Act of Mercy (17 page)

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Authors: Peter Tremayne

Tags: #_NB_Fixed, #_rt_yes, #blt, #Clerical Sleuth, #Fiction, #Historical, #Mystery, #Medieval Ireland

BOOK: Act of Mercy
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‘I remember when she first tried to dominate our company of travellers on the basis that her father had been chieftain of the Dál Fiatach. He was nothing to boast about – an evil rascal out for power and self-aggrandisement. Sister Muirgel was the daughter of her father.’
‘With your views, surely that would make you hesitate before joining Sister Canair’s group?’
‘I did not know that Sister Muirgel was part of the group until we
set out. I decided that I could avoid her immediate company on the journey.’
‘Did you know her personally, or only by the fact that she was the daughter of a chieftain whom you disliked?’
‘I knew her from the stories that circulated within our abbey.’
‘What stories?’ Fidelma was curious.
‘Of her promiscuity, of her unchaste relations with other Brothers. Of the way she used people for her own ends, and the fact that she was the opposite to a truly religious person.’
‘That is a harsh judgement of a Sister,’ observed Fidelma.
‘One greater than I will be her judge. “Look eagerly for the coming of the Day of Judgement and work to hasten it on; that day will set the heavens ablaze until they fall apart, and will melt the elements in flames. But we have His promise, and look forward to new heavens and a new earth which is the home of justice”.’
Fidelma was not impressed with his quotation from the Holy Book and ignored it.
‘How is it that such stories came to circulate in your Abbey of Bangor when Muirgel was a religieuse at Moville?’
‘There was plenty of intercourse between our two communities. Our Abbot often had cause to send to his Brother the Abbot of Moville. Once he had to inform him that he had heard such tales and that he must not let his community descend into a sink of iniquity.’
‘How did the Abbot of Moville respond?’
‘He did not.’
‘Perhaps he thought that it was not the place of the Abbot of Bangor to tell him how to lead his community?’ Fidelma smiled without humour. ‘Anyway, you formed a harsh judgement of Sister Muirgel.
Brother Tola nodded and intoned:
‘A prostitute is a deep pit,
A loose woman, a narrow well;
She lies in wait like a robber …’
Fidelma interrupted him sharply.
‘Apart from the fact that I seem to recall that Christ said harlots would enter heaven before some religious leaders, are you now saying that Sister Muirgel was a
harlot
?’
Tola merely continued his quotation from the Book of Proverbs.
‘I glanced out of the window of my house,
I looked down through the lattice, and I saw among simple
youths,
There amongst the boys I noticed
A lad, a foolish lad,
Passing along the street, at the corner,
Creeping out in the direction of her house
At twilight, as the day faded,
At dusk as the night grew dark;
Suddenly a woman came to meet him,
Dressed like a prostitute, full of wiles,
Flighty and inconstant,
A woman never content to stay at home,
Lying in wait at every corner,
Now in the street, now in the public squares.
She caught hold of him and kissed him;
Brazenly she accosted him and said,
“I have had a sacrifice, an offering to make, and I have paid my
vows today” …’
Fidelma held up a hand to quell his sonorous recital and finally had to cut in sharply.
‘I think I can also recall the words of Proverbs, seven. What are you saying by reciting that passage? You disapproved of Sister Muirgel because she had relationships with men, or that she was selling her body to whoever paid? Let us be precise about it. What is your definition of a harlot?’
‘You are the lawyer, you may interpret as you please. All I say is let the simple fools follow her like oxen on their way to the slaughterhouse.’
She had heard the same narrow views preached before by several religieux who argued for the reform of the Irish Church in favour of the concepts of Rome. She decided to clarify his attitude.
‘Tell me, Brother Tola, are you one of those who believe that the religieux should be celibate? I have often heard the argument at Rome.’
‘Does not Matthew say that our Lord Christ ordained celibacy for His followers?’
It was a favourite argument of those who wished all religieux to take an oath of celibacy. Fidelma had heard it many times and had no problem about the answer.
‘When the disciple asked Christ whether it was better not to marry, He replied that celibacy was not something everyone could accept; it
was only meant for those for whom God had appointed celibacy. His words were that while some are incapable of marriage because they were born so, or were made so by men, there were, indeed, others who had themselves renounced marriage for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. He left it as the choice of the individual. Let those accept it who can. So far the churches of Christ have adhered to that free choice …’
Tola’s features expressed irritation. He obviously did not like being out-quoted from the Scriptures.
‘I accept the teachings of Paul on this matter. Celibacy is the ideal of a Christian victory over the evil of the world and must become the main basis of religious life.’
‘There is a lobby in Rome who believe in this celibacy,’ agreed Fidelma, her tone indicating that she did not think much of the argument. ‘But if Rome accepts it as a dogma of the Faith, they say that the Faith stands against that which God created. Had God wanted us to be celibate, he would have made us so. However, instead of theology, I would prefer to return to the matter in hand. You clearly did not like Sister Muirgel.’
‘I make no effort to disguise it.’
‘Very well. Apart from her being, in your eyes, prone to indiscriminate sexual liaisons, I am at a loss to understand the depth of your dislike.’
‘She seduced and perverted young men.’
‘Can you give me an example?’
‘Brother Guss, for example.’
‘So you knew that Brother Guss claims to have been in love with Sister Muirgel?’
‘She ensnared him with her wiles, as I have been trying to tell you.’
‘A harsh thing to say. Had Brother Guss no free will?’
‘I warned the boy,’ went on Brother Tola. He screwed up his eyes as he sought to recite another passage from memory.
‘ … My son, listen to me,
Attend to what I say.
