The Fragile Hour (10 page)

The
creak of a board on the gallery made her turn sharply to stand up and face whoever was there. In the shadows a man stood resting his hands on the balustrade as he stared down at her. In the same moment his voice rang out. “Anna!”

It
was Nils! A sob of pleasure and relief escaped her. “What are you doing here?” she cried, running forward eagerly.

He
was already on his way down the stairs. They met in the vestibule, throwing arms about each other, he crushing her to him in their exuberant embrace and kissing her long and joyfully.

“
I thought it was you!” he exclaimed, laughing as he held her back from him and then hugged her again. “I was amazed when I saw you in Bergen! Now you’ve appeared again!”

“
And you! How did you get into the church when the key was outside?” she demanded happily.

He
led her across to the hall bench where they sat together, he still keeping his arm about her. “Up in the gallery I’ve a hat and overcoat that I was given yesterday by some people too frightened of the Germans to do more. I thought a change of outer clothes would be helpful, but I didn’t know then that it would enable me to blend in with wedding guests at a marriage here today just when I needed to lie low for a few hours.”

“
You got the coat yesterday? How long have you been in hiding?”

“
Four days in various places. I was involved with three others in an act of sabotage farther up the fjord, but the Germans surprised us and we had to scatter. I thought I’d shaken off pursuit, but I believe one of my colleagues must have been traced to this area, which is why this alert is on. I hope he’s got away.”

“
Men and women were being searched on the bus that brought me from Alesund.” She thought how strained and tired he looked. “Have you eaten? I’ve some food with me.” She started to unbuckle her rucksack on the bench beside her, but he put a hand on her arm.

“
That can wait. I haven’t starved. Tell me why you’re here and what has been happening since I saw you for those few minutes in Bergen. Are you in Tresfjord on legitimate business?”

“
Not as far as the Germans are concerned,” she said wryly. “I’ve a delivery to make. Fortunately I escaped questioning when I arrived on the bus from Alesund. That’s why I took cover here for a while.”

“
That was my good luck! It’s great to see you again, Anna. It was all I could do not to give away my surprise when I saw you again in Bergen.”

“
It was the same for me. I’d thought about you so many times, hoping you were safe and not in any danger.”

“
You’ve rarely been out of my thoughts either, Anna.”

She
could see he meant what he said. “You did so much for Karl and me in Bergen. If you hadn’t warned him in time about the reinforced guard on the factory, four of us would have been taken. It was to have been my first sortie.”

“
It was sheer chance that I found out.” He frowned deeply. “Thank God I did! I heard afterwards that Karl went in alone. That took great courage.”

“
Indeed it did! There’s so much I want to ask you. How are your parents? They were always so hospitable to Aunt Rosa and me.”

“
They moved to Trondheim after the bombing of Molde. Our home was burnt to the ground.”

“
I’m so sorry. It was a fine house. I remember so well all the parties there and how we danced on the lawn during the summer nights.”

“
I remember everything about that last summer we spent together.” He took her hand in his.

Her
eyes softened. “So do I, but it was part of another life, another world.”

“
That makes it all the more memorable. Tell me when and why you came back to Norway. How long had you been here when we met in Bergen?”

They
talked on, she telling him how it had all come about and he able to give her news of all their mutual friends, but he knew nothing about Aunt Rosa.

“
I have been in Oslo several times on various sorties,” he said, “but, even if it had been possible to call on her, I doubt if she would have been welcoming. She never really approved of me.” He made a mock-rueful grimace, his eyes amused. “I suppose she had cause until I came to my senses that summer with you.”

“
Then she became afraid that we were getting too committed to each other. I couldn’t make her see that marriage was not in our minds.”

“
Wasn’t it? You know that what we had that summer was special to us. It had to go on. I thought you understood that.” He put his arms around her and kissed her lightly and yet lingeringly on the lips. Then he drew away slightly and they smiled at each other. “Welcome back,” he said softly. “It’s been far too long. I’ve never stopped loving you, Anna. Let’s take up again where we left off. Nothing has changed for either of us.”

Then
he kissed her again, holding her tightly to him and this time his kiss was all she remembered, powerful and ardent, his mouth insatiable for hers. All she had ever felt for him surged through her and it was as if the time between had never been.

Yet
when their kiss finally ended, the heady sensation faded as she remembered she was not the same person as she had been in the past. Then she had been light-hearted and carefree, lost to all else beyond their charmed relationship. But war had matured and weathered her, ripping away all her youthful notions about life. If they were to go on together, it would have to be on a different plane.

