Margit Sandemo - The Ice People 23 - Rituals

“But it clearly can’t go on!” Heike said with fury. “He can’t be allowed to do this sort of thing!”

“And you haven’t even heard the worst of it yet. One of my stable hands thought he saw one of Snivel’s men lurking in our carriage shed. And the following day, when I was out in the carriage, the axle broke on the steep hill leading down to the lake. We could see that someone had sawn through it.”

Heike jumped up and began pacing the room restlessly.

“He has to be removed,” he said “He must go! Immediately! My God, that’s my house – he has no right to keep it! Just because he is a judge no one can convict him. Or, rather, no one dares to!”

“What about Menger, the attorney?”

“I don’t want to ask any more favours of him, Vinga. He performed a great feat when he managed to get Elistrand returned to you, but I can’t ask more of a terminally ill man. Snivel would be sure to get rid of him.”

“You mean in court?”

“Yes, there too, but I mean in the more literal sense. If Menger summons Snivel, Snivel will be sure to crush him before the case is heard. It wouldn’t be beyond Snivel to commit murder. And you remember how he managed to buy off practically all the members of the court over Elistrand.”

“Yes, but what else have you been doing, Heike? Because you haven’t been idle, have you? Nine months have passed!”

Heike sighed. “I’ve tried everything. I went to the Supreme Court and asked for help to get my own home back, but they looked at me as if I was dirt on their shoes, and I quickly realized that Judge Snivel had also used his influence with them. I suppose he had worked out that I would try there.”

He sat down again. “Of course I received a response to my letters to Aunt Ingela and Arv Grip. Well, you know, of course, because you were the one who read their letter aloud to me. They would very much have liked to help us, but neither is in a position to abandon their own responsibilities at home. Vinga, I have spoken with so many people in Christiania. I have humiliated myself and been thrown out because people thought I was a devil or a changeling. People refuse to help me! I’ve even been up to Gråstensholm and spoken to Snivel himself. I tried to persuade him to hand over Gråstensholm of his own accord.”

“Goodness, Heike! You didn’t really do that?”

“Yes, that’s how naive I was. It wasn’t pleasant, I can tell you. The nicest thing he said was that he was under no obligation to hand over his estate to the spawn of Satan!”

“Well, I suppose you’ve heard that one before.”

“Yes, hundreds of times. But, as I said, that was the nicest thing he said. And when I left, a bullet whistled past my ear. It came from the direction of the outhouses.”

“You didn’t mention that,” said Vinga, her face turning red with rage. “I’ll ... no, I won’t. But can’t the high sheriff do anything? That was attempted murder! At least he ought to be able to throw Snivel out?”

“Throw out a judge? I’d like to see a high sheriff dare to do anything like that! With Snivel, anyway. He still has enormous power, even though it was somewhat tested last year. With a single word he could get rid of the high sheriff and disgrace him. And that bullet ... well, you can easily fire an accidental shot when you’re out hunting.”

“Can’t you go to the king? Heike, Gråstensholm is yours! It’s been stolen from you, pure and simple, using forged letters!”

“To the king? A king who rules Denmark and has more than enough to see to? He doesn’t care a jot about Gråstensholm or the Ice People in little Norway.”

“The king is said to be a little mad, but apart from that he is well loved.”

“That may be, but do you think he personally receives all the letters people send him? He must have a huge staff to do his bidding. And who is to write the letter to him? Me? I can’t even write my own name!”

“Then it’s about time you learned,” Vinga answered, a little saucily, and he had to agree with her.

They fell silent and stared into the fire. That is to say, Heike did that only for a second. Then his eyes automatically sought out Vinga’s irresistible figure. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Without giving much consideration to what he was doing, Heike voiced his thoughts and his deep voice filled the room with lingering, almost magical words.

“I want to carry you in my arms, Vinga, hold you before me like a blessing, go out through the window, straight into the winter storm. I would travel through space with you lying outstretched in my arms so that your hair would stream from your head like a river of gold. In the quiet winter night we would make our way across the snowstorm to where the stars twinkle. I would hold you out to them, lift you above my head and say, ‘See what I have brought you! Please accept this forest elf, Vinga, made of stardust, for her home is with you. A monster from the underworld brings her to you in the silence of the night so that you may bless her.’ ‘No,’ say the stars. ‘She is your responsibility, you, spirit of the abyss. You are to accompany her through human life, protect her with your life, honour and love her, but never touch her, you giant, ugly troll.’”

“Heike,” Vinga whispered as she spontaneously fell to her knees beside him, hiding her face in his lap. “You aren’t from the underworld, you know that! And you aren’t a spirit of the abyss! But on second thoughts, you must be, because I love demons like you!”

He smiled as he caressed her golden, glistening hair. “The demon and the virgin. Isn’t that what they called us?”

She laughed, still with her face against his knees.

“But it’s not true, I’m no angel.”

“An angel and a virgin aren’t the same thing.”

“No, but I’m no virgin, either. Well, technically I am, and it’s all your fault!”

“It’s to my credit, don’t you mean?”

“No, that’s not what I mean at all! And you are not to think of me as something ethereal or worship me like a goddess. Heike, I don’t want that! For I can often be petty and wicked, and furthermore ... furthermore I’ve grown up a lot lately. Haven’t you noticed my curves? Haven’t you seen my breasts and hips? I’m not a child any more!”

“Do you think I haven’t noticed?” he smiled wistfully. “Why do you think I try to avoid looking at you?”

She nodded, pleased. One of her hands began moving upwards along his inner thigh. Heike immediately grabbed hold of her arm.

“For heaven’s sake, Vinga!”

She lifted her head, smiling. “But I love to feel how stirred you are by my presence. You have quite a lot to offer. No one can hold a candle to you there!”

“How do you know?” he said sharply as he tried to get a firm grip on her determined hands.

“Well, there are such things as paintings and sculptures. And you know I once caught sight of a farm hand when I was a child. No one has a body like yours!”

“No,” Heike closed down the conversation. “You’re right about that.”

“Don’t sound so bitter. I love you! Isn’t that enough for you?”

Then he looked down at her and gently raised her to her feet. “All I desire in life is your love. But how long will that love last?”

“Oh, sometimes I just feel like hitting you! What makes you so convinced that I would ever fall for anyone else?”

“Because you’re so young!”

“That was what you said nine months ago. You decided the limit was going to be eighteen years ...

“You were the one who set that limit. I said you ought to wait until you’re twenty.”

“Yes, but we changed it to eighteen,” she continued. “Well, I’ll behave myself until then – I think.”