Freedom Fighters Ch. 1

"Dreng. We have both lost much. But now we have each other. I will remain at your side, if you let me." I said softly to him.

"Then stay at my side and I will be at yours, Aase." He said and wiped his hands. He came over to where I was seated and held my face and kissed the tip of my nose.

"I will love you forever."He told me.

We remained in the cabin for three more days. By then my feet had healed enough for me to walk. Dreng packed as much food into two rucksacks as remained in the cabin. Dried fish, flatbread, canned fruit, canned meats and potatoes.

"Tomorrow we go to Ryukan on the Hardanger Plateau and we will see your aunt. But today we must allow your feet to condition themselves to those hiking boots." Dreng said.

I had been given his mother's hiking shoes. They fit me a bit snugly, but they were leather and they would stretch some. He had also fitted me with some wool pants, a heavy sweater and some warm underwear. Cotton and wool stockings padded my sore feet. No matter how cold it got at night, I would remain warm. There were two heavy sleeping bags hanging from our packs.

"We will hike with our packs to the falls. If the Germans stop us we will tell them we are taking a vacation from the city until the British stop bombing it. We can eat our lunch at the falls. I will try to fish. Maybe we can have some fresh trout for lunch Aase. I need to see if you will be able to walk long distances with your feet. When we return tonight I will re-bandage them and put some more ointment on them." He explained the day's schedule to me.

As we walked, I was so very happy to be alive! Holding his hand and talking about our own plans for our future. The day was brisk and clear. A wind from the north was blowing and all seemed at peace.

We reached the falls at noon. Dreng helped me off with my rucksack and I gratefully lay on the grass as the sun warmed me.

Dreng laid out a blanket on the grass and I got up and laid on it as he put together his fishing pole. It was a fly rod.

"Aase. Do you remember the falls here?" He asked.

"Ja. I came up here with you and your parents after church. This was where you first kissed me Dreng." I replied.

"You do remember." He smiled and came over to me and sat on the blanket.

"I could never forget that day. It was the day that I fell in love with you. Oh, we were younger, but now that I look back, yes it was love." I confided in him.

"Aase. I wish us both a very long life. I want to love you for as long as possible." He told me.

"Dreng...I need to talk to you about something. We have slept together every night since we came to the cabin. Dreng...we must be careful. If we are not, well, there could be a child." I did not know how to broach the subject to him, but did my best.

"Aase, I have been thinking about that also. You are right. We must be very careful. But I know that when we are together, it is the most wonderful thing in the world. If a child is to be, then we will be ready. I will be ready." His words soothed me fears. All would be well.

Dreng returned with two trout and a small bundle of sticks.

"We have lunch." He said proudly.

I sat up and smiled at him. Trout would be very good. I have not eaten it in several months.

"I will prepare the fish." I told him.

"Nei. It won't be necessary. I have already cleaned them. Here, take them and I will build a fire. You can cook them." He said.

As he lit and banked the fire, I was busy getting out the flatbread and some canned elderberries for our lunch. When I had found the items, Dreng handed me a green stick.

"Poke it into the fish and roast it on the fire. We don't have a pan or any oil. This is the best we can hope for." He said.

I poked the first stick into the fish's mouth and skewered the whole fish onto the green stick and set it on the fire. Dreng did the same and set his next to where mine was.

"We will turn it in a few minutes. I think we have some canned cheese down there also. We will eat a big meal now and have the rest of the cheese and some flatbread for later." He said.

I was willing. I was very hungry.

After lunch we lay in the sun. Full and contented. My head lay on Dreng's chest as we watched the clouds overhead move slowly to the south.

"Dreng. How will you find those who are willing to fight the Germans?" I asked.

"There will be ways. Perhaps someone will approach me; perhaps I will decide to settle down with you. We will see." He said. His voice was sleepy.

We headed north on the Kristiansand to Ryukan road. Being that we had no papers issued by the Nazi's we would be detained by them if we were stopped. But there were many that had lost everything in the invasion. There were refugee camps scattered throughout the countryside where Norwegian officials gave identity cards, which could be used to get the ration cards.

As German army trucks came up the road, Dreng and I would hide in the forest. We made it into a game, but we knew that once we had left Kristiansand, we were fairly safe.

It was on the second day when we came across one such refugee camp. There were many people that I was acquainted with from my father's congregation. Rural people who had their homes requisitioned by the Germans and now homeless.

