He and Heraclius scrambled into one of the boats, joining Bleidbara and several of his men. Other warriors climbed into the second boat. Both small vessels were quickly propelled towards the creek in which the Barnacle Goose was moored.
A shout from the ship told them they had been spotted. Eadulf was surprised that they had not been seen long before. Perhaps the guards who had been left behind were lax in their watch or were more concerned with watching their prisoners than thinking of an external attack.
A few arrows flew harmlessly into the waters around them and then they were bumping against the side of the large seagoing vessel and Bleidbara’s men were swarming up the sides. Yelling and the clash of metal, along with the occasional cry of pain, filled the air as Eadulf grasped the rope and hauled himself up on the familiar deck he had quit what seemed a lifetime ago. Was it really just a few days? Heraclius came quickly after him.
The deck was now a confusion of struggling bodies, men intent on killing each other. Eadulf dodged through them, the young Greek at his side, and headed towards the hold of the ship. It was no use trying to remove the deck hatches and so he led the way down beyond the stern cabins, for he knew that a small hatchway led from there into the cargo hold. They met with only one man, who seemed to be guarding the gangway; he lunged at Eadulf with his sword and, as Eadulf threw himself aside, Heraclius pressed forward and drove his weapon under the man’s ribs. With a gurgling scream, the assailant sank to the ground.
Eadulf was at the hatch. He threw back the bolts and swung open the door. Inside was an evil-smelling darkness, relieved by a single candle. People were stirring there. A face appeared, familiar albeit bearded and haggard.
‘Hoel?’ frowned Eadulf, recognising the second mate of the Barnacle Goose. ‘Is that you?’
The man’s eyes widened. ‘Brother Eadulf? Do you still live? We thought that you had drowned.’
Eadulf had no time to tell the story, merely saying: ‘Get your people out and grab what weapons you can. You are being rescued.’
Hoel turned back and repeated Eadulf’s words to those inside. There was a suppressed cheer and the next familiar figure that emerged was Wenbrit, the cabin boy.
‘Is the lady Fidelma alive?’ he asked wonderingly. ‘We thought you had drowned.’
‘We are both well,’ replied Eadulf quickly. ‘How many of you survived?’
‘They killed no more of us after they murdered the captain Gurvan and Menma, the crewman they shot when they first attacked the ship — and, of course, the lord Bressal.’
‘And you have all been confined here in the hold?’
‘We have.’
‘Then we’ll talk later. Let us make sure the ship is retaken.’
Heraclius led the way back to the deck and by the time they reached it, they found that the fighting was over. The followers of the ‘Dove of Death’ had paid a heavy price, for there was only one prisoner. The bodies of the others were strewn across the deck, their fighting days over.
The crew of the Barnacle Goose were confused after their long incarceration and by the bloody sights before them. Blinking in the daylight, and rubbing their eyes, they started to come to terms with the new situation.
Chapter Nineteen
Bleidbara strode forward across the deck and clapped Eadulf on the shoulder with a big smile of satisfaction.
‘It was well done,’ he said approvingly.
‘Any casualties?’
‘A few minor cuts and scratches, that’s all. These scum are no match for real fighting men when it comes to a fair fight.’
Eadulf turned back to Hoel and Wenbrit and asked: ‘Are all the prisoners safe?’
‘We are,’ Hoel confirmed. ‘We were ordered to throw the bodies of Murchad and the others overboard while we were still at sea. We had to sail the ship here. Then we were placed in the hold. No one has harmed us since.’
Bleidbara was looking around with a frown.
‘Where is the lady Trifina?’ he asked.
Hoel looked blank.
‘A female,’ Eadulf said rather impatiently. ‘A woman of this country. Was she not in the hold with you?’
Hoel shook his head. ‘Since we were forced to enter this creek we have been battened down below decks and have lost count of the day or night. We know of no other prisoners.’
Bleidbara was making for the stern cabin and Eadulf, seeing the expression on his face, went quickly after him.
The door of the cabin that had once been used by Murchad, the captain of the Barnacle Goose, was not secured. Bleidbara thrust it open unceremoniously. As he did so, a dagger embedded itself in the jamb of the door.
Bleidbara started back with a curse. Then, recovering himself, he pushed inside with Eadulf at his shoulder. Trifina was pressed back in a corner with an expression of fear on her face. This dissolved into one of incredulity and then of joy, and she came rushing across the cabin and threw herself into Bleidbara’s arms.
‘At last! At last! I thought rescue would never come.’
Bleidbara remained stiff and unresponsive. After a few moments, Trifina felt his coldness and drew back with a puzzled frown.
‘What…what is it?’ she asked uncertainly.
‘Why aren’t you a prisoner on this ship like the others?’
She did not understand the implication. ‘But I am. I was.’
‘The cabin door was unlocked.’
She smiled uncertainly, still not understanding his point.
‘What matters? I could not leave the cabin and there were always guards outside to watch me.’
‘Yet all the other prisoners were confined in the hold.’
‘I could not help them. I was well treated, provided I kept to the cabin.’
‘Lady Trifina.’ It was Eadulf who spoke. ‘The circumstances look suspicious, especially when these cut-throats fight under the flag of your family.’
‘But I explained that to Fidelma. These people are out to destroy my family,’ protested the girl.
‘They will destroy nothing now,’ Bleidbara told her icily. ‘The Koulm ar Maro lies at the bottom of the sea and we have slain most and captured the rest of their crew. Now all that remains for us to do is to identify their leader.’
When Trifina turned her gaze to Bleidbara, Eadulf thought he saw in it an expression of sadness, before her features hardened.
‘Where is Fidelma?’ she demanded. ‘Am I now to be accused of being the leader of these raiders?’
It was Eadulf who answered.
‘Fidelma is at Brilhag, so far as I know. That is where we are heading now, before…’He hesitated and then turned to the stone-faced Bleidbara.
‘Then I demand to see her,’ Trifina said. ‘I was abducted and have been held a prisoner here.’
‘And Iuna?’ Bleidbara asked, his voice steady.
‘Iuna?
‘It was she who woke me and, with one of these ruffians, bound and gagged me and took me down to a boat. They killed one of the guards who saw us before he could raise the alarm. Iuna was in league with them all along.’ Trifina sounded bitter.
‘You ask us to believe that?’ replied Bleidbara. ‘How do you explain that Iuna was left poisoned in her chamber when you disappeared, while Ceingar was murdered? Yet you were abducted and put on this ship in comparative freedom.’
‘Iuna poisoned? Dead?’ Trifina cried, aghast.
‘Pray God that she is not.’
‘I do not know why you disbelieve me. I have spoken the truth. I was abducted by Iuna. I was placed on the boat and brought here, while she went back to the fortress.’
‘Who do you claim is this Koulm ar Maro then?’ demanded Bleidbara.