Flyte

Chapter 20 Camp Heap

The next morning in the Forest found Nicko and Septimus standing at Grandpa Benji's feet. Or foot. The bright summer sun shone through their grandfather's leaves and cast a pale green light on the Forest floor. And on the chewed remains of Septimus's backpack.
"My whole kitgone," Septimus complained. "They've eaten everything."
"Everything except for us," Nicko pointed out, "which is probably the most important thing."
Septimus was not listening. He was on his hands and knees examining the ground at the foot of the tree.
"I wouldn't run my hands through those leaves like that," said Nicko with a grimace.
"Why not? I'm looking for something."
"Use your head, Sep. Loads of wolverines. Hanging around waiting for supper. Getting excited. Eating Mint Blasts. So what do you think they do?"
"It must be here. They can't have eaten that ... I dunno, Nik, what do they do?"
"Poo."
"Eurgh!" Septimus jumped to his feet.
"And then they hide it under the leaves."
"Eurgh, no!" Septimus wiped his hands on his tunic, stepped back and trod on what he was looking for. "Found it! It's here. Oh, fantastic."
"What?" asked Nicko, curious. "What's so important?"
Septimus held up the iridescent green rock that he had so carefully packed in his backpack.
"Oh," said Nicko, suddenly reminded of why they were in the middle of the Forest. "I see."
"Jenna gave it to me."
"I know. I remember."
They were both silent for a moment and Septimus stared intently at the rock. Then suddenly he burst out, "Oh, I hate wolverines! Look what they've done. They cracked it." Septimus cradled the rock in his hands and showed it to Nicko. "Look," he said, "there." A small jagged crack ran across the widest part of the rock.
"Well, it could be worse, Sep," said Nicko. "It's not broken. I suppose one of the wolverines must have crunched it or something. I bet it didn't do its teeth much good."
"I hope not. I hope they all fell out," said Septimus as he put the rock into the pouch that hung from his Apprentice belt.
It took Septimus and Nicko a while to say good-bye to their grandfather, and many promises to bring the rest of the family to visit him, but at last they set off through the Forest in search of the boys' camp.
Sometime later, just as Septimus's ankle was beginning to throb painfully and he was wondering if they were lost again, they came across a wide path.
"I know where we are!" said Nicko triumphantly.
"Really?" There was some doubt in Septimus's tone.
"Really. Just follow me, Sep."
"Now when did I hear that before?" said Septimus.
"Don't be mean," said Nicko sheepishly. "Lookdown therecan you see the camp?"
Nicko and Septimus were standing at the top of a small incline. The path dropped away in front of them, winding between the trees and leading to a small clearing. A thin line of smoke rose slowly into the still, early-morning air, and, as Septimus watched, the gangly figure of one of his brothers stepped out from what looked like a large pile of leaves and stretched and yawned in the warm sun.
"Erik!" yelled Nicko. "Hey, Erik!"
The figure looked up, bleary-eyed.
"C'mon, Sep," said Nicko, "time to meet the rest of us."
Ten minutes later, Septimus found himself sitting alone by the campfire pit. Almost as soon as Nicko had introduced him to Sam, Jo-Jo, Edd and Erik with the air of a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat, they had all disappeared, taking Nicko with them. They had told Septimus they were going to inspect the nets that Sam had laid out in the river to catch the fish coming in on the morning tide. And Septimus may as well make himself useful and stay and keep watch over the fire, which was kept burning night and day.
Septimus stared at the fire and wondered if all family reunions were like this. Although he had been very nervous about meeting the rest of his brothers, he had thought that they might have been pleased to see him; but the boys had just stared at him as though he were a frog in a jar. And then he had realized that they were not even staring at him but at his smart green cloak and tunic, and at his silver ExtraOrdinary Apprentice belt, which had glinted embarrassingly in the sun md made him feel as though he was showing off. He had quickly pulled his cloak around him to hide it, but then, Septimus thought glumly, that had made him look stupidlike he was bothered about how he looked. Or else it had made him look like a wimp who felt cold ... or scared, or... And then, as he had stood there wrapped in his cloak his brothers had, one by one, managed a grunt that Septimus had taken as a "hello," although it could just as easily have been "dillop." In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he was sure that was what they had said. Septimus put his head in his hands, thinking what a complete idiot his brothers must have thought he was.
