Tala was the first to go to bed that night, telling the others she was stressed and tired from the testing. The others offered words of understanding and hoped she would feel better in the morning. The earnestness of their good wishes tore at her heart and she found herself hating herself for being a danger to them. Well, soon they would be rid of her for ever.

     She lay fully dressed on her bed, watching the moon and stars slowly moving across the sky through the open curtains of her window. Dougal and the children went to bed soon after, as they always did. Tala heard them gossiping to each other and swapping friendly, familiar insults, and then she heard them moving around as they got undressed and climbed into their beds. Then silence fell, for a while.

     Drisco and Sarah stayed up for another couple of hours before following their children upstairs, but Edward and Tilly stayed up longer. Tala waited with growing impatience as the soft voices of their conversation drifted up the stairs and through the slightly ajar door of her room. For a while she feared that they might fall asleep in their chairs, but finally, at around midnight, they also climbed the stairs.

     Tala gave them a bit more time to fall fully asleep. Then she stood and went to the door. She listened carefully, but heard nothing but the soft sounds of sleeping. Carrying her coat and boots in her hands, she then went down the stairs, carefully avoiding the step with the creak, and went to the kitchen.

     The cat was there, curled up on the high shelf it had retreated to in order to escape the red mice. It opened a yellow eye to look at her, then settled back down to sleep. Tala carefully put on her boots, which would have made too much noise on the stairs. Then she took a dishcloth from the laundry cupboard. She tied it at the corners to make a crude bag, then went to the pantry to fill it with enough food to last her a few days.

     The creak of the pantry door woke the cat and it jumped down eagerly, trotting over to curl its tail around Tala's leg. <More mutton,> it demanded. <Give me more mutton.>

     Tala cut off a small piece to give to the cat, just to keep it happy and quiet. The cat took it and ran off with it while Tala finished filling her makeshift bag. Then she put on her coat, went to the door and quietly opened it.

     There was a stiff breeze blowing. It blew around the kitchen making the dishcloth hanging from the towel rail fall to the tiled floor with a soft flump. Tala slipped through the door and began closing it behind her before a louder sound could give her away, but then a sudden fierce gust pulled the door out of her hand and threw it wide open so that it hit the iron boot scraper with a loud bang. Tala gasped with fear and struggled to push it closed against the wind, doing do as gently as she could to make as few additional sounds as possible. It closed with a quiet click of the latch and then she waited to see if the noise had woken anyone up.

     The house was still quiet, though. The trees were sighing in the wind but no sound of activity came from inside. Sagging with relief, Tala took hold of her bag of food and hurried away down the path. The wind tugged at her clothes, holding her back as if it didn't want her to leave. She leaned into it and pushed her way forward. She wanted to be well within Pockleberry woods before the family woke up and saw that she was gone. If she could make it that far, she would be safe. The whole country would be ahead of her and she could spend the rest of her life looking for a safe place to hide.

     She couldn't help looking back before a bend in the road hid the house from sight, though. What would they think when they found her gone? Hopefully they would just think that she didn't like Dougal and couldn't bear the thought of marrying him. They would be upset and offended but hopefully not suspicious.They would express their disbelief at her thoughtlessness in running away without saying goodbye, her casual disregard for the hospitality they'd shown her, but then hopefully they would forget about her. She would become nothing more than an anecdote they told to other people. A warning of how some people could throw away a good life without knowing how fortunate they were to have been offered it. Everyone they told would tut and shake their heads at Tala's madness and ingratitude and Dougal would go on to marry someone else. A nice, normal girl who would give him children and who would have no reason to attract the attention of witches and Knights. The whole family would have nice, normal lives totally without trouble or incident.

     Yes, they were safer without her, and Tala was safer being anonymous once more. Being further away from any animals and birds who knew her meant that the Crone would never find her again. Let her find some other girl's body to steal. Tala just wanted peace and quiet. A place where she would be left alone. Somewhere out there, she would find it. With the last of her doubts settled and her mind made up, therefore, she turned her back on the house and carried on walking away.

     Where would she go? The city, she thought. Everyone knew that witches hated cities, which was true. Tala's life there, surrounded by bricks, cobblestones and teeming multitudes of smelly people, would be a misery, but she would be safe. No-one would think to look for a witch there. She would get a job spinning or weaving or something to bring in some money and she would marry a man and bear his children. Probably a fat drunkard who would threaten to beat her if she didn't get his dinner exactly right. She smiled in savage anticipation. Let him try. There were rats in cities and she would easily be able to persuade them to...

