Freedom Fighter

The child I carried was lost. By the time the bus reached Kinsarvik my pants were covered with blood. Dreng only managed to get me to Harald's office in time because of the town's people who made a litter and helped him carry me there. For three days Dreng, Harald and his wife, Marianne, tended to my body, ravaged by fever, and weak from the loss of blood. On the fourth day I was allowed out of bed and given my first solid food.

When I was finally able to recount the events of my rape to them, I could see that Dreng's view of all Germans had changed. To him, they had defiled his wife, placed her life in jeopardy, and killed the child he looked forward to and there was no more room for tolerance towards them any longer. He viewed all of the losses of loved ones in his and my life, up to this point, as the cost of war. A war in which we, the Norwegian people, had been forced into reluctantly. But this incident, this was the act of arrogant criminals who had no regard for the lives of the people, which they now ruled by force. We were nothing to them.

Before, Dreng had only passively participated in the resistance as an agent and as a relay. Now he was going to play an active role. He would become a warrior for his people and king when the time came.

For the next few weeks my body healed. I remained in Harald and Marianne's home. Finally my monthly cycles returned and by February I decided that I should find some sort of work to keep me busy. Harald suggested that I could work at his clinic as a secretary. I knew how to type and I knew how to keep books. My father often asked me to type his Sunday sermons when he was busy on church business, and my mother who kept the books, showed me her system so I could fill in for her if she was busy.

With this job, for which Dreng and I were given a room in the back of the clinic, I forgot about what had happened to me in Laatefoss, and soon I realized that I needed Dreng's touch and his full affection. Up to this point, he had been very patient and had not insisted upon his 'husband's privileges'. Nor had I wanted a man between my legs, even if it happened to be my husband whom I loved very dearly. But my emotional scars slowly healed and I realized that I needed Dreng much more then he needed mine.

I closed the clinic every night at 5 P.M. Harald often left at 4 P.M. That gave me 1 hour to finish the books, any typing, or filling in appointments for the next day. Dreng would be home at 6 P.M. every day.

That night, when Dreng came home from his job, I had dinner ready and candles lit on our dinner table. The food was the best I could obtain. Harald allowed me forty minutes for lunch. I would often shop for food then for the evening meal. I could tell that Dreng was tired.

Dreng had a job at the German supply depot north of town unloading trucks. He was paid well, but that was not the reason he took the job. These supplies were bound for German bases and each truck that was loaded or unloaded told him something about each destination they were either headed or came from. (For instance, one truck carried only 188-mm cannon shells and was headed to Bergen. It was unloaded at Kinsarvik and would be shipped by coastal freighter to Bergen. One could surmise that Bergen had 188-mm anti-aircraft batteries inside of the city. Another time crates of torpedo fuses was unloaded and its destination was Trondheim. Again, one could surmise that the Germans either had U-Boats or surface ships that carried torpedo, near it. All of this information was recorded and passed on to agents that could radio the news to London.)

I had borrowed a dress from Marianne. It was the first dress I had worn since Dreng and I had left Ryukan six months ago. As I greeted him with a loving kiss and took his coat and cap, he looked somewhat stunned at my appearance. After I kissed him the second time he had no difficulty understanding my intentions.

For dinner I had prepared mackerel in cream sauce and boiled potatoes. For desert I had made small sweet pancakes covered with elderberry sauce. I took his hand and led him to the table.

As I dished up his meal, he asked me; "what is the special occasion, Aase?"

I smiled at him and replied, "Because you are a good and loving husband, Dreng. You have cared for me and loved, even when I was not able to care for myself. I love you Dreng."

I set our plates down on the table and sat across from him. With my eyes I drank in his weather burned face, now covered with a beard. He was still as handsome as ever. I hoped deep inside that I was still desirable to him.

