Prince Donennach leaned forward with a frown. ‘Until you return? Are you leaving Dun Eochair Mhaigh, Abbot Nannid?’
‘I am afraid that my steward and I must depart for a few days,’ Abbot Nannid replied.
‘It is an odd time to leave,’ Brehon Faolchair commented.
‘It is a matter of my religious duties.’
‘A matter of religion?’ mused Brehon Faolchair. ‘Are you returning to your own Abbey of Mungairit?’
‘I am not,’ snapped Abbot Nannid. ‘I have a meeting at Cnoc Firinne, the Hill of Truth. I shall return in a few days, by which time it is my prayer that the advocate from Cashel will have recaptured Gorman and resolved the murders that have attended her investigation.’
His glance at Fidelma was vicious. Then he bowed to Donennach with a quick ‘By your leave?’ before turning and, followed by his steward, striding out of the great hall.
Prince Donennach relaxed back in his chair; Fidelma could almost hear his sigh of relief. He whispered something to Conri before turning to his sister, Airmid. They rose and left the hall together. Conri made his way quickly to Fidelma.
‘The prince says that you dealt with Abbot Nannid very well,’ he smiled.
Fidelma shrugged. ‘Abbot Nannid is in many ways a vain and silly man, but in that very vanity and stupidity is a danger. By the way, what is this Hill of Truth that he mentioned?’
‘It’s a hill north of here. For a moment, in view of what we agreed earlier, I was worried in case he had heard that I had dispatched my rider to Mungairit, and was leaving the fortress to go there.’ Conri’s relief was obvious.
‘But what is special about this hill?’
‘Oh, it’s one of the highest hills, about three hundred metres high, and situated just to the north-west of here. Not quite as far north as my fortress at the Ford of the Oaks. It is located well back from the river. I can’t recall anything of interest except there is a small chapel there.’
‘I wonder what religious problem there can be that calls the abbot to that hill?’
Conri displayed a complete lack of interest in this question. Fidelma now found herself facing Prior Cuan. He looked worried as he limped over and leaned on his stick before her.
‘You don’t think Brother Mael Anfaid had a hand in the murder of this girl Ciarnat?’ he said without preamble. ‘My steward has told me about the matter of the cord belt.’
‘I do not think so,’ she reassured him. ‘Trying to lay the blame on Mael Anfaid seems a little too clumsy. Have no concern, Prior. We shall get to the bottom of this matter.’
With the meeting over, the rest of the day passed in a mood of frustration. The more Fidelma mulled over the facts as she knew them, the less she could find any avenue to explore. There was not even a glimpse of a loose end, a tiny thread by which she could start to unravel the ball of twine that was this mystery.
It was later that evening, when they were preparing for the evening meal, that Fidelma returned from her bath. She came into the chamber in a hurry, throwing her toilet things on the bed, and causing Eadulf to glance up in surprise. Before he could speak, she stood before him, hands on hips, and declared vehemently, ‘I am an idiot!’
Eadulf grinned. ‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that.’
‘It’s true.’
‘What has brought on this self-condemnation?’
‘The need to find some weak link in this mystery that will eventually lead us to the solution.’
Eadulf shrugged. ‘Well, we have considered almost everything. There appears to be no lead at all.’
‘Except for the one lead that we should have followed from the beginning.’ Fidelma threw herself down on the bed. ‘There was I, too busy thinking of protocol, of the correct legal methods, being too concerned in hearing the stories from the witnesses, before going to the one central person in this matter. That was my undoing.’
Eadulf stared at her, perplexity apparent on his features.
She sighed impatiently. ‘I should have questioned Gorman first.’
‘We have considered that already,’ Eadulf pointed out. ‘We knew from the hearing exactly what his defence was. However, it’s too late now. Gorman has fled and God knows where he is.’
Fidelma sniffed. ‘God may well know but I think I also have a clue.’
Eadulf blinked in surprise. ‘How so?’
‘Remember how Socht was saying that he tracked Gorman and Aibell and that he found tracks trying to cross the river to the west and that puzzled him? He thought it was a false trail because he had expected that Gorman would head back east to his own people. Well, I am sure that it was not a false trail.’
‘You mean that Gorman and Aibell went towards the west … but where?’ Eadulf’s eyes suddenly widened. ‘You don’t mean he went to Rath Menma where Ciarnat said they were married?’
‘Perhaps not as far as that.’ Fidelma was confident. ‘I think we will find them at the home of Aibell’s uncle or somewhere in that vicinity.’
‘Aibell’s uncle – Marban the miller?’
‘Where else would they find a natural support?’
Eadulf remained thoughtful for a moment or two. ‘So you are suggesting that we go to Marban’s mill, seek out Gorman and bring him back here?’
‘Perhaps not bring him back immediately,’ she replied. ‘At least, not until we have heard his story from his own mouth.’
‘Then we would have to be careful how we depart from this fortress. Conri will probably want to follow us. Or, indeed, the real culprits may plan something for us. I wonder that we have not met with some accident to stop our investigation already.’
‘I may be wrong but I do not think it is the intention of the conspirators to kill us but rather to trap me, as adviser to my brother, into a position where my advice leads to either Donennach being overthrown or committing his people to a war against Cashel. I am being used, Eadulf, and I do not like it.’
‘But our deaths would also provoke your brother to descend on Prince Donennach with his war bands more quickly than this drawn-out game.’
‘I don’t think so,’ she said. ‘Whoever is behind this, they want to display some sort of moral right to argue before the High King. They would not want the High King to take Cashel’s side. I am merely the cat’s paw.’ She remembered her brother’s reasoning before they had left Cashel and took comfort in it.
‘Let us proceed on the assumption that Gorman and Aibell are sheltering either in Marban’s mill or thereabouts. Will Marban trust us enough to reveal their presence to us? Will Gorman trust us? After all, he fled the fortress rather than just leave matters in your hands,’ Eadulf said. ‘Why did he do that?’
‘These are questions to which we must find the answers. I will inform Prince Donennach discreetly tonight that we intend to leave at first light to pursue our investigations. We owe him that. Meanwhile, ask Enda to prepare our horses and some provisions. He must not say a word about our intentions to anyone among the guards or at the stables. If asked, he should merely say that he only obeys orders and does not question them.’
‘Prince Donennach will demand to know where we are going and for how long,’ Eadulf pointed out. ‘I am sure he will also confide this in Brehon Faolchair.’
‘Indeed,’ Fidelma concurred. ‘I’ll think of something. Perhaps imply that we are interested in the intentions of Abbot Nannid.’
A distant bell began to chime.
‘We had better act quickly,’ Eadulf advised. ‘That’s the summons to the evening feast.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
They left the fortress just as dawn was showing a faint white line above the eastern hills. Ceit, the guard commander, was standing under the flickering light of the burning brand torches by the gate. He raised a hand in salutation but did not stop them as they walked their horses through the gate and down the hill towards the main square of the township. Eadulf noticed that Fidelma had glanced over her shoulder several times.
‘Anything amiss?’ he asked.
‘I think that Donennach has taken the hint that we have decided to shadow Abbot Nannid and passed that on, otherwise Ceit might have been more interested at our early departure. In fact, Donennach and Brehon Faolchair did not make any fuss when I told them we were going to be away for a few days.’