Pirin Planina by George Topîrceanu
Author:George Topîrceanu
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History
Published: 2023-02-26T00:00:00+00:00
***
Meanwhile, lost in the middle of these unknown lands, hunted like animals, tired and hungry, the six fugitives were hiding during the day among cliffs, under river banks, in holes covered by weeds, and during the night they walked straight west, avoiding the villages and commonly-used roads. They walked scattered a few steps from one another, listening for danger. Ahead of them walked Stoica, their corporal, giving way or ordering them to drop to the ground at the smallest sign of danger.
They were young and clever boys, all originating from the mountainside of Olt, Jiu, or ArgeÈ â aside from one boy named Andrei, who was from Dobrogea but his parents were from Ardeal. Brought by the Bulgarians to the valley of Struma, they quickly understood they were fated to die as captives, exhausted from hunger and work, if they didnât find a way to escape. They all slept in the same hut. Following Stoicaâs advice, they saved up food for weeks from the one that was shared every day. They planned to keep walking west, under BelaÈiÈa, until they stopped hearing cannons â a sign the battlefield was far away; from there they planned to turn south and cross the border into Greece, which was a neutral country.
Unforeseen impediments stood in their way right from the start. On the eve of their escape, it was hot like summer in the Valley of Struma, but now it was getting colder, and the rain kept coming down and turning into sleet and snow. After walking for three days, they reached the shores of the StrumiÈa. They managed to swim across by guessing their way in the dark with the water up to their shoulders, holding onto each other to avoid being swept away downstream. After they pulled themselves up on the other side, they found themselves in a groove covered in snow; their wet clothes froze because of the wind and turned hard like tree bark. The biscuits, their only food, were swollen and mushy. Their flints were good for nothing as well.
They were bitterly discouraged. Curled up in the weeds, they brought their heads together in counsel:
âWhat are we going to do?â
âWeâre going to rest here until nightfall⦠then we keep going,â decided Stoica in a harsh tone. Watching everyone with his small green eyes sunken in his skull, with a relentless look like steel, he didnât allow them to oppose him.
âDeath awaits us if we turn back either way!â
The others were silent, staring at the ground. Shriveled by cold and wet to their bones, they were thinking again of their homes, toward where their misfortune was carrying them through enemy lands. The sky above was purple. The StrumiÈa flowed noisily under the crooked bank. A wet wind hissed in this desolation through the leafless willows of the foreign grove.

After a while, Andrei, the blond and gentle boy, delicate like a girl and frailer than everyone else, started to moan quietly with his face heated by fever and his body shaken by chills.
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