Read Wolf Wood (Part One): The Gathering Storm for Free Online

out. You'd better come and
see.'
    They entered
All Hallows through a side door. Richard usually found it crowded.
The chapel wasn't just a place for worship. It was the centre of
community life. Men met to discuss business. Women gathered for
mutual support. It was impossible to separate religion from
everyday life.
    'Christ
Almighty!'
    In the space
of a few hours, workmen had totally remade the processional
doorway. A new arch had been inserted inside the old arch and a new
door was already in place. The vicar and the sacrist were there
with Bailiff Walter Gallor.
    'Sod you!'
    Richard strode
towards them, looking more like a soldier on the rampage than a
priest of All Hallows. A steel helmet covered his bald pate and a
sword hung from his belt.
    'That's our
door. You leave it alone.'
    'You are
mistaken, Master Vowell.' The sacrist peered timidly from behind
Walter. 'The processional door is an integral part of the abbey
nave.'
    'You're
telling me they built a church that was open at one end.' Richard's
face reddened.
    'The east end
of All Hallows abuts the west end of the abbey nave,' the sacrist
tried to explain. 'It was built as a chapel of ease.'
    'So, you're
saying we don't have any rights.'
    'No. I'm
not.'
    'Yes you are.
You've just said it's not our church. You said it was a chapel of
ease. That's another way of saying it's part of the abbey and you
can do what you sodding well like.'
    'Master
Vowell,' the vicar tugged at his sleeve. 'Pray, watch your
language. You are in God's house.'
    'That's
right.' Richard wagged a menacing finger at the sacrist. 'You heard
what the reverend said. This is God's house ... it doesn't belong
to you.'
    A mason
working on the doorway winked and gave Richard the thumbs up sign.
The vicar noticed the gesture and took Richard's arm.
    'I think it
better that we should leave.'
    'Not until
he's told us what's happened to our font.' Richard pointed through
the archway to where the font had once stood. They've taken it
away.'
    'The font has
been taken to a place of safety,' the sacrist said. 'Two nights ago
our bailiffs surprised a gang of Welshmen trying to drag it off.
Isn't that right, Master Gallor?'
    'It is, your
reverence. Three Welshmen and a Lollard tinker ... all associates
of Master Vowell, here.'
    'You made the
whole thing up,' Richard glared at the sacrist. 'You told Wat
Gallor to say that so you'd have an excuse to take it away.'
    'The father
abbot has instructed that the font be placed at the end of the
nave,' the sacrist insisted. 'There will be no hindrance to its
use.'
    'So he's still
around is he ... the reverend father?'
    Richard thrust
his face at the sacrist.
    'I'm told he's
not been seen since Christmas. Are you sure someone didn't slip a
green powder into his communion wine? You should go up to his
chamber ... see that there's not a mummified corpse in his
bed.'
    'Master
Vowell, this is seditious talk.'
    'Don't talk to
me about sedition, Master Sacrist. I fought for our young king in
France. I'm not plotting to make peace with the rebels ... not like
some people we know.'
    Richard turned
to leave then swung back for a final blast.
    'You've not
heard the last of this.'
    ***
    The girl
pulled up her skirt and Alice examined the dome of exposed flesh.
Her patient was about sixteen and this was her second pregnancy.
The first had ended in miscarriage.
    'I've prayed
to the Holy Mother that it shall not happen again,' the young woman
sobbed. 'It's because of something I done. I don't know what but
Holy Mary will speak for me.'
    Alice probed
gently. The girl was approaching full-term and her second offspring
was showing the same tendency for a feet-first exit. The result
would be another fatality. The child's head would be trapped and
violent intervention by the midwife would be needed to save the
mother.
    The midwife
was Betty. Alice had known Richard Vowell's woman for only a short
time. She was plump and placid and Alice had developed a lot of
respect for her. Somehow, solid,