The three sat impassively while Brocc went through his story. Curiously, in their quiet, dignified presence, Brocc seemed to be drained of his aggression, of his bravado. He spoke softly, almost politely.
‘Last month I was returning home having conducted some business with a merchant on the River Bride. It was midnight as I came over the hills towards Rath Raithlen. I was crossing the Thicket of Pigs about that time. It was at the full of the moon and very bright. Suddenly I saw a figure seated at the Ring of Pigs on the hillside along which my path lay. It was a figure of a tall man, sitting on a rock. He did not see me. He was gazing up at the moon with an extraordinary expression on his face.’
‘Did you speak to him?’
‘I did. “What are you doing here, stranger?” I asked. I called him stranger for indeed I recognised him not.’
‘Did he reply?’
‘He did not, and I doubt whether he even knew the meaning of my words, for he was one of these fierce-looking strangers from beyond the seas whose skins are black. He was clearly not of our people.’
‘Was he alone or with someone?’
‘He appeared to be alone.’
‘And you saw no one with him? Are you certain?’ pressed Fidelma.
Brocc replied with a positive gesture. ‘I did not.’
‘On this we must be firm so that the one you accuse may answer?’
‘I did not see anyone with the stranger,’ Brocc admitted sullenly. ‘But I believe he was not alone.’
‘The stranger would only have to answer to what you actually saw and not what you believed,’ Fidelma pointed out sharply. ‘However, you say that you spoke to him and he did not reply. What did you do?’
Brocc swallowed nervously. It was a new side to his character which Fidelma and Eadulf had not seen before. He was a man embarrassed.
‘A fear seized me,’ he admitted. ‘I feared that he was a phantom, a spawn of the devil. He said nothing but the moon bathed his face, making it grey and awesome. He turned his face slowly to me and his eyes sparkled with a fierce fire. I turned and ran. It was the next morning when I heard that Escrach had been killed. As you know, it was not until Ballgel was murdered that I realised the significance of what I had seen. Then I tried to warn people about the strangers.’
‘You told me that the person you saw was one of these strangers. Do you still make that claim?’
‘Of course I do.’ Something of his old aggressiveness rose again in his manner.
‘Well, the three strangers are seated before you. Which of them was it who was seated in the moonlight?’
The three men sat impassively gazing upon rhe man.
Brocc scarcely bothered to examine them. He spoke directly to Fidelma.
‘I cannot tell one set of their dark features from another. They appear all the same to me. I could not say which one it was. It is your job to make one of them confess.’
Fidelma snorted in irritation. ‘I will tell you clearly what my job is, Brocc. My job is to interpret the law. The Berrad Airechta, which is the law of witnesses, is very precise. You come to me here as fiadu. that is “one who sees”. You can only give evidence about what you have seen or heard and you must be prepared to swear an oath in support of that evidence. You say that you saw a man. You claim that it was one of these three men seated before you. But which one? You cannot say. It is not up to these men to deny your accusation, it is up to you to prove it. So, Brocc, do you accuse one of these men, and if so which one do you accuse? Speak!’
Brocc shrugged his bull-like shoulders. ‘I tell you that I cannot tell them apart. I saw one of them. That is all I can tell you.’
Fidelma exhaled softly. Her mouth was set tightly. She turned to the tanist.
‘Accobrán, would you please escort Brocc from the abbey. Wait outside for us.’
Brocc turned angrily towards her.
‘So, you religious are all alike. You take their word in preference to mine?’ he cried.
Fidelma returned his sneering gaze impassively.
‘In law, Brocc, you have no word to take. You make no specific accusation that can be entered in law. I am here to assess facts, not accusations without substance.’ Fidelma dismissed him with a gesture of her hand and, without a word, Accobrán, rather roughly, propelled Brocc from the chamber.
Chapter Seven
When the door closed behind them, Fidelma turned back to the three Aksumites, who continued to sit impassively as if oblivious of what had just occurred.
‘Have you anything to say in answer to Brocc’s accusation?’ she asked quietly. There was a silence. They did not speak. Then Fidelma added: ‘The law does not oblige you to speak, but it might help our investigation. The sooner we can clear this matter up the better it will be for everyone.’
‘There is nothing to answer, Sister,’ Brother Dangila replied shortly. ‘You have already pointed out that the man made a claim against one of us but cannot say against which of us he is making it. Even if the claim were true, what does that prove? It does not prove what he ultimately asserts — that one or all of us were involved in the deaths that have occurred in this place.’
Fidelma had to admit that Brocc, as an eyewitness, was useless. He could offer no evidence of identification.
‘So you claim that you were all in the abbey on the night of the full moon?’
Brother Dangila sighed softly.
‘We sleep and study in this abbey,’ he replied quietly, without responding to her specific question.
‘And on the night of the previous full moon when Beccnat was slain?’ Fidelma asked wearily. ‘Can you remember that night and where you and the others were or what you were doing?’
‘We hardly ever move from the abbey,’ Brother Dangila replied in his quiet, dignified tones. ‘We have been applying ourselves to our studies here and trying to learn your language from the brothers of this community. Certainly, we are not disposed to wander abroad during the times of darkness lest we meet fear and prejudice on our path; the fear and prejudice which you have shown exists by bringing that man to confront us.’
‘Your studies?’ queried Fidelma, frowning at his explanation.
‘Is not your land a centre of learning?’ smiled Brother Gambela, having apparently grown confident of his ability to communicate in Greek. ‘The knowledge that we garner here will stand us in good stead when we return to our people.’
‘Is that why you came to this land?’ Fidelma decided to change tack.
Brother Dangila shook his head. ‘Our story is a long one, and, perhaps, it is tedious in the telling.’
‘It will grow less tedious if you start,’ Fidelma solemnly assured him.
‘Very well. If you wish to hear our story, I will tell it. We three are, as I have said, Aksumites. We are not from Adulis but from the interior of the kingdom. But we were summoned to Adulis for there was to be a conference between representatives of the Christian communities in Malqurra and Alwa, which border the kingdom. We had not been in Adulis before and were intrigued by the sights of the great city. We went down to the quaysides on the river to examine the ships that trade from all corners of the world. It was our undoing, for we were attacked and knocked unconscious, and when we awoke we were in a ship’s hold and out on the sea. Slave trading is one of the profitable means of commerce for those who have no conscience in our part of the world.’
He paused as if to reflect before continuing.
‘An eternity of suffering seemed our lot until we arrived in a strange port and were taken ashore. Our treatment was harsh but the Lord guided us and kept all three of us together. We eventually realised that we had been taken to Rome itself. Rome, a city that has proclaimed itself the centre of the Faith we cherished. But there was no sympathy there even though we were followers of the Christ. Indeed, as we were taken in chains through the city, we called out to the people that we, too, were Christians. When they heard that we were Aksumites, they jeered us and denounced us as non-believers and heretics.’