Chapter Four

Within three days, Alex was up and about and helping with the children that were already there. Ardeth was with Father Shandor and Samuel, getting the things ready for the rest of their journey. They were going to leave the next day and Alex had been given the job of sorting out some warm clothing for these children.

"That is great Alex, should keep them nice and warm" said Samuel on his return.

"You are feeling better?" asked Ardeth.

"I feel great, thanks for looking after me Samuel" he replied.

In the early hours of the morning, Alex had gone down to get something to drink and saw a shadow sitting by one of the windows, walking over he found it was Ardeth, with a drink in his hand.

"Why are you not resting, we leave this morning" he asked.

"I can't sleep, things have gone too well so far, it isn't right"

"What do you mean, it's good that we have come this far with no trouble"

"Yes…I suppose so but I just have this gut feeling that we are heading for…for something, I'm not sure what"

Alex walked closer with a glass of milk he had poured himself and sat on the opposite side of the window seat with Ardeth. He looked out across the fields as he drank the milk, then he looked at his friend.

"You are really worried aren't you…scared even. I am sure we will get there safely but obviously there are no guarantees. Maybe you shouldn't have come here again, but then it was your duty I suppose"

The other man got up and walked towards the door and then turned to Alex, a rather angry look on his face, that his friend hadn't seen very often.

"Of course I am scared, have you forgotten what happened to me last time I was here. Maybe you are right, maybe I shouldn't have come but I had to prove to myself that I could. Please don't lecture me on duty, I am well aware of my 'duty'. Goodnight Alex"

With that he went up the stairs of the great hall, leaving Alex standing there wishing he had not said anything. Ardeth didn't get angry very often but he was now and he was stubborn and wouldn't rest until he had proved his point even if it meant putting his own life in danger. God he was so much like Rick, thought Alex.
Later that morning they left the castle, five men and four children at the moment, they would pick others up on the way. It would be a hazardous journey, taking them through the mountains of Austria where the snow was deep and the temperature very cold, especially at night. The air was thin further up the mountains and with the snow, they were easy targets for any Germans patrols.
By the time they got to the old church, just outside Linz, they were all exhausted and had many minor injuries from rocks and falls. They had also acquired a total of fifteen children now, all ages. A lot of them were ill and all of them were thin from lack of food. The people who had looked after them were poor and hadn't got enough food for themselves because of the Germans.
There were a few nuns at the church and they made the group comfortable in the crypt under the church. They were part of the local resistance and had helped a lot of people since the war started. The Germans checked randomly but had never found anything so far.

"You will all be comfortable down here" said the Mother Superior "The nuns will bring down food and drink and there are plenty of blankets over there. The children that are sick will be looked after by the nuns and any injures you might have will be seen too"

"Thank you Reverend Mother" said Samuel "all we need to do is rest, we are so tired"

"Here is the food, eat and then sleep. I will lock the gates tonight just in case anyone comes by. When the gates are locked they don't normally bother to check in here"

Alex had not been able to speak to Ardeth about the night in the castle, every time he was going to, something happened to stop him and now it had been about a month and a half since they had started. They were about two weeks behind schedule, it was now nearly the third week in December.
It was nice to be able to get out of the fur coats and gloves that had kept them warm in the snow. Ardeth sat in the corner with his food and Alex went over to join him. His left hand was hurting him, he had sprained it badly about two weeks ago and he had taken the gloves off on several occasions because of the pain, now he had a bit of frost bite in it.

"Let's have a look at that hand" said Alex.

"It's okay, now I am warming up it will be fine, how about you, you okay?"

"Yes I'm fine, tired and I ache from all that walking. This place is quite cozy certainly compared from being out there. I hope we can stay here for a while, we can do with the rest"

"What about the others are they okay?" he asked getting comfortable on the small camp bed.

"As far as I know, apart from Rudi, he has the flu and Father Shandor has a cracked rib. Look…I know it is a bit late but I am sorry for what I said at the castle, I didn't mean it to sound the way I did"

Ardeth pulled one of the blankets over him and smiled at the younger man.

