by Renee Duke
“Is that gold belt with the roses on it in there?” Jack demanded.
“No. We are not yet desperate enough to sell that. Or other treasures that have been in the family for a long time. They are all safely hidden in the guesthouse. The current owners do not dare to hide Jews, but they are willing to secrete anything else Herr Altmeyer asks them to. There is something in one of the rooms in which valuable items or forged papers may be concealed until they are required.”
“The big cuckoo clock?” Paige suggested. “Just a guess,” she added, seeing Del’s astonished look. “We thought it looked like a good hiding place for stuff.”
“It is,” said Delo. “Come. Walk with me. But keep alert for patrols. They do sometimes check side streets.”
Fortunately, the only person they met was Nicko, who was skulking about near Herr Altmeyer’s apartment building.
“The camp’s been raided,” he told Delo upon mutual recognition. “The SS came not long after you left. Rosa sensed their approach and everyone got away into the forest, where Onkel Othi was out walking with Bruna and Fritzi. Which was fortunate, because if he’d been in camp, he would have fought the SS for his other creatures. Even so, it was all we could do to keep him from rushing back to them. To placate him, Vester and I crept back to see what was happening and were able to tell him they were being treated kindly. Especially the eagle. ‘The symbol of Germany’ as one SS officer put it.”
“You kept that eagle?” Dane queried.
“He did not heal as well as Onkel Othi thought he would. It wasn’t until last week that he began to show signs of being able to fly again. I must get him back. If I don’t, he’ll spend the rest of his life as a SS mascot. In a cage. He’d already been put into an iron-banded crate they’d drilled air holes into, and was screeching mightily.”
“Where do you think he’s been taken?” Dane asked.
“I know where he’s been taken. Gestapo headquarters here in Munich. While they were busy burning our caravans I crawled up underneath their vehicle and rode in with them. I don’t think I can rescue him from there by myself. That’s why I came to get Delo.”
“We’ll help, too,” Dane and Jack said together.
Paige hesitated a moment, but then said, “Yeah, we will. Got a plan, Nicko?”
“Not yet. I’ll think of something in the morning. In the meantime, we should get off the street. I’ve already been up to the apartment. Herr Altmeyer’s not there. Delivering ‘packages’, perhaps. When thus engaged, he’s sometimes away several days. But I have a key. We can stay the night.”
In the morning, they put their heads together over a breakfast raided from the contents of Herr Altmeyer’s cupboards.
“Just getting into Gestapo headquarters is going to be tricky,” said Paige. “It’s not somewhere the average person goes voluntarily, and Gypsy kids would definitely steer clear. So would kids from countries Germany’s at war with.”
“I can pass as German,” said Jack. “I could say I want to be an SS officer when I grow up, and would they please show me around?”
Nicko nodded. “That could work. If nothing else, you might be able to find out exactly where the eagle is being kept.”
Jack did better than that. At Gestapo headquarters, he borrowed his cousin Zach’s name, turned on all his charm, and was escorted around the building by the very officer who had seized the eagle. The man ended the tour with a visit to this imposing symbol of Germany, certain it would appeal to such a fervent little member of the German race.
The eagle was, as Nicko had feared, in a iron bird cage, screeching at all who came near him, including two HJ boys of about sixteen, who were trying to get him to eat some raw meat.
“The men of the SS are too busy to take proper care of this magnificent bird, so members of the Hitler-Jugend have been assigned the task,” the officer told his guest. “Select HJ boys will take it in turn, but these two will be in overall charge. Kurt Keppler here has received the honour in recognition of his exemplary work as a Jungvolk leader; Anton Adler because his surname means ‘eagle’ and I thought it would be fitting.”
“The eagle must think so, too, because he likes Anton better than me,” Kurt said somewhat sulkily.
“How can you tell?” Jack asked, thankful that he had been resting upstairs when the Kepplers visited Gasthaus Altmeyer.
