It was getting darker by the minute. Evanee thought that might be to her advantage, if she could get far enough away she could hide and come up with a plan. She hesitated at the edge of town and looked back, seeing him limping down his front steps. She had hoped her kick would have blown out his knee completely but it appeared that it had just slowed him down enough to give her a small head start. The road ahead was straight with nothing but corn fields on either side. If she could get through the field into the woods, she knew that was her best chance.

“Witch!” The Governor shouted. “Everyone, catch her!”

Heads turned her direction. Her neighbors, friends, children she had delivered, all stared.

She didn’t wait to see whose side they would pick. She ran about two hundred feet before ducking into the field to her left. Instead of heading straight for the woods though she ran half way through the field and then doubled back a bit before heading for the tree line. Hopefully he would assume she was trying to get as far from town as possible and start his search in the trees further East and the paths that lead to the highway. She slipped as carefully through the corn stalks as she could hoping not to leave a trail that would be easy to follow.

When she reached the edge of the field there was about thirty feet of open space before woods began. She crept as close to the edge of the corn field as she dared and looked around. She willed her heart to slow and tried to steady her breathing. She glanced back and saw broken flashlight beams through the corn stalks. It seemed that at least three people were behind her now, maybe more. So the Governor had at least a few allies.

Not daring to delay any longer she stepped out from the corn field and bolted across the open space.

“There! She’s in the woods!” Someone shouted.

Faster now, she pushed her way deeper, scraping her bare arms and legs on the under brush. Her leather slippers protected her feet, but her homespun sleeveless dress did little to protect her body. A branch caught the pale green linen at her waste and tore a hole in the fabric. Another branch whipped across her face and she felt blood begin to trickle down her forehead.

Running parallel to the road on the other side of the trees was the river. A footpath used by the townspeople to reach the best fishing spot cut diagonally through the trees. In the ever increasing darkness Evanee didn’t realize how close she was to the path until suddenly she was standing in it. From her left around a bend came the beam of a flashlight.

It was Mister Weaver, whose wife had been Evanee’s first ever delivery as the town midwife. He was running so quickly down the trail that they nearly collided.

To her right it was about 50 feet to the river. She turned to run that way, although that was not where she wanted to be. She needed to get back closer to town to retrieve the book.

“Wait!” Mister Weaver whispered, grabbing her arm firmly. He pointed urgently to a thick patch of raspberry bushes back away from the path a bit, then held his fingers to his lips.

Evanee didn’t have time to decide if she could trust him or not. She dove into the thick foliage and crouched low. Moments later two more men caught up to him, breathless. Another came out of the woods closer to the river.

“She’s in the river!” Mister Weaver shouted. “I just saw her disappear under the water!”