"You have been worrying about that all this time. I had forgotten it the next day. If anyone needs to say sorry it is me. You were only trying to help and I had a go at you. Right, let's get some sleep, I can't keep my eyes open any longer"

Alex left him and went to speak to one of the nuns and asked her if she could take a look at his hand the next day. She said she would and wished him goodnight.
He saw Ardeth the next day and he had his hand in a bandage, the nun had put some stuff on it and done it tight to help the sprain which was still giving him pain. The Mother Superior came down and wanted to speak to the men and took them upstairs to her study where the children couldn't hear what they said.

"I have some papers here that I think you should look at. They were smuggled to me by some of my nuns in other parts of Austria. We work at some of the hospitals and have to take care of the German wounded as well as our own people"

"Isn't that dangerous for you?" asked Alex.

"Yes, but we are safe as long as we do what we are told and help them, doesn't mean we agree with what they are doing. We are doing Gods work, not our own and he said to forgive your enemies. I know that is hard for you to understand but as long as we believe that, we can get on with our work" she said.

They read the papers that she gave them and were shocked at what they said. Father Shandor couldn't believe it had got that bad and held his crucifix.

"How accurate are these?" asked Ardeth handing them to Alex.

"Very, thousands and thousands of Jews and Gypsies are being slaughtered every day at the hands of these monsters. They are being rounded up in every town and village, put into ghettos, that is the ones that are not shot first. Then the ghettos are being cleared and they are sent to the death camps where they are being gassed"

"Well, we have to get these children into Romania" said Father Shandor. "What are you not telling us?"

"I don't think you will get into Romania, there are no routes out of Austria any more that are safe. The German patrols and SS have more or less sealed Austria off, the only things getting out are the transports to the camps"

The Father walked around the study and scratched his head, this was not what he wanted to hear. They had to get the children out of there.

"We'll think of something, I don't know what at the moment but we will think of something" he said.

They thanked her and left the study and went back down to the crypt, to find some of the children. Suddenly one of the nuns came down to tell them to hide and keep quiet, the Germans were there. There was a bustle of activity as they hid in the shadows and waited as the nun locked the gates and walked back up the stairs.

"We have heard rumours that you are hiding some jewish children here, we want to look around. Out of the way" said the German soldier.

"There is no-one here but us nuns and we have to be at the hospital in an hour. But you are quite welcome to look but you won't find anything"

They spent an hour there looking round the place and finally made their way to the crypt and shook the gates but found them locked and boxes in front of them. The soldier shone a torch round and satisfied left.

"We will be back but next time you will have no warning. If you are found to be hiding anyone, you will be shot"

The nuns waited for half an hour before going down to the crypt and letting them know it was all clear.

"They will be back and I can't guarantee that they won't want to look in here next time" said the Reverend Mother.

"That's okay, we will leave in the morning, you have done more than enough to help us. It is more dangerous for you than for us" said Samuel.

"Have you worked out a route yet?" asked Alex.

"Only as far as the border with Hungary, we will have to see how to get across there first. Let's get the things ready so we can leave just before dawn" said Father Shandor.

The next morning they are headed towards Amsetten, about forty miles from Linz. The nuns had warned them to be careful, the Germans were still looking around and they were sure they would be back later that day. What they didn't know was that they had been watching the church all night and saw the group leave.

"You see Sir, they were hiding there" said one of the soldiers "Do we arrest them now?"

"No, we will follow them and wait till they get into open country. If we take the lorry, we can be on the other side of this wood before them. Then we ambush them and arrest them. Round up the men" said the officer.

The soldier ran off to get the rest of the squad who were waiting in the lorry just round the corner. Picking up the two men, the lorry drove off to the place marked by the officer.
Ardeth and the others were finding it hard going with the children in the snow and it was going to take them a long time to get to Romania. The children were very good though, most of them could walk and those that couldn't were carried. Once at Amsetten, they would find somewhere to spend the night and then go on. If they traveled by day, at least for a while it might be safer for them.

