Beyond the hill that lay behind the house, the field sloped down into a narrow ravine. Firns grew out over water which curved its way between smoothed rocks. Smaller rounded rocks and pebbles littered the floor of the stream, gleaming like treasures as the bright sun shone through a thick canopy. Ellen felt a chill as she walked into the undergrowth towards the waters edge the smell of quickly decaying leaves hitting her. Elijah had led her there but run off, saying he would not be caught with her. It struck her as strange that someone would actually be guarding a river from people who would fish. After all the risk of being caught should be rather small, they couldn’t be everywhere.

She removed her Nike shoes and socks before wading into the edge of the stream, the cool water reaching just above her ankles. The water wasn’t deep even further out which gave her clear visibility. The rounded rocks slipped and slid under her feet making it feel like she was walking on wet marbles.

Looking around her, she could feel her tense shoulders falling downwards, on her own she could relax. No fish swam anywhere near her. She regretted ever suggesting that she would get them fish. Her mouth often spoke before her mind could follow. It wasn’t the first time that she had said things she regretted. A blush rose in her cheeks as she recalled a few years ago when she had accidentally claimed that she wasn’t Swedish when a good looking Australian exchange student had asked her if she was. He had assumed she wasn’t Swedish and guessed that she was from southern Europe. It was common enough that people assumed she was a foreigner, her brown curly hair and darker complexion was not what people expected of swedes. Somehow the words had just slipped out, that she was an exchange student. After that she had actually thought of pretending she didn’t speak Swedish for the rest of that course but one of her friends had spoken to her and she had answered. It had been for the best, lying wasn’t a good thing.

An insect streaked along the surface of the water like a skater, rings formed in its wake as it headed towards the deeper calmer waters. A large birch and several large leaning willows hung with their branches all the way until the leaf tips brushed the surface of still water. Ellen walked towards the deep to see if there might be fish there. A splash and the glistening of a small fish made her head towards that spot with more purpose before stopping and going back to remove her jeans. No one would see her in her underwear and getting jeans wet was not pleasent. For good measure she removed her t-shirt as well.

She returned to the water, determined that she would return to the family with a fish or else feel the shame of her lie. As she walked towards the other side of the stream the bottom turned from slippery rocks into a cold muck that seeped in between her toes for every step she took, the water turned murky making it impossible to see the bottom and any possible pray. The water ran cold past her, all the way up to her belly button making her skin turn into goose flesh. Another insect streaked across the surface and in a flash of silver and green it was gone, leaving only a ring on the water.

It wouldn’t do to just walk around stirring up the muck, not being able to see anything. She would stop and wait until she got better visibility. Most likely she would have to return empty handed. The boy would surely not starve to death while she was away, hopefully his fever went down and his family could feed him some of that gruel.

But what about her own family? If she was dead they must have heard about it by now. Her heart began to pound and she swept the thought away, thinking instead of her breathing and what was right in front of her. A fish, its red fins sweeping back and forth in a lazy motion. She threw herself towards it, arms outstretched, ready to catch it. The lazy motion of the fish turned frantic in the instant that she jumped and as she fell towards where it had been she plummeted into the water, getting a big mouthful of it and her nose filling painfully from the impact. She got to her feet immediately, spluttering and throwing her soaked mop of hair back over her shoulders.

She would try again, stand still and… A cracking noise came from behind her and she turned towards it. Only to see a thin man with a white goatee and upturned mustaches, wearing a long red coat with large silver buttons over a pair of tight fitting black trousers and leather boots reaching to his knees. The clothes looked like something that would be worn at a fancy dress costume party. He was coming down the steep slope towards the water. Though his eyes were intently on the narrow dirt path that he walked along , she felt certain that his intent was to seek her out. She waded, her arms swinging frantically as she did, towards the shore where she had removed her clothes.

She was still in the water, her feet sliding on the slippery rocks near the shore, when the man stood in front of her. He looked solemnly at her, letting his eyes swoop down her body, which made his frown even deeper. She glared back, not at all pleased with his presence there, her cheeks burned with embarrassment. Another step forward and she grabbed at her clothes lying in a heap, pulling her t-shirt over her head. The man let her, just standing, staring as she got onto the shore and not very gracefully pulling on her jeans as she snapped at him.

