On Pain of Death
by Jan Rehner

excerpt 3     historical photo 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

It was still cold in the forest, the sun's pale light revealing patches of snow here and there among the twisted roots of trees. Juliette shivered, but not from the damp. The maquis camp that lay before her was a crude assembly of tents and lean-tos made of fir branches, the charred remains of several campfires and silent bands of unwashed, haggard men who regarded her and Gabrielle with hostile eyes and frowns of disbelief. Juliette held her head high and stared back. This, she thought, is the Secret Army? She thought of the might and venom of the German war machine, regarded the underfed, bedraggled and slightly hunted demeanour of the boys and men in front of her, and almost laughed. Here and there, a résistant wore a belt that carried a pistol, but most were unarmed. Their only weapon was one of concealment, the forest itself with its terrain of rocky fissures, caves and twisting paths. She looked up at two silhouettes at the top of an outcropping of rock. Sentries, she supposed. No doubt, the camp had been warned of their arrival.

Henri introduced them. "This is Renée and Amélie," he said. "They'll be joining my squadron."

A few men scoffed openly. Another whistled. "You need two cooks?" someone else snorted. "There's barely enough food for one. Or maybe you need warming up at night, hein?"

Henri stepped forward, but Juliette stopped him. "They'll learn," she said. "Leave it."

They walked away from the centre of the camp to a racing stream, one of the many tributaries of the Cousin River, Henri said, edged with reeds, cattails and rushes.

"You'll need to build some sort of shelter," Henri advised.

"Up there," Gabrielle pointed. "The ground will be dryer."

Henri left them and went to hunt down the SOE commander, a man called Laurent, whose seemingly hopeless job it was to train this motley crew.

"It's not that I'm competitive," Juliette murmured. "But this'll be the best damn shelter in the camp. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Gabrielle laughed. "Follow me."