The Nightingale || John Egan

XXIII

Iris tried her best to follow the map she had, and she recalled the moment Marie told her about a woman called Isabelle who helped soldiers cross the borders and her journey.
For a moment Iris had hoped to not find the locations patrolled but, they were.
It was a long journey, and what slowed the journey down were the blisters on their feet, the sore muscles and the great amount of stress each had felt.

And the nights that were mostly made of silence at the beginning, Iris spoke to the three as if children.
But they were still kids, the three of them were younger than nineteen, and all that her heart felt was sympathy for they did not deserve such horrendous occurrences.

Francesca leaned against the tree with a wince, removing her shoes slowly and stretching her feet and groaned.
"Hell this hurts" she said weakly and shut her eyes close, Elisabette and Isabelle shared a look with the eldest and sighed.
"What will we do if we manage to cross the Spain borders? We still have to go to the Pyrenees which is probably patrolled the double than the mountains before" Elisabette asked and stated, Iris covered her face and rubbed her eyes letting her vision come back before speaking "We have our documents, when we cross- because we will- I will find a way to secure your safety-" Iris looked at the three and pointed at them and continued "and I will return to England".

"And what is your plan?" asked Francesca through closed eyes.
"I could find a way for your safety- as I promised Marie- in Spain or, in England if you want to tag along, the choice is up to you".

"If we get caught in the Pyrenees?" asked Francesca still.
"We die and don't reach Spain" said Isabelle and stared at the pickling fire before her.
But Iris didn't deny her statement and the three young girls noticed that and remained silent.

Elisabette looked around and for some reason hated the silence, as if silence could bring the undesirable so she asked "What will you do after the war ends?" her question was nor directed to anyone in particular but looked over at Francesca whose wyes were still closed.
"A reporter probably" she said briefly.
"I will write mystery books, and fill them with suspense and twists. I will make a living and live alone in the countryside maybe" said Isabelle, her eyes glancing at the dark sky as if all could happen at the moment.
Elisabette did not say anything and instead waited for Iris to answer as she hold onto something in her hand, a picture.

Iris looked down at the picture she held, and it brought her only remorse.
"If he hasn't forgotten me, I will marry him" her grip loosened around to picture and tucked it back into her pocket and the three looked at her and wondered about many things.
"Why would he have forgotten you?" asked Francesca and adjusted her position, Iris did not really know, nearly two years passed and she hadn't heard of him.
She did not answer and forced a small smile before she looked at Elisabette and asked her what she asked at the beginning.
" Well," she began with a small smile and continued "I want to find a job and live in a house with so many cats until I grow all old with wiggly arms, wrinkles all over my body and grey hair".
"So you're wishing for the end of your years to be all alone?" questioned Francesca with raised eyebrows.

"You don't understand" Elisabette said simply with a small voice and lay her head down.

The girls talked quietly but a lot except for Iris, who sat and paid attention to any noise originating from the rest of the woods, fearing that somebody was watching them.
Iris felt her neck being stiff and unmoving as she only moved her eyes from left to right as if something struck her in the back of her head, warning her with the feeling of ants crawling all over her body and pinching her if she only dared to move.
The young woman did dare to move, only her hand. She slid her hand down her ruined boots that possessed holes, and she slowly retrieved her knife as her knuckles whitened.
"Do not speak" Iris warned the girls quietly and she saw the change in their face, for a few minutes they managed to smile maybe even chuckle.

Their eyes looked at her, who sat before them and held the knife and with their eyes they asked whether there was someone or not, the young woman nodded and the three looked away, their bodies still.

The three young girls reached for theirs but each of them knew Iris would not let them get hurt.
So Francesca immediately put out the fire and all of them tried to act as if they had suspected nothing further in the forest, around them.

Iris still sat still for a moment longer until a twig snapped in the distance, and there was no silence at all after that, only footsteps coming closer and closer, Iris took no longer than a second to get on her feet and through the little light offered by the moon, she saw a figure running towards their position, all she could see was his broad shoulder and covered face. Her heart leaped and positioned itself in her throat as she prepared herself for the unpredictable.
"Stay back" Iris yelled to the girls and two of them, Isabelle and Elisabette hid behind the tree but Francesca went against the young woman's wishes "I can help you fight him!"
"Go behind the tree, now!" she yelled before the man fully approached with a knife tucked in his belt and went for a punch, which Iris missed for a few seconds.
She ducked down quickly, her hair covering her face as she stumbled forward and looked up and squeezed her grip around the knife and ran toward the man.

She raised her hand only for it to be blocked by his bigger one and held her like that, she tried to squirm out of his grip but failed miserably and kicked him in between his legs as aggressively as possible and that lead his to release his grip to place his hands in his inner thighs.

She took the opportunity to kick him once again, that time, in his stomach and a groan skipped his lips and the girl panted, her lungs begging for more oxygen to be welcomed into her system.

From behind the tree, the three girls watched attentively, Isabelle brought a hand to her mouth, Elisabette watched with widened eyes and Francesca narrowed her eyebrows and wished to help as the young woman needed no help.

The man soon regained his balance and did succeed in punching Iris in the face. A small yelp escaped her small lips, and for a second her head spun as she received another punch in her ribs and she let out a small cry of help.
She tried to raise her hand that had no knife and was blocked immediately, so she took her other hand and did not raise it, but from the bottom, she managed to stab the man in his abdomen which led his to let go off of her wrist, she heard his wheezing and a sudden, foreign feeling flushed over her that lead the young, innocent woman to twist the knife that would lead the man to his death.
Iris kept her hand on the knife in his abdomen and she felt a familiar wetness coating her hands, blood.

For a reason, Iris' eyes accumulated tears and still she retrieved her knife and the man looked down at the little woman who just took his life against her will, and he could barely stand and fell on the ground with a loud thud leaving the little woman standing before the body whom she took its soul from.

What had she done?
He would've killed the four of them if given the chance, she did it to protect herself and her girls. Nothing more, nothing less.
And as if she revived a slap, the knife dropped from her bloodied hand. Her knees felt oddly weak and buckled with no warning and when she kneeled down, tears slid down her face rapidly bring the girls to her, helping her up. Francesca placed her arm around Iris and helped her to get away from the man, Isabelle and Elisabette follow too.

The four approached their old position, Iris just followed along and placed her belongings in her bag and muttered "We're leaving now". The three nodded and followed the little woman who for the whole night, feared her actions.

But it was war, dreams are taken away, and so are lives.

And soon, they arrived at the Spanish borders and managed to get in successfully.