Eadulf shivered, for he had been raised with the gods and goddesses of his own people before converting to the New Faith.

  ‘It seems then that you are able to dictate to the gods what they should do with us,’ returned Fidelma dryly, not daunted by his solemn recital of the legends she knew well. ‘But so far, you have told us nothing more than what we knew already. We know that you and the so-called Fellowship of the Raven are just a group of fanatics trying to live in the past with the Old Gods.’

  A muscle in Failge’s cheek twitched.

  ‘We know the story,’ went on Fidelma, outwardly oblivious to his anger. ‘The hill which is now Cill Cainnech was where those last members of the Old Religion retreated a hundred years ago. I presume many of them fled from the north and brought the Golden Stone with them. It came from Clochar, the Place of the Stone. I am told that it was regarded as a sacred stone through which the gods and goddesses spoke to the servers of the Old Faith.’

  Brother Failge bent his head forward in unwilling agreement.

  ‘It was hidden in the hill,’ he said softly. ‘That was before Cainnech and his Christian marauders attacked and slaughtered most of our people. A secret chamber had been made in the hill and the entrance was disguised. It was symbolic because the Christians were driving all our old deities into the hills, the sidh, and when they could not entirely eradicate our beliefs the Christians pretended that the old gods and goddesses were sprites, elves, goblins and fairy creatures in order to denigrate them. We, who remained loyal, knew the truth, and we waited for our time to come again.’

  Failge wore the gloating expression of a fanatic. ‘And now our time has come! We are emerging throughout the Five Kingdoms. Sechnussach the High King was the first to feel our wrath. Oh yes, I have heard how you and Eadulf overcame our followers on Hag’s Hill and discovered the truth of Sechnussach’s assassination. Therefore it is just that you have both fallen into our hands.’

  ‘It is certainly interesting that we have found more of you fanatics here,’ Fidelma agreed calmly. ‘But because you have nearly managed to get away with disrupting the Five Kingdoms once, it does not mean you will do so again, nor that you will be able to persuade the people to rise up with you.’

  Failge was unruffled. ‘I am sure that you have heard the news from the north these last six months? The revenge of Badh has started.’

  ‘Ah, Badh the Raven Goddess,’ Eadulf sighed, following Fidelma’s unconcerned attitude. ‘And what innocent souls has her vengeance claimed?’

  ‘Innocent?’ Failge repeated angrily. ‘You must have heard that Ard Macha was burned, and Beannhoir and even the Abbey of Telle on the edge of the High King’s own territory.’

  Certainly Fidelma had heard of what had been thought to be local unrest during the previous months, with attacks on the great abbeys to the north.

  ‘So your Fellowship of the Raven is a northern group?’

  ‘Northern? Of course not! It is found in all the Five Kingdoms. When the Golden Stone is raised as our battle emblem to drive the New Faith from this land, we will be joined by all the clans in all the kingdoms.’

  ‘Ah yes, the Cloch Ór, the Golden Stone. You have successfully moved it from under the abbey?’

  ‘You are intelligent, Fidelma of Cashel.’ Failge grinned appreciatively. ‘Yes, indeed. We have moved it, ready to take it on its journey to rally our followers before we march on the High King Cenn Faelad and replace him with his cousin Niall, son of Cernach.’

  ‘Niall?’ Fidelma frowned. ‘The grandson of the High King Diarmait, who died of the Yellow Plague? But he is a mere boy. He is scarcely at the age of choice.’

  ‘A figurehead is all we require – not someone who can think for himself.’

  ‘Like the inanimate stone that you worship?’ Eadulf was fed up with the sneering face of the man.

  The former steward turned and suddenly struck Eadulf across the face, causing him to stagger a little from the unexpectedness of the blow.

  ‘You mock what is sacred, Saxon!’ snarled Failge. ‘Well, soon you will be sorry. Badh does not take sacrilege lightly.’

  Eadulf recovered and smiled. Through the blood on his lips, he said, ‘What is she waiting for, then? I would have thought a Goddess of Vengeance would be as quick to temper as you have been, Failge. Or is it that she is powerless to strike without someone like you having to do it for her?’

  Failge took another step forward, raising his hand, but Fidelma moved into his path.