“He has not bitten him.” Kurt displayed several wounds. “Of course, that may just be because Anton lacks the courage to put his hand in the cage.”
“That upsets him,” said Anton. “And such a beautiful creature should not be upset. Or caged,” he added softly.
“This cage is too small for him,” the SS officer agreed. “That is why, except for when he is required for state occasions, he will live in a large pen at my house in the country. The HJ will still be responsible for him, as I wish him to receive special care and attention. His new home will not be ready for another week, so later today, you will take him to a small private zoo that has agreed to give him temporary housing. I will make a car available to you.” He smiled down at Jack. “And now I must get back to my own duties. Did you enjoy your tour, little Zach?”
“Oh, yes,” said Jack. “Thank you. I especially enjoyed seeing the eagle. I’d like to visit him again, at the zoo, but if it’s a private one, I don’t suppose I’ll be able to.”
“You will if I request it,” said the SS officer, “I’ll write down the name and address and give you a special pass.”
Pass in hand, Jack raced back to his cousins and the Brase brothers, who were waiting for him at a café located a safe distance from the Nazi dominated Königsplatz area. Fearful of being overheard, no one said anything until they were safely back at Herr Altmeyer’s apartment.
“Getting that pass was a stroke of luck,” said Nicko. “Tomorrow, Jack can scout out the zoo and learn, not just the whereabouts of our golden friend, but the best way to get to him when we return at night to liberate him.”
“Breaking into a private zoo might not be all that easy,” said Paige.
“We don’t have much choice,” said Nicko.
“And it has to be easier than breaking into Gestapo headquarters,” said Dane. “If we’re lucky, we might just have to get over a wall.”
Such proved to be the case. It was quite a high one, but with a little help from Nicko, even Jack managed to scale it.
He then led the others to the building he’d been taken to when visiting the eagle earlier in the day. A long, low building comprised of six quite roomy indoor/outdoor enclosures. Since it was night, the inhabitants were all in the indoor sections.
“He’s in the fourth one,” said Jack. “The door’s round back and might be locked.”
It was.
“No problem,” said Delo, producing a thin wire from his pocket. “I’ve picked up all kinds of useful skills from Uncle Jimmy.”
“Yes, well, I wouldn’t advice telling Mother about this one,” Nicko said as the lock clicked open.
Inside, they quickly found the indoor section of the fourth enclosure, but to their dismay, the eagle wasn’t in it. Not daring to put on a light, they made a thorough search with a flashlight from Herr Altmeyer’s apartment, but its beam failed to reveal anything resembling an eagle.
Nor was he in any of the other enclosures.
“Where else might he be?” Paige asked her cousin.
“I don’t know.”
“I do,” said Dane. “He’s nearby. I can feel him. Come on.”
Nicko and Delo exchanged skeptical looks.
“It’s okay,” said Paige. “When it comes to that bird, he’s like Rosa. He knows things.”
Dane took them to a nearby storage shed. It, surprisingly, was not locked, and the eagle was inside it. They found him huddled in his small iron cage, his head and tail drooping.
Concerned, both Dane and Nicko dropped to their knees beside him.
“He is in a bad way,” said Nicko.
“I’m not surprised, stuck
in here. He—” Dane broke off upon hearing voices outside.
“Someone’s coming,” said Paige. “Quick, hide!”
The shed was filled with boxes and barrels, stacked up crates, and piled up sacks, thus offering them several options for concealment. All five managed to scramble behind something before three people entered and one switched on the light.
Peeking cautiously round a barrel, Paige saw Kurt Keppler, another boy she took to be Anton Adler, and a girl. Marta Reitzel. Now a tall, slim fifteen-year-old.
Paige and Dane couldn’t follow the newcomers’ conversation, but the others could, and recounted it for them later.
“There he is,” said Kurt, pointing to the eagle. “Not so belligerent now, is he? Not after a few blows and some time alone in this place. I told you I knew how to tame him.”
“You should not have put him here, Kurt,” Anton admonished. “It is cold, and damp, and not at all suitable for him.”
