THE TALENDE TREE

CHAPTER 3 - Essen

Next morning, Will gave a talk on mobile phones and absolutely everyone wanted to hear that. He had brought several of the old phones that Dominic and his brothers had collected and he opened them all up and passed them round, so they could see that there were certain components that were always present, and how they might vary in appearance.
“Newer phones can even access the internet,” he said. “Though we’re not likely to be given any of those. Phones can have other fun stuff, like cameras, but all that matters to us is the phone part. For that, we need a working battery. The batteries must be charged regularly, and this can be done from human electricity supply, or a generator, or from another battery as we normally do. So when you supply a phone to a sprite, you also need to supply a charger, but those are very easy to make.”
Then Will showed them how to find the number of the phone, and how to create one if the data had gone. He showed them how to check the keys worked and how to make sure the screen lit up.
“Okay, that was the easy part,” said Will. “Now we have to think about networks. When humans use their phones, they are using radio waves coming from cells. They access these networks by paying a subscription. Currently we have four phones that have such a subscription. Not easy for sprites to obtain, as you can imagine. One has gone to General Stalden and one to General Arley. One has gone to Colonel Arnsberg, and the fourth one – here it is – is going to Colonel Dünnwald. Here you are, sir.”
“Thank you very much, Will,” said the colonel in awe.
“Those four phones are the core of our network because so long as they are kept charged, they will always be available for use. But thanks to a young scientist called Aesculus, experimenting, we now know a way to make any phone work without any use of human networks at all.”
He explained what they’d learned, making his audience gasp. This team knew enough to realise just how extraordinary it was.
“An elf tree? That’s all? Anyone’s elf tree?”
“That’s right,” said Will. “It seems that an elf tree has an unbroken connection with the Talende Tree himself, even now. Ultimately, the power that gave us Signals is now giving us what young Aesculus calls the Elf Network.”
“Remarkable. So to make a call, you have to maintain the contact by continuing to touch the tree?”
“That's right, but you can receive a call anywhere. At first, I thought it was just being tuned in, like receiving a message from Signals, but it’s not that – or not just that. I realised we’d only been testing with army sprites, so we sent calls to two fairies with no army connections, in fact both of them have at one time been humans, and they had no problems at all. They could make calls themselves, too, just like army sprites could.”
“Truly amazing,” said old Kristtorn. “The units in the field are going to have to liaise very closely with the colonies, then, so they know where an elf tree can be found.”
“Yes, that’s true,” said Will. “It's going to be crucial. But by chance, we also discovered an even more remarkable thing. Sending texts – anyone, touching the elf tree, can send a text. But army sprites, who've been to the mountain and learned to message, can text from anywhere if they really focus on it, once the phone has been laid in an elf tree.”
“Our wonderful Tree,” said Colonel Dünnwald. “Still helping us.”
“Yes, indeed,” said Will. “This is science, but it's not just science. So, that’s about it. We need a set of instructions, clear and simple, to send out with the phones. That’s probably the first job. Some people – General Herdalen, for example – have already got hold of phones, from Allies, and are aching to know how to use them.”
“We need to be making a list of who has them,” said Captain Pamisos. “And their numbers, too. A central database of who can be contacted in this way. The list will grow fast.”
“There’ll be a good few more when we’ve made all these work,” said the colonel, rubbing his hands.
“Excellent,” said Will. “Let’s get cracking, then.”

Everyone started working at once. The scavengers, feeling that they understood what was happening now, went out happily on the rounds, all keen to find a phone on a doorstep more than anything else. Campanilla and Maag went to visit Hanna. They wanted to see her anyway, but they hadn’t forgotten that she’d promised to ask for old phones among her friends.
As for Will, he was trying to hold back from doing, and just teach, letting other people gain experience. So he was constantly listening to questions and answering them, so much that he scarcely noticed anything else. It was round about midday, when he stopped to thank someone who had put a hot drink in his hand, that he realised Ace was on the move. Very excited, he moved closer to the window and calmed his mind. But the more he concentrated, the more clearly he could sense that Ace was moving fast, on the train now, travelling south. The connection wasn’t working as perfectly as it used to, and when one of them was moving at speed, they couldn’t get through, but that didn’t matter. Now he knew, he could stay more alert and be ready to notice when Ace stopped.
By the evening, they had several old phones ready for testing, so Will’s next job was to show Colonel Dünnwald how to use his own phone to contact Madge and ask her who to send them to.
Madge sounded absolutely stupefied that this was all actually working.
“General Herdalen’s orders came last night,” she said. “Everyone’s going off in different directions, and I have to list who’s in which team, for him. But as soon as they’re all on their way, I’ll do a list for you, and get back to you.”
“Perfect, ma’am,” said the colonel. “Thank you.”
Colonel Dünnwald didn’t need showing how to press ‘End Call’. He could work that one out for himself.
Ace is leading one of those teams, thought Will. And about to go back into action, when he gets to Grenoble.
Will felt horribly torn. The work here was wonderful, he was doing a vital job and he was in his element, but part of him, a big part of him, wanted to be with Ace and go into action at his side. Then, while he was thinking about that, he realised Ace was moving more slowly. He didn’t try to get through, though. Ace would have to get off a train – maybe help others get off a train – and possibly make a connection, too, in a strange station. But half an hour later, Ace got through himself.
Gothenburg, he said. Been travelling since half seven this morning, my head feels scrambled, but we’ve a long way to go yet.
Where are you planning to stop?
Phil says we can get to Hamburg tonight. We’ll rest there, and come to Essen in the morning. I’m hoping that you or one of the team can help us plan the rest of the route.
No problem with that. But you’ll be here tomorrow! That’s wonderful.
I can’t wait, said Ace. I suppose it’s too much to hope you’ll have finished there by then?
There's no chance. I’d rather come with you, but they need more help yet. What’ve you got to do, and who’ve you got, besides Phil?
Gran’s mixing everyone up. I’ve got to capture a fairy from parliament’s top bosses, who lurks at the top of a mountain. I’ve got Fran and Peter, and their lieutenant, Tivo, plus Dale and Lisette, and Gazania. I’ve got Sal and Herbert – the rest of our lot had to stay with the helicopters, and so did Rob. I’m not being self-indulgent and coming to see you for the fun of it. I need you to pool with Dale and heal Lisette’s wings. There’s a big shortage of fairies for these missions because they’re all doing messages or searching for people.
I understand. But you know, there are a lot of fairies here, Ace, with not a huge amount to do at the moment.
Are there now? That’s a thought. Right, better get ready for the next train. Copenhagen here we come, see you tomorrow!
Safe journey, Ace.

