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our business there, return and follow these tracks.’
    ‘It might rain soon and wash them away,’ Eadulf said automatically and perhaps with a little hope in his voice.
    Fidelma glanced at the sky.
    ‘It will not rain between now and the day after tomorrow,’ she said confidently. ‘With luck it may remain dry for some days.’
    Eadulf had long since given up asking how she could foretell the weather. She had explained many times about observing patterns in plants and clouds but it was beyond his understanding. He now simply accepted that she was invariably correct. He glanced back to the gorging ravens and shuddered visibly.
    Fidelma, noticing his look of repulsion, said: ‘Be philosophical, my brother in Christ. Are not ravens and crows part of the great Creation and do not those scavengers have a part ordained by the Creator?’
    Eadulf was unconvinced.
    ‘They are the creations of Satan. None other.’
    ‘How so?’ demanded Fidelma lightly. ‘Do you question the teachings of your own Faith?’
    Eadulf frowned, not understanding.
    ‘Genesis,’ quoted Fidelma. ‘“God then created the great sea-monsters and all living creatures that move and swim in the waters, according to their kind, and every kind of bird; and God saw that it was good. He blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and increase, fill the waters of the seas; and let the birds increase on land.’”’ Fidelma paused and pulled a face. ‘“ And every kind of bird ,”’ she repeated with emphasis. ‘Genesis does not say, every kind of bird except the carrion.’
    Eadulf shook his head, unwilling to accept her quotation.
    ‘Who am I to question the Creation? But God gave us free will and in that he allowed me to express my repugnance for such creatures.’
    Fidelma could not help a mocking grimace. If she were truthful, she would have to admit that she enjoyed her exchanges on the Faith with Eadulf.
    They had left the vast black mass of croaking scavengers, which now carpeted the ground, well behind them, increasing the pace of their horses.
    ‘What do you propose to do when we meet with this Laisre?’ demanded Eadulf. ‘I mean about these corpses? Do you intend to demand his explanation of them?’

    ‘You sound as though you presume him guilty.’
    ‘It seems a logical assumption.’
    ‘Assumptions are not facts.’
    ‘Then what do you intend to do?’
    ‘Do?’ She frowned for a moment. ‘Why, follow my brother’s advice. Beware what I say, when and to whom!’

Chapter Four
    They had barely ridden a mile across the valley when they heard the sound of approaching horses. Immediately before them was an entrance to what appeared to be a ravine, opening between two granite heights and through which the track they were taking disappeared. It was from this direction that the sound of the horses could clearly be heard.
    Eadulf, nervous and still sickened by the sight he had witnessed, began to look around immediately for some cover. There was none.
    Fidelma halted her horse and sat at ease, merely awaiting the appearance of the riders, and curtly ordered him to do likewise.
    A moment or so later, a column of about a score of warriors burst out of the gorge on to the plain just in front of them. Their leader, a slender figure, saw them at once and, without faltering, led the column at a breathless pace to within a yard or so of them. Then, as if at some given signal not obvious even to the discerning eye, the band of horses halted in a cloud of dust with a sound of snorting breath and an occasional whinny of protest.
    Fidelma’s eyes narrowed as she examined the leader of the band of horsemen. The rider was a slightly built woman of about thirty years. Dark hair, almost the colour of jet, tumbled in a mass of curls from her shoulders. A thin band of twisted silver around her forehead kept it in some semblance of order. She wore a cloak and carried a long scabbard with a workman-like sword and an ornate knife on her right side. The