Dancing With Demons Read Online Free PDF

since. For many it seemed impossible to imagine the great capital of
Muman without the aged figure of Conchobhar, the apothecary, physician and astrologer. He had taught his skills to many, including a young Fidelma who had been anxious to be proficient in as many of the arts as possible.
    In spite of their long relationship, Brother Conchobhar was always punctilious in addressing her as ‘lady’, although he had nursed her through childhood ailments, had taught her and advised her. She had only once disagreed with his advice and that had been when he had suggested that she was ill-suited to life as a religieuse at the abbey of Cill Dara. In fact, old Conchobhar knew her character so well that he had disagreed with her entering the religious life at all. That she had left Cill Dara soon after entering it was never mentioned. While she was entitled to be called ‘Sister’, he reminded her that she was the daughter of a king, the sister of a king and of the line of the Eóghanacht. ‘Lady’ was the more respectful form of address in old Conchobhar’s eyes.
    ‘Is all well, lady?’ he asked now. ‘You and yours are not ailing and need my potions?’
    Fidelma smiled pleasantly. ‘Thanks be, no, we stand in no need of cures or restoratives, my old friend. But I do stand in need of your knowledge and advice.’
    ‘How can I be of service, lady?’ He suddenly realised she was holding a staff in her hand and peered at it.
    ‘Can you identify this?’ she asked, allowing him to take it and move to the better light provided by his lantern.
    He stood turning it over, examining it carefully. ‘I have not seen anything like this since I was a child,’ he observed at last. ‘It is very old and beautiful. Where did you get it?’
    ‘So you have seen something like it before?’ pressed Fidelma. ‘Tell me about it first.’
    Brother Conchobhar shrugged. ‘It is an old staff that symbolised one of the wise teachers of the times before the New Faith was brought to this land.’
    ‘The Druids?’
    Brother Conchobhar nodded absently. ‘The Druids – and that should be a term of respect, for the word “vid” means “knowledge” and the prefix “dru” means “an immersion”. The Druids were considered as people who were immersed in knowledge. There were none wiser nor better informed.’
    Fidelma could not hide her impatience. ‘I have heard all about them and, indeed, I have met some who still claim to be so. Yet they are people who cling on to the old beliefs and ideas.’

    ‘This symbol speaks of a teacher of some importance. Where did you get it?’ he asked again.
    Fidelma told him what had happened at Ferloga’s inn.
    Brother Conchobhar was thoughtful. ‘Did he carry anything else with him? Anything other than the staff?’
    Fidelma reached into the bag she carried and brought out the gorget, its polished crescent shape sparkling with its curious designs and symbols beaten onto the panel. Brother Conchobhar took it and, unexpectedly and uncharacteristically, a soft whistle broke from his lips.
    ‘I did not think that anything like this would have survived the zeal of those who spread the New Faith in this land. I have seen something similar only once before in my life, and it was on the body of a dead man. They said he was a great teacher, a mystic but withal a pagan. The object was taken from him by a warrior and, at the direction of a priest, was cast into the sea with the body of the man, with many prayers and cries to Christ to protect the pious.’
    ‘Superstition and fear is no way forward,’ Fidelma said.
    ‘Any faith is spread by a certain degree of fear, lady,’ the old man replied philosophically. ‘Faith is not logic otherwise it would not be Faith. In those times it came down to those whose magic was the more powerful. That is why the stories of the miracles had to be told so that people would know what power the early fathers of the Faith had over their pagan enemies. Hence the Blessed