Some of the fairies had taken the phones that were ready to the nearest colony for testing. While he was waiting for their calls to come in on Will’s old phone, Colonel Dünnwald was talking about getting the internet working here so they could keep in touch with the Allies.
“Hanna will tell us things, and she is nearby. But things may move quickly and Hanna is very old. We should not be disturbing her too much. It would be excellent if we could reproduce here what you achieved at Fjaerland.”
“I don’t see why not,” said Will. “You’re right above the station, and it’s surely got wi-fi.”
“How can we connect to their wi-fi without an Ally?”
“We’d need their password. It shouldn’t be too hard to find, if we can get into their IT room. Do you still have the blueprints for the booster?”
“Great minds think alike,” grinned the colonel. “Let’s get back to work.”
Before they played and slept that night, the calls from the refurbished phones had come through, and Will and the colonel had made a new signal booster. And even better, Will had had a faint and hasty message from Ace. He’d sounded very tired, and no wonder, after a journey that had lasted thirteen and a half hours and involved four changes. It wouldn’t have been easy. Phil would have helped him with times and platforms, but Ace had a lot of people there with very little experience of trains at all, and Will knew very well that Ace would have spent the whole day explaining and cajoling, encouraging and helping. And he’d have to be awake early tomorrow. The first train of the day to Essen from Hamburg left at 7.01.

Will felt so excited the next morning, it was hard to hide it, to disguise the fact that he knew Ace was coming, but Gran had asked them not to mention that they could still message, and he remembered that. His emotions welled up when he thought of Ace going up on the roof of Hamburg station at dawn to sing. He would have done, Will knew that for sure. It seemed so long since he’d seen him. It wasn’t really – it was only ten days since they’d parted, up in Dovrefjell – but so much had been happening, it felt longer. The work was going on much the same as yesterday, but it was harder to concentrate. Still, they knew he was a twin, so they wouldn’t be surprised to hear him say that Ace seemed to be on a train and heading for Essen.

About ten o’clock he casually mentioned it, though he wasn’t prepared for some of the reactions he got. There seemed to be some squeaking going on, and also some glaring. But Colonel Dünnwald didn’t seem surprised.
“Ah, General Arley said everyone was on the move,” he remarked. “No doubt your twin is on one of these missions.”
“No doubt, sir,” said Will, trying to sound cheerful.
It couldn’t have been entirely successful, because the colonel looked at him sympathetically.
“You must feel very torn,” he said, “having two places to belong. I don’t envy you.”
“It’s not easy,” said Will. “But I’ll cope. Whatever it takes to win the war.”
“That’s the spirit. Go on down to the station and meet him – it’ll be the train from Hannover, it comes in at 10.34 on platform 1 – and bring the whole team up here. We’ll provide everything we can to help them on their way.”

Will realised he could be a big help by waiting at the air vent that gave the elves a short cut into the empty office block. Ace would know he was waiting there for a reason and head that way. Their reunion was a moment of glorious confusion, because as soon as Will saw the glimpse of a blond whirlwind and felt the familiar arms around him, hugging him, there was a frightened yelp behind them and everyone tumbled into the narrow passageway on top of one another, as Phil and Gazania, at the back, pushed hard to escape the beak of a pigeon.
“Push off, bird,” said Phil. “You can’t fit in here. Thank goodness. Hi, Will!”
“Hi Phil, hi everyone, come this way. It’s a long way to the top, but it’ll be worth it.”

Will stayed close to Ace all the way up and all through the colonel’s welcome and introductions. And it was the same for Ace, he knew. For just those few minutes, they had forgotten about the war and everyone else around them, and just reconnected. And all without needing to talk. That, they could do anytime. But to Will, just being in the same room as Ace made him feel as if he was being re-charged. They quietly nodded at each other when they felt better, and then Ace answered a question from the colonel.
“No sir, we don’t have to get to Grenoble today. Tomorrow will do. The priority today is our friend Lisette Lavall, whose wings were burned in the fires at Fjaerland.”
Led by Captain Pamisos, every fairy there stood and applauded her courage, and Ace at once kept quiet to let them express their feelings. Lisette herself seemed stunned, but managed to smile and nod in acknowledgement.
“We’re two flyers short on this mission as it is,” said Ace. “So it would be great for the team too, to get Lisette flying again. Her friend, Dale Knightwood here, can’t do it alone, but we think that if he pools with Will he can.”
“Ah, then you and Dale must rest your minds, Will,” said the colonel. “Sit down, sit down… and has anyone put the kettle on?”
Some brought chairs and some brought drinks, and looked after their visitors. Everyone was chatting, but not to Dale or Will. They sat next to each other and talked gently and quietly to each other only. Colonel Dünnwald was talking to Ace about phones when Will came over. He stood behind Ace’s chair and leaned his hands on Ace’s shoulders, but his words were for the colonel.
“We’re just going to talk to Lisette for a while now,” he said. “We can heal her, I’m sure of it, but it’s going to take hours. So why don’t you get Ace to raid the IT office? To get the password from the router?”
Ace twisted his head round to grin at Will, then he spoke to the colonel too.
“Anything with the word ‘raid’ in it sounds good to me,” he said. “Just give me someone who knows what a router looks like and you’re on.”
“Oh, this is very exciting!” said the colonel. “I know what a router looks like. I’ll come myself.”

Ace made sure Will was happily settled with Dale and Lisette before he left, and that they were safe from interruption. They were in a wonderful room that had plants growing on the floor. Ace had never seen anything like it. It was full of green peacefulness, so that was all right. He followed the colonel back down to the station and gathered their helpers together high above the concourse.
“The place we’re looking for won’t be in a public area,” he said. “So we need to get through closed doors, and make use of every opportunity to get behind the scenes. There could be a lot of offices in a place this size. And they’ll all have computers. But the one we want will have a lot. So let’s pair up and split the search into sections, clockwise. Twelve o’clock is that line of little shops. Captain Pamisos, can you and Sal take that, then Phil and Gazania take 2 o’clock. 4, Maag and… Campanilla, is it? 6, Tivo and Lupin, 8, Fran and Peter, then Colonel, you and I can do 10. Back here in half an hour, let’s go!”
Ace took a couple of seconds to check everyone had got off all right, then he and the colonel headed towards the platforms. It didn’t seem a likely direction for a high-tech office, but you never knew. They paused on top of a gantry.
“Along that wall?” said the colonel. “There are closed doors there.”
“Looks the best option in this … hey, that guy’s opening a door! Come on!”
Hoping the colonel could jump fast enough to keep up, Ace leaped for the wall above the door, then twisted and jumped down and in. The door closed behind him and the colonel’s face appeared at the window, on the wrong side of the wall. It didn’t matter. Now he was inside, Ace could see that this wasn’t what they were looking for. There were yellow hi-vis jackets hanging up, a table with cups on, and a radio. This was where the railway workers could take a break. He jumped up to shake his head at the colonel through the glass. The man who’d come in had sat down at a table and was looking at his phone. Carefully, Ace crept behind him. He’d spotted an open door, leading through into another room. But this one was a disappointment too. It was full of boxes, clearly only a storeroom. Ace heard the scrape of a chair. The railwayman had finished answering his message and was going out again. Ace got into position to leap out above his head, then doubled back to join the colonel on the window ledge.
“No use,” said Ace. “No computers in there, nor the next room, either. Are you all right, sir?”
The colonel looked so stunned, almost vacant. Yet this was one of the cleverest elves in the army, the only one who really knew what Will was on about sometimes.
“Yes… yes, I’m fine, thanks,” he got out. “Just not used to such speed! But these other rooms along here, some of them have windows like this.”
“Let’s check them out,” said Ace.
By the time they’d established that one contained bicycles and another was full of cleaning equipment, they were very sure that the room they were looking for was not in this section, and it was time to rejoin the others.

