DEEP WATERS

CHAPTER 9 - The Pattern

Ace and Will were still grinning next morning. What a night. Sitting outside till it went dark, drinking beer and listening to the music, being congratulated by everyone, and being told they’d probably won England about a thousand points. They strolled along, with their blue ribbons pinned proudly to their jackets, to see where they were supposed to be today. Ace sighed with contentment. Life didn’t get much better than this.
They reached the notice boards, and found their names. It said ‘Adv. Sci. Clsrm 1’ next to them, but that had been crossed out, and over it had been written, ‘Report to me. G.H.’
“Interesting,” frowned Ace. “Very curt. Sounds like we’re in trouble. What’ve we done?”
“I can’t think of anything,” said Will.
“What, nothing? We must be slipping.”
“Well, not much... what if it’s trouble from home?”
“Come on!”

General Herdalen was in his office, trying to get replies out to some of his messages. When he heard Ace and Will banging on the door, he knew who it was.
“Come in!” he shouted. “Trust you two to turn up when I’d just got through to Bosnia.”
“Sorry, sir. Shall we come back later?”
“Oh, no. Hate talking to Bosnia 1’s colonel, anyway. Thinks I ought to have the entire 1st Regiment on his borders, to keep the Croatian goblins out. Anyway, sit down, if you can find a clear bit of floor. Have you had your breakfasts? No? Neither have I. Let’s have some tea.”
They sat down, happily enough. The general didn’t look worried, and they didn’t seem to be in trouble.
“Congratulations on your victory,” smiled the general. “You’ve made Sergeant Olt very happy. It’s been a while since elves won the race. Brains beat brawn for once. That reminds me - how’s it going with Fran?”
“Not too well,” Ace admitted. “He’s getting better. Thinking, you know, and asking questions before he starts.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” said the general. “The better he gets, the sooner he’ll realise he can’t do it.”
“I get it,” said Will. “The more you learn, the more you realise you don’t know.”
“That’s it. Here’s your tea. Now, what’ve you got to report on Olm and Beuk Otterlo?”
“They’re stupid,” said Will. “Especially Olm. They don’t remember anything they’re told, and they can’t think. I’m wondering if it’s put on. Can anyone really be that stupid?”
“Olm talks a lot of rubbish," said Ace. "He's a big mouth, but he's quite open. Beuk's quieter - except when he's had too much to drink - so he might know more than he lets on. And he's sly. He likes telling lies that will get other people into trouble. But they were definitely in a gang in Holland, we know that now. I reckon they were a bit of a liability, and they got sent here to keep them out of the way.”
“Otterlo is not near the site of any disappearances,” frowned the general. “I have a hunch there are gangs in place to pull other stunts, when they’re ready. See if you can get them talking politics - without losing your temper, Ace - get them to talk about what they’d like to see happening. If they’re really stupid, they’ll just come out with what they’ve heard other people say. Could be very interesting.”
“I can keep my temper when it’s part of a plan,” said Ace. “I’ll be so cool, you won’t believe it.”
There was a knock on the door.
“Stand up, and look as if you’re in trouble,” hissed the general.

They scrambled to their feet, and stood there looking sorry for themselves, as General Saal walked in.
“This feud in Spain 2, Gran, have you decided what to do? If you want the ringleaders arresting, I need to get messages out before I leave for Germany.”
“No. Thanks, Inula, but I’ve ordered them all back to base. I want to get to the bottom of this.”
General Saal nodded, and looked at Ace and Will.
“And what have you been up to?” he asked suspiciously.
“Got a bit carried away last night, sir. We broke all the beds in the barracks, jumping on them.”
“Well, I hope you’ll set them to repairing them themselves, Gran. See you in a week or so.”
When he’d gone, General Herdalen let out a sigh of relief.
“Well done, Ace. Fast thinking.”
“Well, it didn’t take much thinking of,” Ace admitted.
“Yeah, it was sort of, slightly true,” said Will. “We all had to sleep on the floor because everyone was too drunk and too tired to fix them.”
“I see. We’re going to have to be a bit more careful.”
“Why?” said Ace. “He’s not... is he?”
“I don’t know. It hasn’t been put to the test. But when Parliament makes it illegal to criticise their actions, or plot against them, I don’t want a stack of evidence against me, or any of us. And he can put two and two together, all right.”

