Fidelma went forward to where Cass had indicated and found the twisted body of Tressach. His head had been cleaved with one blow. Yet he lay as if asleep, a hand carelessly flung out before him with the other still held tightly to his wooden sword.
"Poor little warrior," muttered Fidelma, kneeling down and letting her slim hand stroke the fair hair of the child.
Cass appeared after a while. His face was even more grim than ever.
Fidelma raised her eyes to his.
His expression was enough.
"Where are they?"
The warrior jerked his thumb behind him.
Fidelma rose and went round the corner of the chapel. The two little copper-haired girls, Cera and Ciar, were clasped in one another's arms, as if trying to protect each other from the cruel fate which crushed both their skulls without any compassion.
White-faced, Fidelma stood and stared at the once idyllic farmstead which Aibnat and Molua had given over to the purposes of an orphanage.
Tears gathered in her eyes and trickled down her cheeks.
"Twenty children, three women religieuses, including Sister Aibnat, and Brother Molua," reported Cass. "All dead. This is senseless!"
"Evil," agreed Fidelma vehemently. "But we will find some twisted sense behind it."
"We should get back to Ros Ailithir, Fidelma." Cass was clearly worried. "We dare not tarry in case that barbaric horde returns."
Fidelma knew that he was right but she could not resist carrying the body of little Tressach over to the side of the chapel so that he could be with the two little girls from Rae na Serine. There she said a prayer over them and then she turned and said a prayer for all who had met their deaths at Molua's farm.
At the gate she paused and gazed down at Molua's body.
"Was there a just cause in the minds of the people who perpetrated this infamy?" she whispered. "Poor Molua. We will never discuss philosophy now. Were you just animals to be driven out from the land under some terrible plough-share working for some mysterious greater good?"
"Fidelma!" Cass's voice was fearful but his fear was for her safety alone. "We should leave now!"
She clambered back on her horse while he mounted his and they cantered away from that place of death.
"I cannot believe that there are such barbarous people in this land," Cass said as they paused on the top of the hill and gazed back to the burning settlement.
"Barbarous!" Fidelma's voice was a whiplash. "I tell you, Cass, that this is evil. There is a terrible evil at work here and I swear by those tiny, mangled remains down there that I shall not rest until I have rooted it out."
Cass shivered at the vehemence in her voice.
Chapter Seventeen
"Where to now, sister?" Cass demanded as Fidelma, instead of turning her horse along the track that led to the abbey of Ros Ailithir, continued westward.
"Back to Salbach's fortress," Fidelma replied, tight-mouthed. "We shall confront him with this atrocity."
Cass looked troubled.
"This might be a dangerous course, sister. You say that Intat is Salbach's man. If so, then Salbach himself has ordered this crime."
"Salbach is still chieftain of the Corco Loigde. He would not dare harm a dalaigh of the courts and sister of his king!"
Cass did not respond. He did not point out to the angry young woman that if Salbach had sanctioned Intat's violence then that same violence proved that he had forgotten his honor and oath of chieftainship. If he was involved, and could condone the slaughter of innocent children and religious, he would not hesitate to harm anyone else who threatened him. Only after they had continued for a while along the path to Cuan Dòir did Cass venture to suggest: "Wouldn't it be better to wait until your brother, Colgu, arrives with his bodyguard and then question Salbach from a position of strength?"
Fidelma did not bother to grace the question with an answer. At that moment, her mind was too filled with anger and a determination to track down Intat. If Salbach stood behind Intat, then he, too, must fall. She allowed anger to blind her to logic and in her anger she was not prepared to pause and reflect.
Cuan Dóir seemed as peaceful as ever as they rode directly up to the entrance of Salbach's fortress. It seemed impossible that a short ride away an entire farmstead and over twenty people, adults and children, had just been massacred.
The same disinterested warrior, still standing nonchalantly leaning against the gatepost, was keeping guard. Once more he denied that Salbach was in the fortress but this time he gave a knowing wink at Fidelma.
"He is probably out hunting in the woods again, sister."
Fidelma restrained her bubbling anger.
"Know me, warrior, for a daláigh of the courts," she said tightly. "Know me also for the sister of Colgu, king of Cashel."
The warrior stirred uneasily and shifted his stance into one of respectful attention.
"That information does not change my answer, sister," he replied defensively. "You may dismount and explore the halls of Cuan Dóir yourself but you will not find Salbach. He was here for a while earlier but rode back towards the forest of Dor again."
"When was this?" demanded Cass.
"No more than a few minutes ago. I presume he had an assignation in the woodsman's hut. But that is all I know."
Fidelma dug her heels into the sides of her horse, signalling Cass to follow.
"Back to the woodsman's cabin?" called Cass as they cantered along the track.
"We will start there first," agreed Fidelma. "Salbach obviously went back to find Grella."
They cantered swiftly along the path, northwards to the woods, crossing the river at the ford and turning along the bank towards the small cabin in the forest clearing. It did not take them long. Fidelma, this time, made no pretence of hiding herself. She rode straight towards the cabin and halted in front of it.
"Salbach of the Corco Loigde! Are you in there?" she cried, without dismounting. She did not think that there would be an answer for there was no sign of Salbach's horse.
A silence greeted them.
Cass swung off his horse and taking out his sword moved cautiously to the cabin. He pushed open the door and disappeared inside.
After a moment he returned, sword in hand.
"There is no sign of anyone," Cass reported in annoyance. "What now?"
"Let us look around the cabin," Fidelma replied. "There might be something which may suggest where else we can look for Salbach."
Fidelma dismounted. They hitched their horses to the rail and went into the cabin.
It was deserted as Cass had said. It was left exactly as it had been when they had taken Grella from it.
"I doubt that Salbach will be far away," muttered Fidelma. "If he has reasoned out that we have taken Grella, and he cares that much about her, he may have gone to the abbey to demand her release."
Cass was about to reply when they heard the clatter of horses' hooves resounding outside the cabin. Cass started for the door but before he could reach it it had burst open.
A large, red-faced individual, clad in a steel helmet and woollen cloak edged in fur, wearing a gold chain of office and with his sword drawn, stood in the doorway; behind him were half a dozen warriors. His tiny eyes blazed triumphantly as they fell on Cass and Fidelma.
His image had long been burnt into Fidelma's memory. It was Intat.
"Well now," he chuckled delightedly, "if we do not have the mischief-makers. And where is Salbach?"
"Not here, as you can see," replied Cass evenly.
"Not here?" Intat looked round as if to confirm his statement. "I told him…" he began and then clamped his jaw shut, standing glowering at them from the threshold of the cabin.
"So there is no one here but the two of you?"
Fidelma stood quietly, regarding the man with narrowed eyes.