Atonement of Blood(60)

‘I thought Torcán was Eoganán’s son?’ Eadulf asked, remembering back to when he had been held captive before the battle and had encountered Torcán.

‘Eoganán had three sons. Torcán was the eldest,’ Temnén explained. ‘The other two were …’ He used a word – emonach – that Eadulf had not come across before.

Fidelma quickly translated for him. ‘Twins.’

‘They were as alike in looks as if they were one,’ agreed Temnén. ‘But in character they could have been born of different parents. Lorcán was ruthless and without morals even to his own people. No one shed a tear when he was killed. At Cnoc Áine, Lorcán had a moment of glory when it was thought he had killed King Colgú. He went round waving the King’s shield and claiming that he had killed him. That soon turned out to be a falsehood.’

‘So Lorcán was killed?’

‘But that was after Cnoc Áine. Uisnech caught and slew him but Uisnech slew a good many of our people.’

‘Why did you fight at Cnoc Áine?’ Eadulf asked softly.

‘I was a bó-aire, a young noble, and when Eoganán’s rider came with the fiery cross to summon all the clans to his side, I took my arms and my horse, bade my wife and child farewell and rode off. We were young and our love of country sped through our veins like intoxicating liquor. We became drunk on it.’

‘And you did not question the morality of Eoganán’s cause?’ asked Eadulf.

Once more there was a smile on the face of the man, albeit a bitter one.

‘How does a simple warrior assess morality? Morality is for kings and philosophers, not for warriors.’ He turned to Gormán. ‘Do you ever debate with your King or even your captain when you are given an order? When you are told to do something, do you sit down and ask whether the order is right and moral?’

Gormán pressed his lips together nervously and glanced at Fidelma as if seeking guidance. Temnén saw the look and slapped his thigh with a sudden, unexpected hoot of laughter.

‘So, my friend, you prove my point. You are not even sure that my question should be answered without receiving an order from your superior. Of course, you don’t question your order. You fulfil it and, sometimes, if you have a conscience, you struggle with justifying your actions to yourself in the long dark nights that lie ahead.’

There was a silence and then Fidelma asked softly: ‘Is that what you have been doing, Temnén?’

He glanced at her, his face angry for a moment, and then his facial muscles seemed to relax again. ‘You are a wise woman, Fidelma of Cashel,’ he said.

‘Tell me, Temnén, what was the name of your wife?’

‘Órla,’ he replied, his eyes misting for a moment. Then: ‘You have not told me what brings you here,’ he said brusquely.

‘We are on our way to Dún Eochair Mháigh,’ she replied.

‘You will waste your time if you are going to see Prince Donennach. He is in Tara.’

‘We know that,’ Eadulf blurted out and then regretted it, for the man turned to him with an interested look.

‘So you are not here to see our Prince. What is your purpose then?’

‘You will hear soon enough, Temnén, and so it will do no harm to tell you now,’ Fidelma replied. ‘My brother lies near death if he has not already passed to the Otherworld. There was an attempt to assassinate him at Cashel. At the same time Áedo, the Chief Brehon of Muman, was struck down.’

Temnén’s eyes widened. ‘And you are looking for the assassin? How could he have escaped from the middle of your brother’s fortress?’

‘I did not say he had escaped. He was struck down himself.’

‘Then why do you come here?’

‘The name he gave was Brother Lennán of Mungairit.’

Temnén sat back in astonishment. ‘Lennán the physician? But I was told he had died on the slopes of Cnoc Áine!’

‘We found that out when we went to Mungairit and spoke to his father, an elderly man named Ledbán.’

‘Old Ledbán? Does he still live? He used to run the stables of Codlata close by Dún Eochar Mháigh. Codlata was Prince Eoganán’s steward. He disappeared after Cnoc Áine. But Ledbán retired to a monastery some years before that.’ He paused. ‘I still do not understand. If Lennán was killed at Cnoc Áine, how could he have been killed at Cashel? Ah.’ A look of understanding settled on his features. ‘You are here to find out who the man who called himself Lennán really was – and why he used that name.’