He looked at Ace and Will with concern. So young and daring, yet they really had no idea yet of what they were up against. Or what kind of trouble they were in. And he didn’t want them to, either, not yet. They ought to be enjoying themselves, enjoying the Tree, learning and growing. He was going to have to phrase this… imaginatively.
“Still, never mind that now,” he said. “The important thing at the moment is something I heard from Heather. Most of that gang have been arrested, thanks to Phil’s evidence. But the police bungled it. Didn’t get them all. Whether it was incompetence or something worse, I don’t know, but Rix got away, and he’s clearly the most dangerous.”
“So he’s after Phil?” said Ace, in alarm.
“You bet he’s after Phil. And unfortunately, Madge and Heather didn’t know he’d escaped arrest, or they wouldn’t have left Delamere so soon themselves. As it is, he’ll smell a rat, and he may have had them followed.”
“Where were they heading?” asked Ace, though he felt he already knew the answer. It showed in his face, and that was what the general answered.
“I’m afraid so. They were on their way to Llangollen, and stopped off to visit your friends. Phil wasn’t there, he’d already left. As soon as Madge and Heather heard about Rix, they left too, but it may already have been too late.”
“Say he does find the place, he won’t find Phil…but he’ll find Aesculus! Oh, I knew this would happen. Sir, you’ve got to send us home, they’ll get him!”
“Ace, calm down!” said Will. “You always lose it where Aesculus is concerned. Just chill a minute, will you?”
“But he’s so little! He’s only a baby! They’d take him away, and he’d soon forget, and turn into one of them!”
“I promised you I would not let that happen. And I won’t. Madge warned David to be on his guard before she left. D’you see any problem with that? David sounds as if he’d cope, anyway, and he’ll have talked to Phil, won’t he, and heard what’s going on?”
“Yes, definitely,” said Ace. “It sounds OK... but there’s something bugging me. Something we haven’t thought of.”
“Tell me at once if you think what it is,” said the general. “And now, I must get on to Bosnia. And I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to go and mend all those beds. He’ll check.”
“No problem,” said Ace. “Thanks for telling us all this, sir.”
“Try not to worry. By the way,” asked the general, “where will Phil have gone?”
“Evesham,” they both answered, unhesitatingly.
“Ah.” The general nodded, remembering the letter Ace had showed him. “I understand.”


Ace and Will worked hard and quietly, mending beds and thinking over what they’d heard.
“Phew,” said Will, “I never thought I’d say this, but I’m too hot.”
He shrugged his jacket off and tossed it onto a chair.
“Well, it’s May now,” Ace pointed out. “Practically summer at home.”
Then he yelped, and lost his concentration, and Wayne’s bed clattered to pieces around him.
“It’s summer! David’s exams! He won’t be at David’s, he’ll be at Tony’s! And Tony and his brothers aren’t going to be suspicious if another elf turns up!”
They stared at each other, aghast.
“We’ve got to tell the general,” said Will.
“There isn’t time! Every second counts. Get the phone.”
They lifted a loose floorboard and pulled the phone from its hiding place.
“Up or down? For a signal?”
Will frowned, thinking.
“Down. But are you sure, Ace? We’ll have to cross the perimeter, and that’s a pretty serious thing to do. Why not just tell the general? He could get help there fast enough, I’ll bet.”
“Not as fast as this,” said Ace. “Come on, Will, we’ve got to.”
“All right. Head into the forest, then, and go down from there.”

