by Anna Fargher
‘Yes, sir.’
Pip’s chest tightened. Her idea also possibly got Hans and Léon killed, and GI Joe was half dead and exhausted after flying home to save Noah’s Ark’s lives.
‘Was it your mate who betrayed your group,’ Gaspard continued coldly, ‘and who enabled the capture of your leader and other members?’
‘To my shame,’ GI Joe said solemnly, and Madame Fourcade and Henri hung their heads. Neither of them had realized she was an Axis spy either. ‘Yes, it was.’
‘And you had no idea of her plot?’ the ermine asked. ‘No,’ the pigeon said firmly.
‘You didn’t suspect her at all?’ Amélie added, her eight eyes blinking inquisitively. ‘How well did you know her?’
‘I thought she was as loyal to the Allied cause as I was,’ GI Joe cooed. ‘We met when she arrived unexpectedly inside my US Army pigeon loft where I was stationed in Italy last year. She had a scroll addressed to our American troops: Herewith we return a pigeon to you. We have enough to eat. Her American accent was flawless, her platoon had been wiped out and she was so experienced at delivering messages in combat that the thought never crossed our minds that she was the enemy. After we’d run a few missions together, we grew close. She was orphaned as a chick and raised by human hands – a Nazi pigeon handler, I realize now. She was devoted to him and she could read Man better than anyone I’ve ever met. But it made her lonely. She’d spent her whole life being an outsider, not feeling like she belonged with humans or animals. She wanted to prove herself and be part of something important. She’d never had anything close to a family, and I felt sorry for her.’
‘Oldest trick in the book.’ The canary shook his head and GI Joe’s amber eyes glazed with remorse.
Pip had never known that about Lucia. She knew she was an orphan, like she was, but she never expected her to have bonded with humans so strongly. Pip had grown fond of Peter, the son of the umbrella-shop owner in London, but she couldn’t imagine wanting to belong to his world. Pip’s ears flattened. If a Nazi handler and his ways were what drove Lucia, then her heart and mind were lost.
‘But how did you both come to be in Noah’s Ark if you were stationed with the human army in Italy?’ the canary asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
GI Joe glanced at Madame Fourcade. With a soft nod, she permitted him to share his history with the Maquis.
‘I’ve been working for both my human troops and Churchill’s Secret Animal Army since the US Army arrived in Great Britain in 1942. I was recruited because of my speed. I deliver messages to Resistance groups when I have leave to rest from my human missions. Noah’s Ark and I got to know each other over time and I told Lucia to find them in the forest to the north of the monastery of Bec if she was ever lost or in trouble. I had no doubt that she was an Allied pigeon – I never imagined she’d do what she did. Lucia went missing in action on a human mission in Italy before I left for England to prepare for D-Day. Who knows where she really was? I was broken-hearted and hoped to find her on my next visit to Noah’s Ark, but I honestly didn’t know if I’d ever see her again. War does that to relationships.’
‘So you are responsible for her treachery as much as he is?’ Gaspard turned to Madame Fourcade. ‘She found Noah’s Ark and you invited her in.’
‘It’s true,’ Madame Fourcade replied. ‘I was suspicious, but her disguise and her intimate knowledge of GI Joe persuaded me otherwise. She arrived soon after D-Day when Allied pigeons were often sighted. I believed she had come to help us. She was a keen saboteur and a spirited fighter. Like GI Joe, I was fooled and I will never forgive myself for my mistake.’
‘How can we trust that you’re not harbouring more Axis spies?’ Gaspard asked, his gaze flicking to Henri, who glared back at him in the green-lit gloom.
‘How can we know that you’re not harbouring your own?’ Madame Fourcade snapped back. ‘As you said, all of us are vulnerable to treachery. Every member of the Resistance has felt the enemy’s hunger to destroy us since the Allies won Normandy back. Lucia targeted us as revenge for the French Resistance’s role in D-Day’s success and for helping the Allied advance towards Germany. Axis agents like Lucia have a vendetta and we are all in danger of capture if we are not careful. Surely you must know that?’
‘Which is precisely why we are asking you these questions, Madame,’ Gaspard flared, and the Maquis eyed one another nervously. Pip held her breath and Henri shifted on his hooves.
