THE LIGHT IN THE NORTH

CHAPTER 9 - The [i]Queen Enid[/i]

This year, the Race around the Mountain ran true to form, and was won in great style by the Polish goblin with the unpronounceable name. May turned to June with no let-up in the feuds simmering in the England team and the Balkans team. The bad feeling even began to spread. Olm and Beuk spoke out more often, relishing the chance to cause trouble, until Ross began to feel it wasn’t worth being patient with them any more.
The Scandinavian team had its troubles too, with some people who had been inclined to the cause being put off by Gran Starheim’s arrogant self-sufficiency, and the tension in the Italian team was like something you could touch.


Sergeant Olt didn’t understand it. In his experience, teams should be pulling more tightly together by now, not being torn apart at the seams. He was deep in thought, wondering what to do about it, when Corporal Lavall came into his office one warm evening.
“I’ve been up to the combat training ground,” he said. “Everything’s in place, and I’ve alerted the hospital that it starts tomorrow.”
“Good. Well done,” said the sergeant heavily.
“What’s up?”
“I can’t decide how to split them up. All this bad feeling… I can’t help feeling it might be better to let them fight it out. It might clear the air. What do you think?”
“It might,” said the corporal dubiously. “But I think the causes might run a bit too deep for that.”
“They can’t be that serious,” said the sergeant. “They’re only youngsters. Some squabbles have got out of hand. Yes, I’ve decided… I’ll let them fight it out. It will make the exercise more realistic, and it may do them all some good.”


If Saul Lavall had known quite how he was going to do it, he’d have argued against it, but by the time he found out, it was too late to interrupt. But even he had no way of knowing quite how momentous it was going to be, or that in years to come, some respectable sprite historians would argue that the first battle of the civil war had been fought on the Fjaerland combat training ground.


Ace didn’t know either, but he was fizzing with excitement as the teams headed out of camp and up the mountain.
“Hey, look at our bridge!” he exclaimed happily. “Still rock solid, that’s good.”
“Nice to see it didn’t get washed away,” said Will. “But you remember why it had to be strong, don’t you?”
“Yeah… to take the weight of two goblins carrying a stretcher. But it’ll be all right. You’re just a pessimist.”
“Someone’s got to be,” grinned Will.


The combat training exercise brought together all the skills they’d been learning. Fighting, throwing, thinking as a unit, moving as one, and for some of them, weapons, and tactics too. When everyone had assembled, Sergeant Olt reminded them of this. Then he explained his plans.
“This is a mock battle between two sides,” he told them, “and some real rivalry doesn’t go amiss. Sometimes I set the northern teams against the southern ones. Sometimes, east against west works better. But this time, I’m going to let you choose sides. I can’t help feeling that it would do you all good to settle some of the silly arguments that have been going on, so if there’s someone you want to fight, then fight them and have done with it. The people I’ve chosen as the leaders are Ace and Crocus. So all of you, choose your team carefully.”
“Just a minute, Sergeant,” said Corporal Lavall in some alarm.
“It’ll be all right, Corporal,” the sergeant reassured him. Then he added more quietly, “We have to do something about all this quarrelling.”
It was more than just quarrelling, the corporal thought. He wished now, very much, that he’d said more, and said it sooner, but he was a willow and he’d put it off and now it was too late. The sergeant still didn’t understand what was going on, but the corporal thought he might before the exercise was over. He couldn’t set a bad example of indiscipline by arguing further, but he was getting very worried.


At first, Ace agreed with the sergeant. He’d been worried too, by the way his bust-up with Wayne had lifted the lid on other simmering feuds, and he hoped that Sergeant Olt was right and that a good fight would settle things down again. And he was pleased and proud to have been chosen as one of the leaders. But as one after another chose sides, his mood began to change.
Will was at his side in an instant, of course, swiftly followed by the rest of the Moseleys, and Fran, Peter and Stella. But Wayne went straight to Crocus, which left Betch and Bella looking distraught. Ace could see that Betch was waiting to see if things really did split along the political fault line before he chose. But they did, and with a vengeance; Olm and Beuk swaggered over to Crocus, which sent Droz firmly to Ace’s side, and Kes and Vin with him.
Gran Starheim came more slowly. Ace knew what that was about. Gran didn’t like him, and was making it clear that he was choosing the side and not its leader.
That had made things clear enough for Betch. With a serious face, he went to Ace’s side, and Bella went with him, her wings drooping a bit as they always did when she was sad.
Then the Serbian fairies moved. There were six of them, the core of Crocus’ own team, and she’d been their senior sprite at home too, but now the reason for their slowness became apparent. Five of them went to Crocus, and Muscari, nearly in tears, came to Ace.
Well, she came to Clover actually, Ace realised, giving her credit for the influence she’d been. He gave Muscari a big smile for having the courage of her convictions.


All the Polish team came to Ace, perhaps remembering his kindness, because no-one had ever heard any of them voice any convictions. The Russian team went the other way; all they knew was that they didn’t like humans, so they went to Crocus for that reason alone. That was the thing that finally tipped the balance for a lot of people. If you couldn’t, or wouldn’t, see the wider picture, it was your attitude to humans that made your mind up for you. Time and again, Ace saw the same look on people’s faces…sorry, Ace, I like you, but I don’t like humans…
Every time, it hurt. As if these people were spitting on David, on Marta, on all the humans who loved sprites.
Ross and Alnus came to Ace, but none of their teams followed them. Some of them obviously thought long and hard about it, but in the end they went to Crocus. Clover’s friends Lilje and Revebjelle did too, making it clear that it was dislike of Gran that had made them choose the other side, which was led by a fairy they respected.


The weight of numbers was firmly on Crocus’ side now as the last people made their minds up. Ace wasn’t laughing now. His whole expression was resolute and serious, as he realised he’d been thinking most people were on their side, because most of his friends were. He knew for certain now that that wasn’t the case, and understood General Herdalen’s caution properly for the first time.
The Alpine team and Italy were arguing furiously among themselves, each team wanting to stay together, but unable to agree. In the end, the Alpine team split, and parted with hugs and sadness, and Sizzle, Kiefer and Jenny came to Ace. But their sadness was nothing compared to Italy’s, as Lauro and Pioppo, who’d been friends all their lives, split up. The team didn’t stop arguing until Margherita put a stop to it by walking off to Crocus, and Pioppo, with a final plea to his friend, followed her. Lauro watched him go, watched the rest of his team make their minds up and move, then took a deep breath, and moved to Ace, the last to choose, and looking as if his heart was breaking.