They were away for hours. They picked up a signal on the headland at Menes, and got through to David. He was astonished to hear from them, and glad of the excuse to stop revising. He promised to warn Dominic, Joseph and Tony not to let Aesculus out of their sight, and said he’d tell them to report any strange sprites to him at once. Reassured, they wished him good luck with his exams, and rang off. They were jumping for joy as they headed back up the mountain, too happy to be as quiet as they should have been. They were overheard. A police corporal was heading up the path from the beach, not far away from them, coming back from escorting General Saal to his boat. He frowned suspiciously, and headed into the forest.
“That phone is so wonderful!”
“Brilliant technology. He sounded so clear, didn’t he? Oh, it was great.”
The corporal stepped out in front of them.
“What are you two doing past the perimeter?”
They fell silent, and gulped a bit. But they weren’t going to start making excuses. If they’d been caught, they’d been caught.
“We had a good reason, Corporal,” said Ace. “Yes, we crossed the perimeter. We were just heading back. And no, we didn’t have permission.”
The corporal snorted in derision.
“You’re under arrest,” he barked.

He marched them through the camp to the main HQ building, where General Cherapont’s office was, and pushed them down onto a bench in a corridor.
“Stay there! I’m reporting this to the general.”
He rapped on a door, and went inside.
“Oh well,” said Ace. “We’ve had it, now. What d’you think we’ll get?”
“Whatever it is, it was worth it, just to talk to David.”
They were smiling again, even being arrested couldn’t take away how happy they felt. Then they stood up and tried to look serious as the Commander walked past. She looked at them, appraisingly, but made no comment, just went into General Cherapont’s office.
“...bold as brass, General,” the corporal was saying. “Admitted it, and claimed a good reason.”
“What have they done?” asked the Commander.
“Crossed the perimeter, ma’am.”
“Thank you, Corporal. Very diligent, well done. Wait outside a moment, please.”
When he’d gone, the Commander laid the report she’d brought on the general’s desk, then asked,
“What are you going to do with them?”
“Well, have a little chat. Find out what they thought was so important...”
“I’m not having recruits of that calibre spoiled by your soft-heartedness. Throw the book at them. Stripe their arms, and split them up for a week. That’ll wipe the smiles off their faces.”
She threw the door open, and ordered Ace and Will inside.
“I can scarcely believe that elves who brought such honour on themselves yesterday should bring such disgrace on themselves today. Is it true you crossed the perimeter?”
“Yes, ma’am,” they answered.
“I don’t want to know why. There’s no excuse for breaking such a rule as that. Disobeying standing orders is a very serious offence. General?”
“Yes, er, well, disgraceful. Ashamed of you. You will be given one stripe on each arm, and spend a week in detention. Apart. Carry on, Corporal.”
“Come on, you,” said the corporal, and grabbed Will’s shoulder and bundled him out of the door. Will twisted his head round and looked despairingly at Ace, then the door closed behind him. Ace stood there stunned, staring at the door. Then he heard footsteps, and voices, and another door opening, then an ominous silence, then the crack of a whip. When he heard Will yelp with pain, he closed his eyes, horrified. The whip fell again, but Will didn’t cry out this time. Ace opened his eyes, and saw the Commander watching him. Then it was his turn. They pushed him into the next room, and stripped off his jacket and shirt. Then one of them grabbed his arm and twisted it outwards, and the other one raised the whip. Ace swallowed hard, determined to make no sound. He managed it, though he shuddered with the shock of the pain. Then they took hold of his other arm, and the whip lashed down again, cutting into the skin from wrist to shoulder. Ace was in agony, he couldn’t think of anything but how much it hurt. He looked down, as if from a great distance, staring at his arms as if they belonged to somebody else. Then the long thin cuts started to ooze with blood.
Urgh, thought Ace, reeling. Oh help, this is awful. I bet Will didn’t faint.

