DEEP WATERS

CHAPTER 15 - Accused

As 14th August approached, Ace got more and more tense. He tried very hard not to show it, but it crept out a bit. He managed to annoy everyone on the team except Will, but then, he knew what was wrong.
“It’s all coming back, isn’t it?” he asked sympathetically.
“Too true,” Ace shuddered. “Just living it all again…you know, could I have done any thing differently, could I have stopped it. It’s hard to think of anything else, just now.”
“Keep talking, Ace. It might help a bit.”
“It was beautiful, wasn’t it, Will? It wasn’t just me that thought it was?”
“Of course it was beautiful! Where d’you think you got your looks from?”
That made him smile, and helped him get to sleep. Will was glad of that. If he felt that bad now, he was going to feel terrible in the morning.


Will woke first, and waited quietly. Ace got up even faster than usual, with a brittle sort of brightness that didn’t fool Will for a moment. But when he opened the door to go out for water, Will saw him stop and pick something up from the doorstep. He choked back a sob and Will went to his side.
“Look,” said Ace.
It was a beautiful, small posy of flowers, and tied to it was a card that said, ‘Hang on in there, Ace - love from Rose and Clover’.
“They remembered! They remembered the date! Did you tell them?”
“No, Ace, I never said a word. They remembered by themselves.”
“That is so kind,” said Ace, struggling hard. “So very, very…oh, Will…”
It was too late, he’d lost it, tears were pouring down his face. Will held him tight and let him cry, but he wasn’t calming down, he was getting worse.
“Go back to bed,” said Will, “before the others wake up. You can’t do anything today. That’s it. Look, I’ll put your flowers on your pillow. Everyone understands. They’ll be thinking of you at home today, too. David and Rowan and everyone.”

Will squeezed his shoulder and covered him up, then sat on the edge of his own bunk, just waiting quietly.
“What’s up with Ace?” said Gran, as he got dressed.
“He’s not well. We’re not coming training today, Gran.”
“OK, suit yourselves.”
He walked out on his own. Will messaged Betch and told him what the matter was, and he helped by getting the others out quickly. When they’d all gone, Will stood up. Ace was still crying. Will wasn’t surprised. Ace didn’t do anything by halves. When he let go, he really let go.
Will brought him a drink of water and helped him sit up.
“Come on, that’s it. Have a breathe.”
“Oh, help, this is awful,” said Ace. “I’ve got to get a grip, I’ve got to! What’s the time? I’m supposed to be on the Concourse at eight o’clock!”
“Well, you won’t be. It’s five to. Lie down again, Ace. I’ll go and tell the sergeant you’re not well, and get back to you.”
“No…no, don’t do that. Stay there, Will, and get the instructions. You lead, today.”
“I’m not leaving you on your own!”
“Please, Will…you want to help me, I know that. But you’d really help me by leading the team. Knowing they were in good hands.”
“You really mean that?”
Ace nodded. He couldn’t speak, his eyes were welling up again.
“OK, if you’re sure. I’ll have a go. I can’t be any worse than Zoza.”


Will ran off. He only just made it, Sergeant Olt was already there.
“Where’s Ace?” he said, frowning.
“He’s not well, Sergeant. He really can’t do anything today.”
“I’ll have a look at him. You going to lead? Good. Time you had a chance to show us what you can do. Here’s the instructions. You can start as soon as you’ve rounded up your teams.”
When they’d gone, the sergeant walked across to Hut twenty-four and went inside.
Strewth, what a tip! he thought. “Ace, what’s wrong? No, don’t try to get up, it’s all right, lie still.”
“I can’t stop crying, that’s all. Pathetic. Sorry, Sergeant. Knew today would be bad. Didn’t know it would be this bad.”
“Is it your tree?”
“Mmm. It was only last year.”
“So recent? I didn’t realise. Very painful, grief. Doesn’t just hurt in your mind, does it, it hurts all over.”
“I’m sorry to be a nuisance.”
“You’re not a nuisance, lad. But you need something else to think about…it’s funny how things work out, sometimes.”


