by Anna Fargher
‘Follow me,’ Monique whispered, sliding from the magpie’s back.
Pip shivered at the cold metal under her paws and bounded after the ermine, squeezing head first through the grate to their right. She hurried after Monique with the smell of petrol rushing up her nose. Quaking, she carefully lowered herself to the narrow upper ledge of the fuel tank and stared at a sheet-metal slope, steeply descending towards a wall covered with thin, horizontal bars.
‘Whatever you do,’ Monique said gravely, ‘don’t slip down there. It’s almost impossible to climb back up and if the engine starts running you’ll be fried by that.’ Pip stared at the grille and felt her heart thump in her stomach.
‘Watch and learn.’ Monique scampered to the middle of the ledge where a cylinder stretched upwards with two long fuel lines protruding from either side. The ermine’s long fangs glinted in the gloom, then she sank her teeth into the rubber wires with a thrash of her head. ‘See?’ She smiled, releasing her grip and pointing her paw at four damp punctures before quickly filling them with clumps of beeswax. ‘It’s easy!’
Feeling a surge of excitement, Pip did the same and spat out the bitter taste of petrol that seeped around her gums before she pressed beeswax into the holes.
‘Bon! ’ Monique beamed. ‘Now for the left side of the machine. I’ll follow you this time.’ The ermine linked her paws together and made a step for Pip to stand on. ‘Climb up and I’ll meet you out there.’
With a boost from Monique from below, Pip easily pulled herself back into the night and locked eyes with Pie, staring down at her with his glossy black-and-white feathers shining in the light of the moon.
‘Come on,’ the ermine whispered, clambering out through the grate. ‘This way!’
Racing past Pie, they hurried to the grate on the left side of the tank, slipped into the fuel compartment and swiftly sabotaged the fuel lines before reappearing in the gloom.
‘One metal monster down, two to go,’ the magpie whispered as Pip and Monique clambered on to his back again.
Pie headed for the next tank, parked a few metres away behind a screen of tangled branches and leaves. But as the magpie perched on the machine, Pip’s nose twitched, smelling stale smoke, and her senses pricked, knowing danger lurked nearby.
‘Something’s burning,’ Pip whispered, sniffing as she slid with Monique from Pie’s back, darting her eyes around the clearing, slowly becoming brighter under the sinking moon.
‘Cigarettes.’ Pie shuddered, cocking his head in all directions searching for men. ‘The soldiers must be in foxholes beneath this tank.’ His feathers ruffled with unease around his neck. ‘Move fast and listen out for my warning. If you hear my call, you must come out at once. Do you understand?’
The little mouse and the ermine looked at one another and nodded, and in a matter of minutes they had sabotaged the fuel lines. It was when Pip and Monique were clambering on to Pie’s back again that they suddenly heard footsteps behind them. Holding their breaths, they watched a soldier sprint down the bank of the castle mound towards the tank they’d just left. Leaping upon it, he creaked open the hatch in its turret and slammed it closed behind him with a metallic thud.
‘We’re running out of time,’ Pie said, beating his wings as fast as he could towards the third and final machine, overlooking a steep decline into the valley. ‘That soldier has something on his mind.’
‘Hurry, Pie!’ Pip whispered, trying to ignore the feeling of dread knotting inside her. ‘I know we can do this before they catch us!’
They landed on the last tank with a final clunk of the magpie’s claws and Pip’s heart pounded, hearing a severe German voice crackle on a radio inside.
‘Jawohl! ’ a man barked inside. ‘Heil Hitler! ’
‘This tank has received some kind of order,’ Pie said urgently. ‘We must stop it before it heads into battle.’
Pip and Monique dashed into the left fuel compartment, trembling as they punctured the fuel lines and plugged them with beeswax, now whittled to small rings around their paws.
‘We’ve only got the right-hand side to damage now,’ Monique panted, giving Pip another boost out of the grate. ‘Quickly, let’s finish this!’
But at that moment, the tank jolted to life with a roar that chilled their blood.
‘Abort!’ Pie cawed, skittering over to meet them as the chug of the engine vibrated beneath their paws.