“
My love for you hasn’t changed, Nils,” she said softly, stroking back a frond of his hair that had fallen forward over his forehead. “Nothing could ever do that.”

“
Anna darling,” he said huskily, his eyes warm with intimate memories.

She
saw he would have kissed her again, but she withdrew from his embrace. “We can’t go back to how we were. That’s impossible. We’re not the same two people, no matter how it seems at this wonderful moment of meeting again. We have to get through this war first and then reassess how things are between us. Maybe along the way we’ll find something even better than we had before.”

His
gaze searched hers. “There’s nobody else, is there, Anna?”

Momentarily
she had a vivid image of those final moments with Karl, but it went as swiftly as it came. “No one,” she replied reassuringly, her voice warm. “There’s a bond between us. It was always there as far as I was concerned and now I know nobody could ever break it.”

“
I believe that within me I’ve always known it too.”

Their
eyes held in a long, quiet look and then she tore hers away and glanced at her watch. “I must go. How had you planned to escape from here?”

“
I’ll wait until dark and then row the short distance to Vestnes. There are a couple of boats tied up nearby.”

“
But it’s almost certain that the alert is on for you in this whole area. You could be picked up as soon as you stepped ashore. Why not come with me? I’ll make my delivery and then we’ll go to the safe house where I’m to stay overnight. You could stay there too. The Germans are looking out for a man on his own, not one with a girlfriend on his arm. Tomorrow you can catch the bus with me.”

“
That’s out,” he said wearily, running a hand through his hair. “I haven’t a travel pass. Normally I have all the extra papers I might need, but those were in an attaché case I had to toss into the fjord at a second’s notice when I thought I was about to be caught with explosives in my possession. It’s vital that the Germans don’t become suspicious of me, or else I’ll lose all my sources of information. That’s why I can’t risk being found in this area after what happened. At Vestnes I’m certain to find a loyal fisherman who’ll sail me down the fjord to the coast.”

She
tapped him on the chest triumphantly. “Your troubles are over! I’ve a spare travel pass hidden in my rucksack. Fill it in and it will take you all the way to Alesund with me.”

He
shook his head regretfully. “I’d be grateful for the pass, but I’ll not travel with you tomorrow. You’ll be safer on your own. If I do take the same bus, we’ll not know each other. But it might be best if I stay here until the following day. By then the search should have been called off in this district. I need to be as inconspicuous as possible.”

She
nodded, reluctantly accepting his decision. “Very well, but I’ll leave you all my food and there’s a vacuum flask of coffee too.”

“
That’s great!”

She
began unpacking the food. “I’ll have to leave the church locked.”

“
I can get out through a vestry window.”

They
kissed once more, arms tight about each other. Then she left the church, locked it and replaced the key. She did not look back as she went out of the gate. Her life seemed to have become full of partings that tore her apart.

Chapter
Nine

Setting off up the valley road away from the church, Anna entered the great cul-de-sac of the Tresfjord mountains. Three teenage boys went zipping past her on their skis and a woman came along with two little children, but she met nobody else as she walked past the widely scattered farms. Each house was a mellowed, paintbox hue and a thin blue column of wood-smoke rose high from every chimney, for there was not a breath of wind to disturb the air. The large, traditionally rust-red barns, which housed the cattle and sheep throughout the snowy months, stood out starkly against the white landscape.

After
covering at least a mile, Anna began to wonder if she had missed her destination somewhere along the way. Hearing hooves approaching behind her, she stopped and saw one of the sturdy little Westland horses, the colour of rich cream, drawing a sledge driven by an old man. She hailed him and he pulled up beside her.

“
God
dag
,” she said in greeting. “Could you tell me where I can find the Haug farm?”

“
It’s near the end of the valley. I’ll be going past. Want a ride?”

Anna
accepted his offer and expected to be questioned as she was a stranger, but he was taciturn and absorbed in his own thoughts. Neither of them exchanged a word as they drove another couple of miles up the valley. She gazed around at everything. A great waterfall, frozen into silvery splendour, sliced down through the fir-covered slopes to a river somewhere out of sight beyond the occasional house set far back from the road. She could imagine how the thundering of the water would fill this part of the valley when spring released its flow. The old man drew his horse to a standstill.

“
There’s the Haugs’ place,” he said, pointing a gnarled finger at a yellow farmhouse set with its dark red barn against a scenic background of that same waterfall and the forested slopes.

