Safe, page 17
Slipping down, she started washing her face with the cool water. It was ice cold to drink and delicious. She ached all over and felt quite strange.
Jakob joined her. He whispered, ‘Are you all right? Thank you for saving me. I don’t ever want to go through that again.’
‘Me neither. I’m just so grateful you were there.’
‘Hold on, Kiz, what’s that on your shoulder?’ He touched it.
Pain shot through her. The world began to spin a little. She tried to focus. ‘What the…?’ She stumbled slightly.
He looked down at his hand. ‘It’s blood, Kiz. Anna, quick, come and help me!’
Everything went black.
When Kizzy came around, she felt very confused. What had happened? Jakob helped her stand up and led her away from the river.
‘Lie down here,’ he said, pulling out his knife. He used it to rip Kizzy’s jumper and shirt sleeves to see the wound.
‘I need to check on Strom! He saved us too, despite his fever.’ Kizzy tried to get up.
‘You’re not going anywhere,’ said Jakob, pushing her back down. ‘Is she, Anna?’
‘No,’ Anna agreed. ‘Do as Jakob says. I’ve seen Strom, anyway. He’s all right, just got a bit of a fever. When we stop tonight, I’ll find some daisies for that magic drink you create.’ Anna stroked Kizzy’s head. ‘Stop worrying.’
Jakob stared at her shoulder. ‘We need bandages. Anna, can you go and get one of either mine or Kizzy’s shirts from the cart, please?’
Anna raced off. Jakob pushed Kizzy’s hair out of her face. The adrenalin had left her body now and the pain had taken over. ‘I’ve never seen you look so pale,’ he said.
‘That’s not helping me, telling me that. I know how ill I feel.’ Kizzy half-smiled at him, trying desperately hard to keep her eyes open. She wanted to close them and focus on the pain that swept through her body in waves.
Anna soon returned with one of Kizzy’s shirts, which she handed to Jakob. He began to rip it into strips. ‘Look, I’ve got one of the spare scarves,’ she said. ‘I thought maybe we could use it as a sling?’
‘Thank you. That’s brilliant.’ Jakob tore a length of the bandage. ‘Can you get this wet so I can clean the wound? Then I might have a sense of what we’re dealing with. I’m not sure if the bullet is still in there.’
Anna ran off.
‘I’ll be fine,’ Kizzy told him. ‘I wish you’d let me get up. We need to check the horses.’
‘Will you just stay there for the moment? The others are all doing that. Let me sort you out. You’re a hopeless patient.’
Kizzy fell back onto the grass. Eda nuzzled her face. Concerned or curious, Kizzy wasn’t sure which. The mare’s hot breath was a little cloying. The girl turned her face to the side.
Jakob pushed the horse away. ‘You’re not helping!’ He laughed before ripping the rest of Kizzy’s shirt.
‘Oi!’
‘Be quiet!’
Anna reappeared with the sodden bandages.
‘Thank you. Now, Kizzy, keep still!’
Anna knelt beside her, concern written across her pale face.
‘Stop looking like that, Anna. I’m not dying!’
The poor girl looked down. Kizzy felt mean.
‘I’m sorry. Jakob’s already told me I’m a really bad patient. He’s apparently right.’
Anna half-smiled.
Jakob gently wiped the blood from her wound.
‘Yowsers!’ Pain shot through the top of Kizzy’s arm again. ‘That hurt…’
‘You can stop making a fuss. It’s a flesh wound. The bullet must have skimmed the skin. There is no bullet in there.’
Kizzy twisted to see the trajectory of the bullet across her skin.
‘Are you sure?’ Anna looked at it. ‘That’s more than a flesh wound. It goes quite deep.’
Kizzy saw Jakob giving her a warning look.
Anna muttered, ‘Sorry, I just thought…’
Kizzy realised they were trying not to worry her. She laughed. ‘I’m not that much of a wimp!’
Jakob raised his eyebrows.
‘Oh, all right, maybe…’
‘I’m going to bandage it, then we need to get going. Do you think you can ride in a sling?’
Kizzy nodded. ‘As long as we are not galloping through checkpoints again. Hopefully the US army checkpoint won’t be so bad. That must come soon.’