"Aase, I only did it because you are my wife. I love you no less now then on the day that I married you. Remember, we promised our whole lives to each other then. What happened in Laatefoss was not your fault. You did nothing to merit that attack. Those Germans were criminals in Schutzstaffel uniform. They are the worst kind of soldier, the S.S. for they say they are Hitler's body guards but they kill for no reason, other then to satisfy some sick desire. No Aase, I love you no less now. Probably more because you have the strength to carry." He reached out and touched my cheek. I could see the tender love and concern in his eyes.

"Thank you Dreng. You have no idea how much I needed to hear those words from you." I said. A tear rolled down my cheek.

"Let us give thanks for this food, then we shall enjoy it." He said and bowed his head in prayer.

As we ate our meal, Dreng could hardly keep his eyes to himself. As I have said earlier, it had been a long time since he had seen me in a dress. But now, I felt like the most feminine creature on the whole earth.

"Aase, I must admit that you look very lovely tonight." He said as we ate our desert and drank our tea.

"Thank you. I wanted to look nice for you tonight. Dreng...I has been a long time and you have been so very patient. I was hoping that we could try to..." I was having a hard time telling him what I really wanted.

"What is it, my love?" He asked gently, setting down his fork and taking my hand.

"I would like for us to make a child. Dreng...I have thought long and hard about this. If anything should ever happen to you, well there would be nothing left. A child is a man's heritage. That is what my father told me once. He was so very proud of Tryggve."

"That is so. Aase you don't know how many times my heart has been heavy since you were hurt and lost our child. It is something that haunts me everyday but there was no way I could explain it to you. You were so badly abused."

"Ja. It broke my heart too. But please believe me, I never once blamed you for any of it. Dreng I knew that there were dangers involved from the very moment that I went off with you. But I wanted to be with you and I chose these dangers because I loved you. You knew that the moment we first met in the back of the German lorry. I know you did." My hands were shaking.

"Ja. I sometimes thank the Germans for bringing us together again. I thank the British pilot for setting us free. Ja Aase, I do want you to have our child but only when you are ready." Dreng said and kissed my hand.

"Dreng...I am ready. Now." I said and stood up from the table still holding onto his hand.

He stood also and I drew him to me. We kissed long and sweetly. My mouth opened slightly as his tongue played with my lips.

"Come with me. I need to feel like a woman again. A living woman who craves for the touch of her husband and lover." I whispered to him and led him to our marriage bed.

We stood just inside of the door to the bedroom. Dreng took me in his arms and we kissed. Our hands went to the other, frantically grabbing and removing the other's clothing until we were naked. As he led me to the bed and guided me back onto it, the feelings of our wedding night came back to me. The need to be held, touched and explored. These necessities of life had long eluded me. For my hurt, depression and anger I was brought back to a gentler time when all that mattered was the universe that consisted of only my lover and I.

His head went to my belly as he kissed, licked and nibbled my flesh. My sighs and moans filled our room as I cried out my desire to him.

"Dreng! Fill me. Fill me now." I cried out to him. My whole body demanded only what he could satisfy me with.

My hips bucked as he rubbed my mound and with his finger he tickled me to my very core. As my feminine moistness flowed freely from me, his finger, then fingers were sucked into my depths as I begged him to go deeper and faster and harder.

His mouth went to my breasts and he teased them also. I cried out my desire for him to put an end to his taunting but he would have no part in putting an end to this delicious ecstasy, just yet .

My legs went further and further apart as I gave him greater access to my hidden parts that only were exposed to his touch and his gaze. As the first climax gripped my whole being, I pushed hard against his hand and pulled him to me as I whispered his name in an unknown tongue, for only he held the key to it's translation.

Only after he allowed me to collect my thoughts did he hover above me as I inserted his stiff member into my pulsing moist and ready womanhood. As I felt him drawn deeper and deeper into me, yet another mind shattering wave of ecstasy gripped the very core of my being. As his movements in and out and back into me became more and more determined, for a third time the wonderful feeling of release again claimed my whole soul and mind. Finally I felt the end was near, I sensed it, his breathing became faster and faster until with one mighty exhale and moan he pushed deeper then he had been before and I was filled to bursting as he collapsed on top of me, drained.

