Ganicca held up a hand, palm outward, to stay further questions and then turned to the burly man.
‘No harm will come from these travellers. I know them. Release them.’ Their captors seemed a little reluctant but they put down their weapons and slowly dispersed. Ganicca pointed at the barn behind him.
‘It is a harsh winter, so come in. I fear the best we can offer is some corma and a rude shelter from the mountain winds. Enter and I will tell you what has befallen my people and why you have been treated with such scant hospitality.’
The young boys handed Conri and his men back their weapons. Others led their horses to a paddock out of the wind. Their erstwhile captors reluctantly dispersed.
‘Seat yourselves.’ The old man pointed to sacking on the floor. ‘I regret that we have been left with no luxuries.’
One of the young boys had followed them inside and now poured corma for everyone as Ganicca was introduced to each member of the party.
‘Now first,’ began Ganicca, ‘I heard that Nessan and Muirgen had decided to stay in Cashel after you left here, Brother Saxon. Are they well? And what news of your child, Fidelma of Cashel, does he prosper?’
Fidelma smiled and nodded.
‘He does, thanks be to God. Muirgen continues as nurse to him. Nessan tends the flocks of sheep on the hills south of Cashel. They are both well and happy.’
‘And how is the stranger from the East called Basil Nestorios? Do the Fates deal well with him?’
‘When we last saw him he was well and continuing in his travels, collecting knowledge of this land, Ganicca,’ Eadulf replied solemnly.
‘And the young warrior, what was his name?’
‘Gorman.’
‘Gorman, indeed. How fares it with him?’
‘He is now deputy commander of my brother’s bodyguard,’ Fidelma replied.
‘And your brother, the noble Colgu, is all well with him?’
‘My brother is, as ever, concerned for the peoples of his kingdom and worries when ill befalls them.’ Fidelma paused and then added: ‘He will be concerned at the ill that has befallen you in this place.’
‘What has happened since I was here?’ Eadulf joined in. ‘Why were we ambushed and brought here in such a fashion?’
Ganicca sighed deeply.
‘It happened some weeks ago. Until then, we had long dwelt here in an open community without fear. Even in the bad days, so long as we paid tribute to the Lord of the Passes, Uaman, we were never harmed.’
He paused, as if gathering his thoughts.
‘It was one afternoon when a band of warriors came along the track just as you have done. They were on horseback. Between them, marching on foot and at swordpoint, was a band of religious… they were prisoners.’
Conri leant forward excitedly.
‘Six young females?’ he demanded.
‘And a foreign Brother of the Faith.’
Fidelma frowned. ‘I had no information about a foreign brother.’
‘He was a rough-looking young man,’ continued Ganicca. ‘He appeared more suited to a life spent outdoors than among the pale creatures that
‘But he was a prisoner and a religieux as well?’ queried Eadulf.
‘He was.’
‘What happened when these warriors and their prisoners came to your village?’ pressed Fidelma.
‘We offered hospitality, as is the custom. The warriors took corma and demanded food. They dismayed us by ill treating their prisoners, allowing them only water and some bread.’
‘Did anyone question the religious as to why they were prisoners or what manner of warriors their captors were?’ asked Fidelma.
Ganicca made a negative gesture.
‘The warriors discouraged contact with the prisoners and when our smith, the man who captured you, asked what was happening, he received a slap across the face. The lesson was reinforced by the tip of a sword to deter him from pressing further.’
‘And then?’
Ganicca raised his arms as if encompassing the whole settlement.
‘Then, my friends, two more warriors came riding up with a third person. That person ordered the warriors to burn the village… they burnt and looted it. We had no weapons to hand. They attacked our blacksmith’s forge and then started to fire our houses. Most of us managed to escape up the mountains to the shelter of the caves there. Seven of our people were slain, too young or too old to escape the onslaught. Many more were wounded. It is as you see… we are a destroyed community.’
Fidelma frowned. ‘Have you reported this matter to your chief, to Slebene?’
The old man shrugged. ‘We sent him word. But he has never protected us in the past so why would he protect us now?’
‘Slebene’s duty is to protect his people. He is also answerable to my brother, the king.’
‘Slebene is his own man and is answerable only to himself. We selected one of our number to go to Daingean and speak to him. He has not returned.’
Eadulf bent close to Fidelma and whispered, ‘See, we were right about Slebene!’
Fidelma was grim-faced. ‘Then I swear, Ganicca, that he shall answer for any transgression. A chief has responsibilities as well as rights.’
Ganicca regarded her calmly. ‘You are truly a descendant of Eoghan Mor, lady. However, I knew that Slebene would not come to our aid.’
‘Why so?’
‘Because I know that evil figure who ordered his warriors to turn on our village and destroy it.’
‘Slebene himself?’ asked Eadulf eagerly. He found the old man’s eyes looking sorrowfully at him. ‘Well, out with it,’ he demanded. ‘Who was it?’
‘Saxon brother, you told us two months ago that you saw Uaman the Leper die before your eyes. You were wrong. The person who gave the order for this destruction,’ he raised his hand to embrace the scene, ‘was Uaman. Uaman the Leper. The Lord of the Passes.’
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
‘Impossible!’ Eadulf exploded after the brief silence that followed Ganicca’s announcement. The old man sadly shook his head.
‘I wish it was impossible, Brother Saxon. I would know that slight figure of Uaman the Leper anywhere.’
‘You actually saw the face?’ Eadulf pressed.
Ganicca smiled in reprimand.
‘No one looks on the face of Uaman the Leper and lives.’
‘I did,’ retorted Eadulf.
‘You were lucky, my friend. He was not called Master of Souls for nothing.’
Eadulf frowned at the familiar expression.
‘Master of Souls?’
‘He who despises his own life is soon master of another’s — beware for such a man can become master of souls,’ Fidelma quoted quietly.
Ganicca glanced at her with interest.
‘You know the old saying then, lady?’
‘It was a saying of my mentor, the Brehon Morann.’
Eadulf was now frowning in annoyance.
‘I have said before that I saw him in the quicksand as it pulled him down. Then a great wave descended and he was gone. No one could have survived that.’
‘Then it is a wraith who rides out from the Otherworld and instructs his warriors to destroy my people,’ replied Ganicca calmly.
Eadulf made to say something but then remembered the words of the boy Iobcar. He had said something similar.
‘So this attack happened some weeks ago?’ interposed Conri. When Ganicca nodded emphatically, he turned to Fidelma. ‘Then it is easy to
Fidelma was thoughtful.
‘I am trying to understand what purpose all this would serve? Why wreck the merchant ship? Why kill the abbess but then take her companions prisoner? Who is the male religieux who is with them? A foreigner? Perhaps a Gaul, perhaps a survivor from the wreck?’
Conri, however, was excited as he interpreted the events. He turned to Ganicca.
‘Tell my companions where this road leads?’
The old man looked puzzled.
‘Why, it leads northwards out of this valley.’
‘But tell them where.’
‘Well, if you cross out of the valley by the eastern route over the mountains you can join the road that leads along the coast to the lands of the Ui Fidgente and north again to Ard Fhearta. But if you cross to the west then you will come to the seashore and the road takes you across a low-lying thrust of land called the Machaire peninsula with the great bay of Breanainn to the west and the Machaire Islands to the northern tip.’