‘It’s quite beautiful,’ muttered Caol, gazing over her shoulder.
‘It’s also quite old,’ said Ferloga.
‘It’s certainly very ancient,’ agreed Fidelma. ‘I seem to have seen those symbols before, but I can’t quite recall where …’
‘There are curious symbols and animals carved all over the staff,’ observed Caol, pointing. ‘It must be very valuable.’
‘What else did he carry that might identify him?’ demanded Fidelma, turning to Ferloga.
The innkeeper gestured at a leather satchel, which the man had been carrying the night before. There was also the richly inscribed gorget, which he had worn around his neck and which was now placed on the table by the side of the bed. The old man had obviously removed it from his neck before reposing himself for sleep.
‘Apart from his robe and clothing, there is only the satchel and this ornament.’
The satchel revealed no more than a change of clothing, an extra pair of sandals and a knife, and such toilet items as anyone might carry. However, if the staff had been a fascinating object of art then the gorget was even more so. The necklet was made of intricately beaten gold, decorated with all manner of ancient symbols that also seemed disturbingly familiar to Fidelma – but which she could not place at all. She was about to remark on it when Caol gave a grunt of surprise.
She turned to see him removing a small leather bag from under the pillow on which the old man’s head lay. He held it up and the bag clinked as if it contained metal. He handed it to Fidelma.
‘I think we’ll find that this strange old man was rich,’ he said.
Fidelma opened the string that tied the leather pouch together. Indeed, it was full of coins, mainly of gold and silver but with a few bronze coins. She glanced at several of them.
‘They are mainly old coins of Gaul and Britain, ones the Britons struck before the coming of the Romans. That’s curious. I can’t see any Roman coins among them either and they are the easiest to come by these days.’
‘That may mean the old man intended to travel in Gaul or Brittany?’ suggested Caol.
Fidelma returned his smile but shook her head. ‘It only means that he was in possession of coins from those countries, but they are centuries old. If someone was going to travel, why would they not be in possession of more modern coins?’
Caol looked a little crestfallen. ‘You are right, lady. But the old man must have been some sort of merchant, to have these foreign coins and so many. Only merchants are so rich.’
‘I doubt that he was a merchant.’ It was Ferloga who uttered the thought.
Fidelma turned to give him a quizzical look. The innkeeper was looking worried.
‘Not everyone has converted to the New Faith, lady. You know that already. Some keep to the old ways.’
She suddenly realised what the innkeeper was implying. Picking up the old man’s gorget, she examined it carefully and let out a slow breath as she agreed with Ferloga’s unspoken thought.
Caol was standing frowning. ‘I don’t understand,’ he said.
‘Ferloga is saying that he thinks this old man might have been a Druid priest,’ Fidelma explained.
Caol’s eyebrows shot up. ‘But the old religion has died out. The Druids are no more.’
‘I have had several encounters with those who cling to the old religion,’ Fidelma said, a little grimly. ‘It was only a short time ago that Eadulf and I were sent to the valley of Gleann Geis when Laisre decided that his people should convert from the old ways to the New Faith.’
‘Gleann Geis is way over to the west,’ Caol dismissed airily. ‘They are always slow to move with the times.’
Fidelma smiled at the young warrior’s arrogance. ‘Or perhaps they move in a different direction?’ she observed quietly. ‘You are wrong, Caol – there are many who still move along the old paths and venerate the old gods and goddesses of this land. Many, even of the New Faith, respect and do reverence to the Druids or see them as they were – as great teachers. Did not Colmcille, the dove of the Church, write in one of his poems that Christ, the son of the One God, was his Druid?’
Caol shrugged indifferently. ‘So you are saying that the old man,’ he jerked his head towards the corpse, ‘might have been a Druid?’
‘It would fit in with the way I initially mistook him for a religious,’ interrupted Ferloga, ‘and yet he is certainly not of the Christian Faith. Look at the symbols he carries. They are found among the carvings on the stones where I have heard that people gathered to worship in the old days. And then there was him asking the way to Cnánmchailli, the place of the ancient pillar stone.’
‘You may well be right, Ferloga,’ Fidelma said. ‘However, there is little we can do now to identify him, unless someone comes in search of him.’
‘I do not know what to do, lady,’ muttered the innkeeper. ‘No one has ever died in my inn.’
Fidelma thought for a moment or two. ‘We will take his belongings
with us to Cashel. Brother Conchobhar is very learned in many of these old customs and symbols. He might be able to tell us more about what they signify and perhaps we can trace where this man came from.’
