Margit Sandemo - The Ice People 46 - The Black Water

They did so, lifting at the same time – and with a natural movement, the stone slid down on its side.

Ian said, matter-of-fact: “That was simple, wasn’t it? When you know the trick.”

A dark hole had appeared. Automatically, all five took out their torches. Gabriel was pleased to see that they all had good-quality searchlights.

It was so dark outside that they needed some light. Together, they let the cones of light shine down into the opening.

It wasn’t exactly a staircase. Only naturally placed stones, so that it was possible, with some difficulty, to get down into a chamber that was tall enough for a person to stand upright.

“What do you see?” asked Tova.

“Nothing,” replied Marco. “Certainly not a burial chamber.”

Nataniel was somewhat nervous and said: “Let’s go down. My intuition tells me that it’s not safe up in the glade anymore.”

Gabriel looked over his shoulder. Perhaps he was imagining things, but he thought he saw the tall dark shadows of evil creatures all around the glade.

“Yes, let’s get down there,” he said.

Anything seemed better than the glade, with its creeping, invisible horror.

Very quickly, all five were down.

Ian asked: “Ought we to put the slab back on top?”

“No,” said Nataniel. “I think we should leave that route open. Besides, I don’t think we can manoeuvre it from here.”

They found that they didn’t need light down there because Nataniel was now radiating so much strong, blue light that it was more than enough.

That had to be a legacy from the black angels. It said in the chronicles that Imre had once appeared with a bluish glow about him.

Imre ... that had been Marco. Of course.

Nataniel was still fascinated by the blue, dancing flames around his arms and hands. His clothes also shone.

The crypt was so cramped that they couldn’t see anything at all.

“A rectangular, empty room,” muttered Marco. “This couldn’t have been it.”

“Perhaps what was once here has turned into earth,” said Tova quietly.

Their expressions showed that they understood what she meant. If so, all they had done had been in vain. If it was simply a grave that contained nothing at all.

But they couldn’t give up that easily!

Suddenly, Nataniel said: “Shine your torches here. Here, on this wall!”

All the torches were directed onto an area on the short wall. Marco followed a small crack in the wall with his finger.

Then he said: “There’s something here. Unless I’m mistaken, it’s a kind of door or gate.”

In the blue light that he had created himself, Nataniel said: “That’s exactly what I thought. But there are no hinges here.”

Marco answered: “There’s nothing here. Nothing at all.”

Tova’s face became almost visionary. “There’s an entrance ... leading to what?”

Nataniel made a calculation. “From what I gather, it leads straight into the mountain.”

“Yes,” said Ian. “The mountain wall is directly above us.”

Tova decided the matter. “Then we must go inside, no matter what!”

“Careful with your promises now,” Nataniel admonished her. But Tova’s face still glowed with the visions that were working away in her subconscious mind. The others gave her a questioning look. They realized that she was picking up something.

Gabriel broke their concentration. “Can you hear something?” he whispered breathlessly.

They listened.

“Yes,” Marco answered. “Do you mean that quiet whirring?”

“Yes, that’s what I mean.”

“It’s coming from inside the mountain,” said Nataniel. “Behind this wall.”

“Could it be a brook?” Ian asked, his eyes showing that he was disappointed.

“No, I don’t think so,” replied Marco slowly. “It sounds somehow ... roaring. But from so far away that it turns into a whirr.”

After a long silence, Nataniel said: “How are you, Tova?”

“I’m picking up something. Can you help me, please? Somebody wants to get in touch with us!”

“Ian and Gabriel, please remain silent,” said Nataniel.

He and Marco took Tova’s hands and they all concentrated on picking up the message that Tova sensed.

As they stood there without a word, they could hear the whirring from inside the mountain much more clearly. In addition, another far more frightening sound could be heard. All five of them picked it up. The glade was now populated. Whispering creatures were coming closer.

Gabriel had an inkling of who it was. He didn’t like it at all, and looking at Ian’s scared face he understood that he wasn’t the only one who was concerned. He didn’t dare to look up. He imagined tall, pale creatures, dressed in black, bending over the crypt ...

Then Nataniel said suddenly: “Heike is coming through to us.”

“Heike?” said Gabriel. He was surprised and had forgotten that he had been asked to be quiet.

“And Targenor,” said Marco. “They want to get in touch with us.”

“Now I’m picking up Tula,” murmured Tova. “All three seem to want to tell us something.”

“Yes,” said Nataniel, who had the strongest visions now. “It’s a bit unclear, but Heike is showing me an image of the mountain ridge above the old Graastensholm. Of the clearing there.”

“I’m picking up images of Targenor’s sword,” said Marco.

“And I ... Oh ... I can’t get it,” said Tova impatiently.

“Sigleik is with Targenor,” said Marco.

Gabriel interrupted again. “Sigleik? Surely there’s nothing special about Sigleik, is there?”

“Yes, there certainly is,” said Marco. “And now you keep quiet,” he added, without turning his head.

Gabriel felt ashamed of himself as he crept into the corner.

Tova shouted triumphantly: “Now! Now the message from Tula is coming through to me! She’s sending her four friends. I’m not allowed to say their names out loud here. We’re to wait for them. To stay where we are. Draw ourselves up against the walls. Not to go up. No matter what we do, we mustn’t go out of this place now!”

“No, that seems perfectly clear to me,” said Marco shortly.

Nataniel joined in: “And also to me. Gabriel and Ian, stop looking up. It won’t do you any good.”

Marco, Nataniel and Tova let go of their hands.

“This is strange,” said Marco. “It doesn’t seem as if they can attack us.”

“No, I think they’re biding their time,” Nataniel replied.

Gabriel put his hands to his eyes. It was so easy to look up when he had been told not to do so.

He really didn’t like this at all.

After a long silence, Tova whispered: “Tula’s friends are taking great chances.”

“They’ve always done that,” said Marco. “They’re some of our best helpers.”

“Yes, because Marco’s and my relatives can’t involve themselves in this valley,” Nataniel said, referring obliquely to the black angels he wasn’t allowed to mention.

“For them, far too much is at stake,” whispered Marco.

Once again, Tova felt ill at ease when Marco spoke like this. There was something about it that frightened her, something that was too great for a child of the human race to think about.

There they stood, silently pressed up against the cliff wall. Their ears had grown accustomed to the mysterious whirring, so that now they took it to be a very, very distant roar. Tova searched for Ian’s hand and he took hold of hers and gave it a comforting squeeze. It made him feel good that he could be of use to this exclusive group of people.

Tova nestled nearer him so that they stood close to one another. Ian could feel that she needed his reassurance. Quite unexpectedly, he felt an urge to cry. A wonderful and unbearable feeling of joy filled him. Happiness ... and despair. Powerlessness. A wish to take care of her. To be among human beings again and live a normal life with her.