On Wings of Silence, page 7
“A plane blowing up in their faces was certainly not what they expected.”
“Finally, a good use for an exploding plane.” Bitterness tinged her words. Like Calvin, she would feel much better with more distance between the enemy and them. “I have better night vision. I can take the lead from here. We’ll keep moving.”
“Do you know which way to go?”
Raisa would have glared at him if she thought he could see her in the dark. Instead, she pointed over her shoulder, “North star.” Then pointed into the night. “South.”
“Yes, mam,” his tone sounded patronizing to her ear. Did he just salute her? Infuriating man.
“Try to keep up,” she mumbled. He was wearing on nerves already stretched beyond their breaking point.
As they moved on, Calvin never had any trouble keeping up, quite the opposite. Given the way he huffed behind her on occasion, she was sure her shorter legs and ill-fitting boots were slowing them down. Frustration and stubborn determination pushed her forward. At least the terrain had turned more downhill and the need to scramble over slippery boulders was behind them.
Soon, Raisa had more pressing problems than boulders and an insufferable man. It was becoming clear she’d lost direction. There was only one problem navigating by the stars. Clouds. A thin blanket overhead made it impossible to know what way they traveled and challenged even her keen night vision.
“Are we walking in circles?” Calvin’s accusing words gave a voice to those already screaming in her head.
“I’m not sure. I can’t make out the stars anymore,” Raisa admitted.
“I swear I saw the same corps of trees half an hour ago,” he grumbled behind her.
Raisa stopped as other voices threaded through those same trees. Calvin ran into the back of her with a grunt.
“You can’t just stop walking. I’m practically blind out—”
“Shhh!” She held up a hand to stop him.
“What the hel—”
Raisa turned and covered his mouth. “Patrol,” she hissed. She pointed to their left.
Maybe they had been walking in circles. Maybe they’d broken their first rule and traveled too close to the road and walked straight into the enemy. Unlike back at the barn, this time they were close enough to hear them clearly. German. They were speaking German, and she was fresh out of exploding planes. She couldn’t move. Panic froze her to the spot.
Calvin grabbed the front of her coveralls and yanked her to the ground. Together they scrambled into the cover of the underbrush. Although this time of year it was more a nest of naked twigs that offered little cover if any.
Two of the soldiers came into view. One lit a cigarette.
“Sie ist hässlich wie ein Hund.“
“Zumindest ficke ich etwas besseres als meine hand.“
One of them was telling the other his girlfriend resembled a dog. The one smoking made a crude statement about fucking something better than his own hand.
“Halt die Klappe.“ He shoved his companion and told him to shut up before stepping off the road.
Calvin pulled Raisa close to him with both hands and tugged them back against a low rock. He hissed in pain as he covered her with his body. Any moment they could be found. Could they hear them breathing? Raisa held her breath and screwed her eyes shut.
Wild thoughts raced through her mind in her panic. If they were caught... The enemy would not kill them right away. No. Calvin they would keep alive to probably help them with their wounded, but her... Once they found out she was a Night Witch and had spent the last twelve months dropping bombs on their heads, they’d most likely take turns shooting her...if she were lucky.
Her fingers inched toward her pistol as the man stopped and seemed to shift his gun and equipment. What was he doing? That question was soon answered. He was relieving himself. They were close enough to hear his piss hitting the leaves. Raisa opened one eye and grimaced.
“Würdest du dich beeilen? Ich würde gerne zurückkommen, bevor ich friere.“ His friend hunched his shoulders to the cold and urged the other to hurry before he froze.
Calvin’s heart pounded against her own. He was curved over her, not moving. Shielding her. His breathing raced past her cheek. Fingertips covered her lips as if he feared she would try to speak.
A zipper zipped, and various sounds of things being tugged back into place filtered over them. So close were they, she swore she could reach out and help the soldier with his belt. He muttered another curse directed at his companion and walked back to the road.