Holding him and whispering my undying love to him, we fell asleep. His manhood still sheathed inside of my womb as my abdominal muscles milked the last drop of his love offering to me. Never in my life had I been to so high a height as I was then at that moment.

It was then that the pain of the past was forgotten forever.

In the morning we again gave of one another as my body became his in yet another round of unrestrained lovemaking. It was our day off, Sunday and we spent the majority of the day entwined as one entity. As I fed my husband his breakfast that morning in November, word came to Harald that the Germans were about to make a very bold move very soon. We would have to warn our men quickly.

Harald was a faithful Norwegian. As a doctor he had contact with every man, woman and child throughout the district. Harald was originally from Kristiansand, just as we were, and as his wife was also. When he was allowed to set up his own practice, the state convinced him that he was needed here in Kinsarvik because their doctor was about to retire due to ill health.

He had already been in practice for two years. He and Marianne were married just before they relocated to Kinsarvik and their daughter Lina was born in that town. Now nineteen months old, she was a delightful child. She had her mothers beautiful blonde hair and her father's eyes, steel blue as the cold North Sea they were.

Being that Harald had contact with everyone in the area, he was the natural collection point for information from patriotic Norwegians who wished to get intelligence to the west. It was my job to see to it that the appointments were arraigned such that no one would suspect that we were gathering any information and sending it on to the next level before it was reached in London.

Many times a patient would claim that he had an earache or a sore throat that needed to be looked at before it got worse. This was usually a code that information was to be given.

"Aase, please prepare the saline solution for me. I must rinse out Herre So-and-so's ear, or, I must have Herre So-and-so gargle his throat." Would be his response.

I would run some cold water and place a tablespoon of salt in a pan and bring it to him. Once this was done I would go back out to the front and make sure there were no eavesdroppers. If I ever felt that something was not right or if there was someone who happened to drop by unexpectedly I would go back and open the examination door. This would let Harald that now was not the time to receive the information. (After the war we were told that our little operation was one of the most successful. It had warned the Allies of many things they would not have otherwise been prepared to deal with. I was proud of what we did for the cause.)

It was at this time that word had leaked out that the Germans were recruiting Norwegian men, some involuntarily, into their army. Many of them would be forced into the S.S. Their deceit knew no bounds, for they were promised that if they served that our country would become a little freer and that in time, Norway could regain it's complete freedom and join Germany in it's Thousand Year Reich.

Harald was visibly shaken by this news as he received it from his source. For it meant that many of our countrymen would have to fight on the side of Germany against their will. For he had come to understand the empty promises of Hitler.

Within a week of receiving the news, German recruiters came to Kinsarvik, the third week of March 1941. All men between the ages of 18 and 35 were to assemble in the town square by proclamation. Only 15 showed up out of an estimated total of 120 eligible males. The German recruiters were furious!

Dreng and Harald had decided that all of us should go for a week long skiing vacation in the mountains at this time, so technically we never saw the proclamation, yet we knew of it's existence. It was early February when we packed to go to his cabin in the mountains. While 'on holiday' I began to have sickness in the morning. Harald also received news that his wife Marianne was pregnant and their child was due at about the same time for we both had our morning bouts of sickness together.

With our holiday gone, we started back to town hiking the trails as we returned. As we approached the outskirts of town, it was apparent that there were several soldiers conducting a search house by house.

One of Harald's patients, an older woman, saw us as we neared the eastern edge of town. She hurried towards us, motioning us to stop.

"Herre Doktor...the Germans are arresting all the men of Kinsarvik who are of military age. You must leave! Hurry before they see you!"

Harald looked at Dreng. Dreng shrugged and said in the slow country drawl that I loved so much, "Looks like our vacation is not over yet. Aase...Marianne...go back into town and pick up some more food. Empty out your packs, we will pack your belongings into ours. Buy as much flour, dried fish, tea, sugar and dried fruit as you can." Dreng looked at Harald for support. Harald nodded and said to Marianne, "Do it. We will wait up there. By the stream. You know the spot."

Dreng kissed me, as Harald kissed Marianne and we headed into village to purchase provisions.