     She came to her senses with a sudden thump. No, she could never use her witch powers again. No matter how great the need or the temptation. It was too dangerous. No, she would have to find other ways to deal with her husband if he turned out to be abusive. She would think of something. The idea that she might have no choice but to endure the abuse, as so many women did, was simply unthinkable.

     Her mind filled with plans and ideas for her new life as she made her away through the night, the wind tugging at her hair and clothing. To her surprise, she found that she could see, just enough to be able to follow the path, even though the sky was covered by a dense layer of clouds. Was this another witch ability she hadn't known she possessed? If so, it was a welcome one. She'd been expecting to have to follow the path with her feet, feeling the ruts left in the earth by the wheels of the buggy, but that would have been slow. This way, she was able to make much better progress.

     A mile passed under her feet. Then another. She was just passing the lightning tree, the burned ruin of a gigantic oak that had been blasted by a thunderstorm many years before, when she was brought up short by a barely heard sound behind her. She stopped and looked back the way she had come. There was a light back there. An oil lamp in a glass case that illuminated the shape of the man carrying it. The sound came again and this time she was able to make it out as her own name, being shouted by her pursuer. She focused her witch vision to get a better look and cursed when she saw that it was Dougal. The noise she'd made must have awoken him after all and he was chasing after her to find out what was going on.

     There was no way he could see her in the darkness. He was simply following the only road that led away from the Tanner house. She could slip away into the woods that lined the road and he would go right past without seeing her. She climbed up the bank, therefore, squeezed through the bramble and broom that grew there and carefully made her way across the uneven ground on the other side. She found a large tree and stood behind it to watch as Dougal went past.

     The light of the lamp bobbed as it approached and Tala shrank down into herself to hide. As Dougal made his way along the road Tala crept to the side to keep the massive bole of the tree between herself and him, but suddenly there was nothing under her feet and she fell, making a sound he couldn't help but hear. A badger hole, she saw as she sprawled on the ground. She'd been so focused on her pursuer that she'd failed to see it.

     Dougal froze, looking in the direction from which the sound had come, and he raised the lamp higher. "Tala?" he said, staring intently into the darkness. "Is that you?" He began to walk towards her.

     Tala thought about running, but her witch vision gave her only the barest glimpse of the ground ahead of her. It would be all too easy to trip over a fallen branch and break an ankle. Dougal, having a proper source of light, would be able to make much better speed and would catch her easily. She cursed again. Why did this have to happen? What explanation could she possibly give for running away? Her mind raced as she tried to think of something.

     Then Dougal was there, standing right in front of her, holding the lamp to illuminate her face. "Tala! What on earth are you doing? Where are you going?"

     "I have to go, Dougal," said Tala firmly. "I hate emotional scenes, though. I didn't want to have to tell you the reason. I thought I could just slip away and we'd be able to avoid this awful conversation."

     "What awful conversation? What are you talking about?"

     "I can't marry you, Dougal."

     Dougal stared at her. "Why not?"

     "I don't love you. Not even a little bit."

     Dougal frowned in confusion. "Well I know that," he said. "We barely know each other, but you need a home and I need a wife. A marriage suits both of us and maybe love will come later."

     "And what if it doesn't? What if we get married and then you find someone you really fall in love with. Or what if I do? We'd hate each other for keeping us from our true loves."

     "You've been listening to too many bards tales. That kind of love hardly even happens. You marry someone convenient and love comes later. That's how it is for nearly everyone."

     "And what if that's not how it is for us?"

     "Tala, Ellsford is a small village. I know every unmarried girl for ten miles around and I'm not in love with any of them. If I'm going to fall in love with someone, it'll be you. You're by far the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. I can't imagine some other woman having something you don't have."

     "And what about me?" Tala replied. "I deserve true love, if it's there to be found. I don't love you. I never will. I didn't want to have to tell you that but it's the truth." She stared into his eyes and tried to sound earnest and sincere. "I can't enter into a marriage without love. I just can't. You're kind and gentle. Any woman would be lucky to have you, but not me. I'm sorry but that's just the way it is. I'm sorry."

     Dougal stared at her in hurt bewilderment and Tala hated herself for what she was doing to him. It was for the best, though. If she stayed with them, how long would it be before the Crone carried out her threat? The bite of a viper while out working the farm, that's all it would take. Her mother had told her what viper bites did to you. It was sure death after three or four days of agonising pain. If that happened to Dougal, or to Brian or Daisy, she knew she would never be able to forgive herself.

     "So you'll never love me," said Dougal. 'That doesn't mean you have to leave. You can still live with us for as long as you want. We like you. All of us. Where are you going to go? You going to live under a tree for the rest of your life? You want to end up begging in a city, or worse? Fall into the clutches of a villain who'll use your good looks to make money for him. You know what I'm talking about. Is that what you want?"