Not everyone was back, but the ones that were had a lively discussion going.
“The room we found had loads of computers in,” said Gazania.
“So did ours,” said Tivo. “How to tell which is the right one? How many did yours have?”
“Six,” said Phil. “But there were stacks and stacks of papers. It looked to me like a room where people just use the computers to type things up.”
Ace and the colonel were listening carefully.
“Well, this one only had four computers,” said Tivo. “But it had this massive box at ceiling level with loads of coloured wires going into it.”
“And it had a big box labelled Deutsche Telekom,” added Lupin. “That has to be the phone lines coming in, surely?”
“What do you think, sir?” Ace asked the colonel.
“Lupin and Tivo’s,” he said. “How about if one of you takes us there, and the other waits for the stragglers and brings them along?”
Lupin said she’d wait, so Tivo showed everyone else where to go, across the roof of the booking hall, until they could look down into a room through a skylight. They had a great view.
“We couldn’t find a door,” Tivo explained. “We think the humans go in and out through the booking hall, and that’s really crowded.”
“Aha!” said the colonel. “Oh, well done, lieutenant. Look over there, there’s a window ledge, but the window only looks into another room. But look what’s on it!”
“That’s the router?” said Ace. “The grey box with the aerial?”
“It’s a router,” said Captain Pamisos. “It may not be the right one.”
Ace was not fazed at all by this scientific precision. He was used to that.
“But it might be. And – if I’ve got this right – we won’t know if it’s the right one until we try its password on your new computer?”
“That’s it, exactly,” said the colonel. “And the password, Will says, will be on a label underneath it. And it will likely be a long string of letters and numbers, difficult to memorise.”
“So we need one person to lift the box, one to read out the code and one to write it down,” said Captain Pamisos. “We had better come back tonight, surely, when the room is empty. Can we do something to this skylight so it can’t be closed?”
“It’s a good idea,” said Ace. “But it’s a long time to wait, when a diversion would do the trick right now.”
Just then, Lupin arrived with Maag and Campanilla, Fran and Peter, just as the colonel was saying that a diversion was fine by him, but what could they do?
“Those waste paper baskets are metal,” said Ace. “And they’re full of paper. And there’s a fire extinguisher on the wall, and all the workers look young and fit.”
“Who’s got the matches, then?” said Phil.

When Ace gave the signal, Gazania flew in at top speed and hid behind the waste bin, striking matches. As soon as the paper flared she zoomed out of sight. And as the workers rose to their feet, exclaiming about the fire and reaching for the extinguisher, Captain Pamisos, Maag and Campanilla flew in, straight to the router. Campanilla pushed it over, the captain read out the code and Maag wrote it down. Before the fire was even out – and it was a really tiny one – they were flying up again. The flames were out, the room wasn’t even smoky, and the workers returned to their desks, looking puzzled and giving wary glances at the bin. On the roof above them, the sprites were slapping hands in celebration.
“Now what can we do for them in return?” said Ace.
“There’s not a lot,” said the colonel. “It’s all so new here, you see. But don’t worry. My whole unit will take this place and look after it as if it were our own. If anything needs attention, we’ll see to it, not just today, but always from now on.”
“Wonderful,” said Ace. “So shall we go back to your HQ and try it?”
“Let’s go,” said the colonel.

He looked at his watch. From the moment he had spotted the router, the whole operation had taken just ten minutes. Already, Ace had zoomed off, faster than a sunbeam, and all the sprites who’d come with him were keeping up with him. The Technical Section sprites stood around the colonel, and he could see that they looked as stunned as he felt.
“Ah, Maag, Campanilla,” he smiled. “So, now you’ve met him, do you think he’s as beautiful as you had heard?”
Maag could only nod, but Campanilla could do better than that.
“Oh yes,” she said. “Unbelievably beautiful. But it’s more than that. He’s just amazing. And he’s Third Regiment! And he’s proud of it! He makes me feel better about being me.”
“An excellent leader,” said Captain Pamisos in her serious way. “But I’m no longer surprised that Will Moseley isn’t part of our section.”
“Maybe one day,” said the colonel. “But for now, when there’s a war to be won… well, we’ve seen what each of them can do alone and they both stunned us. Imagine what they can do when they’re together.”

He knew how to delegate too, thought the colonel, once they were all back. When he found out that Kristtorn, the packer, was an ex-delivery elf and knew every line in Europe, he asked for information, not for himself, but for his team mate, Phil. He kept busy, too, as Will and Dale were still working.
“So, have you checked your phone for messages, sir?” he asked.
Captain Pamisos was trying out the code, so the colonel had no excuses.
“Ah yes, good point! Let me see… switch on here… oh look, there is one! How did I miss that?”
“Those audible signals aren’t very loud,” said Ace. “Easy to miss them in the station. It’s always worth checking when you come in from a noisy place.”
The colonel realised that while Ace probably couldn’t pull phones apart and put them together again like Will could, he had just as much experience as Will of putting them to good use. His advice would not be theoretical but practical and useful. He listened carefully.
“You see the name there? We need to change that. It says Clover, but really it’s from General Arley.”
“I understand. And I click to read – ah, no, that is the older phones. This one, you touch the screen.”
“You’ve got it, sir.”
“Oh, this is good. General Arley sends me a list of people to send the refurbished phones to. You’re on the list, Ace!”
“Oh, excellent.”
“I think you should have the one that came from Hanna herself. Without you and Will, none of this would have happened.”
“I’d be honoured. Does General Arley say anything else?”
“Let’s see. Oh, this is strange. She says Lieutenant Moseley is coming here with two old phones that were handed in at Oslofjord Hill by local sprites.”
“Oh, yes!” said Ace. “Norwegian Allies are so brilliant. Huh? Wait a minute…”
“Exactly. Will is here. How can he be… when did General Arley send this, can we see a date or a time?”
“Yes, both.”
Ace showed him how to check, and they both looked at the screen. It clearly showed today’s date and a time of only a few minutes ago.
“I thought the Search and Rescue fairies were going to bring phones to you from the Hills… oh! Oh, it’s all right, sir, she doesn’t mean Will! I bet you anything you like, she means Clover. She must have been promoted.”

For the rest of the day, the two teams worked together. The scavenger fairies supplied all kinds of equipment that Ace’s team was short of, and the elves of England 3 shared what they’d learned about working with modern high-tech glass. Colonel Dünnwald was delighted to see it. This was the kind of thing General Herdalen had in mind, he was sure. Everyone was talking about the war, totally focused on winning. Finally, the fairy Lisette flew into the room, tears streaming down her face but wearing a beaming smile. Everyone stopped to clap and cheer, and Dale tottered in looking stunned and weary, but very happy. Ace cheered as loudly as anyone, but he was already on his way to find Will.

