The Green Witch

Chapter Twelve

     Later that morning, Dougal took Tala into town for her school class.

     Tala had wanted to walk into town. Drisco's farm was about as far away from Ellford to the north as her cottage had been to the south and she found it an easy walk. It was warm and the sun was shining. She'd been looking forward to it, but as soon as Drisco had found out what she intended he'd insisted that her son take her there in the buggy. "What's the point in having it if we don't use it?" he'd pointed out. "And the horse needs a walk too."

     Tala rode in the buggy, therefore, beside Dougal who was holding the reins. Ahead of them the horse grumbled to itself as it pulled the small cart but Tala thought it was happy, on the whole. It didn't enjoy being cooped up in the same field for day after day. It liked to see the world. It liked to see other horses, which it would nicker to as they passed each other in the road. <How you doing, Shaggytail?> it asked the ironmongers horse as they waited before the narrow bridge over the river Ell for it to pass.

     <Oh, you know,> Shaggytail replied as it twitched its ears at him. <Same old same old.> It made Tala laugh, which made Dougal stare at her curiously. He and the ironmonger touched caps to each other as the large, heavy wagon trundled past, and then the way was clear for the smaller farm buggy to go across.

     Arriving in the small town, though, Tala's heart froze to see a group of soldiers standing before the courthouse. They were wearing the armour of Knights of Vell. The King's witchhunters. Had they somehow found out about her? Were they here to lock her in the stocks and stone her to death? They were paying only casual attention to the people of the small town, though. Mainly, they were watching as one of them, their Captain, nailed a notice to the wall of the courthouse.

     "You okay?" asked Dougal anxiously. "You suddenly went as white as a sheet."

     "Fine," Tala replied in a low voice. "I just hate those guys, that's all."

     Dougal looked at the Knights as the buggy passed them. One of the Knights looked at them, then lost interest and looked back at where the Captain was hammering in the fouth and last iron nail. The Captain then stepped back and examined his work critically.

     "Not the friendliest people," Dougal replied, also keeping his voice low, "but they do an important job. They protect us from evil."

     "They stone women to death," hissed Tala, keeping her eyes straight ahead. She was afraid that the Knights would see the fear and hatred in her eyes if she looked at them. "Worse. They make us stone our own people to death."

     "witches," Dougal pointed out patiently. "Evil doers."

     "Don't you ever worry that Daisy or your mother might be accused of being a witch? Or me? What would you do if they tried to lock Daisy in the stocks?"

     "None of you are witches."

     "What if they made a mistake? What if they thought Sarah was a witch?"

     "They don't make mistakes."

     Tala stared at him, wondering if he honestly believed that. "Are they the only people in the world who never make mistakes?" she asked.

     "There are tests. They know how to tell a witch from an innocent woman."

     "Oh well. That's all right then. I guess we've got nothing to worry about."

     "They're just here to do their tests," Dougal assured her. "Once they've made sure there are no witches in town they'll move on and it'll be a couple of years before we see them again."