Margit Sandemo: The Ice People 13 - The Devil´s Footprint

It would be good to get away from life at Court for a while. This may seem boastful but I think I’m too strong for them: all those who intrigue and try to elbow their way into His Majesty’s favour ...

Niklas looked up. “The rest hasn’t anything to do with the matter. I haven’t replied yet because I didn’t link these rumours with the monster that is on its way south towards us. But after the description we’ve heard from the drunkard ...”

Kaleb rose. “And after this letter from those two in Sweden! Dominic isn’t in the habit of imagining things. When he has his visions or whatever we are to call them, we should listen to him. Write immediately, Niklas, and ask them to come!”

“Yes,” the others said in one voice.

“Now we understand the seriousness of the matter,” Andreas said. “What is it that’s happened? Kaleb, you’ve been in the Valley of the Ice People. What can it be?”

All eyes were on Kaleb. He was pensive for a while.

“I wasn’t so old at the time,” he started, “and nobody said anything to me directly. So I can only speak about what I myself perceived.”

“That’ll do,” Alv said. He had great respect for the oldest member of the clan.

A quick smile. “No, I’m afraid it won’t.”

Kaleb imagined himself once more in the windy valley far up in the mountains of Trøndelag. He was with three men he had just met: Tarjei, Baard and Bergfinn. They had got to know each other during the long trek to find Kolgrim. He remembered his admiration of Tarjei and the helpless sorrow that seized him when Kolgrim killed the fine scientist ... He remembered the exchange of words between the two, how fragments of it had been carried on the wind to the spot where he stood.

He said very slowly: “But this I can say for sure: Tarjei and Kolgrim knew something. And Kolgrim yelled to Tarjei that he had seen the Devil himself, and Tarjei said that wasn’t the case but that the description fitted Tengel the Evil.”

Andreas clenched his hands around the arm of the chair. “No, Niklas: you mustn’t go on this trek.”

Niklas silenced his father with a wave of his hand, making a sign to Kaleb to go on with his story.

Mattias broke in: “Niklas, when you write to Villemo, ask them to bring Mikael’s book about the Ice People with them. He wrote everything down.”

“I certainly will. Well, Uncle Kaleb?”

“Well, what can I say?” Kaleb sighed. “This is mere guesswork, but since we returned from the Valley of the Ice People and I heard more about this legend, I think I can honestly say that the spot where Tengel the Evil met the Prince of Darkness is bound to be there in that very valley. I also remember how Kolgrim came running, well, bolting actually, away from there, screaming like a lunatic.”

He was silent. Then he continued: “And then we buried Kolgrim in that valley. And we realized afterwards that we’d accidentally buried the mandrake with him.”

Everybody knew what the mandrake was: a family heirloom that had been in the Ice People’s possession for centuries. The mandrake was considered the most prestigious herb used in witchcraft. It was the root of what in Mediterranean countries was known as mandragora. This root was shaped like a human and was used as a protective charm that could also eliminate enemies, accumulate wealth or improve someone’s love life.

Except the Ice People’s mandrake had never acted as protection for them. On the contrary! And now it had vanished from the face of the earth together with Kolgrim the Unfortunate!

Alv’s face showed disgust. “A mandrake? Surely it can’t turn into a human being then?”

“No, of course not,” Mattias said quickly.

“Kolgrim? Could he ...?” Andreas asked. “That ... no, that’s a horrible thought!”

They were silent. Those among them who had seen Kolgrim wondered whether it could be him. He certainly had the shoulders and the eyes as well, but there had never been anything wrong with his feet and Kolgrim had been nothing but a young lad, a boy of 14, when he died, and not very tall.

“Why on earth would he suddenly return to life?” Mattias asked uneasily.

“Maybe the mandrake has the power to make that happen?” Alv suggested.

The thought was repulsive. That the boy who was buried along with the mandrake root, had woken, grown up and become a man and then sought out his native place – to seek revenge?

Andreas collected his thoughts: “No, I don’t believe in ghosts. I’d rather believe it’s Tengel the Evil!”

“No,” Kaleb brushed him off resolutely. “Because I heard Tarjei and Kolgrim. It was obvious that Tengel the Evil was a small, ugly creature with a beak-like nose.”

Mattias nodded. “Sol’s said to have seen him like that in a drug-induced dream.”

“I see,” Andreas nodded. “This leaves us with two alternatives: either it’s the Devil himself who has come up for a spot of fresh air on earth or else ...”

Niklas finished the sentence for him: “Or this must be about another branch of the Ice People.”

This wasn’t an encouraging thought. They sank back in grim silence.

“No, it can’t be!” Mattias blurted. “All of them died. But this makes me think of something else, another way of getting an answer. Kaleb, unless I’m much mistaken, didn’t you say that Tarjei and Kolgrim had been up in the attic at Graastensholm immediately before they left for the Valley of the Ice People?”

“Yes.”

“No, wait a moment,” Niklas said. “This is what most of us have already tried. Searched without finding anything. Several generations have searched up there. But when Villemo went up there with Irmelin, she sensed a strong opposition from a part of the loft. They felt that Sol was trying to warn them. With her special gifts, Villemo might have found something or other – and it was dangerous for her. The girl believed she would be needed some time in the future, and I agree with her. It would probably have made matters worse if Dominic had gone up there because his intuition is remarkable. It wouldn’t make sense for us to search any more. We won’t find anything. We know this already.”

“I wouldn’t mind giving it a try,” Alv said with all the youthful love of adventure.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Grandpa Andreas warned. “Besides, you don’t possess any of the special gifts of the Ice People, thank goodness,” he added.

“Anyway, whatever it was that Kolgrim and Tarjei found, there’s a dangerous power behind it. They both lost their lives. Please remember that!” Kaleb said.

“Haven’t we moved somewhat away from the topic now?” Andreas asked. “Do you think that this monster is on its way here?”

“There are no signs of that,” Mattias replied. “Only Christiania has been mentioned.”

The servant girl entered and everybody brightened up. You simply couldn’t do otherwise in Elisa’s presence. Elisa was the daughter of Lars and Marit from the smallholding in the forest. She was Jesper’s grandchild and the great-grandchild of Klaus and Rosa. Elisa had been with them on the night when they found Skaktavl beaten and bruised and saved his life. Then she had been a lively one-year-old and now, twenty years later, she was just as bubbly and bright. A mass of blonde curls framed her charming little face, which didn’t seem to consist of much other than bright blue, eager eyes and big, white teeth. A small, freckled snub nose completed the impression of immense zest for life. She was sharply intelligent, her brain power far beyond that of the other inhabitants of the smallholding, but then nobody was looking for that in her. She had a bright, flexible and down-to-earth way of thinking and everyone at Linden Avenue worshipped her. It was she who had taken on the responsibility of managing the household after Eli passed away. The beloved Eli, after whom she was named.