Margit Sandemo - The Ice People 44 - An Evil Day

No, this simply wouldn’t do! He couldn’t have such spineless thoughts if he was a chosen one!

Marco stood close by him, with an impenetrable look on his face. Rune and Halkatla were busy dragging a couple of dark-clad men over to a grave nearby.

“Then what I dreamt was true!” Gabriel whispered. “Who were they?”

“A couple of Tengel the Evil’s living criminals who were dumb enough to take part in a battle between spiritual beings. They were actually the only ones who suffered. Apart from them, it was so evenly fought that our enemies soon retreated. It was just an attempt on their part to frighten us. We weren’t too impressed,” said Marco, smiling crookedly.

He went up to the boy and placed his beautiful hands on Gabriel’s shoulders.

“You have an unpleasant task before you,” he said with warmth in his voice. “But Ulvhedin is watching over you, and all of Taran-gai’s shamans have promised to keep an eye on you, so nothing will happen to you that might upset your mother Karine or your father. Write down as much as you can, but just in a few words that you can rework later on. It’s important that you include everything, especially for the sake of the losing party.”

Gabriel had been so absorbed with the men being dragged away that he hadn’t noticed what was behind him. He turned around and caught sight of a big group of short, black-clad shamans who were ready to be off. Alongside them stood Sarmik the Wolf, their leader. And with him his two sons, Orin and Vassar.

And Mar was there too with his mighty bow. The sight of him reassured Gabriel.

From what he had gathered, one of the shamans was Tun-sij, but he couldn’t figure out which one she was because, just as they had been at the Demon’s Mountain, they were all dressed alike. Their faces were concealed behind a grid of thick black cords that hung down from their wide, hat-like headdresses.

He was so moved he felt his throat constricting. There was something so exceptionally magnificent and heartrending about this chance to observe a tribe of people who had become extinct long ago and whom no one knew anything about now. And that he was allowed to hand down his knowledge about them to future generations.

They all bowed to Gabriel and he returned their greeting in the same way.

He didn’t find their politeness silly: in fact, he liked it. Western civilizations could actually learn something from it. It created respect and thoughtfulness among people. It was a good custom, Gabriel thought.

It was still nighttime when the big group started making its way up the mountain. The foggy veil of daybreak had clothed the slopes and they could no longer see their horrible ancestors waiting up there. But the Taran-gai carried on with renewed energy. They seemed to know where they were going.

Soon, Gabriel’s companions on his journey to Norway had disappeared in the fog below them. He wished he had at least had Nataniel and Marco with him, but Ulvhedin’s presence gave him some sense of safety. The great giant was like a tower compared to the little Taran-gai, many of whom were smaller than Gabriel.

They walked in silence. The climb was so strenuous that Gabriel didn’t have the energy to talk.

Shocked, he realized all at once that he was the only living person among them. It was a walk among spirits!

But that wasn’t what it felt like. They were all friends. It was a good feeling.

One of the shamans sidled up to him. “Are you afraid, Gabriel?”

He recognized Tun-sij’s voice. “No, not very.”

“You’re going to record all this, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Gabriel answered. “I’ve already written a lot down in my notebook. And I have more notebooks with me.”

“That’s good. You know that we are an extinct people. I want people to know about us, so that we don’t disappear into thin air and lose our place in history. Let this, our last battle, be remembered by the people of the future world!”

Gabriel was moved by her words. “I will,” he said with a grainy voice. “But no more harm can come to you, can it? Since you’re all dead, I mean?”

“My little friend,” said Tun-sij sadly. “As noble people of the Ice People we have been very privileged, we shamans of Taran-gai. We have escaped having to go to Shama’s black gardens. But the fear that we may be sent there after all has been rekindled, and you should know that we are fighting against Shama’s allies now. And then there is our common, malicious ancestor. He has the power to send us wherever he chooses should we fall into his claws. He could send us to Shama or to ... the Great Abyss.”

She said the last words in a low voice, as though she was scared someone might overhear her.

“Do you know what that is?” Gabriel asked in a low voice. “Or where it is?”

“No one knows,” said Tun-sij. Then she placed her finger on her lips to indicate that they didn’t normally talk about such things.

Gabriel stopped and looked despondently up at the mountaintops. He was tired and out of breath and the last part looked unpleasantly steep. And he was also freezing. His feet felt like lumps of ice after the night frost and his whole body felt numb.

He couldn’t see anything. A walk in the mountains is always deceptive. The peaks that you assume are the highest conceal even higher peaks behind them once you reach them. So they no longer had those two horrifying peaks in front of them, at least not within their range of vision.

Nighttime wouldn’t let go of its hold. He wondered what the time was. He made a wild guess: around four, four-thirty.

Tun-sij was saying something to him, and he shook his head to try to concentrate better on it.

“You and I are actually relatives. Yes, through Tan-ghil, of course, but that is so long ago. But my grandchild, Shira, had a half-brother Örjan, and that’s who you are descended from.”

“Yes, that’s right,” said Gabriel, smiling at her. His eyes always glowed when he smiled, making everyone’s heart melt.

“We’ll be sure to take good care of you,” said Tun-sij, moved. “So that nothing happens to you, because it’s going to be intense up there, I promise you. Stay in the background! Ulvhedin will be with you the whole time!”

Gabriel promised her that he would. He didn’t have any particular urge to take part in the battle against the spirits of Taran-gai and their spirits’ spirits.

But he would carry out his duty! His father and mother and the entire family would be sure to be proud of him and his diaries!

Suddenly they had reached their destination.

It happened so unexpectedly that Gabriel couldn’t believe it.

They were suddenly standing right in front of one of the mountaintops. The fog drifted past a deserted slope which they sensed more than they saw. But right near them, up on the peak, sat a frightening creature all hunched over. It didn’t so much as glance at them.

“Kat,” Inu murmured.

Dense smoke covered the area and ...

Gabriel started.

“I can smell the smoke,” he whispered. “Does that mean it’s real?”

“Just illusions,” said Tun-sij.

Mar and Sarmik and his two sons were leading the Taran-gai group. The four of them had stopped at the foot of the slope.

Gabriel had taken out his notebook and was eagerly writing.

“Our leaders are discussing what they ought to do. They aren’t sure of the position of the other one, Kat-ghil, because you can’t see very far in this fog. We seem to be on a kind of island – Kat’s hill is an island. He looks horrible ... (crossed out). He looks horribly foul. Tiny and stocky with evil eyes staring out across the valley that we can no longer see. And in a semi-circle behind him is some kind of grille or fence from which dried human bodies are hanging. Just like mummies. That makes sense because he probably takes after his father, Winter Sorrow, who used to abduct women and sacrifice them afterwards. These mummies look like women. But not all of them. The others are probably his enemies. He may regard every human as his enemy. But I don’t see the spirits that ought to be surrounding him. And didn’t Kat live in a hole in the ground from which spirits used to fly in and out? Perhaps this is Kat-ghil?”