He was sitting on the indoor grass with his head in his hands, and Ace could tell it wasn’t tiredness exactly that was bothering him, but the enormity of what he’d done. He leaned back into Ace’s arm without even looking. He sighed and took a few deep breaths, then opened his eyes and smiled.
“Too like transforming,” he said. “Such a big repair, you have to go in very deep. And wings… so hard to imagine below the cellular level. To get the strength and the lightness, the iridescence and the depth of colour. I tell you what, Ace, if you hadn’t transformed me into Dan that day at Fjaerland, I don’t think I could have done it.”
“I understand,” said Ace. “You could draw on that memory to know what it feels like to have wings. Was Dale able to help much?”
“Oh yes, he was great. I asked him to concentrate on Lisette herself and leave the biology to me, and he did just that.”
“Even he looked pretty tired though. Come on, old lad, which is your bed, I’ll tuck you up.”
“Thanks, Ace. Just a couple of hours should do it.”
“Excellent, then we can have a whole evening together. I think your lovely colonel is planning a party.”

It wasn’t a wild party. Just a pleasant evening up on the roof, with nicer things to drink than they usually had. Ace got his new phone and he truly didn’t care about how old it was. He liked the symbolism, that he’d got the very first phone that had been found on a doorstep, because of David and Gary’s video. And all his team had been so well looked after, and everyone was ready for morning. But before anyone started going off to bed, Ace had a quiet word with the colonel and then spoke to everybody.
“You’ve all got very specialised jobs,” he said. “But General Herdalen is keen for us all to pitch in together, so if anyone’s not too busy, well, I’m off to Grenoble in the morning and the team could really use two more flyers.”
Maag and Campanilla had charged their way to the front with their hands up almost before he’d finished speaking.
Ace wondered why Colonel Dünnwald was laughing. He had a feeling he’d missed something here, but he’d worry about that later. He hugged both the fairies and told them he’d be delighted to have them, then reminded the whole team that they had to be up at 6am.
“Train’s at 7. What’s the first change, Phil?”
“Mannheim.”

Ace found a spare bed near Will’s, and slept in blissful peace. He didn’t know how long Will was watching over him.
Just you stay safe, d’you hear me? You’re a great fighter and a great leader but that makes you a target for the enemy. I know you, my twin. There’s no-one braver, but you can’t help being a sycamore. Just don’t do anything crazy, okay?

In Mosina, Poland, in the house with the blue gates in the last road before the forest, Janusz was talking on Skype to his English friend, David. Janusz was a carpenter and a birdwatcher, and David was an art student and a heavy metal fan, but they had one important thing in common. Each of them had put his own life on hold until they had helped their sprite allies to win the civil war.
“I can hardly believe how well it’s done,” David was saying. “The video with Rowan in it has had thousands of hits.”
“This is not surprising,” teased Janusz. “Your Rowan, she is very beautiful. But now you are going to make video with old lady? How will this help?”
“She’s called Hanna, she’s the one who left out the first phone that was found. Gary and I are going to Germany to make the video at her house. Imagine the impact, another person saying what Rowan said – and an old lady, speaking German, will reach a whole new audience.”
“Ah, I understand. If one you don’t believe, two you might. Or if you don’t watch in English, in German you might. Have you told the army yet?”
“Only General Arley. She manages to say ‘I trust you, David’ in a really dubious voice.”

When Dub and Lupa had made their decision to go to Poland and find General Herdalen, the first part of their journey had been easy. From Zurich they had travelled to Prague, where all the announcements and notices would be in Czech. With that to help them, a train to Warsaw had been a simple matter. It wasn’t until that point that they realised they didn’t know the name of the nearest station to Wielkopolska. Only a very tense night-time operation had given them the information. They’d had to make torches, so they could read a map on a wall, and even then they’d had to take it in turns, with one of them on guard duty in case a human looked like coming nearby. After that, it got harder. The journey west to Wielkopolska was long and slow, with frustrating waits between connections, a cancellation and one train that was so overcrowded they had to ride on the roof. When they finally made it into the National Park, they couldn’t find the old parliament buildings or the army’s camp. It was nearly dusk, the midges were biting and they were much more tired than they realised. They’d been expecting to follow a sprite path, but there were just too many of them.
“We should have gone back to Essen,” said Lupa gloomily. “How foolish we were to think we could bring the news faster ourselves. We have taken a week now on this journey! And still we have not found the general.”
“I think you are right,” said Dub. “We were too optimistic. And now, we are alone in a great wilderness and it is getting dark.”
“It is doubtless teeming with wolves,” said Lupa. “We will probably not live to see the morning.”
“Now you are being too negative,” said Dub. “Wolves can’t climb trees, remember. All we have to do is climb a tree, and find a nook to sleep in. Things may look very different in the morning.”
“This tree will do. Except that I am too tired to jump.”
“No, you can do it. Look, there is a little box! Jump into that, we can have good shelter in there.”
With a big effort, Lupa made a clean jump, but he didn’t have a very comfortable landing.
“Oh, there is something in it already! I have banged my head now.”
“It looks like a camera. How strange! Why would anyone put a camera in a box on a tree?”
“Who knows? Push it out of the way. All I want now is my blanket and a long, long sleep.”

“David?”
“Yeah?”
“There is something on the webcam. Two elves just climbed into the bird box, pushed the camera out of the way, curled up and fell asleep.”
David laughed.
“Any idea who they are? I don’t know why, but that sounds like army to me.”
“To me also. Arrived at Wielkopolska and found no-one there? But why not rest in the old parliament buildings? Well, I will go and see if they need help. Not now – I’ll let them sleep. But at first light, I’ll walk across.”
“Brilliant,” said David. “Let me know how it goes.”

Dub was just waking up and thinking he would have to move because he was so stiff, when suddenly light flooded in, so bright he had to blink. Someone had lifted the lid off the box. He very nearly screamed when he saw a human face, a man's face, looking down at him. The face looked nice and it was smiling, but all Dub could do was clutch Lupa in terror.
"Aagh!" yelled Lupa.
"It's all right," said Janusz. "Please don't be frightened. I only want to help."
But he was talking Polish and at first they didn't understand him.
Dub stood up and tried to look brave and undaunted.
"What do you want?" he said in Czech.
“Ah, neighbours from Czechia!” said Janusz, now speaking very slowly and clearly, so they could tune in to the different sounds in familiar words. “Please do me the honour of coming to my house for breakfast.”
“Åšniadanie?” queried Lupa.
“SnídanÄ›!” said Dub. “Breakfast!”
“Mam mleko,” said Janusz, temptingly. “I have milk.”
“MlÄ—ko? Milk? Yes, please!”
Still smiling, Janusz lifted them very gently out of the box and cradled them in the crook of his arm, all the way through the forest and back towards the village.
"If I was not so terrified I would be enjoying this," said Lupa. "Humans can walk so fast!"
"I think he is a kind man. He wants to help us."
"He is taking us into a house! Oh, this is too much excitement. Far too much!"
"Hush, Lupa, we are having an adventure!"