The news raced around the first years, that Ace and Will were in detention, but no-one really knew why. The rumours got worse and worse, until Sergeant Svir put a stop to it by telling the fairies exactly what had happened. Rose and Clover cried themselves sick. Sergeant Olt was in a very bad mood, and Wayne and Betch had a fight with Olm and Beuk.
They were missed. It seemed very quiet without them. Quiet in their barracks, without them banging out at dawn to go training. Quiet in class, without their quick answers, quiet on the training ground, and the target range, and in the mess.
“I can’t stand this,” said Wayne sadly, one evening a few days later. It had been a hot day, and the sprites were sitting out on the Concourse with cold drinks.
“How can I enjoy this, knowing what they’re going through? Just think how hot it’ll be in there, with no windows. And you get half a pint of water a day, Corporal Lavall told me. A day. They can drink twice that, just for breakfast.”
“Oh, don’t,” said Clover. “If only there was something we could do.”
“Remember what Madge said,” said Rose softly. “It won’t always be easy. We just have to bear it, and so do they.”
Although their friends were desperately sorry for them, not everyone was. Olm and Beuk thought it was very funny, and Fran and Peter were angry and ashamed. But that was nothing compared to General Herdalen. He was furious. He left them to stew for a few days, and think over their behaviour. Then he went to see them.

He nearly melted when he saw Ace slumped on the floor in a corner of the cell, looking woebegone. But he hardened his heart.
“When I come into a room, Moseley, you stand up.”
Ace got slowly to his feet, without dropping his gaze. The general just looked at him. He looked sad, he could see, but there was a sullenness about his mouth.
He’s sulking, he thought. Thinks he’s misunderstood. I’ve got to break through that.
Harshly, he said, “I trusted you.”
Ace didn’t move a muscle.
“It’s only three months since you made a promise. A promise to obey orders. And this is how you keep it. Is that all your word is worth? Keeping promises when it suits you?”
“It wasn’t like that!” Ace burst out furiously. “There was a good reason!”
“No. There’s no good reason to disobey an order. Not ever. You don’t know the full picture. No-one does, except the person in command. Suppose I already had a plan in hand to keep Aesculus safe, and you wrecked it, by your stupid behaviour? You could have compromised security, or put other people’s lives in danger!”
The general’s voice had got louder and louder. Ace was still angry, but feeling less sure of himself.
“What was I supposed to do?” he said, more quietly. “Just let them take him? Not even try to warn David?”
“You knew what you were supposed to do if you’d stopped to think. I told you to tell me if you remembered what was worrying you, not rush off on some mad plan of your own. Do you think you know better than everyone else, is that it? You’re very good at giving orders. I thought you were big enough to take them, too. Evidently I was mistaken.”
Ace winced, and closed his eyes.
Got you, thought the general, and pressed home his advantage.
“I suggest you do some serious thinking. The army’s not about pleasing yourself. If you can’t handle that, then you’d better leave.”
He let that sink in, then carried on in a voice that was deadly quiet.
“I had a unit from England 1 stationed close by. They could have been with Aesculus in a tenth of the time it took you to get down to the valley. And they had orders to track this Rix, and arrest him if he tried anything. But he was seen by a crowd of small boys, who made it obvious they knew he was up to no good. So he got away. And now he knows we're onto him. Nice work, Ace. Not one of your better plans.”
“Oh, no,” Ace whispered.
“You had my respect, both of you. You want it back, you’ll have to earn it.”
He walked out, and the door slammed behind him and the key turned. Ace stood there staring, his mind in turmoil. What on earth had he done? He beat his hand on the wall in frustration and despair. He needed to see Will, to talk to him, more than anything in the world, and he couldn’t. Not for four more days.
He’ll get it in the neck for listening to me, thought Ace wildly.
Everywhere his thoughts turned, was shame and disgrace. There was no comfort anywhere. He’d never felt so miserable. He threw himself onto the hard bed and cried his heart out.
General Herdalen was standing outside in the corridor. When he heard Ace sob, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness. I don’t think I could have been much harder on him. But he’s got to learn. And now for the other one.”

