The Ice People 1 - Spellbound (The Legend of the Ice People) (19 page)

Gradually, Heming was sure that victory was just about to be won and he began to make preparations. This was when Silje stiffened. At the very last minute, he managed to place a hand over her mouth – just before she had time to scream.

But this was how she got her arm free and she didn’t hesitate to use it in the worst possible way. Heming let a scream - and at that moment Tengel entered.

The young boys had fled to all sides like frightened rabbits as he’d walked across the yard, stout and intimidating. He saw them and for a moment thought of running after them but then he heard Heming’s scream.

He rushed in and immediately saw what was going on. He stretched out his arm and pulled Heming up in his shirt collar so that he almost suffocated.

Silje stumbled to her feet. Stifled with sobs, she straightened her dress and tried to tidy her hair.

Tengel was livid. She’d never seen his face so shocking before. Heming screamed again.

“Don’t hurt me,” he howled. “Don’t curse me, Tengel. Don’t put evil in me. This was just a joke, I …”

“What d’you prefer,” Tengel managed to stammer, white as a sheet in the face …” that I hit you … or use other powers?”

“Then rather hit me! Hit me, for God’s sake, if you absolutely must. But it was not my intention to …”

“Then pull up your trousers,” hissed Tengel, and Heming immediately did as he was told.

But when Tengel grabbed him again, he began to yell again. “No, don’t hit, don’t hit. She’s not worth it! She’s just a …”

Tengel’s arm swung in motion. He hit again and again, absolutely out of his mind with rage until Silje tried to stop him.

Heming collapsed on the floor like a bloody sack. Tengel lifted him again and hurled him out in the yard.

“Take him with you,” he yelled at the young men who’d waited terror-stricken up at the edge of the forest.

Then he went in again. “What happened, Silje?” he asked breathless. “Did he hurt you?”

She stood with her back against him and with her arms on the cupboard. She was shaking all over. “No, no, he didn’t manage to do that. Thank you for coming! You seem to have the habit of turning up when I need you.”

“Yes, I was worried and decided to come down here earlier than usual. Now, now … don’t cry, little friend, it’s over now.”

She gasped for breath. “I’m not crying. Not quite, at any rate. But I don’t like … that you hit him. He deserved it but I don’t want to see you hitting somebody.”

Tengel closed his eyes. “This is something I’ve longed to do for a long time, Silje. Not just me but I imagine every single soul in this valley. Sooner or later, somebody had to put a stop to his ruthless behavior. I’m sorry that I was the one but I saw red. I’d like to ask for your forgiveness because you had to witness it, Silje.”

He went one step towards her.

“I understand,” she mumbled. “I must see to Dag,” she added quickly. She could feel that it wouldn’t be a good idea to land in Tengel’s arms right now.

She lifted up Dag and consoled him. He’d cried the whole time during Tengel’s struggle with Heming but nobody had taken care of him. Silje rocked him in her arms and tried to calm him.

Tengel walked over to the peephole and removed the wooden peg. He saw the young boys drag off with Heming. They held him up in the arms and he stumbled weakly between them.

“You ought to have more light here,” while he put back the peg. He stood there taking everything in and was fully aware at how shocked Silje was at what he’d done.

“I can see this is where you’ve placed your fine window. I probably ought to saw …”

She’d placed the window up on a cupboard and Tengel just stood there now touching the fine mosaic which Benedikt had made.

“No,” he said quietly.

“What do you mean?”

“No, that window doesn’t belong here.”

“I don’t know what you’re getting at.”

“It’s made for another wall. For an entirely different type of house than this one.”

“Does that mean to say that we’ve no right to it?”

Tengel had a distant expression on his face.

“Yes,” he said. “It’s yours.”

“Did you look into the future just now?” Silje asked in a whisper. She was trembling.

“Yes, I suppose I did. I suddenly felt a very strong urge not to put the window up here.”

None of them said a word.

Then Tengel straightened his back as if he tried to shake it all off him.

“No, I’d better help you now that I’m here. I’ll go out and fetch water and wood.”

“Thank you. Then I’ll change Dag in the meantime.”

