Umbrella Mouse to the Rescue Read online

  To Marie-Madeleine Fourcade and her children, Christian and Béatrice, Noah’s Ark, Nancy Wake and all the animals who fight for the lives of human beings.

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  EPILOGUE

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

  CHAPTER ONE

  FAREWELL TO THE FALLEN

  A dense summer wind sighed across the forest in Normandy, rippling the oak leaves above Noah’s Ark’s hideout, which was now inside a rabbit warren buried deep beneath the trees, near the eastern border of the Normandy forest. Below a crimson sky crowding with tall slate clouds, Pip hung her head with the rest of Noah’s Ark as they followed Madame Fourcade across the dusty, parched earth. A rumble of thunder rolled in the distance and the undergrowth rustled as if excited for the long-awaited rain to arrive.

  The animals left the warren behind them, Madame Fourcade the hedgehog padding ahead with Rémi the swallow, waddling on his talons beside her. Pip had seen him visit Madame Fourcade once before, and, although Madame Fourcade never revealed what they spoke of, her energy made Pip sure Rémi had brought news of her hoglets who had been in hiding since the start of the war. The swallow’s slim, streamlined body had long, pointed wings, arcing elegantly behind him over a lean forked tail, and his iridescent feathers shimmered as he spoke to Madame Fourcade in furtive whispers. Reaching a place where a scarlet gloom swirled above a gap in the treetops, the hedgehog turned and thanked him with a smile, and the swallow bowed his inky head to his throat. He spread his wings and flashed his white underbelly as he leaped into the air and disappeared through the trees.

  The animals came to a standstill, and Pip stared at the acorn she carried in her paws. Turning its cool, unremarkable shell, she watched its smooth surface gleam. Its hat was the same colour and texture as the ancient oak tree looming beside her. Its rugged trunk was twisted and gnarled with deep crevices, like wrinkles etched into the oldest skin.

  ‘Mes amis, both new and old,’ Madame Fourcade began, cradling two acorns of her own, and the animals looked up at her. ‘Four weeks have passed since the battle at the Nacht und Nebel camp, and although our wounds are healing with each day that goes by our scars will never disappear. For each one changes us forever and tells a story we carry with us for the rest of our lives.’

  Pip peered up at the hedgehog and saw that the scabs where barbed wire had scored her face had now been replaced with pearly lines. Shuddering with the memory of the night they had escaped, she looked away and her eyes travelled to the newest members of Noah’s Ark, whose broken tails and ragged ears had also healed since their rescue.

  ‘When we lose those we care for,’ Madame Fourcade continued, ‘our spirits suffer and mend over time like our skin. But we cannot see these scars; only grief reminds us of them. It’s time for us to say farewell to our dear friends, Hans, Léon and GI Joe, and give our hearts the remedy to heal.’

  Every day since their escape, Noah’s Ark had watched the forest, hoping the rat, the eagle and the messenger pigeon would return. At first, every ear pricked at the distant flap of wings or shudder of ground ferns, but, as time wore on, the animals stopped turning their heads to the normal sounds of the forest. Even Pip, who had raced to investigate every snap of a twig or flutter of leaves had slowly lost faith, finding each fruitless search a disappointment more difficult to bear.

  ‘Great oaks from little acorns grow,’ Madame Fourcade said, smiling sadly. ‘In this huge world so full of creatures big and small we may feel as tiny as these acorns, but with brave hearts we can become as mighty as these trees. We are never the same after we lose the ones we love, but the dead will never die if they are not forgotten.’

  Pip nodded, feeling the sting of tears in her eyes as she remembered her Mama and Papa. Not a day had gone by that she hadn’t thought of them and their last wish to take their family umbrella to the museum in Italy, where her mother had come from a long line of umbrella mice. Pip’s father, like Pip, had grown up inside the umbrella shop in London. But war had taken them from her and now she hoped her parents would understand her decision to stay with Noah’s Ark and fight until the conflict was over. They were weaker without Léon, Hans and GI Joe. It was her fault they were gone and they needed her help.

