by Bill Etem
Chapter 2. The Enemy Patrol
`Time to wake up,’ said Mirabrasantes, who along with Debra had come to relieve Navorrasicaa and Jocelyn of guard duty. The latter two, who were never asleep, handed the former two the canvas tarp before setting off up the mountain to rejoin the main camp.
`I’d like to hear the conversation between those two,’ said Navorasicaa to Jocelyn after they had moved too far away for Mirabrasantes and Debra to hear.
`Do you think it will get nasty?’ asked Jocelyn.
`I don’t know. Mirabrasantes feels for the poor girl, I’m sure. She’s one of those unstable juveniles we read so much about these days, as if kids your age are the very bedrock of emotional stability,’ replied Navorasicaa.
`She cries a lot,’ stated Jocelyn.
`Perhaps it was just a case of temporary insanity, I don’t know,’ replied Navorasicaa. `But review the facts for yourself. Debra’s 14, and most of the boys her age have been killed off in the wars. Then she falls in love with 9-year-old Luke, Mirabrasantes’ adopted son, who was formerly an orphan as you once were yourself. And then Debra and Katie save the lives of Luke and Seraphinaria. So far so good, except for the disparity in Debra’s age and Luke’s age. But, of course, as everyone knows, Debra and Katie must now be seen as traitors to Hibernia by their countrymen. That crime carries the death penalty, so, Debra can’t go back to her home with her parents’ and siblings, and Katie has likewise separated herself from her family. Katie thinks this separation is merely temporary, because the war is on its last legs and their boss will go before a war crimes tribunal, but who knows? Neither she nor Debra see themselves as traitors, obviously. They say they did the only honorable action they could under the circumstances; but Debra is freaking out now because she wonders if it was insanity which led her to chase after Luke and leave her country and her family, all because of a fleeting infatuation. Katie was working on her last night, trying to convince her that in a year or two the war will be over, and full pardons will be granted to them, as the two of them did save two other lives from that worthless commander of theirs. Those who disobey the orders of war criminals will not be treated as traitors, not when the treaty between the warring nations is signed. At the moment we just have to keep Debra from freaking out anymore than she already is. She sure as hell isn’t infatuated with a 9-year-old any longer.’
Night descended and there was a respite in the cold gusts blowing over these northern peaks. The kids were in the tents sleeping while the adults were all sitting round the campfire discussing strategy and tactics which might be used on their rescue mission to Menzies. Their faces were aglow in the light of the fire. In the midst of a small blizzard yesterday, the lot of them had hauled up a few hundred pounds of firewood after descending to the forest. On most nights, while wrapped up in their cloaks and blankets, and protected from the bitter wind by their canvas tarps, everyone was comfortable enough round the campfire. Tonight was even better because the gusts were just beginning to diminish into a gentle breeze.
`So much depends on careful and even intricate planning, on leaving no stone unturned in our endeavors to be thorough. We must account for every eventuality, you see,’ Martha Manning was insisting in her vehement way.
`But we must not suffer the mental paralysis from over-analysis, that stifling inability to act because one’s brain is suffering under the tonnage of too much information, and suffering from too much second guessing,’ offered Al Mancini.
`Well of course not. I’m not a damn fool, you know. We must be thorough in our planning but we must not become brainless idiots from too damn much planning,’ countered the irascible Martha.
`I remember watching this British thriller from 1962,’ Al was saying, `which involved a good deal of planning. It starred Stanley Baker, who had some star power. It was about these three ex-army buddies who robbed a British army base of £100,000. An expeditionary force was being sent to the Middle East and the soldiers required that much cash while on their mission. Anyway, these three ex-soldiers, who all had axes to grind against the army, planned every last detail before they pulled the heist.’
`So they were successful in their caper?’ asked Seraphinaria. `Was it because they had thought of every eventuality, and every detail was orchestrated in advance, and planned to perfection? Is that what you’re saying?’
`Not quite,’ said Al. `They all actually ended up being burned alive. The truck they were in caught on fire, because one of the crooks sort of went psycho with a flamethrower. But, aside from being burned alive, they were really pretty close to pulling it off, to getting away with the caper free and clear. They planned everything to perfection, but then they got a little careless toward the end of the operation. They thought they were home-free and so they relaxed their guard a little, when they were almost home-free, but not quite home-free. And as I say one guy went sort of psycho with this flamethrower.’