She and Calvin stayed frozen to the spot. Raisa struggled to control the rapid pace of her breath, as the two moved away. She strained to hear over the beating of their hearts. Were there more coming?
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Calvin whispered. Tugging her to her feet, he pointed and urged her back into the depths of the trees. They started to run with the only direction being “away.” Neither led, nor followed. They just ran as long and as far as they could. Branches and undergrowth snatched at her clothes and her face. Roots caught at her boots, but adrenaline pushed her through.
After what seemed hours, Raisa stopped. Bracing her hands on her hips, she bent at the waist and fought to catch her breath. Calvin was right behind her.
“I can’t take another step,” she panted.
Calvin braced himself against a tree and huffed, “Good place to stop.”
“We have a few more hours until dawn. I just need to rest for a bit. Get my bearings.”
He slid to seated. “I’m good with that,” he groaned.
“How far have we come? Between us and them?”
“Six,...maybe seven miles. Not much more.”
Raisa still gasped for breath. “How far in kilometers?”
“Around eleven,” he replied.
“I like the sound of that better. Still, it doesn’t sound enough.” Raisa moved to sit next to him. She held her breath and listened. “I don’t hear anything, do you?”
“No.”
She closed her eyes for a minute and heard him unscrew the top of his canteen. After taking a sip, he tapped her shoulder with it. As she took it from him, she caught a marked tremor in his hand.
“Are you okay?” Raisa found his hand in the dark. “Your fingers are shaking and feel like ice.”
He tugged his hand from hers. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not,” she argued.
“I’ll be fine. I just need to wait until dawn so I can see.”
“See what?” Raisa pulled her flashlight and shielded the beam. Crimson stained his front. “You’re covered in blood. Your wound is bleeding.”
“I know,” he confirmed. His voice quiet.
“Why the hell didn’t you say something?”
“More important to keep moving.” Sweat glistened on his waxen face. He closed his eyes.
“So, you can die out here and abandon me?”
“Not part of the plan.” He grimaced. “Shut off the light.”
“Not until I take care of you.”
His free hand scratched at his kit. “I can do it.”
“Don’t be so damn stubborn.” Raisa shoved the flashlight into the top of her uniform to diffuse the light. “Give me your hand.” When he didn’t move, fear clawed at her. “Calvin?” She grabbed for his fingers and pushed his hand beneath her coveralls to warm next to her body.
“Calvin?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, his and pulled from her grasp as his body made a slow slide to one side.
“Calvin?”
Oh no, no no no... don’t you dare die on me!
CHAPTER 9
Fumbling through his medical kit, Raisa fought to remember how he had treated his arm earlier. His sling was soaked but she found another. The rusty smell of blood filled her senses. She untied the knot she’d helped him with earlier. The dressing was so heavy it dropped into Calvin’s lap. Dark blood seeped from the wound.
“Nроклятый,” she cursed under her breath. “Damn it, Calvin, open your eyes. I don’t know what to do.”
Searching through his kit, too many of Calvin’s buckled boxes were empty, but she did find the shaker, he’d used earlier. Sulfur. What it did, she didn’t know, but she shook a healthy amount over more than just his arm. She almost wept when she found another dressing. Remembering he’d put the red side away from his skin, she tied it to his arm as tight as she could and pulled him toward her.
Raisa turned off the flashlight and set it aside. He was cold, too cold, but soon she had them both wrapped together in both their coats. His wounded arm cradled between them. Raisa curled around him. Feeling the strong beating of his heart against her own brought a small measure of comfort. Praying, she slowly began to rock them both as she would soothe a babe.
Strength of the tree’s wide trunk behind her supported her back. Calvin’s weight anchored them to the ground and seemed to calm her.
