Once that shift of thinking took place there could be only one conclusion, and John understood the determination of the colonists who marched out in expedition after expedition to hunt down first one village and then another until it felt as if the trees had ceased to hide the Powhatan, and the leaves ceased to shelter them, as if the colonists could see through the branches and the morning mist, and wherever there was one of the People, a man, a woman or a child, a musket ball would find them.

And then the news came that Opechancanough had been captured. John went to find Attone by the river. He was not fishing, nor sharpening a bow. He was not chipping at the blade of a stone knife, nor tying an intricate knot to flight an arrow. He was standing, uncharacteristically idle, his hands limp at his sides, watching the light on the sluggish water of the river as it lapped at the pebbles at his feet.

‘The white men have taken Opechancanough,’ John said.

Attone did not turn his head. He had heard John approach from half a mile away and known from the sound of the footsteps that it was John, and that he was looking for someone.

‘Yes.’

‘I was thinking, should I go into Jamestown and ask them to spare his life?’

Attone turned his bright dark gaze on John. ‘Would they spare him if you asked it?’

‘I don’t know. They might. At least I could speak up for him. I thought I should go to them and explain what the Powhatan believe. At the very least I could make sure that they understand what Opechancanough is saying.’

Attone nodded. ‘Yes. Go.’

John stepped forwards and stood beside the man, shoulder to shoulder. ‘I have loved you like a brother,’ he said suddenly.

Attone flashed him a quick look and at the back of it was a smile. ‘Yes.’

‘I didn’t think it would end here, like this.’

The Powhatan shook his head, his gaze returning to the moving water. ‘I didn’t think it either, Englishman.’

‘You call me Englishman because I am no longer of the People,’ John stated, hoping to be contradicted.

Attone simply nodded.

John summoned his resolve. ‘Then I will go into Jamestown and plead for his life, and then I will go back to England. I know that there is no place for me with the People any more, and the food I eat robs the hungry men and women.’

‘It is time that you went back to your own people. There is nothing for you here.’

‘I would stay if Suckahanna asked me –’

Again there was that dark flash and a half-concealed smile. ‘You might as well wait for the deer to speak, Englishman. She has turned her head from you, she will not look back.’

‘Because of her pride?’

Attone nodded. ‘Now she is a Powhatan,’ he said.