Jakob paused then said, ‘Yes, I’m pretty keen to avoid that too.’
The two friends grinned at each other.
Chapter 37
Jakob helped Kizzy back up onto Eda. Her arm throbbed. Everyone else remounted or clambered into the cart. They all looked tired, as did the horses. She knew they would need to stop soon, but if they could just get a bit further away from the checkpoint, they would be deeper into the American-controlled area and less at risk from rogue Nazi soldiers looking for trouble. They were nearly home. But it was over a day’s travelling – they weren’t safe yet.
Anna and Kizzy rode at the front of the herd, Damek at the back picking up stragglers again and Jakob still in the cart. Their maps didn’t show this area in detail so they couldn’t pick up the bridle paths. It wasn’t easy travelling on the road with such a large herd and traffic.
Time seemed to fly by. They weren’t sure how long it was before they came across the US army checkpoint. They could see it in the distance.
‘Should I hide?’ asked Anna
Kizzy hesitated. ‘Yes, you’d better. I’m sure they’re friendly but the papers says me and two male names.’
Anna did as she was asked.
Kizzy decided to take the initiative. She rode back and spoke to Damek and Jakob.
‘Damek, if you come to the front to stop the herd following me, I’m going to ride ahead and try and get them to open the gates and let us through. Then I can scoop up the stragglers. Do you think that is a good idea, Jakob?’
‘Seems sensible. Hopefully they don’t want to check the cart. Good luck, Kizzy.’
Kizzy nodded at him. ‘Come on, Damek.’ They both rode to the front of the herd. ‘If you ride to and fro across the front here, it will stop them following me.’
Damek gave a thumbs up.
Kizzy turned and cantered towards the checkpoint, weaving amongst the cars and trucks that were waiting.
She pulled Eda to a halt by a soldier who stared up at her. ‘What the…!’
‘Hello, I’ve got papers that allow me and all those horses to go through the checkpoint.’ She used her good arm to sweep behind her.
He peered around Eda and looked into the distance. ‘Holy mackerel! There’s hundreds of them. I thought we’d had all the horses through.’ He took his helmet off and scratched his head. ‘You say you’ve got papers? You’re a child!’
‘Yes, I know but I’ve rescued horses before. Ask Major Wright or General Patton.’ The soldier looked totally confused as Kizzy fumbled to get the tatty bit of paper out and hand it over. ‘I’m sorry it’s in such a state. The Nazi who shot me wasn’t too happy about the US army signing papers saying we could go through their checkpoint as we try to save these horses.’
The soldier looked at her, his mouth wide open. ‘A Nazi shot you!’
She pointed to the sling.
Now totally bamboozled, he handed the papers back. ‘I don’t care what they say, I can see they’ve been signed, you’ve been through enough.’ He started waving to all the other soldiers. ‘Get these cars and trucks out the way. We need to get these horses through.’
Kizzy couldn’t believe her luck and wasn’t going to wait for him to change his mind. She shouted, ‘Thank you!’ before heading back to the others. Behind her, trucks and cars were being moved aside, giving them a free route through.
‘They said all right!’ said Kizzy. Damek punched the air. ‘Can you get to the back again and start driving them? Let’s go at a trot.’
The herd clattered through the checkpoint. All the soldiers cheered and waved their helmets as they went by.
Once they all got through, they started to slow down. When they were out of sight, Anna clambered out of the cart and back onto Bilko, joining Kizzy at the front.
The initial excitement of having got through the US checkpoint soon disappeared as a quietness settled on the group. Tiredness gripped them all. Eda stumbled, jolting Kizzy forward. ‘Ouch!’ She landed awkwardly and painfully on the pommel of the saddle. Pushing herself back into the seat, she patted the mare. ‘Are you all right?’ She scratched the soft fur under her mane.
Eda nickered a response.
‘I know you’re tired.’ Looking up ahead, she said, ‘I’ll find us a field soon.’
Kizzy noticed quite how low the sun was in the sky. In the distance, she could see a flower-filled meadow bordered by a forest.
‘That’ll do, won’t it, Eda?’
She rode up to the gate, which hung off its hinges at a weird angle. It was obvious no one had taken care of this field for quite a while.