  ‘With these acorns,’ the hedgehog continued, ‘we remember their sacrifice: the greatest that war can possess. May their roots spread far so that their leaves graze the clouds, and forever mark their strength and courage.’

  Pip and Madame Fourcade placed their acorns on the forest floor and the hedgehog burrowed into the ground beside them while the members of Noah’s Ark watched with their whiskers drooping on their cheeks.

  ‘For Léon, who saved my life and others in Noah’s Ark.’ Madame Fourcade’s voice cracked as she placed his acorn inside the hole and buried it. ‘He was the most gallant eagle that ever was and we shall never forget him.’

  Silence descended as the animals hung their heads in remembrance of him. Fiercely protective with golden eyes and strong speckled wings that dwarfed her tiny frame, Pip had been so frightened of Léon at first. But his tenderness, wisdom and bravery soon outshone her fear and her heart weighed heavily as she remembered his last moments.

  After a long pause, Madame Fourcade carried the next acorn a few paces and Noah’s Ark watched solemnly as she dug the earth beside it.

  ‘For our dear American ally, GI Joe, the fastest messenger pigeon in Churchill’s Secret Animal Army. You came to our aid in our darkest hour with a heart of gold and the gift of laughter when we had forgotten how to smile. We thank you for your unfaltering courage,’ Madame Fourcade continued, placing the next acorn in its grave, and dragging soil into the hole. ‘And we share your woe for your mate, Lucia, who took advantage not only of your kindness, but also of our need for help, and betrayed us all. She reminded us that a friend can be a traitor and we will never make the same mistake again.’

  Lucia, the white messenger pigeon and secret Nazi spy, had sabotaged Noah’s Ark from within. She had revealed her true nature when she attacked them all with the Goliath Rats and sentry owls in the escape from the Nacht und Nebel camp, and Pip felt ashamed that she had once admired her. Lucia was beautiful and daring, and Pip had been delighted when the pigeon had wanted to be her friend. She shivered, remembering the pigeon’s cold, waxy talons closing around her when she’d tried to snatch Pip away.

  ‘We bury this last acorn in memory of Hans, the German resister fighting with Churchill’s Secret Animal Army for the better life of all,’ the hedgehog went on, padding forward to a place that created an even triangle between the three graves. ‘We knew him only briefly yet he showed us a true, heroic nature and we are proud to have fought alongside him.’

  Pip stepped forward and as Madame Fourcade met her gaze the hedgehog understood what stirred in Pip’s heart. Passing the acorn to her, she joined the rest of Noah’s Ark surrounding the little mouse, their brows creased with mourning.r />
  Pip’s eyes filled with tears as she thought of Hans. She’d first met him in London with Dickin the search-and-rescue dog just after she’d lost her parents and her beloved umbrella shop, all destroyed by a flying bomb. From that moment on, he’d never stopped protecting her and he’d promised to take her to the umbrella museum in Gignese before returning to Germany to fight the enemy from within.

  Pip sank her paws into the cold earth and dug a hole in silence, but as she covered Hans’s acorn with soil she was unable to stifle a whimper of sorrow, and together Noah’s Ark cried softly all around her.

  ‘We have waited for our friends who would never return.’ Madame Fourcade sighed. ‘Our scouts have had no word of their capture, and although we are still grieving we must continue to help the humans end this war. Yesterday, I received word from London Headquarters, and, now that we have rested and hidden long enough after the escape from the camp, it is time for us to resume our work and move on.’

  Pip and Noah’s Ark nodded sadly, knowing the hedgehog was right.

  ‘The human Allied armies are advancing from the north and west of France and many more soldiers are expected to invade the southern coast any day. This means they are pushing the enemy back east to Berlin from all sides and the Allied army is nearing Paris. Its liberation will symbolize the coming freedom for France! This is our chance to win our country back!’

  The animals began muttering to one another and Pip’s stomach stirred with both elation and melancholy. When she first came to France, she had intended to press on with her journey to Italy and she never imagined how important Madame Fourcade and her troop of animals would become. Not only had they saved her life, but they’d been the best friends she had ever known and the thought of saying goodbye to them at the end of the war made her heart ache.

