‘Leodegar was not treated with courtesy. We are told that his eyes were put out with red-hot pokers and that his tongue was torn out and other unspeakable things were done to him. Yet he survived and was dragged for trial before the court of Theuderic. There, he was further degraded and condemned, albeit, we must in fairness say, as he had so often condemned others without compunction. On Ebroin’s orders he was taken to a forest and hanged.
‘There is a rumour that many of the religious claim him as a martyr. There are now several places that would follow his Rule; indeed, that same Rule decided at that now infamous council in the city of Autun. Even in Autun there are some who are asking that his relics be placed with them as objects worthy of worship. Alas, how short memories are.
‘Valretrade and myself, with our two little ones, were saved from the worst of these atrocities for we were away from the city at the time of Ebroin’s attack. Yet of her sister’s family, only poor Magnatrude survived.
‘So what does the future hold for us? We, together with
Magnatrude, have decided to commence our journey westward. We are already at Nebirnum. We are going to seek a new home, a new life, in the land of the Armoricans. We are told that there is a land called Domnonia, a land by the sea, in the north of that country, where we shall start our new life. Perhaps we shall find a plot of land to farm or an inn to run for pilgrims.
‘All we know is that we can no longer serve these new religious communities that are now following the ideas propounded by Leodegar.
We maintain our Faith in the Christ Jesus but not in men who would try to claim dominion over us and regulate our lives with petty rules that are unnatural to human life. We deny those disciplines for we are human, no more but certainly no less. We are as the Creator made us and, if there is truth in religion, we are as we were meant to be.
‘If Fate and Our Lord Jesus are kind to us, we will meet again with you. If not, accept forever our sincere and dearest wishes for peace and goodwill to attend you all the days of your lives.’
There followed a list of the names of the family of Sigeric and Valretrade.
Fidelma sighed deeply and found herself wiping away a tear.
Books by
Peter Tremayne in the Sister Fidelma of Cashel series
Novels
Shroud for the Archbishop
Suffer Little Children
The Subtle Serpent
The Spider’s Web
Valley of the Shadow
The Monk Who Vanished
Act of Mercy
Our Lady of Darkness
Smoke in the Wind
The Haunted Abbot
Badger’s Moon
The Leper’s Bell
A Prayer for the Damned
Dancing with Demons
The Council of the Cursed
Story Collections
Hemlock at Vespers
Whispers of the Dead
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE COUNCIL OF THE CURSED. Copyright © 2008 by Peter Tremayne. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.minotaurbooks.com
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tremayne, Peter.
The council of the cursed: amystery of ancient Ireland / Peter Tremayne.—1st ed.
ISBN: 978-0-312-37565-2
1. Celtic Church—Fiction. 2. Fidelma, Sister (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 3. Ireland—History—To 1172—Fiction. I. Title.
PR6070.R366 C68 2009
823'.914—dc22
2009033794
First published in Great Britain by Headline Publishing
Group, a Hachette Livre UK Company