They continued to the top of the rise. On the ridge the road forked. Blod was heading northwest, toward Trench.

Blod said: “Good-bye, Edgar.” She looked sad. She should have been happy: she was running away to freedom.

“Good luck,” said Edgar.

“I will never see you again.”

I hope not, Edgar thought; if we meet again it will mean you have been caught. He said: “Give my regards to Brioc and Eleri.”

“You remembered my parents’ names!”

He shrugged. “I liked the sound of them.”

“They’re going to hear all about you.” She kissed his cheek. “You’ve been a friend to me,” she said. “The only one.”

All he had done was treat her like a human being. “It wasn’t much.”

“It was everything.” She put her arms around him, laid her head on his shoulder, and hugged him hard. She rarely showed emotion, and the passion in her hug surprised him.

She released him and, without speaking again, she walked away along the road. She did not look back.

He watched her until she was out of sight.

He returned down the hill, still treading softly. It seemed no one else was awake. That was good: if he were seen now he could offer no possible excuse. A slave had escaped, and Edgar was up and walking around in the middle of the night: his complicity was undeniable. The consequences of that hardly bore thinking about.

He was tempted to reenter the alehouse and lie down in cozy safety, but he had promised to lay a false trail for Blod.

He went to the riverbank and untied the ferry. Brindle jumped in. Edgar boarded and quietly picked up the pole.

It needed only one thrust to push the ferry out into the current. The flow of water took the vessel around the north side of Leper Island. Edgar deployed the pole to keep away from the banks on both sides.

He floated past the farm. Erman and Eadbald had ploughed the field, and the moon shone on damp furrows. No light showed from the house, not even firelight, for there was no window.

The current was fastest a little to the right of midstream. Brindle stood at attention in the bow, sniffing the air, ears cocked for any sound. They passed through thick woodland interspersed with villages and single-family settlements. An owl hooted, and Brindle growled.

After an hour Edgar began to study the left bank, looking for a suitable place to leave the ferry. He needed a location where the boat might have got tangled in riverside vegetation so badly that a small, thin girl could not extricate it. He had to fake evidence that would tell a plain, clear story. If there was the least flaw then suspicion would immediately fall on him. There must be no room for doubt.

The place he chose was a small patch of shingle overhung by drooping trees and bushes. He poled to the bank and jumped. With an effort he hauled the heavy boat partly out of the water and pushed it into the vegetation.