"Drota! Dorota, where are you?"
"Here, why? Oh! Oh, you've found some elves! Put them down, I will get some milk."
Dub and Lupa's fears disappeared when they were offered fresh milk in real sprite-sized cups. They nodded their heads in gratitude, realising that they must have fallen into the hands of an Ally.
"This is my sister, Dorota," said Janusz. "She is cleverer than I, she can speak Czech properly.”
"Janusz, I can't!" protested Dorota. "Only like a schoolgirl."
"It will be enough," Janusz encouraged her. "Tell them your name."
"Jmenuji se Dorota," she said.
Dub and Lupa clapped their hands in delight. Now they were getting somewhere. The elves listened to Dorota and answered her questions, while watching with fascination as Janusz got his breakfast, loading a plate with bread, meat and cheese. But when Dorota told them her brother's name, they stared at each other in amazement.
"He is a famous Ally!" said Lupa.
They both stood up and bowed respectfully.
"They've heard of you!" laughed Dorota. "You're famous, Janusz!"
"Ask them what we can do to help them," smiled Janusz.

Dorota did so, while pouring more milk for them, and listened carefully to their answer.
“They have a something for General Herdalen. Wait, I will get my dictionary.”
Dorota came quickly back, book in hand.
“Můžeš to Å™íct znovu, Dub? Can you say it again?”
“Máme naléhavou zprávu,“ said Dub, as clearly as he could.
Dorota flicked through the pages.
“Naléhavou... urgent… and zprávu… message. Oh! But the general is not here. He has gone to… where has he gone to, Janusz?”
“East. Some have gone south, some east, different directions, different tasks. General Herdalen is going up the Warta valley, but I don’t know exactly where he’ll be today. How can we find out?"
"Can't you phone him?"
"No, I can only phone the sprites whose phones are on human networks. But one of those is General Arley, she will know General Herdalen's location, they surely keep in touch."
This was way beyond Dorota's Czech, so Dub and Lupa just watched as Janusz switched on his phone and began speaking in English.
"General Arley? Yes, it's Janusz, that is right! Oh, 5am in Norway? Oh, sorry, so it is! Yes, I have here two elves, their names are Dub and Lupa Berounka, they have a message for General Herdalen. Where is he today, do you know?"
Janusz scribbled down some things, and reached for a map, while still listening.
"Yes, I know where that is, I can get them there in an hour on the A2 motorway. But where can we meet... let me see… please will you tell the general that I will stop in the lay-by in the village of Ladek. Perhaps he could send someone from the colony to meet us there? Oh, you are very welcome. Please, it is no problem, I am here to help. Goodbye, General!"
Janusz smiled and made another call.
"Pavel? I need to come to work later today, I will work to make it up, yes? By ten at the latest, I think. Thank you, yes, see you later, then!"
He explained it all to Dorota, and she translated as best she could.
"General Herdalen is at the colony of Zagorów," she said. "Janusz will take you to near place."
"Take us? What, in a car?"
"Not car." Instead of looking up the word, Dorota held her hands out in front of her and made engine noises.
"A motorbike?" said Lupa faintly.
"This is the best adventure ever!" said Dub. "See, when we copy Ace and Will, life becomes exciting!"
"You don't think, perhaps, too exciting?"
"Never!" said Dub.

While Janusz was getting ready, Dorota showed Dub and Lupa where they could have a wash, so they were feeling fresh when Janusz came back in, wearing leathers and carrying a crash helmet. He lifted Dub and Lupa into the pockets of his jacket, one on each side, standing securely and able to look forward and see where they were going. Dorota kissed the tip of her finger and touched each of them on the cheek. Lupa was already speechless, but Dub rose to the occasion.
“Krásná Dorota, dÄ›kuji... beautiful Dorota, thank you.“

As Janusz roared down the motorway on his rather noisy old bike, he felt a surge of pride at being able to help in this way. The way he felt about the elves was something he could hardly explain, even to himself. When he'd first met a fairy, dear little Zawila, he'd been awestruck, romantically devoted. But the elves were friends. He'd met so many, these last few weeks, while they'd been at Wielkopolska, and he'd missed them since they'd left. To meet Dub and Lupa today had been wonderful.
They impressed him very much. He could tell by the rigid way they were standing that they were both terrified and not very comfortable, but they were not making a bit of fuss and they were watching what he was doing and where he was going with great interest. It wasn’t long at all before they arrived at their destination. The village was small, and there was no-one around. When Janusz switched off his engine in the lay-by, the only sound to be heard was a robin twittering in a hedge. Janusz lifted Dub and Lupa down to the ground, and sat down beside them on a bit of kerb. Only a few moments later, two elves emerged from under the hedge. They stood and saluted Janusz, then shook hands with Dub and Lupa. By the delight on the faces of Dub and Lupa, Janusz concluded that they’d met before and that these were old friends. Janusz touched hands with all of them.
“Goodbye, and good luck!” he said, before mounting his bike and returning the same way he had come. He was only a couple of hours late arriving at work.
“What was it, then?” asked his boss.
“Oh, I had to deliver two elves to Ladek,” said Janusz.
“Oh, very funny,” laughed Pavel. “You’re crazy, Janusz.”
Maybe, thought Janusz. Maybe I am. But if I am, then so are David and Gary and Karl and Leif. This is my world now.
He never found out what Dub and Lupa’s message was, though he did hear from Madge Arley how delighted General Herdalen had been to receive it. But three days after his journey, he found ten gallon cans of petrol on his path, and he knew it was a thank you from the elves.

Dub and Lupa watched Janusz go, then turned to speak to the elves who’d come to meet them.
“Ross! Gran Starheim! Oh, that is so kind of General Herdalen, to send people we know!” said Dub. “It’s so good to see you again.”
“You too,” said Ross warmly, and hugged them both.
“Yes, well, we had better get back quickly if your information is urgent,” said Gran. “I need to join the rest of Norway 2.”
Ross rolled his eyes, and shook his head, as if to say, Ignore him.
“Welcome to the eastern army,” he said. He put an arm round each of them as they walked along. “Have you heard that General Herdalen has put us all into two big groups?”
“No, we have been on our own for many days,” said Lupa. “But that sounds like a good idea.”
“Yes, he wants us all to work together and be flexible. Old units don’t really count now. Right, we just need to jump this stream. Not much further at all. Where have you come from?”
“Zurich,” said Dub. “Colonel Dünnwald sent out his teams searching for information.”
“And you found some, obviously. Well done. You’ve come a long way.”
“Here we are,” said Gran. “This is the colony of Zagorów. Ah, the general is in the ditch. We had better wait a few minutes.”
“We came here for an elf tree,” said Ross. “Oh, maybe you’ve not heard about that either? Will found a way to make the phones work, all you need is an elf tree.”
“Will is so clever,” said Lupa.
“He sure is,” said Ross. “Well, when we got here, we found they’d been visited by a gang. And the gang had smashed a lot of things. So we stopped to help with the repairs, of course. That ditch is so deep, they have a bridge across it, for the old and the young to use.”
“Used to have,” said Gran.
“They’re going to have a better one now,” said Ross.

