‘I didn’t know he could speak English.’
‘He doesn’t but we understood each other. And Klara taught me a few lines of German, which helped. But mostly it was through miming. He had an axe, pointed to the wood and mimed eating. He had either mimed he wanted to eat me or he would feed me if I chopped wood. I chose to believe it was the latter.’ She smiled. ‘We shook hands, but he continued to hold mine longer than he needed to have done. I’m sure it was a silent acknowledgement that he was heartily sick of this war and he thought he saw in me someone who felt the same way. He was right.’
They fell silent, enjoying the warmth and feel of each other’s bodies as they watched Klara select something to eat from her rucksack.
His gentle tone broke the silence. ‘We are not far from Bremen, Elsa. Three days, or less.’
Elsa turned her body into him, relishing the rough texture of his coat against her cheek as his chest rose and fell with each breath. It was something normal in a world of chaos. ‘I know.’
‘We will have to part again.’
Elsa inhaled deeply and closed her eyes. Her whispered reply,I know, stuck in her throat and was impossible to voice.
* * *
They began the final part of their journey almost immediately. Despite being refreshed and well fed, each footstep felt less energized than any other that they had taken. Initially they walked downhill, which helped them cover much ground, but by the second day the going had levelled out. A mixture of forests, open fields and small villages lined their journey. They continued to avoid the roads, as the main routes now teemed with a mixture of desperate civilians and battle-weary troops. At one point Elsa approached a family with a cart laden with goods to find out what was happening and came back with the news that the Allies had crossed the Rhine several weeks before and that the German army was in disarray.
‘There is a rumour that whole divisions are surrendering. Walter was right, we have lost. It is only a matter of time.’
They continued walking until they could see the hazy form of Bremen in the distance. Even though it was some way from the sea, it was one of the largest ports in Germany, straddling the long, meandering River Weser, which snaked into the heart of northwest Germany. Bremen had bustled with trade for thousands of years, thriving as a result, but the very thing thathad helped it prosper had also made it a prime target for the Allies. Once boasting a medieval heritage, in recent years it had become the home of armoured vehicle factories, U-boat yards, oil refineries and a network of railway tracks that provided a lifeline for incoming raw materials and the shipping out of fuel and military hardware. The port’s role provided work for thousands. And it was a prime target for area bombing.
The city’s low-lying broken silhouette confirmed the bombardment had been far worse than they had imagined. Only the cathedral tower seemed unbroken, stretching up to the sky above the devastation. Her mother and younger sister were there... somewhere.
‘The bombing may have happened before they arrived.’
Sam’s words were meant to comfort her, but this was her home city, where so many happy childhood memories had been nurtured. Now she saw its obliteration, she had multiple layers of shock to unravel and endure.
‘If they are not home,’ he went on, ‘the port must have air raid shelters. You can look for them there.’
Elsa nodded to show she had heard him, but finding them in the chaos seemed an almost insurmountable task.
‘Someone will know where they are,’ she forced herself to answer. ‘I’ll just have to ask people where they might be.’
‘When the British and American soldiers come, they will not harm civilians,’ Sam said. ‘You will be safe, Elsa. You both will.’
Her voice sounded oddly quiet and broken. ‘I would rather the city surrenders to the British and Americans than the Red Army.’ She looked at him and felt the need to reassure him. ‘We’ll be all right. We’ve come this far.’
Sam swallowed hard. She suspected he was finding this harder than he was admitting. They had talked of this parting and had welcomed the end of their desperate journey, but itfelt less a moment for celebration than one of commiseration at their impending separation.
She smiled bravely. ‘How will you cross the River Weser?’
He shrugged. ‘I’ll find a way.’
They fell silent and returned their gazes to what remained of the city before them. Eventually Elsa voiced what was in her head and in her heart. ‘I should be running towards Bremen. But the truth is, right now, I don’t want to.’
‘You want to put off finding out what has happened to them?’
‘Maybe. Does that make me selfish?’
‘Not as selfish as me.’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘Because if you put it off till tomorrow, then I will stay too and we will have one more night together.’
She stretched out a hand to him. He gladly took it, lifted it to his lips and pressed a soft kiss upon her skin. His gallantry made her smile and momentarily lifted the sombre mood.
‘I don’t want to part today either.’