‘But the body?’ Ferloga still looked unhappy. ‘What am I to do with it?’
‘There is a small chapel beyond the next hill,’ Caol pointed out. ‘Two brothers of the Faith look after it and there is a burial ground nearby. Send someone to bring them hither to take away the body and give it a decent burial. Whatever the man’s beliefs, he deserves that much.’
The old innkeeper’s face grew longer but Fidelma, with a smile, reached in her purse and handed a few coins to Ferloga. She knew what he had been thinking.
‘Tell them it is my wish that they give the deceased a proper burial,’ she said. ‘And you will find there is enough there that you will not be wanting for your fee for his night’s repose.’
‘But I can’t accept that,’ protested the innkeeper, half-heartedly.
‘I am taking the old man’s purse,’ Fidelma cut off his protests, ‘because I believe that the coins may be a means of discovering more about him. I would not have you suffering any loss for this misfortune – and if anyone comes by making enquiries for him, tell them to come to Cashel.’
Ferloga’s hand closed over the coins. ‘A blessing on you, lady.’ He hesitated and then added nervously, ‘Do you think anyone
will
come looking for him?’
‘Why so uneasy?’ asked Fidelma.
Ferloga compressed his lower lip with his top one for a moment. ‘If he is a man of the old religion, his comrades might also be of that belief and custom. We are good Christians here, lady. My grandfather was baptised in the Siúr by the Blessed Ailbe himself.’
Fidelma smiled. ‘There is nothing to worry about, Ferloga.’
‘But if this man were a pagan and knew the ancient arts, the secret arts, and curses …’
Fidelma’s expression grew sharp. ‘We do not have a monopoly on all that is good, Ferloga. The New Faith binds us to have charity towards all and not to fear those who follow different paths.’
She glanced at Caol and, reading the meaning of her expression, Caol picked up the gorget, staff, the satchel and the purse of coins, and then followed her to the lower floor, where Lassar had set out a table with their refreshments on it.
Ferloga went to find the boy who usually helped him with the stables and outside work in order to instruct him to go to the chapel and summon the aid of the religious as Fidelma had advised. Meanwhile, Fidelma and Caol sat down to break their fast with freshly baked bread, honey and mugs of sweet mead. Fidelma took time to reassure Lassar about the situation and then, when Ferloga returned, she asked if he had any news from Cashel. The inns were the one sure way of hearing news and gossip.
‘There is little of consequence that has happened in the last few days, lady,’ he said. ‘Did anything of significance transpire at Lios Mhór? Were there any matters of importance that came before you?’
‘Nothing at all that is worth the breath of a storyteller,’ she observed. It had been a boring week with only petty crimes to speak of, such as a man failing to support his wife and a woman charging rape against a man who turned out to be innocent. Fidelma’s interrogation had discovered that the woman was inspired by vengeance after the man had rejected her. ‘Have there been no other travellers with news who have stayed at your inn?’
‘Only some religious who passed through a few days ago who were lately returned from the kingdom of Dál Riada beyond the seas,’ Ferloga told her.
Fidelma was at once interested for she had once travelled through Dál Riada and stayed at the tiny island of I, called Iona, where Colmcille had built an abbey. It had been nearly five years ago since she had stayed there when travelling to the Synod at Witebia for the great debate between the Irish clerics and those who supported Roman rule.
‘What news did they bring? Does Iona still send missionaries into the Saxon kingdoms?’
‘They did not say. They spoke of warfare among the Cruithin and among the Saxons. But there was peace in Dál Riada. The King, whom they named as Domangart, son of Diomhnall Brecc, has succeeded in consolidating affairs and bringing peace to the country. They say that everyone speaks well of this King.’
‘So Dál Riada prospers?’
‘Yes, but there is some fear and unrest, due to a Saxon King called Wulfhere who rules a kingdom called Mercia, which I understood is situated to the south of Dál Riada. Apparently he is attempting to expand his borders even among the other Saxon kingdoms and beyond. These same travellers brought news that a great abbey of the Britons in Gwynedd has
been burned down in one of his raids into that country. Many of the religious have been killed.’
Fidelma sighed sadly. ‘The Saxons always seem to be fighting, and when it is not with their neighbours, then they fight among themselves,’ she observed. Then she thought of Eadulf and flushed guiltily. Yet, she thought, it was a true comment nonetheless.
