Read The Raven in the Foregate for Free Online Page B

SHOWED IN THE SERENE SKY of
the foregate came when Aelgar, who had always worked the field strips of the
priest’s glebe, and cared for the parish bull and the parish boar, came with a
grievance to Erwald the wheelwright, who was provost of the Foregate, rather in
anxiety than in any spirit of rebellion, complaining that his new master had raised
doubts about whether his servant was free or villein. For there was one strip
in the more distant fields which was in mild dispute at the time of Father
Adam’s death, and the tenure had not been agreed between priest and man when
Adam died. Had he lived there would have been an amicable arrangement, since
Adam certainly had no greed in his make-up, and there was a fair claim on
Aelgar’s part through his mother. But Father Ailnoth, unswervingly exact, had
insisted rather that the case should come to court, and further, had said
outright that in the King’s court Aelgar would have no standing, since he was
not free, but villein.
    “And everyone knows,” said Aelgar, fretting,”that I’m
a free man and always have been, but he says I have villein kin, for my uncle
and my cousin have a yardland in the manor of Worthin, and hold it by customary
services, and that’s the proof. And true enough, for my father’s younger
brother, being landless, took the yardland gladly when it fell vacant, and
agreed to do service for it, but for all that he was born free, like all my
kin. It’s not that I grudge him or the church that strip, if it’s justly his,
but how if he bring case to prove me a villein and no free man?”
    “He’ll not do that,” said Erwald comfortably, “for it
would never stand if he did. And why should he want to do you wrong? He’s a
stickler for the letter of the law, you’ll find, but nothing more than that.
Why, every soul in the parish would testify. I’ll tell him so, and he’ll hear
reason.”
    But the tale had gone round before nightfall.
    The second small blot in the clear sky was an urchin
with a broken head, who admitted, between sniffs and sobs, that he and a few
more of his age had been playing a somewhat rumbustious ball game against the
wall of the priest’s house, a clear, windowless wall well suited for the
purpose, and that they had naturally made a certain amount of noise in the
process. But so they had many times before, and Father Adam had never done
worse than shake a tolerant fist at them, and grin, and finally shoo them away
like chickens. This time a tall black figure had surged out of the house crying
anathema at them and brandishing a great long staff, and even their startled
speed had not been enough to bring them off without damage. Two or three had bad
bruises to show for it, and this unfortunate had taken a blow on the head that
all but stunned him, and left him with a broken wound that bled alarmingly for
a while, as head wounds do.
    “I know they can be imps of Satan,” said Erwald to
Brother Cadfael, when the child had been soothed and bandaged and lugged away
by an indignant mother, “and many a time I expect you and I have clouted a
backside or boxed an ear, but not with a great walking-staff like that one he
carries.”
    “That could well have been an unlucky stroke that was
never meant to land,” said Cadfael. “But I wouldn’t say he’ll ever be as easy
on the scamps as Father Adam was. They’d best learn to stay out of his way, or
mind their manners within reach of him.”
    It was soon plain that the boys thought so, too, for
there were no more noisy games outside the small house at the end of the alley,
and when the tall, black-clad figure was seen stalking down the Foregate, cloak
flying like a crow’s wings in time to his impetuous stride, the children melted
away to safe distances, even when they were about blameless business.
    It certainly could not be said that Father Ailnoth
neglected his duties. He was meticulous in observing the hours, and let nothing