The Ice People 1 - Spellbound (The Legend of the Ice People) (18 page)

Tengel shouted but his voice drowned in the roar from the river. The river was far too wide for him to cross and Heming just stood there, giggling.

Tengel searched in despair for a stone he could throw as a warning sign but at that very moment Heming caught his sleeve and pointed.

Tengel hadn’t seen the Bratteng boy’s attack but it was very obvious that Silje must have discovered him at the right moment. Everything happened so quickly that they could hardly keep pace.

As quick as lightning, Silje grabbed the boy’s hair and pulled so that he had to put his hands upwards in an attempt at getting away. At the same time, she hit him on the chin with the other hand, and at the very next moment she plunged her knee in his groin. The boy doubled up and tumbled a few steps backwards before he collapsed on the ground and squirmed. Silje quickly gathered her laundry and ran from the river towards the house.

Tengel and Heming looked at each other.

“My word,” exclaimed Heming. “I’d better not upset the apple cart.”

“She told me that she’d learned how to defend herself,” said Tengel dumb-founded. “But that she did so
that
thoroughly …”

They continued down towards the bridge across the river. The Bratteng boy had got on his feet and had staggered away. He wasn’t likely to make a new attempt.

“I’ll go up to her place,” mumbled Tengel when they’d crossed the river.

He found her outside, busy hanging her clothes to dry on the clothes line. But already at a distanced he could tell that she was agitated.

“Silje, I saw what happened,” he said as he approached her.

She let go of what she had in her hands and threw herself in his arms without thinking whether it was right or wrong.

“Oh, Tengel, if only you could be here always!”

Her voice was quite shocked. “I’m so helpless without you!”

This wasn’t quite the impression I got,” said Tengel. He was surprised at how much his voice trembled. Now he could really feel how powerless he’d felt and how much it had hurt him.

They hadn’t talked about their housing situation that day when they opened up towards one another, which was almost two months ago.

“Where’re the children?” he mumbled with his lips against her hair.

“With Eldrid. I’m scared of bringing them down to the river.”

Tengel didn’t want to let go of her and Silje didn’t do anything to do so.

“Has Dag recovered?” he asked so that it wouldn’t be too embarrassing just to stand there.

“I don’t think he’s all that strong but this is probably because, as you’ve said, that he was never breastfed. But now he can sit up. With support.”

“By the way, there’s something that I’ve often thought of talking with you about. It’s about Dag. But … I’ve always had my mind on other things when we’ve met.”

She smiled. His fingers played with a lock of hair that had come loose during housework. Silje’s head rested on his chest with her head towards his shoulder, and she gazed dreamily over the yard. He held his arms around her.

“You remember Dag’s clothes – and the letters C.M., don’t you?” he asked.

“I doubt whether I’ll ever forget them.”

“As you’ll remember you found the child near the city gates and there was a baron’s crown on the clothes. I sent a man out – the driver, by the way – to track the mother of the child. We believed that he was successful. But I never managed to tell you before we were forced to move to this place, and since then I just haven’t done so.”

“How on earth could you forget?” She looked at him with stern eyes. “You know very well that I’ve been very keen to know where he comes from. Well, what did the driver then find out?”

Although Silje’s eyes were directed at him, Tengel tried to concentrate on what he was supposed to do.

“There’s a Baron Meiden who has a palace close to the city gates. He has a daughter, Charlotte. Not one of the very youngest … and not one of the most beautiful either, so they say.”

Silje fell completely silent in his arms. She probably didn’t even notice that this was where she was.

“So the unknown woman, Charlotte Meiden, has come alive. It seems rather sad. Now I know who has the right to our little boy.”

Tengel noticed that she said “our little boy.” He felt a twinge in his heart.

His voice was gentle. “She’s no right to him, Silje, and she probably doesn’t want to keep him either. But I understand how you feel.”

Charlotte Meiden … Silje couldn’t extricate herself from thinking about her. She was filled with deep compassion. It didn’t occur to her at all that the woman had placed the child there so that it would die. Silje understood better than most.

“Wake up, Silje,” Tengel said with a soft voice. “You’re very far away in your thoughts.”

