Escape

Adelina began speaking sharply, intoning the ancient words, enunciating every syllable as she glared balefully at the two soldiers, hoping that at least one of them had left his semen behind in her so that the curse would bind to him. At least one of them.

The other women huddled close to one another, the air inside the back of the truck felt heavy, like an impending thunderstorm rolling in.

“What will you do?” Peter asked, clutching his crotch.

Adelina unleashed the curse.

The man named Peter began to cough and the truck veered sharply to the right.

Fritz laughed, at first, then two things occurred in rapid succession. First, he realized Peter was rapidly shrinking into his uniform and the truck went up the embankment alongside the road and flipped over onto its side before he could level his machine gun.

It turned out not only was Peter one of her assailants but so to was the driver of the truck.

Tossed about in the back of the overturned truck and before Fritz could respond, the women were on him, hands tearing away his weapon and digging into his flesh. Reaching out, Adelina seized Peter, now no more than six inches in size and still shrinking in her bloody right hand and brought him in front of her face.

Adelina could hear the sounds of feet rushing toward the rear of the truck from outside. She had no illusion of escaping German custody, but she knew she would have vengeance as she squeezed the tiny man in her hands, the sound of little bones breaking.

Seizing Peter’s MP38, Sofia aimed it at the rear of the truck, squeezing the trigger as the door nearest the ground opened and striking two set of legs with a volley of bullets. Men yelled out in pain. She kept firing until the clip was empty.

Grabbing the other gun, Maria rolled through the now open portal, firing off a burst. All of the women and the two boys scrambled out of the truck, seizing fallen weapons. In the hail of exchanged fire, three women and both boys were killed and a half dozen more soldiers before the surviving females fled downslope into the dense thickets of woods.

Running blindly, the little man now only three inches or so and like a broken rag doll in her hand, Adelina emerged from the trees near a precipitous drop overlooking a fast moving white crested river down below. She could hear the sound of more gunfire and soldiers crashing through the thick bush.

Without hesitation she launched herself over the cliff, the frothy water coming up to greet her as she crashed into the surface and was drawn down into its frigid depth. Breeching the surface, she struggled to catch a breath, the cold making it difficult. She could hear the tat-tat of gunfire over the roiling river as she was carried along in the swift current, buffeted against smooth rocks hidden just below the surface. Here and there as she was tossed around by the turbulent water, she caught sight of a flash of color from clothes worn by some of the other women.

When finally the water slowed, Adelina, limbs leaden, swam toward the shore opposite the one she had entered, she could see Sofia fighting to do the same. She saw Maria’s lifeless body drift by and then another, and another, caught now in the lazy current and being carried downstream.

Sputtering, she spit up some water.

“We must go,” urged Sofia, tugging at Adelina’s dress.

“We should wait for any others,” she said, looking back to the river.

Sofia shook her head, “There are no others, only us now,” she said, “come.”

Adelina nodded, lifting her hand to look at the tiny figure still held tight. He was alive, barely. Following Sofia, she ran into the trees, the winter weather and the wet freezing her to the marrow, but she did not stop.

Together they ran until they stumbled across the ruins of an abandoned monastery. Taking shelter from the bitter cold, the found refuge inside the stone structure down in the underground crypt.

“We need to make a fire,” Sofia said through chattering teeth.

Adelina nodded, “Gather what you can that might burn, I can start a fire,” she said, body surrendering to shivering.

Sofia returned rapidly, bearing an armful of small pieces of wood from broken furniture. Setting them down on the ground, she looked at Adelina.

Setting the little figure inside the bodice of her dress, Adelina rubbed her hands together before cupping them near her face and whispering into them. A flash of orange sprang to life as she opened them to reveal a small flame burning there.

Lowering her hands, the flame danced over her fingers and moved onto the small pile of wood, igniting it, illuminating the subterranean chamber, tendrils of smoke climbing up toward the ceiling.

Moving in close to the small fire, Sofia extended her white blanched hands, body shaking.

Reaching into her dress, Adelina pulled out the tiny unconscious figure, holding him in her trembling hand and bringing him close to the fire.

“You should crush him beneath your foot,” Sofia said, glaring at the tiny naked man, “like they did to Karel.”

Adelina smiled coldly, “No. I need something from him first,” she said, shaking her hand slightly trying to rouse the man.

His eyes fluttered open. Clutching shattered ribs he tried to get closer to the warmth.

“Who was that soldier in black who took my daughter?” she demanded.

Sofia repeated the question in German.

He shook his head, his whole body trembling, “Nein,” he said, gasping.

“Tell me!” she demanded, curling her fingers around his body.

He cried out and then said something in German.

“He says he will tell you only if you promise not to step on him or crush him in your hand,” Sofia said, frowning.

Adelina smiled and nodded, “I promise,” she said, cold eyes on the man in her hand.

“Sturmbannführer Klaus Hertz is his name,” stated the miniature man, blood foaming at his lips.

“Good,” she said, nodding, a cruel smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.

“Das gut?” he asked.

Adelina smiled, picking the little man up by a foot and lifting him up near her face. Opening her mouth, she extended her tongue, bringing him near.

Still nursing his ribs, he tried futilely to twist in her grasp.

Lifting her chin, she held him over her open mouth and dropped him in, lips closing behind him as she used her tongue to move him to the back of her throat. When he was in position, she swallowed, feeling his little body move down her esophagus. As per Roma custom, she had held her end of the bargain by not stepping on him crushing the life out of him.

Sofia smiled and nodded.

As the night closed in on January 7, 1941, Adelina was now orphaned widow, mother of maybe only one. She decided she would make it her mission to find her Nadia, whatever the cost. It wouldn’t be until after the war she discovered the man she was so desperately pursuing, Klaus Wilhelm Hertz, had survived the conflict and fled Germany like so many villainous others, using spoils of war to finance his flight and set himself up in a new place. When finally the information she doggedly sought came to her ears, telling her the former SS officer, now officially branded a war criminal, was last seen in Belgium destined for Canada, accompanied by a young golden haired toddler said to be his son. Reports indicated Hertz had lost his accent and was travelling under a more anglicized name, Nicholas William Hearst. Of a blonde girl who would now be fifteen, there was no mention.