Master of Souls by Peter Tremayne Read Free Book Online Page B

cannot say that I approve of this, as I have come to support those who argue for celibacy among the religious.’ He paused and shrugged. ‘However, I have served as abbot here for ten years while Abbess Faife had been seven years as head of the female religieuse. Each year for seven years she has taken groups from the community on the annual pilgrimage to Bréanainn’s mount, where our blessed founder was
called to set forth and establish communities to glorify Christ and the New Faith.’
    He paused but no one commented.
    ‘Well, Abbess Faife departed from our gates with her charges. She travelled overland, south to the abbey of Colman for there was some business to be enacted there between our two abbeys. After that she was to proceed through the territory of the Corco Duibhne to where Bréanainn’s mount rises.’
    He paused but there was silence again and so he continued.
    ‘The first time I knew that anything was amiss was when the merchant Mugrón appeared at this abbey. Mugrón carries on his trade from our nearest sea harbour, An Bhearbha, which is on the coast some eight kilometres from here.’
    ‘An Bhearbha? A curious name for a port, surely? Doesn’t it mean a place where the water boils?’ asked Eadulf, anxious to improve his knowledge.
    ‘It is named after a river which enters the sea at that point,’ explained the abbot. ‘The river is turbulent and its currents are unpredictable. Mugrón had been dealing among the Corco Duibhne. Due to the inclement weather that prevented him sailing back across the bay, he was returning along the coastal road to the abbey of Colman. It was cold and the snow was starting to drive thickly along the road. Mugrón knew the area and knew there was a small stone cabin by the roadside, and he decided to seek shelter there. That was where he found the body of Abbess Faife. She had been stabbed through the heart. He decided to bury the body in a snowdrift as a means of preserving it and then come here with all speed.’
    Fidelma asked: ‘What did you do on receipt of the news?’
    ‘As chance would have it, Conrí, who is the Abbess Faife’s nephew, was at the abbey. He and his warriors elected to take Mugrón back to the place to recover the body. It was still cold and the snow had preserved … er, preserved things. But there was no sign of the missing six religieuse. Conrí and his men returned via Colmán’s abbey in order to find out if Abbess Faife and her charges had passed that way before they reached the place where she was discovered.’ ‘And they had?’
    Conrí intervened. ‘As I told you, lady, all was normal until after they left the abbey of Colman. The Abbess Faife and her six charges had conducted their business there and passed on their way.’

    ‘And where is this stone cabin where her body was found in relation to the abbey?’
    ‘As one leaves the abbey and travels on to the peninsula of the land of the Corco Duibhne, along the road that runs south of the mountains by the shore, I would estimate that it was no more than twenty kilometres.’
    Eadulf was frowning. ‘Isn’t that close by a place called the Island where once Uaman, who called himself Lord of the Passes, had his stronghold?’
    Abbot Erc’s eyes narrowed. ‘Do you know of that place?’
    ‘I was once a prisoner of Uaman the Leper. I saw him die and I was not sorry to see his end.’
    ‘You are right, Brother Eadulf,’ affirmed Conrí. ‘The blackened ruins of his stronghold, Uaman’s Tower, stand almost within sight of the place where the abbess’s body was found. They say that the local people destroyed it - the tower, that is.’
    Eadulf’s lips thinned with grim satisfaction.
    ‘I can vouch for that destruction. I saw the people do it after Uaman was drowned, caught by the quicksand that made the journey to his island fortress at low tide so hazardous.’
    ‘People did suffer grievously through his actions,’ agreed Abbot Erc quietly. ‘Uaman’s bands extracted