“Don’t you think it’s rude to stare at a woman getting dressed?”

“Don’t you think it is silly to get angry at a person whom you have been trying to steal from?” His voice was soft, the enunciation clearer than Haralds and Elijahs speech.

“What do you mean stealing?” Though she knew that this must be Ivan, the so-called village master that Harald had been talking about.

“Most of the lands in Sundborn belong to me. That means that the rights to fish and hunt are mine by decree. Which also means that you are a thief.”

“I didn’t know. I don’t know your customs, and I was hungry.” It was best to play innocent, then he would have to be lenient on her. He looked down at her, his eyes once again travelling down her body, though this time they stopped at the picture of Stephen Hawking on her chest.

“Why do you have a picture of a man on you’re... front?”

“It’s Stephen Hawking.”

“Stephen Hawk King? I assume he is a powerful king in the land that you come from. Is that right? Witch.”

“He is dead. But he was very famous for the work he did.” She stopped before she could begin rambling explanations, his eyebrows were rising as he stared down at her. This was one of those times when she wished she hadn’t been so short. “And my name is Ellen.”

Then he surprised her by actually smiling, a genuine warm smile and reached out a hand towards her, his palm up. She took his hand and he raised it while bowing over it.

“I am pleased to meet you and to have you in the village of Sundborn. It was too long since we had our own witch. My name is Ivan Knightscrown.”

“I am very pleased to meet you, Ivan.”

“I see you will have to learn our customs. You are to call me Sir Ivan. And it would be my honor to welcome you to come to my home and share a meal with my family and me.”

“Yes please, I would like that very much. However, I need to go back to the family I was visiting before. Their son is very ill and I want to see if he is getting better.”

“Then I will go with you. At times it is good for the peasants to see me inspecting my property, they do a better job of taking care of it with the respect that it is due.”

He led the way up the hill at rather a quick pace for a man that looked as if he was getting along in years. Ellen who had just pulled on her jeans while still sodden from her experience in the water walked rather stiffly behind in her horridly wet jeans. She didn’t much like the way that Sir Ivan had spoken about the people, it did really sound like the way a person would have spoken about others not of their class in past times. Since it was obvious that they viewed her as ignorant of their lands and Sir Ivan was of the understanding that she was from a different place she plucked up her courage to ask a few questions as they walked.

“Sir Ivan, may I ask what year this is?”

“It is the year 2025 of the lord.”

This startled her, that meant that she had not gone back in time.

A few more questions gave her the understanding that this was Sweden, but under the rule of the British empire and their current king was called Edward.

A horse stood at the top of the path, it was a nice glistening brown like molten chocolate. She stroked its muzzle and it sniffed at her, blowing out a snotty breath and turning away.

“Horses don’t generally take to women folk.” Ivan commented.

“It’s the first time he sees me, maybe if I came to know him.”

“This horse is much too fine, even for a witch.”

He took the horse by the bridle and began to lead it along towards the cottage not far away.

“I wish that there was more that I could do for the boy. He was very ill and undernourished. That was why I was trying to catch fish. It would help them a lot if you could give them food, I’m sure the boy would recover quickly.”

She had started to babble again.

“They have the food that they work for, if they worked more things would be different.” Was all Sir Ivan said.

“But please, Sir Ivan, you must see that it would be a great benefit to you if you gave them food, the boy is already old enough to do some work and if he survives he will be a great worker within just a few years.” This was really an exaggeration, the boy couldn’t be more than six.

Sir Ivan furrowed his brow as he led his horse along. Maybe her garbled talk had some impact, she could always hope.

“In the land where I come from people are generous to those who are poor and starving and others look upon it as being something noble. Maybe this could become a custom here as well.”

He looked at her, his eyes told her that he wanted to give her a good whipping.

“Things are done differently here, and the sooner you learn of it the better. You are sent here by God to serve us and you have no right to influence us. Everyone knows that witches are strange, we don’t want your strange customs. Don’t think that you are the first witch who has come begging to me or my forebears with this nonsense.”

He turned away from her letting out a breath, a vein throbbed at his temple. She didn’t dare speak any more in case she angered him further. This was a battle she was sure she couldn’t win.