Corporal Lavall watched them with great compassion. He understood the depth of feeling. His problem now was going to be maintaining fairness in his role as referee, because his sympathies were all with Ace’s team. He knew it was going to be bitter, but he also knew he couldn’t stop it now. Something had been set in motion that wouldn’t stop now until the war was over.
Sergeant Olt stood forward, looking very serious.
“You’ve made your choices,” he said. “Give your team captains your loyalty and obedience. This is a combat situation, and you must treat it as seriously as if it was real. I don’t care how long it takes, if it’s two days or two weeks. You fight on until one side’s won. Ace, you head west, Crocus, you head east. Take possession of the base camps, where you will find some basic supplies, and further instructions. But your objective is very simple. To win, you need to capture the enemy base camp, and capture or immobilise the whole enemy team. Any questions?”
Crocus spoke up. “What are the rules, Sergeant?” she asked.
“There are no rules other than the common rules of war,” said the sergeant. “And those you infringe only at your own peril. Because, as many a sprite and human army has found before now, if you break them, then the other side will, too.”


Crocus wanted to clarify exactly what he meant by that, but Ace thought he knew. Instead, he turned to Rose.
“You can outfly anybody,” he said. “D’you think you could get to their base before they do, and nick their instructions, and get away unseen?”
“I’m on my way,” grinned Rose.
She sidled away until she was out of sight behind some trees, then sped away, flying low and very fast.


Corporal Lavall, who’d seen what he’d done, could hardly suppress a smile. Ace’s team might be smaller, but it certainly had a lot of talent, making the contest far more even than it might at first appear.
What Ace did now was to cause a delay, to give Rose time to get away, by impressing Crocus’ team so much that they had to stop and watch. He pulled his team into marching order, and he did it very well. He could command fairies better than Crocus could command elves, because he’d gone to the trouble of finding out how they did things, and the right way to phrase orders.
With a few crisp commands, he had an advance party of fairies flying in tight formation, with his elves in two sections, moving in neat unison and flanking the slower-moving goblins. To Sizzle, his only imp, he gave the honour of the dangerous task of bringing up the rear. He saluted the sergeant and the corporal, and also Crocus, an opponent he respected. Then he jumped to the head of his column, and led off.


Base camp was a large hut at the far end of a high valley, on the shore of a mountain lake. They were near to the top of the mountain here, they could see it rising above them in folds of grey rock. The supplies, they found, were very basic indeed. There was a barrel of stone for ammunition, a box of assorted materials to be made into anything they required, and a large first-aid box. And that was it. Lying on top of the first-aid box was the promised sheet of instructions, in Sergeant Olt’s neat writing. Ace had barely picked it up when Rose flew down to join them, waving a piece of paper triumphantly.
“Oh, well done,” said Ace warmly. “That is so going to puzzle Crocus, when she gets there and finds no instructions. They’ll waste loads of time sorting that one out, while we’re getting on with our plans.”
“So that’s where you were!” said Ross. He looked at Ace admiringly. “Fast thinking.”
Ace grinned at him and then got everyone to sit down on the grass outside.


“Have a rest, while we look at this,” he said. “I’ll read it out, so everyone knows what we have to do… oh, you can tell the sergeant wrote this!”
He had them in fits of laughter right from the start, with his imitation of Sergeant Olt’s accent.
“Remember all you have learned,” he read, “and do not worry if you think you have not learned it well, because you learn by doing… he must have been thinking of you and tactics when he wrote that, Sizzle.”
Sizzle stuck her tongue out at him, but she was laughing too. Thinking through clever and subtle plans in the classroom hadn’t appealed to her temperament at all.
“Serious injuries must be despatched to the hospital without delay,” Ace read out. “Laudanum must only be administered by recruits in the direst emergencies, and then only by the person the captain deems most competent… well, I think we all know who that is,” he smiled, looking at his twin.
“Other than medical help, no outside help should be sought or accepted. You are on your own. Do not return to camp for supplies or equipment of any kind. Use the resources you have wisely and well. And that’s it,” he finished. “What I’d like now is to hear any ideas anyone has. You know what we have to do… capture their whole team and overrun their camp, at the same time as making sure they can’t do that to us.”
No-one said anything.

“Don’t be shy,” said Ace. “Say what you see the problems as, if you can’t think of any answers yet.”
“What if they attack now, while we’re not ready?” said Clover.
“They won’t,” said Kiefer. “Crocus is too cautious for that.”
“That’s right,” said Droz. “She’s good, but she’s careful. They’ll start by setting defences, I’ll bet.”
“Very good to know your enemy,” said Ace.
“She knows you too, though,” said Fran. “She’ll be expecting something fast and daring.”
“And she’ll be thinking of meeting that,” said Zoza diffidently. “Suppose we do the opposite to what they expect?”
“Good thinking,” said Ace. “Keep them waiting… could be good, that. Get them nervous! What do you see as their strengths?”
“Numbers,” said Hogweed. “There’s loads more of them than there are of us.”
“That’s more to supply and take care of too, though,” said Sizzle.
“True,” said Ace. “Hogweed’s right, but we mustn’t let ourselves worry about that one too much, because there are ways to turn lack of numbers into an advantage. What do you see as their weaknesses?”
“Leaders,” said Kiefer. “Apart from Crocus herself, they’ve only got Cor. We’ve got seven team leaders here, plus loads of talent, of course!”
“That includes you, does it, Kief?” laughed Ace. “You’re right, though. So if we can split them up, then some sections will have leaders who haven’t got much experience, which will slow them down at the least. We’ll need to lure them out from their defences, and deal with a few at a time.”
“You don’t want to split a small force too small though, Ace,” said Will.
“We’ll need some clever tricks then,” grinned Ace.