The night’s quiet closed in around them as Raisa strained to hear anything beyond the silence. Beyond the sound of their breath. Beyond the cacophony of voices in her mind. Above her the night sky had cleared. The north star taunted her among the rest. A thin curve of a lemon moon was ringed in the sky. It would be beautiful up there tonight flying. Closing her eyes she let her imagination soar among the stars.
For Raisa flying had always been a way to escape. To feel free from the ugliness and strife of life below. Even during the war, with explosives strapped to her wings, up there she was away from the horrors on the ground. In those slivers of silence, she found her sanity. She defied gravity. Flew between the stars in the perfect narrow space between hell below and heaven above.
Up there, there was always a different kind of peace for her. Her mind found quiet. She discovered beauty up there and floated in that tranquility for as long as she was able. Over the years she came to cherish those glittering moments more and more as the ugliness of life on the ground grew deeper and darker. She belonged in the air, and couldn’t imagine what her life would be like if she couldn’t fly.
A new sense of resolve flooded her as she sat in the dark watching those stars slide across the black canvas of the sky. She didn’t care what it took, she would find her way back. Her regiment needed her. Her country. Her family. Her sanity. And at this moment, this stranger in her arms. He needed her, but she sure as hell needed him as well. Together was the only way of getting out of this alive.
Thin peach-edged ribbons of dawn wound between the trees before Calvin began to come around. Raisa’s leg had fallen asleep. He nuzzled at her neck and sighed into her hair as he made the slow shift from sleep to awake. She sensed the moment he gained full consciousness by the tiny moan he made. She almost wept with relief.
Pulling back, Calvin looked into her face. Blinking behind tipped glasses as if to focus. Pale eyebrows raised. “What the hell happened?” His voice was low and gravelly.
“You took a nap,” she teased before straightening his glasses and easing him back to lean against his tree. She arranged his coat to cover him and was happy to note his dressing still looked fresh. “You could have warned me you were going to try and bleed to death.”
He groaned before closing his eyes again. “Again, not part of my plan,” he quipped.
“Good. We’re too far from the root cellar.” She stretched out her legs and rubbed feeling back into her calves. Needles of pain soon followed.
“I’ll be ready to go in a minute,” he insisted.
Raisa zipped her coveralls against the chill. Without the warmth and weight of his body resting against hers, the morning’s air was frosty.
“No. We’ll stop here for a while. I haven’t heard anything more than the breeze for hours. We’re safe for now, and you need to be still and regain your strength.” Raisa began to gather dried leaves and twigs and cleared a small space between the trees for a small fire.
“Yes, Mam,” he mumbled behind her.
Irritation flared. Here she was just starting to like him. Through the early hours of the morning, Raisa had admitted to herself, that without Calvin Elliott she would most likely be dead now. Even without his annoying chatter, the warmth and feel of him in her arms last night had been an odd comfort. Listening to his heart, feeling his breath against her neck...
“I hate it when you call me, Mam.”
“What would you rather have me say?”
“I don’t know. Not that.”
“I’ll think of something better,” he grumbled.
After the first struggles of flames caught the tiny bits of dry kindling to be found, Raisa pulled the two bottles of tablets she’d found in his kit. “I didn’t know which was which, but you likely need some of each.” She opened the bottles, shook a few into her hand, and held them out to him, along with her canteen.
Calvin gathered several of the pills and took them. “We need to find more water.”
“One thing at a time.” She crouched before him and laid a hand on his forehead. Blessedly he was still cool. If he started to run a fever... She didn’t want to even think about it.
“I’m sorry.” He met her gaze and held it.
His gentle words startled her out of her musings. “You’ve nothing to apologize for.” Raisa stood and moved away. Being close to him had started to distract her.
“I knew I was in trouble, but didn’t want to slow us down,” he confessed. “Not til we were safe.”
Was he always so noble? “I’m the one who got us lost and almost captured. That and my short legs with boots that don’t fit.” She lifted a foot and jiggled her boot.
“You mean your feet aren’t that big?” he teased.