‘Come on, Pip!’ Monique cried, leaping on the magpie’s back. Seeing Pip hesitate, the ermine yanked her up to straddle the bird in front of her. But Pip’s mind whirred as the magpie launched into the air and she frowned, feeling a rush of impulse rise inside her.
‘No! We just have one more fuel line to sabotage.’ Pip shook her head, determination hardening her jaw. ‘We’re so close! We can’t give up now!’
Pip threw herself from the magpie. Dropping like a stone, she slammed against the tank’s metal hull and rolled across its surface, scrabbling for something to hold. Her body tumbled over the side and her claws caught the head of a screw bolted into the rear exhaust panel. She pulled herself up, feeling hot air blow against her fur.
It was then that the haunting sound of Gabriel and Madeleine’s howls moaned from the trees behind her. As she snapped her head up and searched for Henri’s antlers in the first dusky blues of dawn, her body grew rigid with fear.
The two tanks they had just damaged were thundering towards her. The branches used to conceal them were shuddering off their metal shells, revealing monstrous gun barrels pointing straight at her.
Pip darted to the metal grate over the final fuel compartment and hurried inside. The heat radiating from the grille was stifling as she feverishly ripped the fuel lines open with her teeth and pushed the last pieces of the beeswax into the holes. Triumphant, she gazed up at the grate over her head and her stomach lurched in dismay. Monique wasn’t there to lift her out.
The tank lunged forward, and Pip, panic thrumming, felt her paws slipping from under her. At once the radiator grille tugged at her limbs, and Pip desperately leaped and clamped her claws into the fuel line. With relief surging through her, she followed the length of the cable to where it was pinned against the wall, and used it as a shelf to clamber into the open air.
The tank rattled and squeaked as it teetered over the edge of the clearing and into the valley below. Quaking, Pip looked down at the grass racing alongside her and hurled herself from the machine. A moment later, she somersaulted across the ground and found herself lying on her back, staring into the murky wisps of dawn clouds. The other two tanks rolled past her down the hill and Pip breathed a sigh laced with terror, glad to feel cool dewdrops soaking her fur.
‘Pip!’ Pie cried, swooping beside her. ‘Are you all right?’
Monique raced from Pie’s back. ‘Are you hurt?’ Pip turned her head to meet their gaze and a broad smile spread across her little face. They all laughed, their fears dissolving into exhilaration.
‘Unbelievable!’ Pie chuckled.
‘Absolutely stupid!’ Madame Fourcade corrected, scowling between Henri’s ears as he and the wolves skidded to a halt beside them. The bats blinked inquisitively from their perch above the umbrella cradled across his antlers. ‘What did I say about excessive daring?’ the hedgehog continued as Henri lowered his head to the ground and Madame Fourcade hurried to Pip with bristling prickles. ‘You could have been killed!’
‘But I couldn’t let it get away –’ Pip wobbled to a stand, adrenalin still rippling under her fur – ‘not when we were so close.’
‘You had already sabotaged the fuel tank on one side,’ Madame Fourcade scolded. ‘That metal monster would’ve run out of petrol too, just a little later than the others.’
‘But it could have driven further and got help,’ Pip said defiantly.
‘I thought I’d lost you.’ The hedgehog threw her paws round Pip. ‘You are not supposed to die until your fur has turned white and your own kittens have driven you mad with worry.’
‘Look!’ Monique grinned, pointing her paw into the valley where a belt of orange sunrise crept over the eastern horizon. ‘Over there by that windmill!’
The three tanks were spaced out along the open road below with their back bonnets cranked open. Beside them, the enemy soldiers hopped up and down in rage, just as Monique had predicted.
‘We did it!’ Pip beamed. ‘I can’t wait to tell GI Joe!’
‘Everyone is going to enjoy this story.’ Gabriel’s tongue hung out of his mouth in a smile. ‘Another tale from the legends of the Umbrella Mouse will fill them with hope.’
CHAPTER NINE
THE MILICE
The animals left the ruined castle glowing in the first pinks and golds of sunrise and made their way back down the hill towards the Maquis’s cavern, the bats circling in the air above their heads, vigilantly scanning the surrounding forest for any signs of the Rogue Wolves and the Butcher Birds.