“It is necessary for him to know who is master. I will not be screeched at and mercilessly pecked by a bird—even if it is the symbol of Germany.”
“But it looks sick, Kurt,” said Marta, wriggling out of her HJ jacket and placing it around the cage. “I think you should have been more patient with him.”
Kurt glowered. “You dare to question me? After I gave in to your pleas and brought you here to show you this unpleasant creature? You lack gratitude, Marta.”
“I do not lack gratitude. I just think—”
“Again, you think. It is not for a woman to think. Learn that now if you would be my wife. Your time in America has caused you to forget your proper place when speaking to a man.”
“It hasn’t,” cried Marta, standing up. “I stayed less than two months before I ran away and Onkel Gottfried was able to book me a return passage.”
“And look how skinny you are,” Kurt went on, enjoying her distress. “Skinny, just as American girls like to be. A German girl should be plump.”
“I can become plump. I can eat more. I will be a good wife, Kurt.”
“Will you? Hah. We shall see.”
“Shut-up, Kurt,” said Anton. “Leave her alone. She is right. The bird is sick. And if it does not recover we will be in a great deal of trouble. You think you ride high in Hauptmann Schweiger’s favour, but if anything happens to his new mascot, you will find yourself very much out of favour.”
Kurt paled, this obviously not having occurred to him in his eagerness to subdue the eagle. “He…he will be all right. I will take him back now and warm him up.”
“It will take more than that. I suggest you fetch a veterinarian and pray he does not tell Hauptmann Schweiger how you treated this poor creature.”
“If he knows what is good for him, he will not,” Kurt snapped. “And neither will you.”
With that, he left, presumably to find a veterinarian.
“Thank you, Anton,” said Marta. “But it is unwise to cross Kurt.”
“I am not afraid of him. Especially now that I have this to hold over him. Come. We will leave the eagle where it is. The veterinarian will come soon, and I want him to see the type of conditions it has been forced to endure.”
As soon as they left, Paige and the four boys came out of hiding and turned their attention back to the eagle, which Nicko gently took out of the cage.
“He might not last until the vet gets here,” said Dane, stroking the bird. “We’ve got to help him now.”
“With what? There aren’t any bird medications in here,” said Paige.
“With the Arcanus Piece. It heals things. You know it does. It healed our allergies. And Jack’s motion sickness. It can heal the eagle, too. I’m going to go get it.”
To avoid freaking out Nicko and Delo, he went outside to say the connecting rhyme. Paige doubted either would have been overly alarmed. They certainly didn’t react when her brother returned to the shed less than two minutes later with the Arcanus Piece in his hand. Or when he held the gold circlet above the eagle and a soft glow emanated from it and settled over the bird.
As the glow faded, the eagle let out a screech and flapped its now fully restored wings.
“Look at that,” Dane said triumphantly. “He’s completely better.”
“And tomorrow we can set him free,” said Nicko. “Don’t worry, beautiful one. You only have to go back in the cage so I can carry you.”
But just as he got him into it, two figures appeared in the doorway. Marta and Anton. Having remembered that Marta was not supposed to be there, they had returned to retrieve her tell-tale HJ jacket.
“You again,” she said. “You dare to be in Germany now that our countries are at war?”
“Who are they?” Anton asked, in English, since, to his puzzlement, that was what Marta was speaking.
“Children who used to come to Germany for holidays. Once the war started, I did not expect them to return. And I have no idea what they are doing here tonight.”
“Helping the eagle, it would seem.”
“We’re going to let him go,” Dane said defiantly.
Anton nodded. “I will not stop you. It is the right thing to do.”
“How will you explain his disappearance?” asked Jack.
The young German smiled. “I will tell Hauptman Schweiger we did not realize he could fly and were careless enough to let him escape whilst showing him off to some friends. I will tell Kurt his victim perished, and I disposed of the body before anyone could ask disagreeable questions. He will not argue. Hauptman Schweiger’s anger over an escape will be less than it would be over fatal mistreatment. And I will share the blame.”