Will stood up quietly, his face calm and expressionless.
Difficult, thought the general. You don’t show what you’re thinking at all.
He kept looking, and Will had to drop his gaze.
“Yes, I don’t wonder you’re ashamed. I’m very disappointed in you.”
“We did what we had to,” said Will. “We’ll take the consequences.”
“I meant, I was disappointed in you. You, yourself, singular. Are you just clever, Will? Is that all there is to you? Haven’t you got a mind of your own?”
Will frowned, puzzled for a moment, then realised what the general was getting at.
“It must look like that,” he sighed. “But he’s usually right, you know.”
“Not this time. And you knew it. Why did you let him down, Will?”
"What?"
Got you, thought the general. “You could have stopped him. You’re the only one who could. Why didn’t you?”
Will was silent.
“Yes, it would have been messy, wouldn’t it? Caused a row, probably. A fight, even. And you don’t like the thought of that, do you? Too open, too emotional. It’s much easier just to go along with things, isn’t it?”
“I never thought...let him down?”
“If you’d had the courage to say no, do you really think he’d have done it alone?”
“No...probably not. Oh, what a mess. How is he, sir? Have you seen him?”
Your mind’s got it, thought the general. But has your heart got it? Have you really got my drift?
He hesitated for a moment, wondering if it would be going too far, and decided that it wouldn’t.
“He’s crying his eyes out,” said the general brutally. “And it’s your fault. Your behaviour...well, to be honest, cowardice isn’t too strong a word for it.”


General Herdalen went straight to the Commander’s house, and demanded a cup of coffee.
“I hate this job!” he moaned. “Why can’t I go back in the field? Life was much easier when I was punching rogue goblins and mopping up oil spills.”
“Don’t be silly,” smiled the Commander. “You’re brilliant. I don’t know what you’ve said, but I feel very sure that they’ll never forget it. And never look back.”
“You would say that, Gia. But it makes you feel such a hypocrite. I was just as bad as they’ve been, myself.”
“That’s why you knew what to say. They’ll have to do it too, when their turn comes.”
General Herdalen smiled a little.
“Yes, they will, won’t they? Good. Serves them right.”


Will cried himself to sleep, and woke in the middle of the night, to a raging thirst and a cloud of misery that wouldn’t go away. Four days, he thought. I can’t bear this.
Oh, Ace, he thought desperately. Ace, I’m so sorry.
Then he nearly jumped out of his skin as he heard Ace speaking.
Will, where are you, I can’t see you?
Will’s heart was pounding in his chest. Was this real?
I’m still banged up, he thought carefully. Can you really hear me?
Yes! How on earth...think something I couldn’t imagine.
Will smiled, shakily. Prove it, yes...
How about this - an alkyne is an aliphatic hydrocarbon with a triple band between two of its carbon atoms.
Stone the crows. I’d just got to the point of wishing I was dead, and something amazing like this happens.
Wishing you were dead? Yeah, me too. P’raps we are.
Weirdo. But this is good, this is better than the last three days have been. How could they do that to us, Will? How could they split us up? That was really cruel.
We deserved it.
Yeah, I s’pose. Did the general come and see you, too?
Mmm. Tonight. It was awful. Told me I was a coward. For not stopping you. I was crying for hours.
So was I. He said my promises were worthless, and I wasn’t big enough to take orders.”
We really do seem to have messed up big time on this one, don’t we?
Yep. The thing is, what can we do about it?
Well, for a start, we’ll have to apologise.
Yes, but who to, exactly? We’ve let everyone down.
What do you think of this, Ace? Tell me if you think it’s stupid, but, well, we could just go round and apologise to everybody.
No, that’s good. Could you handle that, d’you think? It could get a bit raw.
Yes, I want to. I know it won’t be easy, but at least it’ll show people we’re really sorry.
But Will, it wasn’t really your fault. You didn’t want to do it. I’m really sorry I didn’t listen.
General Herdalen said it was my fault. And he was right. You thought we were doing the right thing. I knew we weren’t, but I didn’t have the guts to say so. But anyway, it doesn’t matter, not between us. Remember the rabbit!
Ace laughed out loud, and the happy sound filled Will’s head.
I remember. We wouldn’t tell Cory who’d let it out of its hutch, so he smacked us both. That was when we started it, wasn’t it?
Yeah. Share the blame, whoever actually did it.
Ah, happy days. How are your arms?
Oh, still stinging like mad. That was such a shock!
I know, it was awful. When they took you out, Will, the Commander was just standing there, looking at me. She wanted me to hear that, to hear them hurting you.
You heard me yell, then. I was so mad with myself for that, but I couldn’t help it.
I don’t blame you. I fainted, Will. How pathetic is that?
Was it the blood?
Yeah. But there’ll be more to come. We’re not going to be too popular with our team for this. Probably wiped out everything we’d gained.
Oh, great, yes, Fran. We’re going to get beaten up, aren’t we?
We’ll just have to take it. There’s no excuse.
No. But at least one good thing’s come out of all this mess.
I think good things do come out of mess when you’re really sorry.

