“Let me walk you out.” Mama put her arm around me and led me to the door. I was going to ask her if everything was alright, but I looked into her eyes and quickly shut my mouth. I knew that look.
We walked outside, and one of the old gossipy yiayias was hanging up some washing. It was a bright sunny day, which only made me wince. My mother stuck a hat on my head. It wasn’t what I was expecting. Neither was the hug she gave me or what she whispered in my ear.
“Avoid the patrols on the way to Athena’s Bluff and stay there until I get Stavros to come and get you.”
That’s all she said. I decided it was wise for me to obey and not ask any other questions. When Mama was ready to tell me, then she would tell me. I kissed her goodbye and set off down the road. I stopped and looked back—I had forgotten to get my crossbow. I was in two minds whether I should go back or just continue on my way. My problem was solved when Stavros came out holding my crossbow and my knife.
“Aunty Helena thought you might want to take these with you when you go hunting,” he said a little louder than he should have. These people need to get their stories straight. Either I’m taking dead Aunty Athanasia some oil upon Athena’s Bluff, or I’m going hunting. I can’t do both. We used to joke about Athanasia’s name that she was immortal. Maybe there was truth to that, and she wasn’t dead.
Stavros gave me my weapons, but he didn’t look me in the eye, which again was strange.
“I’ll keep an eye out for Athanasia’s ghost while I’m hunting,” I muttered just loud enough for Stavros to hear. He tried to stifle a laugh as he walked away.
I was not feeling well; the heat was getting to me, and the last thing I wanted to do was trudge up a mountain. Mama told me she wanted me to avoid the patrols, and the only way was to take a different route that was a long way to get to Athena’s Bluff. I was confident that the Italians wouldn’t be aware of the caves. The mountain surrounding Farsala and Larissa had an extensive cave system. By the time I reached the caves, I was ready to pass out. I hadn’t taken any water with me, which was stupid. I knew there was a rock pool nearby, so I made an effort to find it. The Italians had a habit of poisoning the water supply. These people are evil, and when I finally work out how to kill them without nearly killing myself, I’m going to seek vengeance like they have never felt before.
If I drank from it, I might end up dead. If I didn’t drink from it, I might end up dead from thirst. I crossed myself and hoped that God did indeed protect the stupid. I swallowed and found myself still alive. That was the best news I had had in a long time.
I entered the caves, and it was dark until I used the lamp to light my way. Poor Athanasia would just have to do with less light. Do the dead need a lamp? Probably not. The living do, and here I was going through a dark cave with a lamp. I had been in the caves many times, and I knew my way around. I turned towards the tunnel that led to the other side of the mountain. I started to sing to myself as I walked down the musty smelling cave. I stopped when I heard a noise.
Someone was in the cave with me. I wasn’t sure where the sound came from, but it was definitely human. I closed my eyes and listened just as my father taught me when we were hunting. I stopped breathing and listened carefully.
I could hear breathing. I put the lamp at my feet and brought the crossbow forward.
Whoever was in the cave with me was going to die.
Chapter 10
My heart was beating so fast I was sure my quarry could hear it. I gripped my crossbow and prepared to fire. I stepped away from the oil lamp and headed into the darkened area of the cave. I should have waited for them to come to me just as my papa taught me, but whoever it was in that cave was not armed—if they were, they would have taken a shot at me. I stopped when I saw the dark shape move and raised my crossbow.
I fired.
A child’s high-pitched scream echoed in the cave sending me to my knees in shock. I had killed a child! Damnation! I’m going to hell.
I sat on the ground, bowed my head and tried to calm my heart, which was about to gallop out of my chest and into the cave with the dead child.
“Don’t shoot.”
I looked up to find a dirty looking face looking at me. I sighed in relief that the child was still alive. The little girl was no more than five years old, but then with the famine ravaging the country, she could have been older and stick thin. We were all stick thin except for the Italians and Germans.
“What are you doing in here?”
“Mama told me to run.”
“You ran into a scary cave?” I got up slowly because I didn’t want to scare the child. “Where’s Mama?”
“I don’t know.”
“What’s your name?”
“Sarah Michalidis.”
I didn’t know any families in Farsala called Michalidis. Where was this child from? I didn’t ever recall seeing her. I beckoned her to come to me, and she was reluctant. I couldn’t blame her since I had just shot an arrow at her.
She eyed me for a long time and then must have decided that I wasn’t going to shoot again, because she came into the light. I gasped on seeing the tiny body covered with scratches. She wasn’t wearing shoes, and her feet were battered. I opened my arms, and she walked into my embrace. She weighed nothing as I picked her up.
I took her to the ledge and placed her on it while I removed my shoes. They were going to be too big for her, but at least she was going to have something to protect her feet. I had another pair of shoes at home.
“They’re big.” Sarah giggled when I put the shoes on her.
“You’ll be able to show Mama, and you can flip-flop to her.”
Instead of making the child laugh, I made her cry. What had I said? “Sarah, big girls don’t cry.”
“I’m not a big girl.”
Out of the mouths of babes.
“Where are you from?”
“Piraeus.”