“Nighttime is not ideal for release,” said Nicko. “Nor is the city.”
“Take him out of it, then. Hauptman Schweiger will not learn of our stupidity until, oh, quite late in the day.” He laughed. “It will take that long for Kurt to get up the courage to tell him the escape story. Like most bullies, he is a coward.”
“Yeah, not the greatest marriage prospect,” said Paige. “I’d pass on that if I were you, Marta.”
“He is Aryan, and I am Aryan. It is important that we marry and have children.”
“Six fair-haired, blue-eyed babies for the Fatherland?”
Marta nodded. “Our marriage is already arranged,” she said, perhaps a little uneasily.
“But not yet a fact,” said Anton. “Come, you must leave before Kurt comes back. The rest of you also.”
“Danke,” said Nicko, picking up the cage.
Chapter Twenty-One
They let the eagle go the next day, in a small field near the forest in which the Brase family was hiding. Nicko and Delo had found their relatives with ease, and they also gathered to watch as the eagle soared upward, circled, and, with one last screech, vanished.
At least, that’s how it seemed. One moment it was there; the next it was not. A trick of light, Nicko’s father said.
The medallion around Dane’s neck wasn’t tingling, so he and the other two took another stab at getting the Brases to relocate, thinking the recent raid on their camp must surely have made the prospect more attractive.
But, for some, the opposite was true.
“What is the point of going to England?” Nicko queried. “The Nazis will simply overrun it as well.”
“They won’t,” said Dane. “They’re not going to win this war.”
Nicko shrugged. “Then it is not necessary for us to flee.”
Paige resisted the urge to scream, and instead spoke calmly. “It is necessary. Before they lose, they’re going to kill millions of people. Not just soldiers or civilians caught in bombing raids. Specifically targeted people. Targeted like you’ve just been. And were before,” she added, looking at Vester and Drogo.”
“We know that,” said Vester. “But who will stop it, if all run away? Gypsies keep to their own, but if our own are threatened, we fight. If necessary, alongside the gadje. The resistance movement here is small as yet, but as atrocities increase, so will the number of peo
ple willing to join us.”
“I’m willing,” said Nicko.
Del nodded. “I think I might be, too. If the rest of you won’t come back to England with me and Uncle Jimmy, we might as well stay here and fight Nazis with you.”
“You can fight Nazis from England,” said Jack. “If you feel you must fight, you can go back there and enlist in the British army as soon as you’re old enough. So can Nicko. Vester and Drogo could join now.”
“That’s definitely something you should all consider,” said their mother. “I don’t want any of you fighting, but better there than here.” She looked at her husband. “And if we are taken, life in a concentration camp will go hardest on the little ones.”
“And on twins,” said Paige. “A Nazi doctor by the name of Josef Mengele is planning to do horrible things to twins under the guise of ‘medical research’.”
“An old person wouldn’t fare very well in a concentration camp, either,” said Jack and repeated it to Old Zigana in German.
Her reply was short, but decisive.
“She says, we must look after our children and she must look after hers,” Nicko’s mother translated, as the old woman’s gaze went to Onkel Othi, seated under a tree with his only remaining animals.
Using Jack as an interpreter, Dane tried to get through to him. He told him, if he wound up in a concentration camp, Bruna and Fritzi would have no one to care for them. He told him Herr Altmeyer could probably find homes for Bruna and Fritzi. He told him there were lots of stray and injured animals in England he could help. Through it all, Onkel Othi simply smiled, and shook his head.
By evening, the most they had achieved was the probability of Uncle Jimmy and Delo taking Nadya and Brosi back to England with them, and the possibly of Ava and Anya going along as well.
Afraid of lighting a fire, everyone sat in a circle eating biscuits and raw potatoes. It was a meagre feast, but Nicko’s parents had only had time to stuff a few items into a food sack before seeking refuge in the forest.
