“It’s floated off. You didn’t tie it up properly.”
“I tied it up tight. I always do.”
“I suppose the fairies must have untied it,” Dreng sneered. “Is that what you’re saying?”
“Them, or Ironface.”
“Why would Ironface want a boat?”
“Why would the fairies?”
A suspicion began to dawn on Dreng. “Where’s that slave?”
“You already said that.”
Dreng was malign, but he was not stupid. “The boat has gone, my dagger has gone, and the slave has gone,” he said.
“What are you saying, Dreng?”
“The slave has escaped on the ferry, you fool. It’s obvious.”
For once Edgar did not mind Dreng’s abuse. He was glad that Dreng had immediately jumped to the conclusion Edgar had planned. He said: “I’ll go and look in the churchyard.”
“Call at every house—it won’t take you long. Tell everyone we have to start the hue and cry unless she’s found in the next few minutes.”
Edgar went through the motions. He walked to the graveyard, looked into the church, then entered the priests’ house. The mothers were feeding the children. He told the men there was probably going to be a hue and cry—unless Blod suddenly turned up. The younger clergy began to lace up their shoes and put on their cloaks. Edgar looked hard at Deorwin, but the old man ignored him, and appeared unaware of anything untoward in the night.
Edgar went to the home of Fat Bebbe, just so that he could say he had looked for Blod there. Bebbe was asleep, and he did not wake her. Women were not obliged to join the hue and cry, and anyway she would be too slow.
The other residents were small families of servants who worked for the minster, doing cooking, cleaning, laundry, and other household chores. He roused Cerdic, who supplied them with firewood from the forest, and Hadwine, called Had, who changed the rushes on their floor.
When he got back to the alehouse the group was already gathering. Degbert and Dreng were on horseback. All the dogs in the hamlet were there, too: they could sniff out a fugitive in hiding. Degbert pointed out that it would be useful to give them some old clothing of Blod’s to sniff, so that they would know what smell they were searching for; but Dreng said Blod was wearing all the clothes she had.
Dreng said: “Edgar, fetch a length of cord from the chest in the house, in case we need to tie the slave up.”
Edgar did as he was told.
When he came out of the alehouse, Dreng raised his voice to address them all. “She stole the ferry, and it’s a heavy vessel for a girl to pole upstream, so it’s certain she went downstream.”
Edgar was glad to see that Dreng was set on following the false trail. However, Degbert was not so credulous. “Might she have untied the boat and let it drift away to set us on the wrong track while she went in a different direction?”
Dreng said: “She’s not that clever.”
There was another flaw in Degbert’s scenario, but Edgar did not dare to point it out, for he was fearful of seeming suspiciously keen on the downstream search. However, Cuthbert said it for him. “The boat wouldn’t go far on its own. The current would have taken it to the beach opposite Leper Island.”
Others nodded: that was where most debris fetched up.
Cerdic said: “There is another boat—the one belonging to the nuns. We could borrow that.”
Cuthbert said: “Mother Agatha wouldn’t lend it willingly. She’s angry with us over the death of the baby. She probably thinks Blod should be let go.”
Cerdic shrugged. “We could just take it.”
Edgar pointed out: “It’s a tiny vessel, with room for only two people. It wouldn’t be much help.”
Dreng said decisively: “I don’t want trouble with Agatha, I’ve got enough to worry about. Let’s move. The slave is getting farther away every minute.”
In fact, Edgar thought, she was probably now hiding somewhere in the forest to the northwest, between here and Trench. She would be in the middle of a dense thicket, out of sight, trying to catch some sleep on the cold ground. Most forest creatures were timid, and would stay away from her. Even an aggressive boar or wolf would not attack a human unprovoked, unless the person was evidently wounded or otherwise incapable of defense. The main danger was outlaws such as Ironface, and Edgar had to hope that no one of that type would spot her.