As soon as he was sure he’d heard everyone’s ideas, he said he’d get together with everyone else who’d done Tactics, and make some plans.
“Will, Droz, Gran and Lauro… Zoza, Sizzle, Ross and Alnus, come and help me, will you? And in the meantime, I want the armed fairies watching the sky. If any of theirs flies over, I don’t want her going back. Dan, you’re in charge of that. Hogweed, I want you to take the rest of the goblins and prepare ammunition dumps from one side of the valley to the other, in case we have to repel a ground attack. And I want a reconnaissance party to go out and map the terrain between our base and theirs, and to come back without getting caught. Who’d be good at that?”
“Will,” said Kiefer.
“I can’t spare Will,” said Ace. “Seriously, I mean it… any use I am is only because of him, and if you don’t know that already, then learn it now. We’re two halves of a whole, and nothing I do goes right when he’s not around. So yes, I know he’d do a great map, but right now I need him in on the planning even more. What about you yourself, Kiefer? You do good technical drawings, I bet you could do a map.”
“Really?” said Kiefer excitedly. “You’d trust me to do that?”
“Send Jenny with him, Ace,” said Sizzle. “She usually manages to knock some sense into his head.”
“OK,” said Ace. “You and Jenny then, Kiefer. I’m particularly interested in lines of sight, so watch the contours. Otherwise, it doesn’t have to be too perfect… try and get back by nightfall if you can.”
“Oh, yes!” said Kiefer.
“Before you go,” said Ace, “just a couple of things.” He looked around at everyone, hoping he could find the right words to say. “Don’t anyone be disheartened ‘cos they’ve got more people. If each one of you wants to win as much as I do, then we’ll win. You all know why you’re here. Each one of you chose this team for the same reason, some of you at great – very great – personal cost. How we fight in this exercise will be how we fight the war together – with honour, courage and pride. For the realm, and its ancient traditions, and for freedom. For the Tree, for Gran Herdalen, and for the queen that one day we’ll have again. So fight as if the realm depended on it, because it does. Don’t think it can wait until the war starts, because it can’t. The war starts here.”
For a moment there was utter silence. Then Droz threw his knife into the air and caught it, Gran started clapping, and in a few moments more, the mountainside was ringing with the sound of cheering.


Kiefer and Jenny left then – after borrowing a pencil from Will – and Ace found a task for everyone who didn’t already have one, so everyone felt useful and needed. Then he got down to thrashing out his tactics.
“OK, so they’ve got more than us. A lot more. So if we march out to meet them in full force, they’ll either come out against us, in which case we could get outflanked, or they’ll stay behind their defences and try to pick us off one by one.”
“That’s why you want to lure them out,” said Will. “I see. So you give Crocus something tempting, something she thinks a small group can handle, but when they get there, there’ll be more than she thought.”
“That won’t work very often,” said Ross. “She’ll get wise to it.”
“It might work twice,” said Ace. “That’s not too optimistic, is it? It’ll all help to get their numbers down.”
“Sounds good,” said Droz. “So what are the lures going to be? I saw a good one, once. What you do is, you have a small force that lights loads of fires, to make it look like a big force. Then, the enemy fairies come flying over to check it out, and think they’ve spotted the trick. But what they don’t see is that you really have got loads more people, really well-camouflaged under bushes and stuff, so when they send out a small force to deal with it, you’ve got them.”
“Oh, brilliant,” said Ace. “I like that one. And all we’ll need for that is Kiefer’s map, so we can identify a good place to try it.”
“It’s so good,” said Will, “because they’ll be feeling so confident because they think they’ve spotted the trap. We need another one like that, with a hidden trap.”
No-one could think of one on the spur of the moment.
“Never mind,” said Ace. “We’ll think of something. And in the meantime, we mustn’t neglect our own defences. I think we ought to send out a scouting party to patrol through the night, and warn us if they try anything.”
“Kes and Vin would be good at that,” said Droz.
“Mmm, they would,” Alnus agreed. “Very quick and quiet, those two, and good at keeping out of sight.”
“That sounds good,” said Ace. “Sending fairies is too obvious, and too much chance of their being overwhelmed… like that! Look! Go on, Dan! Oh, yes!”

Every head turned to the sky to see what Ace had spotted. Two enemy fairies were flying high and fast, to see what they were doing, but Dan didn’t pounce until they’d gone past her. As soon as they had, she and Bella soared and came down on them from above, knives at the ready. Minor slashes to their wings was all it took to make them lose height, and then Bella and Dan grappled them to the ground. It was two of the Swiss fairies, and Bella and Dan marched them proudly over to Ace.
“Nice of you to drop in,” said Ace. “We’re a little unprepared for guests as yet, but we’ll look after you as best we can. Take them inside, will you, Dan, and watch them while we build a stockade for our prisoners.” He looked around at the others. “We’ll do that ourselves. This team’s got leaders who aren’t afraid of mucking in with the boring jobs.”
He watched as Bella and Dan led the prisoners away.
“Just one more thing,” he added. “I don’t intend to get captured, but if I do, one of you must take over. Any of you would do a good job of it, and I don’t mind who it is.”
“You ought to name a second, Ace," said Will, “and don’t feel you have to say me, ‘cos I’m not the right person. I’d help whoever it was, same as I help you.”
Ace cast a loving glance at his twin for those gracious words.
“Point taken,” he said warmly. “Then I name Ross, because he’s got experience of holding a team together when things are going badly, and he knows how to listen to other people.”
Ross looked completely stunned, but no-one else did, and Ace knew he’d made the right choice.
Will told him so. Spot on, as always, he thought to him.
Ace smiled at him, and slipped his arm across Will’s shoulders as they went to gather wood to build a stockade.


At that time of year, it never really went dark in Fjaerland, but by the time Kiefer and Jenny got back, the light was beginning to fade a little, and it had begun to rain. They handed over their map with great pride, and reported that they’d met Kes and Vin, and had been able to warn them that enemy patrols were out to the north and south.
“Good work,” said Ace. “Get warm and dry now. We’ve made plenty of fires and tents, and Clover’s got hot drinks going in the hut.”
He stepped into the hut himself, out of the rain, before he opened the precious map, and then he studied it long and carefully. He saw how the valley narrowed in the centre, and how much of it was taken up by the lake, with its steeply-rising, thickly-forested banks. Beyond the lake, the forest thinned out, but the ground rose and kept on rising, towards Crocus’ camp. He could see it clearly in his mind, from Kiefer’s excellent drawing, and he soon identified the perfect place for their first ambush.
He stared at the map again, wondering what else they could do, when he noticed the bend in the lake. He grinned to himself, and went to find Will. Will was across the valley – probably talking to Hogweed and checking the line of defence – but he started moving towards Ace as soon as he realised that Ace was moving towards him.
“I know that look on your face,” he said as they got close. “That’s your I’ve just had a cracking idea face. What’ve you thought of?”
“D’you think you could make a boat?” grinned Ace.
“You don’t want much, do you?” said Will. “Yeah, sure. What sort of a boat?”
“A big one.”