Dub and Lupa could see that the banks of the ditch were lined with sprites watching or shouting helpful comments. The general was at the bottom of the ditch, up to his waist in water, directing operations. Four sturdy wooden struts had been sunk into the banks and expanded. Once they’d become too big to hold, the sprites had tied ropes around them so the weight could be taken from the top. As the expanding continued, the ropes were being lowered, until each piece crossed over with its opposite, creating two parallel X shapes.
“OK, fairies, bind the crossovers!” shouted the general, and the local fairies zoomed down with ropes to tie each X firmly together. Finally, the struts were expanded until they reached the bank.
“Brilliant,” said Ross. “That’s really strong. I think the general will leave them to it now. Easy enough to make the pathway across the top.”
Sure enough, General Herdalen came jumping and climbing out of the ditch. He was soaked and muddy, but his eyes lit up when he saw Dub and Lupa.
“Good to see you,” he smiled. “Thanks, Ross, thanks, Gran.”
“See you later,” said Ross. Gran seemed inclined to linger, but the general dismissed him with a friendly nod, and took Dub and Lupa to one side, away from the cheerful clamour of the bridge building.
“Janusz told General Arley that you’d managed to get into an important meeting at Zurich Hill,” said the general. “And what you heard made you decide to come straight to me? That was a very good decision indeed, well done. I’m very anxious to hear everything. What I’d like you to do, if you can, is to repeat things word for word. Can you do that?”
“Yes sir, we can,” said Lupa. “We were so worried about forgetting anything, we have been repeating it all to each other every day.”
Dub was watching the general’s face as Lupa began his recitation. First he repeated General Huskvarna’s speech, about how the army was finished, scattered and leaderless, and how the Premier was missing and the envoys had not returned. It seemed to Dub that General Herdalen was having no problem reading between the lines. By the way he was nodding, you could tell he could see right through General Huskvarna. Then Lupa went on to speak about their strange encounter outside.
“Sergeant Grybow said that? Well, well. Good for her. I’ll say one thing for her, she is an honest fairy who knows exactly what she believes in. Not all our enemies are bad, and not all our friends are good. You look thoughtful, Dub, what is it?”
“I think… Lupa, you did very well, but I think you have missed a bit out.”
“Have I?”
“Wasn’t there a bit about a new section?”
“Oh yes! Sorry, sir. He said that he would get information to the Hill as quickly as possible and he was starting a new section to do just that until the communication system improved.”
General Herdalen stared at them, then went very still. Emotions chased across his face, as if he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Then he smiled at Dub and Lupa.
“Thank you,” he said. “You are a credit to your regiment. Every bit of your news is vital, but your excellent system of training your memories ensured that the most vital part of all was not forgotten.”
“Their new team, it’s that important?” gasped Dub.
“Not the team as such,” said General Herdalen. “But they are having communication difficulties… they are having communication difficulties! They thought they were immune, with their potions, and that when they hurt the Talende Tree, only we would struggle. But our communications are getting better now, and theirs are getting worse. They forgot that everything is connected, and that was a fatal mistake.”
“Oh, I see,” said Dub. “It serves them right.”
“And they will not be able to use phones like we can,” said Lupa. “They won’t have anyone like Will.”
“I am absolutely certain they haven’t got anyone like Will,” grinned General Herdalen. “Now, what about you two? Do you want to go back? You can if you want to, but there’s going to be plenty of action here in the east too, and I for one would be glad of you. Elves with initiative, and Czech-speakers too, I can certainly use.”
Dub and Lupa looked at each other. Even Lupa’s eyes were shining.
“We would be honoured to stay, sir,” said Dub.

Dub's thirst for adventure, he felt, was being more than satisfied by such closeness to General Herdalen. Before the morning was over, he had gathered with the army sprites and the colony sprites and watched in awestruck wonder as the general had laid his phone respectfully on an elf tree and made a call. Dub didn't hear any of the conversation, but he could tell it had been important because of the general's pleased and relieved expression. Then they had parted from the colony with mutual thanks, and Dub had been amazed to see just how many army sprites were here with the general. It was a huge group - mostly elves, though not all - and Dub and Lupa, as newcomers, found themselves shepherded carefully into the middle as they ranged out along the banks of the River Warta, travelling fast and light, travelling south, travelling upstream. As the day wore on, the river grew a little narrower and faster-flowing and the terrain a little steeper, but they kept on jumping steadily, despite stinging plants, slippery patches and water voles. By the time the general called a halt for the night, Dub was ready to collapse into Lupa's arms, and Lupa wasn't much better.
"I feel as I did the day we all climbed to the top of the mountain at Fjaerland," said Dub. "Do you remember? It nearly killed me, but I would not have missed it for anything."
"I remember it well," said Lupa. "The second day, it was all downhill, and then we were home. Whereas here, the journey is getting steeper, and who knows how many days until its end?"
"That is what I love about you," yawned Dub. "The way you always look on the bright side."
"Oh, if you want bright, that is easy enough," said Lupa. "It is not snowing or cold. We are in beautiful Poland, it's July and the moon is coming up over the treetops."
Dub was surprised and moved. "Thank you," he said quietly, before they both fell asleep.

Next day, the journey continued. At first, it was just the same, but after a couple of hours, General Herdalen, with the advance party, called a halt and drew everyone's attention to a willow which had fallen across the river, reaching all the way to the opposite bank.
"My apologies to any willows here," he said, "but we are nearly at the fork and some of us have to cross to the opposite bank at some point. This is too good an opportunity to miss."
Dub hadn't realised until now that two groups had been travelling together up to this point and that now their ways parted. The leader of the second group was a sycamore, a colonel they'd never met before, though they'd heard his name, Heldreich Pesentheim. He and the general were just chatting about the route and the weather. They knew what the plans were.
"We'll just see you safely across," said the colonel. "Then we'll be on our way."
This was enormous fun, just frightening enough to be exciting, and once you were across, it was just as good fun watching others crossing. No-one fell in, though there were a few near misses, and all of the general's group had crossed over inside half an hour. Colonel Pesentheim called across the river.
"Goodbye, sir! See you in a couple of weeks!"
"Optimist!" General Herdalen called back.

