Badger's Moon by Peter Tremayne Page B

word with this Gabrán and his father.’
    Accobrán glanced up at the sky. ‘It is past noon, Sister. I would advise that we return to the rath for refreshment. I understood that you also want to see Seachlann, the father of the victim Escrach, and go to the abbey too today. Becc told me that you wanted to meet the strangers there. Goll and Gabrán work the woods on the far side of the river. I doubt whether we will find them before nightfall if we are to fulfil all your wishes.’
    Fidelma did not seem perturbed. ‘There is no immediate hurry. We will continue with the plan and if we cannot see Gabrán and Goll today, we will see them tomorrow. But since you remind me – what of Escrach? Was it true that Gabrán was having a relationship with her?’
    Accobrán smiled easily. ‘She was an attractive girl. The Cinél na Áeda have a reputation for the attractiveness of their women. He was a healthy youth. It would not be surprising in this community. Marriage and children come along before youth is lost for ever.’
    ‘Yet you, I believe, are not married, tanist of the Cinél na Áeda,’ Fidelma pointed out.
    Once again the young man’s features broke into a disarming smile. ‘Alas, I have spent many years away following the gods of war. A warrior would be wrong to take a wife, for many a widow is the outcome. I have only recently settled down to learn the duties that my cousin and our derbfhine have bestowed on me.’ The young tanist was suddenly thoughtful. ‘I suppose that you are not expecting anything serious to happen until the next full moon?’
    Fidelma regarded him speculatively. ‘Do you believe that there will be another attack then?’
    Accobrán’s handsome features twisted in a grimace. ‘What has happened three times can surely happen a fourth.’
    ‘So you share the belief of Liag that there is a lunatic abroad? That the killer is motivated to his deeds by the full of the moon?’
    Accobrán pursed his lips in a cynical smile. ‘It is a more logical explanation than the story Lesren would have you believe. To be honest, I confess that I have little liking for Gabrán. He can be an arrogant youth at times. I do believe, however, that old Liag is right. What other explanation can there be?’
    ‘We have yet to hear Brocc’s reasons for accusing the strangers and have yet to hear what the strangers say in answer to them,’ pointed out Eadulf. ‘It is best not to draw a conclusion until we have gathered in all the evidence.’
    He felt Fidelma’s eyes on him and coloured a little, knowing that he was paraphrasing the words with which she had often reproved him.
    ‘That is true,’ agreed the young tanist. ‘And the sooner we return to the rath to eat, the sooner we can start out again to get answers to those questions.’
    He lost little time in leading the way back up the hill on a steep path to the towering walls of Rath Raithlen.
     
    At the midday meal Becc joined them. The chieftain smiled wryly when the subject of Lesren and Goll was raised.
    ‘Maybe I should have warned you about Lesren and Goll.’
    ‘Is this feud so serious, then?’ Fidelma asked.
    ‘It depends how you define the term serious. If, as Accobrán tells me, that idiot Lesren is still accusing Goll’s son of the murder of his daughter and, thereby, of the other murders, then it may turn out to be serious for Lesren. I am aware of the law against spreading malicious falsehoods.’
    ‘Tell me, how did this quarrel start?’
    Becc reflected for a moment or two. ‘I supposed it started many years ago. Lesren was married before he married Bébháil, you know.’
    ‘He had a wife before her?’ Eadulf asked unnecessarily.
    ‘Indeed he did. She divorced him. The woman was called Fínmed.’ He paused to make the next sentence significant. ‘Fínmed is now the wife of Goll, the mother of Gabrán.’
    Eadulf sat back with a faint hissing sound as he tried to stifle the whistle of surprise, which would have been