In the morning, they tried their first ambush. Ace didn’t go himself. Keeping back the people who were best at making things to work on the boat, he entrusted this job to Droz, with a mixed force of sixteen. Four of them lit a large quantity of fires at the spot Ace had chosen, where they would be out of sight, but the smoke would rise and be spotted from the enemy camp. Shortly afterwards, two of Crocus’ fairies flew over to investigate.
Droz and the ambush team kept very still indeed, hidden among the bushes and trees, and just as they’d planned, Crocus sent out a force of eight to deal with it. Her eight were overwhelmed by Ace’s sixteen. Droz was the only one who didn’t get carried away, and only his captives were uninjured, but none of the injuries was serious, and the captives were all blindfolded and led away before anyone in Crocus’ camp realised something had gone wrong.
Ace now had ten captives – Cor was one of them – and he felt fairly confident that Crocus would try something that afternoon, so he turned his mind to defence. Leaving the boat-building, he went to visit the goblins.
“Have you had a break?” he asked them.
“Yes, sir,” said Cowberry. “Hogweed swaps us over every two hours.”
“Excellent,” said Ace. “Remember this, then, and pass it on to whoever relieves you – I want you to think football on this one. That line of trees down there is your half-way line, and you’re the back four. I don’t want you to let any of their team cross that half-way line – any of them try it, and you start heaving. And message me, if you think that no-one else knows what’s happening, OK?”
“OK, sir,” said Ratzo. “What if it’s fairies, flying? We leave them to Carda and Dan?”
“Yes, if it’s only a couple. If it’s a whole squadron of them, pelt them, try to make them land.”


The attack came late in the afternoon, and it was a good one. Crocus had timed it well to cause maximum confusion, just when people would have started to think that nothing was going to happen. Ace had good warning of the approach of her main force, from one of the patrols he had out, but no-one saw her people who’d swum the lake and come ashore under cover of the trees, then quietly got round the back of Ace’s camp.
Crocus had over half her team with her as she advanced over the ridge and Ace wondered why she wasn’t using the trees on the other shore for cover. Uneasily, he wondered if this force was a distraction for something else, but he didn’t have time to investigate. Already, they were within range.
As the goblins let fly with their first long-heave stones, Crocus’ front line of fairies suddenly soared, then came down on Ace’s goblins, pelting them with little, sharp stones. It was only an annoyance, but it was enough to give their own elves and goblins time to move forward. They came on in tight formation, with no rearguard, and Ace fumed over his lack of numbers. If he’d known she’d be that daft, he could have sent reserves behind them to cut them off – if he’d had them. At the moment, he was desperately trying to think who he could spare to go and see what was happening in the woods. Nearly everyone was here. He’d left four guarding the stockade, and Clover and Muscari, who hated fighting, were in the hut preparing to deal with casualties. Then he saw Pioppo right in the front line of the enemy elves, and decided to send Lauro. Quickly, he messaged him, and explained his suspicions.
Take a couple of people with you, see what they’re up to, deal with it if you can, message for reinforcements if you can’t, thought Ace hurriedly, taking aim with the rest of his own front line.
On my way, Lauro thought back, sounding glad to have something else to do.
After that, the fastest runners were through, and it was hand-to-hand fighting. Ace drew his knife, and used it. The battle was fast and furious; Crocus’ team was just as fired up as Ace’s was, and when they came to close quarters, knives clashed together all along the line.


No-one saw Corporal Lavall watching them from cover, his mouth open in astonishment at the fury and intensity of the battle. The second years were supposed to take this seriously, but even so, there was usually some good-natured banter going on. The corporal’s heart started banging in his chest as he realised they were deadly serious, and fighting for real. He messaged Sergeant Olt for advice, almost incoherent in his haste.


Ace was hard set, as the enemy elves went for him, eager for the honour of wounding or even capturing him, but Will was there, as if he’d been expecting such a thing. Together, they fought back hard, and inflicted enough damage to make the opposition retreat.
Here, on the right wing, they were winning, and Ace took a moment to look along the line. On the left, his goblins were gaining ground, slowly but securely, but in the centre, his fairies were being injured and driven back. Crocus herself and Margherita were slashing through them with power and determination.
“To the centre!” Ace called, and everyone who could came to the rescue of the valiant fairies. A lot of them were on the ground, or staggering back, with only Dan and Carda still capable of doing any damage. But once they were reinforced, they slowly gained the upper hand, and when Dan injured Crocus herself, gashing her knife hand, she called her team to pull back.
It was then that Ace heard Lauro, and hoped he hadn’t been trying to get through for too long.


Just as you said, Ace, panted Lauro. Out of the woods, ten of them. Capture, destroy and rescue. We got there a bit late. Joined the guards to defend the stockade, and they didn’t rescue anybody, but they’ve fired the hut and taken Clover and Muscari.
Damn, said Ace. But never mind. You’ve done very well. Have they gone?
Yes, they suddenly stopped, as if someone had called them off.
Yeah, they’re pulling back here, too. OK, try and put the fire out, we’ll be back soon.
OK, Ace, thought Lauro.


Ace turned his attention back to the scene of the battle, to the final push and pull by each side for prisoners. Everything was confusion at this point, as people from each side went too far, trying to rescue captives only to be captured themselves. As Crocus’ team finally crossed the hill, Ace knew there was nothing more he could do, and raised his voice.
“Back to base,” he called. “What there is left of it.”


What there was left of it wasn’t much, thought Ace ruefully, as he surveyed the smouldering remains. Only a few tents remained unscathed, and there weren’t many useful materials left now. The only consolation was that the boat was safe, moored out of sight around the bend in the lake.
The first thing was to deal with the casualties, and everyone turned to this without needing orders and without stopping to think for a moment about which side anyone was on.
Superficial cuts and gashes were soon healed, and Ace noticed that a lot of his fairies had been put out of action by clever little cuts above the eyebrows. That tiny amount of damage had been very efficient, as they’d got blood in their eyes and been unable to see what they were doing. When he stopped to speak to Rose, he suggested that they might design some kind of strong headband to wear into battle.
Leaving that in her capable hands, he told her not to worry about Clover, because the other side would be taking good care of their prisoners too.
“Well, Clover, you know,” said Rose. “At least she won’t be breaking her heart at being out of it. Who else have they got?”
“Not sure yet,” said Ace. “Besides Clover and Muscari, I only know they’ve got Peter. But I’m sure there’s more.”
He finished checking on the injured, and found that everyone was all right now, or at least on the mend, except Ratzo, who’d been felled by a direct hit from one of their goblins. Ace found Will taking his pulse and frowning over him.
“I’m afraid this isn’t just concussion, Ace,” Will told him bleakly. “There’s compaction damage, we’re going to have to take him to hospital.”
“No problem,” said Ace. “I hope he’ll be okay. I’ll ask for volunteers.”
“Right, you get some bearers and I’ll try to find something to use to make a stretcher.”
“Don’t knock yourself out,” said Ace. “One of the prisoners can do that for you. Are you all right yourself? No cuts?”
“Not even a scratch,” Will smiled. “How about you?”
“Same,” said Ace. “Pretty good for our first battle, huh?”
“Pretty good, Ace,” said Will, and Ace knew he meant more than just the lack of injuries.


