Margit Sandemo: The Ice People 46 - The Black Water

The Black Water

The Legend of the Ice People 46 - The Black Water

© Margit Sandemo 1989

© eBook in English: Jentas A/S, 2020

Series: The Legend of The Ice People

Title: The Black Water

Title number: 46

Original title: Det svarta vattnet

Translator: Anna Halager

© Translation: Jentas A/S

ISBN: 978-87-7107-720-9

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchase.

All contracts and agreements regarding the work, translation, editing, and layout are owned by Jentas A/S.

Acknowledgement

The legend of the Ice People is dedicated with love and gratitude to the memory of my dear late husband Asbjorn Sandemo, who made my life a fairy tale.

Margit Sandemo

The Ice People - Reviews

‘Margit Sandemo is, simply, quite wonderful.’

- The Guardian

‘Full of convincing characters, well established in time and place, and enlightening ... will get your eyes popping, and quite possibly groins twitching ... these are graphic novels without pictures ... I want to know what happens next.’

- The Times

‘A mixure of myth and legend interwoven with historical events, this is imaginative creation that involves the reader from the first page to the last.’

- Historical Novels Review

‘Loved by the masses, the prolific Margit Sandemo has written over 172 novels to date and is Scandinavia's most widely read author...’

- Scanorama magazine

The Legend of the Ice People

The legend of the Ice People begins many centuries ago with Tengel the Evil. He was ruthless and greedy, and there was only one way to get everything that he wanted: he had to make a pact with the devil. He travelled far into the wilderness and summoned the devil with a magic potion that he had brewed in a pot. Tengel the Evil gained unlimited wealth and power but in exchange, he cursed his own family. One of his descendants in every generation would serve the Devil with evil deeds. When it was done, Tengel buried the pot. If anyone found it, the curse would be broken.

So the curse was passed down through Tengel’s descendants, the Ice People. One person in every generation was born with yellow cat’s eyes, a sign of the curse, and magical powers which they used to serve the Devil. One day the most powerful of all the cursed Ice People would be born.

This is what the legend says. Nobody knows whether it is true, but in the 16th century, a cursed child of the Ice People was born. He tried to turn evil into good, which is why they called him Tengel the Good. This legend is about his family. Actually, it is mostly about the women in his family – the women who held the fate of the Ice People in their hands.

Chapter 1

Deep in thought, Nataniel gazed over the Valley of the Ice People.

The rest of the world lay outside the valley, he thought, and nobody in the whole wide world knew that the hour of destiny was drawing frighteningly near.

If we can’t the save the world now, we never will.

The task seemed to be far worse than they had reckoned with. Honestly. It seemed hopeless.

Tengel the Evil was in the valley now. He was on his way towards them and he had every chance of reaching them – because they couldn’t get across here. Perhaps Tan-ghil might, Nataniel thought grimly.

Nataniel knew that this was his task. Marco had carried out his. Tova and Ian could only serve as supporters, and Gabriel only as an observer.

The final struggle against Tengel the Evil, the race to his hidden vessel of water, the fight for the wellbeing of the world, was Nataniel’s task, and nobody else’s.

The clouds hung heavily over the earth up here on the mountain heights. The valley lay frozen down below. The crater in front of Nataniel seethed and bubbled. Otherwise, not a sound could be heard.

It was obvious that they couldn’t reach the vessel along this route. Over the centuries, the presence of the black water of evil had infected the surrounding countryside so badly that everything was ruined, sick and scarred.

The gaping, steaming hole in the ground showed where the vessel lay. But the earth around it trembled in sickly colours. Nobody could put a foot on that ground; everything looked like a bottomless bog of atrocities.

“How about dropping a few drops of the clear water on the ground?” suggested Tova.

“We can’t spare it,” Nataniel replied. “We must go easy on the water right up until its final purpose. Is there anything left of yours, Marco? Or did you have to use it all on Lynx?” He didn’t want to be reminded about the terrible, unfathomable thing that had happened to that man.

“I have a few drops left,” said Marco. “A quarter of the bottle perhaps.”

Nataniel nodded. He was now fully in charge of the group. “We must be content with what we have. Save every single drop.”

“You’re right,” said Marco. “We can’t start experimenting here.”

They had withdrawn from the eerie area. Now they were back in a small glade, with the projecting cliff between them and what Tova called “the nameless horror” – the gaping hole in the ground.

“Well then ...” said Ian. “Then we’d better take Gabriel’s strange dream as our point of departure. What do you think?”

“You’re absolutely right, Ian,” said Nataniel. “How did it go, Gabriel? ‘Take the other thing first. Don’t forget.’ It’s important, that bit about taking the second thing first! Wasn’t that how the dream went?”

Gabriel nodded. “Yes. Although ‘the other thing’ could mean anything. But shouldn’t we give it a try anyway?”

“Yes,” said Nataniel firmly. “Yes, I think we’d better do that. Even if it seems a bitter thing to have to turn around – when we are so close to our target.”

“Perhaps Tengel the Evil hid the key to the riddle there,” Marco said. “Gabriel, who spoke those words in your dream? About the chains of the dead and about the ‘other thing’, the important point, that was to be taken first?”

“I don’t know, Marco. I don’t know.”

“I know. Nataniel, it was Silje’s diary!”

“I thought exactly the same thing,” said Nataniel, and immediately produced the age-old diary from his rucksack.

“Here’s the map of the Valley of the Ice People,” he said, and they all bent over the book. “This is where we are right now ... So where do we find what Sunniva the Elder called ‘the other place’?”

Marco pointed at a fresh spot on the map. “There.”

They looked up and gauged the distance above the mountain range. It was getting cold; the evening shadows were appearing over the valley.

So many days ... thought Gabriel. We left home such a long time ago. I’ve lost track of the days.

“Come on,” said Nataniel, interrupting his thoughts. “Come, let’s find the place.”

Gabriel nodded to himself. Everybody was still more than sure that 'the other thing', the important thing that had to be taken first, was Tengel the Evil’s other place up above the mountain summits.

It had to be that! They couldn’t afford to waste any time on futile experiments.

Quickly, they began to walk along the mountain range, the valley below receding even farther.

“Do you know,” said Tova quietly. “I feel we’re being watched by a thousand hopeful eyes!”

Marco asked in just as quiet a voice: “Do you mean the animals are watching us?”

“Yes, we can’t see them. I might be imagining it all because they can’t be in this toxic valley. And yet I sense that anxious eyes are popping up everywhere. Shy eyes – those of the fox, the reindeer, the hare, the wolverine ... Birds waiting up on the mountaintops and down in the passes. Eagles, rough-legged buzzards, grouse, small birds ...”