When Eldrid returned with Sol a bit later, everything was as before. Heming’s visit was not mentioned at all.

Chapter 13

When everybody had left and the children put to bed, Silje took out the sketch book which Benedikt gave her. Nobody, not even Tengel, knew what had become with it.

She let her hand stroke the cover where she’d drawn a beautiful, little sketch of the valley of the Ice People. Then she opened the book.

In it, she’d written a kind of diary – just sort of now and then – when she thought that something quite out of the ordinary had occurred. In a neat handwriting and with so many spelling mistakes that the teacher on the farm at home would have burst in tears had she seen it, Silje now wrote:

Today I witnessed yet another of Tengel’s hidden talents. He put his hand on my window and looked into the future …”

She also wrote about a number of other events which were important to her, and then she closed the book and hid it well. With her head full of thoughts, she undressed and crept into the lonely bed.

***

Tengel didn’t walk home to his own place that evening. Restless and despairing, he wandered about up in the mountains, trying to come to terms with all his horrible thoughts.

When he’d walked about so long that the pale Moon had risen, he stopped. He stood still with his face in his hands.

“Oh, God,” he prayed. “Merciful Father, listen to your unhappy child. Help me; guide me; give me a sign! What am I to do? I love her so much, dear Father, and I can’t keep away from her. You know that she and the children need my help. They’re defenceless without me, and I’m the one who brought her to this wilderness. There was nothing to do but I know – I can feel – that she’s not entirely happy here. God, give me a sign so that I know what I’m to do. I only want the very best for her.”

Everything was quiet about him. He didn’t receive one single answer.

He turned around and once more walked downwards with tired, despondent steps. Far away he could discern some house roofs down in the valley.

Tengel didn’t watch where he walked. He didn’t see the frozen river he was to cross. When the ice broke under him, the shock made him shout out loud. The very next moment he lay in the crippling cold, flowing water and could feel that he was being pulled down, down towards the bottom of the opening he’d landed in.

Hs hands instinctively reached out for something he could hold on to but there was nothing else but the ice edge. He hung on to it.

“Is this your sign then?” he screamed towards the night sky. “Was this what you wanted to say? That my life isn’t worth anything at all? That she’ll be better off if I’m gone? That there’s no mercy for the poor soul who has the blood of Tengel the Evil in his veins?”

He lowered his head, placing his forehead on the arm that was already frozen stiff.

***

Tengel didn’t come to Silje’s house the next day and not the following day either. When he didn’t turn up on the third day, Silje left the children with Eldrid and went to his house far away in the valley.

She’d never been there before, had only seen it at a distance and thought that it looked pretty miserable.

She was anxious as she got closer to it. There was no smoke from the chimney, which made her scared.

It was a frail, little cabin and it slanted very much towards the one gable as if it could collapse at any moment. She hardly dared to knock on the door because it looked that miserable.

“Come in,” said Tengel. There was something strange about it. Just the mere sound of his voice triggered a lot of emotions in her, and she now realized how concerned she’d been because he hadn’t turned up as he tended to do.

She entered cautiously, slightly anxious whether he’d be angry or say that she was over-reacting. Maybe he just wanted to stay away, and maybe he believed that she ought to have got the message.

“Silje,” he said hoarsely, sitting up in bed. “Here I am – and what a mess there is in here!”

He was worried what
she
would think! Silje was quite touched.

“But Tengel, I don’t care what this place looks like. You know perfectly well that I’m not a methodical person myself. But you live in a
shack
, which is much worse. The wall isn’t tight so that you can look straight through it.”

“I’ve tried to seal the cracks with moss,” he said hoarsely, “but there were too many of them.”

She was shocked at how weak he seemed. His dear face was so changed and the shadows under is eyes much darker than otherwise.

“You’re sick,” she said deeply concerned, placing herself on the bedside. She could feel the feverish warmth from his body. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

He turned his face away. “Don’t get too close to me, Silje. I look so awful. I want to look nice when I’m close to you.”

“What a lot of nonsense, you fool,” she smiled. “Have you been sick for a long time?”