Will went down to the hospital with the goblins who’d carried Ratzo, and by the time he got back, it was late evening. Ace took one look at him and went to get him a drink.
“You’re worn out,” he said. “Here, get this down you. It’s bilberry leaf tea, and it’s revolting, but at least it’s hot and wet.”
“Glad it’s not raining tonight,” said Will, flopping down on the grass. “Mmm, thanks… oh, it’s not that bad.”
“Did you see Major Gourdon?”
“Yes, he said I was right about the injury, it’s a very serious one and we did absolutely right to take him to hospital.”
“Never crossed my mind to doubt it, once you’d said so,” said Ace.
Will smiled. “Saw Gran too, he stopped for a word. Said he couldn’t believe his ears when he heard how Sergeant Olt had split us up, but since it had happened that way, he hoped we won.”
“I don’t know how I can face him if we don’t,” said Ace. “But still, it’s going okay so far. We’ve got eighteen prisoners, and they’ve only got six, which by my reckoning means we’ve done twice as well proportionately.”
“Dead right,” said Will. “Who were the others that they got?”
“Betch… he went too far trying to get Peter back, Zoza and Kiefer.”
“Oh, not Kiefer,” said Will. “That’s a blow. Still, at least he’ll keep their spirits up, over there. Might even escape. And Betch… well, that might not be a bad thing. I don’t know if you saw, Ace, but Wayne got a very nasty injury. Deep stab wound to the thigh.”
“So Betch would have been there to help him. That’s good.”
Will looked around him.
“You’ve got this place cleared up nicely.”
“Sent a few people to rest on the boat, for guards and patrols later. The rest of us made more tents. Everyone’s settling down for the night, now, and we can too.”
“I can’t wait,” yawned Will.


Nothing happened that night. When the two patrols got back at dawn, they reported no activity at all, not even any enemy patrols.
Careless, thought Ace, wondering if a night attack was worth considering. To his sleepy patrols, he just said, “Well done. You’re off duty now for eight hours, so get a drink, and rest.”
“Thanks, Ace,” said Fran, and he and the others went off.
Ace had to let the people who’d been guarding the stockade all night rest too, which, with the lost prisoners, only left him forty-eight people available for the day. It wasn’t many.
It’s not easy, this, he thought. So few of us. I mustn’t be reckless. If we’re going to win, I have to be patient. A night attack would stand a good chance of taking prisoners, and we have to get their numbers down. But if I don’t do anything today, she’ll take the initiative, and I won’t know what I’ve got to be ready for. And, if I don’t do anything today, she might guess I’m planning a night attack.
Hey, thought Will, I don’t mean to eavesdrop, but you’re coming through loud and clear, you know.
Oh, I’m sorry, Will, Ace thought back. Must have been concentrating too hard. Didn’t mean to blast you with all of that.
It was a thing that had happened to them a lot, recently. Messaging each other had become so easy, that a simple thought, given enough concentration, could get through. They’d get it under control soon, they knew, but right now they were re-adjusting.
S’ okay, said Will. Very neat summary of the problems, if I might say so.
Any suggestions? said Ace.
I like the sound of a night attack. With the sole objective of taking prisoners, it could do very well. Not that it’ll go dark, this time of year, but at least they’ll nearly all be asleep.
Then we need to do something today, so she doesn’t guess what we’re really up to. Then, if all goes well, tomorrow we can use the boat.
What’re you going to do today, then?
I’m working on it…


Ace was trying so hard, Will thought, really thinking things through and being so patient. He desperately hoped it paid off, as much for Ace’s sake as for the team’s. He’d never seen him acting and thinking this responsibly before, with never a glint of recklessness. Hoping that Ace wouldn’t let his flair and spontaneity be stifled, Will took his turn going out on patrol.


He was very interested to see for himself the lie of the land beyond the half-way line, and he had to admit it was very exciting being in enemy territory, with the need to be alert and the danger of being captured. He was behind a rock, watching Crocus’ camp, when Ace messaged him.
Got an idea, he said. What’s it look like over there?
Everyone’s busy, Will answered. They’re making tools. Looks like spades to me. Maybe they’re thinking of digging a trench… camouflaging it, perhaps, so if we attack, we all go piling into it.
Hmm, clever. Look, Will, would you mind holding tight there and waiting, see if that’s what they do? If it really is a trench, it’d be very useful to know its position, and you’d be so accurate.
No problem, ’course I will. But what’s this idea you’ve had?
It’s the fairies, they’re spoiling for another go. I asked them how they fancied doing an air-raid, and they’re making the bombs right now. Who’s up there with you, Alnus, is it?
Yeah, that’s right.
And who’ve they got out on patrol?
Lilje and Revebjelle are flying up and down the lake. There’s a couple of goblins in the trees, but I’ve not seen them, only heard them. Tell you who I did see, though… I caught a glimpse of Corporal Lavall.
Ah, said Ace. Makes sense. They’ll be observing, for sure, they’ll want to see how it’s going.
They’ll be well proud of you so far, said Will. And so am I.
Aw… thanks, Will. I feel like I’m going so slowly, but that’s encouraging. OK, you keep an eye on them there, and ask Alnus to move back to the half-way line and message me when he sees Lilje and Revebjelle turning back.
Will do, Ace. See you.