Do not let your heart entice you into her ways,
Do not stray down her paths;
Many has she pierced and laid low,
And her victims are without number.
Her house is the entrance to Sheol,
Which leads down to the halls of death.’
‘You seem attracted by Proverbs, seven,’ remarked Fidelma mockingly. ‘Do you often quote it?’
‘I did my best to warn poor Brother Guss.’ Tola ignored her tone. ‘I praise the Hand of God which swept the harlot overboard.’
Fidelma did not say anything for a moment or two. It had become clear to her that Brother Tola was a man of strong religious conviction, to the point of extreme intolerance. She had known men to kill for religious intolerance before.
‘When did you learn that Sister Muirgel had been swept overboard?’ Fidelma queried.
‘At the same time that everyone else did,’ he replied. ‘This morning.’
‘When did you last see Sister Muirgel?’
‘When we came aboard. I think she was ill almost from the time we rowed out to the ship. No, that is not so. She was all right until after we came aboard. In the absence of Sister Canair, another one who was loose with her sexual favours, Muirgel took charge and allocated the cabins. We all went to these cabins and most of us remained below until after we had set sail. I never saw her afterwards and word came she was suffering from the motion sickness. Perhaps that was a warning of God’s punishment to come.’
‘Did you sleep during the storm?’
‘Last night? How would one sleep? It was not the best of experiences. I did manage to get some sleep after a while, though. A sleep of exhaustion.’
‘I presume Brother Guss was also disturbed?’
‘I suppose he was. But you can ask him.’
‘Were you awake when he left the cabin?’
Brother Tola frowned as he reflected on her question.
‘Did
he leave the cabin?’ he countered.
‘So he says.’
‘Then it must be so. Ah, now I recall, he went out. But not for long.’
‘Do you know where he went?’
‘I presume he went to the privy. Where else would one vanish to on board this ship?’
Fidelma stared at him for a moment, knowing full well that Brother Tola must be aware that Guss had gone to see Sister Muirgel before midnight. Was Tola simply trying to protect Guss, or was there some other reason why he should attempt to cover up for the young man?
Inwardly she sighed, for she knew that she was not going to get anything further out of Brother Tola. She rose carefully to her feet.
‘One point I would like clarification on,’ she said. ‘You obviously have strong feelings on female religieuses who fall in love or have affairs. Harlots and prostitutes, I hear you call them. I have heard no condemnation of any male religieux who often seduce these same young women. Do you not consider your judgement flawed?’
Brother Tola was in no way abashed.
‘Was it not a woman who first succumbed to temptation, eating of the forbidden fruit and seducing man, for which we were all driven from the Garden of Eden? Women are responsible for all our suffering. Remember what Paul wrote to the Corinthians – “I am jealous for you, with a divine jealousy; for I betrothed you to Christ, thinking to present you as a chaste virgin to her true and only husband. But as the serpent in his cunning seduced Eve, I am afraid that your thoughts may be corrupted and you may lose your single-hearted devotion to Christ”.’
‘I know the passage,’ replied Fidelma. ‘But as the serpent in
his
cunning seduced Eve, it seems that the sex of the serpent was male. I will leave you to your contemplations then, Brother Tola. I thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. You have been most helpful.’
Brother Tola’s eyes narrowed in suspicion as Fidelma deliberately added her last sentence. She had some uncanny feeling that the last thing Brother Tola wanted to be was helpful in the matter of Sister Muirgel’s disappearance.
She was turning away from him when a further cry from the masthead above caused her to look up.
There it was, the mysterious vessel, clearly visible now! She had been so engrossed with Brother Tola that she had not noticed how close it had approached.
In the afternoon sunlight she could make out several details on the approaching ship: the low, square sail with some design on it, like a lightning flash; a bank of oars that rose and fell rhythmically; and the sun sparkling on objects on the side of the vessel that was turned towards her.
She hurried back to Murchad who was observing the vessel with a grim face.
‘I’d get yourself and the pilgrim below decks, lady,’ he greeted her as she came up.
‘What is it?’
‘A Saxon, by the cut of her. See the lightning flash design on her mainsail?’
Fidelma nodded briefly.
‘Pagans, no doubt,’ continued Murchad. ‘That’s the symbol of their god of thunder, Thunor.’
‘Do they mean us harm?’ Fidelma asked.
‘They mean us no good,’ replied Murchad grimly. ‘See the bank of shields above the oars, and the sun glinting on their weapons? I believe that they mean to take us as a prize and those they don’t kill will be sold as slaves.’
Fidelma felt her mouth suddenly go dry.
She knew that some of the Saxon kingdoms were still pagan in spite of the efforts of missionaries both from the Five Kingdoms of Éireann and from Rome. The South Saxons particularly were clinging to their ancient gods and goddesses even against missionaries from their fellow Saxons of the Eastern and Northern kingdoms. She swallowed hard in an attempt to dispel the sandy texture of her mouth.
‘Go below, lady,’ Murchad insisted again. ‘You’ll be safer there if they board us.’
‘I’ll stay and watch,’ she replied firmly. She could think of nothing worse than being in darkness below and not knowing what was taking place.
Murchad was about to protest but he saw the resolution around her mouth, the slightly jutting jaw.
‘Very well, but stay out of harm’s way and if that ship closes on us, get below without me telling you again. When they first attack, the bloodlust obscures their vision. Man or woman, it is all the same.’
He turned to Gurvan, without wasting his time in further pleading, and glanced up at the sail.
‘We’ll hold our course until I say.’
Gurvan acknowledged this with only a slight forward jerk of his head.
Fidelma backed to the far corner of the stern deck and watched the unfolding drama.
‘Deck there!’ came the cry from the masthead. ‘She’s beginning to close.’

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