The Angry Hills - Leon Uris [46]
“You stupid Englezos. I was about to go out and look for you. Do not go roaming the hills without me in the future.” The giant sat down for his meal. Mike stood over him.
“Tomorrow you go to Dernica and get Eleftheria.”
“Sit down and eat and don’t talk so much.”
Mike grabbed Leonidas by the shirt and lifted his two hundred and fifty pound hulk from the chair. “You go to Dernica or I go.”
Barba-Leonidas looked to Despo and shrugged. “Mad—he’s gone mad.”
Despo edged toward the door, ready to leap out.
“Sit down and eat, I say. If you need a woman that bad, I get you one after dinner. I get you a dozen, take your choice—you can even use my bed.”
Leonidas sat and dunked his bread in the bowl of lentils then slurped it into his mouth.
“All right, then. I’m going—right now.”
He looked up slowly and stared at Mike with an expression of hurt written all over his bearded face. “What is the matter with you, Jay?”
“Believe me, my friend, I have great love for you, but I must get to Athens.”
Leonidas fiddled with his bread, then flipped it down and scratched his beard. “You—you want to leave? You really want to leave?”
“I must leave.”
“Why you talk so crazy?” the giant said in a half cry. “Why must you leave?”
“I’m a soldier. It is my duty.”
“Bah! What kind of a soldier are you? What you think you are going to do? You can’t hit a rabbit at fifty meters with my best Englezos rifle.”
“I’ve seen one village burned to the ground because of me.”
“So they burn this stable down. I and my old woman will live in the bushes. We have done so before, many times. I sometimes think I was happier than trying to raise wheat in these rocks. No, Jay, better you stay with us always.”
Mike walked slowly to the little table beside his bed and picked up his possessions. Two pipes, two pistols and the roll of drachmas. He peeled off a million drachmas for himself and set the rest on the table for Leonidas then walked toward the door.
Leonidas arose from the table and blocked him.
“Sit down!” he roared.
Despo knew that tone and fled the cottage.
“You’re in my way, Leonidas. Don’t make me hit you.”
“Sit down or I kill you.”
Leonidas rushed to the fireplace and lifted a huge poker and stood before the door and his mouth poured rage. Mike slowly lifted the pistol from his belt and leveled it.
Outside the cottage, the village assembled. A delegation rapped on the door and requested that the pair of them shut up.
For many moments the two men stared at each other. At last, Leonidas turned and threw the poker to the floor. “Like my own son,” he mumbled. “How far will you get, Jay? Have you ever seen a blond Greek come from these hills?”
Mike did not answer.
Despo, who rarely showed any emotion of any sort, had re-entered and she wept openly.
“Leave the room!” Leonidas commanded.
He turned to Mike at last. For the first time Mike saw traces of age and weariness. The giant’s shoulders stooped and he heaved a sigh through his coarse beard.
“Sit down and eat, Jay. I go to Dernica as soon as I have time.”
“When?”
“All right—I go tomorrow.”
NINE
ELEFTHERIA FELT TERRIBLY ILL-at-ease in her new city dress and city makeup as she stood in the inspection line at the Larissis Terminal in Athens. Before and behind her were tired city people returning from their scouring of the countryside in search of food.
Her fingers toyed nervously at the latch of the new purse as the line crept toward the desks where German, Italian and Greek inspectors examined travel passes and the sacks and cases the travelers carried.
At last she came before the inspector’s desk. A German in civilian attire. She placed her travel pass before him. He looked up and stared at her. She was a pleasant change from those coming through and his look was more in lust than curiosity. Eleftheria avoided his eyes.
“Your business!” he said sharply.
“I visit relatives,” she answered almost inaudibly.
He motioned for her purse and turned its contents over on the table. Among other things, a large roll of drachmas fell out.
“This is