He stood for a moment in indecision and then snapped sharply to his still barking hound. ‘Quiet, Luchóc!’
The dog immediately sat down, looking contrite.
‘God be with you, Sister, and with you, Brother,’ the young hunter greeted them. ‘Pay no mind to my dog. He is more bark than bite.’
Fidelma responded with a smile.
‘A strange name for a hunting dog, master huntsman,’ she replied.
The young man nodded. ‘Good mouser? Aye, I’ll grant you that it is an odd name for a working dog. But, in truth, the poor hound is better at catching mice than catching game.’
‘But you do not appear to have done too badly,’ Eadulf pointed out, indicating the boar slung on the man’s shoulders.
To the huntsman smiles seemed to come naturally.
‘A family will not go wanting for the next several days,’ he agreed. ‘You are obviously strangers in this district.’ The words were a statement, not a question.
‘Indeed we are,’ replied Fidelma. ‘Do you know this area, the Thicket of Pigs?’
‘I live on the far side of the hill there. I have done so all my life. But if you seek anyone other than myself, the place has been deserted these many years. They say the place was populated even in my grandfather’s time, but it is so no longer.’
‘They tell me there are metal workings there,’ Fidelma said.
The huntsman chuckled. ‘It is not in search of precious metals that two religious have come to this countryside, is it? I heard talk of a dálaigh and her companion staying with our chieftain, Becc. I suppose that you are that dálaigh?’
‘It is because of our investigation that I want to know about this hill and its mines.’
‘Well, there are deserted metal workings a-plenty, and some caves, but they are dangerous, Sister. It is not a place to go without fore-knowledge.’
‘You say that you dwell near here?’
A slight cast of suspicion came into the young man’s eye. ‘I do say so, Sister. And I pay allegiance to Becc, my chieftain.’
‘And your name is…?’
The quiet authority of Fidelma’s voice caused the young man to respond, even unwillingly, to her questions.
‘I am Menma the hunter. And, as I have told you my name, pray, what are your names and from what place do you come?’
‘I am Fidelma of Cashel, Menma. This is my companion. Brother Eadulf.’
The young hunter sighed. ‘Then the talk among the Cinél na Áeda is true — the king of Cashel has a sister who is a famous dálaigh.’
‘We are proof of it, Menma,’ Fidelma assured him.
The young man dropped the carcass of the boar on the ground and bowed respectfully. ‘I am sorry for any discourtesy, lady.’
‘There has been none,’ Fidelma assured him. ‘You are right to be suspicious of us in view of what has transpired in this place in recent months.’
The hunter grimaced in agreement. ‘The lands of the Cinél na Áeda are not so large that I did not know those three girls. My wife was a friend to Escrach. It is a bad business.’
‘A bad business, indeed,’ agreed Fidelma. ‘Tell me, Menma, do you know the mine and caves on this hill?’
‘Well enough, lady.’
She glanced up at the sky. ‘The hour grows late and it will soon be dark. However, should we want to go exploring there, would you be willing to serve as our guide?’
‘Willingly, lady. But the Thicket of Pigs is quite deserted. The mines are long closed.’
‘It is not people that I go in search of,’ Fidelma assured him. ‘I want to see something of the area, of the deserted mines. Are there mines near a spot called the Ring of Pigs?’
To her disappointment, he shook his head. ‘None near. But there is a cave above the Ring that used to be worked for gold. That is deserted and dangerous.’
‘If we wished to go exploring that cave, say tomorrow or the next day, how might we find you?’
The young man pointed to the far side of the track. ‘There is a path through those trees. A short distance along the path you will come across my bothán, lady. If I am out at the hunt, my woman will be there. She will show you how to find me by blowing three times on the horn that is hung by the hearth. When I hear its call, I will return. It is a signal that my wife and I have long arranged in case of need.’
‘You are a thoughtful man, Menma,’ observed Fidelma.
‘I would rather worry without need, lady, than live without heed. They have an old saying in these parts, that one should never test the depth of a river with both feet.’
‘There is wisdom in that,’ Fidelma agreed.
The young man bent and picked up the dead boar and flung it across his broad shoulders as if it weighed nothing. He smiled up at them, each in turn.
‘I will await your call then. Safe journey back to the fortress of the chief.’
He raised the hand that held his bow in farewell and turned with a sharp call to his dog, which bounded swiftly after him. Within a moment he had disappeared through the trees in the direction of his home.
‘Now we shall return to Rath Raithlen,’ Fidelma said, turning her horse back along the track.
Eadulf turned with her. ‘I still cannot understand what you expect to find among the deserted metal workings, even with a guide such as Menma.’
He was expecting some caustic response but Fidelma’s features softened a little.
‘In truth, Eadulf, I am not sure what I expect to find. Maybe nothing at all. It’s just that I have this nagging thought that there is some mystery that is mixed up with gold. Remember the ladder in the tower of the fortress, which had been damaged so that one of us might have fallen to injure or kill ourselves?’
‘You suspected that Gobnuid the smith was responsible.’
Fidelma looked at him in surprise. Sometimes she felt that she underestimated Eadulf’s perceptive qualities.
‘I did. Gobnuid had tried to tell me that the piece of real gold which Síoda found here was simply fool’s gold. Why?’
Eadulf pulled a wry face. ‘What makes you sure that it has something to do with the death of the three women? Have you not considered that this is but a wild goose chase?’
‘Their bodies were found near here,’ Fidelma pointed out.
‘But does that signify anything? There are lots of places near here. The abbey, for example. The place of the apothecary, Liag.’
‘And there is Lesren’s last word…’
‘A name…which could be anything. It was a name that certainly did not strike a chord in the mind of Liag when you questioned him. I think that you should-’
‘Hush!’ Fidelma suddenly snapped, holding up her hand, while hauling on the bridle with the other. Her horse snorted in protest.
‘What…’ began Eadulf.
Fidelma was pointing down the hill to the oncoming gloom.
They had followed the track where it passed over the brow of the hill, overlooking the valley where, below and to the left of them, lay the buildings that constituted the abbey of Finnbarr. Some distance below was a clearing among the trees. Eadulf could just make out two small figures hurrying across this clearing. One was more obvious than the other for it was a tall figure and it was clear that it was clad in long white robes. They were visible for no more than a few moments before they vanished into the darkness of the trees beyond the clearing.
Eadulf cast a puzzled glance at Fidelma.
‘What was that all about?’ he demanded.
‘Did you recognise anyone?’ she asked.
‘I did not.’