“On the day when Heming called at your place, I was so agitated and confused about our future that I went for a walk in the mountains. I walked the whole evening. And it ended when I went through the ice on the river and landed in the ice water,” he said with a cough that shook his whole body.

“You could have died,” said Silje. She was shocked.

“Yes. Never in my life did I feel so deserted, also by God. And you were cross because I’d been fighting.”

Another fit of coughing stopped him.

“Only I
wanted
to see you again, just one more time. So I pulled myself together. But the following morning, I didn’t have the strength to get out of bed.”

“Thank God that you at least managed to reach this place,” she said. “How do you feel now?”

“Better, I think. But I seem to have lost my energy.”

She slipped her hand inside his shirt, placing it on his hairy chest. She could feel how his heart pounded against her hand while she tried to concentrate on that instead of how her own body reacted to it.

“Yes, I’m probably still a bit unwell,” he whispered in a dull voice. “I tried to heal myself but …”

“You need to be in a warm place,” Silje said.”This place is ice cold. And you need some nourishment as well. Now you move to
my
place and I won’t take no for an answer!”

“Well, right now I’m certainly not dangerous,” he said with a little smile as he leaned back in his bed, tired.

“Your horse … how’s it doing?”

“It’s been in my thoughts all the time. I’ve practically had to crawl over to the stable to take care of it.”

“Well, you’ll have to crawl up on it now. Have there been any others in your thoughts?”

“Now you’re fishing, aren’t you, Silje? I’ve already answered that question.”

Silje was elated. Finally, he’d agreed to move over to her place! And she was certainly going to see to it that he wouldn’t move back!

Occasionally she was quite surprised at herself – at how strong-willed she’d become. Or maybe she’d been this way always? Maybe her willpower had been temporarily subdued by far too strict an upbringing. She was beginning to suspect that this was the case.

Because up until now she was too scared to admit to herself that she’d made a decision a long time ago. Old Hanna had promised her a child. Silje was to see to it that it was Tengel’s - and nobody else’s - child!

She wasn’t put off by the old legacy. If everybody was like Tengel – what was there then to fear?

Tengel sat so straight on the horse’s back that you’d think he had a stick in his own. But he couldn’t manage to keep his head up. He sat hunched over as if he were sleeping. Silje steered the horse as she walked by its side. She was so happy that it was like a triumphal procession.

They passed Eldrid’s house on the way and Silje shouted for her from a long distance. Eldrid appeared with the children, and together they continued up to the small farm.

Tengel lay in Silje’s bed with shiny eyes and watched while they eagerly made a bed for him in the parlour. Sol was just as pleased as the others that he’d come. Silje wanted to give him the very best she had. She made soup and prepared food. She was blissfully happy. Tengel had a lump in his throat over all this. He wasn’t used to living together with others. Nobody had ever done so much for him!

He was used to nobody wanting to have anything to do with him.

***

Tengel was slowly getting better under Silje’s care. Everybody thought that it was fantastic that he was in the house. Sol was delighted and crept up in bed to him every morning and even Dag seemed to understand a bit. He smiled happily with his two teeth at the big man. Silje felt that her life was now complete. She tended to Tengel in all possible ways and had become quite domestic in all her attempts at making the very best food for him. Eldrid smiled to herself every time she paid a visit.

“You deserve to be spoiled,” said Eldrid. “You’ve lived a lonely life without love. You could’ve moved here a long time ago.”

Tengel didn’t comment on that but it was very evident that he was happy. It was impossible to be otherwise among such warm and caring people.

They were told that Heming had left the valley as soon as the roads were passable. Apparently, Silje’s rejection and the following treatment had left him deeply humiliated.

Tengel wasn’t happy about this. Silje could see this on his frowned forehead. He was always scared when Heming was out and about. Such a daredevil could easily be captured – and there wasn’t always a Silje to come to his rescue. And if Heming was under pressure, he wouldn’t think twice of betraying his family in order to save his skin.

***

“Today I’ll get out of bed,” said Tengel.

“One day more please,” said Silje as nicely as she could. “To be quite sure.”