Her thoughts left Trondheim and returned to the poor farm in the mountains. The fire was still smouldering underneath the wash boiler by the tree in the yard. A bird chirped its joyful message of spring. But Tengel didn’t notice any of this. He only had eyes for Silje.

Holding her in his arms like this … precisely as he’d dreamed of …

“Silje,” he whispered. “Every day has been hell, and the nights twice as bad.”

“For me as well,” she said in a low tone of voice and looked at him once more.

“And now when I saw that lout down by the river … I thought I was about to go to pieces inside.”

Slowly a smile lighted up her face. It was as if it was not until now that she’d had Tengel’s arms around her for a long time. Her warm sensation flowed through her, and blood warmed her right to her finger tips. Trembling, she lifted her arms, placing her hands around his face, gently stroking him over the cheeks.

Tengel gasped for breath, began to breathe more heavily, drawing her fervently to him. There they stood, in a tight embrace, cheek to cheek. She could feel his mouth that sought down her throat and she turned her head backwards. His lips tickled her skin and she moaned with pleasure, pressing herself even closer to him. Tengel let his mouth glide up over her face, kissed her gently on the cheeks, the forehead, the eyes and then … the mouth.

Soft and gently at first but then with an intensity that made the blood rush to her once more. He kissed her again and again, dizzying, intoxicating – and with so much love that Silje just received, floating in ecstasy.

Suddenly she discovered that her hands held him about the shoulders like claws and that for a long time she’d pressed her body towards his in a way that just couldn’t be misunderstood.

He swallowed something, pushed her slightly away from him and looked down on her face. The happy, sensuous smile was still on her face. His eyes were hazy, as if he didn’t know where he was.

“What is to become of the two of us, Silje?” he whispered, scared. “I oughtn’t to exist. I ought to die!”

“No,” she wailed. “Don’t let me be all on my own in this world. I’m nothing without you. Come, come with me indoors. Look. I’ll stand on the one side of the doorway and you’ll stand outside on the other doorstep. You mustn’t leave!”

She talked feverishly in order to keep him. Reluctantly he agreed to her naïve idea. It felt stupid standing like this but he did so for her sake.

She stammered. “We need each other in so many ways, Tengel, every single hour of the day. To be able to talk together, solve our problems together. Make each other happy …”

“I know,” he said wistfully. “We need each other so intensely. You and I, Silje … We’re like a tree that’s divided in two. And if it’s not put together again, then the tree will die.”

She looked at him with breathless attention but he didn’t say the words she was waiting for. She had to say them herself.

“Why not try, then? Do we
have
to have children?”

He sent her a warm smile. “I believe we’re both pretty hot-blooded. Do you think we’ll lose control?”

“Yes,” she answered and felt ashamed. “Sorry.”

He put his hand over hers on the window frame. “Never apologize to me, Silje. Don’t you think I understand you? You’re just saying aloud what I also think. But I must leave now.”

She tried desperately to find something to talk about. “Er … I’ve often thought …”

He stopped.

“I’ve often thought about the first night we met. You had a great many riders with you. Riders who obeyed you. Who were they?”

“The Ice People,” he said with a smile. “We were all sent out by the chief to bring Heming home, you remember. We’d heard that he was captured and his father believed I ought to have somebody with me to help me set him free. The others returned here immediately. Goodbye, Silje. Take good care of yourself.”

He left. She could do nothing to keep him longer.

***

But he would come more often now. Every day he would drop by to make sure that they were alright and to see to it that no more louts came and bothered her.

Silje was grateful that at long last, spring was not far away. The others insisted that it had been a mild winter but Silje didn’t quite agree. Anyway, they’d been spared of wild animals.

Occasionally during winter, wolf packs would cross the glacier, which could be serious for the Ice People but fortunately not this year. Thanks to Tengel and Eldrid, the winter hadn’t taken such a hard toll on Silje. She still needed them in order to tackle the very difficult Sol and give her good advice regarding Dag.