As Septimus sat staring into the fire, wondering why he had let Nicko bring him here when he should be looking for Jenna, he was aware of someone joining him. He turned to see one of his brothersbut which one? Septimus had been too busy feeling embarrassed to be sure who was who.
"Hi," said the boy, poking at the fire with a stick.
"Hi," said Septimus, wishing he had a stick too.
"You the one that was dead then?" asked the brother.
"What?"
"Yeah. Dead. I remember Mum talking about you sometimes to Dad when she thought we weren't listening. You were dead. But you weren't. Weird." The brother poked the fire some more.
"Weird," agreed Septimus. He stole a sideways glance at the boy. It wasn't Sam, that was for sure. Sam, who was not much younger than Simon, was a man now, with a pale fuzz on his face and a deep voice. And Edd and Erik, he remembered noticing, both wore their hair in long matted strands, twisted like rope. Septimus reckoned it had to be Jo-Jo. A little older than Nicko and a little taller too, but much thinner, with matted wild Heap hair, all straw-colored curls, which was kept in place by an intricately plaited band of different-colored strips of leather worn around his head. The boy caught Septimus's glance.
"Jo-Jo," he said with a grin. "That's me."
"Hello," said Septimus, picking up a nearby stick and poking it at the fire.
Jo-Jo stood and stretched. "You watch the fire and I'll go sort the fish. Sam got a good catch last night. And Marissa brought some bread over this morning."
"Marissa?" asked Septimus.
"Oh, she's one of the Wendrons. You know, Wendron Witches. She made me this." Jo-Jo proudly touched the leather band that he wore around his head.
Sometime later Septimus was sitting by the fire holding a fish on a stick over the low flames. The flames spit and crackled as the fish cooked. Each cooked fish was pided into six pieces by Sam, then put on a chunk of Marissa's bread and passed around the boys. It was the best thing that Septimus had ever tasted. As they sat eating in companionable silence, Septimus at last began to relax and enjoy being with his brothers. No one except for Jo-Jo had said anything to him, but they had given him a job to dohe was, it seemed, the cook for the day. As each fish was eaten, Sam passed him the next one to hold over the fire, and soon Septimus felt as though he had spent all his life cooking fish around a campfire with his brothers. In fact, if it hadn't been for the nagging worry about Jenna in the back of his mind, everything would have been perfect.
It was after they had finished the fish that Nicko at last told his brothers about Jenna and Simon.
"Sikidnap Jenna?" Sam had said. "I don't think so. I mean, just because he and Dad had a disagreement at Aunt Zelda's about not being the Apprentice ... well, I don't see why you think he's suddenly gone bad."
"Yeah," agreed Edd and Erik.
"Though he did really want to be a proper Apprentice, didn't he?" said Edd after a few minutes' thought.
"Yeah," said Erik. "He used to go on about it all the time. It got really boring."
"He told me once that the reason Marcia Overstrand didn't have an Apprentice was because she was waiting for him," Jo-Jo said. "I told him he was crazy. Then he kicked me."
"But he used to help Jenna with her homework an' everything," said Sam. "He was much nicer to her than he was to any of us. So why would he suddenly kidnap her? Doesn't make sense."
Nicko felt as frustrated as Septimus had that no one would believe that Simon had snatched Jenna.
There was a grumpy silence around the fire as all six brothers stared at the flames and the remains of fish bones scattered in the ashes. Soon Septimus could stand it no longer. "Where's Wolf Boy?" he asked.
"Asleep," said Jojo. "Doesn't wake up till it's nearly dark. Like the wolverines."
"I need to talk to him," Septimus persisted.
Jo-Jo snorted. "Well, he won't talk back. Doesn't say anything. What do you want to talk to him for?"
"We need his help," said Nicko. "I told Sep he would be able to track down Jenna."
