October the Twelfh came at last. The day of the testing.

     The Tanner family, including Tala, spent the first part of the morning doing the daily chores that absolutely had to be done. Everything else could be left until they got back from Ellford or, if the testing took longer than expected, the next day. None of them gave voice to the fear that they were all feeling, that one or more of them might not be allowed to return.

     For Tala the fear was that she might be found out, but the others were feeling a slightly different but no less powerful fear, that one of the women might be falsely accused. Obviously it would be a mistake, because they all knew for an absolute certainty that there were no witches sleeping under the roof of the Tanner house, but what were the chances that the Knights would believe that? Nobody had ever heard of an instance in which an accused woman had later been found innocent. After all, how could you prove that you couldn't talk to animals, or fly on a broomstick or strike a man dead with a single glance? The fact was that the moment the accusation was made the woman was as good as dead and the only question left was whether she could be made to incriminate other women before she was put to death.

     There was none of the usual laughter and playful banter as they performed their tasks, therefore. Instead, an uncomfortable silence hung over the farm as they mucked out and fed the livestock. Even the animals themselves seemed to be subdued as if they could sense that there was something wrong with the humans, although eavesdropping on their conversation told Tala that it was nothing more than her own mood shaping her perceptions. The animals were as happy and contented as they'd always been and she found herself envying them. They had all their needs provided for. They could just eat and poop and sleep their whole lives. Until they were sent to the slaughter, of course. The thought gave Tala a moment of dark amusement.

     At half past ten Drisco hitched the horse to the buggy and the whole family squeezed aboard, the men as well as the women. Drisco, Dougal and even nine year old Brian wore grim, serious expressions. Expressions that told the world that, if the Knights had a problem with any of their women they would have the men to deal with. It made Tala fear for their safety. There had been occasions when villages had erupted into violence to protect an accused woman, she remembered. The half dozen Knights had been driven away by crossbows and pitchforks, but a few days later they had returned with a hundred soldiers of the regular army to deliver justice on the witch an1d punish the men who'd tried to defend them. When it had happened in Denby, thirty miles away, twenty men has been carried away in chains to serve time in the dungeons of Shelder Castle. For all she knew, they were still there.

     Arriving in Ellford, the men were separated from the women, who were directed to stand in the field where the dance had taken place just a couple of days before. A dozen chairs stood in a row in front of the courthouse facing a wagon whose windowless sides hid what was inside. The first twelve women were picked out by the Knights and told to sit in the chairs while the others, a hundred yards away, watched with mingled curiosity and apprehension. One of the Knights, a brutish looking man with angry red hair, entered the wagon and, a few moments later, the others began watching the women carefully, studying their faces as if looking for a particular giveaway facial expression. After a couple of minutes the Knight Captain raised a hand to scratch his nose and the other Knights seemed to take it as a signal to examine the women even more closely. Whatever they were looking for, though, they apparently didn't find it because after a few minutes the women were told they could leave. They fled in gasping relief and the Knights chose another twelve women.

     Tala watched as one group of twelve after another was subjected to the mysterious ritual, and as the day progressed she noticed something strange. The Captain would always raise a hand to scratch his nose after the women had been sitting for a minute or two. Maybe he's just 1got an itch, whe thought, but she couldn't rid herself of the thought that she was seeing something important.

     It was hot, they had nothing to sit on, and so some of the women sat on the grass while young children went among them with drinks and snacks. A small girl no more than five years old appeared in front of Tala and offered her a clay beaker of fruit juice, but although her mouth was as dry as a desert she couldn't accept it. Her hands were shaking and she was afraid she would spill the juice down her shirt; a giveaway sign of guilt and fear that the Knights couldn't help but see.

     It was nearly two hours past noon when she was finally chosen to take one of the chairs. All the Tanner women had been standing in a small group and so they were all chosen together. Tala found herself with Tilly on one side of her and Daisy on the other, the thirteen year old holding tightly to her mother's hand as she sat on the other side of her daughter from Tala. From this close to the wagon, Tala was able to sense the thoughts of animals inside and the thoughts she sensed were those of paralysing terror. <Why are they doing this?> she heard. The unmistakable thoughts of a rabbit. <What did we ever do to them?>

     Terror and anger filled Tala as she realised the nature of the test. Animals were being tortured to death inside the closed wagon where normal woman would be unable to see what was happening. Only a witch would be able to feel their agony and the Knights would be watching closely for any woman who showed any sign of distress. The irony of it filled Tala with rage, which she tried desperately not to show on her face. Witches were being condemned for feeling empathy for the pain of an innocent creature.

     A Knight appeared in front of them, taking their names and crossing them off from a list he was holding in his hands. When he came to Tala he paused for a moment as he unrolled a lower part of the scroll looking for her. "Ah yes," he said at last. "You live with your mother in The Nutshell cottage. Where is your mother?"

     "She died of the fever," Tala replied. "And I don't live in the cottage anymore. I live with this family now. I'm betrothed to Dougal Tanner."

     "We'll check on that," said the Knight sternly. "If you're lying, if your mother is a witch trying to elude discovery..."

     "She's telling the truth," said Tilly. "Her cottage burned down, and Sofia Viddyr is buried in the town graveyard. You can go check if you want."

     "You can be sure we'll check," the Knight replied. "Attempting to keep a witch from justice is a very serious offence. The punishment is..."

     "That will do, Grey," said the Knight Captain, walking across to join him. "These people are innocent until proven guilty and we need their goodwill if we are to carry out our work."

     "As you say, Sir," said the Private. He moved on to Daisy to take her name. She spoke it in a quiet, timid voice and the knight crossed it off his list before moving on to Sarah.