  ‘Bernard Booth has ordered us to help the civilian uprising in the city,’ Madame Fourcade went on, and at once Henri the stag’s ears flattened. ‘To do so, we must find the white mouse hiding beneath the human’s feet inside the catacombs. She is another member of Churchill’s Secret Animal Army and she is fighting with the Resistance there in Paris. Together, we’ll rise up and weaken the enemy. Come, let us prepare for our journey to the City of Lights!’

  Murmuring, Noah’s Ark trod after Madame Fourcade towards the warren, but, as Pip turned to follow, the upper boughs of the trees to her right rustled. Instantly, the fur on the back of her neck stood on end, urging her to look over her shoulder.

  Pip gasped. A black shape was hurtling through the trees towards them.

  CHAPTER TWO

  THE INTRUDER

  ‘Madame Fourcade!’ Pip cried as she raced after her friends. ‘Something’s coming!’

  Suddenly, cracking wood echoed in the forest and Noah’s Ark whipped their heads towards the sound and cowered in alarm, spying a black shape tumble through the air and crash into the ground ferns below, just a short distance from where the animals were standing.

  ‘What was that?’ a rabbit asked, thumping the ground with his hind leg.

  ‘Everyone stay completely still,’ Madame Fourcade hushed, prickles bristling all over her body. ‘Slowly take cover under whatever you can,’ she whispered, ‘and do not huddle together in the warren – spread out! All our work will be lost if everyone is captured.’

  Thunder boomed as Noah’s Ark scurried under the low ferns and thick brambles tangled across the forest floor.

  ‘We’ll investigate,’ a squirrel said, scaling a nearby tree trunk with another squirrel chasing her from behind. Bounding across the lofty branches, they peered into the undergrowth with flicking tails. ‘It looks like a crow, Madame.’

  ‘Is it moving?’ whispered the hedgehog as loudly as she could. Pip stretched up on her tiptoes, but she saw only the forest swaying in the wind.

  ‘We can’t be sure,’ the other squirrel answered, jumping to another branch and peering from a different angle. ‘It’s covered by the undergrowth.’

  ‘Rabbits – come with me and Henri.’ Madame Fourcade’s eyes blazed. ‘Tread lightly and be careful not to be seen.’

  ‘Wait for me!’ Pip dashed to them. The three rabbits gazed at the hedgehog with their ears twitching warily upon their heads.

  ‘Fine.’ Madame Fourcade sighed, knowing there was nothing she could do to stop her. ‘Henri and I will be right behind you.’

  A rabbit offered his front paw for Pip to climb and she darted up his shoulder to sit at the back of his neck. Beside them, Henri the stag dipped his head to the ground and Madame Fourcade clumsily clambered up his nose and scaled the length of his face to stand between his ears.

  ‘Go!’ Madame Fourcade whispered, towering above them from Henri’s full height. ‘And be ready to run as fast as you can.’

  The rain arrived and thudded through the forest as the rabbits crept forward, brushing the undergrowth away with their noses and padding softly on their long, powerful legs. The fallen bird’s stark black shape inched into view, lying lifelessly on its stomach with its head flopped on one wing, splayed out on a bed of battered ferns.

  ‘Is it dead?’ Pip asked, staring at the black bird’s nearly closed eyes, gleaming with slivers of gold.

  ‘Shhhhh,’ Madame Fourcade hushed as the stag stepped quietly beside them. The three rabbits edged closer, their paws poised to race away.

  ‘It’s a little small for a crow,’ Henri whispered, nudging the bird with his nose. He grimaced as its acrid smell rushed up his nostrils.

  ‘Whatever it is,’ the hedgehog said, gazing into the treetops, ‘we can’t stay in the open like this for much longer. It could be a trap.’

  The animals looked into the forest with their hackles rising. The rest of Noah’s Ark had vanished into the thick undergrowth and Pip swallowed, wondering what else could be watching them from hiding places they did not know of.

