‘Do not be concerned. Both matters will be dealt with.’
Ailill took the miserable and still-complaining girl by the arm and ushered her out.
Fidelma turned back to Gelgéis. ‘I think time is running out, don’t you?’ she said.
Gelgéis obviously knew what she meant and, without a word, turned to a curtained alcove, drawing back the drapery to reveal a wooden door beyond. She opened it and gestured for Fidelma and Eadulf to follow. A steep wooden stair led below. Oil lamps lit the depths into which they descended. They came to another wooden door. Gelgéis paused and rapped on it.
‘It is I,’ she called softly.
There was a movement from beyond and a bolt rasped in its metal holder before the door swung inward.
Whoever opened it was standing back and Gelgéis led them into a chamber which was surprisingly filled with natural light as one side seemed to open on to grounds at the back of the fortress. Fidelma had a glimpse of a vegetable and herb garden beyond. Then she turned to face the person who was just shutting the door behind them.
‘Well, Torna? Or should I say Tormeid?’ She smiled thinly. ‘We meet once more.’
Tormeid, whom she had last seen briefly under Drón’s window, stood before them. He looked at Gelgéis with a question in his eyes.
‘Events are fast moving,’ she told him. ‘Fianamail of Laigin has gathered an army to invade Muman. I had to bring Fidelma to you.’
The man they had known as Torna turned back to Fidelma and Eadulf. ‘It is good to see you alive and well,’ he said. ‘I feared for your safety when we were captured on the riverbank.’
Gelgéis indicated some chairs. The room was apparently an antechamber to the garden, filled with numerous tools, plants and boxes. Neither Fidelma nor Eadulf spoke.
‘Forgive my receiving you in these conditions,’ the erstwhile poet continued. ‘Once you saw me from the window, I suspected that it would not be long before you found me.’
‘I have been trying to track you down since Cronán’s men took you. We followed you to Liath Mór.’
‘So I heard. Gelgéis has told me who you thought I was. It was well worked out, lady.’
He sank into a chair, and only then did Fidelma and Eadulf seat themselves as well.
‘Was I right?’ enquired Fidelma.
The young man smiled again. ‘Your reputation has not been acquired for nothing, lady. You were right in most particulars. I am Tormeid of the Uí Duach. I may also add that I was one of a group of so-called hot-headed young warriors who went to demand reparation from Cronán of Gleann an Ghuail. I was captured and deprived of my liberty along with others.’
‘And all else was correct?’
‘It was.’
‘But it leaves many questions to be answered.’
‘Of course it does.’
‘These questions might have been answered more rapidly had you both been honest with me from the start,’ Fidelma observed sharply.
Gelgéis was shaking her head. ‘We could not answer your questions before we knew if we could trust you.’
Fidelma’s eyebrows arched a little. ‘If you are loyal to Cashel, as you claimed, why couldn’t you trust me?’
‘The fact that you were the sister of King Colgú,’ Gelgéis said simply. ‘You might have been part of the conspiracy to overthrow him.’
For the first time, Eadulf saw Fidelma rendered speechless for a few moments. Finally she said: ‘I think an explanation is in order. Why should I be planning to overthrow my own brother?’
‘All in proper order, lady,’ Tormeid replied. ‘Your actions have now shown that you are to be trusted. We are satisfied that you are not part of this conspiracy.’
‘Well, that is something,’ she replied dryly. ‘Very well. All in good order as you say. Let us finish the story of how you came here, Tormeid. You escaped from Cronán’s fortress together with his daughter, Muirne. Is that correct?’
There was a slight tightening at the corner of his mouth but he nodded.
‘You have just escaped a second time from Cronán’s fortress of Liath Mór,’ said Eadulf. ‘By the same method?’
The young man nodded again. ‘Indeed. Both times it was by the same method.’
‘Through the underground vaults you yourself helped to construct?’
‘When I was a prisoner, a daer-fuidir, I was set to work on the vaults of Cronán’s fortress. I think you will have seen enough of it to realise that it is a massive construction. Those of us who were forced to build those cellars and fortifications made sure that we created a means of exit unbeknown to those overseeing the work.’
‘It was by that method that some of the daer-fuidir, the Uí Duach slaves, also helped us escape,’ Eadulf commented.
‘We were helped by a girl called Ségnat,’ Fidelma added. ‘She told me that it was Tormeid who had escaped with Cronán’s daughter, so then I realised your true name. I tried to persuade her to escape with us. There were reasons why she stayed.’
Tormeid’s face was a white mask of guilt. ‘Gelgéis has told me. Believe me, I did not know until now that I had cost the lives of five of my good friends and cousins. When I escaped with Muirne I knew the secret way in and out of those dark vaults,’ he said softly. ‘I did not think Cronán would be so cruel and vindictive to punish others for my actions.’
‘So you escaped with Muirne and were trying to cross the Suir. But the river was in flood and she drowned, just as you told me. Is that correct?’ pressed Fidelma.
The young man lowered his gaze. ‘It is.’
‘How did you come to Durlus?’
‘Gelgéis and Spealáin happened to be passing along the river road, north of here. They found me more dead than alive on the riverbank. They also found the body of Muirne. They brought me to the fortress where I was nursed and revived. I told them my story and Gelgéis gave me shelter and promised not to inform Cronán. The body of Muirne was buried by Bishop Daig.’
‘How long have you sheltered here in Durlus?’
Tormeid actually forced a smile. ‘Ever since that day I was dragged from the river. I now serve among the warriors of Gelgéis here in Éile.’
‘How did you learn about this conspiracy? From Brother Ailgesach?’
Tormeid and Gelgéis exchanged a glance.
‘You seem to know much,’ Tormeid remarked softly.
‘And deduce much,’ Fidelma smiled confidently. ‘Brother Ailgesach, when he came to Durlus, told Gelgéis that while he was an attendant to those afflicted in the Gleann na nGeilt, the Glen of Lunatics, he had come across some frightening information. The years he had spent there among the insane had driven him to drink; but even with his drink problem he had learned something that he needed to tell someone, hadn’t he? He had learned about a conspiracy.’
Gelgéis spoke quietly: ‘When he left the Glen of Lunatics, Abbot Ségdae appointed him to run the chapel at Fraigh Dubh. But he came here first. He had discovered that someone was being paid to persuade people to join a band who would attack religious communities and isolated settlements in the west. This person was a religious fanatic who had been recently incarcerated in the Glen of Lunatics because of their religious madness. Ailgesach kept the name of this person a secret because he wanted to gather more information. He told me that a relation of this person was due to visit the latter at the Glen of Lunatics. Ailgesach had contacted this relative, who had promised to find out what information they could uncover.’
‘So you and Tormeid arranged to visit Ailgesach at Fraigh Dubh when this person returned from the Glen of Lunatics with the information. Correct?’
‘We did.’
‘Brother Ailgesach had already told you that the conspiracy concerned a noble of Osraige. That person was none other than Cronán, and presumably that was why Tormeid was an enthusiastic ally in this venture. You both went to stay at Brother Ailgesach’s cabin, waiting for the man with his information.’