  ‘Before you proceed with your vengeance, let me just get one more thing clear and then we can all depart to the Otherworld with a good conscience.’

  Failge hesitated and then shrugged, lowering his arm. ‘What more is there that you want to know?’

  ‘You say that the Golden Stone was taken from Cill Cainnech. I assume you removed it from the secret chamber and that it is now here?’

  ‘Yes, lady, you have guessed correctly. It was brought here and is ready to be transported north to join our people.’

  ‘Was it to be transported by Ultan and Ultana?’

  For a moment Failge stared wide-eyed at her and then he roared with laughter.

  ‘Now you ruin your reputation, lady. It was because of the arrival of that couple that we had to move it before we were ready.’

  ‘So who were they?’

  ‘Truly,’ Failge was still trying to control his mirth, ‘I have no idea who they were. I suspect that they were sent to find out the whereabouts of the Golden Stone.’

  ‘So what happened to them?’

  ‘Abbot Saran discovered them in the chapel, as I have told you, and was about to raise the alarm. That would not have been good for our plans. Unbeknownst to him, I had actually followed the Abbot to the chapel, and it was I who knocked him unconscious. I told the young man, Ultan, that it was the Abbot who was the keeper of the sacred stone and that he would never allow them to escape the abbey. I said that I was a friend and urged them to leave at once. I told him to take the girl and his wagon and head west to Tulach Ruán, where they would find supporters. I would follow them, and explain everything.’

  ‘This they did?’ asked Fidelma thoughtfully.

  ‘Yes. After they left, I used a cord to nearly strangle the Abbot. I did not mean to kill him, merely to injure him enough so that he would be out of action for a while. Leaving him in the chapel, I then told one of the guards at the stables that the Abbot was missing and that a search should be made, knowing that he would soon be found. I also said that I was taking a horse to look for the couple who I had seen fleeing the abbey. Being on horseback, I easily overtook the ox-wagon before they reached Tulach Ruán, and guided them here.’

  ‘So when Abbot Saran recovered, he thought it was Ultan and Ultana who had attacked him in the chapel?’

  ‘Yes. And Ultan and Ultana were received here by the leader of our Fellowship…’ went on Failge.

  Eadulf said heavily, ‘I’d like to meet him.’

  Failge grinned mockingly. ‘You have already met him.’

  ‘In the dark, with a blindfold over my eyes – and when it was lifted, a light was shone into my face, so that I could see nothing,’ returned Eadulf.

  ‘Never mind,’ replied Failge. ‘He might allow you to see him again before … Ah well, to return to the young couple. Hospitality had been offered them. We did our best to discover exactly who they were and where they came from. What we learned was that they were working for the New Faith and would be a threat to our plans.’

  Fidelma sighed. ‘So how did they meet their deaths? I presume you forced them to drink hemlock?’

  ‘Forced? No, not forced; they drank it of their own accord, although I confess it was administered by stealth and they did not know what they were drinking. They thought they were among friends.’

  ‘So you did poison them?’

  ‘That sounds so dramatic, but essentially, it is true. We offered them hospitality for the night, believing that they would never wake in the morning. At that point, Dulach and Cellaig were supposed to take the bodies to the Raven House.’

  ‘The what?’

  ‘We are the Fellowship of the Ravens,’ smiled Failge, ‘the raven being the potent icon of our Goddess Badh. We have built a special caged house here in her honour, where we make offerings to her. They are voracious scavengers, these birds of ill-omen. We have to provide them with small mammals, reptiles – even eggs – and they will also devour corpses. I have known them to attack anything with fresh blood on it.’ He glanced at Ríonach, who was cowering behind Eadulf, her terrier still in her arms. ‘That little dog you hold will make a tender morsel for them.’

  The girl suppressed a scream and clung fiercely to the animal, which seemed to know it was in some danger for it began to whine softly.

  Eadulf laid a hand on her arm. ‘Don’t worry, Ríonach. He won’t be carrying out that threat.’

  ‘You are mistaken, Saxon, if you think I will not do so,’ replied the former steward.

  ‘You planned to take the bodies of the man and girl to be consumed in this Raven House, as you call it,’ Fidelma intervened hurriedly to distract him.

