Cross of Vengeance by Cora Harrison Page A

be maintained without the use of savage punishments or shedding of human blood.

Five
Uraicecht Becc
    (Small Primer)
    The heir to abbey lands, even if not in holy orders, has the same honour price as would have an abbot to that monastery.
    The honour price of the abbot of the largest abbey in the country is 42
séts
, 22 ounces of silver or 22 milch cows.
    The honour price of the abbot of a small abbey is 10
séts
, 5 ounces of silver or 5 milch cows.
    Where a monastery no longer exists, the
coarb
is in receipt of the revenues from the old monastic lands.
    The
coarb
, also, bears responsibility to safeguard the ancient privileges of the former abbey or monastery.
    M ara felt tired but contented when she, Fachtnan and her five scholars set out from Cahermacnaghten Law School on the following morning. She had sat up late going through all of the books which her father had left to her, as well as the many manuscripts which she had collected during her twenty-five years as Brehon of the Burren, but had found little to help her until she had come across some notes that her father had made on the history of the monks of St Columba. In his precise minuscule script he had noted the presence of those
Ceile Dé
(companions of God) on the shores of Lake Inchiquin and of the church that they had built at Kilnaboy on the southern edge of the kingdom of Burren. Their lands had extended to the foot of Mullaghmore Mountain and their rights had included that of sanctuary to anyone who claimed it by touching the altar within the church. At the very bottom of the page, squeezed into the tiny space left, her father had written damage to the church must be repaid to the abbot or to his heir, the
comharbae ecalso.
    Nechtan was the man to whom recompense should be paid, and this was an easy matter. Nechtan, as the
coarb
, would have an honour price of ten
séts
or five ounces of silver. For a long time she puzzled over how to estimate the value of the property destroyed, but then she had a sudden brilliant inspiration. Of course, she thought triumphantly, slamming her law book closed and getting to her feet ready for sleep;
Críth Gablach
, as usual, had the answer. Hans Kaufmann must restore the value of what has been lost.
    And how would he do that? Well, thought Mara as she climbed the stairs to her bedroom, that was a matter between him and the officials of Kilnaboy Church; between him and Father MacMahon and Nechtan, the
coarb
, the descendant of the ancient line of O’Quinn.
    I’m sure, thought Mara, that if I see Nechtan beforehand, the fine that we collect from the German can be transmitted immediately as a donation to Father MacMahon. This, she planned, she would announce as soon as she finished sentencing. Notice had been sent out, by Fachtnan, to various churches, mills and other places, of this unscheduled hearing at Poulnabrone, but probably since this unexpected spell of fine weather was ideal for taking a second cut of hay from the fields before autumn and winter set in, or going to the bog, or taking a load of seaweed from the coast for fertilizing the fields, not many would bother turning up for a case against someone who was just passing through the kingdom.
    And it was a glorious day. The night had been stiflingly hot and with a heavy downpour a couple of hours after sunset. Mara had feared the thunderstorm would bring to an end the fine weather. But weather was hard to predict here on the fringe of the Atlantic and this morning a light, fresh breeze had sprung up, blowing straight in from the west and making their ride a time of great pleasure. The early morning sun sparkled on the silver-grey lichen that clung to the stones on the wall, and the shiny coral red berries of the guelder rose shone like jewels. To their left, as they rode down the steep slope of Roughan, the mountain of Mullaghmore gleamed in swirls of silver. Mara looked up at the pathway that wound around the slopes and promised herself that she would climb it