Runs with Tom

‘There are too many of them to fight,’ she said. ‘Soon they’ll send for horses as well. You’ve got to move faster. Our lives depend on it.’

My mind was willing, but my body simply couldn’t match its demands. ‘I can’t,’ I said. ‘I’ve been tied up for days and I’ve eaten little. I’m sorry but I just haven’t the strength.’

Without another word, the witch seized me by my legs and heaved me up onto her shoulders as if I were no more than a sack of feathers. Then she headed east.


Grimalkin ran for at least an hour. Once she leaped across a stream; on another occasion she slipped to her knees on a slope. The next thing I knew, I was being taken into some sort of shelter and lowered to the ground. Then I fell into a deep sleep. When I awoke, Grimalkin was cooking something over a fire, the smoke drifting up a chimney.

B8 C15