Hardly anyone saw the horse and cart leave Berren by the eastern road. They were all too busy gaping at the place where the Strong-hold had been, and making the acquaintance of the Saaf, and wondering why they had believed in sabotage when it had so obviously been a curse.

If they had seen the cart, they would have thought it was nothing more interesting than a farmer returning home. In the early morning light, he appeared to be talking to himself.

‘It was the right thing to do,’ he said to no one in particular. ‘She will be better off without me. She will grieve for a little while – at least I hope she will – and then she will get on with her life.’

He twisted in his seat, appearing to speak to the sacks. ‘Whereas we have an entirely different future ahead of us, do we not? I think I shall go back to Nor – they will have forgotten me by now, so there will be no danger of imprisonment. And there were always rich pickings there. How do you feel about that, my friends?’

The sacks grunted in protest. One of them tried to wriggle, but was so tightly bound that it could hardly move.

The driver of the cart raised an eyebrow. ‘You do not fancy going to Nor? Very well, I shall drop you off somewhere else on the way. In fact—’ He tapped his teeth as if he was thinking, when really he had made up his mind some miles back. ‘In fact, I know just the place. Or rather, just the person. I shall deliver you into the tender hands of Old Lady Skint, just as you have delivered so many others.’

There were several muffled shrieks from the back of the cart.

‘Delighted, are you?’ said the driver. ‘I thought you would be.’ He raised his voice as if he was giving a speech. ‘Those who have profited from the slave trade shall become slaves themselves. And so justice is done …’

Then he laughed, and said in a normal voice, ‘What is the world coming to, when I am speaking of justice? Ha ha. Ha ha ha! Perhaps some of young Pummel’s honesty has rubbed off on me. Though I doubt it. A rogue I am, and a rogue I always shall be.’

And he clicked his tongue at the horse and drove into the sunrise.