Will didn’t move from his position, which was a good one. He simply messaged Alnus and sensed him squirming away through the heather and back up the valley. Then he settled down to watch. Yes, it was a trench, a good deep one, and he noted the line it was taking carefully. Not long after that, he felt proud to see their own fairies heading that way, an impressive squadron and well-armed with bombs. Lilje and Revebjelle were flying fast in front of them, trying to reach base with the news before the attack, but Will could see they weren’t going to be able to give much warning.
Dan, Carda, Rose and Bella; Stella, Jenny, Sizzle and several more flew over in neat waves, dropping bombs of lake mud with great accuracy on the gaping crowds below them. Will couldn’t stop laughing. No-one was being hurt, but they certainly weren’t enjoying it, judging by the shrieks he could hear.
Crocus was quick to respond. She and all her flyers whose wings weren’t clogged with mud were soon airborne, ready to drive off the attackers.
At this, Dan and the fighters formed a line, allowing their unarmed comrades to escape.
Will watched, very impressed to see their knife battle in the air. They were outnumbered, though, and had to allow themselves to be driven off. Ace must have told them not to risk capture. But as a raid, it had had its effect, and it was a long time before order was restored. Will waited to see if they returned to their trench-digging, or tried an immediate retaliation. He wasn’t surprised to see it was the trench. If Ace was being patient and cautious, Crocus was being even more so; too much so, in Will’s opinion. She’d end up paying for it… at least, he hoped so.


Will spent the afternoon working on the boat, then took a short rest before the night work. No-one wanted to miss out on this one, but someone had to stay and guard the stockade. Ace chose Dan and the other fairies for that, as they’d already seen some action. They weren’t too fed up about it, because they were proud of being trusted with such a job without any help from elves and goblins.
Everyone else got ready, well-camouflaged and with knives at their belts. Ace led from the front and took half of them over the bare ridge, while Ross led a slower party which included all of the goblins and the biggest of the elves. Will was with Ace’s party, and when they got to Crocus’ camp, they had to be very patient, crossing behind it one by one when no-one was looking, and being very careful to jump lightly over the trench.
When they were all round, Ace waited for a message from Ross to say that his party was ready. Then he gave the signal to attack. All the elves behind the enemy hut suddenly shouted as loud as they could, and charged through the camp yelling, with knives drawn, fighting everyone who stood up to them, but with the main purpose of driving them into the arms of Ross, Fran, Gran and the goblins.
Ace had insisted that their main aim was to cause panic and confusion, and Will was thrilled to see how well it worked. Ross’ party stuck to their instructions too, and as soon as each had a prisoner, he led the prisoner firmly off, away to their own base. Once they’d gone, taking a dozen captives with them, the tricky part now was for Ace’s party to get away without being captured themselves. At this point, they needed a distraction, because they were heavily outnumbered and Crocus’ team was rallying fast. But Ace had planned for that too, and just at the right moment, Rose and Stella flew in, aiming pellets of sticky pine resin into the face of anyone who had hold of one of their elves.

Then Ace and Will, with Droz, Kes and Vin, Lauro and Alnus, and Dub and Lupa jumped together into formation and moved fast down the valley to act as rearguard for Ross’ party. Will was tense and alert, watching carefully for any sign of pursuit, but there was none. They’d done it, and when they got back to their base they were all exultant that it had gone so smoothly. They now had thirty prisoners. It took a while to get them all comfortable and give them all a drink, and by the time they’d done that it was already full light again.
Ace called everyone together. He was rubbing the sleep out of his own eyes as he spoke.
“I know everyone’s tired,” he said, “but I’m asking you to fight it, and stay awake. I’m asking for endurance here, for the cause. I think it’ll be over today, one way or the other, and whatever happens, you’ll be sleeping in your own beds tonight.”
“What’s going to happen, Ace?” said Fran.
“I think she’ll have realised by now that she can’t keep leaving it to us to take action. Today, she’ll take action herself, and I think it will come to a battle. We have to win that battle, and then push on to win the whole combat, because if we lose today, we’ll lose the whole thing. We could hang on for ages, but we’d get smaller and smaller as we did, and numbers would tell in the end. No, if we’re going to win, it has to be today.”


Ace’s point about numbers was a good one, Will thought. If theirs got too low, it would get to the point where they couldn’t mount a successful attack. He could see it sinking in to everyone’s minds that this was going to be all or nothing. No-one wanted to miss it, and no-one complained about being tired.
“Are we all going, Ace?” said Rose. “Wouldn’t it be better if a few of us didn’t, ‘cos she’s not won until she’s captured all of us?”
“That’s right, Rose, and it would be a very good idea if there were enough of us. But just two or three might be enough to turn it our way, yet they wouldn’t be enough to do much if the rest of us were captured. It would only spin out the inevitable.”
“Two or three could mount a rescue, and release you all,” Droz pointed out. “I’ll volunteer to miss the battle, and do that, if you want.”
“Thanks, Droz,” said Ace. “You could do it too, I’m sure of that.”
Will could see that Ace was really struggling here, trying to decide what to do. It was so finely balanced, and the wrong decision now could ruin everything. He was weighing it all up, but in the end, his natural sycamore optimism came out on top.
“We’ll all go,” he decided. “Every single one of us.”
Will was glad to hear it, glad that Ace’s brilliance hadn’t been stifled.
“All of us? What about the prisoners?” said Sizzle.
“Ah, we’re going to take them with us,” grinned Ace. “It’ll take a while to transfer them, but we can put them all in the boat. Let’s get a drink now, and have a rest, and I’ll explain the plan.”


Three hours later, Will was in the forest, just out of sight of Crocus’ camp. Dan and Carda had just brought down another pair of enemy fairies, so as far as they knew, Crocus had had no word of where they were, or what they were doing. Everything was going to plan.
He wished his part wasn’t quite so responsible, but communication was so important now. Communication, and timing – he was leading one section, because he could message Ace so effortlessly, and Ace was with the boat.
Anything yet? Ace’s words came into his mind.
There’s a lot of movement… lots of orders being given, though I can’t hear what they are.
’Kay… I’ll message Clover, she’s on their base, maybe she can hear.


In a while, Ace was back.
Yes, I was right! Clover says they’re getting themselves into marching order, and arranging how to move into battle positions when the time comes.
But the time will come sooner than they think.
Much sooner, said Ace, and Will could just see the grin. How’re you feeling?
Pretty nervous, said Will. How about you?
Excited. Can’t wait to see their faces. This isn’t a boat, Will, it’s a ship. And it’s a beautiful ship.
Don’t sink her, then. Good luck, Ace.
Good luck, Will.