Our flight from Kinsarvik had begun. We quickly returned to the cabin where we had been on holiday. But we knew that sooner or later there would be a search for Harald and Dreng. For Dreng worked for the Germans and he would come under suspicion when he did not return to his job. Dreng felt that we had three days before we would be missed, but Harald insisted that we needed to leave the next morning.

Marianne and I prepared as much of the food as we could. Bread was made. Biscuits and food was repacked into our haversacks.

That night we discussed our destination. Dreng said he would go find his contact and ask for instructions.

Dreng returned by the morning. He had been gone all night and I could tell that he was exhausted. As he slept for a few hours, we readied our skis and checked the cabin one last time. Harald would carry Lina in a carrier he had fashioned. She would be safe strapped to his front while Marianne was free to carry only her share of the food and her clothing.

It was snowing heavily as we left. We waited until Dreng woke up and ate some food. He had slept until noon.

As we closed the cabin door, Harald asked him; "where to cousin?"

"We head inland to Gol. From there to Trondheim." Dreng said.

Harald whistled. "Dreng do you realize what lies ahead of us?"

Dreng nodded. "Ja. It is not going to be easy. Especially for Lina. There are warrants out for our arrest. One of your patients talked to save his son from being taken by the Germans. We will be shot if we are captured. You, Aase, Marianne and me."

Harald sat down on the snow-covered ground. He needed to think for a few moments.

"All right. To Gol. Do you have any idea where that is? I don't."

"Ja. I have an old army map in my pocket and a compass. Let's head north. The Germans won't be out in this snow. They would rather remain in their warm billets."

We headed northeastward. The next town we reached in two days. It was a small town called Haugestol and we were able to purchase more provisions. After spending the night at a safe house, we pushed northward. By noon we reached another small town called Geilo. Again we were able to spend the night warm and safe under the care of fellow resistance people.

The next three days we were snowed in and unable to leave our haven near Geilo. But Dreng and I were able to occupy ourselves.

When at last the weather cleared enough, we went on our journey. At each safe house we stayed at, we were told whom we were to contact in the next town. The resistance had anticipated our next step for us.

Two days later, after having left Geilo we made our destination. Gol was a very small village. Mostly farmers. We were moved from house to house so that Marianne and I could rest from our strenuous journey due to our present conditions.

As we prepared to leave the kind folks of Gol, Dreng was given his instructions for our next stop Fagernes, then to the next town and the next town and so on until we reached Trondheim.

We began our journey in late March. Buy the time we reached Trondheim it was early May. The journey had taken us over 800 kilometers in forty-three days. Marianne and I were now certain we were pregnant. We were entering into our third month as we finally came to a farm high in the mountains above Trondheim. We were at our new home. The family who had owned it had died and their eldest sons fled to England. We were issued new papers and a new identity by the resistance. We would now be Georg and Hanna Vaerlagan, and Harald and Marianne became Lars and Julia Vaerlagan, the names of the two sons now in England. We posed as the wives of brothers who had returned back to their parent’s home after they had died.

Marianne and I cleaned up the old farmhouse until it sparkled. Dreng and Harald began clearing the fields and the spring planting began. Cabbage, squash, and a field of rye were all planted by the end of June. One of the farmers even gave us three goats for milk. Every morning Marianne would milk them, her daughter Lina needed the milk, as did her and I for our unborn children.

Little by little the old farm looked like any small farm in the area. Harald's hands became hard and callused and he even looked like a country farmer by the middle of June rather then the doctor he really was.

Our new home was tucked away on the gentle slope of a mountainside. The pasture area and crops were below the farmhouse. I would spend many hours looking out my kitchen widow as Dreng and Harald worked the fields below, acting as a look out.

That whole summer was peacefully spent. The crops matured, and were harvested. Marianne and I sold what we could in town and bought what necessities we needed for winter. News of war with Russia now occupied the airwaves. Hitler now owned all of continental Europe. (We had a radio receiver hidden and we could listen to the BBC broadcasts from London.)