Saint Brigid's Bones (16 page)

I always knew Cormac was ambitious, but I had no idea his aspirations were so grand. If he were any other man, I would have laughed at such wild dreams. But I knew if anyone could
make them come true, it was Cormac. For a moment I imagined myself as queen of Ireland, dressed in fine royal robes and sipping wine from golden cups. I also imagined the arms of a man holding me again on a long, cold night.

“And of course, you could still worship as you do now,” Cormac assured me. “I would help you build churches across Ireland with the monastery of Brigid ruling over them all, including Armagh. Christianity could be a very useful tool for uniting this island. And I wouldn't be like that idiot Fergus you were married to before. I value your independence and intelligence too much. In fact, I'm counting on them. I'm looking for a partner, Deirdre. There would be children, of course, but your sons would be princes, kings someday.”

I could barely breathe.

“Deirdre,” he said as he took my hand, “do you remember the first time you kissed me?”

“You think I would forget that night under the tree, Cormac?”

“No, not then,” he smiled. “It was a dozen years before that. My father had brought me with him to your grandmother's house to ask her advice about something. We were only about four years old. We were playing in the yard and I made you a crown out of flowers. I put it on your head, then you gave me a big kiss and ran back into the hut.”

It had been so long ago, but suddenly the memory came rushing back.

“Cormac, I had forgotten. The flowers, they were white clover.”

“Yes.”

“I hung them on a peg over my bed. They were my first gift from a boy.”

“Not gold or jewels, but they were from the heart.”

“Oh Cormac, I—“

“Don't give me an answer now, Deirdre. Go back to Kildare and think about it. I'll see you soon. I promise.”

I got up from the table and managed a shaky bow to my old friend, the new king of Glendalough. He rose and gave me a gentle, lingering kiss on the lips, then walked out the door.

I wish he'd kissed me longer.

D
ari and I took a different route back to Kildare than the one we had travelled earlier. I wanted to see the body of the man who had carried the Ogam letter. One of Cormac's men had told me they had found nothing else on him except for some unremarkable clothing, a wool blanket, and a simple knife. I don't know what I expected to discover so many weeks later, but I wanted to try.

We hadn't had a chance to talk undisturbed at Cormac's guest house, so as soon as we were out of the valley I told Dari about the letter.

“Deirdre, this is serious. If Dúnlaing's sons are working with the abbot, we're in deep trouble. But does it have to mean they stole the bones?”

“Of course it does. Not them personally, but one of Lorcan's men must have done the deed.”

“But the letter doesn't mention the bones, does it?”

“No, but it turned up just before the bones were discovered missing. What else do you think the conspiracy could be about?”

“I don't know, maybe stealing our cattle or killing us all in our sleep. I admit, the letter makes the abbot and the king's son the prime suspects in the theft of the bones, but it doesn't cross anyone off the list. Even Cormac said no one came near the monastery on Michaelmas.”

“No band of raiders attacked us, but a single thief could have slipped past Cormac's men that night.”

“Assuming his men were really there to protect us. I don't trust Cormac. Are you sure the letter is genuine?”

“Yes, that much I am sure of. Cormac took the oath of a king.”

Dari kicked a rock down the trail and scared a rabbit that had been hiding in a gorse bush. If I had a sling, I would have killed it and made us a fresh stew that night.

“Deirdre, you say Cormac swore he didn't forge the letter, but did he swear he didn't take the bones?”

“Well, no, but—”

She was right. During our whole conversation he never actually denied stealing the bones.

“But the letter, Dari, the letter!”

“Like I said, it's proof they're up to something, but those Ogam marks don't say what, do they?”

“Dari, I was having such a good day until I starting talking with you.”

We kept walking north. I still wanted to check out the place where the messenger was killed. Cormac said they hadn't buried him, just stripped him and thrown the body into the bushes. It seemed barbaric to Dari, but I wanted to see him. We just had to make sure to stay on the south side of the river away from Illann's farmstead.

The path we took went east of the Wicklow Gap up the slopes of Mullaghcleevaun, one of the highest mountains in
the Wicklow range. It wasn't the easiest way, but it was the shortest route to the body. We stopped for a quick lunch at the summit near an old passage tomb and admired the view on that cool, clear day. Far across the eastern sea I could just make out the mountains of Britain. I knew that more Britons were moving into those highlands every year to escape the Saxon invaders who were spreading across the island.

We finished our meal and made our way down the north side of the mountain, stopping at a small spring to drink the cold water bubbling from the rocks.

“I notice you haven't said much about your meeting with Cormac apart from the letter. Did he behave himself?”

“No, Dari, he made wild, passionate love to me on top of his feasting table. I'm surprised you didn't hear us all the way in the guest house.”

“I'm serious, Deirdre. What did he say?”

“I'm not sure I want to talk about it yet.”

“Really? It must be good.”

We walked for a few more minutes in silence.

“Are you ready to talk about it now?”

“Dari, I don't know why people say I'm the nosy one.”

“I'm only nosy about you. I can tell you're troubled by more than letters and bones.”

“Cormac wants to make me queen of Ireland.”

“Is that all? I thought maybe he was going to crown you pope in Rome.”

