The Green Witch

Chapter Thirteen

     Dougal came back for Tala at around Midday and had to go into the church to find her. The Knights of Vell were still in town and she didn't want to risk running into them. She had two of the girls with her, Cindy and Carla, and was trying to reassure them that the coming testing was nothing to be afraid of. Which for them it wasn't. Probably.

     "I saw the notice," he said as he and Tala headed back out into the street. "Figured it'd be something like that."

     "Shame the King can't find something useful for them to do," said Tala as she climbed aboard the buggy.

     "Finding witches is important," Dougal replied as he climbed up to sit beside her. "Can't have witches running around the Kingdom getting up to all kinds of mischief."

     "What kind of mischief did they do?" asked Tala, growing angry. She regretted her words the moment they were out of her mouth, though. She should just parrot the conventional wisdom that all witches were evil and should be put to death. That was the safe way and it was what everyone else did. Even today, there were people old enough to remember the days before King Roderick, when green witches were valued and respected members of the community, but they didn't dare speak out for fear of being accused themselves.

     Dougal began to recite the list of evil deeds that witches were accused of carrying out and Tala nodded her agreement. "Yes, you're right," she said. "It's just hard to believe that they used to do things like that."

     "Yeah," said Dougal sadly. "You don't like to think that people like that exist."

     Tala suddenly felt bold enough to take a chance. "And to think they got away with it for five hundred years before anyone found out. All those centuries of being thanked and revered because people thought they were helping them."

     "They were clever," Dougal replied without taking his eyes from the road ahead. "The Devil Himself helped them deceive people. They used His power to pull the wool over people's eyes."

     "They say there's more plague in the Kingdom than there used to be in the days of the witches," Tala ventured carefully. How far did she dare to go? Not much further, she thought. He would start becoming suspicious. "When the plague swept across the world, it barely touched Meddelvy. The witches said it was spread by rats and that they were keeping them out of people's houses."

     "God kept this country safe from the plague because we were His chosen people," Dougal replied. "He rewarded us for our faith. Now, though, the plague is being sent by the Devil as revenge for us killing all his witches."

     "That does seem the most likely explanation," said Tala drily.

     Dougal just nodded, completely oblivious to the tone of sarcasm that she hadn't been able to keep out of her voice. Now stop, she warned herself, feeling relieved. Baiting him like that was much too dangerous. To avoid notice, you had to hate and fear the witches just as much as everyone else. It wasn't something she'd be proud of, she knew, but it was necessary if she was going to survive.

     They rode the rest of the way in silence, but as they were drawing close to the farm Tala was alarmed to see a wolf standing in the road ahead of them. A wolf she recognised. Limper. What was she doing here?

     <Mother!> the wolf cried gratefully. <I've found you!>

     "A bloody wolf!" said Dougal in alarm. "What's it doing here?"

     He was remembering when he'd almost been eaten by them, Tala knew. Maybe he was imagining that the whole pack had followed him here, still keen to taste his flesh. As if wolves would ever do such a thing. The horse was also skittering in alarm, though. Horses were all great cowards and their response to anything the slightest bit strange or unusual was always to run away from it. Dougal pulled hard on the reins and the horse stopped, but Tala could see its eyes rolling fearfully in their sockets. The poor beast was close to bolting, and only the reassuring presence of its human master was keeping it from doing so.