‘Anna, can you open the gate, please?’ She lifted her sling. ‘With this, I can’t get up and down, sorry.’
Anna jumped down. She leaned against the wood and pushed with all her strength. It creaked a complaint, but soon shifted, scraping across the mud and grass, creating a wide-open space for the horses to flow into.
‘There we go!’
Kizzy rode Eda back out onto the road, where she guided the herd in, using her one good arm and clicking her tongue loudly.
They jostled and nipped their way through the gate. It didn’t take long to get them all through. Jakob trotted up with the cart.
‘This looks good. Are we going to stay here tonight?’ he asked Kizzy.
‘I think so. It’s been a long day. I think everyone needs a rest.’
At the sound of her voice, several heads peered over the side of the cart.
‘Is it safe here?’ asked Zuzu.
‘Yes,’ said Strom, pulling his grinning youngest sister up to his side.
All the others cheered as Jakob steered the cart into the field.
Damek appeared with several wayward horses that he’d scooped up. He looked a lot happier. ‘Hello. I found a few escapees!’ He grinned.
Once he got into the meadow, Anna pushed the gate shut.
The younger children jumped down from the cart and started to race around. Kizzy watched them while she untacked Eda, which was not easy one-handed. They obviously had a lot of energy that needed to be burnt off. Excess energy or excess fear? She wasn’t sure. They had all been through a lot today. She hoped they didn’t know how close they had been to being bayoneted and hadn’t seen what had happened back at the checkpoint. She shook that image out of her head and focused back on Eda and what had happened at the US checkpoint.
‘You did good today, girl!’ She grabbed some hay and rubbed the mare’s coat down. ‘I bet you’re tired. I hope your foot is all right.’
Once Kizzy had finished, she left the mare free to graze.
The horses would need water as well as grass. In the furthermost corner of the field nestled a trough. Kizzy went over to it and realised it held some rainwater but needed topping up.
‘Damek and Matylda, we must find water to fill this. There are buckets in the cart.’ The children nodded and disappeared.
In the other corner was a shelter. Jakob had started a fire outside it already. She walked over to him, gathering some daisies on her way.
‘I managed to use my flint to light the fire this time,’ shouted Jakob as he headed off to get the water as well. She grinned at him and put her thumbs up.
Matylda joined her.
‘Look what I’ve got.’ She held up some dead rabbits in one hand and a bucket of water in the other. ‘Dinner!’ She grinned. ‘You’re not the only hunter around here.’ The girl ran off, shouting at Jakob.
The children continued to laugh and play while Anna, Matylda and Helenka cooked. Jakob, Zivan and Damek got more water. Kizzy made her daisy concoction and took it over to Strom. Zuzu sat with him, stroking his head.
‘How are you doing?’ Kizzy asked him. ‘Just wanted to say again: thank you.’
‘I’m feeling very useless and my head is pounding. I don’t want to talk about today.’ Strom saw her bandage and looked worried. ‘What have you done?’
‘I’m with you on the not talking.’ Kizzy looked down. ‘Had a bit of an argument with a bullet.’
His eyes widened.
Zuzu looked worried. ‘Kizzy, Strom’s head is very burning. Make him better like you made Anna better … please?’
‘Zu, I’ll do my best. I’ve made that green goo again. We’ve just got to make your brother drink it. Will you help me?’
She handed the cup over to Zuzu, who carefully lifted it to her brother’s mouth.
‘You’ll make a good nurse, Zu.’
The tiny girl grinned broadly.
‘Now rest, both of you, I’ll be back soon.’
Kizzy wandered across the field, checking all the horses and children. Jakob strolled over to join her, once he’d finished with the water. They stood side by side, surveying it all.
Kizzy glanced around, making sure no one could hear. ‘Jakob, we need to look at the map in the morning. I’ve no idea where we are or what direction we need to go.’ She tried very hard not to sound as panicked as she felt. Exhaustion and pain made it difficult to be rational.
He squeezed her good arm. ‘Kiz, there’s no point worrying tonight. We’ll sort it tomorrow. We can’t see anything now. The light’s going rapidly.’
The sound of a motor vehicle interrupted them. The light from two headlights pierced the dusk.
Everybody stood still, fear cementing them to the spot.