That strange remark intrigued Ace, and helped him calm down enough to slither out of bed. He washed his face and combed his hair, then wandered outside. It felt fresher; it had been hot in there. He sat on the doorstep and let the breeze cool him down. It was very quiet. He saw Jenny and Kiefer, out of the corner of his eye, creeping past Hut fourteen, and waved to them. He was a bit puzzled when they threw out their arms in apparent disgust and turned back the way they’d come. But he didn’t get a chance to wonder about it, because someone had come to join him.
Ace got to his feet.
“Good morning, sir,” he said listlessly.
“Don’t be so formal!” smiled General Herdalen. “No-one’s listening. Here, I brought you some coffee.”
“That smells good. Thanks, Gran. Did Sergeant Olt tell you, then?”
“Yes, he did. Because the funny thing is, I tried to beg you off today’s exercise. Not because I knew the anniversary - I didn’t. But because I needed your help. But would he listen? No chance. ‘Sorry, sir,’ he rumbles, ‘you’ll have to wait till he’s got some free time’.”
Ace smiled a bit.
“He’s always saying he’s not a senior officer, but he is really, isn’t he?”
“I’ll say. But the thing is, as you’re not going anyway, d’you feel up to some exercise? Or would you rather have a bit of peace?”
“I don’t want to be with a lot of people,” said Ace frankly. “But if there’s something I can do to help you, then I’d like to do that. What is it?”
“It’s about this website your David’s making. He asked Madge if she knew the names and addresses of any Allies, and she told him a couple she knew. But she also asked me to find out any I could. And I asked some people to pass the word around, quietly.”
“The people you were sitting with, last full moon?”
“Exactly. Between us, we know everyone who’s sound for the cause. And these are the Allies they know.”

He pulled a sheaf of papers out of his pocket.
“Nearly fifty. Now, I want to get this list to David, and I don’t really want to use the Messengers. That means getting down to the valley, to a human letter box. Want to come?”
“Yes, please,” said Ace, looking a bit more alive.
“Good. And, I want to explain to him that I’d rather he made contact with only these Allies for now. There’ll be others, you see, whose friends are civilians. I don’t want civilian colonies getting alarmed by war rumours - not yet. D’you understand?”
“Yes. Yes, I do. Are you going to write to him then, and explain?”
“No. Not unless he knows Norwegian. No? Thought not.”
“I see,” said Ace. “He hasn’t been on the mountain. So anything you said, or wrote, wouldn’t seem like English to him. So d’you want me to write the letter?”
“If we’re going down anyway, you might as well talk to him.”
“Talk to him? I can talk to David? Today? Oh, this is wonderful.”
Then he frowned and paused.
“Will won’t mind, will he?”
“Would you mind, if it was the other way round?”
“No, I’d just be really glad for him, that something had happened to cheer him up.”
“Then so will he be.”
Ace jumped up, his eyes shining.
“I’ll get the phone!”


They went to the office first. On the way, the general caught a sound of rustling and stopped to peer behind a bush.
“Nice try, Ross,” he said. “Back you go.”
Ace heard Ross muttering with annoyance and trying to disentangle himself from the bush. What were they up to? Something where you had to keep out of sight? He didn’t worry about it, Will would cope, and he had to keep up with the general.
“Now all we have to do is find an envelope, and a stamp. Shouldn’t take more than an hour or two.”
“This place is worse than our barracks. We’ll come and do you another tidy-up. We made a box for your stationery, isn’t it next to your desk?”
“Oh… so you did. Brilliant. Yes, here’s an envelope… and a stamp.”
“Let’s have a look,” said Ace. “Different to English ones. Did you make that?”
“No, that’d be counterfeiting. It was bought, properly, in a shop. Supplies sees to all that sort of thing. OK, that’s done. Here’s a pen, you do the address.”

Ace sat at the general’s desk, feeling very important, and wrote David’s name and address in his best writing. Then the general slipped the letter into his pocket.
“Let’s go. And if you see any of your friends, don’t forget to wave!”
They crossed the camp, but they didn’t head for the western gate, as Ace had been expecting.
“Might be a bit busy there. We’ll walk through the forest and jump the fence.”
Ace was bewildered to see how many of the first years were in the forest, all trying to keep out of sight. General Herdalen waved cheerfully to them all, but all he got in reply was groaning.
“None of your team around, I see,” he remarked. “Will must have a good plan.”