"You okay Alex?" asked Ardeth seeing him struggling.

"Fine, but it is hard carrying someone in this snow and it looks like we are in for some more"

"Every time we come here it is winter" the man said with a smile.

For four days they traveled on, it was very cold as they got a bit higher in the mountains. On the fifth night, they settled down in a little sheltered place that was very well protected from the snow. The kids were asleep almost immediately and the men snuggled under blankets with some hot drinks and soup as that was the easiest to make. They would get some proper food when they reached Amsetten.

"Do you think we will get to Romania okay?" asked Alex.

"I hope so but there are no guarantees, we have been lucky so far but that could run out. We have to be alert and watch out for any German patrols. I have heard tanks or something in the distance a couple of times since we started" said Samuel "How are you finding this weather Alex?"

"Well it is very cold but I am used to cold weather, we lived in London for a few years and it can get very cold there and the fog is so thick sometimes that you can't see a hand in front of your face"

"We get fog here but it is not the same as London" replied Father Shandor "I stayed there a few years ago and you had to wrap something round your mouth, it was so dangerous"

"I didn't know you had been to London" said Ardeth.

"I have been a lot of places, as a monk before the war and as part of the resistance since it started. There are rumors that it will be over in a few months, I hope that is true"

They took it in turns to keep watch in case there was any trouble and would do so right through the night. It was snowing when they moved on the next morning.
The Germans had been staying in a small barn waiting for the group to arrive where their ambush was. Only two soldiers kept watch and on this morning saw them coming over the fields towards the woods. They hurried back to the barn.

"Sir, they are coming now, should be here in about an hour"

"Right men, get to your positions. Remember I want prisoners, don't kill any of them unless you have to. We get more money for each one that is sent to the camps remember. With this large group, especially the children, we will have quite a few Marks"

They laid in wait about five hundred yards inside the woods and waited. It wasn't long before they saw the group getting closer and as they entered the wood, the some of the soldiers circled behind them to cut them off. As they got to a certain point, the Officer raised his hand and they stood up with guns pointed.

"Halt, raise your hands and drop any weapons, you are surrounded"

Rudi and the others pulled their weapons and fired. The others knew that they were finished if they didn't do something. So shouting at the children to run they scattered in different directions, hoping to fool the Germans and that way at least some of them would escape.
After about twenty minutes, the Germans had rounded up all the children and three of the men. Father Shandor and Samuel had got away and were watching from a few trees not that far away.

"Damn, they have caught them, they couldn't run very far with the children. Will they shoot them?" asked Samuel.

"I don't know, we can't help them at the moment, we would get killed or taken with them. We have to get some help and rescue them. Let's try and find out where they are being taken"

They circled the group and saw two of the soldiers waiting by the lorry, creeping up behind the two men, Father Shandor knocked one of them out while Samuel grabbed the other and dragged him off into the woods. Holding him down and pointing his own gun at his head, Samuel asked him where the children and his friends were being taken. Not wanting to die, the man told them what they wanted to know.

"They will be taken to Vienna and then put on a train to Auschwitz" he said shaking and wondering if they would kill him or not.

They did, not with the rifle that would be heard but with a knife, straight through the heart. Father Shandor wasn't very happy about it.

"I didn't agree to killing him, he told us what we wanted to know" he said.

"Yes and then he would have told them what he had told us. All they would have done is send Ardeth and the others to another camp. This way we know where they are going and can try and get them out before they reach the place"

Ardeth and the others were loaded onto the lorry and the soldier untied but he knew nothing of what had happened to his comrade. They all looked at each other on the lorry as the soldiers got in with them and they started to drive off.

"Looks like our luck just ran out Ardeth" said Rudi "We will have to play this by ear and escape as soon as there is a chance"

Ardeth looked at Alex and he could see that Alex was scared but he couldn't show him that he was petrified. He felt a sudden Deja vous about the situation and put his arm round one of the children to try and take his mind off what he knew was about to happen to them.