"Oh, look!" said Lupa sadly. "There is Kiefer, going away with the other group!"
"Oh, I'm sorry," exclaimed Ross sympathetically. "You didn't get a chance to say hello. But it shouldn't be too long before we all meet up again. We had Kes and Vin and Droz with us too, but their group headed north two days ago."
After another hour's jumping, they halted to change the order, so the leaders could rest at the back. The group that Dub and Lupa were in moved forward to take the lead. Dub took a drink from his water bottle and gazed at the river. From here, you could see the fork plainly.
"I see. The others are heading east, on the north bank of the other stream, and we are still heading south, but now on the west bank." He was amazed at the cleverness of the general, who could hold a route like that in his head. "Where is everyone going?"
"Only General Herdalen knows that," said Gran. "We don't even know where this group is going... unless you do, Ross, seeing you're a lieutenant now?"
Ross frowned slightly at the sarcasm in Gran's voice, but he smiled again at Dub's honest delight.
"Are you? Oh, so you are, and I never noticed!"
"Congratulations," said Lupa. "I am not surprised."
"Not the first from our year," said Ross modestly. "That was Ace and Will."
Gran rolled his eyes. "That was no big deal. They are Third Regiment."
"Gran," said Ross, "the old regiments don't count any more."
"And even if they did," said Dub, "reputations change. Third Regiment has made a good name for itself in the west."
"It sure has," said Ross. "You'll have to talk to Dan and Carda when you get a chance, they brought loads of news back."
"Dan and Carda are here? Oh, great!"
"Yes, Dan’s out on long-range patrol right now, but Carda’s somewhere around, she’s interpreting for the general."
"Did they say where Ace and Will are?"
"Yes, Will's in Essen, at your old base, doing top secret high tech stuff. And Ace is leading one of these missions."
"Leading?" said Gran sharply. "I hadn't heard that."
"Oh yes," grinned Ross, winking at Dub. "He's a captain now, didn't you know?"
"How very predictable," said Gran. "Probably some rag-tag team he's leading. At least our mission is being led by the general himself."

All through the long hot afternoon the group kept on steadily jumping south. And though Poland is a very big country, they were in the west of it, and Dub and Lupa knew very well what country lay south of southwest Poland - Czechia.
"You are smiling, Lupa, that is good to see. Are you happy because we are heading towards home?"
"A little because of that, but mostly because now we do not have to think what to do. Having adventures is wonderful, but all those decisions! I do not like decisions."
"Ah, I understand," said Dub. "Then how lucky we are! With General Herdalen we can have adventures and no decisions either."

They didn't have long to wait for their next adventure. The army sprites were heading a short distance away from the river, into a wooded valley, and everyone anticipated that they were making their way towards a colony. They hadn't gone very far when they heard movement ahead of them, and General Herdalen instantly signalled for silence. Not everyone could see him, of course, but enough could, and stillness rippled along the lines. The sounds were getting louder and Dub thought they were coming now from two directions.
A puzzled expression crossed the general’s face, but then you could see an idea had struck him. He signalled to everyone, even the goblins, to get up into the trees, and proceed into the valley very quietly.
At first, Dub was enjoying himself too much to care what was going on. He hadn’t done this for ages! Trains were wonderful, of course, but it felt very good to be brushing through the canopy of a forest in full leaf. Lupa was grinning broadly, he was loving this too, you could tell. All of a sudden they realised they could go no further, as all the available branches ahead were full of elves who had stopped. Dub and Lupa wobbled, clutched each other, steadied themselves, then looked down to see what was going on.
The picture wasn’t clear. Too many leaves and branches in the way… there was a mixture of sprites down there, every order, but mostly young. They were well-dressed, but they all looked unkempt, as if they had been on the move for a long time. One after another passed below Dub’s viewpoint, and many of them were glancing fearfully behind. One of them raised his voice, shouting what sounded like words of encouragement to the others. Dub didn't catch the words, but he thought it was Polish. Then from the rear of the crush below came a fairy’s scream and the confusion got worse. Some rushed away faster, while others tried to push back to help. It was clear that the time to fly had changed to the time to stand and fight, for those who were brave enough. Dub and Lupa were mystified. Who were those sprites and who was chasing them? And why wasn’t General Herdalen helping them? Then whispers came up from elves lower down with a better view.
“It’s Special Brigade who are chasing them!”
“There’s a fight going on down there… why aren’t we joining in?”
“Shrinking… potions… that’s what they did to our people at Fjaerland!”
“We have to help… come on, let’s get down there!”
At that moment, General Herdalen’s voice hissed through the branches as loud as he dared.
“Keep still… nobody move!”
It was too late. A few of his elves had already leaped down to join in the fight. Dub could now see Gran Starheim down there, fighting brilliantly. Dub longed to join in, but he wasn’t about to disobey the general. The general had guessed what was going on, but Dub didn’t understand at all. He shared a baffled glance with Lupa and kept as still as he could, while watching avidly. He saw more fighting, pushing to and fro, and then he saw sprites in the uniform of Special Brigade, and saw for himself someone being shrunk and thrown unconscious into a sack.
“This is revolting,” he murmured. “How can a sprite do that to another sprite?”
“I am going off adventures,” said Lupa sadly.
Then came a clear command in German, which they understood.
“That’s enough – back to base. We have all we can carry.”
It was a fairy’s voice, and it must have been the Special Brigade senior officer, because the fighting stopped. The victims, whoever they were, fled south, and Special Brigade moved off to the north.
“Maintain silence!” said General Herdalen.
After a little while, six elves came jumping back up, looking pleased with themselves.
“Why didn’t you come and fight?” said one. “We helped some people escape, we could have helped more if you’d all joined in.”
No-one answered, and many eyes turned towards the general. He looked at each of the culprits briefly, in turn, then spoke briskly.
“We’ve wasted enough time here. Come on.”

Hoping that at some point they’d hear what all that had been about, Dub and Lupa followed with a good will, glad to be on the move again. The general seemed to be letting his frustrations out in speed, because he set a blistering pace that saw the lead section moving through the trees like a wind streaming through the branches. By the time they stopped, Dub’s legs were trembling and he felt he had had plenty of exercise for today.
“We are approaching a colony,” said Lupa. “Look, there are fairy lights in some of the trees.”
“Oh, good,” said Ross. “I don’t know about you, but I’d be quite keen on a drink and a rest now.”
Carda was at the general’s side as they came to earth and waited for their breathless goblins to catch up. They all walked quietly towards a clearing by the shores of a great lake. It seemed to be the centre of the colony. Some tiny sprites, just babies really, came running out to have a look at the newcomers, but they were swiftly followed by older sprites who picked them up, gently scolding them for their rashness. Carda stepped forwards with her hands held out, speaking reassuringly, and pointing to the general with a smile. The local sprites looked at each other, and one of them ran off – to fetch the senior sprite, everyone hoped – while the rest listened to Carda translating what General Herdalen said.
Then the senior sprite arrived, an ancient goblin leaning on a stick. His face was lined and his eyes rheumy but his mouth was smiling. He looked first at Carda, and when he spoke, Dub and Lupa could understand every word. They soon knew why.
“Little interpreter, you may rest now,” he smiled. “It is many years since I retired from the army, but we who have trodden the mountain will always understand one another. My name is Sitowie, welcome to the colony of Jeziorsko. How is the war going?”
General Herdalen strode forward with his hand outstretched.
“It’s good to meet you, sir,” he said. “I am Gran Herdalen and I am leading this section towards Opole, then on into Czechia to an objective at Mladá Boleslav. The war, I think, is at the turning point. Things have been bad for us, I don’t deny. Special Brigade are going round saying they have won. But I see reasons to hope that the worst is past.”
“Your name is known throughout the realm,” said Sitowie. “If you think that, then I am hopeful too. What can we do to help you? You cannot reach Opole today. Do you want to stay the night?”
“Yes please,” said General Herdalen. “Please don’t go to any trouble. The night is fine, we can sleep in this clearing, and water we can get from your beautiful lake.”
“You are joking, I hope,” said Sitowie. “We want to show you how much we appreciate all you are doing for us. Please, make yourselves comfortable, we will bring drinks to you.”
“This sounds good,” said Ross, pulling out his sleeping bag and expanding it with the ease of long practice.
“I like this colony very much,” said Lupa.

