Margit Sandemo - The Ice People 43 - A Glimpse of Tenderness

“Uncle Na ... I mean, Nataniel, is that you?”

Then he grew worried. Nataniel didn’t look at all well. And he seemed so sad! And what was he doing in a hospital bed?

“Nataniel! can you hear me?”

It seemed they were alone in the ward.

His uncle moved his lips. He seemed paralysed somehow. “Ellen,” he whispered. “They’ve taken Ellen.”

Gabriel became alarmed and tried to straighten himself up on his elbow but it was completely impossible. Oh no, the headache was coming back! And his whole body, all his limbs and his back, was in pain.

“Nataniel,” he said urgently, “How are you? It’s me, Gabriel, I’m here, too.”

After a while it finally seemed as though Nataniel understood. He turned his head towards the boy’s bed. But his gaze was foggy and hazy, as though he had been drugged. “Little Gabriel,” he said tenderly. “How are you?”

They briefly shared their symptoms with one another. Then Nataniel said: “Linde-Lou said something just before I lost consciousness. He mentioned the Great Abyss.”

“Do you think that Ellen ...?”

“I don’t understand it, but what if it’s true? But, no, it can’t be! It just can’t be!”

“But if it is true,” said Gabriel, his voice grainy with tears, “Who was it that did it? Got her over there, I mean? Was it Tengel the Evil himself?”

“If it was he didn’t do it personally. But the man who entered the hangar ... the one they call Number One. Gabriel, chills shivered down my back when I met his gaze. He was the scariest creature I’ve ever seen. And we’ve seen quite a lot, both in the Demon’s Mountain and among Tengel the Evil’s helpers, but this was something completely different. Something much worse. Because he was human. Do you understand?”

“I think so,” answered Gabriel a little uncertainly.

Nataniel closed his eyes. “I think he was the one who did it to Ellen. It couldn’t have been anyone else.”

He continued through clenched teeth: “I’m going to mobilize every single one of our allies among the spirits and demons to determine the location of the Great Abyss. If it exists at all, which I doubt. But where else could she be? Believe me, Gabriel, I won’t give up until I’ve found Ellen, dead or alive.”

Gabriel wanted to object that they already had a task ahead of them, but he thought it would be too petty to bring up the Valley of the Ice People at a moment like this.

In any case, neither he nor Nataniel could do much right now. All they could do was stay put in their sickbeds until the doctor gave them permission to leave.

Mali had not been able to recognize Tengel the Evil in the guise of Per Olav Winger. But Benedikte was one of the stricken. Completely unsuspecting, she had come out into the hallway to greet the vacuum cleaner representative, whom they hadn’t summoned. She stopped dead in her tracks.

She stared at the man standing over by the cupboard, which he was inspecting with his back to her. She sensed the repulsive smell but that wasn’t what made her react. Despite the fact that Per Olav was a tall, erect man who didn’t in the least resemble Tengel the Evil, Benedikte seemed to see right through him. She saw what was concealed behind the everyday appearance of this man. It wasn’t that she actually saw Tengel the Evil, but she could sense his presence.

She managed to whisper a few words to Mali. “Hurry! Both of you run to the Voldens and warn them! All the children must be sent away. Get word to the rest of the family!”

Mali gave her a quizzical look, to which Benedikte merely nodded. Her daughter-in-law quickly left the room.

The man had turned around and as he did so he put on a pair of dark glasses. But Benedikte had managed to catch a glimpse of the evil yellow gaze.

She knew that she herself wouldn’t manage to get away. For one thing she was too old, and for another someone would have to keep him at bay while the others ran to safety.

Outwardly she was very calm. But her heart was pounding wildly. Sander! she thought. Sander, my dearest friend, it has been many lonely years! And now they will soon be over!

She pretended that she thought it was the vacuum cleaner man standing before her.

“I understand that you were told we were interested in buying a new vacuum cleaner,” she said courteously. It was a matter of stalling for time. “But there must be some misunderstanding. The one we have works just fine.”

But Tengel the Evil didn’t waste time.

“Benedikte,” he said with deep loathing as he removed his sunglasses. “Face to face. You who defied me in your youth. What became of that, by the way? You look horrible. You take after me, I see. I am pleased to see that.”

She straightened her back. “Get out of my house. Right now!”

He laughed coldly. “Just listen to this.”

Tengel the Evil took a step closer to her and the repulsive stench almost stifled her. “You’re afraid of dying, all you pathetic mortals are. I’ll let you stay alive if you’ll tell me who it was who helped you at Fergeoset. Who ruined my idol there, which I would give my life to be able to use now. Who was that wretch?”

“I won’t tell you.”

“Then I’ll kill all the children in the family.”

“You will do that anyway.”

That response provoked Tengel in the extreme.

“I’ll give you a last chance to save them all. Who was it?”

“You can threaten all you want,” said Benedikte, her heart bleeding with sorrow. Never to see this again: Linden Avenue. Her son André and his Mali. Her grandson Rikard and his little family.

But she had lived a long life, she would soon be ninety. And she had had a rich life.

When Tengel the Evil realized that he would get nowhere with her, Per Olav Winger’s face became twisted and from his gaping mouth a grey-green cloud of vapour came tumbling towards her. Benedikte retreated; it felt as though her body was burning from the unbearable stench and her lungs couldn’t get any air. Without resistance, she collapsed on the floor.

Per Olav Winger went on into the house to find the others. But they had already left Linden Avenue. When he discovered that he rushed to the next house of the Ice People, fuming with rage.

Someone helped Benedikte up. Heike. Her protector.

“We let it happen,” he said, smiling at her tenderly. “Because Tengel the Evil has made life more difficult for himself. We need you here with us, where your capabilities will be put to proper use: you with your ability to read the history of objects and look into hidden things.”

“But he is after the others! They must be saved!”

“We’re already taking action to eliminate that danger.”

All at once she noticed that there were others in the room. Tengel the Good was there, and Sol. And Shira. She greeted them, overwhelmed with joy, and they welcomed her into their midst.

“As you can see, not many of us are here,” said Tengel the Good. “All the others are busy saving their protegés from our evil ancestor. I can’t say out loud where they are being taken, but you know already, don’t you?”

Yes, Benedikte knew. In the greatest secrecy, the children were being taken to the Demon’s Mountain. Thank goodness! They would be safe with Tula!

She happened to look down at herself and discovered that she was no longer wearing her dignified old lady’s dress. Instead she was dressed like the others, in a simple, light tunic. And her hands. All the brown spots and swollen veins that had come with age had disappeared.

“Yes, you are young again, Benedikte,” said Sol, smiling. “And you are wonderfully sweet and womanly. Touchingly feminine, as you have always been.”

“Thank you,” she said, surprised. “I always saw myself as big and clumsy and mannish.”