Ace was getting very curious, but soon they reached the perimeter. They jumped the fence together and headed down the mountain. He tried not to think what was going on. He’d only get tempted to message Will and ask him, and he wanted to let him get on with it, without being mithered. So he started talking about something else that was puzzling him.
“Why is counterfeiting so bad, Gran? What harm does it do?”
“That’s a tricky one to explain. But you know enough about humans to understand. It’s a bit like stealing, that’s all. If I copy a stamp instead of buying it, I’m cheating the Norwegian postal service into giving me something free, that humans have to pay for. If we cross into their world, we need to keep their laws. If you really can’t pay, like when you’re hitching a ride on a train, always do something in return, instead. Fix a ripped seat or a rattling door, for instance.”
“I see. I never thought of that before, but I always will, now.”
“Good. Some sprites think it’s clever to cheat them, but if we’re on their side, we should be setting a better example.”

“Right. Got you. But why can’t we make human money? If it looks exactly like the real thing, what difference does it make?”
“Well, money has no value of its own. It’s just a chunk of metal or a bit of paper. But it stands for something, like, say, so many hours of work to earn it. It’s cheating again, you see. Putting something into their world that has no real value, because it wasn’t earned according to their rules.”
“Oh,” said Ace quietly. “Whoops.”
“You’ve done a spot of that, have you?” asked the general, amused. “How much? And what for?”
“Half a million pounds,” said Ace, biting his lip.
“What! How long did that take?”
“Ten solid days,” groaned Ace, remembering. “It nearly killed us. But we never used it. Someone tipped the police off, and we had to burn the lot. David was in on that one, too.”
“You know what, Ace, if you hadn’t met Madge, you’d probably be in prison by now.”
“Yeah, that’s what she kept saying,” laughed Ace. “The word prison did seem to come out quite a lot when she was talking to Will and me. I suppose I knew it was wrong, really, but I didn’t understand why. It was a good plan though. If it had worked, we might have saved Will’s tree, at least.”
“When did his go?”
“November. That was the end of it. The whole place was destroyed. We could have fought on…but Will knew I wanted to come here. He just said, ‘Let it go’. So brave. But when the time came…oh, it was awful. Even worse, really…he passed out, you know. I never told him that. Hogweed carried him to bed, and he never woke up. I was frantic, I thought he was dying, but Madge said he’d slipped over into hibernating, and she was right.”
“And when he woke up, he was calm?”
“That’s right. Spoke to me about it, once, then never mentioned it again. He won’t cry, when November comes. He’ll just go very, very quiet.”


They were nearly down to the side of the fjord, and turned more to the south.
“You know that other time you came down? Where did you find a good signal?”
“Oh, yes,” said Ace, a bit embarrassed. “Over there, on the headland.”
They crossed the fields, where the land jutted out into the fjord, and sat on the grass. Ace proudly switched the phone on, but nothing happened.
“Bother,” he groaned. “Battery’s dead.”
He turned it over to take the back off, then stopped.
“And I haven’t got a penknife. Why haven’t I got a penknife?”
“Well, why haven’t you?” said the general, handing over his own.
“Same reason Will never has a comb,” grinned Ace.
He prised the back off, and looked at the battery in a puzzled way.
“You two rely on each other far too much,” said the general. “You need to be able to operate independently when you have to, you know.”
“Oh, don’t say that,” Ace groaned. “Not this week, when we’ve had Colonel Thingy from Germany wanting to snaffle Will for the Technical Section.”
“Does he, now? That doesn’t surprise me at all. But don’t worry, I won’t let anyone split you up unless you ask me to. As for deciding whose work is the more important, you’ll have to fight that out between yourselves.”
He peered into the phone.
“I’ve never seen a battery like that before,” he added. “But I’ve see beads of moisture like that, many a time. That’s Norwegian dampness, that is. Leave it open in the sun for a few minutes, to dry out. It might be all right then.”