It wasn’t long before everyone had had plenty to drink. Lupa was playing trains with some baby elves and Ross was lying on his back in bliss with his eyes closed. Dub was sitting among a crowd of sprites, from their own section and from the colony, who were listening to the conversation between the general and the senior sprite.
“Have you had much trouble with gangs round here?” said Gran.
“Now and then. We are widely spread and they pick on outlying houses. They help themselves to clothes and anything else they want, then go back into the forest. We’ve not had any attempts to take over.”
“We saw a gang today. Quite a big one. But the curious thing was, they were on the run. And it was Special Brigade who were after them.”
Voices were raised all round in shock and amazement.
“Yes, it’s true,” said Gran. “Same filthy tactics – shrinking them and taking away all they could carry – but it wasn’t random. This order will have come from the very top.”
“So they’re turning on the gangs?” said the senior fairy. “That is bad news for the gangs, but good news for us.”
“It is,” said Gran. “It stops the gangs causing trouble, and that’s good in itself. But even better, it shows that Special Brigade are now over-confident. They think the army is finished, and they can turn their attention to other potential trouble-makers.”
“Meanwhile, you can work unseen, until you are ready to pounce,” said Sitowie. “You didn’t join in this fight, then?”
“Well, a few of us did,” said the general. All eyes turned to Gran Starheim and the others who’d jumped down. “But perhaps they didn’t hear the order.”
Gran stood up.
“We’re very sorry, sir,” he said.
“I should think so too,” said the general.
“Young hot-heads,” laughed Sitowie. “Now, General, if you are travelling to Opole, there is a way to test this. Opole has a fine station, and sprites from all around here like to use it. From the north, the easiest route is to stay with the river all the way to the railway bridge, then follow the tracks to the station. But the first bridge you come to is a road bridge, and under it lives a gang of goblins of the worst kind, bullying scavengers, and they refuse to let any other sprites pass, meaning a long and dangerous detour. Are they still there, I wonder? It would be very interesting to see.”
“Wouldn’t it just,” said the general. “Thank you so much for the news and information, as well as your hospitality. There is just one more thing I have to ask.” He pulled out his mobile phone. “I need to use this to call other army officers, and I can do that if I charge it by laying it in an elf tree. Is there an elf here who would lend me his tree?”
“Oh, I am sure,” said Sitowie. “Whose is the nearest? Daby’s oak?”
“Little Swierko’s spruce is even nearer,” someone called, and everyone laughed.
The army sprites saw why when a very young elf jumped up. He couldn’t have been more than five or six. Gran’s smile was warm and loving.
“Hello, Swierko,” he said. Carda was at his side at once. “I’m a spruce, too. Please could you take me to your tree?”
Beaming with pride, the little mite put his hand into the general’s and led him a very short distance into the forest. Gran admired his tree and chatted to him while his phone was charging. Once the general started talking on the phone, the little spruce got bored and ran off to play.

“Madge? Excellent news from here. Special Brigade are turning on the gangs. And even better, definite proof that they are having communication difficulties. What’s the news from Norway?”
“A few more stragglers have come in,” Madge told him. “I’m keeping them together until we have enough to make a team to cover Zurich, as you asked.”
“That’s a good idea. Do you have any idea where Collen Dolfawr is? I need a Signals officer and there’s no way Pice would leave the Tree, and I wouldn’t want him to.”
“Let me see – I know I’ve seen him – I’ll check my lists… yes, he’s gone to your mission in Amsterdam in Major Jokkmokk’s team.”
“OK, he’s busy. How about Poppy?”
“Gone to Sweden, to investigate a report of Special Brigade elves making heavy use of ferry crossings. But from what you say, they could be transporting shrunken gang members.”
“Yes, could be. We’ll wait for Poppy. She’d be good at this, and to be honest Collen is probably the better fighter. When she comes back, can you ask her to go to Essen?”
“Ah, they’re getting inundated, are they?”
“That’s the trouble. We’ve got so many phones now, they need a central place to check in to, leave their positions, get fresh orders.”
“Will do. Take care, Gran.”

Next, General Herdalen phoned Essen himself.
“Colonel Dünnwald’s phone, this is Will Moseley speaking.”
“Hi Will, it’s Gran. What’s the colonel doing?”
“Gone down to the station to fix a broken door. It’s his scheme for paying for the use of their wi-fi. He can’t hear the phone in the station so he left it here.”
“No problem, I wanted to talk to you too, and you can tell the colonel. Major Rhaeadr is coming to Essen to co-ordinate messages for you. Until then, I’d like you to do it. We have to have someone who can spot patterns, notice odd movements, put two and two together. Now you’re all scientists there, you’re all clever, but the others haven’t spent their lives with a tactician like you have.”
“Let’s hope enough of it has rubbed off then. Ace will just have to manage on his own a bit longer. Whatever it takes, that’s all that matters. What’s your own position tonight?”
“Jeziorsko colony. Thanks, Will.”

When Gran Herdalen lay down to sleep, his mind ranged for a long time over all the plans he had set in motion, all the army sprites working all over the realm, each team with its own small but vital part to play in the big operation he was pulling together. They all had faith in him, he knew. It was a terrifying thought. He just hoped he’d thought of everything. If he had left any gaps, Huskvarna would find them and walk right through them.

He wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep. Gran Starheim was restless and agitated until even peaceable Ross noticed and asked him what was wrong.
“It’s just not fair,” Gran whispered. “If Ace Moseley had done that, he’d have been praised for great initiative. But me, I just get in trouble.”
“I’m not sure he would, Gran,” said Ross. “He’s made enough mistakes in his time. The thing is, he always puts the mistake behind him and tries not to make the same mistake again. So let it go, and enjoy your sleep.”
But try as he might, Gran could never forget a hurt. All he could do to cope was not to let others see his pain. So now he kept as still as he could so that Ross wouldn’t think he was fretting, and never noticed that Ross had reached out a hand to comfort him.