‘We are on the same side, Gaspard,’ Madame Fourcade replied softly, and Pip exhaled as the tension in the cavern eased. ‘We are friends, not foes. Let’s save our anger for those who deserve it.’
Madame Fourcade and Gaspard stared at one another. In the silent moment that followed, the Great Stag’s guard clearly softened before he turned to GI Joe again. ‘Did Lucia survive the fire at the camp?’
GI Joe shook his head. ‘I don’t know. I woke up in a wheelbarrow filled with charred wood, soot and ash. I don’t know how long I’d been there for – I just knew I had to get away as fast as I could.’ He craned his neck from inside his cocoon and searched the cavern as best he could. ‘Hey, Léon! Hans!’ he called. ‘Are you in here? Speak up!’
At once, Madame Fourcade and Henri bowed their heads, and Pip’s eyes filled with tears. GI Joe took a sharp breath.
‘I . . . I . . . thought,’ he stammered with dismay. Pip met GI Joe’s gaze, but all she could muster was a small shake of her head. The pigeon clenched his jaw and his amber eyes glistened with sorrow. ‘It’s my fault. If I hadn’t been so stupid, she never would have known about you guys.’
‘No, GI, it’s my fault,’ Pip sniffed. ‘If I hadn’t fallen from Henri’s back during the battle, then Lucia wouldn’t have snatched me and . . .’
‘This war is despicable,’ Madame Fourcade growled as Pip covered her face in her paws and wept. ‘It must end!’
‘You’re right, Madame.’ Gaspard nodded sadly with the Maquis. ‘There are just a few more things to clarify, GI Joe. How did you get back here without help? The journey is too far with your injuries to have got here alone.’
‘I flew when I could and I hitched rides inside open-topped trucks and farm carts when I couldn’t,’ GI Joe said wearily, grief clouding his face. ‘I was in bad shape. I’d have been finished by a falcon or a human if I’d been seen. I often rested – that’s why it took me so long to return to Noah’s Ark.’
‘And how did you come to know that the Butcher Birds were on the loose?’
‘They landed above where I was roosting inside the roof of a barn. I overheard them arguing about their search for the Umbrella Mouse.’ GI Joe’s voice began to fade, ‘I . . . I knew I had to hurry if I was gonna find Noah’s Ark in time.’
‘Enough of this,’ Henri puffed angrily, seeing the pigeon’s eyes droop heavily with fatigue. ‘He needs sleep and water!’
‘He’s answered your questions,’ added Pip, her tail flicking angrily as GI Joe’s head flopped against his cocoon. ‘Now leave him alone!’
CHAPTER SEVEN
OPERATION HONEYBEE
Gaspard turned to Madame Fourcade. ‘Do you believe him?’
‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘He’s the same pigeon I’ve always known. He hasn’t been turned – I’m sure of it.’
‘I agree.’ Gaspard nodded. ‘The resilience he’s shown confirms he’s your close ally and ours too. Jude,’ he said, looking up at the canary perched between his ears. ‘Go and collect water from the spring, and nectar from the bees’ hive. Our friends deserve some sustenance after the day they’ve had. Noah’s Ark,’ Gaspard continued as Jude the canary disappeared into the shadows leading to the beehive, ‘I apologize for making you feel unwelcome. I cannot risk having an enemy spy sabotage my network. I agree with you, Madame. The Resistance needs to come together if we are to beat the invaders at this last hurdle. Please think of our hideout as your own. You will be safe here. If you are willing to share information, our combined force will crumble the enemy.’
Behind them, a low hum gradually increased in volume as seven bees darted into the cavern and delivered acorn shells filled with water and nectar to Pip, Madame Fourcade and Henri. As they savoured them, another bee arrived and buzzed a message into Gaspard’s ear.
‘Spider webs, sphagnum moss and now honey.’ Henri chuckled as Pip carefully aimed a cup of syrup into GI Joe’s half-open beak with the help of the fireflies hovering beneath her. ‘I told you the Great Stag would know what to do.’
‘It wasn’t me,’ Gaspard said humbly as the bees vanished into the shadows again. ‘Amélie, the fireflies and the bees are the experts. Nature’s magic comes in many forms and you’ll soon see what else it is capable of.’
Pip’s ears pricked.