“I'm serious, Dari. He wants me to marry him and help him extend his rule over the whole island.”

“You must be joking.”

“No, I'm not. He plans to begin with the tribes of Leinster, then ally himself with Munster to bring down the Uí Néill. He wants to use Christianity to unite Ireland, with me by his side.”

Dari stopped in the middle of the trail.

“Well, what did you tell him?”

“I didn't tell him anything. I was too shocked to give him an answer. Then he kissed me.”

“I take it you don't mean just a friendly kiss.”

“It was very friendly. It was soft and warm and—”

“Deirdre, I hate to state the obvious, but you're a nun. You're not supposed to be kissing men like that, even old lovers. Especially old lovers.”

“Maybe I don't want to be a nun anymore.”

We sat down on a nearby log.

“Deirdre, you are the best friend I've ever had. More than anything in the world, I want you to be happy. If you want to leave the monastery and marry Cormac, I will stand beside you at your wedding and cheer. But please think about what you're doing. I don't think Cormac really loves you, not like you love him. I believe he would treat you well, but he would never give you his heart. Are gold jewelry and royal feasts really worth giving the rest of your life to him?”

“It's not about gold and feasts, Dari. Cormac and I are a good fit. We come from the same background and understand the ways of the nobility. Maybe Cormac won't ever rule over anything more than his valley of Glendalough, but he's eager to try. I admire that kind of ambition in a man, whether he succeeds or not. All Fergus ever wanted was to raise cattle on his little farm and that's fine, but I want more than that, for myself and for any children I might have. Love isn't everything.”

We walked for a few minutes past a small waterfall and a patch of yellow ragweed flowering for the last time before winter.

“Deirdre, I know you and I are from different worlds. And it's not just that I'm a commoner. I grew up in a family where there wasn't any kindness or affection. I was married to a husband who cared nothing for me. I'm sure nobility and ambition
matter to you, but I would have given anything just to have a good man who truly loved me.”

Tears were rolling down her face. I put my arm around her.

“I'm so sorry, Dari. I didn't mean anything by what I said. I'm just being foolish.”

“You're not foolish, just honest.”

“Dari, you're young and pretty and everybody likes you. There are plenty of decent men around Kildare. Have you ever thought about leaving the monastery and getting married?”

She wiped her tears away and shook her head.

“Deirdre, you know I can't have children. A man could love me with all his heart, but he would still want sons and daughters. It's only natural. And in any case, I like being a nun. I believe in the work we do for the poor and needy. I like singing and praying in the church. I love working with the children and watching them grow up. It's almost like they're my own.”

She pulled a rag out of her sleeve and blew her nose, then started off quickly down the trail, calling to me over her shoulder.

“We should get moving if we want to find your dead body before dark.”

The spot Cormac's man had described was in a dense forest near a ford on the southern bank of the Liffey. He said the body was in a tall holly bush off the trail next to an oak tree whose trunk had been split by a bolt of lightning. Illann's farm lay a couple of miles across the river in Dúnlaing's tribal lands.

I found the oak tree, then saw the holly bush with its thick prickly leaves and bright red berries. I carefully pushed aside the branches. Dari offered to help, but I could tell she found the whole business ghoulish, so I asked her to go to the river and fill up our water skins instead.

At last I found what was left of the man's body. It was only a skull along with the rib cage and a femur a few feet away. I was surprised there was no smell. Animals had carried away most of the remains and vermin had stripped away the flesh. The leg bone showed bite marks from some large creature, probably a wolf. The skull had a deep indentation above the left eye where one of Cormac's warriors had struck the man with a sword.

I searched all around the holly bush and under the oak tree as well. Any signs of a struggle had long since vanished. Cormac said his guards had chased the man some distance and at last cornered him under the tree. On a whim I peeked inside the broken trunk and saw something glittering deep in the hole. It was a necklace of colored glass on a copper cord, not something a noble lady would wear but good enough for a farm wife. It was an odd thing for a man to carry, as it was something only a woman would own. I felt around in the hole again and found a decorated bronze fibula made for holding a cloak together. The stranger must have known he was trapped and thrown these two items into the tree hoping he could talk his way out of being killed, then retrieve them later. Or maybe he knew he was going to die and didn't want the guards to have them.

“Did you find anything?” Dari asked when she returned with the water sacks.

“Not much. Just a glass necklace and a fibula.” I showed them to her.

“Was there anything left of the body?”

“Only a few gnawed bones.”

“A long detour for so little.”

“Maybe not. It confirms Cormac's story of a man killed in a violent encounter weeks ago just where he said it happened. The fibula is a luxury item, even though the man was dressed in common clothing. That means he received it as a gift from
someone wealthy. Then there's the necklace. Why would a man carry a woman's necklace unless he was bringing home a gift for a wife or sweetheart? This unfortunate soul must have travelled to Armagh, traded for the necklace there, then was returning from his errand when he was killed. He must have been a commoner working for a nobleman. And since he was on this path, that nobleman was almost certainly Illann.”

“So what are you going to do now? Sneak into Illann's farm and find out if any of his men are missing?”

“Of course not. You and I are going to knock on his door and ask him.”