Atonement of Blood(27)

‘What I want to know is about your passenger,’ cut in Fidelma, holding up her hand to stem his outpouring.

The pudgy-faced man scowled. ‘Is she making a complaint about me? I swear I gave her a lift for charity’s sake. She was full of bile, that one. She even threatened me with a knife. I was well rid of her when I made her get down on the edge of town. I cursed the goodness in me that prompted me to give her passage on my wagon.’

‘I want to know where you found her,’ Fidelma said.

The merchant raised his arms in a helpless gesture. ‘Found her? More like she found me and thought I was a generous soul whom she could beguile …’

‘Where did you meet her and when?’ It was Eadulf who snapped the question.

Once more Ordan blinked. ‘It was at the Ford of the Ass, on the River Suir, Brother.’

Fidelma nodded at the confirmation of their deduction. ‘So that would have been around midnight or just afterwards?’

‘It would, lady,’ confirmed Ordan.

‘Why were you so late abroad? Is it not dangerous for a merchant to travel alone at night?’

‘I had to meet a fellow merchant from the honey fields.’

‘Where had you been?’

‘I had been with my very good friend, your cousin Congal, the Prince of Iar Muman, the Prince of the Eóganacht of Locha Léin.’

Fidelma stared for a moment at the merchant. ‘And what would you be doing at the fortress of Congal?’

‘I was buying badger and fox fur and trading honey from the honey fields and hence …’

Once more Fidelma cut in. ‘It is several days’ journey from the territory of Locha Léin to the River Suir. You would have passed through the territory of the Uí Fidgente or, indeed, the Luachra?’

‘I would.’

‘You did not find that dangerous?’ asked Eadulf.

‘I have no fear of either the Uí Fidgente or Luachra, Brother Eadulf. I know the country well. There is peace between our people now so I often trade among them.’

‘And you did not meet this girl until you came to the River Suir?’

‘That is as I said. The heaviness of my eyes was pressing me to stop but I would be a poor merchant if I did not reach here in time to conclude a good bargain with the smith from Magh Méine. So I had pressed on even though night was upon me.’

‘So you came to the Ford of the Ass. What then?’

‘I saw the girl sheltering by a tree and stopped.’

Eadulf smiled cynically. ‘I thought you said that the girl stopped you?’

The merchant was unabashed, ‘Ah, so it was, Brother. So it was. She asked me to take her as far as Cashel. Out of my generosity, I did so.’

‘Did she tell you what she was doing, camping out by a tree at midnight?’

The fat merchant shrugged. ‘I presumed that she was just an itinerant. One of those wanderers in search of work, who are not to be trusted.’

‘Not to be trusted? Then why did you give her a lift?’

Ordan’s smile was sly. ‘Have I not been telling you that I am a generous man and hate to see poor creatures suffering without a warm bed of straw to lie down in for the night?’

‘So you brought her all the way to Cashel and made her get off your wagon before you even entered the town, leaving her in the darkness of the night. Wasn’t she a stranger to the area and without knowledge of the place, and therefore generosity would surely dictate that you might drop her at the door of a bruden or tavern?’

‘She insisted that I let her down at the edge of the township. Frankly, I was glad to do so. She was of a volatile disposition, Brothel Eadulf. She could well have attacked and robbed me, for she had a knife and it was sharp.’

‘How did you know that? Did anything occur which drew the knife to your attention?’

It seemed the red blotches on the face of the man deepened in intensity.

‘Nothing occurred, and if she tells you different then she is a liar. I am a respectable merchant. I have friends in high places. The girl was merely an itinerant and I was pleased to be rid of her.’

‘You never saw the girl before you met her at the Ford of the Ass?’ Fidelma asked.

‘I did not.’

‘You never saw her in the country of the Luachra?’

The merchant started. ‘The Luachra? Why do you mention them?’

‘I would have thought that the quickest way from the Eóganacht Locha Léin was through the mountains of the Luachra,’ she replied.

He hesitated a moment and then said: ‘I have told you the truth, that I did not encounter her before I crossed the Suir.’

Fidelma suddenly smiled and said pleasantly, ‘Then we shall delay you no longer, for I see a wagon approaching and that must be the smith you are expecting from Magh Méine.’