‘The gallery must lead from the end of this hall, beyond those doors,’ pointed Eadulf in satisfaction.
The doors were unlocked and, as Eadulf opened them, both Fidelma and he drew a quick breath as they surveyed the long passage that spread before them. It was broad but seemed narrow because of the vaulted roof rising some fifteen metres from the floor level, supported by ten tall pillars on either side, fluted like great Roman columns, pushing upwards. An arch connected each pillar. Behind the arches, some ten metres from the floor, a gallery seemed to run, its floor level with the base of the arch. In the centre of each arch stood a statue of some sort, five of them along each side. They seemed to be of men in the military attire of Ancient Rome. The floor of this passageway was of small coloured pieces of stone, an intricate mosaic as they had seen in Rome. At the far end was a large arch that looked as though doors had once stood beneath it but now it was blocked by stones that had obviously been placed there recently.
‘It looks as if Brother Sigeric was right,’ Eadulf observed, as they walked along the forty metres of the passage. ‘This way has been blocked off.’
They paused before the stone-filled doorway.
‘Leodegar is certainly a fanatic about segregating the sexes,’ mused Fidelma. ‘I wonder why he fears women so much?’
‘Does his attitude mean that he fears women?’ asked Eadulf, puzzled.
‘Trying to deny equality, trying to denigrate women or, indeed, denigrating anyone is a sign that you really fear them,’ she said. ‘This blocking off of parts of this old building to segregate women from men is ridiculous. Anyway, I have seen enough.’
‘What did you hope to find?’
‘It was really a question of making sure, that’s all. But I confess I did have an initial thought that this might still be a means of access between the two communities. But I was also interested because it was the only area that no one showed us or even mentioned until Sigeric.’
They turned and began to walk back along the corridor.
Eadulf suddenly became aware of a slight noise, a scraping sound. He did not know what it was nor why he reacted as he did. He leaped suddenly to one side of the narrow passageway, shouting a warning to Fidelma who was walking in front of him. Her reactions were also quick. Jumping into a space between the pillars to one side, she pressed herself against one of them.
A moment later, something smashed onto the spot where Eadulf had been standing and splintered into a thousand fragments. One of the fragments bounced from the mosaic floor and struck him in the back of the leg. It was painful and caused him to cry out in anguish, stagger a pace and fall. There was dust and debris everywhere, choking his throat and causing him to cough and gasp for clean air. He could not breathe properly and thought he was going to pass out.
It seemed a long while but in reality it was only a matter of seconds before a silence descended and the dust began to settle.
With a sob Fidelma turned and rushed from the pillar, which had sheltered her from the falling stone, and ran into the dust and debris.
‘Eadulf!’ she cried as she searched wildly for him.
A figure stirred among the grey stone dust and retched. She was bending beside him, trying to wipe the dust from his eyes and mouth.
‘Are you all right?’ she gasped.
His lips formed a crooked smile. ‘Not exactly,’ he replied.
She heaved a sigh of relief as he struggled to sit up.
‘Are you hurt?’ she demanded in concern, noticing how he winced suddenly.
‘I think I was hit by something,’ he said. ‘Back of the leg. A rock or something.’
Fidelma turned and saw a large piece of stone that lay near by.
‘It was a miracle that you were not hit by that,’ she said, indicating it.
Eadulf blinked to get the dust from his eyes as he stared at it.
‘It is the head from one of the statues,’ he declared in astonishment.
Fidelma glanced up to the arched alcove that seemed directly above them.
‘It was the entire statue,’ she corrected. ‘And it nearly fell on you. Look, you can see the plinth on which it stood.’
Eadulf shuddered. ‘Dangerous,’ he muttered. ‘Maybe we should get out before something else falls down. Those statues must be several hundred years old.’
Fidelma was examining the back of his leg.
‘You have a nasty gash there. I must get you to Brother Gebicca. Can you stand?’
‘I’ll try. I don’t think anything is broken.’ Using Fidelma’s arm and one hand against the wall, he rose slowly, flinching as the weight was placed on his leg.
At that moment, Brother Benevolentia appeared at the doors through which they had entered. He paused and stared at them in surprise.
‘I heard the crash,’ he began.
‘I need help, Brother,’ Fidelma declared. ‘Come and help support Eadulf.’
But Brother Benevolentia was still staring at Eadulf and did not appear to hear.
‘What happened…?’ His voice trailed off as he saw the remains of the broken statue. His eyes went up to the spot where it had once stood. Then he turned to Eadulf. ‘Have you been injured, Brother?’
‘We must get the wound bathed and dressed,’ Fidelma instructed. ‘I don’t think it is serious.’
‘I will support him, Sister. Leave him to me.’ He took the arm of Eadulf and, supporting him, glanced back at the debris. ‘It looks like one of those ancient statues of the Romans. It has stood there for six centuries at least. It was a lucky thing that its fall missed you, Brother.’
Eadulf’s calf was throbbing.
‘I think that is an understatement,’ he replied. ‘A fraction closer and I do not think I would still be in this world.’
He suddenly noticed that Fidelma was looking intently at the remains.
‘You go on, Brother Benevolentia,’ she said. ‘Take him to Brother Gebicca. I’ll be with you in a moment.’
Brother Benevolentia hesitated. ‘But, Sister…it may be dangerous here. This is an ancient part of the building and these old statues are known to be unsafe.’
‘Eadulf is bleeding and the longer you delay, the worse it gets. I said I would be but a moment!’ she snapped irritably.
Brother Benevolentia was unhappy but Eadulf, realising she wanted time to look at something, began to move forward, forcing his companion to go with him.
Fidelma stood for a moment looking at the pieces that had once constituted the marble statue. Then she peered up at the empty alcove that rose ten metres above them in the great vaulted passageway. There had been five statues along each side, and now one of them was missing.
There was a movement from the mason’s room behind her. She turned to find that another young, dark-headed religieux had arrived; he was looking about him with dismay.
‘What happened, Sister?’ he demanded.
‘One of the statues fell from its plinth up there,’ Fidelma replied.
‘One of the old statues?’ echoed the Brother, sounding shocked.
‘Have they all stood in those positions a long time?’
‘They have been there since the time of the Romans. They have certainly stood in perfect safety for as long as I have been here. It is strange that one of them has fallen now. Perhaps it is an evil omen.’
‘The omen would have been distinctly evil had it fallen on anyone,’ Fidelma replied dryly.
‘Then no one was hurt?’
She did not respond but looked up at the alcoves high above her. ‘Tell me, is there any way one can get up to those alcoves? They seem particularly deep and I see light from behind them as though there is a space there.’