What? No. Surely that was wrong. Sarah was wrong. How could she be from Athens and be hiding in a cave in Larissa? That wasn’t possible. I was about to question her again when I heard voices and someone approaching.
“Dear God, that is not the sound of a child’s footsteps.” I quickly picked up Sarah and hid her behind the boulder she had been sitting on. “Shh,” I said and got behind the boulder myself. I was going to shoot whoever was coming, and I prayed that my aim was straight because it wasn’t just my life at stake.
Just as the person was about to come around the corner, I stood up, took aim and fired. To my utter disgust, the arrow hit the rock wall and bounced off.
“Dear God, Zoe, you’re about to turn my hair white!”
I have never been so happy to see anyone in my entire life. Ellie held her hands up in the air and slumped against the cave wall.
“Why were you running?”
“The question should be why are you in here and not where your mother told you to be!” Ellie came over and put her arm around my shoulders. “Why?”
“WILL SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?” I yelled losing my patience at the obvious subterfuge that was being carried out. I then realized I had sworn in front of a child and slapped my hand over my mouth. “Sarah, come out, koukla.”
“Ah, there you are!” Ellie had let go of me and walked over to Sarah. Just as she was doing that, I heard more sounds of running and I saw Stelios come to a stop. At least I didn’t shoot at him, because if I had, I would have been dead. Stelios served with my father and my uncle Petros at Skra and was the best marksman in all of Thessaly.
More running and a few more of the Resistance showed up. I looked around and saw familiar faces and some I didn’t recognize. While I was busy trying to guess who was coming towards us, Ellie had taken off Sarah’s shoes and wrapped her feet in torn cloth shreds. Someone I didn’t know approached Ellie, and the child was taken away. Ellie gave me my shoes back.
“Can someone tell me what is going on?”
“I will, but you have to be patient,” Ell
ie said to me before she turned to Stelios and the two of them walked away from me. They talked briefly, and Ellie patted Stelios on the shoulder before he and the rest of the team left.
“This has turned into a strange day.”
“Strange day for you, life ending for some,” Ellie said cryptically and pulled me towards her. “I think it’s time we had a chat.”
That was all she said as we made our way out of the cave. To my surprise, two Italian soldiers were lying dead at the mouth of the cave. They were being stripped of their guns and uniforms as we left.
“Can I ask about them?”
“You can, but I won’t tell you until we get to the cabin.”
We hadn’t taken a few steps towards the cabin when a loud explosion was heard from the direction of the roadway followed by gunfire. I could see black smoke billowing in the wind.
“It’s not your fight, for now, Zoe. Let’s get out of here quickly.”
Ellie drew her gun and broke out into a run. I followed her and away from the gunfire and screams.
Chapter 11
Ellie set a good pace, and I wasn’t sure why we were racing up the mountain, but I followed her lead. What tiredness I felt before I entered the cave had evaporated. The sun was going down, and we wanted to be in the cabin before it set. Surprisingly, Ellie had decided to take us into the brush instead of following the narrow trail.
I stopped right before we got to the thick brush. Ellie turned and looked at me with that enigmatic smile of hers.
“You give up too easily, ZoZo. Have faith.”
“It doesn’t require faith to know we are going to be cutting and chopping our way up the mountain long into the night to get to the cabin.”
Ellie just laughed and went into the brush. I sighed as I heard her shouting at me on the other side. I didn’t have a machete to cut my way through, and I knew Ellie didn’t have one either. With a heavy sigh, I reasoned that if Ellie wanted me to follow her, she must have a plan. She was always prepared, so I pushed through the thick brush and joined her.
In front of me was a narrow path; enough for me to get through. It would be more difficult for Ellie, who wasn’t as skinny as me, but it was a path.
“You’ve been busy.”
“I had to occupy my time somehow while you had your beauty sleep.” Ellie chuckled and put her arm around me. “Always think that the impossible is possible, Zoe. That’s how we will win this war.”
“By using a machete?”
“By using whatever weapon we have to cut them down.” Ellie kissed the top of my head and hunched over before she started walking. I was right behind her.
We arrived at the cabin just as the last rays of the sun kissed the top of the mountains. I stopped and gazed out over the valley—this was my home, my country, and I was hiding up a hill while my brothers and sisters were fighting down below. I felt like a coward and a failure.
“It’s not your fight tonight.”
I turned away and looked up at Ellie. “How do you know what I was thinking?”
Ellie smiled. “I know your heart. You want to be down there, in the battle, but it won’t be tonight.” She held up her hand to forestall my objections. “I know you have patience…”
I smiled. No one had ever accused me of having patience before.
“You claim you don’t. Everyone that knows you will say you don’t possess it, but I’m here to tell you that you do have patience.”
“You’re drunk.” I laughed and walked toward the cabin. Something out of the corner of my eye made me stop. The regular path leading up the mountain to the cabin was somehow different.
“I’ve won a bet tonight,” Ellie said in a sing-song voice as she put her arm around my shoulders. “You just won me some money, ZoZo.”
“I’d rather have food than money.”
“That would come in handy as well. Tell me what you see, even if it’s dark.”
“There’s something wrong with the path.”
“What is it?”
“The rocks.”
