"Is that why you sent for me?" she asked. "Because our cousin is dying?"
Colgu shook his head swiftly.
"King Cathal instructed me to send for you before he succumbed to the fevers of plague. Now that he cannot instruct you, it falls to me to do so."
He reached across and took her by the elbow. "But first you must rest from your journey. There is time enough for this later. Come, I have ordered your old room to be prepared."
Fidelma tried to suppress her sigh of impatience.
"You know me well enough, brother. You know that I will not rest while there is a mystery to be explained. You keep goading my imagination. Come, explain what this mystery is and then I will rest."
Colgu was about to speak when there came the sound of raised voices beyond the door. There was the noise of a scuffle and Colgu was moving toward the door to inquire what was happening when it burst open and Forbassach of Fearna stood framed in it. He was red-faced and breathing heavily with exertion.
Behind him, his handsome face scowling in anger, was the young warrior, Cass.
"Forgive me, my lord. I could not stop him."
Colgu stood facing the envoy of the king of Laigin with displeasure on his face.
"What does this demonstration of bad manners mean, Forbassach? Surely you forget yourself?"
Forbassach thrust out his chin. His arrogant and contemptuous manner did not desert him.
"I need an answer to take back to Fianamail, the king of Laigin. Your king is on the verge of death; Colgu. Therefore it is up to you to answer the charges of Laigin."
Fidelma set her face into an immobile expression to disguise her frustration that she did not comprehend the meaning of this confrontation.
Colgu had flushed with anger.
"Cathal of Muman still lives, Forbassach. While he lives, his is the voice to answer your charge. Now, you have breached the hospitality of this court. As tánaiste I demand your withdrawal from this place. When the court of Cashel needs to communicate with you then you will be summoned to hear its voice."
Forbassach's thin lips twisted into a condescending sneer.
"I know that you merely seek to delay the answer, Colgu. As soon as I saw the arrival of your sister, Fidelma of Kildare, I realized that you will seek to delay and prevaricate. It will avail you nothing. Laigin still demands an answer. Laigin demands justice!"
Colgu's facial muscles worked in an effort to control his anger.
"Fidelma, instruct me in law." He addressed his sister without taking his eyes from Forbassach. "This envoy from Laigin has, I believe, overstepped the bounds of sacred hospitality. He has intruded where he should not and has been insulting. May I order him to be removed physically from this court?"
Fidelma glanced at the disdainful Brehon of Fearna.
"Do you make an apology for an unwarranted intrusion into a private chamber, Forbassach?" she asked. "And do you make an apology for your insulting manner to the heir-apparent of Cashel?"
Forbassach's chin jerked up, his scowl deepening.
"Not I."
"Then you, as a Brehon, should know the law. You will be thrown out of this court."
Colgu glanced at the warrior called Cass and gave an imperceptible nod.
The tall man laid a hand on Forbassach's shoulder.
The Laigin envoy twisted in the grip and his face reddened.
"Fianamail of Laigin shall hear of this insult, Colgu. It will serve to compound your guilt when you are judged before the High King's assembly at Tara!"
The warrior had spun the Laigin envoy on his heel and propelled him through the doorway without any apparent display of undue force. Then, with an apologetic gesture to Colgu, he shut it behind them.
Fidelma, turning to her brother, who had now relaxed from his stiff posture, showed her bewilderment.
"I think that it is about time that you told me what is really happening. What is the mystery here?" she demanded with quiet authority.
Chapter Two
Colgu looked as if he were about to delay once more but seeing the light in his young sister's eyes he thought the better of it.
"Very well," he replied, "but let us go where we may speak more freely and without the danger of any further interruptions. There are many ears attached to heads which may harbor ill-will to the kings of Muman."
Fidelma raised an eyebrow in surprise but made no further comment. She knew that her brother had never been one for exaggeration so she did not press him further. He would explain in his own time.
She followed him from the room without speaking and through the stone-walled palace corridors with their rich tapestries and spectacular artifacts gathered over the centuries by the Eóganacht kings. Colgu led her through a great room which she recognized as the Tech Screptra, the scriptorium or library, of the palace, where, as a small girl, she had learned to read and form her first letters. As well as the impressive illustrated vellum texts, the Tech Screptra held some of the ancient books of Muman. Among them were the "rods of the poets," wands of aspen and hazel wood on which the ancient scribes had carved their sagas, poems and histories in Ogham, the ancient alphabet, which was still used in some parts of Muman. In that Tech Screptra the little girl's imagination and thirst for knowledge had been awakened.
Fidelma paused briefly, feeling a little overwhelmed by nostalgia, and smiling at her memories. Several brothers of the Faith were seated there poring over those same books by the light of smoking tallow candles.
She realized that Colgu was waiting impatiently for her.
"I see you still open the library to scholars of the church," she said approvingly as she joined him and they moved on. The great library of Cashel was the personal property of the kings of Muman.
"It will not be otherwise while we are of the Faith," Colgu replied firmly.
"Yet I have heard some stories that certain narrow-minded members of the Faith have been burning the ancient texts, the 'rods of the poets,' on the grounds that they were written by idolatrous pagans. In Cashel, there are many such books. Do you still preserve them from such intolerance?"
"Surely intolerance is incompatible with the Faith, little sister?" Colgu observed wryly.
"I would say so. Others might not. I am told that Colmán of Cork has suggested that all pagan books should be destroyed. Yet I say that we have a duty to ensure that the treasures of our people are not incinerated and lost because of fashionable intolerance."
Colgu chuckled dryly.
"The matter is academic anyway. Colmán of Cork has fled this kingdom for fear of the plague. His voice no longer counts."
Colgu continued to lead the way beyond the Tech Screptra and through the tiny family chapel. There were many stories handed down in Fidelma's family of how the Blessed Patrick himself had arrived at Cashel and had proceeded to convert their ancestor, King Conall Core, to the new Faith. One story told how he had used the meadow trefoil, the seamrog, to demonstrate the idea of the Holy Trinity to Conall. Not that it was a difficult concept to understand, for all the pagan gods of ancient Ireland were triune gods, being three personalities in the one god. Fidelma had always carried a sense of time and place with her.