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

“It’s just an optical illusion,” Tova attempted, her voice trembling.

“No, I don’t think so,” warned Rune. “And look there! That’s no mountain!”

Now they saw that the mountain top did not consist of rocks but was a pair of elbows protecting a head. It rose ever so slowly out of the ground.

“But what is it?” asked Tova. None of them could move and flee; it was as though their feet were glued to the asphalt.

“Presumably one of the monsters that Tengel the Evil commands,” Rune answered. “I don’t know them all. But you must remember that none of the creatures inhabiting the parallel world, the one that humans can’t see, are incidental. All spirits, all demons or monsters have a special role to play. I don’t know what this is. Come on, we have to turn the car around!”

“No, stop!” Halkatla whispered. “Don’t you recognize it Rune?”

The “mountain top” unfurled – that is to say, the elbows were parted and a bald, grey head was unveiled. A well-formed face became visible, with eyes that were like bottomless black wells in which a dancing green flame could be seen. And a mocking scornful laugh of revenge could be heard.

“Shama ...” Rune whispered. “No, that’s not one you forget. Come on, drive!”

Shama, the spirit of the rock. The lost hope. The lord of sudden deaths. Seemingly harmless and always with an ironic glimpse of humour in his eye. But more dangerous than a cobra!

A coarse but shapely arm stretched towards them to catch them. Tova screamed. It was clear as day that they wouldn’t manage to get away. She was just grateful that the road was as empty as it was that afternoon. If another car were to come along now ... She didn’t want anything bad to happen to innocent people.

All four hurled themselves into the car and Tova rushed to try to turn it around. The shadow of an enormous hand with long claws loomed over it.

And by the road there stood another horrifying, yet more human-looking figure.

“Good God,” Morahan whispered. “What in the world is this?”

Rune and Hatkatla weren’t in danger, at least they assumed they weren’t. But Tova and Morahan were living people ...

Then they heard the wonderful rumbling sound of Typhoon’s storm demons.

“Thank you! Oh thank you!” Tova exclaimed, suddenly aware that she had broken out in a cold sweat from sheer fear.

But Rune screamed aloud, “Watch out, Typhoon, watch out!”

The storm demons had already managed to whip up the soil surrounding Shama to such an extent that it nearly blinded him. The air around him roared, unbearable heat began to spread and the soil mixed with the swampy water so there was no doubt that Typhoon was receiving help from the four spirits of Taran-gai: earth, fire, air and water.

The four passengers in the car crowded together in order to escape the stifling, whirling winds. Morahan was struggling with a stuck window on his side of the car. Soil and pebbles swept in through the crack. The noise was infernal, and the air was full of deadly particles of soil and big pieces of asphalt from the road. One of them came crashing towards the windscreen, making everyone cringe with fright. But oddly enough the windshield did not break.

Meanwhile Shama had had enough, and he caved in before the superior force. In a gesture of rage towards the storm demons and the four spirits – which the humans couldn’t see, of course, but which they could sense – he disappeared back into the ground with a howl.

The roadway closed over him, as though there had never been a crack in it.

But the awful human figure by the side of the road, the one they couldn’t understand or really get a hold of, the one who merely disgusted them, remained where he was, apparently unaffected.

Rune coughed and brushed some soil off his tongue. “Drive,” he whispered in a hoarse voice. “Drive as if you had the world’s worst abomination at your heels! For that is Tengel the Evil’s second-in-command, and almost as dangerous as he is himself.”

“Number One?” muttered Tova who had already started the car.

“Yes. This will end in disaster. I warned them!”

They saw the abominable man stretch his arm out towards the storm, his eyes blazing with hatred and triumph.

The storm demons screamed. They screamed from fear and a worse sound than twenty of such demons putting all their effort into it Tova had never heard in her life. She had to stop the car and cover her ears with her hands to prevent her eardrums from bursting. Morahan did the same.

In the middle of all the noise they could hear Typhoon’s voice screaming, “Help us! Help! The Great Abyss!”

“We’ll do everything we can!” Rune shouted back to them.

But what could they do? The screams from the storm faded out across the ground and disappeared into a final prolonged, lamenting howl.

“Start the car again!” Rune shouted. “Hurry! No, don’t turn! Go north!”

Tova put her foot down. The car made a huge jump forward on the road like a scared frog until it found a natural rhythm.

Halkatla turned around. “He’s gone,” she said, surprised. “Where did he go?”

“Oh, they’re not so concerned with us,” Rune said insecurely. “They know they have trapped us.”

But he looked perplexed.

Hatkatla continued to watch the road behind them.

“A tiny car is approaching us ...”

Tova looked in the rear-view mirror. “A motorbike! God, it’s Marco! Oh, how wonderful!”

“I know!” said Rune with a big smile.

“Oh, joy!” sighed Hatkatla, “My hero!”

“Who’s Marco?” Morahan asked, as Tova pulled the car to a stop.

“He’s incredible,” Tova explained, her eyes sparkling “I wonder if it was he who ...”

“Perhaps not him,” said Rune pensively. “But his protectors.”

The motorbike pulled up next to them. Morahan sat and stared. “He can’t be real.” Yes, that was probably the best explanation for how a man could be so divinely handsome.

Everyone had stepped out of the car. In the presence of Marco they dared to do anything!

Tova gave a rambling, fumbling description of what had just occurred. Marco nodded seriously.

“Yes, my friends were the ones who dealt with Number One. He is much more dangerous than we thought ...”

“But now he’s been eliminated?”

“No, not at all! It’s not possible. You yourselves saw how the storm demons were unable to move him.”

“So where did he go?”

“He fled from the superior force. My friends did not appear before him in their true images, they didn’t dare. But all twenty of them became too much for him. It was better to flee than fight badly. But how tragic it was for the storm demons! They who have helped us so much!”

“Yes. By the way, what were you exposed to?” Halkatla asked.

“Bats. As big as owls. I needed help to shield myself from them. Our friends have had a busy day,” he concluded dryly.

They agreed that Marco should ride in front of them on his motorbike, which he had fetched from the airport that day along with Ellen’s bottle.

Now that Marco had joined them they felt that the journey would go much more smoothly.

It seemed the black angels’ attack had overwhelmed Number One, because they were left in peace for quite some time. But they could not forget their losses – Ellen and the storm demons.

“Imagine if they were also to take the black angels?” Tova said shakily as they finished eating their sandwiches in the car. It was evening and they needed to find accommodation for the night. But where could they stay that was safe? For the moment they had parked the car in a layby right by the road but not visible to passing traffic.

“They can’t take the black angels,” said Marco. “At least not in the same way that they took the storm demons. But ... and I’m afraid this is going to upset you all ...”