Brother Solam was silent for a while and then he nodded slowly. ‘It is something that does not allow me to rest easily and I must tell you or live with a feeling of guilt. I have tried to keep this secret to myself but am unable.’
Fidelma struggled to keep her patience in the face of the moralising tone of the steward. ‘Very well. Proceed with your story.’
Brother Solam paused for a moment or two before continuing. ‘It was when the moon was at its fullest last month. It was the night that Escrach was killed. I was returning to the abbey across the lower slopes of the Thicket of Pigs. It was approaching midnight. In fact, as I came along the road I heard the chime of the midnight Angelus from the abbey bell.’
‘What took you out so late?’
Brother Solam leant forward confidentially. ‘I have a brother who lives over at the Pass of the High Wood, not far from here. I had permission that day to go to visit him. That I did and I was late returning.’
‘Very well. Go on.’
‘As I came along the road, I saw a figure approaching. That is, the figure was heading up the hill.’
‘And did you identify this figure?’
‘Of course. It was Escrach.’
Fidelma started. Of the people she expected Brother Solam to identify, she had not anticipated the name of Escrach. She had been sure that the young steward was about to confirm that he had seen Brocc crossing the hill.
‘Are you saying that you saw Escrach at a time which must have been shortly before her death?’
Brother Solam lowered his voice in affirmation. ‘That is why I have kept it to myself all these weeks.’
‘Did you speak to one another?’
‘Of course. I asked her what she was doing so far from her home and so late at night. She laughed at me. You know how insolent the young can be? Then she told me not to worry for she knew where she was going and whom she was meeting. Those were her very words.’
Fidelma waited while the steward paused and appeared to sink into his own thoughts.
‘What then?’ she prompted after a few moments.
Brother Solam raised his head. ‘Oh, then she went on her way, up the old track.’
‘Up the old track? Up the hill? Which led where?’
‘The old track eventually leads to the cave complex on the top of the hill. Only I presume she did not make it for I understand that her body was found below that, near a stone circle we call the Ring of Pigs. If only I had stopped her.’
‘Much power in that word “if”. You might not have been able to prevent what followed. Tell me, did you see anyone else — did you see Brocc, for example? Or anyone else?’
‘Brocc?’ The steward was clearly startled. ‘What would he have been doing on the hill?’
‘Or anyone else?’ repeated Fidelma.
Brother Solam nodded quickly. ‘And that is what troubles me.’
Fidelma regarded his expression closely.
‘Whom did you see?’ she asked sharply.
Not for the first time in the conversation, Brother Solam leant towards her in a conspiratorial manner. Fidelma could smell a faint odour of onions on the man’s breath and moved slightly backwards in distaste.
‘You must promise that you will treat this information with prudence.’
Fidelma compressed her lips in irritation.
‘I treat all information with prudence,’ she replied. ‘But you must realise how important this information is. You are speaking of someone who, if not the killer, may have been the last person to see Escrach alive.’
Brother Solam raised an arm in a curious gesture as if attempting to apologise. ‘You see, it is a matter that has caused me disquiet and I would like what I have to say treated with caution, in case of misinterpretation.’
‘Leave interpretation and circumspection to me. If the information warrants their use than I will judge how and when they should be used. Now what is this thing that causes you such anxiety?’
‘Escrach had left me and continued up the old path. I continued down the hill on my way towards the abbey.’
‘I am following,’ Fidelma said when the man paused again.
‘I was nearing the abbey when I heard the sound of a wagon coming along. The moon was bright and I could see the dark bulk coming up the track. I do not know what made me turn aside from the path and seek shelter among the trees that lined the pathway. I think it was the sight of one of the two men who were seated side by side on the driver’s seat.’
‘What sort of wagon was this?’
‘It was a normal fén, a common rough wagon with solid wheels drawn by two oxen. Why do you ask?’
‘Detail is everything, Brother Solam. You tell me that you see a cart and hide from it. Something disturbs you. What is this cart like? Does it have solid wheels or spoked wheels?’
‘I told you, it had solid wheels.’
‘Exactly. And solid wheels indicate that the owner might not be as wealthy as someone with a spoke-wheeled wagon. You have described a wagon that is quite ordinary. And you said that it was the sight of one of the two men that made you hide from its passing?’
Brother Solam nodded. ‘I did not recognise the passenger. I admit that. But I did recognise his robes.’
‘Robes?’
‘The man was one of the three strangers who reside in the abbey.’
Fidelma blinked. It was the only sign she gave that she was surprised by the revelation. So, Brocc had been right. One of the strangers was out on the hillside that night.
Brother Solam was continuing: ‘I saw the white robes that the Aksumites wear and noticed that the man was tall and his features were dark.’
‘And you say that he was a passenger on this wagon? Who was driving the wagon?’
‘This is what causes me disquiet.’
Fidelma stared at him. ‘The sight of one of the guests from your abbey abroad that night on this wagon did not disquiet you? But you express disquiet at the sight of the driver. Who was that driver? Tell me plainly.’
Fidelma’s angry expression caused Brother Solam to swallow hard and then continue hurriedly.
‘The driver of the wagon was the tanist.’
Fidelma’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Accobrán?’
‘Indeed, it was the tanist Accobrán,’ affirmed the steward.
There was a silence for a few moments and then Fidelma gestured for Brother Solam to go on with his story.
‘As I say, I was disturbed and this was the reason I did not make my presence known. What was the stranger doing abroad in the night? What was Accobrán doing at that hour driving a common wagon in which the stranger was a passenger? These questions assailed my mind. As the wagon approached, it being a clear night, I overheard snatches of their conversation. They spoke in Greek. The strangers seem proficient at that language and it is the language in which we communicate with them in the abbey.’
‘You speak Greek?’ asked Fidelma, resorting to that language.
‘I can construe Dio Chrysostom, Hippolytus, Diogenes Läertius, Herodotus of Halicarnassus-’ he replied in the same tongue.
Fidelma interrupted his recital. ‘And what did you hear of this conversation?’
‘The stranger was saying that the signs were auspicious. That as the daughter of Hyperion and Theia had power over that night, so would she cast her spell over Endymion once more.’
‘And did you know what was meant by that?’
‘I know only the Greek of the Christian texts. What was being referred to was some pagan concept to which all good Christians should shut their ears.’
‘Presumably you did not shut your ears?’
‘Accobrán replied that while Selene dominated the night there was much work to be done, for soon Eos would interrupt their labours and the sacrifice of the night must be made before that time. That was all I heard because the wagon went by and disappeared up the hill in the direction in which Escrach had gone.’