`Well that’s an excellent lesson for us isn’t it?’ said Misevasundia. `Don’t go psycho! And don’t get over-confident! And don’t make a slip-up just when you think you’re home-free which leads to people getting burned alive.’
`The film was a success with the critics but it failed at the box-office. I could have predicted that, anyone could have,’ said Al. `And that sort of slip-up is so easy to avoid. It just needed a love interest, a Diana Dors or an Honor Blackman or some such British chick to spice things up, something like what Jenny Agutter supplied for Logan’s Run, or what Ali MacGraw infused into The Getaway, not that she’s British or what Catherine Denueve lent to Un flic, or what that British chick Susan George gave to Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry. These heist films really die with the public if they don’t have a hot chick in them. I don’t think you don’t have to be an Alfred Hitchcock sort of genius to understand something this remedial. Where would Scream…and Die’ aka The House that Vanished be without Andrea Allen. That was sort of a heist film in that Andrea Allen and her boyfriend break into the house that vanished because he wanted to steal something. Then it changed into a British giallo film, rather X-rated in parts. The porno scene where the murderer and his middle aged aunt are making love will sear your retinas with its creepiness. And you see lots of Andrea Allen not wearing her bra. Anyway, I think in Andrea Allen and Diana Dors and some others the Brits really show the world that they know how to produce some hot numbers. Check out Diana Dors in Tread Softly Stranger, sometime, Martha, it’s free on YouTube, assuming you ever make it back to our universe.’
`I’ll do that Al. Did you like Fraulein Docktor?’
`Well yes,’ said Al as he sipped his ale and gnawed on some stale bread and some smoked fish under a hollandaise sauce. `Suzy Kendall is the entire dish in Fraulein Docktor, the piece de resistance, the meat and potatoes, so to speak, but then you can’t quite say that Diana Dors is everything in Tread Softly Stranger, which is of course about another heist which goes amiss. The latter film is certainly superior to the former, as a total work of art, which is not to say the former doesn’t succeed brilliantly in many aspects. The crooks, who really don’t seem all that crooked, botch the job in an astonishingly big way in Tread Softly Stranger.’
`Anyway,‘ began Seraphinaria, `getting back to those 1,000 P.O.W.s, and to how we’re going to get them out of that dungeon without getting caught. It’s sort of like pulling a heist, sort of like getting $500,000 out of a bank vault. Try to think of some tips from some movies where they didn’t botch the job.’
`Just to interrupt for a second,’ said Navorrasicaa. `We haven’t heard from Heliomirabellisima and Casilevatates in a while. Aren’t they due back from guard duty? They relieved Debra and Mirabrasantes hours ago. It must be close to midnight. Look at that moon. It has moved half way across the sky since we started talking.’
`We’ll worry in an hour,’ said Seraphinaria as she too drank her ale and dined on smoked turkey, as she warmed herself before the campfire. `They probably fell asleep. Dis
cipline has just gone to hell with you people. Sometimes I feel like such a lazy slob, so I guess I can’t bitch at you too much.’
They were seated on the upper slopes of the mountain, behind buttresses which did a fine job concealing them. The scent of wood-smoke was far more likely to betray their position than was the light of the campfire. And then, to protect them further, they had at least two people on guard duty at all times. They would have begun their journey northwards to Menzies that night, down the mountain, then up over a pass between two peaks, and then into a valley before ascending yet another Alpine pass. But several of the kids had been sick and were too weak to commence a hike of a few hundred miles. Katie drew them a rough sketch for a map. To get to the city of Menzies required them to cross 100 miles of rough terrain - mountain passes and glaciers – but then it was easy trekking on barren plains for the last 100 miles. Food and drink would be easy to acquire. They had gold and silver, and Hibernia was full of food and drink which could be bought with silver and gold.
The party of warrior women felt the warmth of the campfire on their faces. It was so tranquil and serene, under the starlit sky, now that the winds had softened high up on this beautiful mountain. Some conversed while others drifted off to sleep. Then those who were awake heard the sound of people tramping through snow. They watched as Heliomirabellisima and Casilevatates emerged out of the darkness and took shape in the light of the campfire. The two of them seem to have been running recently as both were panting with exhaustion. As they sucked air, their hands resting on their knees, they managed to explain what was happening. They had ascended 1,000 feet as fast as they could after spying a huge Hibernian force that was heading their way. Even the women who needed sleep the most could see it was time to move out.