Ace laid the phone down on a rock in the hot sun, and lay back in the grass. His thoughts went straight back to his tree, but he felt calm now, just remembering quietly. Then he smiled as he heard Will messaging him in some alarm.
What on earth are you doing, Ace? You’re miles away!
Don’t worry, it’s all official. I haven’t flipped and run off, if that’s what you were thinking.
Well, it had crossed my mind, Will admitted.
No, I’m with Gran. We’re going to phone David, to talk about his website. And we’re going to Menes, to post him a letter.
Very nice. You sound a bit happier.
Yes, I am. Much better. What are you doing, anyway?
Oh, I’m in a boat, said Will airily.
Are you, now. How’s it going?
Oh, fine. You’re out of a job, you are. Say hello to David for me.
Ace laughed, and went to pick up the phone.
“That was Will,” he told the general. “Thinking I’d flipped and done a runner. He’s in a boat. What are they up to?” he asked, consumed with curiosity at last.
“In a boat?” said the general. “You mean he’s off the mountain?”
“I don’t know,” Ace faltered. “Shouldn’t he be?”
“He could well be, on this exercise. But don’t you see, you are too!”
“Crumbs,” said Ace. “I never thought of that!”
“Let me try,” said the general, and tried to message Will. “Not a thing. He’s definitely off the mountain.”
“But we’re both still nearby,” said Ace.
“Doesn’t make any difference. Once you’re off, that’s it. Even on the beach it doesn’t work.”
He looked at Ace with growing bewilderment in his eyes.
“Even twins can’t message direct, both off the mountain. I don’t understand this at all. Try and get through yourself.”

Ace was just as puzzled as the general now, and quite excited.
Will! We’ve done something weird!
That’s nothing new. What have we done?
We’re doing it now! Messaging direct, both off the mountain. Gran says it’s impossible, even for twins.
Flipping heck. That’s spooky. I don’t like spooky.
I know what you mean. Hang on…Gran says don’t tell anyone.
Why not?
If he’s thinking what I’m thinking…
…which he probably is…
…this could be very useful.
What I want to know, is how? and why?
Thought you’d say that. But don’t start worrying about it now! You’ll go off in a trance. Concentrate, OK?
I’ll try, laughed Will. But this is very, very interesting…


Ace couldn’t believe that the day he’d been dreading had turned out to be so good. The phone had worked, he’d had a long chat to David, then the fun of getting through the tiny village, unseen, to post the list. When they’d got back to camp, General Herdalen had work to do, and Ace was feeling all right, so he went to report to Sergeant Olt, who told him to go and find something quiet and sensible to do. That threw him a bit, then he thought of practising the guitar. Just the thing. He went off to the hut happily enough, and was soon deeply absorbed. Late in the afternoon, he stopped to flex his aching fingers, and realised that Will was getting pretty close. Coming in from the east? He put his guitar away and went to see what was going on.


Around the eastern gatehouse, the first years were gathering. It was nearly five o’clock, the time limit they’d been given for their exercise, and Sergeant Olt was looking at his watch.
“It looks like you’ve won, Gran,” he remarked. “England tried the same trick as you, but I don’t think they’re going to make it inside the time limit.”
Oh, yes they are, thought Ace. They’re nearly here…
Sure enough, just at that moment, the whole team came out from the trees and walked through the gate in weary triumph. They’d had a hard time, by the look of them. Hogweed was carrying Bella, Rose was limping, and even Fran looked tired. But they all started smiling at the outburst of indignant admiration.
“It’s not fair!” said Kiefer crossly. “Even without Ace they still win! How did you do that?”
“Sit down, all of you, and we’ll find out,” said the sergeant.
Ace wriggled across to join his team, and patted Will on the back, delighted.
“I’ve told you again and again,” sighed the sergeant. “Listen to what you hear, and to what you don’t hear! Now what did I say this morning? The winning team will be the one that gets the most people unseen from the western gatehouse to the eastern gatehouse. Did I say you had to cross the camp?”
Most of them groaned. They’d spent all day trying to come up with ingenious routes, and clever timing, that would avoid their being spotted. But they hadn’t thought of that.
“But we’re not allowed to cross the perimeter!” said Sizzle indignantly.
“Without permission. General Cherapont was hoping that nine people would ask for permission today, but only two did. Never mind,” the sergeant added, as he looked at so many crestfallen expressions. “Some of the things you did try were very impressive. I liked your camouflage, Italy. That might have worked if you’d moved more slowly. And trying at twelve o’clock, when you knew most people would be in the canteens, was very intelligent too. But Scandinavia and England listened carefully and thought a bit bigger. They’ve had a long, hard day of it, but they achieved their objectives. Now, two of the fairies on Gran’s team were spotted flying before they reached the gatehouse. But you’re a big team, fifteen of you. You got thirteen back unseen, and you got in first. England got everyone back unseen, but there were only eleven of them, and they took longer, so I’m giving the points to Scandinavia. But well done to both teams.”


