I could tell by the expression on Arthur's face that his news wasn't good. Bors, Lancelot, Jols and Tristan were in the tavern, eating lunch when he entered, looking ten years older than he had the day before.

'Knights, come with me,' he said, his forehead creased. He hesitated, then turned to me. 'Aderyn, you come as well. You may be able to help.'

This didn't exactly fill me with confidence – I had learnt by now that they only needed my help when something went wrong. I followed Tristan and sat down beside him at the round table. Arthur remained standing.

'Gawain, Galahad and Dagonet have disappeared,' he said grimly.

Lancelot swore and Bors leapt to his feet. I breathed in sharply, but as always Tristan contained his emotions.

'I sent them to search the forest for any Saxon who may have escaped. That was a day and a half ago. They haven't returned.'

'We must go after them,' Bors bellowed, still on his feet. 'We can't leave them out there. They may be hurt, even dead.'

Arthur sighed. 'We don't know where in the forest they are. They haven't returned, but they may be fine. I just don't want to take any chances.'

'If we could find them,' Lancelot said slowly, letting his words trail off.

I shifted in my chair as everyone glanced at me. Tristan raised an eyebrow.

'Could you?' he asked.

I considered. Shape changing used a lot of energy, and I would be exhausted by night – but there was no way I could leave the knights out there, possibly killed or injured.

'I will search for them,' I said softly. 'But I can't guarantee I'll find them.'

Arthur nodded. 'I'll be grateful for whatever you can do, Aderyn.'

I stood up. 'I'll go now. If I find them, I'll return and lead you.'

Arthur nodded and Tristan stood, following me out of the room. He walked with me to a grassy area where I wouldn't be bothered as I changed. He turned to me as I stopped and prepared.

'Are you sure you want to do this?' he asked.

I glanced at him. He wasn't questioning my ability – he was asking whether I knew the risk I was taking, trying to find the knights who were possibly held captive by Saxons. I nodded.

'If I don't try and one of them dies because of me, I'll hate myself forever,' I said quietly. 'If I stay as a bird, they won't notice me. Or so I hope.'

He nodded and stood back as I spread my arms and closed my eyes. I concentrated hard – thinking of feathers, of talons, of a beak and eyes that could see a mouse move from fifty feet in the air.

I was concentrating so hard that I didn't realise that I changed shape until I felt the dress I had been wearing become limp and fall on me, blocking out all the light.

Tristan lifted the dress off me and held out his arm. I hopped up, and he looked at me.

'Be careful,' he whispered. 'I'll be in my room if you find them.'

I nodded to let him know that I understood. Then he lifted his arm and I took flight.

It took me a little while to get used to my wings. At last I recovered my balance, and I flew for the forest. I noticed that a small bird, flying much lower than me, was darting into the forest. I swooped lower, trying to see what it was, but it was out of sight.

Searching in the forest is hard, because I had to fly low. I had to go underneath the canopy of branches so that I could see the ground. I also had to look where I was going, otherwise I would crash into a branch and possibly break a wing.

I saw no sign of them as I kept flying. Frustration was building inside me - I could spend weeks looking in the forest and not find them. I landed on a branch, discouraged.

I sniffed the air, suddenly realising what I was smelling. Smoke! A fire nearby. I sniffed the wind again, hope making me feel as though my heart had jumped to my throat.

But I found that my nose had mislead me – the fire was deep in the forest, further away than I had thought. It was late in the afternoon when I finally got close enough to see the smoke rising into the air.

I flew in carefully, stopping often to make sure that there were no sentries watching. Then I almost shook myself. Of course sentries wouldn't look for a bird!

How wrong I was.

At last I came to the edge of the clearing where the fire was. I perched on a branch to survey the scene.

Around the fire were three men – Saxon by the look of them. Who else wore those cloaks of badly cured animal pelts? I could smell them from the tree branch.

And there, bound hand and foot, were the three Sarmatians. They were all tied to a stake driven deep into the ground, and their weapons had been removed. Dagonet looked resigned, but Galahad was furious. Gawain seemed to be in a daze.

Their horses were hobbled and tied to a tree nearby. All three of the knights had bruises and bandaged wounds – they hadn't been captured without a fight.

I looked around again, and saw that the Saxons were busy eating. I should have left then, gone back to Arthur to tell him what I had found. Instead I flew to the tree that was closes to the knights. I wanted to reassure them, tell them that help was coming. Stupid me.

I fluttered down silently to land in front of Dagonet. His eyes widened as he saw me, and Gawain sat up straight. I should have realised what Dagonet's panicked look meant, but I thought that it was just the aftershock of being captured.

'Aderyn!' Galahad gasped loudly, staring.

At once Dagonet clapped his hand over the younger man's mouth, and Gawain elbowed him sharply in the ribs. But the damage was done.

There was the twang of a bow, and only my reflexes saved me. It was a habit now to jump sideways at the sound of an arrow, and it was a good thing I did – an arrow landed beside me, buried deep in the ground where I had just been.

I took off with a screech, as more bows twanged. Desperately I dipped and swerved, but one came so close that it took feathers off my left wing. The Saxon were yelling.

'Get it! Get it! Or it'll be the death of us!'

A rock flew through the air – I dodged but it had been thrown by Gawain. It hit a Saxon square on the nose – even with both hands bound together, he could aim almost perfectly.

Dagonet and Galahad followed his example, and I was able to get into the air. I might have been able to escape then, but for one thing – some cunning bastard had somehow made a net.

I'm not sure what it was made of – some kind of cloth rope. The corners were weighed down with stones, and it fell right on top of me, pulling me to the ground.

I screeched – well, really, I screamed. Perhaps if I had had the sense to change back into a human I would have got the net off – then again, I might have been shot. But I was wild with anger and fear.

I fought, beak and claw, to get the net off – but all I did was tangle myself up. A hand reached for me, but I bit and slashed wildly until it was withdrawn with a curse.

'What a devil!' the man cursed, using his cloak to stop the blood trickling down his arm.

'Well, we've got her,' another voice said, satisfied. 'Arthur won't get any new of us now. He won't know where we are, and he won't have any warning when we attack.'

'That net was brilliant,' another said, emerging from the bushes beside me. 'It got the bitch perfectly.'

I stayed still, panting heavily. Fear was like ice on my back. I was captured – so were the three knights. Arthur had no warning that there would be an attack.

If I could have, I would've hit myself on the forehead for my stupidity. If I had flown straight back to Arthur, this wouldn't have happened.

Then I heard something that made me freeze with fear.

'Tie that bird's beak shut, and clip its wings. I don't want it flying off or changing back to human. Perhaps later we'll see what roast hawk tastes like.'

As the Saxon came towards me, rope and dagger in hand, I had one thought.

How the bloody hell did they know who I was, and why I was here?