Margit Sandemo - The Ice People 22 - The Demon and the Virgin

What a face! What a fantastic, incredible face! For Vinga, it was like light to a moth, so irresistibly fascinating, so alluring in all its ugliness.

She listened to his bewitching, expressive voice again. “I’ve been searching for you,” he said gently. “But I wanted to give you time to get used to me and to understand that I only want the best for you. You were as shy and suspicious as all the animals that are suspicious of human folly.”

He stopped for a moment and then added: “I’m Heike Lind of the Ice People.”

Then Vinga let out a long, long sigh. A serenity as great as a wide river flowed through her.

Now she knew that her burdensome, lonely years were over!

Chapter 3

It was a magical moment that they would never forget. The night, the blue spring sky, the blazing fire, the rising smoke, and the solitude of the forest.

For the first time, Heike saw the daughter of Elisabet and Vemund close up. The glow of the fire fell on Vinga’s long, golden-blonde hair, making it look alive, her big dark-blue eyes that might have belonged to a forest animal, an extremely sensitive mouth in a face with beautifully shaped features ...

All this came as no surprise to Heike. He had been told that Elisabet and Vemund were handsome people. But her dress was dirty and far too small and tight.

He said: “My dear child: I’ve never been able to guess your age, and I certainly can’t now. Either you’re a mature child or a childish adult. How old are you really?”

“I no longer know my age,” Vinga replied miserably. “I was born in the autumn of 1777.”

“Then you’re sixteen and will soon turn seventeen.”

“I see,” Vinga replied meekly. “And who are you? Where do you come from?”

“I’m Sölve’s son,” Heike replied. “Ingrid of Gråstensholm was my grandfather’s mother.”

“I see,” Vinga replied again, not very thoughtfully. But she could speak! Like one human being to another. She was surprised at how easy it was and how little she had forgotten. But then again everyone found that confiding in Heike was very easy.

“Sit down,” he said. “We might just as well talk here as anywhere else.”

Vinga obeyed, almost solemnly. This was a great moment! A member of the Ice People had returned to her parish!

She said: “I’ve heard of the curse, and I gather that you’re one of the stricken. But I thought they were evil?”

Heike was just about to say something about the terrible powers that were dormant in his soul and which would never, ever be allowed to reach the surface. But he didn’t want to frighten her and destroy the confidence she had in him.

“Your ancestor Ulvhedin wasn’t evil,” he pointed out, “and nor was Ingrid.”

“No. Ingrid was so beautiful!”

He smiled wryly. “I don’t think one’s appearance has anything to do with one’s personality.”

“No, of course not,” Vinga replied, blushing at her stupidity. She mustn’t behave like that. She wanted to make a good impression on Heike and to show him that she possessed wit and decorum. This much she owed to her parents.

She could see that he was thinking about something. Then he said: “Are you really almost seventeen? I hadn’t expected that!”

“Don’t I look my age?” Vinga replied, embarrassed.

“No, far from it. I thought that you were thirteen at the most, but close up you look older.”

“What do you mean?”

Heike made a shy movement: “Your shape, your figure and the impression you give.”

“What do you mean?” she asked again.

“No ...” He was skating on thin ice. “I just have a sense that you’re not a child, which makes things more complicated,” he added with a sigh.

For the third time, Vinga asked: “What do you mean?”

“I had thought of being your protector. But that’s out of the question now.”

She was about to say something when he saw that she was about to ask, “What do you mean?” again but stopped herself.

He hurriedly explained: “You can’t stay on the mountain any longer and I don’t want you to do so. I’ve found a little house for the two of us on the outskirts of the parish. An old smallholder called Eirik has helped me get hold of it. But we can’t live in the same house because people will start to gossip. There’s a difference between taking care of a child and living with a half-grown woman.”

Vinga said: “I don’t understand.”

He peered at her to see whether she was making fun of him but she looked sincerely puzzled.

Heike sighed: “Now listen. You and I could live together without anything improper happening. Heavens: why would anything happen? But this is not the way people think. They would think that this monster, this demon, had lured an innocent young girl to commit outrageous acts and both of them must be sent to prison. Maybe they would let you go but not me!”

Vinga thought about what he had just said but it made no sense to her. “I think it sounds stupid,” she said childishly, but he didn’t protest any further.

“I must try to find a different solution,” he said. “We had better stay apart for a while until I know more about Gråstensholm.”

Vinga replied: “Somebody else lives there now. He moved in in the spring.”

Heike said: “I know. Mr Snivel. I intend to take back the farm. It belongs to me, you see.”

Her face brightened up in a big smile. “Yes, yes, do that! And Elistrand? Does anybody live there?”

“Yes, Mr Snivel’s nephew and his servants.”

Vinga asked: “What are they doing there? After all, it’s my home! Can’t we take that back too?”

Heike was sceptical. “Eirik says that will be more difficult. That farm was auctioned to settle the unpaid bills. But Eirik also said that it was a suspicious affair. The nephew of the auctioneer buying the property! They say that he got it for a song when reliable farmers had offered much more.”

Vinga asked: “Can you sort it out?”

“I can’t fix it all,” he replied. “People need to know me for a while before they have confidence in me, which they almost always tend to have, and I bless them for that. Eirik says that Mr Snivel is sly. If he gets wind of what I have up my sleeve, he will launch a counterattack, fortify his position ...”

Vinga said: “Would you please not use such difficult words?”

“No, of course. I’m sorry!”

Heike explained it all in simpler words and Vinga understood and nodded, adding: “Do we need to go into hiding?”

Heike replied: “Yes, to begin with. Why don’t we go back to your smallholding and pack your belongings? It’s already dawn and I think they’ll come early to catch you.”

“I think so, too.”

They got up and covered their tracks and the campfire. Then they began to walk with the goat trailing after them.

Heike said: “Vinga, I didn’t mean anything when I said ‘catch you’. I think they have good intentions. They just want to help you return to civilization. Maybe give you a home, and teach Vinga, the wild animal, good manners. It would make them feel magnanimous.”

Vinga replied: “That mustn’t happen!”

Heike said: “No, it mustn’t happen. Mr Snivel and his nephew would never allow a member of the Ice People to live in the parish. Their claims on their farms are much too tenuous.”

“Yes,” Vinga said with a serious nod. She took his hand in a firm grip and let herself be led through the forest. She, who had been so independent! She, who knew every blade of grass in her forest!

She didn’t understand it herself. Her hand virtually disappeared in his big, rough fist. But its warmth and Heike’s grip gave her a serenity she hadn’t felt for years.

“Vinga, I would like to hear about your life at home and then up here.”