What a beautiful morning it was, thought Will. How you noticed things at a time like this… how the sunlight filtered through the ranks of pine trees, and shimmered on the leaves of birches, and fell on the undergrowth of heather and bilberry, lighting it up. His hand twisted sweatily on his knife. He gripped it more firmly, ready, waiting… it wouldn’t be long now, he knew.
Crocus’ team had built a wooden fence all around their base since last night’s raid. They’d wasted too much time on defence, far too much, and now, as they prepared to attack, they were going to find out that they hadn’t taken reconnaissance seriously enough either. Their attack was going to be turned back on them - and how.
“Get ready,” said Will. “Not long now.”
Behind him, he could feel others doing the same as he was… calming their nerves, tensing their muscles, ready for the big jump.
All their elves were here, except Ace and the ones who’d been captured. Will felt sorry for Kiefer, missing this. He’d have enjoyed it so much. But Ace hadn’t forgotten their prisoners. He never forgot anything. He’d told them what was going to happen, and even given them something to do, so that they’d feel part of the victory, when they won. Will was surprised at himself, feeling so sure they were going to win. But then, even to him, Ace’s optimism was infectious.

Wait till they were level with the trees, Ace had said, then attack as they thinned out to climb the steeper part. They’d be attacking elves, for sure… their goblins would be in the rear, being slower, and their fairies would be in formation above. That was the tricky part… as they attacked, the enemy fairies would come down on them at once. Will found his heart was pounding, but whether it was fear or excitement, or a mixture of both, he couldn’t tell. But then the moment came, and all such thoughts were forgotten.
Ace, we’re going now…
’Kay, Will, got that…
“Ready,” said Will. “Together… jump!”
As one, the fifteen elves jumped out from the trees into the path of the attacking force, knives at the ready. Will found himself facing one of the Russian elves. He was bigger than Will, but not as determined, and kept wasting time looking round to see what was happening. Will put him out of action as he twisted and turned, with a slash to the side that made him cry out with pain and drop his knife. All around him was yelling and confusion, the ranks of Crocus’ force were bunching up behind the fighting leaders of the column, and their fairies were coming down, some with knives and some with stones.

Will had to duck and weave to get away from them, and then fought to defend himself against Beuk, who was pushing his way through especially to get to him. But as his knife twisted against Beuk’s, he heard Crocus raise her voice, and the command was just what he expected, just what Ace had said it would be.
“Push them back to the open ground! Don’t let them get away – surround them!”
Will knew better than to grin, and he didn’t have time, anyway. Beuk was nearly breaking his wrist, but his fierce determination not to be disarmed gave him just the little bit more strength he needed. He twisted out of Beuk’s clasp and fell back, knowing the others would be waiting for him to set the pace.
He didn’t need to message Ace now. He could feel exactly how close he was. One of the Serbian fairies was pulling his hair, trying to drag him back, and he let her. Let them think they were winning, let them think they had the situation under control. Anything to get them on the level ground by the shore, anything to stop them looking down the lake.

So far, so good… they were surrounded now, knives and stones were coming at them from all sides. Droz was down, Kes was having his hands tied… Will cried out in pain as a knife slashed his back. He staggered for real, and the anguish in his voice sounded very convincing as he remembered to call out the mock order.
“Back to the trees!” he cried out, as if in despair, which made the enemy team press harder, surround them more closely, watch them more carefully, determined not to let any of them escape.
He was losing a lot of blood, but all that mattered was not to pass out… not yet, not yet… Ace was much closer. Any moment now, someone might see him. He reached out, found Fran, grasped his arm.
“Heave!” he called, and Fran stopped defending himself and grasped someone else, and together, at the centre of the crowd, they pulled the whole mass further in the direction they wanted it to go.
Will was completely surrounded by the enemy now, being held tight by lots of hands, surrounded by grinning, shouting faces that had never looked so ugly. How could they gloat so much about defeating an enemy that they outnumbered by more than four to one? Will was disgusted. He’d rather lose than gloat, anytime. But this lot would soon stop laughing, Will was sure of that. Ace was nearly here.
Will twisted his head round, wanting to see what he knew would be a beautiful sight. And it was. Other people were looking now, awestruck into silence and the fight almost stopped as people stared.
Sailing down the lake towards them was a beautiful ship. Her timbers were coloured in every shade of green, so she looked like the spirit of the forest, and on her square white sail was the emblem of the Allies, the star in the tree. On her side was her name, proudly painted, the Queen Enid. She had a bank of oars too, and at every oar was a goblin, knife at his belt and looking anxious for battle. At the helm was Ace, with the wind in his hair. Will smiled for joy at the sight.


Ace leaped ashore, jumping from the deck right down to the ground, but the goblins were close behind him, swarming over the side, sliding down ropes and splashing through the water. For a moment, Crocus’ forces wavered, demoralised, but she rallied them with a shout, and they turned about to face the fresh enemies. That relieved the beleaguered elves in the centre, but they were all injured now in one way or another, and couldn’t do much damage. They could be more help just pushing the enemy into the path of their friends.
Ace and the goblins were doing plenty of damage, of course, and doing it very efficiently. The goblins had recently learned the chop to the neck that could knock you unconscious, and they were practising it now to deadly effect. Ace was inspirational. Fired up by the beautiful ship and the success of his plan, he was ablaze for the cause and fought with a speed and a passion that no-one could withstand.
Watching his knife flicker with almost invisible speed from one defeated opponent to the next, Will had to smile. Was this really the same elf who only five months ago had felt sick at the sight of a knife? Well, it was, of course, but Will should have known better than to stop and stare in the middle of a battle, even when the sight was Ace in full flight. Someone hit him on the back of the head with a wooden mallet. He almost heard the crump before he felt it.


He didn’t see Ace falter then, as if he’d sensed that Will had passed out, but then fight on with grim determination. He was only unconscious for about five minutes, but when he groggily opened his eyes, the scene had changed. There was a terrible noise going on, screaming, banging and raucous shouting and ear-splitting fairy whistles, and it took him a few moments to remember that it would be their own prisoners, joining in by using noise to create maximum confusion. He managed to raise his head and saw that someone had released them and they were rushing across to join in.
It was nearly over, and at first Will felt exultant as he realised they’d won. The only members of Crocus’ team who weren’t down or out were now completely surrounded. Will couldn’t see exactly who was there, besides Crocus herself, but there weren’t many of them. She would have to surrender now, and that would be it. But then Will felt a shiver of uneasiness as he realised that Crocus had no intention of surrendering, and Ace wasn’t expecting her to. They were going to fight it out. Fighting his dizziness, Will struggled to his feet. This wasn’t right, it was going too far. Someone was going to get killed, he had to stop them. It might be that he was the only one who could.

