"Why were your hands tied?" asked Gareth as Tala helped him limp through the forest.

     Tala didn't answer, She was too busy talking to the starlings, telling them how much she loved them and how clever they were. The birds were loving the compliments and more were flocking in from every direction to join in the conversation, which was what Tala wanted. She would need a lot of them to drive away the crow.

     "We put you in manacles," said Gareth. "Why would they take off your manacles and tie your hands instead? Manacles are better."

     Tala continued to ignore him. She wasn't going to give him any information he might use against her one day. Unfortunately, though, he guessed all by himself.

     "You were able to remove the manacles with witch magic, weren't you?" said the Knight. "But a tightly knotted strip of leather is a lot harder to undo. Is that right?"

     "You should save your strength," Tala advised him, gasping with the effort of supporting most of his weight. Fortunately the road couldn't be much further.

     <You're such brave birds,"> she said to the starlings. <And there are so many of you. I bet that crow wouldn't dare steal one of your chicks now.>

     <What crow?> cried the starlings in alarm. She heard alarm calls coming from the trees all around. A cacophony of sound that made Gareth stare around in surprise.

     <The crow in that tree over there,> said Tala, pointing.

     The birds didn't know what a pointing finger meant but with hundreds of eyes searching they soon found it. <Better not try to get my chicks!> she heard one of them declare angrily.

     <You haven't got any chicks,> another told it. <None of us do. They all left the nest ages ago.>

     <Oh yeah,> said the first starling, sounding embarrassed.

     <Lucky for the crow,> said Tala. <I bet if you all ganged up on it you'd make short work of it.>

     <You betcha!> a starling told her. <Any crow around here knows better than to mess with us.>

     <What's it like when you all go into battle?> asked Tala. <I bet it's a fearsome sight.>

     <It is!> they assured her joyfully. <The most fearsome sight in the whole forest!>

     <Could you show me? I would love to see something so glorious and magnificent.>

     <Sure!> one of them replied happily. <Come on, lads, let's show her.>

     Tala searched around for the crow and found it sitting in a high branch, safely out of reach of her Eyes that Bite. <I've done for you!> she told it triumphantly. <You may serve the Crone but the starlings serve me. I've told them to kill you.>

     <They wouldn't dare!> cried the crow in disbelief. It was staring around in agitation, though, and must have been able to see the masses of starlings taking to the air all around it. The air was filled with their angry war cries as the birds assembled into a large swarm that circled and swept through the air like a single giant flying creature.

     <You're history!> laughed Tala, staring at the crow. <I can't wait to see them tear you to pieces.>

     <My Mistress will hear of this,> said the Crow defiantly. <Then you'll be sorry.> It took to the air and sped away in great haste, heading back to the Crone's temporary home behind them.

     "What the devil's going on?" asked Gareth, staring up at the display of avian fury above him. "Have they gone mad?"

     "They're chasing the crow away," Tala told him. "If we move fast, we can lose ourselves before the creature gets its nerve back and looks for us again."

     "So it was your doing," said the Knight, as if he'd known it all along. "Your witchcraft."

     "If asking animals to help you is evil then you should arrest all the shepherds and everyone that rides a horse..."

     "That's training, not witchcraft. There's a difference,"

     "You're right, there is. Training is often done with a cudgel. You bully them into obedience, but I gain their friendship. They help me because they want to."

     "The Devil gives you servants to help you do his bidding."

     "What part of friendship don't you understand? They help me because we're friends."

     "Friendship between people and dumb beasts?"

     "Yes. Don't you think shepherds make friends with their sheepdogs?"

     "They don't have to. God gave man dominion over all the birds and beasts of the world. Read the bible." He twisted around in her arms to look at her. "Have you ever read the bible? It would probably burn your hands."

     Tala had, in fact, read the bible. All of it, all the way through. There was often little else to do on long, dark winter evenings than read by the friendly light of a candle. From conversations she'd had with churchgoers and even the preacher himself, though, she had a good idea that they only read the nice bits. Tala was willing to guess that she knew the bible better than Gareth did. She certainly knew it well enough not to use it to try to win a moral argument.

     She began taking the Knight in a different direction, to make it harder for the crow to find them when it came back. If it came back. She didn't know if it was a local crow or one the Crone had brought with her. If it was local, it had probably only known the witch for a few days and might not have any great loyalty to her. Having been driven away by the starlings it might simply forget her and go back to its own business. She didn't dare assume that, though. She had to assume that it would return and look for her, so she headed off in an unexpected direction in an attempt to lose it.

     They were still heading for the Fessiwell road, but if her sense of direction was right they would now meet it several miles further along. That meant several hours longer before Gareth could be got to a healer, but she was beginning to hope that his life was no longer in danger. He seemed to be improving a little, although that might just have been because there was numbness replacing the pain. Think positively, she told herself. He'll be okay.

     At around Midday they came to a stream where she encouraged him to drink as much as possible with his cupped hands, to bulk out the blood he had left. It would be weak blood, of course, but it would fill his veins and allow his heart to beat strongly again. The Knight's strength returned a little after that, although he was still pale, weak and trembly. He could support more of his own weight, but when she let go of him to see if he could walk by himself he could only stagger a few steps before heading to the nearest tree and leaning against it. Tala took hold of him again and helped him to walk on.