‘Oh, and they brought word that the abbot of Iona had died.’
Fidelma eyes widened. ‘Cumméne the Fair?’ she queried.
‘That, indeed, was the name they mentioned, lady. You have a great knowledge of such things,’ Ferloga added, showing a little awe.
Fidelma shrugged indifferently. ‘It is when I travelled through that land that I met the old abbot.’ Cumméne was a respected scholar, the seventh abbot of Colmcille’s foundation, who had written a life of the holy founder. ‘Was the cause of his death a natural one?’
‘They said so, lady, for the abbot was apparently very aged and infirm.’
‘Who replaces him? Did they say?’
‘Failbe of the Cenél Conaill.’
It seemed that Iona was following the custom of many of the Irish abbeys where the abbacy succeeded in the same family, being elected by the
derbfine
, three generations of the family of the first abbot. Failbe, whom she had also met on that trip, was a nephew of another former abbot, Ségene, who was a cousin to Colmcille, founder of the abbey.
‘Failbe will have much to contend with,’ she observed, thinking aloud. ‘Cumméne will be hard to replace, for he was a great thinker and scholar.’
They chatted on for a while over the meal until Fidelma rose unhurriedly and announced that they must continue on to Cashel.
Caol went out to prepare the horses while Fidelma again reassured the innkeeper and his wife that they had no reason to feel responsible about the death of the stranger at their inn. Soon, she and Caol were back on the road out of Ráth na Drínne and trotting along the highway that wound through the woods towards her brother’s fortress.
T
he journey to the fortress of Cashel passed swiftly. As soon as they arrived, Fidelma left Caol to take care of the horses while she made her way to the chambers that she and Eadulf shared. Muirgen, the nurse, had been alerted to her arrival and was already waiting to greet her, holding young Alchú by the hand. Fidelma paused on the threshold, her eyes anxiously on the child. A moment’s examination to ensure that he was well and then she crouched down with her arms held out. Muirgen let go of the boy’s hand and he came stumbling into his mother’s embrace. They clung together, making those strange, inarticulate sounds that only a mother and child can exchange.
Finally, Fidelma glanced up at the old nurse with a smile. ‘Has all been well, Muirgen?’
‘Yes, lady,’ the nurse replied. ‘Brother Eadulf returned yesterday and he is in good spirits.’
‘He has returned already?’ Fidelma was surprised. ‘Where is he?’
‘He is with Bishop Ségdae discussing his findings at Ros Ailithir. Now – shall I prepare a bath or would you prefer refreshments first?’
Fidelma stood up and threw off her badger-fur riding cloak. ‘We halted at Ferloga’s inn to break our fast this morning, so a bath would not come amiss,’ she replied, before turning to her son. ‘Come, my little hound. We’ll sit for a while until Muirgen has prepared my bath. Your mother is dusty after such a long ride this morning.’
As Muirgen headed for the door, it opened suddenly and Eadulf came hurrying in, his face expectant.
‘I heard that—’ He stopped when he saw Fidelma and made straight for her. Wisely, Muirgen left them together, closing the door quietly behind her.
After a while, Eadulf was anxiously plying Fidelma with questions.
Little Alchú had wandered to a corner to play with his toys. Fidelma assured Eadulf that her time at Lios Mhór had been a tedious one with nothing exciting about the charges brought by the plaintiffs. Eadulf told her that his trip to Ros Ailithir had been equally boring, the return journey even more so. Then his eyes fell on the staff that Fidelma had brought with her. He picked it up and examined the curious mountings.
‘This is a strange object for you to be presented with.’
‘I was not presented with it,’ said Fidelma. Briefly, she recounted the events at Ferloga’s inn. ‘I thought that I would show it to old Brother Conchobhar as he knows much about such things. As soon as I have bathed and rested, I’ll go and have a word with him.’
She showed Eadulf the other items that she had brought from Ferloga’s inn.
‘So there is no indication of the old man’s identity among his possessions? ’ asked Eadulf,
Fidelma shook her head. ‘It would be sad for him to be buried without a name, for he must have been someone of consequence to have such belongings.’
‘And the coins,’ added Eadulf, as he inspected them. ‘These coins are valuable. I wonder what manner of man he was?’
‘It is a waste of time to speculate without facts,’ Fidelma admonished, but with a mischievous smile for it was a saying of which she was particularly fond. ‘We’ll wait to hear what old Conchobhar has to say.’