The headiness of the sabotage was easing and a cheerful weariness clung to Pip and her friends. She looked forward to their return to the cavern, where they could share their story and catch up on the sleep they’d missed. Pip hoped that GI Joe was feeling better, and pictured his face lighting up when she told him about their victory over the Tiger tanks. But an uneasy feeling crept over her when she remembered Jude the canary suggesting GI Joe had been turned into an enemy spy. She hoped the successful sabotage would prove to Jude that he had nothing to fear.
They were nearing the Maquis’s hideout when they froze, hearing something whimper ahead.
‘Don’t move,’ Gabriel said gruffly.
The magpie on his back cocked his head with his eyes roving across the forest. Madeleine stepped forward with her hackles rising, but as they listened again they heard only the leaves rustling in the wind.
‘It’s nothing,’ Madeleine whispered. ‘Keep moving. We’re not far from the cavern.’
The animals crept forward for a moment before freezing again. Ahead, a small bird hobbled out of the undergrowth and limped across the forest floor. Its open wings dragged at crooked angles across the ground and its feathers were a mottled orange colour Pip had not seen before. It collapsed on its side and Pie launched from Gabriel’s back to get a closer look.
‘Who are you?’ the magpie asked softly, landing at a cautious distance near the bird. ‘What happened to you?’
‘Pie?’ The bird lifted its head weakly in the direction of his voice and Pip gasped, realizing its eyes were hollow and the yellow feathers around its face were clumped with dried blood. ‘Is that you?’
‘Jude? ’ the magpie gasped. The other animals looked at one another in alarm and rushed to the canary’s side. ‘Who did this to you?’
‘The Butcher Birds.’ Jude wept. ‘And a white pigeon.’
‘Lucia’s alive?’ Pip said, aghast.
‘She will have been punished for her failure to stop our escape from the Nacht und Nebel camp,’ Madame Fourcade said. ‘We need to get away from here.’
‘The Rogue Wolves are with them too,’ Jude added, agony ruffling his feathers all over his body. ‘Be careful. They will catch your scent.’
‘Villains,’ Madeleine growled. ‘They have no heart, no reason – just murder and chaos.’
‘How did they find you?’ Monique the ermine interrupted, her voice trembling as she crouched beside the canary. ‘Is the cavern safe?’
The canary was silent for a moment before his face crumpled with shame.
‘I couldn’t risk capture and stay with you when you were harbouring the Umbrella Mouse,’ he moaned. Pip’s breath caught in her throat. This was her fault. ‘I left the cavern when Gaspard sent me to fetch water and honey from the bees . . .’ His breath rasped weakly, and the animals shared glances of horror. They’d been so focused on discussing the sabotage of the Tiger tanks that none of them had realized Jude hadn’t returned with the bees before. ‘Shortly after I escaped the brambles, the Butcher Birds and the pigeon caught sight of me. I tried to hide, but there were too many of them. I couldn’t escape. I was surrounded and . . . and . . . I knew having the Umbrella Mouse with us was too dangerous!’ he moaned bitterly. ‘She’s led us all to our doom. It’s her fault! Not mine . . . I couldn’t help it . . . the pain . . . I couldn’t stop myself.’
‘Stop what, Jude?’ Madame Fourcade’s prickles bristled.
Pip winced at the sight of him suffering so much. She couldn’t tell which was worse for him, his injuries or what he was trying to say.
‘What did you tell them, Jude?’ Gabriel asked through gritted teeth.
‘I only wanted to be safe,’ the canary whispered raggedly. ‘I never thought . . .’
The animals shuddered, watching Jude’s body contort with pain. A moment later, the canary flopped forward with his head upon his broken wing. The air grew cold with death and the animals’ ears pricked, hearing squeaks above their heads.
‘Don’t take another step!’ the bats cried, returning and frantically circling their heads. ‘The Rogue Wolves and the Butcher Birds have found our hideout!’
All the animals cowered, and one by one their eyes flicked to the canary lying at their paws.
