The Mammoth Book of Historical Crime Fic - By Mike Ashley Page 0,54

I must try to find the way to Béal Átha Gabhann for I was expected there last night.”

For a passing moment, it seemed a look of relief came into the man’s eyes and then he sighed.

“I will take care of things now.”

“I have fed the animals. But they will need tending to later on. The cow particularly.”

“That is no problem. I will collect some friends and look after things here. As you say, a search must be organized.” There was a hesitation. “Are you rested well, for it will be a hard ride to Béal Átha Gabhann?”

“I was warm and comfortable in the cabin last night. I wish I could stay to help in the search for the owners. I will endeavour to make amends for their hospitality once I have completed my business.”

Something had made her withhold telling Fáelur about her disturbed night. She did not know why. Perhaps it was because he seemed anxious about her having had a good rest.

She moved to the table and collected her things, her comb-bag, and placed them all in her sursaing-bholg and hung it over her shoulder. She turned to the man with a smile.

“Now I will get my horse and if you can point me in the right direction …?”

The man came with her to the door of the cabin and waited while she collected Aonbharr.

“There is a path down there that leads back to a main track,” he said, pointing in the direction she had climbed to the cabin from on the previous night. “Best lead your horse down to it. Then you turn northwards,” he indicated the direction. “You see that peak there, on the far side of the valley? That is Sliabh Coimeálta, Keeper’s Hill. Keep that on your left and this track comes down through a valley, at the end of which you’ll find the streams that rise in these hills, all converging into a broad stream called Glaise an Ghleanna. Follow the bank and that will lead you directly to the main river, the Mhaoilchearn. You’ll see a small stone circle by it. It is easy to ford the river there and beyond it you will see the pass that will bring you through the mountains called Sliabh an Airgid. Once through the pass, you will find your destination.”

Fidelma thanked him and offered her best wishes that his search for his missing sister and brother-in-law would prove successful and that all would be well with them. He nodded thoughtfully and stood by the cabin door watching her as she led her horse back down the path to the main track. It was difficult, as the snowfall of the previous night had completely covered any recognisable signs of where it lay. It was only when she reached a flat area of snow that ran in both directions that she realized she had reached the main track. She mounted Aonbharr before glancing back. It was as if the man had not moved, for he still stood watching her. She raised a hand in acknowledgement and set off at a quick walking pace northward on her journey.

It was only sometime later that she realized what had been causing an irritation in the back of her mind. As she had led Aonbharr from the cabin down the path to the main track, the path had been completely covered in snow, so that she had to feel her way down. It had been completely covered in the snowfall, smooth and white, except where a single set of tracks followed it. They could have been the tracks of a dog but Fidelma knew that they had doubtless been made by one of the wolves that had been howling near the cabin during the night. But that was not what was causing the growing unease. It was the question, how had a man called Fáelur come to the cabin? Surely he would have left tracks in the snow? And there were none.

***

“We were worried about you, Fidelma. We were afraid that you were lost in the snowstorm. Eadulf was very concerned.” It was Fidelma’s cousin Scoth, the daughter of Prince Gilcach of the Eóghanacht Airthir Chliach, who chided her as she ushered her into the hall of her father’s hunting lodge.

Fidelma had reached the settlement at Béal Átha Gabhann by mid-afternoon, when the sky had already begun to darken again. There she had found not only Eadulf, waiting anxiously for her, but also her cousin. Prince Gilcach kept a small hunting lodge