Anna
thanked him and got out. He drove on without a backward glance and she went up the path that had been dug out of the snow. In the front porch she removed her ski-boots and went indoors in her ski-socked feet. She knew that nobody calling in the country ever waited to be admitted and she followed the usual procedure of tapping on the door of the kitchen. The sound of voices and the clatter of cutlery stilled within.

“
Come in,” a woman invited.

Anna
opened the door and met the stares of seven pairs of eyes. A family meal was in progress. Two boys aged about twelve and three younger girls sat at a long table, their farmer father at the head and his wife at the opposite end.

“
God bless the food,” Anna said at once, remembering the old custom when interrupting a meal. “I’m looking for Eirik Haug.”

“
You’ve found me,” the farmer replied. He rose to his feet, a tall, rangy man. “We’ll go into the other room.”

He
led the way into a large sitting-room, the furniture old, but well cared for, the lace curtains as crisply white as the snow outside. One wall was covered with family photographs, many in sepia, of long-gone forebears.

“
I believe I’m expected,” Anna said by way of introduction as soon as they were alone.

“
Yes, and I’m glad you’ve come. There’s too much military activity in this area today for my liking.”

“
The hunt is on for a Resistance saboteur.”

“
So I heard. I’ll fetch the man who’s been waiting for you since yesterday.”

Only
a couple of minutes passed before the door opened again. Anna turned from studying the photographs and gave a surprised exclamation. “It’s you, Karl! Of all people!”

He
crossed the room to her, a broad smile on his face. “When I was told that a young woman was here, I hoped it might be you.”

“
But I can hardly believe this!” she declared, still taken aback.

“
It’s not as unusual for our paths to cross in this way as you seem to think. It happens frequently when Resistance cells are linked in a sortie.”

“
But this is the second pleasant surprise I’ve had in less than an hour!”

“
What was the other one?”

“
I met Nils Olsen hiding in Tresfjord Church.” She explained in detail how it had come about. “He’s lying low after a failed sabotage attempt.”

He
frowned at the news. “That’s bad luck. Things don’t always go right.”

“
I’m so afraid for him!”

He
tried to reassure her. “Don’t worry. Nils knows what he’s doing.”

“
I realise that.” Anna remembered the package she was carrying and took it out of her inner pocket to hand it over. “You’d better take this now and not delay. Are you going up into the mountains from here?”

He
nodded, tucking the package away inside his ski-jacket. “Will you be all right?”

“
Yes, I’ve all the papers I need to get safely back on the bus tomorrow. Which route shall you take?”

“
I’ll go down to the river beyond this house and then up through the forest by the waterfall—” He broke off as they both heard the front door crash open, his hand whipping to the revolver in his hip-holster. But he did not have to draw, for it was not the enemy, but a boy who shouted as he ran through the hall into the kitchen.

“
Father! The soldiers are coming! They caught one man in somebody’s barn and another at the church! Now they’re looking for a girl who had been in the church too! They’re searching every house and barn all the way up the valley!”

Karl
flung open the door of the sitting-room and rushed into the kitchen. Anna followed, blaming herself entirely for this new turn of events. Somebody must have reported seeing her going in and out of the church. If only she had hidden somewhere else Nils wouldn’t have been found!

“
How near are the Germans now, Jan?” Karl was demanding of the boy, whom he was gripping by the shoulders. Anna recognised him as one of the teenagers who had passed her on skis. He was eager to tell what he knew.

“
Two houses away! They’re swarming everywhere and when I looked back on the way home, I saw truckloads of them loading up!”

Karl
released him and turned quickly to Anna. “Get your skiboots on! You’ll have to come with me now.” He turned to Eirik Haug. “Anna had to leave her skis on the bus.”

“
There’s a good pair in the back porch. She can have those.”

Jan
had forestalled Anna by running to fetch her boots. When she had taken them from him, his father sent him back into the hall to keep watch from the window.

Anna
paused, boots in hand, on her way out to the back porch to put them on. “What of our ski-tracks coming from this house?” She did not want anyone else to fall foul of the enemy because of her.

“
Karl took care of that already this morning in case of an emergency,” Eirik Haug replied. “I sent all the children down to the river with him on skis this morning and I went up and down myself several times transporting logs with my horse and sledge. You’ll not be on virgin snow until you’re beyond the bridge.”

Jan
came skidding back into the kitchen. “Hurry! There’s two truckloads of soldiers coming up the road!”

As
he dashed back to keep a lookout again, Anna darted out to the back porch. Karl had already put on his boots and was shouldering on his rucksack which had been left ready there for his departure.

“
Are you armed?” he questioned sharply.