It was late afternoon before Fidelma made her way down to Brother Conchobhar’s apothecary shop, tucked away in the shadow of the chapel within the fortress complex. Eadulf had been summoned back to Bishop Ségdae for further discussions and so she had gone alone.
As she entered the gloomy interior, the musky smell of the dried herbs and potions caused her to halt momentarily and catch her breath. The odours were not unpleasant but merely heavy. At the far end of the shop, bent over a table with pestle and mortar and various bowls and vessels, beneath a hanging oil lamp, was an old man in worn and stained brown robes.
He glanced up and, seeing her there, he rose from his stool, coming forward with a smile and outstretched hands to greet her. Brother Conchobhar had known Fidelma since childhood for he had served her father, the King Failbe Flann, and, indeed, other kings of Cashel before and since. For many it seemed impossible to imagine the great capital of
Muman without the aged figure of Conchobhar, the apothecary, physician and astrologer. He had taught his skills to many, including a young Fidelma who had been anxious to be proficient in as many of the arts as possible.
In spite of their long relationship, Brother Conchobhar was always punctilious in addressing her as ‘lady’, although he had nursed her through childhood ailments, had taught her and advised her. She had only once disagreed with his advice and that had been when he had suggested that she was ill-suited to life as a religieuse at the abbey of Cill Dara. In fact, old Conchobhar knew her character so well that he had disagreed with her entering the religious life at all. That she had left Cill Dara soon after entering it was never mentioned. While she was entitled to be called ‘Sister’, he reminded her that she was the daughter of a king, the sister of a king and of the line of the Eóghanacht. ‘Lady’ was the more respectful form of address in old Conchobhar’s eyes.
‘Is all well, lady?’ he asked now. ‘You and yours are not ailing and need my potions?’
Fidelma smiled pleasantly. ‘Thanks be, no, we stand in no need of cures or restoratives, my old friend. But I do stand in need of your knowledge and advice.’
‘How can I be of service, lady?’ He suddenly realised she was holding a staff in her hand and peered at it.
‘Can you identify this?’ she asked, allowing him to take it and move to the better light provided by his lantern.
He stood turning it over, examining it carefully. ‘I have not seen anything like this since I was a child,’ he observed at last. ‘It is very old and beautiful. Where did you get it?’
‘So you have seen something like it before?’ pressed Fidelma. ‘Tell me about it first.’
Brother Conchobhar shrugged. ‘It is an old staff that symbolised one of the wise teachers of the times before the New Faith was brought to this land.’
‘The Druids?’
Brother Conchobhar nodded absently. ‘The Druids – and that should be a term of respect, for the word “vid” means “knowledge” and the prefix “dru” means “an immersion”. The Druids were considered as people who were immersed in knowledge. There were none wiser nor better informed.’
Fidelma could not hide her impatience. ‘I have heard all about them and, indeed, I have met some who still claim to be so. Yet they are people who cling on to the old beliefs and ideas.’
‘This symbol speaks of a teacher of some importance. Where did you get it?’ he asked again.
Fidelma told him what had happened at Ferloga’s inn.
Brother Conchobhar was thoughtful. ‘Did he carry anything else with him? Anything other than the staff?’
Fidelma reached into the bag she carried and brought out the gorget, its polished crescent shape sparkling with its curious designs and symbols beaten onto the panel. Brother Conchobhar took it and, unexpectedly and uncharacteristically, a soft whistle broke from his lips.
‘I did not think that anything like this would have survived the zeal of those who spread the New Faith in this land. I have seen something similar only once before in my life, and it was on the body of a dead man. They said he was a great teacher, a mystic but withal a pagan. The object was taken from him by a warrior and, at the direction of a priest, was cast into the sea with the body of the man, with many prayers and cries to Christ to protect the pious.’
‘Superstition and fear is no way forward,’ Fidelma said.
‘Any faith is spread by a certain degree of fear, lady,’ the old man replied philosophically. ‘Faith is not logic otherwise it would not be Faith. In those times it came down to those whose magic was the more powerful. That is why the stories of the miracles had to be told so that people would know what power the early fathers of the Faith had over their pagan enemies. Hence the Blessed Patrick could walk into fires or the Blessed Ailbe could restore to life the son of Mac Dara after he had drowned in the river. Look how it is told that Patrick smashed the skull of the Druid Lochru on a rock, using, as we are told, his magical powers to do so. This was to demonstrate that his magic was more powerful than their magic. In fear, they turned to the Faith that he brought as being more advantageous to their well-being. This fear spreads the Faith.’