  ‘That was the idea,’ agreed Failge, almost reflectively as if he was trying to understand what had gone wrong. ‘Unfortunately, I left the task in the hands of Duach and Cellaig, who imbibed too much that night. When they awoke, not only had the two fled, but they had taken their wagon.’

  ‘That must have been a nasty moment for you and your leader,’ commented Eadulf with grim humour.

  ‘Cellaig and Duach set off on fast horses but lost their trail.’

  ‘They are not too good at tracking people, are they?’ Eadulf said, with a glance at the two men, who still stood with their crossbows cocked and ready to fire. ‘They soon lost our trail when they tried to chase Ríonach and me.’

  ‘Listen here, Saxon…’ began Cellaig angrily but Failge waved him to silence.

  ‘And that was the last you saw or heard of them – of Ultan and Ultana?’ Fidelma asked.

  ‘Until you turned up and reported the good news that they had both died of the poison and had been unable to report the whereabouts of the Golden Stone.’

  ‘The girl tried,’ Fidelma told him. ‘She had written it in Ogham but I did not understand it until now. She was dying and not able to concentrate. She wrote “the Golden Stone at the graveyard of…”’ Her eyes suddenly lit up. ‘Of course! It was not a graveyard at all. She put down tamhlacht when she meant to write tulach. The Hill of Ruán. The words sound similar and she made a slip of the pen. The Golden Stone was at the Hill of Ruán.’

  ‘So near, eh?’ Failge replied with a careless smile. ‘Well, it shows that Badh is with us and guides us with her hand.’

  ‘It shows that the hemlock was with you,’ Eadulf snapped. ‘It took that poor girl more than three days to die.’

  ‘It does not matter.’ Failge was complacent. ‘It was frustrating not to have known where she and her companion had disappeared to. My men did search the marshes. We put the word out for our people to be on the lookout for them. Baodain’s Players were passing on their way to the Great Fair, so when they stopped in Cill Cainnech I ensured the word was passed among the travellers.’

  Eadulf was startled. ‘So Baodain and his group played a part, after all?’

  Cellaig, who had been silently waiting with his crossbow, suddenly stirred and said, ‘I grow weary. Enough of these speeches and explanations, Failge. Let us get rid of them. There are more important matters to attend to.’

  ‘Indeed,’ Failge agreed. ‘We have talked far too long.’

  ‘But surely your leader, your mysterious lord, will want to say his farewells to us first?’ Fidelma said.

  ‘Yes – where is your lord, Ruán of Tulach Ruán?’ demanded Eadulf. ‘I think it is high time that he received us.’

  Brother Failge stared at him for a moment and then started to chuckle. Cellaig and Duach too grinned at one another.

  ‘I suppose we should take you to him. He will be probably pleased to see you.’ Catching sight of Eadulf looking at the still closed metal door, Failge added, ‘Don’t worry; your companions are safe for the time being. They shall join you in the Otherworld soon enough, so you will have company when Donn comes to collect your souls.’

  They were taken through a stone corridor to a stairway in the building. The steps led down to another iron door. With Failge leading the way, they were followed by the two men menacing them with their crossbows. Failge opened the door with a flourish and motioned them all inside.

  There was a lantern hanging centrally in the underground room. Directly beneath it was a chair on which an elderly man sat slumped. His white hair was bedraggled, his face was bloody, bruised and swollen. He was bent forward, his shoulders moving as he breathed rapidly. Only the fact that he was tied to the chair prevented him from falling to the floor. He stirred fearfully as they entered.

  ‘Have you come…’ he mumbled, blinking as he tried to focus. ‘Have you come to torture me again?’

  Failge chuckled. ‘Torture you? Indeed not. We have brought you some companions who will now share your journey to Tech Duinn, to the House of Death.’

  ‘Cut me free but a moment and I will take you to Tech Duinn as my companion, Failge.’

  ‘That you never will,’ answered Failge gently. ‘There is no place in this world for pious people like you. You have outlasted your usefulness anyway.’ He turned to Fidelma and saw that she and Eadulf were staring at him with incomprehension. He laughed and waved his hand in a grandiose fashion at the constrained old man. ‘Allow me to present Ruán, Brehon to the late, unlamented Coileach, Lord of the Marshes.’

