There was an old bench under the birches. Cara settled herself there and tried to make a plan. There was no point in getting out only to be stopped within a few miles. If she did that, they’d put her under lock and key so she couldn’t try again. Not actual lock and key, but the next nearest thing. They’d have someone shadowing her every waking moment. Even in the privy. So the plan needed to be foolproof. Therefore, no horse. She’d go on foot. Once she made it as far as Dreamer’s Wood she’d have a good chance of evading pursuers. She just needed to choose the right time. There was open ground between Dreamer’s Wood and the much bigger forest of Wolf Glen, quite a long stretch of it, but she was quick, and she knew how to find hiding places where other folk might miss them. If she was unlucky and someone saw her before she got to Dreamer’s Wood, she could say she was going to visit the healer. On her own. Which she’d been told not to do. And she’d only say it if she could actually get the words out.

The voice of common sense spoke up. What would Father think when she turned up on the doorstep? Wouldn’t he be angry? Wouldn’t he pack her off straight back here, telling her a daughter should obey her father?