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

“Then I’ll kill him,” he said, raging. He hadn’t forgotten his defeat on the small square. Like an irritated bull, he charged across the forest. “He’s not armed, what is there to be afraid of?”

The colonel was heavily armed so he felt confident and sure of himself.

But before he managed to get within firing range, a loud shot rang out in the forest. One of the scouts must have moved sufficiently close to the Beast.

“Damn,” the colonel muttered to himself. “Now I’ve missed my chance.”

The creature up there started and sank out of sight.

“I got him,” the agitated scout yelled. “I shot that devil.”

Colonel Plucky met the two men. One was swinging his rifle triumphantly.

“I got him! He’s not immortal. I shot the biggest menace in the history of Norway. I’m a hero! I looked him straight in the eyes and they were ...”

His eyes began to flicker. The corners of his mouth slid downwards, and his chin dropped. “Help me,” he whispered, surprised. “I think I ...”

Then his knees gave way. He fell forward and rolled over, then lay motionless on his back, his eyes staring blindly towards the sky with an expression of surprise and anxiety.

“Dead?” the colonel said incredulously. “He wasn’t even close to the Beast!”

“He said it himself. He looked him right in the eye,” the other scout muttered.

The colonel tried to think but his thoughts fluttered like confused butterflies.

At that moment they saw a shadow from the corners of their eyes.

Up on the cliff, the Beast had got to his feet again. He seemed twice as large as before, but this was, of course, merely an optical illusion.

“Come on, let’s be off,” the surviving scout whispered.

“We’re pulling back for renewed consultations,” the colonel corrected him with dignity.

But he pulled back extremely fast, out of the range of vision of the evil creature on the cliff.

Chapter 3

There was hectic activity in the former hunting lodge at Mörby in Sweden. Dominic and Villemo were setting off for Norway at very short notice. The whole house was in a tizzy.

Dominic was in the bedroom upstairs, trying to find some suitable clothes to travel in. Villemo had a very untidy way of searching for things in drawers and cupboards: whatever lay in the way she would simply throw over her shoulder into the room, leaving the chambermaid to tidy up afterwards.

“Villemo,” Dominic said impatiently. “You’re throwing underwear at my feet the way others would scatter roses!”

“Maybe it was a delicate hint?” she said teasingly, lifting her head from the lid of the rococo chest.

“Maybe there’s something you want to complain about?”

“No, no, certainly not,” Villemo laughed in surprise. “Dominic, have you seen my fine gauntlets?”

“Weren’t they the ones you used when you weeded the kitchen garden?”

“Honestly, Dominic: I’m not that stupid! Come to think of it, I think I did use them in the garden after all. Oh, Dominic, how do you think everything will turn out?”

“With the vegetables?”

“No! With this Beast that Niklas writes about. This news has truly shocked me.”

“The Beast will probably do fine. What’s more uncertain is how things will turn out for us.”

“Must you be such a hair-splitter?”

Dominic walked over to Villemo and took her face between his hands. “All I can say is that an eerie sharpness has taken over my feelings and forebodings about what is happening elsewhere. Thank goodness for the letter from Niklas; without that I’d have gone crazy knowing and yet not knowing.”

“I know exactly how you feel.”

He gazed at her searchingly. “You seem so young, Villemo. You haven’t changed at all over these many years. So incredibly young ...”

Villemo turned serious. “I’ve even noticed it myself, and your dad agrees. It’s as if I’ve stopped developing.”

“No, that isn’t how I’d put it because your thoughts are certainly mature and you have such a strong personality, with such a strong character, that the silly ladies at court become quite nervous at the mere thought. They’re afraid of you, Villemo. Afraid that you may be more highly esteemed by the King and Queen than the rest of them.”

“Yes, I know. It’ll be wonderful to breathe in some fresh rural air in Norway and not have to think about damned etiquette. No, I didn’t mean to complain, Dominic. I’ve very much enjoyed spending time among the people at Court, with their intrigues and glamour – the place is certainly magnificent.”

She smiled quickly and absentmindedly and continued in her own train of thought. Dominic said: “To me, it seems that you ... or to be more precise, your power, your capacity, has been saved for a particular objective.”

“So now is the right time, then?”

“Yes, it seems so.”

“Dominic, there’s something in your bearing that frightens me. In your eyes ...”

He took a deep breath. “Yes, you’re right. I’m scared.”

“You feel ... the presence of death, don’t you?”

It was a little while before he answered. “Yes, I do, and it makes me sick with terror. If only I could make you stay at home ... in safety.”

“Oh, forget that!” she said with a hint of sharpness. “You know that I’m at least as much involved in this as you.”

“Yes, unfortunately.”

There was a discreet tap on the door and Dominic’s father asked politely: “May I come in?”

“Of course,” Villemo answered. “Do come in.”

They automatically looked around to see whether the room was presentable and were horrified at the mess. Villemo quickly gathered up her underwear and tossed it in a drawer.

Mikael entered. He was sixty years old, with silver threads in his hair and an absentminded expression in his gentle eyes. He was carrying some heavy books.

“Here are the accounts of the Ice People. Only it’s not just a single volume. Had they been printed, they’d have filled fewer pages but it’s merely a family chronicle and everything’s handwritten ...”

“We’ll take great care of them, Dad,” Dominic said in awe. “It would be terrible if everything was lost.”

Mikael nodded. “And now you’re ready to leave, right?”

“Yes, early tomorrow. Villemo insists that she’s become so lazy from life at Court that she’d like to travel in a carriage, but I’m heartless and said that we haven’t got time for that. Besides, riding will do her good.”

“Yes, young Tengel and I will take good care of one another until you get back,” Mikael assured them.

If we get back, Villemo thought grimly.

“Thank you. It’s nice to know that at least you’re in good hands with one another.”

“I can’t help being slightly uneasy,” Mikael sighed. “We all know that this is something you have to go through but I don’t think we’d imagined anything so frightening. It doesn’t make sense to me at all! How are you supposed to know that this Beast is one of the Ice People’s kin?”

“We can’t be sure of it either,” Dominic replied, discreetly kicking away some of Villemo’s scattered lace underwear. “We don’t know very much. We’ll probably find out more in Norway.”

“He doesn’t kill animals,” Villemo said pensively.

“No wonder,” Mikael replied. “A creature who’s so completely different feels solidarity with animals. Feels at home with them. It would seem that he just hates anything to do with human beings.”

“Yes,” Villemo said. “Or else it’s his nature to kill.”

The others didn’t comment on that. Instead Dominic said: “From what I understand from Niklas’s letter, the monster is searching for something. He’s fairly sure where he wants to go. But then he seems to drift about without any plan.”