     "I'll find something," Tala replied, although the possibility Dougal suggested suddenly sounded horribly plausible. Something like that could really happen to her. It might be the only alternative to starvation. "I'll go to the city. Find work..."

     "Come home with us," begged Dougal, taking a step closer to her. "You won't be under any pressure to marry me. You'll just be a hired farmhand who happens to live in the house. And if you find someone and fall madly in love, you can go off and marry him."

     Tala could hear the unspoken thought behind his words, though. If you live with us long enough, you'll eventually fall in love with me. It may take a bit longer before the marriage takes place but it'll happen sooner or later. I just have to be patient. Tala needed to put paid to such thoughts as thoroughly as she could or Dougal would never let her go.

     "I'm sorry, Dougal," she said therefore. "It won't work. A clean break is best. If I stayed I'd feel obligated to give you something back for your hospitality..."

     "There'd be no obligation," Dougal promised, taking another step closer. He reached out a hand and Tala took a step back, her eyes widening with fear. Dougal hurriedly retreated a step, his hands raised in a placatory gesture. "No-one will expect anything from you. You'll just be a lodger. A hired hand. Nothing more. Please, Tala."

     "I can't," said Tala, backing away from him. "I just can't."

     "Why not?"

     "Because she's a witch," came a man's deep voice.

     Tala jumped in alarm as two figures stepped into the light of the lantern. Two Knights of Vell. Tala turned to run and bumped into another Knight standing directly behind her. He took her by the shoulders and held her tight. More figures appeared, advancing from all directions. They'd had her surrounded from the moment she left the road. Maybe from the moment she'd left the house. She saw Gareth looking afraid, clearly wondering how the other Knights would react if they found out he'd been trying to court her. For some irrational reason, Tala decided not to give him away.

     Dougal stared as if trying to decide whether to laugh or grow angry. "She's what?" he declared. "You're mad!"

     "It's the real reason she's trying to slip away into the night," the Knight Captain said. "We had our suspicions during the test. Cunningham saw her react. Just a little." He glanced across at one of the other Knights. The greasy faced one. He nodded in confirmation.

     "Not enough in itself to condemn her," the Knight Captain continued. "So we decided to bring her in for additional testing. The early hours of the morning are the best time to make an arrest. The suspect is half asleep. Slow to react. Then we saw her slipping away into the night. A clear confirmation of her guilt."

     She saw Dougal staring at her, his eyes begging her to say it wasn't true. Tala struggled to think of something to say to convince him. To convince all of them, but then Dougal's eyes widened in alarm. "Oh my God!" he said. "That day we first met, when I broke my arm. You sent the wolves, didn't you?"

     Tala stared in disbelief. "Of course I didn't send them!" she exclaimed. "Why would I do such a thing?"

     "Just for the mischief," the Knight Captain replied. "There doesn't have to be a good reason. They just like to cause mischief."

     "And you sent the wolves to attack Daisy!" added Dougal, growing visibly angry. "For God's sake, Tala! She could have been killed!"

     "I didn't send them!" Tala insisted desperately. "You have to believe me. I would never do such a thing."

     Dougal turned to the Knight Captain. "We didn't know. You have to believe me, we didn't know."

     "I believe you," the Knight replied. "We overheard your conversation. Neither you nor any member of your family will face charges from us."

     Dougal's face relaxed in relief and Tala found herself hating him. How easy it had been to convince him that she deserved to die. And to think she might have married him. "I didn't come to your home to do you harm," she told him. "If I'd had my way, I'd still be living in my own cottage. Do you think I burned it down on purpose?"

     "Of course not," the Knight Captain replied. "It was God, flushing you out so we would find you. And now we have found you."

     He produced a pair of manacles and the knight holding her turned her around. The Captain took her wrists and fastened a bracelet of the manacles around each of them. Tala felt tears of terror running down her face. Her whole body was shivering and her legs had lost their strength. It was all she could do to keep herself from falling to the ground. She heard her breath coming in rapid, shallow gasps.

     "Get along home now," the Knight Captain said to Dougal. "Tell your family what happened and that they have no reason to fear. We'll take care of her now."

     "Thank you," said Dougal, nodding with fearful gratitude. He carefully avoided looking at Tala. "We didn't know. I promise."

     "We know," the Knight repeated. "Get along home now."

     Dougal nodded and almost ran back towards the cottage. The Knights watched him go, and then the Captain beckoned for his men to follow him back to the road. "A good night's work," he said as Cunningham pulled Tala along by the arm. "Let's go get her safely locked up in a jail cell."