     When their identities had all been checked the Knight returned to stand beside his fellows. Gareth was there with them, looking splendid in his knights uniform. He gave Tala a friendly, reassuring smile. Tala smiled back, then fixed her attention on one of the small weeds growing in the road in front of her. If she focused all her attention on that, she thought, maybe she'd be able to ignore what was going on in the wagon.

     "No holding hands," said the Knight Captain. Daisy let go of her mother's hand reluctantly. "And no talking. Everyone will remain still and silent until the test is done."

     The other Knights moved forward until they were each standing in front of one of the seated women, able to see every expression on their faces. The Knight Captain then went to the wagon and rapped on the side. Tala felt herself tense up and forced herself to relax. You can do this, she told herself. If you can't, you condemn not only yourself but the whole Tanner family as well.

     <No, no,> she sensed the rabbits in the wagon crying out. <Leave us alone! Please!> There were over a dozen of the creatures in there, she sensed. Enough to test all the women in the village. All but one of the rabbits calmed down, though, as they were passed over for this particular test, but the fear of one of the rabbits climbed to a new pinnacle of terror as it was grabbed by thick-gloved hands and strapped down to a heavy bloodstained table.

     <No hurt me,> Tala heard the creature whimpering. <Please no hurt me. Please...> Tala's hands clenched into fists of distress as the rabbit's voice was replaced by a scream of agony. The Knight was burning the rabbit with a hot poker, she knew. Touching it to the rabbit until its fur smoked and shriveled and the skin beneath turned red and blistered. The Knight was careful not to burn the rabbit too much, though. He clearly knew how to inflict the maximum amount of pain without destroying the nerves in the skin. So long as the nerves were still intact and alive they could still transmit pain. When it came to torturing something with fire, it seemed, less was more.

     The rabbit's screams tore through Tala's soul. It wouldn't have hurt her more if the poker had been burning her own body. She risked a sideways glance at Daisy and she that the girl's fear was turning to boredom. Is this all there is? She saw her thinking. Do we just sit here? Tala did her best to hide her torment and copy the expression on the girl's face.

     The nearest Knight had been scrutinising Tilly's face but now he moved to examine Tala. Tala stared back at him, looking him in the eyes. She wasn't afraid, she told herself. She had no reason to be afraid. She had no idea there was an animal suffering terribly just a few yards away. She was only curious about this strange man whose face was now so close to hers. That was how Tilly had reacted and that was how she would react.

     The man was in his forties, she saw, with a waxy skin blotchy with broken blood vessels. There was a rash of tiny red pimples on the side of his nose. Tala fixed her attention on the largest pimple which had a tiny spot of white in the centre ready to burst. She tried to make it her entire universe. There was nothing but the pimple. The screams of the rabbit tried to intrude but she shut them out. It was nothing but the whisper of the wind through the treetops. It was nothing important. She saw the knight's eyes moving as they examined her face. No twitch of her mouth escaped him.

     Some apprehension would be perfectly normal, she told herself. Being so closely scrutinised by a strange man would be disconcerting for any woman. If she was too calm and relaxed, that in itself might be taken as suspicious. It was a hot day, which provided a plausible explanation for the perspiration on her forehead. At least the Rabbit wasn't screaming as much as it had been before. Maybe it was almost unconscious from the agony. Maybe it was about to die and find an escape from the cruelty it was being subjected to.

     Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Captain raise a hand to scratch his nose. Was something about to happen? Was it a signal to the man inside the wagon, watching through a small hole in the wagons side? She mentally prepared herself for something unexpected, and that was how she was able to keep herself from reacting when the rabbit gave a sudden, unexpected yelp of pain, greater than any it had uttered before. The torturer had done something more to the poor creature. Something the Knights had hoped would take a witch by surprise, making her give a twitch of sympathy before she could get herself back under control. She saw the Knight inspecting her frown as if he thought he'd seen something but couldn't be sure. Tala made herself stare calmly back at him. Inside she was raging, crying out at the Knights for their treatment of an innocent, defenceless animal, but by an effort of will that taxed her to the limit, no trace of it showed on her face.

     The Knights gave it another minute or so, and then the Captain gave the signal that the women could leave. Tala heard the rabbit give a brief yelp as it was finally and mercifuly put to death and then there was nothing but silence from the wagon. Beside her, women were standing, looking confused as they wondered what the Knights had been looking for. Tala stood as well, her legs feeling as weak as jelly, and went with the other women as they made their way back to where the villagers were waiting. The Knights chose another group of twelve women and took them to the seats. Tala tried not to think that another rabbit was soon going to be tortured to death. The only mercy was that she would now be too far away to hear its screams.

     It wasn't over for her yet, though. The Knights were still giving occasional glances at the women who had already been tested. If she allowed herself to relax and show the torment and fury she was still feeling, they would see. And even if they didn't, the other women would and they would certainly give her up to the Knights to avoid any later accusations of having tried to shelter her. Tala had to maintain her willpower for an hour or two more yet. Soon, though, when the Knights had finished their testing and the women were free to go, she would finally be able to find a place, far away and out of sight, where she could give vent to the tumultuous storm of emotions that filled her.

     "Is that it then?" said Daisy, looking confused. "I thought they were going to ask us questions or something."

     "That's it," her mother confirmed. "I told you it was nothing to worry about."

     "I was so scared. I just couldn't help wondering what they were going to do to us."

     "Well, it's all over now," said Sarah, taking her daughter's hand and giving it a squeeze. "Why don't we celebrate by having something special for dinner tonight? What about chicken?"

     "I love chicken!"

     Tala barely heard the conversation. She was staring at the wagon as her imagination painted a terrible picture of what was about to happen inside it.