Margit Sandemo - The Ice People 47 - Is There Anybody Out There?

But he mustn’t leave now: he was her only support out here in this frightening world! She quietly moaned his name without anybody noticing it.

And how exactly were they supposed to get through this? She was in the middle of a dream, wasn’t she? A dream in which everything was happening much too fast for her and everything was much too confusing and dramatic.

She didn’t like dreaming of being released. Waking up was always such a painful disappointment and she just couldn’t take any more of that right now. I want to rest, she moaned inwardly. I want to sleep, sleep, but preferably die. How can I possibly go on living in captivity after dreaming about all these wonderful people, especially Marco? Because I know that however much I want to dream something like that again, where he is so close to me, it won’t happen. You never get to dream the dreams you want to.

Everyone around her was uneasy. She sensed an atmosphere of leave-taking. In this dream there were constant sounds of muffled booms and the smell of soil. That was what the people were so afraid of.

A man named Sigliek, who referred to her as “my grandfather’s cousin”, took her in his arms and carried her to where the rest of them were rushing, through an opening in the wall. It seemed to be urgent, everyone was running so fast.

But you can’t just leave Marco, she shouted mutely. And there were several others who disappeared into my red tunnel – you can’t just leave them!

For now she understood that the muffled booms in the ground meant danger.

But just as she was being carried into the passage she saw, to her great joy, Marco and the others come running after them. Hurry, hurry, before it’s too late, she pleaded.

But wasn’t one of them missing? The other handsome man. Nat ... Nataniel was it? What a strange name!

Then Tiili had to concentrate on her wild escape through a never-ending tunnel where everyone was fleeing from a muffled boom behind them. She realized that it was the ground rising. At first it had started to crack the walls of the tunnel, but that had stopped now.

I want to wake up now, I don’t want to dream anymore, she thought. Dreaming about one’s freedom is merely self-torture. Freedom doesn’t exist for Tiili of the Ice People, of that I’m certain!

Marco? Where was he? Somewhere behind her, but there were so many now.

With a shock that felt like a blow to the face, she encountered daylight. Freezing cold and fresh air.

She was wrapped in a lot of clothes by concerned, friendly people.

It was the shock of the light and air that made her realize that she was, in fact, awake.

Tiili didn’t react with tears of joy. She didn’t respond at all. She was utterly mute and paralysed. All she could do was wait until her body and mind could adapt to this new change.

Chapter 3

The icy wind howled along the cliff overhang above the group that was waiting for a sign of life from Nataniel. Tiili, who had resided in eternal heat, was bitterly cold, despite the fact that the others had wrapped her with such care in all the clothes they could dispense with.

The day moved slowly forward.

“It looks as if it’s going to snow,” said Tova dryly.

“Only on the mountaintops,” said Marco.

They had crept closer together, all the humans. The demons had flown up onto the rock ledges, close enough for them to be able to hear what was being said.

The demons weren’t cold.

Nor were the spirits of the ancestors.

Only the six living humans were freezing cold. Ellen, Tova, Tiili, Gabriel, Ian and Marco.

But Tiili suffered the most.

“No, I’m going to go look for him,” said Ellen for the umpteenth time.

“No.” Marco stopped her. “That won’t be any use.”

“But what if he needs our help?”

“How are we to help someone who is stuck in the mountain?”

She was impatient and irritable. “Can’t you use telepathy?”

“We mustn’t disturb him. He might be in the middle of performing a spell or something like that and our disturbance might prove fatal.”

Ellen sank back down resignedly.

Tiili stole secret glances at Marco, who sat looking across the valley.

Have I really been so close to that man? she thought. Was he the one who whispered such kind, consoling words in my ears when he penetrated me? He said that he liked me ... How happy that made me feel then! Now he isn’t even bothering to look at me ...

Oh yes, Marco was definitely aware of her presence but he wasn’t sure how she felt. He wanted to give her time to accept her new life. She was taking everything alarmingly calmly, but he was correct in assuming that her consciousness hadn’t yet had enough time to assimilate what had happened. She was in a vacuum, presumably too afraid to absorb all the new impressions because they would be too strong for her if she let them in.

“You haven’t written anything for a long time now, Gabriel,” Ian said more or less quizzically.

The boy started and immediately took out his notebook and pen “No, I ... So much has happened today. What’s the date?”

“If I’m not mistaken it’s the 17th May.”

Tova laughed a little, abruptly and bitterly. “What a way to celebrate the national holiday!”

“Perhaps the best way possible,” Marco said. “To liberate Norway from the lurking danger that Tengel the Evil poses.”

“Well, it’s not over yet,” said Ian. “We still don’t know what the outcome will be.”

“How wonderful not to have to take part in the 17th May celebrations,” said Tova. “Children shouting tiny ‘hurrahs’ at the command of their teachers plodding alongside them in the parade. Old people who are forced to sit on park benches wrapped in blankets in order to watch the children’s parade when they would much rather go and have a beer now that they finally have a day out of the nursing home.”

“And I was supposed to give the speech at school this year,” said Gabriel, his lips pale. “I forgot all about that.”

“Oh, forget it,” said Tova. “Everyone would have been waiting impatiently for you to finish so that they could go out and get their ice cream. And imagine what kind of a 17th May it would have been today! The children’s best new clothes would have had to be covered by dull raincoats, or little angry specks of dust would have whipped in their faces or maliciously settled under their collars or cuffs. And their new shoes would have rubbed. And they would all need to pee and there would be the eternal question, ‘Have we reached the town square yet?’”

“Don’t you have anything good to say about 17th May, Tova?” asked Marco with a little smile.

“Yes, of course! But it’s so much more fun to be bitter.”

“It always has been.”

“What’s happened to Rune?” asked Halkatla.

“Last time we saw him he was wandering across the glacier with Lucifer,” answered Ian.

Halkatla sighed. “I would have liked to see Rune once more.”

“So would we,” said Gabriel. “So would we.”

“I have so much to thank him for,” said Halkatla dreamily.

They fell silent.

Ellen looked up at the clouds. “The day is over. Darkness is falling.”

“Bang! It fell!” said Gabriel.

Marco smiled. He liked the fact that they were able to keep cheerful with their chatting. It was extremely strenuous having to wait like this, not knowing what was going on.

But with a happy feeling he thought of all the warmth that had reigned in the group that day. They had all stuck together and looked after one another. Ian sat with his arms around Tova and she had crept up as close to him as she could. Marco couldn’t help listening to a conversation the two of them were having.

“Well?” Ian said to her. “Do you have any regrets?”