Kizzy tried to work out what it was, but she couldn’t. She could see movement, something or someone coming towards them.
She felt Jakob’s hand slip into hers, squeezing it tightly before releasing it. She could hear Zuzu whimpering and Strom trying to shush her.
The figures walked slowly towards them. Kizzy saw they had their guns raised. One pointed a torch in her eyes, briefly blinding her. Both Kizzy and Jakob put their hands, or in Kizzy’s case, her arm, up against the piercing glare. She screwed her eyes up, peering into the light, trying to see more.
Then a voice. A voice with an American twang. ‘Jeez, Colin, they’re just a couple of youngsters with their arms up.’ The one with the torch, who seemed to be the one talking, flashed the light around the field. ‘Holy mackerel! There’s thousands of horses and a whole bunch of kids. They must be the ones that went through the checkpoint today.’
Kizzy spoke up. ‘Americans? I’ve got papers. They say I’ve…’ She glanced at Jakob. ‘We’ve got permission to travel. Can I show you?’
Colin moved towards her. ‘Can I see your papers, please?’
‘I’m just going to get them out of my bag, is that all right?’ She opened her bag. ‘It is very tatty, I’m afraid…’ She handed them across. ‘My name is Kizzy, and this is Jakob. We know General Patton and Major Wright and our best friend is John Cole!’
The soldier used a torch to peer at the papers. ‘Kizzy, Jakob − I’ve heard those names before.’ He looked round to the other soldier. ‘My mate John. He told me about these crazy kids who saved horses. He showed me the photos he took.’ He looked back. ‘That’s you two, isn’t it?’
Kizzy and Jakob looked at each other and nodded, ‘Yes, that’s us.’
‘What are you doing here?’
Kizzy said, ‘Someone tricked us. They said they wanted us to rescue these rare horses, but they really wanted a car to get them into Sudetenland. They tried to kill us, but we escaped. We couldn’t leave the children or the horses, so we brought them to safety.’
The two soldiers laughed. ‘John’s right. You’re crazy kids.’
Chapter 38
The soldiers turned to go.
‘Excuse me…’ said Kizzy.
Colin stopped. ‘Yes?’
‘Can you help us? We knew how to get into Austrian territory, but now we’re lost. Which direction is safe?’
Colin scratched his head. ‘This road, I think. Keep going for about another fifteen miles. I’ll tell them you’re on your way.’ He looked at all the other children. ‘John only told me about you two, not about the others.’
Kizzy nodded. ‘John’s never met them. They call themselves Gerfunden Kinder, found children. The Nazis have killed their parents. We couldn’t leave them behind. You wouldn’t believe what’s happened to them.’
Colin couldn’t hide his sadness. The other soldier pushed him and said, ‘I bet you wish you hadn’t asked now!’
‘You’re right there, Pete.’ He looked back at the children. ‘Take it easy tonight. I’ll radio ahead so that the patrols know you are here. That way you’ll get no more frights.’
Kizzy let out a deep sigh. ‘Thank you, that’s very kind of you.’
With that, they headed off, leaving the children and the horses in the field.
Kizzy sat down with Jakob, watching the flames. Exhaustion and relief overwhelmed her and her arm was throbbing.
Slowly, the others gathered around the fire.
Strom spoke first. ‘Should we pack up? Are we safe or are they coming back? Should we run?’ He held tight on to Zuzu. Kizzy could see her tear-stained face pressed into his shoulder.
Anna ushered the children into a group.
Kizzy frowned. ‘What are you doing?’ Jakob looked equally confused.
‘Getting ready to go,’ said Anna.
Zuzu started to cry, which started Helenka and Matylda off too. Zivan clung to his sister.
Kizzy stood up to get their attention. ‘Everybody, stop for a minute! Girls, stop crying. What’s wrong?’
Damek spoke for everyone, his voice little more than a whisper. ‘They know where we are. It’s not safe. The soldiers will come back and get us. We need to leave.’
The others all nodded. Seven pairs of eyes, all wide open and terrified.
Kizzy looked at Jakob, who stood up too. She softened her voice. ‘It’s not like that with these soldiers. We’re safe. We’ll stay here tonight before heading home tomorrow. I trust them, don’t you, Jakob?’