“Sit down, all of you,” said Ace, as they stumbled onto the Concourse. “I’ll bring the drinks for everyone. I’m so proud of you I could burst.”
He came back with six mugs in each hand, and slithered in next to Will.
“I want to hear all about it,” he said. “You must have been miles!”
“We have,” moaned Clover. “It was awful. My feet are killing me.”
“It was too much of a rush at the end,” said Will, “when we were tired. That was my fault, the route was a bit longer than I thought.”
“You weren’t far out,” said Betch.
“He was brilliant,” said Rose. “He said another team might think of going around, but they’d probably go clockwise, like we did in the big race. So he said we’d go anti-clockwise. But no-one had ever been all the way round that way. So he got everyone to describe the bits they had seen, and fitted it all together, he was drawing a map and working a route out while we were talking!”
“And we realised we had a problem,” said Will. “We knew the second year fairies were working off the cliff, but if we came in to avoid them, we’d be much too close to camp. And we couldn’t go lower, it’s much too steep. So I wondered about a boat, and Hogweed said he could do boats, quiet boats that no-one would notice.”
“So we headed down to the fjord, and Hogweed rowed us past the cliff, then we climbed back up the mountain, and round into the Eastern Forest, and down,” said Peter. “How you got us through there, I don’t know. I’d completely lost my sense of direction by then.”
“It wasn’t that difficult,” said Will, smiling at Ace.
“Don’t be daft, Peter,” said Stella, making him choke on his orange juice. “Ace was here on camp, wasn’t he?”
“Oh, of course!” said Peter. “That’s why you were so sure of the direction! And I was thinking you were so brilliant, like you had a compass in your head!”
“Well, it is a bit like that,” said Ace.

A few of the Scandinavian team walked past, and Ace called to them.
“Hi, Gran! Congratulations!”
“Thank you,” said Gran coolly. “The best team won for once. Your real plan was very clever, though, leaving Ace on camp so you could find your way back. Luckily Sergeant Olt saw through it.”
Ace was furious.
“How dare you!” he shouted, so loud that everyone on the Concourse turned to stare. “Are you accusing us of cheating?”
“Yes, I suppose I am. And why shouldn’t you? I’m just glad it didn’t work.”
“Now just a minute!” said Ace.
All the elves were on their feet, and so was Dan.
“How could we have worked that out, before we knew what the exercise even was!”
“You said you were ill. But you don’t look very ill now, do you? What was wrong, that gets better so quickly?”
“Mind your own business!”
Ace and Gran moved at the same moment, but their arms were grabbed by their own teams.
“Don’t be stupid, you can’t fight here, the place is swarming with officers!”
A corporal of police was looking their way, very suspiciously. Gran shrugged off the hands from his arms and stalked away contemptuously.
“I don’t believe I heard that!” said Ace in bewilderment. “What a nasty thing to think! And to say! I wouldn’t have believed it of him.”
“Is that what everyone’s thinking?” said Clover, aghast.
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” said Ace bleakly. “I bet Kiefer is. The trouble is, I saw him this morning. And waved. I didn’t know anything about it then, I was just saying hello, but he’ll think I already knew what was happening. Oh, what a mess.”
They talked it over quietly while the Signals Unit orchestra played sparkling music behind them. It was so light and cheerful it was making Ace very edgy.
“Let’s do some music of our own,” he said suddenly. “Not loud. Just powerful. Powerful enough to reach England.”
“Good idea,” said Will grimly. “You told him he’d regret it for the rest of his life. Don’t want him to think we’ve forgotten.”