Ellie laughed and slapped her thigh. She was drunk, but I couldn’t smell any alcohol on her. Must be some brew if it doesn’t stink.
“Oh, thank the Lord, you are incredible.”
“It wasn’t that hard to figure out.”
“To you, it’s not that hard because of your photographic memory. To other people, it would be a miracle that they could remember how the path looked the last time they were here.”
“It’s a good parlor trick.”
“Oh, no. It is not a simple trick you can do to amuse people. Your trick, as you call it, will save lives.”
“You’re funny when you’re drunk.”
“I’m not drunk, ZoZo.” Ellie took my hand and led me to the edge of the path. She pulled me down so we were both on our haunches. “The path is boobytrapped.”
“That’s why we went through the brush. I should have thought of that!”
“Why should you have thought of it?”
“I know, I’m a useless soldier.”
“No, that isn’t what I asked you. Why do you think Athena’s Bluff needs protection? Did you think the forest, the cabin, or the rocks need protection?”
“No.”
“You only protect something that is worth protecting. I used the cabin last night to hide Allied soldiers…”
“Oh, thank goodness, I thought I had dreamed about Ugly Woman Barry!”
“He did make an ugly woman.” Ellie laughed as she led me back to the cabin. “One thing to remember, Zo. If you decide to go out in the night to relieve yourself, try not to stray onto the path. You’re going to blow yourself up.”
“It will be raining shit.”
Ellie looked at me for a moment before she burst out laughing. We both ended up laughing uncontrollably for a few minutes. I tried not to look at Ellie, because she was pulling faces and making me laugh again.
It was good to laugh, and for a moment I forgot we were in a war. That was until an explosion sounded outside. We looked at each other before Ellie drew her weapon and pushed me behind the door.
I realized once again I had made a colossal mistake. My crossbow was sitting on a boulder on the lookout. Whoever was outside and had triggered the explosion was either dead or was going to die. I had had enough of this. I tried to follow Ellie, but she stopped and looked at me.
“Do you remember I said you had patience?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Find where you put it and wear it now.” Ellie turned and left the cabin. I was going to ignore her, but moments later she popped her head back inside.
“Well, you know how you wanted food more than money?”
“Yes.”
“The Lord heard you.” Ellie’s arm snaked out, and it held up a rabbit. “I can’t cook. Would you like to?”
It was absurd. Ellie was holding a rabbit by its ears. Half of it ended up down the mountain someplace, and the other half had hit one of the beams of the porch. It was going to be a problem getting the blood out of the wooden floor, but we had dinner.
Chapter 12
We had rabbit on a spit, and it was better than I thought it was going to be. We had some stale bread and some old figs that had seen better days. As meals go, it was forgettable, but my papa used to say it’s not the food that makes a good meal but the people around the table. We didn’t talk because we were too busy eating. I hadn’t eaten anything for most of the day, and by the time the rabbit was done, I was famished.
Ellie sat back and rested against the cabin wall. There was a full moon and Athena’s Bluff was bathed in the brightest light I had ever seen. I sat on the log and looked out towards Mount Ossa. My plan was for one day to go beyond that mountain, and beyond Mount Olympus as well, and live as an artist. I was going to Athens and study with the best artists like Mama did. Mama says I’ve been telling everyone that one day I’ll go to university in Athens since I was five. That’s my dream.
“You’re going to make Apo
stolos a happy man one day, Zoe.”
It was fortunate that I wasn’t drinking anything, because I would have choked on it. I turned my head to see Ellie take out a cigarette and light it. She took a puff and smiled at me.
“When did you start smoking?”
“I’ve been smoking for a long time. Want to know why I have some good cigarettes?”
“I’m afraid to ask.”
“They’re not made of dung.”
I looked at Ellie and for a moment and then we burst out laughing. My dung cigarettes were legendary in the family, which not only included my immediate family, but the entire clan. They never let me forget my one and only smoking experiment. It wasn’t my finest moment, but it was memorable. Smoking rolled cigarettes made with cow dung was a story that would live forever.
After we stopped giggling, Ellie offered me a cigarette, but since I swore off them for the rest of my life, I passed on the opportunity. She was a worldly woman and someone I longed to imitate, but she was everything I wasn’t—tall, confident, and courageous.
“Apostolos is a nice boy.”
“He’s Athenian and has crazy blue eyes.”
“Isn’t it good that he’s from Athens? You’re going to go there and study and be his wife.”
I laughed at the idea that Apostolos was the man I would marry. “I would rather eat Fasoulatha.”
“Goodness, I don’t think boys are supposed to cause that reaction.”
“I’m too young to be married.”
“You are nearly fourteen, but when you get to sixteen, you never know.”
“I like Apostolos, but I don’t want to be his wife.”
“Of course. He has crazy blue eyes, and you hate blue eyes.”
“Have you seen his eyes? They are unnaturally blue.”
Ellie smiled and looked into her cup for a long moment. She looked up at me. “Angelos’s eyes are blue.”
“Angelos has beautiful dark blue eyes. That’s different.”
“You are going to be a handful, ZoZo. Whoever is lucky to be your husband…the poor man.”
The Darkest Hour Page 50