  ‘We can’t just leave it here,’ Pip said, nerves jangling as she slid from the rabbit’s back to the forest floor and approached the bird. It looked harmless, as though it were just sleeping with its beak open, and Pip’s ears pricked, waiting to hear a snore. ‘If it’s in trouble, we should do something.’

  ‘It’s dead,’ one of the rabbits said, prodding its limp wing with its paw. ‘There’s nothing we can do.’

  ‘Come,’ Madame Fourcade said, ‘this soul is beyond our help.’

  ‘Wait,’ Pip said, staring at its thin, bony chest, willing it to rise and fall. Its tattered feathers hung from its fragile body and her stomach clenched, catching its sour stench in her nose. As she stared at its eyes for a flicker of life, thunder clapped above the trees and the rain fell heavier through the forest. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, gently stroking the bird’s listless head, ‘I hope you didn’t suffer too much.’

  ‘Don’t touch it!’ Madame Fourcade snapped, quills dripping with water. ‘It might be diseased.’

  Pip snapped her paw away, a strange black dust clinging to her palm. A plump raindrop landed on the bird and trickled down its neck, exposing a trail of shimmering green and purple feathers.

  ‘Let it rest in peace,’ the hedgehog said firmly. ‘It could have been sent to draw us away from our hideout. It’s time to return to the warren – now!’

  It was then that the black bird’s eyes snapped open, burning bright amber and Pip and the others stumbled backwards in fright, watching its haggard body heave.

  ‘Liddle lady?’ The black bird coughed. ‘I thought you’d be in the Italian umbrella museum by now.’

  ‘GI Joe?’ Pip’s mouth fell open in disbelief and she rushed to his side. ‘Is that you?’

  ‘Mon dieu! ’ Madame Fourcade gasped.

  ‘Yes,’ GI Joe replied weakly. ‘Thank God I’ve found you. I’ve been looking all over the forest. I’ve searched every hideout I’d seen you use before. I remember this cluster of oak trees being damned hard to find.’

  Pip’s heart danced behind her ribs. If GI Joe was alive, didn’t that mean Léon and Hans could be too?


  Henri dipped his head to the ground and the hedgehog hurried to Pip, who was cradling the pigeon’s head on her lap while the rabbits looked on with their whiskers drooping on their cheeks.

  ‘GI Joe,’ Madame Fourcade asked urgently, ‘what happened to you?’

  ‘There’s no time,’ the pigeon panted. The raindrops fell faster and heavier, and rinsed the soot from his feathers in uneven stripes of black and grey. ‘They’re coming for you.’

  ‘Who?’ Pip squeaked.

  ‘The Milice.’

  ‘The French Resistance hunters,’ a rabbit gasped, thudding his hind leg with fear.

  ‘They’re searching all over Normandy for the Umbrella Mouse. They want revenge for Noah’s Ark’s escape from the camp.’

  Pip’s breath halted in her throat.

  ‘Lucia,’ Henri growled, puffing air angrily out of his nose, ‘she must have told them everything.’

  ‘Thank whiskers we moved Noah’s Ark from the hollow to the rabbit warren when we did. Is Lucia alive, GI Joe?’ Madame Fourcade asked firmly. ‘Tell us what happened after the fire.’

  ‘There’s no time,’ he said, struggling to speak. ‘A swarm of Butcher Birds is coming for you.’

  ‘Butcher Birds?’ Pip swallowed.

  ‘Great grey shrikes with black masks,’ he panted. ‘Now go! Run! Before it’s too late!’

  With that, the pigeon’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and his body fell limp against the forest floor in a faint.

  ‘Rabbits,’ said Madame Fourcade, and they stood to attention at once. ‘Hurry back to the warren and warn the others!’ A fork of lightning fractured the sky as the rabbits’ white, fluffy tails vanished into the trees. ‘Pip, let GI Joe go so Henri can scoop him up.’

  The stag bent his head to the ground and carefully directed his antlers beneath GI Joe’s fragile body, guiding him on to three hooks in Henri’s horns.

  ‘Now you two,’ Henri said, resting his chin on the ground, and Pip and Madame Fourcade clambered up his face to stand between his ears, cocking warily in every direction. ‘And hang on tight.’