Fidelma was slightly disapproving of the argument but she knew the stories well enough. For herself, she did not believe in miracles of any sort.
‘So this is a symbol of the old beliefs?’ she said quickly as she saw the old man about to extend his argument.
‘It may well be the only surviving symbol of a great Druid.’ Brother Conchobhar nodded slowly.
‘You think the old man who died in Ferloga’s inn was such an important member of the Old Faith?’
‘It is impossible to say with certainty, but it is rare to come upon such
accoutrements. Do you know anything else about him? Was it known where he came from or where he was going?’
‘Apparently, he was from the north. He asked Ferloga the innkeeper, what road he should take for Cnánmhchailli. But there are no dwellings around there. It is an empty and desolate place.’
Brother Conchobhar’s eyes had widened. ‘Except for the ancient pillar stone,’ he pointed out.
‘So Ferloga said,’ Fidelma grimaced. ‘Why go to an old, decaying pillar stone? I have passed it a hundred times. It is of no significance.’
‘To you, perhaps. But if this man were truly one of those who clung to the pagan ways, then it might make sense that he would be going there.’
‘How so?’
Brother Conchobhar leaned forward, confidentially. ‘Have you heard of the legends of Mug Ruith?’
‘The sun god of the pagans?’
‘Yes. He became known as
mac seanfhesa,
the son of ancient wisdom, chief of all the Druids in the five kingdoms. He rode a great chariot, which at night shone as bright as daylight. In the days before the Blessed Ailbe of Imleach brought the teachings of Christ to this corner of the world, it was said that the pillar stone was a fragment of the wheel of Mug Ruith’s great chariot that had become petrified.’
When Fidelma smiled cynically, Brother Conchobhar told her: ‘It is not wise to dismiss other beliefs without understanding them. Among those who cling to the Old Faith it is said that Mug Ruith is their great champion against Christianity and that his Roth Fáil, his wheel of light, will one day be an engine of destruction that will sweep the teachings of Christ out of the five kingdoms; that we will once again encompass the old way. I believe that many of the Old Faith still search in the hope of finding the Roth Fáil.’
‘An old pillar stone is hardly the Roth Fáil.’ Fidelma was dismissive.
‘The Druids spoke in symbols. Who knows what they meant? Tell me, did this man carry anything else with him?’
Fidelma brought forth the bag of coins. ‘He carried these.’
Brother Conchobhar emptied the coins on his table and peered at them. ‘Roman coins?’ he asked.
‘Look closer. They are ancient coins of the type the Britons and Gauls used to cast before the coming of the Romans, centuries before the birth of Christ. I have seen them before in my journeys. And here are also some
marked with the name of Tasciovanus, who ruled in Britain two generations before the Romans invaded. Do you see the letters CAM on this gold stater? That signified his capital of Camulodunum. Not one of these coins is later than the time that Rome moved into these territories. They are the most ancient coins of our western world.’
‘Why would this old man be carrying such coins with him?’ frowned the apothecary as he sifted through the coins. ‘This is proof of wealth indeed.’
‘I was hoping that you would have some arcane knowledge that might explain it,’ Fidelma told him.
‘Alas, lady, I have not.’
‘Well, I will leave these items with you, my friend, in case you can discover anything else. If the old man was one of those ancient ones, a man who does not recognise the New Faith, it would be interesting to know what he intended. Do you really think he was searching for the Roth Fáil?’
Brother Conchobhar glanced at her with a worried expression. ‘Perhaps. And there might be something else.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I have heard that there is a new and growing activity from those who adhere to the Old Faith.’
‘Growing activity?’ Fidelma was surprised. ‘I haven’t heard this.’ Brother Conchobhar inclined his head seriously. ‘Some travellers from Inis Celtra in the Red Lake told me that they had heard stories.’
‘That is the school which the Blessed Caiman set up. I well remember him from when I was a child. A kindly old man who died when I was away at Brehon Moran’s school.’
‘Indeed. The travellers from Inis Celtra said that they had been hearing stories from some of the remoter regions of Connacht that Christian pilgrims have been attacked by bands who proclaim themselves to be of the Old Faith and who carry a totem with a wolf’s head affixed to it.’
‘A wolf’s head?’
‘Yes. In the old days, among Corco Baiscinn, the people who dwell near the Red Lake, there was a band of those who followed the old religion and they called themselves the Fellowship of the Wolf.’