But Eldrid was concerned. There was hardly any fodder left and she was quite worn out herself after all those years where she’d managed the farm on her own. Silje helped her in the stable every afternoon so as to relieve her a bit. The two women became very attached to one another and Silje wasn’t afraid of confiding her yearning for Tengel to Eldrid.

“Tengel’s so stupid,” Eldrid said. “Just imagine how good he could’ve had it with you. But on the other hand I also understand him so well. I’ve seen more of the evil legacy than you. Certainly enough so that I’ve never wanted to have children of my own.”

“Guess what, Eldrid, I’ve never quite believed about the legacy of the evil. I don’t believe in witchcraft and witches. I refuse to believe it.”

Eldrid straightened her back. Her eyes became dreamy. “You’re right in a way. Witchcraft and sorcery aren’t the greatest danger of the power they’ve been given. It’s the evil will. The fact that they’re able to hurt people and animals. This is what destroys so many of my relatives, and this is what Tengel is fighting against.”

“I think he worries himself without any reason,” Silje said eagerly. I don’t think he’s got any of that power – apart from his healing hands because this is something I’ve seen for myself – and surely there’s nothing wrong in helping others?”

Eldrid turned and looked at her but continued to seem absentminded. “Tengel? Just you be happy that he’s the one he is! I’ve seen him do certain things … during his childhood and early youth. But then something intimidated him, I don’t know what it was … and tried to get away with it. Hanna is furious at him because she believes he has a great talent. No, Tengel knows very well what he’s doing when he refuses to commit himself to a woman.”

Silje looked at her but Eldrid said no more. She began to milk one of the cows and did so harshly that the cow began to kick. Silje sighed. There was no hope in sight.

***

A thaw was setting in. Rivers and brooks went over their shores and the snow turned soft and grayish. The ice collapsed by the mouth of the lake and the river roared through the glacier, almost filling the whole tunnel. The house walls smelled of tar warmed by the sun, and Sol got some fresh colour in her face. Spring had come earlier than anticipated. Gradually the water level sank – and the road to the surrounding world was open once more.

And Eldrid became more hopeful. Perhaps there was sufficient fodder until the animals would leave the stables.

Silje had a visitor and it was Heming.

She didn’t like it. Sol was with Eldrid so she was alone with Dag. The handsome Heming still had a bit of power over her, which he undoubtedly had over all the women he met. But she didn’t feel any warmth towards him. She’d seen too much of his recklessness and incompetence for that.

Nevertheless she couldn’t help admiring his appearance – the radiant smile and eyes that made her believe that she, more than anybody else, meant particularly much to him.

He was a dangerous guest.

If she’d known the reason for his visit, she was bound to be even more concerned. The previous evening, Heming had partied with the other young men in the valley. And as they were drinking, they began to talk about Silje. It turned out that it wasn’t just the young Brattend boy that had tried his luck but also a couple more – without having dared to go too far. No, you couldn’t get anywhere with that girl.

Heming had immediately seized the challenge.

“I could have had her once,” he said lazily. “But then I offended her. I snitched some of her valuables instead of her virtue. But … I can win her when it suits me.”

The others didn’t believe him, which was the reason why he was now with Silje. The other men lay in wait in the grove, excited to find out how things were turning out on the farm.

They saw that Heming was let in. That in itself wasn’t a bad sign. They crept slowly, hiding in the outhouse.

Silje very quickly realized what it was Heming wanted. She asked him to leave. For the sake of their old friendship and the chief’s, she would prefer not to have any trouble.

He just gave her a mocking smile. She couldn’t
actually
mean that.

But when she walked over to the door to open it for him, he jumped up. That mustn’t happen because then the others could see that he’d been shown out. He grabbed hold of her, locking her arms. That much he’d at least learned from her struggle with the Bratteng lout.

Actually, he’d thought of winning her slowly and gently – because, in spite of everything, he considered violence to be a disgusting way out -
that
was something he’d never needed to do to get a woman. But the young men waiting out there made him panic.

Silje was stronger than expected, and she was furious. She bit him in the arm so that he moaned. But he hadn’t thought of letting go. He got her down on the floor. He realized that many girls becoming willing once they are turned on. They both fought silently and doggedly.