It was so hard to move. His back was burning as if it was on fire, but what he saw as he got closer helped him to ignore the pain. Ace and Crocus were fighting in deadly earnest. She was trying to get in a killer blow… and so was he. Frantic with fear, Will stopped moving. There was nothing he could do. If he messaged, or shouted, or even if he moved any closer, he’d distract Ace, and that could be fatal. He looked around, bewildered, trying desperately to think what to do. There were others still fighting, just as madly… this could all end so horribly, surely they didn’t want deaths?
Sergeant! Suddenly, it came to him, what to do. He sent a desperate plea to Sergeant Olt. Please, you have to stop this, now!
But it was all right. He wasn’t the only one who’d seen, the sergeant was already on his way, and he had help. The Commander was coming too… and so was Gran.
Thankfully, Will sank to his knees. It would be all right now. With perfect co-ordination, the Commander grabbed Crocus as Gran grabbed Ace, and they pulled them apart and held on to them. Ace was panting hard and looked absolutely stunned, but he wasn’t struggling, and Will knew that Gran would be able to calm him down. Corporal Lavall was blowing his whistle as if his life depended on it, and he didn’t stop blowing it until he was sure that every weapon had been lowered. Meanwhile Sergeant Olt was striding about, surveying the scene, counting and assessing. Then he raised his voice.
“The combat has been declared over. Well done, all of you. Now, first things first – there are a lot of injuries to deal with. Get cracking on that, and Major Gourdon’s here if you need help.”

The sergeant was right about the injuries, Will thought. All around him sprites were on the ground, bleeding and groaning or lying worryingly still. He looked to see what he could do to help, but before he could move, he felt the major’s hand on his shoulder.
“Hello, Will,” he said kindly. “Let’s get you patched up first, then you’ll be able to help some of the others. You’ve lost a lot of blood. Do you feel dizzy?”
“A bit,” said Will. “I had a knock on the head too, but it’s passing off. Ooh, that’s better, thanks.” The major had already repaired the long cut on his back. “That was really hurting!”
“I’m not surprised! I’m not saying I’ve got your streaks right – they’re really unusual, aren’t they? – but Ace can fix those for you later. Right, let’s get working – shout if you need me.”
Will felt surprised by the major’s chatty tone, but it was the same all over the field... the officers helping, and not just healing cuts and bruises, but calming everyone down, bringing them back from the brink.

With so much help, order was soon restored. Fran released Crocus’ prisoners from the ship, and as soon as everyone was fit to walk, Sergeant Olt ordered them all to line up. He was doing his best to sound cheerful, but it seemed to Will that he was more stunned than the other officers were.
“Splendid efforts from everyone, really splendid. Never seen such commitment, never seen such realism – never… so much so, that the Commander ordered a halt, before you all… well, before anyone got hurt really badly.”
Before we started killing each other, you mean, thought Will. He was sure it wasn’t usual for such senior officers to be watching combat training. They’d heard what was happening, and been ready for this.
“Once it was clear that Ace’s team would win, that was the end of it,” said the sergeant. “Corporal Lavall and I have been observing, and we’ve seen a lot of things that impressed us. We’ll talk about those tomorrow. Right now, you can all have a well-earned rest. Crocus, lead your team off first, please. Ace, you follow later. Then Major Gourdon’s orders are that everyone who’s been injured is to go to the hospital to be checked over and drink some milk.”


Will watched them go, some proud with heads held high, and some with heads drooping in despair at defeat. The Commander herself walked at Crocus’ side, talking quietly, supportive and kind. Major Gourdon walked at the back, also chatting quietly and cheering some despondent goblins. Then Corporal Lavall looked across at General Herdalen, as if he was asking a question, and got a firm nod in reply.
“Let’s go and have a drink,” he said to Sergeant Olt. “We’ve got a lot to talk about.”
Sergeant Olt, looking more shaken than Will had ever seen him, didn’t argue, but left with his corporal.


Only Ace’s team was left now – and Gran. None of them moved, or spoke, just waited until the last sound of footsteps had died away, and all you could hear was birdsong, and the lapping of lake water on the shore. Then Gran went over to Ace and shook his hand.
“The field is yours,” he said formally. Then his face broke into an enormous grin. “Well done!” he sighed. “You worried me… but oh, I was so proud of you! All of you.”
They lost their heads for a bit then, and started whooping and cheering, laughing and jumping around, hugging each other and looping the loop, while Gran went round and congratulated everyone personally.
“Well done, you genius,” Will said to Ace, and hugged him hard.
“Can’t believe we won,” sighed Ace happily. “You all did so well.”


“Come and show me your ship,” said Gran. “She looks beautiful.”
Surrounded by the young sprites, Gran walked over to the shore, and tears came to his eyes when he saw what they’d named her, saw the emblem of the Allies on her sail.
“Awesome,” he said. “You give me such hope, that one day the realm will be free again. Let’s keep her here, safe, until the day she can carry the new queen to her coronation.”
“Oh, yes!” shouted Kiefer.
“She’s good enough for that?” gasped Will.
“She’s easily good enough for that,” said Gran. “She’s the loveliest ship I ever saw.”
“But will she be all right?” asked Clover. “It could take so long… and the winter storms must be fierce, up here.”
Just then, a curious thing happened. The sun, quite low in the sky, cleared a distant peak on the other side of the fjord, and shone right across to the mountain. Rich pink light flooded the little valley, so intensely luminous that it warmed your soul as well as your body, lifted your spirits and cleared your mind.
“Well, well,” said Gran. “The light in the north. The humans say it’s good luck to see it. Maybe it’s just a trick of the light… maybe it’s a blessing. Who knows? It depends on your point of view. But for my part, I think that the ship will be safe now.”
Quietly, the sprites watched the beautiful light as it glowed and faded, watched it light up the rocks and the water, the white sail and their own tired faces. Gran knew that the memory of this moment would be etched in their minds, and be a source of strength and encouragement for all of them in the hard times that lay ahead.
“His realm,” said Ace suddenly, and everyone nodded, as if he’d put into words what they were all feeling.
“Yes, Ace,” said Gran warmly. “And that means all sprites, even our enemies. When we have to fight, we will, but until then, let’s live in peace.”
Then he led them back to camp, and when Muscari stumbled from tiredness, he carried her. He saw them all safely to the hospital or to their barracks, then smiled to himself, and made his way across to the Signals Unit. Gran had contacts in every country and every unit, he could have sent messages anywhere he wanted. But if you had some news that you wished could be spread across the realm, there was a faster way to do it than that. He climbed the stairs and knocked on the green door, and settled down for a chat with Poppy Rhaeadr.