They’d got it, now. That elusive third thing. They’d looked beyond themselves, and realised they were part of something much bigger. You couldn’t do it alone, until you saw you were just a part of the whole. They were happy, a deep, quiet happiness that made them both forget the pain and the thirst. As they started to drift towards sleep, the thought of the Tree filled their minds, until they felt as if they were in the forest, and the Tree was inviting them to jump up into his branches. They never knew when it slipped over into dreaming.

It was two o’clock on Tuesday afternoon when the police corporal released them. He wouldn’t give them a minute less than a week, but he was helpful, in a rough sort of way.
“You didn’t do any whingeing, that’s something. You took it well. But don’t come back.”
“We won’t,” said Ace. “What’re we supposed to do now, d’you think?”
“Bit late to join in, now. Start fresh tomorrow.”
When he’d disappeared, they hugged each other fiercely.
“Oh Will, it’s good to see you.”
“You too. Oh, I can’t believe it’s over at last. What shall we do first? You thirsty?”
“Not half. Let’s head for that wonderful stream.”
“Dead right.”
They plunged their heads right in, and drank and drank until the ache in their throats eased at last, then sat against a tree trunk, side by side, content just to be together again. But after a while they faced up to what they had to do. Ace lifted Will’s arm up and looked at the scar.
“You want me to make that go?”
“No,” said Will. “We’re in disgrace. If we leave the scars to fade by themselves, it’ll show we realise that, and we’re not trying to hide from it.”
Ace thought about that, then said firmly,
“You’re right. Well, shall we go and get it over and done with?”
“Yeah. But you don’t have to do all the talking, Ace. I’ll do my share.”


They went round the whole camp, asking permission to speak to senior officers, finding Sergeant Olt and the other sergeants, going to all the huts and barracks as the other recruits came back, quietly saying the same thing over and over again, we’ve let everyone down, so we wanted to apologise to everyone, we’re sorry.
It took ages, and they had a lot of hard remarks to take. They heard a good deal about weeds, and idiots who thought like humans, and long-haired show-offs. They stuck to it, though, and not everyone was unkind. Sergeant Olt said they’d often impressed him, but never as much as today. But it was very hard, and even Ace was suffering as they wondered if it had been a good idea to save the worst till last. With dragging steps they made their way to General Herdalen’s office, and knocked on the door.
“Come in!” he shouted, and raised his eyebrows when he saw who it was.
“Hello sir,” said Will quietly. “We just came to say, we’re very sorry. Sorry we disobeyed orders, sorry we let you down. You said a lot of things to us, and they were all true. We’re not a bit surprised if you’re not friends with us any more, but we’re still friends with you. Every time we’ve needed help, you’ve been there to help us.”
“You’ve got our total loyalty,” said Ace.
The general stood up.
“Oh, come here,” he said, and hugged them both tight.