"Aase!" A woman's voice called my name.

I turned and recognized Fru Hilders, a woman from the church.

"Fru Hilders. How are you?" I asked.

"We are fine Aase. I am so very sorry to hear about your mother."

"Yes. It is sad. This is Dreng Larsson...Fru Hilders...is there a pastor or someone who can marry us in the camp?" I asked.

Fru Hilders looked at me in wonder.

"Ja. It is the Justice. I will find him." She said.

Dreng was talking to some of his friends, trying to find out what happened to his parents and came back to where I was.

"They are gone Aase. Larstad turned them in to the Germans. I will repay him for this. I swear!" Tears were rolling down his cheeks.

I kissed his face and held him close to me.

"Dreng I am so sorry. I know how you feel. But I am your family now." I said.

"Ja Aase you are my family." He replied.

"I found Fru Hilders. She is a friend. She has gone to get the Justice for us. We can be married. Today." I said to him softly.

He looked at me, surprise registered on his face.

"Ja? That would make me very happy, Aase. Only that could replace the sorrow I now feel." He held me to him tightly.

Fru Hilders returned with the Justice from the small town of Aa. He introduced himself and we identified ourselves to him. The marriage ceremony was quick and legal. He recorded our names and the date in a ledger.

"You are now husband and wife. Stay safe Herre and Fru Larsson." He said and left.

Fru Hilders invited us to her tent for a marriage dinner.

"Fru Hilders" Dreng said, "I thank you very much. But I know that you have two children and very little food. Aase and I have some but there is not enough for all of us. We will go north in the morning. Thank you for being our friend. God bless you." He kissed her on the cheek and took my hand.

I waved goodbye as Dreng took my hand and led me into the woods.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"To our honeymoon suite, Aase. To our honeymoon suite." He said. His smile was infectious and I laughed. It was the very best day of my life.

Dreng made a small lean to and placed our sleeping bags on the ground. The evening was beginning to chill as I removed my clothes. I lay on one of the bags that he had unzipped and pulled it over me. I lay naked and ready to receive my husband on this, our wedding night.

"Aase. You are so very beautiful." He said to me as he knelt down beside me on the ground. He wore only his under shorts.

I had never thought of myself as beautiful. But his words reaffirmed the praise every woman wishes to hear.

He stroked my hair with his hand. The long light brown hair he pulled from my eyes as he kissed me.

"Dreng...I will make you a very good wife." I told him.

"Aase, I never had any doubt. As I will make you a very good husband." He said softly.

I lifted the sleeping bag for him to lie next to me. Instead he kissed my breast and flicked his tongue on the tip of my nipple. I shivered, not from the air, but from his light touch.

"That feels good." I told him.

He smiled gently, stood and dropped his underpants. I saw his manliness throbbing with desire. Each heartbeat registered as it moved up and down slightly.

He lay next to me and we held each other tightly was we kissed. My hand found his erection and I held it in my hand.

"Ohhh!" He moaned softly as I stroked it up and down.

My mouth found his and we kissed again. His arm went around my neck and he pulled me closer to him.

"Dreng...please...I want you on top of me. Fill me, love me." I begged him.

As we switched positions, I grasped him by his manliness and placed it by my waiting womanhood. Slowly and gently he entered into me until I was filled completely. My body was on fire, in spite of the chilly night air. I moaned as he suckled on my breast and stroked my head.

"Yes!" I urged him, "I want all of you!"

He thrust harder into me until I could feel him fill me entirely. It was a heavenly feeling. I moaned my pleasure to the night as we found a rythym and maintained it. As the pleasure began to consume me, I wrapped my legs around his back and held him tightly to me.

"Dreeennnggg!" I gasped as the first wave of pleasure enveloped me. My breathing became more ragged and soon another climax took me over.

I began to untense my body as he emptied his seed into me.

My joy was complete that night.

We made it to my aunt's house three days later. It was not that far as we caught a ride from some Germans who were being sent there as the garrison. Most of them were young and far from home. They fed us and wished us a long life when they found out we were nemly weds.

"I hold nothing against them. They are serving their country." Dreng whispered to me as we ate some sausage they had offered to us. He knew that I was apprehensive about traveling with them. It brought back memories of my arrest.

I took his hand and kissed it. He was so carefree and charming as he conversed with the soldiers.