“
No,” she answered, stooping quickly to tie her boot-laces. “It’s easier to hide papers than a gun.”

Fru
Haug was thrusting a package of food into her rucksack. “There! I gave Karl his earlier. Now you won’t go hungry.”

Her
husband had gone back indoors and he returned with a rifle and ammunition, which he gave to Anna. “Take this. Most of us hid our guns when the Germans told us to surrender them after the Occupation.”

“
Thank you,” Anna said gratefully, looping its strap across her body as he added the ammunition to her rucksack. Then she took the skis he had selected for her. “You’ve all been so kind.”

Stepping
out of the porch, she snapped on the skis. Karl had already put on his and he took his ski-sticks into his gloved hands as he waited for her. She was ready in seconds.

Jan
came running out to the kitchen porch. “One of the trucks is stopping outside!”

Karl
and Anna thrust with their sticks and sped away towards the shelter of the trees. Fru Haug was ashen-faced, but she had her wits about her and turned to shepherd her children back to the table, all having left it in the general excitement.

“
Sit down and start eating again! All of you! If you’re questioned by the soldiers, you’ve seen and heard nothing unusual.”

They
took their places quickly. Her husband had just seated himself when the front door burst open and soldiers stormed into the house. She saw his mouth twist in a grimace of dismay as whistles were blown outside. The escaping couple had been sighted.

Both
Karl and Anna had heard the signals, but neither spoke. He was leading the way, she close behind, and they swished down a curving route that led to the river, snow flying up from their skis. They followed the old tracks, but theirs would be easy to trace now that their direction had been located. Then came the excited barking of dogs being released.

Anna
had not thought that her fear could be greater than it was, but it increased now. She had seen handlers with those dogs, great savage beasts that snarled and leapt with fangs gleaming whenever anyone else came near.

The
bridge across the river came into sight, a narrow wooden structure just wide enough for a horse and cart. They shot across it and into the fir forest on the opposite side. Then the slope began to rise so sharply that they would have to climb.

“Follow the waterfall!” Karl ordered as they snapped off their skis. “I’ll catch you up. Go!”

The
first dogs had streaked out from the trees like grey wolves with fangs bared and they were making for the bridge. Anna, running up the hard snow, her skis over her shoulder, heard him fire a revolver six times in quick succession and then there came the shouts of soldiers hoping at least one or two of their dogs had escaped the bullets to reach their prey.

To
her relief, Karl was already catching her up. “Don’t slacken your pace! Some of the soldiers are on skis and very near! Be ready when I tell you to stop.”

She
knew what he meant and steeled herself for the moment when it came. Even now their pursuers would be crossing the bridge. Yet everything was curiously still, all sounds of pursuit lost as the fir forest closed in like a screen in their wake.

Karl
was keeping close to the great waterfall for some reason of his own, although neither of them had eyes for its frozen magnificence in their flight. Anna could feel trickles of sweat running down her back and her skis grew heavier on her shoulder with every fresh step. The only sounds were the crunching of snow underfoot and their hard breathing in the effort they were maintaining.

Suddenly
the stillness was broken by bullets zinging through the trees and some orders were being shouted out. Anna gasped and stumbled, but Karl hauled her upright with his arm under hers.

“
Another few yards, Anna! And then lodge your skis and rucksack with mine in the rocks jutting out over the waterfall.”

Her
leg muscles were pulling agonisingly, but she joined him in an extra spurt of speed. As they brushed past low branches, the disturbed snow plopped down on them, one lot slipping inside her collar. It seemed to be getting darker and she realised the sky was losing light under the threat of a fresh snowfall. More rifle fire came, bullets wide of their mark, and a startled hare in his white winter coat sprang out from under a bush and leapt ahead out of sight. Anna envied him his speed.

“
Now!” Karl snapped.

She
tossed her skis and ski-sticks down beside his. After filling all her pockets with the ammunition, she threw her rucksack down too before flinging herself flat on her stomach behind a large fir tree. Pulling off her gloves, she loaded her rifle swiftly and aimed it in readiness. Karl had taken cover behind a neighbouring tree. They looked across at each other once and the meeting of their eyes at such an intense moment had a profound effect on her. It was the unique experience of total empathy with another human being, a losing of self that was also discovery. If she came out of this situation alive, she would remember it to her last day.

Now
Germans were appearing amid the trees below the vantage point that she and Karl held. They had discarded their skis to follow unhampered at speed. One slithered and tumbled to his knees, but he sprang up and came on again. Anna took careful aim.