They still had to face their own team. That wasn’t going to be easy, either. They went to their hut, feeling somehow that everyone would gather there. The fairies were there alone, and as Ace and Will stepped quietly inside, Rose and Clover burst into tears at the sight of their arms.
“That’s nothing to how much we’ve hurt you all,” said Ace. “We’ve been really stupid, and we’re so sorry.”
“You’re stronger for it,” sobbed Clover. “I can see that. Has something happened?”
“Yes,” said Will, and met her eyes. “You too?” he asked.
“Yes. Madge spoke to me. Only for a few minutes, but oh, it was so good.”
“Don’t be frightened, Rose,” said Ace. “It’ll come to you, too, when you’re ready. Just keep listening, OK?”
“Oh, Ace, I missed you so much. Don’t you ever leave us again, d’you hear me?”
“I think you’ve both been really brave,” said Dan.
“So do I,” said Bella. “You must have suffered, and you haven’t moaned a bit.”
“How about you, Stella?” said Will. “Say what you want, you’ve got every right to. We’ve probably knocked the team into last place.”
“I’m just proud to be in your team,” said Stella, simply.
“That’s nice,” said Ace gratefully. “But your elves aren’t going to feel like that. Look, when they get here, don’t worry about it. It’s an elf-thing. Don’t try to stop it, it’ll only make it worse.”

They didn’t have long to wait. When they heard footsteps, Ace and Will closed their eyes and took deep breaths, then stood up and smiled at each other, encouragingly.
Fran threw the door open.
“Outside,” he said.
Ace and Will went outside, and Hogweed came in and went straight to Dan. Will closed the door behind him, and the elves went behind the hut.
“What’s going on?” said Clover. “I don’t understand.”
“Like they said, it’s an elf-thing,” said Dan. “If you let someone down, you have to let them hit you. And this is such a bad thing, you can’t insult someone by letting them off. Even Wayne and Betch will have to do it.”
“That’s insane!” breathed Clover. “I’m going to stop them!”
“You can’t,” said Dan, grabbing her. “None of them can get out of it now without losing face. Try to understand, Clover. That’d hurt more than bruises.”
“But it’s stupid!”
“It seems stupid to you. But once it’s over, it’s over. To them, the way some fairies behave probably seems stupid, niggling and squabbling for weeks over little things.”

“Who’s first?” said Fran.
“Ace is,” said Will. “He had to go second, last time. Second is worse.”
Ace stood as still as he could while they hit him, staggering a little from each blow, but not trying to fend them off at all. Fran’s and Peter’s hurt more, but Wayne’s and Betch’s were harder to bear. When they’d finished, he managed to stay on his feet, leaning against the hut wall, and wiping some blood away with the back of his hand.
Will stood just as still, his hands clenched behind his back, so he wouldn’t try to defend himself. He took the blows without a sound, though Fran’s knocked him right over.
“Get them a bucket of water,” said Fran. “Clean yourselves up, then get back inside. I want to talk to you.”
“That was nice of him,” said Ace, when they’d gone. “At least he didn’t make us hit each other.”
“Good grief. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“He could have done. He would have been well within his rights. He’s not so bad, Fran.”


When they went back in, slightly patched up, but still looking a bit battered, everyone was sitting round the table.
“You can sit down,” said Fran. “It’s over.”
“Honour is satisfied,” said Ace, with a ghost of a smile.
“I’ve seen that happen, plenty of times, at home,” said Fran, “but I’ve never seen anyone face it like that before. I was pretty sure, already, but I’m certain, now. What I want to say is, I’m ready to give up leading this team. You’re both better than I am. I would follow either of you.”
There was a stunned silence.
“Thank you, Fran,” said Will. “But leading’s no skill of mine. I think too slowly. But you’ve hardly seen Ace in action yet. He can think faster than most people can blink.”
“Stone the crows,” said Ace. “I wasn’t expecting this. Do you all want me? Even you, Peter?”
“Yes. We were wrong about you. You’re class, you are.”
“You won’t regret this, Fran, I promise you. What you said right at the beginning was spot on - it’s not just about winning. But...it would be good, wouldn’t it?”