ségdae and his comrades from Imleach, there is no knowing who are our friends and who are our foes in the abbey. We must be prepared for all contingencies.’

She glanced towards Valretrade. Their conversation had been carried on in Fidelma’s own language that they always spoke together.

‘I think we can rely on Brother Sigeric to support us,’ she added.

At the name Valretrade looked up quickly.

‘Sigeric? Has anything happened to him?’ she asked fearfully, resorting to Latin.

Eadulf was reassuring. ‘He is well but frantic with worry about your fate.’

‘Then tomorrow morning I shall attempt to resolve all these matters,’ Fidelma said.

‘Tomorrow morning?’ Eadulf was astonished. ‘Can it all be resolved by then?’

‘That is if certain conditions can be met. Firstly, you must return to the abbey and see Abbot Ségdae. He must arrange to smuggle me back into the abbey as soon as darkness has fallen. Valretrade will come with me. No one apart from Ségdae must know of our return. You, however, will find a horse and ride to Clotaire. Bring him and his warriors to the abbey unseen. Make sure he has Guntram with him.’

Eadulf was astounded. ‘Fifty warriors? How can they arrive in this city unseen, let alone enter the abbey?’

‘That is where Brother Sigeric will play a part. In this you must instruct Clotaire carefully. Stand firm against Ebroin, as I am sure he is the sort of person who will raise objections. He may wish good for Clotaire but he does not believe in being subtle.’

‘Tell me what I should do.’

‘As you know, the abbey buildings stand in the south-west corner of the city, against the city walls there. Do you recall Sigeric telling us about the tunnel from the vaults under the chapel that leads beyond the outside walls? The door can be opened only from the inside. I will send Sigeric to open that door before dawn tomorrow morning. You will bring Clotaire and his men to the outside wall. Can you find where the entrance is?’

‘We can if Sigeric will signal with a lantern to show exactly where it is.’

‘A good suggestion. It shall be done.’

‘But where will I find a horse to ride for Guntram’s fortress?’ asked Eadulf.

‘Ageric,’ she turned to the blacksmith, ‘do you have a good horse or do you have access to one?’

‘My brother is also a blacksmith. His forge is outside of the city on the road to Guntram’s fortress. He has horses,’ he replied at once.

‘How far away?’

‘Just to the south west, at the beginning of the forest. It is no more than a brisk walk away. His name is Clodomar.’

Fidelma turned back to Eadulf in satisfaction.

‘That’s one piece of good fortune. We passed Clodomar’s forge. Do you recall the place?’ And when he nodded, she turned back to the bewildered Ageric. ‘I presume that your brother can be trusted to keep secrets?’

‘He is my brother,’ responded Ageric stoutly. ‘But I will accompany your friend to make sure all is well.’

‘Remember to bring Clotaire back to the entrance before dawn.’

Eadulf tried to hide his dismay at the thought of a nighttime ride on horseback through the forest. Horses were not his favourite mode of transport.

‘Once inside, Sigeric will guide you through the necropolis and into the chapel. This will coincide when all are meeting for the morning prayers. The warriors must stand ready to take control by force.’

‘I am not sure I follow the reasoning,’ Eadulf said, ‘but I will certainly convey all this to Clotaire.’

Fidelma looked apologetically at him.

‘What I am planning is that tomorrow, at morning prayers, which are attended by both communities in the abbey, I shall commence unravelling this mystery. I shall use the chapel as I would a court before the Brehons back home. Before that, I have to get Valretrade here to show me where she was taken captive. By that sarcophagus, I am hoping to find a piece of evidence. Do you follow?’

‘What if Bishop Leodegar will not allow you to speak?’

‘He must, for I will ensure that the Nuntius Peregrinus will be informed what my intention is. Leodegar cannot openly deny the hearing, for that is what he has requested. And Clotaire will also be there to hear. More importantly, Clotaire’s warriors will be there to ensure there is no interference in the matter.’

Eadulf looked gloomy. ‘It could all go wrong.’

‘Not if we all play our parts.’ She glanced at Ageric who stood looking on with his wife and sister-in-law.

‘It is time to set our plans into motion,’ she said. ‘Audentes fortuna iuvat. Fortunes favours the daring and we must be daring. Tomorrow morning, if all goes well, we can put an end to the mysteries that have brought such fear and darkness on the abbey and on this city.’