‘We are organizing a sabotage mission tonight, if you’d like to join us?’ Gaspard asked. ‘Your small size and speed is of much value, and we would be honoured to fight alongside you.’
Pip nodded briskly, her whiskers quivering with enthusiasm on her cheeks.
‘Wait, chérie.’ Madame Fourcade’s quills bristled slightly. ‘Let’s find out what they have planned before we dive into danger.’
‘My scouts have followed enemy Tiger tanks travelling through the forest,’ Gaspard continued, and at once Madame Fourcade’s and Henri’s ears flattened against their heads. ‘Some are a short distance from our brambles, camouflaged in the undergrowth beside the ruins of a castle. We are going to stop them.’
‘I saw those metal monsters tear through my home forest like water storming down a river.’ Henri shook his head, jostling the umbrella in his horns. ‘Tanks are the human’s mightiest weapons – and Tiger tanks are the most feared of all.’
Gaspard nodded. ‘Oui, but Allied lives are at risk and our brambles could be crushed if we don’t do something.’
‘No animal can stop them!’ Henri stamped his hoof in frustration.
‘We have before,’ the ermine said proudly, standing between Gaspard’s ears.
‘What weapons do you have?’ Madame Fourcade’s brow furrowed. ‘Nature can only do so much.’
The ermine grinned. ‘Beeswax.’
‘Impossible!’ Henri flared, and Pip and Madame Fourcade frowned.
‘Forgive him.’ Madame Fourcade flashed him an authoritative glance. ‘Anger is the language of fear.’
‘If any of you had come as close to their fury as I have,’ Henri added indignantly, ‘you would be scared of them too.’
Pip swallowed, remembering the tank they had encountered in the forest on the way to the Nacht und Nebel camp. She could still hear the whistling howl of the shell before it had catapulted her and Henri into the air. She looked at his kind, handsome face and her chest tightened at the memory of him lying unconscious on the ground.
‘Our hearts cannot beat without blood pumping through our veins and nor can engines. Some animals can easily puncture their rubber fuel lines,’ the ermine explained as she hopped up on to her hind paws and proudly curled her lips back from a row of pointed teeth, framed either side with devilishly long, pointed fangs. ‘Then we close the holes again with beeswax and when the engine starts it melts and slowly drains the fuel. The humans don’t realize the tanks have been sabotaged until they’re already on their journey and an unexpected stop makes them vulnerable to attack.’
‘They are lumbering machines,’ Gaspard added. ‘If they’re not prepared, they are unlikely to find cover. And if they can’t move they cannot travel to battle. Fewer enemy tanks mean more Allied lives will be saved, and by the time repairs have been made our human armies will have advanced.’
‘Magnifique! ’ Madame Fourcade’s nose crinkled with delight.
Amélie smiled. ‘Our magpie Pie and our ermine Monique have sabotaged a number of Axis tanks, trucks and cars in this way.’
‘And they never knew what hit them!’ Pie grinned.
‘The best part is watching their engines splutter and die.’ Monique laughed and Pie nodded. ‘The humans always jump up and down with rage.’
‘When do we leave?’ Pip asked, feeling butterflies in her stomach. Being surrounded by so many daring adventurers was the best thing to have happened for ages.
‘In the hours before dawn,’ Gaspard said, ‘two of my bat scouts will meet you in the brambles with the beeswax. They’ll lead you, Pie and Monique to the tanks and Madeleine and Gabriel will protect you from the Rogue Wolves if they pick up your scent.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE TIGER TANKS
Eeriness had consumed the secret bramble tunnels with the setting of the sun, casting tangled silhouettes of snarling thorns against the glittering sky above. Drenched in moonlight, the rustling leaves whispered on the breeze above the ground ferns unfurling into the forest beyond.
After a brief sleep and a meal of honeycomb, nuts and berries, Pie the magpie carried Monique the ermine on his back and led the way out of the Maquis’s cavern with Henri, carrying Pip and Madame Fourcade, following closely from behind, and the wolves flanking them on either side. Together, they trotted beneath the beehive still humming with life above the entrance to the cave. As they arrived at the start of their protective bramble maze, two bats carrying rings of beeswax in their mouths dropped from their perches overhead and began to guide the animals through the thorns.