“I’ll have you know, I have tiny feet,” she protested. “Russian men do not. We get men’s boots.”
“And you gratefully take what is issued to you.” He sighed and closed his eyes once more.
“Ah, you are beginning to understand the Russian way.” Raisa grinned.
“Men’s boots, overalls, uniforms,” he mumbled.
“Underwear,” she interjected.
Calvin cranked open one eye. “Underwear?”
Raisa nodded. “Large and blue.”
He held her gaze for a long moment as if to appraise her. “But not men’s planes.”
“They were all taken,” she retorted and lifted a shoulder.
Raisa sat close. The rising sun winked through the trees at them. The warmth of it felt good across her back. She added a bit more wood and angled a branch to diffuse the smoke. Pulling a tin of snow close to melt, she eyed him over the fire.
“Last night, I realized other than your name and that you come from a German named town from a German mother, I know little about you. I don’t even know your unit. How you got hurt. Nothing. Aren’t you trained to give your rank and serial number at least?” she asked.
“Only if captured.” He gave her a weak salute. “Second Lieutenant Calvin E. Elliott. J Company, 622nd Medical Battalion with the 786th Infantry, 48022192986, at your service.”
“I’m afraid you lost your unit, Lieutenant.”
“Sure as hell did.” He groaned and leaned his head back against the tree and closed his eyes. “My own fault. Was heading back to join them after a temporary assignment at an aid station. Took a damn shortcut, got turned around somehow in the storm, and crossed paths with a sniper. I’m just lucky he was a lousy shot. Made my way back to the barn to put myself back together.” He opened his eyes and glanced at her. “That’s about the time you pointed a pistol at me and shouted at me not to move.” Calvin shook his head. “The rest you know.”
She turned to look at him. “Nice to meet you.”
“Same.” He held her gaze for a long moment. His eyes reminded her of bits of the sky. The scruff of his morning beard caught the light. There was something about the strong line of his jaw. The shape of his lips. She liked them when he wasn’t calling her “Mam.”
Raisa moved to sit beside him again and offered him some melted snow before taking some for herself. The rest of the snow wouldn’t last the day. They should keep moving, but he needed more time to build his strength. “I’ll do what I can to get us some more water, but if you’re stronger later, we should continue heading south. She pulled out her map. “We got so twisted around last night. I’ve been trying to match the terrain and determine our exact location, but Oksana was the one who was best at...” She let the rest of the sentence drift away as her sadness bubbled to the surface. During their sprint last night, and caring for Calvin, Raisa had managed to push aside thoughts of her as if thinking of Oksana would send her spiraling out of control.
“Do you think they found her?” Her voice was small.
“We secured the door tight and hid it well. I think they had more things to worry about than what may or may not be in the root cellar.”
“I hate to think of her there.” She folded the map and threw it aside in frustration. Her anger snapped. “Wherever the hell there, here, of anywhere is.”
He reached out with a reassuring hand. “You’re keeping track of our movements. Once we get to a place where we know, it will be simple to retrace where we’ve traveled and find out where we started. As soon as you return to your regiment, you can tell them.”
Raisa nodded. The crash, the aftermath, and Oksana’s location would be all she would be revealing, however. She would never betray her friend. Never make light of her feelings. Part of Raisa, while surprised, had been touched at Oksana’s declaration. Had she ever had anyone gaze upon her like she had? Love was always a gift. Wasn’t it?
Still her mind wrestled with the what if’s. Had she known before? Had Oksana not kept her secret? Had she lived? Had more time? Would it have made any difference? It should have. Shouldn’t it?
“So, how long were the two of you together?” Calvin asked after a quiet pause.
“She was my navigator for about a month. Before, she was a mechanic. I think she’d been training with the 46th for about a year. Maybe more.”
“No, what I meant was how long were you a couple?”
She’d known full well what he’d meant. “A couple?” Shaking her head, Raisa replied, “We were not a couple.”
