Fidelma hesitated.
‘Do you want me to send for anyone to help you?’ she asked.
Sister Sinnchene sighed and stirred. Her eyes were fathomless.
‘Help me? I need no one’s help. The time I needed help was when I was a young child and needed a father’s support, a father’s help. In reality, my father has been dead these last ten years if only in my mind… now he is dead in reality.’
She spoke without feeling.
Yet Fidelma felt a passing sorrow for the poor, lonely young girl whose father had deserted her and who was still hurting in spite of her outward coldness.
Outside, crossing the frosty courtyard, she saw Eadulf. She left Sister Sinnchene and went quickly to tell him the news. Eadulf was shocked.
‘Does that mean Esumaro and the six religieuse are in danger also?’
‘I think not,’ Fidelma replied. ‘Our killer was only afraid of the one person who could probably identify him. I think the others are safe.’
‘Are you talking of this master?’
She nodded.
‘The one thing I cannot understand about Sinnchene’s story is why trees made the Venerable Cinaed so excited.’ She reflected. ‘Something to do with the sacred tree of the clans? Sinnchene said that he muttered “the old story might be true” and then hurried to the library to consult a book on trees. What old story? What trees?’
‘The trouble is,’ complained Eadulf, ‘when you speak of trees in your language, it can mean so many things. Why, even the mast of a ship is called by the same word. Cinaed might have been speaking of ships or even a family tree…’
Fidelma gave a little shout of laughter.
‘Eadulf, what would I do without you? Sometimes one cannot see the wood for the trees!’
Eadulf looked bewildered, knowing that she had made a clever joke but unable to see the meaning of it.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Family tree! That is what the Venerable Cinaed was after. Exactly that.’
‘But whose family tree?’
Fidelma was smiling happily now and was turning towards the library.
‘Uaman’s family, of course. The family tree of the Ui Fidgente rulers. The very book that Conri asked Brother Eolas for last night.’
In the library they found Brother Faolchair, looking as bothered as usual, continually glancing over his shoulder to see whether Brother Eolas was nearby. But there was no sign of the librarian.
‘I am still being blamed for the burning of the Venerable Cinaed’s books,’ he told them with a sigh, when he realised that Fidelma and Eadulf had spotted his nervousness. ‘I am afraid that Brother Eolas is of an unforgiving nature.’
‘Well, we might soon be able to resolve that matter,’ Fidelma encouraged him. ‘But now we need your help. Do you have a work on the genealogy of the Ui Fidgente?’
The young assistant librarian answered at once.
‘Of course. As one of the best libraries in the kingdom, we keep all the records of our great chiefs and nobles.’
‘May we look at the genealogy?’
‘Oh, we don’t have it at the moment. It has been borrowed.’
Their faces fell. Fidelma asked: ‘By whom has it been borrowed?’
Brother Faolchair smiled. ‘That’s another easy one — Brother Benen came this morning and asked for it on behalf of the Venerable Mac Faosma. He has it.’
Eadulf exchanged a quick glance with Fidelma but she did not appear to have been surprised or to have seen any significance in the fact.
‘There was another thing I wanted to make sure of, Brother Faolchair,’ she went on. ‘The last book that Cinaed appeared to have finished and gave you to copy was…?’
‘De ars sordida gemmae. ’
‘Exactly so. Do you remember it?’
‘I remember it very well. It was one of the books that were destroyed in this very library.’
‘When had he given it to you to copy?’
‘A few days before his death.’
‘I think you said that you had not finished the copy?’
‘I had not. Those pages that I had copied were destroyed along with the original.’
‘Do you remember anything at all about the book? What were its arguments, its conclusions?’
Brother Faolchair shrugged. ‘I did not read it.’
Fidelma was astonished. ‘But you had started to copy it? You must have read it through first?’
The assistant librarian shook his head. ‘When you are a copyist, Sister, you learn that the first rule is never to read the manuscript that you are copying. You follow line by line copying what you see otherwise you will find yourself making mistakes.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘If you think that you know what is written, you will find yourself racing ahead; putting down what you think is coming next instead of what
‘So you have no knowledge of the text?’
The young man shrugged. ‘I recall that it started with the idea that wealth is needed to create and sustain wars, justly or unjustly. It went on about the wealth of this land being used to sustain the Ui Fidgente chieftains in their wars against Cashel and then argued that it became a never-ending cycle. That wealth was needed to create wars and the more wars that were fought the more wealth was needed. Wealth created wars and wars created wealth. So the more land one had to conquer to extract the wealth to pay for the wars that needed that wealth the more wars had to be fought. He called it the unending circle.’
Eadulf raised his head quickly.
‘The Unending Circle,’ he repeated softly, with a meaningful look at Fidelma.
‘What else?’ prompted Fidelma, ignoring him.
‘The Venerable Cinaed went on to develop a theme about the extracting of gemstones to raise money… no, to say this was being done to finance a war…’
‘And?’
‘That is as far as I remember. I was still working on copying the thesis.’
A nervous look entered his eyes. Fidelma turned and saw Brother Eolas entering the library.
‘Thanks, that is all we need. You have been helpful as always, Brother Faolchair.’
Outside the library, Eadulf was almost beside himself with excitement.
‘The Unending Circle. Do you see the connection? It is the songmaster who must be behind this. That is the name of his organisation. Remember what the chorister told me at Daingean?’
‘You have frequently remarked on it,’ Fidelma observed drily.
‘Then we should go to see Brother Cill n?’
He was disappointed when she shook her head.
‘We will go and see the Venerable Mac Faosma and ask to see this genealogy. I think that will answer my question.’
Eadulf sniffed in disapproval. ‘I fail to see how.’
Fidelma exhaled softly. ‘Well, it does not need the two of us to do this. While I am talking to the Venerable Mac Faosma, why not go and find out what you can about Brother Cillin and any other information about
Eadulf drew himself up with injured pride. ‘My inquiries are always done carefully. You know that.’
Fidelma patted his arm. ‘Of course I know it. But we must be careful now, though, being so close to our prey.’
Slightly irritated, Eadulf left Fidelma and made his way through the covered walkway from the library towards the hospitium, wondering how best to approach the subject. Conri suddenly appeared before him, hurrying along with a preoccupied look. He nearly collided with Eadulf, stopped and then recognised him.
‘Where is the lady Fidelma?’ he asked quickly.
‘You look apprehensive, Conri.’
‘I need to speak to her at once,’ the warlord of the Ui Fidgente said. ‘We have had some unexpected visitors at the abbey gates.’
Eadulf raised an eyebrow in query.
‘Slebene and a warrior escort have just arrived,’ Conri explained. ‘We know that he was mixed up in this matter. His arrival means trouble. Where is Fidelma?’
Eadulf was startled at the news.
‘She has gone to see the Venerable Mac Faosma,’ he replied. Before he could question Conri further, the warrior was moving at a swift trot in the direction of the scholar’s chambers.
Eadulf stood looking after him in indecision. He was wondering whether he ought to join Conri when a voice called to him.
‘Brother Saxon! So you are here as well?’
He swung round and it was a few moments before he recognised the chorister who had been at Slebene’s fortress of An Daingean. The very chorister who had spoken to him of the Unending Circle. A coincidence indeed!
The chorister was smiling at him.
‘Remember me? I have just arrived in the company of lord Slebene. A fortunate chance as you must know.’
‘I am sorry?’ muttered Eadulf, not understanding.
‘Why, surely you are at Ard Fhearta for the same reason as I am? The meeting of the Unending Circle?’