‘Jude betrayed us!’ Pie the magpie said angrily, and Monique the ermine covered her face with her paws in despair. Hopping to her, Pie wrapped one of his wings round her shoulders. ‘He abandoned us so he wouldn’t risk capture.’
‘And in doing so,’ Madeleine growled, ‘he’s killed himself.’
‘And others too.’ The bats swirled about them in distress. ‘The gatekeepers’ bodies are slumped against the opening to the brambles.’
‘What about GI Joe and the rest of the Maquis?’ Pip asked, her insides thundering with fear. Madame Fourcade drew her close and her prickles quivered against Pip’s fur. ‘Could they have escaped?’
‘We don’t know,’ the bats continued gravely. ‘We saw three Rogue Wolves canter east into the forest. Two shrikes are keeping watch at the bramble gates. They cackled as the wolves left.’
‘We have to do something!’ Pip cried. ‘We must go and see who’s survived. We can’t just leave them there. If they’re alive, they need our help!’
‘It’s hopeless.’ Monique the ermine looked up at Pip with eyes that glistened with tears. ‘If we go back, we’ll be captured or killed too.’
‘But we have no choice,’ Madame Fourcade added with a desperate shake of her head. ‘If Jude told the enemy about the cavern, we have to assume he told them everything he knew about Pip as well.’ Her brow creased as her thoughts went to the hours before. ‘I mentioned Paris and that we were travelling east! That means the Milice have a good idea of where we are headed and our onward journey is in peril.’
‘And if anyone talked inside the cavern they’ll know we left it to sabotage the tanks.’ Pie cocked his head in the direction they’d just travelled. ‘The Milice could be searching for us in the forest as we speak.’
‘That means we’re surrounded.’ Henri shifted uneasily on his hooves.
‘Then we must move quickly and stealthily.’ Madame Fourcade’s jaw hardened. ‘We need to go to the brambles and find out what danger lies ahead, otherwise we could be walking straight into a trap. If we can, we’ll go inside and see who has survived or escaped, then we need to find a safer hideout, and fast.’
‘We can go to our old den to the north of Louviers,’ Madeleine offered, Gabriel nodding beside her. ‘It’s half a day’s journey from the brambles. We’ll be safe there and we have friends nearby – a flock of seagulls – who deliver intelligence to the Resistance in Paris. They may be able to help
you get there.’
‘Bon,’ Madame Fourcade said urgently. ‘If we don’t eat and rest soon, we’ll become a danger to ourselves. Now, let’s go!’ She beckoned them forward with her paws. ‘Go!’
CHAPTER TEN
THE BUTCHER BIRDS
The animals trod lightly as they crept behind the thickest ground ferns, hiding their advance towards the cavern. In the quiet, the softest breath seemed to be a bellow and Pip’s heart clamoured in her ears so fiercely that she felt sure it would give them all away.
‘The brambles are on the other side of this bank,’ Madeleine whispered, stopping in her tracks, Gabriel beside her.
‘Put me down, Henri,’ Madame Fourcade ordered, and he lowered his head to the ground with the bats swinging from his antlers. Pip and Madame marched down the bridge of his long face and jumped from the end of his nose while Pie and Monique leaped from the wolves to join them on the ground. ‘Gabriel, Madeleine and Henri –’ the hedgehog pointed her paw to the undergrowth – ‘take cover under the thicket over there. Only small animals have a chance of going unseen from the crest of this hill.’
‘Be careful,’ Henri said softly. ‘We’ll keep watch the whole time.’
‘Stay low.’ Madame Fourcade glanced at his antlers. ‘An umbrella in a forest is strange enough at the best of times.’
Pip gazed at it and felt a tug in her chest. The battered umbrella looked so normal in Henri’s antlers now that she almost couldn’t remember it sitting in pride of place in the shop window in London. It seemed unreal, as though her memories were a dream.
‘Let’s go.’ Madeleine turned with Gabriel. Henri gave Pip an affectionate nudge of his nose before following the wolves, bent low so that his chin skimmed the forest floor.
‘Follow me,’ Madame Fourcade whispered to Pip, Monique and Pie, and they crept slowly up the bank, nerves jangling.