"Well, that's his bender over there." Jojo pointed to what looked like a large pile of leaves.
"C'mon, Sep. Let's go and wake him up," said Nicko, getting up from the fire. "The thing is, Sep," said Nicko in a low voice, as they walked over to Wolf Boy's bender, "Sam and the lads have kind of slowed down since they've been living here. They don't say much, which is the Forest way, and they don't do anything in a hurry. They don't really bother about the outside world; they're almost like Forest creatures now. So if you want anything donelike getting hold of Wolf Boyyou have to do it yourself."
Septimus nodded. Like Nicko he was used to Castle living, used to having a job to do and people around him who expected him to do it. Forest living, he thought, would drive him crazy.
Septimus and Nicko made their way across the camp while their brothers lay around the fire, idly throwing sticks and leaves into it and watching the flames flare briefly. Camp Heap was not very big; it consisted of four rough shelters in a small clearing, set around the central fire pit. The shelters, which the boys called benders, were made from long thin branches of willow cut down by the river and then bent to form hoops and stuck into the ground. Once they were in the ground, the willow hoops continued growing, and, as it was summer, they had a full crop of leaves of their own. The boys had also woven in more branches, long grasses and anything else they could find. Inside the benders they slept on thick piles of leaves, which were covered with rough woven blankets that Galen, the Physik Woman and Sarah Heap's old teacher who lived in a nearby tree house, had given them when they first set up the camp. These had now been supplemented with furs and brightly colored soft blankets made for them by the local young Wendron Witches.
Sam's bender was the biggest and the most solidly built. Edd and Erik shared a large, ramshackle heap and Jo-Jo had a neat tepeelike structure covered with beautifully plaited grasses that Marissa had helped him build.
Wolf Boy's bender looked like a pile of leaves; it was right on the edge of the camp, facing into the Forest. Nicko and Septimus had already walked around it twice, looking for an entrance, when suddenly Septimus noticed a bright pair of brown eyes staring at him from the leaves.
"Oh!" he gasped, and an odd shiver ran through him.
"Hey, Sep, you look like you've seen a ghost." Nicko laughed. "It's only Wolf Boy. He does that all the time. Never lets you see him first. Probably been watching us ever since we arrived."
Septimus looked pale. His heart was pounding; Wolf Boy's eyes staring at him had spooked him almost as much as the wolverines had the night before. "Yeah," he mumbled, lapsing into Forest talk.
Suddenly the pile of leaves gave a lurch and a small wiry figure emerged, covered in dirt and bits of twig. Wolf Boy stood tensed like a runner waiting to start a race, glancing about. Nicko and Septimus instinctively stepped out of his territory.
"Don't look straight at him. Not to begin with. He gets scared," Nicko muttered under his breath.
Septimus could not help but steal a brief glance, and to his relief, Wolf Boy looked much more like a boy than a wolf. And he didn't even smell too bad either, more like damp earth than a wolverine. Wolf Boy was definitely human. He wore a short tunic of indeterminate color, which was tied around his waist with an old leather belt, and he had long, brown, matted hair, Forest style. His bright brown eyes, once they had finished checking out his surroundings, turned their attention to Nicko and Septimusparticularly to Septimus, who he looked up and down with a faintly puzzled air. Septimus felt the old embarrassment about his fancy clothes returning and, not for the first time, wished he had taken the time to roll in mud before coming to Camp Heap.
"Hi," said Nicko after a while. "You okay?"
Wolf Boy nodded, still staring at Septimus.
"We've come to ask you to help us," said Nicko in a slow, calm voice.
Wolf Boy at last took his gaze off Septimus and regarded Nicko with a solemn stare.
"We need you to help us find someone. Someone who has been taken away."
Wolf Boy showed no reaction.
"You understand?" asked Nicko. "It's really important. She's our sister. She's been kidnapped."
Wolf Boy's eyes widened briefly in surprise. Now it was Nicko and Septimus who were doing the staring, waiting for a response.
At last it came. Slowly, very slowly, Wolf Boy nodded.