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

“We mustn’t give up hope before we’ve even got started,” he replied. Vinga was so pleased that Heike always said “we”. It made her feel that she was very much in the picture as well. That was a wonderful feeling for someone like her, who had lived outside human society for so long.

There was a road at the edge of the forest and two women were walking along it. When Vinga saw them, she immediately dropped to the ground, letting herself roll under the bushes. Heike pulled her up again.

“They can’t see us down here in the forest,” he smiled. “You must forget that you were an animal. You’re a human being now.”

Vinga replied: “Only because I feel safe with you.”

“Is that because I’m like an animal?” he asked.

“Perhaps it is, but that’s not an insult – on the contrary!”

“I wasn’t offended.”

They continued their walk.

He went on: “Our first task is a minor thing. Do you know how long Mr Snivel has been living at Gråstensholm?”

Vinga thought about the question. “I’m not absolutely sure. But it’s only a few weeks ago that I saw people down on the farm for the first time.”

Heike nodded. “Then we still have a chance.”

“What’s on your mind?” she asked.

“The treasure. We must get the treasure out before he finds it and destroys it or does something crazy with it.”

Vinga asked: “Do you know where it is?”

“Yes, Aunt Ingela told me about it,” he said with a smile, “and Ingrid knows. She’s eager for us to find it.”

“Is that what she’s told you?” Vinga asked solemnly.

“No, not in words, but I sense it.”

“Are you glad that you’re one of the stricken?” she asked.

He became serious. “It can be an advantage. But I would give anything to be an ordinary mortal.”

“In order to look nice?”

“You’re very direct,” Heike said wryly. “But you’re right, because that is what I meant.”

Vinga tried to make amends for her tactless remark. “It’s possible, isn’t it, to be happy anyway? Without going about looking nice all the time. Isn’t it?”

“Well, I suppose it is.”

The silence weighed rather heavily.

“How do you intend to get hold of the treasure?” Vinga asked, feeling lost. She really had no wish to hurt her new friend, but had managed to do so nevertheless.

Heike replied just as nicely as always: “I intend to go to the farm at night, and then ...”

“We intend!”

“No, you won’t be joining me.”

“Who is the more used to making herself invisible to others?”

“Vinga, I ... No, let’s not discuss this. I had thought of getting into the house through the basement.”

Vinga asked: “Is that where the treasure is?”

“No. But you know that many of our ancestors have been doctors. There’s an entire room furnished like a ... Well, should I call it a laboratory? There are lots of cupboards along the walls in there. Inside one of them is a secret door, and the treasure is behind it. Shira’s bottle and everything. If Mr Snivel decides to strip out all the cupboards, he may find the whole treasure, and that mustn’t happen!”

Vinga said: “Why didn’t the Ice People think of moving it all when Ingrid died?”

He replied: “My dear Vinga, the Ice People you’re referring to were your parents at Elistrand. They probably assumed that someone would arrive from Sweden to take over Gråstensholm. How were they to know that the epidemic would strike them both? And that you would be the only one left?”

“Yes,” Vinga whispered. “I was only a child then. In my soul anyway. I still played then. I was no more than thirteen. I had no idea about anything!”

“Nobody would expect anything more of you. You had plenty to think about at the time: your terrible grief and all the worries over Elistrand.”

Vinga nodded pensively as she trudged along the soft track.

“How do you plan to get into the basement?” she asked.

Heike’s reply was honest: “I’ve no idea.”

Vinga thought for a while. She didn’t know whether she dared to suggest it. “Heike ... Perhaps I can help you after all.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I was little,” she said, “I would often spend time with Aunt Ingrid at Gråstensholm. I once got a terrible ticking-off because I had done something pretty reckless.”

“What was that?”

Vinga stopped. Between the trees they could see Gråstensholm’s dark-brown walls on the hillside.

“You see the tower? I surprised Aunt Ingrid: I went out through the front door and came back down the stairs from the tower.”

Heike stopped and looked inquisitively at Vinga. The goat began absentmindedly to eat the clothes in the cart.

Vinga wriggled. “I climbed up the outside of the tower.”

Heike looked from Vinga to Gråstensholm and back again. “Is there a ladder?”

“No, I climbed up the stone wall. I found a way up the stones, and then I climbed along the beams that stick out at the corners.”

Gråstensholm’s walls and roof were built of timber but even so! Heike couldn’t work out how she had managed to do it. The house was so tall!

“Didn’t you get dizzy?”

“Yes, but I didn’t look down. It was easy once I had reached the roof.”

The mere thought made Heike feel exhausted. “Tell me the way!”

“I thought of doing it on my own!”

“Don’t be stupid!”

“I can’t explain the route from a distance.”

Heike thought about this for quite some time. Then he nodded. “You win. We’ll both go.” He had never seen a happier face.

However, when he described the little house that Eirik was renting for him, Vinga protested.

“Isn’t it close to their farm?”

“They aren’t dangerous people,” Heike replied. “They hate Mr Snivel and adored the Ice People. Well, perhaps not your grandmother Tora, but then she wasn’t one of the Ice People, was she? They often speak warmly of you and worry about you, whether you’re alive and safe. You have nothing to fear from them.”

“No,” she said and let go of Heike’s hand. “I can accept you because you’re like me. But nobody else! I can live in the forest.”

“No you can’t. But you can’t live with me either. I’ll have a word with Eirik. Perhaps you can stay with his niece.”

“No!” she wailed and dug her heels in so that he had to drag her along with him. “I can’t. I’m scared!”

“Don’t be childish,” Heike said impatiently.

Then he thought better of it. He began to think about what she had gone through and how her life of solitude had formed her ideas, twisting her sense of reality.

He let out a long sigh. “Well then, you’ll have to stay with me. But only for one night. We don’t want you to get a bad reputation in the village.”

He thought that when she gradually got to know Eirik and his family and felt comfortable with them, things would be fine. He just didn’t want her to stay in the house alone with him: she was too old for that. People had filthy minds and loved to imagine things.

As soon as he had given in, Vinga brightened up again and followed him, meek as a little lamb. Much meeker than the goat, which tossed its head when they tried to speed up or moved the tasty winter clothes in the cart out of its reach.

“This is where I’m living,” Heike said suddenly.

Vinga stopped abruptly. “This is old Mr Simen’s house. You can’t live there!”

“Why not? Did he die of some infectious disease?”

“No, but he haunts the place!”

Heike said: “Rubbish! I’ve been here for several days and I haven’t seen anything. Dear Vinga, I of all people should be aware of the occult. Oh, now the goat is eating your winter shoes!”