The Green Witch

Chapter Four

     Tala didn't visit Dougal again after that, but after a few weeks she would occasionally see him with his father, a large man with a thick, bushy beard, on their newly repaired cart as they came into town for supplies. She supposed that the horse pulling the cart was the one that had run off on the day of the accident, found and returned to its owners. If Dougal saw her he would give her a friendly wave which she would return, but otherwise Tala would pretend not to see him as she hurried to the church hall.

     The incident faded from her mind, until the day she was in her cottage, sewing a hole in her cotton shirt, when there came a knocking on the front door. Tala froze in fear. No-one ever came to her house. She never had visitors, ever. She hurriedly pulled on her thick, woollen jumper and hurried to the window to look out and see who it was.

     It was Dougal, she saw in surprise. He had left the small horse and cart he'd ridden in on at the end of her garden and was standing by the door, staring around at the animals that had gathered curiously around him. <Man!> cried the blackbirds in alarm. <Man, man, man, man, man!>

     <Yes, I know it's a man,> Tala replied. <Now get out of here before you scare him off.> Before he starts wondering why the animals around here are so friendly towards humans, she thought. Better get rid of him as fast as I can.

     She went to the door and opened it. "Dougal," she said, trying to sound surprised, although he had probably seen her looking through the window. "How's the leg?"

     "Twinges a bit now and then," he replied. "Pretty much mended, though. Ethel says to be careful with it for another couple of weeks, just to be safe, but it's pretty much back to normal."

     He stared at her expectantly and Tala tried to remember what the rules were when someone visited your home. "Will you come in?" she asked. "I'll get you a cup of tea."

     "Thanks, but I can't stay long."

     Tala was surprised by the feeling of disappointment that accompanied the relief. She found herself looking at his chest, now covered in a leather tunic, and remembered how it had looked bare when he'd been lying in the healer's bed. She returned her eyes to his face before he noticed. She was suddenly very aware that her own chest was bare beneath the woollen jumper and her heart quickened as she imagined his hands reaching out to touch her. Stop it you foolish woman! she scolded herself. What kind of brazen harlot are you?

     "I wanted to thank you again for saving me," said Dougal, smiling as he met her gaze. "I asked the folks in town where you lived."

     "That's really not necessary," Tala replied. "Besides, you've thanked me already."

     "Not properly..." Dougal began to reply, but his voice faltered when he saw that her attention was no longer on him. There was a deer nosing curiously in at the end of her garden. The horse turned its head to look at it. <Go away,> Tala told it. <Come back later when the man's not here.>

     <Why? asked the deer. <Is it a bad man?>

     <All men are bad,> Tala told it. <Stay away from all men, and stay away from here when there are men here.> She raised her voice to be heard by all the animals in the area. <Did you hear that? Stay away when there are men here.>

     <Men are good,> said the horse, though. <They give me oats. They brush my fur. Brushing my fur feels good.>

     <You work for men,> Tala told him. <The other animals don't. I was talking to them, not to you.> Around her, the animals were leaving, though. The deer bowed its head to her, then turned and bounded away.