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I’m here so I’m free to come and go as I like.’ It was a rare luxury for people like us, and I was not surprised to receive one or two envious glances. Lord Gilbert believed I was in Cambridge; he had given permission for me to go and study there because, as Edild and Hrype had explained when they went with me to present my case, the more I learned, the more use I would be in the village. Lord Gilbert undoubtedly believed I was being taught further healing methods. Neither my aunt nor Hrype mentioned the other skills that my new teacher possessed in such abundance, and I certainly wasn’t going to.
    ‘For another thing,’ I went on, ‘I’m used to travelling and I know how to look after myself.’ I tapped the knife I keep at my belt.
    I could now protect myself in other ways, too; Gurdyman had already taught me many things besides the first rudiments of alchemy. But I did not think it wise to reveal this to my family.
    There was a short silence. Then my mother looked at my father, and even from where I sat I could read the appeal in her eyes.
    ‘So I am to risk the safety of one daughter in order to set your mind at rest concerning another?’ my father muttered. He turned his eyes from my mother and looked at me, and I read such love in his face that I felt tears smart. I blinked them away and gave him a smile.
    ‘You truly are prepared to do this?’ he asked.
    ‘I am, Father.’
    He sighed heavily. ‘My heart misgives me, and I want more than anything to go with you,’ he said. ‘But I cannot.’ His eyes fell, and I had a strong sense of his sudden hatred for his lot: if he followed his powerful desire to look after me, he would risk his livelihood, his home and the well-being of all the other people who depended on him.
    It was not easy for people like us.
    I went over to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. ‘I will be quite safe, Father,’ I said quietly. ‘It is, as you say, most unlikely that Elfritha has come to harm. As soon as I know she is safe, I will send word.’
    His only answer was to take hold of my hand and squeeze it, so hard that it hurt.
    I set out for Chatteris while there still remained some hours of daylight. The sky was clear and the weather continued to be mild; I had no fear that a night in the open would do me any harm. My mother packed food for me and a leather flask of small beer, and Zarina rolled up a light blanket. I was dressed for travelling, having journeyed from Cambridge, and had my heavy cloak with its deep hood. The leather satchel that I always carry contained the personal items that I would require, as well as a freshly-replenished basic stock of medicaments. A healer is always a healer, wherever she is, and must be prepared to give aid whenever she is asked.
    We said our goodbyes inside the house. It seemed sensible not to make a big public display, which would have got people talking. I didn’t think anybody had taken any particular notice of me so far; I was dressed sombrely and from a distance probably looked just like everyone else. There was no need to suspect Lord Gilbert had been informed of my presence in the village.
    I embraced my family and, with the impression of their loving kisses still on my cheek and the sight of their anxious faces before my eyes, slipped out of the house and quietly left the village. I saw no one except in the distance, and none of those still working the fields and the fen edge took any notice of me. Soon I had left Aelf Fen behind and, as I trod the road that would curve in a long loop around the southern edge of the fens and then north again to Chatteris, I could have been alone in the world.
    I made good time, setting my feet to a marching rhythm and humming to myself to keep my spirits up. I told myself that my sister couldn’t possibly be dead, since she had called out to me for help. I didn’t allow myself to consider that the sort of summons I had received could equally well have been sent by a dead spirit as a