Margit Sandemo: The Ice People 23 - Rituals

And there were so few of their line left alive! Not more than a handful.

Vinga gave a long sigh.

“How did it go?” she whispered.

Heike smiled. “There’s no need for you to whisper, they’ve gone now.”

But she could see that he was finding it hard to let go of the intense state his body had been in. And he must have felt small. Like a human being face to face with the inconceivable.

His hands fumbled, still trembling, as he handled the items on the table. “It went well,” he said, “But I don’t know ... they’re demanding quite a lot of us.”

“Us?” Vinga asked briskly, sensing the possibility of a collaboration.

“Yes, you’re going to take part in it as well. And you can thank your creator, or luck, for the fact that you are still untouched. The assistance of a virgin is needed here.”

“Yes, but how did Ingrid manage, then?” Vinga cried out, more genuinely than tactfully. “I mean, when she wanted to contact the grey ones? And what about Sol? She wasn’t exactly chaste, either.”

“I don’t know how Sol managed it,” Heike said with a smile, yet his face was still stern. “Ingrid had to go through some sort of ritual that she didn’t want to describe in detail. They told me I was very fortunate to have you. It will make it much easier.”

“Are you saying that you and I both have to contact them?”

“No, not you. You just have to help me through it.”

“That’s what I thought you’d say,” she muttered. “I always have to ...” Then she suddenly woke up. “Help you through it? Help you through what?”

“Through the wall into the other world. The one parallel to ours.”

“Will you leave me?” Vinga shouted, shocked.

“No, I asked them that too, because I can’t deny it sounds frightening. But it’s only to do with the ability to see and communicate with them.”

“But ... but ...” she began, confused. “Mother could almost see them and she didn’t need to struggle through any kind of wall!”

“We are able to see shadows. But this will be much more concrete for me. I must be able to speak with them and – even more difficult – control them. That is what is scaring the four guardians to death.”

Vinga smiled absently. “Now you’re talking nonsense. How can it scare them to death if they’re dead already?”

“Well, they’re certainly scared on my behalf. Must you split every single hair?”

“Yes, I love doing that. It’s a game for me.”

“Yes, I know.”

Then Heike told her a little about what they were going to do. But not everything – he didn’t want to scare her. Although Vinga wasn’t easily scared, as he knew.

He looked at her thoughtfully as she studied the instructions with which they had been entrusted. Vinga was someone who should have been one of the chosen ones – she had the same temperament as Ingrid or Villemo, or perhaps Sol. Just as wild and uninhibited. But she had been born an ordinary girl. Of course he would never say that to her, it would just enrage her.

The spirits had told him they would have to wait. They would have to wait until the night of the full moon that fell closest to the spring equinox. Everyone followed the phases of the moon carefully, as it was crucial to their crops and many other things, so Heike knew when that would be. It would fall on a Thursday, which was more suitable than any other day, Ingrid had said. It was now the end of February. There were no more than three weeks to go.

They would have to spend that time preparing all the elixirs that were needed: that was why those instructions had been specifically selected for them. It would take some time to develop the magic potions, especially as it was winter, when it might be hard to access everything they would need.

“That won’t be a problem,” said Vinga, with her usual optimism. “And then? When the time has come?”

Then they would go up to the mountain crest that gave a view of Gråstensholm, Heike explained. Close to the edge of the ridge there was a spot, a small elevation in the forest. Sol had known about it. And Kolgrim. That was where it was to take place.

“What is to take place?”

“We’ll see,” Heike said, shuddering. “It might not be very pleasant ... I have to drink the potions that you and I have brewed. And then several rituals are to take place. Invocations.

He sighed.

Vinga thought about it. Then she asked, rather bluntly, “Are you sure you’ve been given the right instructions? We don’t want to end up invoking Tengel the Evil instead. Or, like Sol once did, you might encounter another of our cursed ancestors, for better or worse.”

“I’m certain that our four guardian spirits know what they’re doing,” Heike said, smiling.

“Hmm,” said Vinga. “And when we return to Gråstensholm ... how will we get rid of the grey people? Did they say anything about that?”

Heike was far away in his thoughts, she could tell by the look in his eyes and his smile. “We may not want to get rid of them.”

“Heike! Now you’re being stupid! You mustn’t say things like that!”

“Think of all the benefits we could get from having them here! Ingrid and Ulvhedin kept them until their dying days. After that the grey people had to leave Gråstensholm.”

“Did they tell you how to get rid of them again?”

“They thrive at Gråstensholm, Ingrid said, and they were grieved when they had to leave it. That will make it easier for us to get them back here again.”

“Heike! Wake up and answer my question! You’re starting to frighten me!”

Finally he turned towards her. “What? Yes, they told me about some precautionary measures that I should take for the time being. They said they would tell me more later. But the fact is ...”

He was lost in his own thoughts again.

Vinga shook him. “What, Heike? Give me an answer, once and for all!”

He laughed insecurely. “No, you see, it seemed as though Ingrid ... as though she had wanted to keep the grey people because she had power over them. But actually, it may be that she tried to drive them back to the shadow world ... and didn’t succeed!”

“What? No, Heike, let’s just drop the whole thing! You move in with me and we’ll run Elistrand together. What do we want with two farms, anyway?”

He sat down and took her hands in his. He looked at her earnestly. “I’ve had the same thought. Only I think we should keep Gråstensholm instead. You and me. If you still want me when you reach eighteen, that is.”

Her lower lip was trembling. “Sell Elistrand?”

“No, no! But it is a complicated estate if you don’t have much money. I thought we might lease it and use the profits from that. Then, when we have enough children to fill it we can take it back.”

She sat down on his lap, leaning her head against his neck. “Now you’re confusing your dreams with your sadness, Heike. That was a mouthful! A mixture of a proposal – to which I consent – and vain hopes. It would be impossible for us to have enough children to fill Elistrand. We must be grateful if we get an heir. You know about the Ice People’s lack of children.”

“Yes, and I also know something else: we’re living in increasingly hard times. We’ll end up being forced to lease Gråstensholm as well, and have to live at Linden Avenue.”

“Yes, well, why not? As long as I can be with you I’ll live in a hut if necessary.”

He kissed her fine, soft hair. “But for the time being, we have to focus on Gråstensholm. Because it’s clear that there is something in the attic there that can help us solve the riddle of the Ice People.”

“Not us, you or me, but someone who will come after us. The one who will have the greatest power in the family.”