“But I’m
well
now!” he protested.

He certainly looked well but she was adamant. “One day more!”

He sighed and caved in. For a few hours.

When she came back after helping Eldrid in the stable, he’d got dressed but was still lying in bed.

“Where’s Sol?” he asked.

“At Eldrid’s place with the kittens. I’ll fetch her in an hour’s time. But Tengel, oughtn’t you …?

“No, I oughtn’t. You’ve bossed me about long enough. Now I want to show you that I also have a mind of my own. I’ll move back tomorrow.”

“No!” she shouted unhappily. “No, I won’t allow you to move back to that cold house.”

She’d walked over to the bed and put her hands on his shoulders.

Tengel held her hands with strong fingers. “You know perfectly well that this just won’t work out,” he said in a low tone of voice. “How do you think I’ve felt these last few nights ... with you in your bedroom … knowing that you’re lying under the blankets? I imagine your curves, your warmth and your mouth … the mouth which I’ve already tasted once …”

She sat down.

“I know,” she whispered. “I’ve had the same thoughts, staring into the darkness. I’ve thought … now he’s getting out of bed ... walking across the floor … standing in the door with his broad shoulders in the glow from the fireplace … Now he’s coming to me … but you never came.”

“Yes, in my thoughts I did.”

His eyes were sharper than ever before; it was as if they gleamed from an inner flame.

“You’ve enjoyed staying here, haven’t you?” she tried to say in despair.

“I’ve never been so happy before. I could’ve given my life to stay here.”

He lifted his hand and stroked her throat out towards the shoulder. She loosened her blouse a bit so that he had more room. His hand was very warm and his fingers trembled.

“Let me see,” he whispered, “just once.”

“No,” she whispered back, “you may touch.”

She opened her blouse a bit more so that he could place his hand on her breast. Silje could tell by his breathing that this wasn’t so easy. He pulled his hand back with a jerk.

She looked at his frightening face which she adored so immensely. She could feel the tears come. With a sob she threw herself in his arms.

“I just can’t manage to lose you again. Please don’t move back!”

Tengel had put his arms around her. It probably hadn’t been so good for any of them that he’d been so intimate.

“My dear girl, dear girl,” he mumbled. “It hurts so terribly to think that also you must suffer for the sins of my forefathers.”

He put his hand under her chin, turned her face towards him and kissed here. Quietly and gently with a restraint that vibrated and burned against her lips.

Then he let go of her lips. I think that it’s probably best that you get up,” he said in a throaty tone of voice.

“Let go of me then,” she whispered.

But he didn’t move his arms. “Goodness, Silje,” he whispered, shocked. “This is wrong. Please get up.”

“I can’t. You’re holding me.”

Without a word but with wild anxiety in his eyes, he pulled her right up in bed. He began to fumble after her apron strings, tossing it on the floor. Her stocking went the same way. It was as if Tengel was now acting according to a primitive instinct, which he’d never before allowed to see the light of day. There were no barbaric thoughts behind his behaviour, only a passionate desire.

Silje got up on her knees and tore off his shirt. With him she didn’t have to pretend. Her shyness had completely vanished. Tengel lifted himself a bit more so that he could remove her dress. His fingers trembled as if they couldn’t move fast enough.

She stroked him over the chest with rhythmic movements and felt how burning warm her body turned. She could feel the dress glide down from the shoulders and pulled it over the head herself.

Tengel, who’d never been together with a woman, pulled her underneath him in the bed. It was as if he no longer realized what he was doing.

Her hands glided over his shoulders. Sure, they were deformed but she loved him as she loved everything else about him. Her hands moved further down, over his narrow hips and along the hairy thighs. He lifted himself a bit so that she could pull up her knees, and for a moment she saw it. “Oh, dear, I can’t tackle this,” she thought. But a moment later he had found his way and discovered that her body was ready to welcome him.

She bit him in the shoulder so as to stifle the scream that was on her lips. For a desperate moment, she wanted to let go but then it was too late. All she could do was to close her eyes tightly and let him take and give as they had wanted practically from the first day they’d met.