  Eadulf was shocked. ‘So Ruán is not…?’

  ‘The Lord of the Fellowship of the Raven?’ smirked Failge. ‘Now whatever gave you that idea?’

  ‘I know from your voice that you are not the one,’ replied Eadulf angrily. ‘So when are we to be graced with his presence?’

  ‘Right now, I believe,’ Fidelma answered grimly. ‘Come in, Feradach.’

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Framed in the cellar door was the commander of the Osraige warriors.

  ‘I warned you, my lord,’ Failge said to the newcomer before turning back to his captives. ‘I warned you that this woman was very clever. We should have dealt with her immediately instead of wasting all this time. However, as the pompous Abbot Saran would have said – praestat sero quam nunquam … better late than never.’

  Fidelma did not seem perturbed. ‘Poor Abbot Saran. I presume he suspected nothing of your involvement, nor your plans?’

  ‘Abbot Saran is a self-important fool. He thinks only of making money from trade to build up the riches of the abbey, not knowing that beneath it lay a symbol through which he could have ruled the Five Kingdoms if he had wanted.’

  ‘It was just a stone,’ Eadulf pointed out.

  ‘Just a stone?’ Failge’s voice rose slightly. ‘It is much more than that. It is a powerful symbol of faith, an icon that will scatter the enemies of the Old Religion and cause a rebirth, a new dawn. But first Badh will have her vengeance on those who would seek to destroy her.’

  ‘Well, we have a better quotation for you to learn by, Failge, rather than the one you have just quoted,’ Fidelma said quietly. ‘Praemonitus praemunitus.’

  A look of uncertainty came over Failge’s features.

  Duach gave him a nervous glance. ‘I don’t understand all this foreign business. What did she say?’

  ‘I said, forewarned, forearmed,’ Fidelma translated.

  As she spoke, Feradach suddenly came sprawling into the room and fell on the stone flags of the floor. At the same time Duach gave a yelp as his crossbow splintered and fell from his bloody hands.

  ‘Drop it or I shall run you through,’ came Enda’s voice. Cellaig stood in indecision for a moment with the tip of Enda’s sword at his throat, pricking a tiny speck of blood from it. He then dropped his crossbow on the ground and held his hands away from his sides. His companion was now cradling his broken wrist, moaning and cursing, as Aidan also came into the room behind his companion.

  ‘I would not try anything stupid, Failge,’ advised Fidelma in a cold tone.

  However, the former steward seemed incapable of movement, shocked to the core by the unexpected reversal of fortune.

  Feradach was groaning and trying to get up from the floor.

  ‘Lie still, Feradach, if you want to live, or you will die at our feet where you fell!’ Aidan ordered. ‘I am in no mood to be lenient with you after what you had planned for us.’

  Feradach still tried to move but the tip of Aidan’s sword was at the back of his neck and he stopped. Meanwhile Aidan had also drawn his dagger and menaced the wounded Duach with it while keeping his sword on Feradach’s recumbent form.

  ‘Eadulf, take the weapons from those two.’ Fidelma indicated Duach and Cellaig. ‘Ríonach, if you will put your dog down for a moment and cut Brehon Ruán’s bonds, it would help.’

  It was neatly done in a matter of moments, and then Fidelma instructed Eadulf to use the bonds that had tied the old man to bind the hands of Duach and Cellaig, adding that he need not bind their feet together as they were all going back to the main hall.

  ‘When can I get up?’ groaned Feradach from the floor.

  ‘Once Eadulf has secured your hands behind you.’

  ‘How did you know?’ was the man’s next question.

  ‘How did I know that you were the mysterious lord and leader of this group of fanatics? Easy enough,’ replied Fidelma. ‘Eadulf thought he recognised your voice though he could not definitely swear to it. The smith made a slip and addressed you as “lord”, an odd title for a cenn-feadh, a commander of a hundred warriors of a township guard.’

  Aidan was puzzled about how she had been able to forewarn him about Feradach. ‘But, lady, it was Feradach who showed us to the underground chamber. How could you come to suspect him after that?’