‘A slope is different from a vertical cliff face. Climbing down there is impossible.’
‘Why so?’
‘Firstly, we are locked in here. It is only during daylight hours that we will be allowed into the library, so someone would see us even if we were crazy enough to begin the descent. To escape we need to take a little more than we stand up in, especially once we have succeeded in the miracle of getting down into the valley. So how do you convince Kakko to allow us to take our bags to the library? And what if we did reach the valley floor? There is a small township down there and if no warriors are waiting for us at the bottom, then there will be people.’
Fidelma considered the matter for a moment. ‘You have raised some good objections, Brother Eolann. But it is better to take the opportunity than do nothing. I say that it could be done. It looks impossible from the centre of the terrace where you have a sheer drop. That is where they throw their condemned prisoners from. But I also looked at the corners, especially where part of the wall of the library seems to overhang. It doesn’t. It balances on a thrust of rock — and from what I saw, one could scramble with ease to the underside of that stonework. The rockface has more handholds and has a more gradual slope.’
There was quiet from the grille. Then Brother Eolann whispered, ‘One thing I will grant you, lady; you do have the blood of the Eóghanacht in you. A fighting race. But that is about all. I think such a plan is ridiculous. You cannot see the rockface all the way down from the terrace. You may easily get stuck halfway down.’
‘I shall try to investigate it more closely tomorrow. If it looks as though it can be done, then I am determined to do it, ridiculous or not,’ she said decisively.
‘And what about the other problems, such as transportingour bags to the library, getting food for the journey, planning a route which will bring us unobserved to Mount Pénas, let alone over it and back to Bobium — what of those little problems? There is no way of escaping. We have to resign ourselves to it.’
‘Pity the man drowned in the tempest, for after the rain comes the sunshine,’ snapped Fidelma, using an ancient saying of her people to chide those who advocated inaction. ‘I am determined on my course. The sea does not wait for the ship to load its cargo. The ship must be ready to catch the tide.’
Brother Eolann did not respond.
It was some time before Fidelma closed her eyes and fell asleep.
She came awake with the sound of the wooden bar being removed at the chamber door. She swung swiftly from the bed. The room was curiously bright as the moon was full and shining directly into it.
A tall figure stood in the doorway with a lamp whose flame was partially concealed by his hand.
‘Suidur!’ she gasped, recognising the figure. ‘What do you want?’
‘Silently does it, lady,’ came his sibilant tone. ‘What I want is for you to get dressed and fetch your belongings. Quickly now.’
‘Do you mean me harm? If so, I shall not stir.’
‘No harm is meant to you, lady. At the moment, I am the only means you have of escape from the Lord of Vars’s fortress, so hurry. Every moment’s delay means discovery.’
Fidelma blinked in surprise. ‘Where …?’ she began.
‘Grasulf and Kakko are in a drunken stupor,’ he whispered. ‘Of course, that being thanks to the help of a little potion ofmine as well as their propensity for strong drink. But we do not have long. Have you something to cover your head?’
She hesitated a moment, wondering whether she should trust him. What did old Brehon Morann once tell her? Catch the pig by the leg when you can.
‘Very well,’ she said decisively. ‘Is Brother Eolann coming?’
‘Of course, lady. He is already here and waiting.’
‘Then I shall do what you say.’
Suidur stood just inside the door as if keeping sentinel over the courtyard. Within moments, Fidelma had joined Brother Eolann who was already dressed and had his bag slung on his back. Suidur, still holding a lamp, whispered: ‘Keep close.’ Then he raised a forefinger to his lips.
Although filled with numerous questions and anxiety, Fidelma uttered no word but followed the white-haired physician across the courtyard, conscious of Brother Eolann at her shoulder. The gates were shut. However, with an attitude of assurance, Suidur went to where one of the guards was sitting on the ground, nodding sleepily. The man suddenly became aware of Suidur standing over him and scrambled to his feet.
‘A bad thing if Grasulf caught you asleep at his door,’ Suidur told him sternly.
The guard looked around fearfully as if expecting the Lord of Vars to appear.
‘I was not really asleep, master. You would not tell …?’
‘Only if you move quickly and open the gate for my companions and me. We are late already and must hasten on an errand for the Lord of Vars.’
The gatekeeper, to Fidelma’s amazement, hurried to the task, almost bowing as they passed silently through.
Outside, as she remembered it, the track began to wind steeply down the curiously shaped thrust of rock on whichthe fortress of the Lord of Vars balanced. Suidur, who had extinguished his lamp for the full moon was adequate light for them, walked swiftly down the track without speaking. They hurried behind him.
They finally came to the lower reaches where woodland started. From this dark band of trees, the figure of a warrior suddenly appeared on the path before them. Suidur did not pause but called out something softly, to which the man seemed to assent and waved. A second man emerged from the woods, leading three horses. Suidur turned to Fidelma and Brother Eolann. ‘I am afraid that you must ride double behind my men,’ he said. ‘I cannot get extra horses and we must be well away from here before first light.’
‘Can I ask why you are doing this?’ Fidelma inquired.
It was hard to see Suidur’s features in the shadows but it seemed that he spoke with irony. ‘Did you like being a guest of the Lord of Vars so much that you wanted to stay?’
‘Of course not, but-’
‘Then postpone your questions until we have put some distance between ourselves and this place. I want to get into the shelter of the mountains.’
The two warriors mounted their horses and then Fidelma and Brother Eolann were helped to swing up behind them. Suidur was already in the saddle and the three horses moved off quietly through the woods, skirting round the few lights that showed the extent of the settlement that spread under the fortress of the Lord of Vars. For a physician Suidur showed a surprising knowledge of how to trek quietly through the woods. The thought crossed Fidelma’s mind that perhaps the man had been a soldier before he became a physician.
She clung on to the rider before her, trying to make sense of the events that had transpired. Could these be the same menshe had seen speaking with Suidur in the fortress of Radoald? The same men who had witnessed Brother Eolann and herself being brought as prisoners to the fortress of the Lord of Vars? Suidur had appeared at Grasulf’s fortress and apparently been welcomed there. Why had he rescued her and Brother Eolann? It made no sense at all.
With the questions swimming in her mind they rode on, moving without speed, until the township was well behind them. They reached an open track which ran alongside a noisy gushing river. Fidelma noticed from the white frothy movement of the current that they were heading upstream into the mountains. By her reckoning, the mountain that they had come over, Mount Pénas, lay behind her left shoulder. But it was still a long way from first light and although the sky was cloudless and the moon high and bright, she could not be sure.
It was now that Suidur raised his hand and gestured in a forward motion. The pace of the horses began to increase to a trot and then a canter. Fidelma had ridden almost before she had begun to walk and considered herself a capable horsewoman. The horse beneath her had certainly not been bred for the fields or for hauling carts. She felt the strong muscles as the beast stretched its powerful limbs beneath her. She knew instinctively that the rider was keeping it in check otherwise it would break into a full-scale gallop. This was a horse bred for warriors, a warhorse. She could not see in the darkness but she suspected it was of the singular breed that she had seen in the valley before.