Next morning, Sergeant Olt found Ace and Will waiting for him outside his office. When he heard what they had to say, he sent them to see the Commander. And when the first years started arriving for class, he rounded up the rest of the elves and sent them into an empty classroom.
“I hear that some of you think England cheated yesterday,” he stated simply. “This is ridiculous. Only I know when each exercise will be held. Is anyone suggesting I would show such favouritism as to tell anyone in advance? Grossly insulting. And Ace was not pretending to be ill. I saw him myself. There is something that can make you so ill you can hardly move, yet which can pass in less than a day. And don’t tell me there isn’t, unless you’ve seen your own tree sliced down with a chainsaw, only one year ago.”
“I told you it was that!” said Droz fiercely. “You don’t know the meaning of suffering!”
“That’ll do, Droz,” said the sergeant quietly. “As for Will finding his way home more easily because Ace was on camp, I don’t call that cheating. It’s not a thing you can switch off, you know. He couldn’t not use it. Things which are advantages sometimes, are sometimes disadvantages. It should be obvious that such things even themselves out over time.”
He sighed almost despairingly, then spoke in a brisker tone.
“I have two more things to say. First, the England team are so incensed by the mere accusation of cheating, that they have asked me to take away all the points they have scored so far.”
A gasp of astonishment shook the room, and Fran and Peter, and Wayne and Betch, nodded seriously.
“We all agreed,” said Fran. “It’s disgusting. This is to prove that we don’t worry about winning, just about doing our best. We know we’re throwing away our chances. But just let anyone call us cheats after that.”
“I agreed, reluctantly,” said the sergeant. “Their honour has been insulted and they have every right to make this extraordinary gesture. Even though they had more points than the rest of you put together!”
“What?” said Kiefer. “That many!”
“Exactly. And the second thing. Ace Moseley has asked the Commander for permission to challenge Gran Starheim to a fair fight, for insulting him in public. When she heard what he had to say, she gave permission at once.”
He looked at Gran calmly.
“You apologise, in public, or you fight. Twelve o’clock, on the field. That will be all.”


Not a single first year went to the canteen at twelve o’clock, but that didn’t matter, because the second years who were meant to be making the drinks didn’t go either. The news had spread as fast as the wind, and everyone gathered around a square of sand which had been spread on the playing field. Fran and Peter squirmed through the crowd to join Wayne and Betch, and saw Ace standing waiting, his face hard and stern, with Hogweed at his side.
“Where’s Will?” said Fran in amazement.
“At the back,” said Betch. “They decided to do that, so no-one could accuse Will of helping him. But he had to have a second, so he asked Hogweed.”
“That was kind,” said Fran.
“He’s bursting with pride,” said Wayne. “Half the goblins haven’t got a clue what’s going on, but they’re all rooting for Ace, just for that.”
“Sergeant Kopec’s the referee,” said Betch. “Sergeant Olt said Gran had insulted him as well as Ace, and it wouldn’t be fair if he did it.”
“D’you think Ace stands any chance?” said Peter. “Gran’s a lot bigger than he is.”
“He hasn’t got a hope,” said Betch. “But that won’t stop him.”

Gran and his second pushed through the crowd. Some of them patted his back as he passed; he had his supporters. He was smiling slightly as he halted in the square.
“Can you all hear me?” he shouted. “Is this public enough for you, Ace Moseley? I apologise for insulting you. You didn’t cheat. Now, can we abandon this rather ridiculous spectacle?”
Ace swallowed hard, fighting back disappointment.
“Accepted,” he said, and held his hand out. Gran took it, but he didn’t smile, and neither did Ace. It was very superficial. But it was enough, and Sergeant Kopec took charge at once.
“That’s that, then. Move along, everybody. I want a full afternoon’s work out of everyone, so off you go and think what you ought to be doing.”
He went off to have a word with Sergeant Olt, and Ace’s team rushed off to join him.
“Served him right!” said Clover.
“Yes,” said Fran. “But why? Our team’s at the bottom of the heap now. Is that all he wanted, all along?”
“It might be,” said Betch. “He’s very clever, very subtle. He might have guessed we’d do something rash.”
“That might not be all he’s got in mind,” said Will, looking at Ace, who hadn’t spoken, and was breathing hard. “Look at the state of you.”
“I’m all right,” said Ace crossly.
“Are you? Pull the other one. You blasted Bill Pearce last night, then got all keyed up for a fight that didn’t happen. If he tries to put a nightmare on you, Ace, you’ll go down like a skittle, and do something so mad you’ll end up in detention.”
“Shut up, Will! I can handle it!”

