Absolution by Murder by Peter Tremayne

become petty king of Mercia giving his allegiance to Oswy. Rumour had it that Alhfrith also had his ambitious eye on the kingship of Mercia.
    Next to Oswy’s current wife, Eanflaed, sat their first-born son, Ecgfrith. At eighteen years of age he was a sullen, brooding young man. His dark eyes were restless and he kept shifting in his seat. Taran said that it was his ambition to fill the throne of Oswy before he was much older and he was filled with envy for his elder half-brother Alhfrith, who was heir to the throne under law. The only other child of Oswy in attendance was Aelflaed. She had been born in the year when Oswy had achieved his great victory over Penda and, as a thank-offering, had been dedicated to God and entrusted to the Abbess Hilda to bring up at Streoneshalh as a virgin devoted to Christ.
    Brother Taran informed Fidelma that Oswy had two more children – a daughter, Osthryth, now five years old, and a son, Aelfwine, aged three. These were too young to attend in the sacrarium.

    Finally Sister Fidelma interrupted the enthusiastic brother’s monologue on the personalities.
    ‘All this knowledge is too much for me to take in at one sitting. I shall get to know who is who as the debate continues. But there are so many people.’
    Brother Taran nodded complacently.
    ‘It is an important debate, sister. Not only is the royal house of Northumbria represented but, see, there is Domangart of Dál Riada together with Drust, the king of Picts, and there are princes and representatives of Cenwealh of Wessex, Eorcenberht of Kent, Wulfhere of Mercia and—’
    ‘Enough!’ protested Fidelma. ‘I will never master all these outlandish Saxon names. I will call on you when I need your knowledge.’
    As Fidelma sat studying the sea of faces the doors of the hall opened and a man entered carrying a banner. This, Taran promptly informed her, was the thuff, the standard that always preceded the king to announce his presence. Then came a tall handsome man, well muscled, with flaxen hair and long moustaches, dressed in rich and elaborate clothing with a circle of gold on his head.
    So Fidelma, for the first time, caught sight of the king of Northumbria, Oswy. Oswy had become king when his brother Oswald had been slain by Penda and his British allies at Maserfeld and, within a few years, had taken his revenge on Penda, slaughtering him and his followers. And now Oswy was acclaimed Bretwalda, a title, Taran told her, that proclaimed him overlord of all the kingdoms of the Angles and Saxons.
    Fidelma examined the tall man intently. She knew his previous history well. Oswy and his brothers had been driven from Northumbria when they were children, and their father,
the king, had been slain by Edwin, who had usurped the throne. The exiled royal children had been brought up in the kingdom of Dál Riada, converting from paganism to Christianity in the Holy Island of Iona. When Oswy’s elder brother, Oswald, regained the throne and brought them out of exile, he had sent to Iona and asked for missionaries to teach his people, bringing them forth from paganism and teaching them how to form letters and read and write. It seemed, to Fidelma, that Oswy would naturally side with the church of Iona.
    But, she recalled, in this debate, while Oswy was chief judge, he would probably be under pressure from his heirs and the royal representatives of all the lesser kings who would sit as a jury during the debates.
    Behind Oswy, in the procession which made its way from the main doors around the hall to the seats on the dais, first came Colmán , as Oswy’s bishop as well as chief abbot; next came Hilda and another woman whose features seemed similar to Oswy’s.
    ‘That is Oswy’s eldest sister, Abbe,’ whispered Gwid, against the quiet that had descended in the hall. ‘She was in exile in Iona and is a firm adherent of the liturgy of Colmcille. She is abbess at Coldingham, which is north from here. It is a double house where men and women