Margit Sandemo - The Ice People 23 - Rituals

Rituals

The Legend of the Ice People 23 - Rituals

© Margit Sandemo 1984

© eBook in English: Jentas A/S, 2018

Series: The Legend of The Ice People

Title: Rituals

Title number: 23

Original title: Våroffer

Translator: Anna Halager

© Translation: Jentas A/S

ISBN: 978-87-7107-576-2

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 estabished 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

Winter at Elistrand.

Heavy snow had settled on the rooftops, roads and frozen lakes.

Inside, it was nice and cosy. In the special grey-purple glow of twilight, Vinga and her guest Heike sat by the hearth drying their feet after making a tour of inspection of the estate. They stretched out in comfortable chairs with footstools.

Vinga circled her toes coquettishly, enjoying the warmth of the fire. “It’s wonderful to see you again, Heike,” she said in her light, spirited voice. “It gets so lonely here. And you almost never come to see me!”

He smiled at her. “You know why. I can’t live here with you, dearest child. Not a single night would pass without my somehow landing in your bed.”

“Of your own free will?” she asked quickly. “Or because I would beg you to?”

“Of my own free will, as you know perfectly well. But ... your recklessness doesn’t exactly make it easier for me.”

“But Heike, I don’t understand why we can’t ...”

He interrupted her before she could make any tempting arguments. “A guardian does not sleep with his ward, Vinga! Especially not if she is only seventeen and the guardian ...”

“Stop!” she said, lifting her hand. “If I hear you say that you are ugly and grotesque one more time I won’t speak to you again!”

“Is that a promise?” he said, teasingly.

She threw a cushion at him.

But that was what he had been about to say. That same morning, when he had decided to visit Vinga – though with considerable hesitation because his longing for her had grown so strong – he had seen his reflection in the mirror and thought that perhaps it would be better for him to stay at home in his little house on the outskirts of Christiania. No one in the world could possibly be as ugly as he was. He was tall, slim and erect, but those were the only good features of his appearance. He looked at his wispy black hair, which seemed as though it might be hiding a pair of pointy troll-ears, and detested it. His eyes were slanted and yellow, his nose flared, his mouth was broad and wolf-like above a chin that was pointed like a fox’s. Those angular cheekbones, the shoulders, the hairy chest ...

He was one of the most stricken of the Ice People in terms of appearance.

And that crazy Vinga, the most beautiful creature on earth, claimed that he was handsome!

He had introduced her to other young men so that she could see the difference for herself. For he knew that he would someday lose her – it was only natural. But the nice young men bored her, she said. “They aren’t even beautiful! You are beautiful, Heike! The most beautiful thing in the world to me!”

So it wasn’t so strange that he only went there with reluctance.

He loved her, of course! He adored every inch of that ethereal little being: the blonde, cascading hair, the lively movements, the laughter, the cheerful eyes, her frequently shocking straightforwardness.

“How are you getting on with your attempt to regain Gråstensholm?” Vinga suddenly asked.

Instinctively, Heike lifted his eyes and looked out towards the large farm far off in the hills. But when he looked out the window all he saw, of course, was the darkness and a wall of falling snow.

“Not well,” he said. “Snivel is still sitting there like a big fat toad guarding his treasures. My treasures! He has no intention of disappearing.”

“Yes, I’m well aware of that, thank you very much.”

“Does he bother you?”

“He certainly does! He hates me, Heike. He hates me because the court gave Elistrand back to me and because I was awarded the money Sørensen had cheated my father out of. Things are good here now, the servants are dedicated and Elistrand is running well. Or, at least, acceptably – you saw the state of things yourself when we walked round it. It’s hard work, of course! But my mere presence is a thorn in Snivel’s side.”

“How does he bother you?”

“First he tried to get me ostracized in the parish by ruining my reputation. But he didn’t manage it, because the Ice People have always been loved in Gråstensholm Parish and no one likes Snivel. Since then he’s tried to vandalize the sawmill, the boat and the fishing tackle, and interfere with the grain production and the forestry. But thanks to my very loyal people I have managed to hold my ground and repair the damage. It’s as though I am being assisted by a higher power. Each time we think we’ll have to give up, unexpected help comes to us in the form of money or more grain or the like. People who owed my father something ...”

She looked confused. Heike turned his head away so that she wouldn’t be able to read his eyes and realize where the help was coming from ...

Vinga woke from her thoughts. “But Snivel’s perpetual smear campaign is taxing my energy, Heike. It makes one tired.”