Will sighed, but before he could do anything, Hogweed stepped up to Ace, and frowned down at him, then hit him hard, a right hook to the jaw. Ace wasn’t expecting that, and went right over. For a moment, he was stunned with shock, then he scrambled to his feet, and went for Hogweed in a fury. Hogweed fended off every punch with great precision, forcing Ace back little by little, and talking all the time.
“Sergeant Camilo says a lot of sensible things,” he observed. “ ’Elves are very, very clever’ he says. ‘But they haven’t got any sense. You have to look after them. Especially you, Hogweed. Yours are bonkers’.”
It was too much for Clover. She looked at the elves’ stunned faces, and had to sit down. She was laughing so much it hurt.
“Good for you, Hogweed,” she got out. “You tell them.”
“Now, Ace,” said Hogweed, “getting furious won’t make you fight better. You’ll drop your guard - see?”
He knocked him over again, and Ace was on his feet, fast.
“Don’t stop,” he shouted. “Do it again!”
The elves could see that Ace was trying to concentrate now, and were watching with deep interest. Hogweed smiled to himself, and put a bit more into it, and this time caught Ace out with a left.
“You’re making it too easy for me to hit you,” said Hogweed. “You and Will always did that, back on Wildside. You’re stretching up, trying to reach,” - he parried another furious volley of blows - “but if you had any sense, you’d crouch down a bit, when you’re trying to fight someone bigger. Then I’d have to stoop to get at you, and if you were very, very quick, you could catch me off balance with a nifty kick.”
Ace stood back, panting, and wiped a bit of blood away with the back of his hand.
“You reckon?” he said. “OK. Let’s see.”

Ace tried it, and the elves watching could see at once what a difference it made. Hogweed could still fend off anything Ace threw at him, but it wasn’t so easy for him to get a punch in. It was too far down. Suddenly Ace ducked under Hogweed’s arm, and curled his foot neatly round the back of Hogweed’s knee, and he crashed down, pulling Ace with him.
“That’s it,” laughed Hogweed, delighted. “You’ll be able to beat anybody now! Even you, Fran!”
“Flipping heck,” said Will. “That was amazing. I want a go of that.”
Ace sat up, smiling. His face looked a bit battered, but he was himself again.
“Thanks, Hogweed,” he said. “Thank you so much. That was brilliant. I really enjoyed that.”
“It was what you needed,” said Hogweed. “Get rid of all that angriness, before something worse happened.”
“You’re right. And you had the confidence to do something about it…I mean it, Hogweed, I’m really impressed.”
Will gave him a hand and heaved him to his feet. Ace met his eyes, and smiled.
I’m sorry, he thought.
Welcome back, thought Will.
Ace put one arm round Will, and one round Hogweed.
“Come on,” he said. “Everybody link up. You too, Wayne. Forget your undercover stuff for once. Show the whole place that this team is a team!”
All twelve of them walked off together, in a long line, laughing because it was so hard to keep in step.
“Where are we going?” said Clover. “Has anyone had time to look?”
“Yes, it’s target practice,” said Stella. “Everyone’s down for that.”
“That’s good,” said Ace. “We can stop at the stream on the way.”
“It’ll take more than a wash to make your face look right again,” said Betch in a worried voice. “Your nose has gone a very funny shape.”
“What!” said Ace. “Ah, no! Will, can you fix it?”
“Too easy,” sighed Betch. “Much too easy.”
Will looked at him. He had nothing worse than a split lip and a bruised cheekbone.
“I think so,” he frowned.
“You’ll never be able to make him look beautiful again,” said Wayne. “But maybe you could make him look normal.”
Then it sank in. Another wind-up. Ace sighed with relief, and with contentment. They had no points now, their prestige was at rock-bottom, and he didn’t care.
“What a team,” he said.