Climbing the steep slope leading back into the forest, Pie cried out in a series of clacks and whistles, and they heard shuffling ahead as shadows scampered across the forest floor. A moment later, the brambles shuddered open and the badger gatekeepers whispered, ‘Bonne chance,’ as the animals crested the bank in the open air, sighing in the breeze by the light of the full moon.
‘Follow us.’ The bats swirled around the animals. ‘The tanks are over the hill.’
They headed east through the undergrowth with their ears cocked for danger and Madeleine and Gabriel’s eyes gleaming in the gloom. An hour had passed when the ground beneath them grew steep and their pace slowed as they panted on the incline.
‘Come on,’ the bats encouraged, ‘you haven’t much further to go.’
Reaching the summit of the hill at last, the animals slowly continued forward until they stopped abruptly behind the last row of trees. The ruins of a small medieval castle stretched above the treetops ahead, silhouetted against a blanket of stars overlooking an enormous valley with a river snaking into the darkness and shimmering in the moonlight. To the south-west, explosions from distant battlefields sparked in the darkness below.
‘Over there!’ the bats squeaked, twisting upside down and dangling from Henri’s horns above the magpie, now perching on the umbrella. Taking the rings of beeswax from their mouths, the bats passed one to Monique, then Pip, and pointed their wings in the direction of some tall shrubs surrounding the castle mound. ‘The tanks are hidden under those bushes.’
The wind blustered through the forest as the animals searched the darkness ahead. Sure enough, an unmistakeably man-made row of wheels peered out into the night behind carefully placed leafy boughs freshly cut from nearby trees.
‘Listen carefully,’ Monique the ermine said, and Pip’s ears snapped forward. ‘Pie will fly us to the rear of the tanks. I am small and he is big and strong enough to carry us both a short distance. Each one has two fuel compartments – one on the left and another on the right side of the machine. Both are covered with thick metal grates with gaps big enough for you and me to squeeze through. Once we’re inside, we’ll sabotage the fuel lines with our teeth and plug the holes with beeswax.’
‘But you need to act fast,’ Pie added, hopping down from the umbrella to meet Pip at the back of Henri’s neck. ‘The tanks have steel shells that make even the smallest claws clatter and clang. Every
time I land on one, the men might hear us. I’ll keep watch when you’re inside, but the longer you take, the higher the risk we’re seen or heard.’
‘We’ll be keeping watch from here.’ Madame Fourcade gave Pip’s paw a reassuring squeeze.
‘And if we see or hear anything,’ Madeleine added, her silver eyes already scanning the darkness, ‘we’ll howl.’
Gabriel nodded. ‘Nothing puts fear into a man like the cry of a wolf.’
‘Where are the men?’ Pip searched the gloom with a twitch of her nose.
‘We can’t be sure,’ Pie whispered. ‘They could be in the castle, inside the tanks or camped in foxholes. They sometimes park the tanks over themselves to shield from attacks.’
‘But don’t worry,’ Monique added, seeing Pip’s whiskers tremble. ‘Human sight and hearing are not nearly as sharp as ours, so we have the advantage.’
‘All right.’ Pip swallowed, nerves fluttering in her stomach. ‘I’m ready.’
‘Good girl.’ Pie stretched his black-and-white wings.
‘Good luck, little one,’ Henri whispered, straining his eyes upwards to Pip, who was clutching the magpie’s feathers and climbing on to his back.
‘Keep your ears pricked for our warning, chérie,’ Madame Fourcade said, ‘and remember, courage is not recklessness. You’re no good to anyone if you are killed or captured. Listen to your intuition and keep your wits about you. Sometimes it’s braver to stop than to carry on.’
‘Look after the umbrella for me.’ Pip met the hedgehog’s gaze with a soft smile, knowing the hedgehog would guard it fiercely.
Pie leaped into the air and swiftly flew past the ruined castle tower looming over the moonlit valley on the left and silently approached the thicket hiding the tanks from view. Pip easily spied their stark, angular bodies jutting out from beneath freshly felled branches placed over long gun barrels and steel hulls. As they neared, she tightly grasped the ring of beeswax hanging over her shoulder. Pie fanned out his tail feathers and landed with a clunk between the two grates covering both fuel compartments at the rear of the tank.