     With several stops to rest, they reached the road just as evening was approaching. Tala stared along the length of empty bare earth, rutted with wheel tracks, that stretched both ways ahead of them. It was empty, but there was sure to be someone along sooner or later. It was a busy road. She could leave Gareth here, sure in the knowledge that someone would find him, and then give all her thought to her own survival. She was already thinking about where she would go and what she would do when she got there. Live a life as a normal woman. She would make up a story about running away from an abusive husband. They would believe that...

     Gareth grabbed her wrist and snapped the bracelet of a manacle around it. Tala stared in surprise, so shocked that she could only stare in amazement as he snapped the other bracelet around his own wrist. "What are you doing?" she asked in confusion. "I can get out of manacles with my witch magic. Remember?"

     "Even if I do this?" said Gareth with a savage smile. He was scooping up a handful of dry dust and pressing it into the bracelet's keyhole. Tala tried to push his hand away but the Knight was holding on with all the strength he could summon. By the time she managed to break his grip the manacle's mechanism was clogged up with grit. She used her invisible hands to press the peg that would release the ratchet mechanism but it barely moved. The bracelet would have to be cut off by a blacksmith.

     While she'd been doing this Gareth had been doing the same thing to the bracelet around his own wrist. "Looks like we're going to be enduring each other's company for a while longer," he said with a triumphant smile.

     "Why?" demanded Tala in baffled confusion. "Why would you do that?"

     "Because you're a witch and it's my duty to take you in. I am a Knight of Vell and..."

     "Shut up, you idiot. Don't you realise you've killed yourself?" She was already dragging Gareth back into the forest, desperate to get out of sight before a traveller came along. The knight, having used up most of his strength sabotaging the manacles, was unable to stop her and was gasping with pain as she dragged him along by the wrist.

     "You could have been in a healer's bed before the sun sets," added Tala. "Now you're going to have to sleep out in the forest with me. There's a good chance you'll be dead before sunrise."

     "My duty," said Gareth, his face contorted with pain. "I have to do my duty."

     Tala saw blood soaking through the Knight's clothes. "You're bleeding again. I don't know how badly. I might be dragging a corpse before long."

     "If that's what it takes. God will reward me for bringing a sinner to justice."

     Tala swore and lifted the Knight up so she could get an arm under him. Gareth fought her and tried to drag her back to the road, but pain and weakness soon forced him to give up. Just having manacled himself to her would be enough to get her caught by the authorities, Tala imagined him thinking. He would go along with wherever she wanted to go secure in the knowledge that her eventual capture was now inevitable.

☆☆☆

     They came across a clump of brambles as it was beginning to grow dark and stopped to eat their fill. Tala was ravenous. She hadn't eaten since she'd left the Tanner house and she guessed that Gareth was equally hungry, although she could find little sympathy for him inside her.

     She could survive on fruit alone for a while, but Gareth would need meat so that his body could replace the blood he had lost. She tried not to care about that, but in the end she found herself cursing as she tried to think of a way to get some. Catching something was out of the question. The only weapon they had between them was Gareth's small knife that Tala still had tucked into her belt, on her left side, away from him. She was worried that he might grab it and try to stab her with it, driven by his sense of duty.

     No, if they wanted meat she would have to steal it from a forest predator. She listened with her green ears and heard the satisfied feasting of a badger not too far away. She guided Gareth towards it. "Where are we going?" he asked. Tala ignored him.

     The badger had caught a rabbit. It had torn the unfortunate creature open and had been feeding on its entrails, which meant that its meat was still largely intact. Good. The badger cowered down and hid as they approached. <Humans,> she heard it thinking. <What are they doing way out here?>

     <Hello,> said Tala. <Do you mind if we share your rabbit?>

     The badger reacted with surprise but recovered quickly. <No,> it replied. <>Get your own. This one's mine.>

     It picked the rabbit up in its jaws and prepared to run off with it and Tala stared at it, using her Eyes that Bite. The badger staggered and fell, writhing in pain while Tala winced with sympathy and guilt. <I'm sorry,> she said, <but you can catch another rabbit and we need food.>

     <Nasty, wicked creature!> snarled the badger as Tala released it. <I hate you!> It ran off, leaving the rabbit behind.

     "More witch magic?" said Gareth as Tala took him across to pick it up.

     "I just made an enemy so I could feed your worthless carcass," Tala replied. "Some gratitude would be nice."

     Gareth said nothing, but he took his fire starting kit from his belt and together they started a fire. It wasn't easy with their hands manacled together. Gareth had to hold the flint in his right hand while Tala hit it with the steel in her left. It meant that their bodies were pressed together and their manacled hands kept trying to hold each other whenever they let their concentration drift. It didn't help that Tala liked the feel of Gareth's fingers around hers and she had to keep reminding herself that this man wanted to see her dead.

     They soon had a nice fire going, though, and Tala dressed the rabbit while Gareth reached around for whatever dry, broken branches were within reach. They used the branches to make a crude framework that they used to support the rabbit over the fire. Then they sat and watched it cook as the forest grew dark around them and the trees were filled with the sounds of night creatures.