‘Suanach is their prisoner,’ she confirmed regretfully. ‘The Uí Fidgente were hoping to lure Menma after them.’
Eadulf seemed to have recovered his senses if not the feeling of his bruised body. He was puzzled.
‘Lure Menma? I don’t understand.’
‘No more do I. But I overheard two of the Uí Fidgente speaking. It seemed that the purpose of their raid was to get information out of Menma. Information about some discovery on the Thicket of Pigs.’
‘It seems a bit extreme to conduct a raid as far south from their territory as this in search of information. What sort of information?’
‘Your guess is as good as mine, Eadulf. My immediate concern is for Suanach. She hid me in the sousterrain of the house while she went to confront the Uí Fidgente. That is how I managed to escape.’
Eadulf spoke with all seriousness. ‘Let’s hope Accobrán is as good a warrior as we have heard. Anyway, I think Menma is an excellent tracker and he will be able to follow the trail of the raiders.’
‘In this darkness, I doubt whether he will be able to track them. Why are you not riding with them?’
‘Accobrán told me to go back to the fortress and tell Becc just in case this is not a small raiding party but part of some larger attack on the Cinél na Áeda. Accobrán said that they saw the smoke from Rath Raithlen and he and his warriors rode to investigate. No one realised it was the Uí Fidgente. I was to inform Becc of the fact.’
‘Accobrán said…?’ Fidelma suddenly realised the implication. ‘Were you not at the fortress. then?’
‘I went with Menma this afternoon to investigate the cave that you were so concerned with,’ admitted Eadulf. ‘We were returning to the bothán when we saw it in flames. We were there when Accobrán arrived.’
‘You did what?’ came Fidelma’s sharp tone. ‘You went back to the cave?’
‘You were so keen to explore it that I felt I could save you the trouble. If there was anything of interest there, I felt that I could find it without you endangering yourself again.’
There was a pause while Fidelma digested the information. ‘And did you find anything of interest?’
‘Dei gratia!’ Eadulf confirmed.
‘Then you must tell me all as we ride.’
Fidelma looked round. The horse that Eadulf had been riding had trotted on a few yards and now stood nibbling at some bushes by the roadside. She started for the horse, felt for the reins in the darkness, and then turned to Eadulf.
‘You mount first and I’ll get up behind you.’ Then she paused. ‘You are sure that you are not hurt by your fall?’
‘As you know, I have a thick hide.’
She imagined that Eadulf was grinning in the darkness and she nodded.
Eadulf had just finished his story as they came within sight of the gates of Rath Raithlen. Fidelma had been mostly silent during his recital, only intervening once or twice to clarify points.
Eadulf waited a while and then said: ‘Quid nunc?’
‘Well might you ask what now,’ Fidelma mused.
There came some shouting from the gates ahead as the lookouts spotted them in the darkness.
‘Now,’ she reflected on the question, ‘now we shall tell Becc what has happened at Menma’s bothán and then I must think awhile.’
In fact, Becc was waiting at the fortress gates for them with his steward Adag.
‘Fidelma!’ He came forward with arms outstretched. ‘I am thankful to see you, cousin. When we saw smoke rising in the forest we were concerned. When Adag told me that you had not been in the fortress since this morning — you and Brother Eadulf,’ he nodded quickly to Fidelma’s companion, ‘we grew very concerned.’
‘Your concern should be for the wife of Menma the hunter,’ responded Fidelma and quickly told him about the raid of the Uí Fidgente.
Becc was shocked. ‘The Uí Fidgente raiding this far south? Adag,’ he turned to his steward, ‘send someone to spread word of this to the abbey and to the surrounding raths so that they may be warned and keep a careful watch.’
All was commotion within the fortress as the chieftain’s orders were camed out. Meanwhile, Becc, having ordered that their horse be cared for, guided Fidelma and Eadulf back to his great hall and summoned a servant to bring wine and mead.
‘How dangerous do you think the Uí Fidgente threat is?’ he demanded of Fidelma after wine had been brought to them.
‘The Uí Fidgente are always to be considered dangerous, Becc,’ replied Fidelma. ‘Since their defeat at Cnoc Áine, they have been waiting for another chance to rise up. Yet, somehow, I believe that this is a small raiding party in search of something specific. I don’t think they were a war party. Merely scouts.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘They want some information. If they came in strength towards your territory, they would rouse the countryside. Someone would have seen the passage of their army. They could not take the easterly route because the Eóghanacht Áine stand in their path. If they came directly south they would encounter the Eóghanacht Glendamnac and if they tried to swing westwards and approach from that direction they would have to come through the Eóghanacht Loch Léin. No large army could come from the lands of the Uí Fidgente without an alarm being given by their very passage. Where an army cannot pass without being seen, a small raiding party can move with stealth and concealment. I think that this band is just such a party.’
Becc leant back looking relieved at her assessment. ‘Still, even a small raiding party presents problems to me at this time. We do not have many young men trained and under arms at present. However, what do you think…what exactly are they after?’
Fidelma raised one shoulder and let it fall expressively. ‘That I am unable to say.’
‘You said that they were a scouting party. But what were they seeking?’
‘Hopefully, Accobrán will overtake them and bring back prisoners so that we may question them. Only then will we know for certain.’
Becc was clearly worried.
‘There is nothing else to do until the return of Accobrán,’ Fidelma gently assured him.
Becc sighed in resignation.
‘You will want to retire and refresh yourselves,’ he said, rising. ‘The evening meal will be ready in an hour’s time.’
Fidelma and Eadulf rose with him. She was turning to the door when she swung back to look at the chieftain.
‘I have a question, Becc. Do you have a senchae, an historian, in the fortress?’
‘Several. It depends on what history you wish to know. There is the genealogist, the custodian of the history of my house; there is the teller of the ancient tales…’
Fidelma held up her hand. ‘I am rather more interested in the history of the Thicket of Pigs.’
Becc raised his brows. ‘I am afraid there is only one person who has stored that history in his mind. He might take some persuading to part with his knowledge.’
‘Old Liag, the apothecary?’
Becc gazed at her in surprise. ‘How did you know?’
‘A guess, that is all,’ she replied softly. ‘We will join you for the meal within the hour.’
Chapter Fifteen
‘Is there nothing that can be done until the return of Accobrán?’ queried Eadulf, once they were in the seclusion of their chamber. ‘I would have thought that there would be many things we could do. For example, what are we to do about Gobnuid? Brother Dangila and Goll also need to be questioned.’
Fidelma shook her head.
‘You are impatient, Eadulf,’ she replied quietly. ‘I am not neglecting our main purpose in being here. Certainly, all being well, we shall continue our investigation in the morning. Now, show me the nugget that you and Menma found.’
Eadulf produced it from his marsupium. Fidelma examined it for a moment or two.