The lorry dropped us off in front of my aunt's house and we waved goodbye to our hosts. With full bellies we knocked on the door.

My uncle answered the door.

"Uncle Poul." I said as I hugged him.

"Aase! My it is good to see you." He said and eyed Dreng suspiciously.

"Uncle Poul, this is my husband Dreng Larsson. We were married three days ago at the refugee camp south of here. Uncle Poul, mommy is dead and so is Tryygve. Daddy is in Trondheim and the Germans are searching for him. They arrested me but I was let go. We have no place else to go." I explained to him.

My Aunt Sonja was my mother's elder sister. They had three children, all girls who had already married and long since started their own family. Uncle Poul let us inside and called his wife.

My aunt came out of the kitchen to greet us. Some coffee was made and we sat at the table talking about current news.

Sonja cried when she heard that my mother and brother were gone, but was overjoyed to hear that I was now married.

Poul turned to Dreng, "Now what do you plan to do, young man? You now have a wife and a family can't be too far ahead" He asked.

"I will find a job and live in peace until the time comes to strike back." Dreng replied.

My uncle nodded. "I was I was twenty years younger. I would join you. What sot of experience do you have?" He asked.

"I am the son of a farmer. That and my short time in the army are all the experience I have."

"You were in the King's army?" My uncle asked, now proud of the young man who sat across the table from him.

"Ja. I was with the Kristiansand Brigade, the Sixth as a rifleman and a medic. Aase and I went to Gymnasium together. I am a year older then her, but I have known her all of my life." Dreng explained.

"I own a small mechanic shop. If you know about farming, then you know about the things I repair. If you wish, you can work for me and I will pay you something in addition to board and room. You and Aase can start out here. If you wish." My uncle offered.

"I will be forever in your debt, Herre Engstrom." Dreng said. I squeezed his hand. We now had a home to live in. It was a prosperous home, like the one I had lived in before the war.

Dreng and I settled into our new lives. My aunt and uncle had a large house. We lived in the upstairs portion where we could have our privacy. Dreng worked hard for my uncle and my uncle rewarded him for his hard work. We were registered in the town of Ryukan as residents and our food rations were sufficient for our needs.

To get away, Dreng and I would hike into the country for unrestrained sex. This was trully the best time of my life.

As summer waned and the fall brought with it the cool air, I found out that I would bear my first child. By September I knew for certain that I was pregnant.

I had returned from the doctor's office and Dreng was already home.

"Dreng! Why are you home now?" I asked.

He smiled and held me.

"Aase! I have made contact with some of our freedom fighters! I will meet them tonight." He said.

My emotions were mixed. Perhaps because of the task that lay ahead for me. Motherhood.

"Dreng...you are going to be a father." I said softly to him.

He paused and looked at me. A huge smile burst across his lips.

"It is wonderful!" He shouted and picked me up and twirled me around.

I laughed at his enthusiasm and held him tightly. I was getting dizzy from him turning around and around.

"Dreng!" I laughed.

"Aase...oh Aase! I am so very happy." He said.

"Dreng if you are happy, then why do you talk of fighting?" I asked him point blank. "This is not our war. Not any more." I added.

"Aase you are wrong. Right now hostages are being shot by the Germans. Why? Because the refuse to betray their neighbors! It is our fight Aase! It is everyone's fight." He said.

"Then what will become of me?" I asked. I hoped that this question would stop him cold in his tracks. I was wrong.

"You will remain here. I will send for you when I am ready." He said.

"You expect me to have a child by myself while you are gone?" I asked him.

"I will return before you have the child. In three days I will return." He kissed me and picked up his rucksack. He had been packing it when I came home.

"Dreng!" I cried out his name. He couldn't leave me alone. We had only been married for three months and one week.

"Aase. I will return. I am needed." He assured me and left.

True to his word, Dreng returned three days later. It was the dead of night when he woke me, his hand covering my mouth.

"Aase. Shhh!" He said and removed his hand.

"Dreng?" I said, still trying to wake up.

"Ja. Aase we must leave here. Two of our group were captured. It is only a matter of time before the Nazis catch up with us. We must go. I have written a note for your uncle and aunt. I told them that I have found employment in Oslo. We must go quietly and now." He spoke in a whisper but his voice had an edge of urgency.

I got out of bed and dressed quickly into the warmest clothes I possessed. I took nothing else as we fled the house in the middle of the night.