C12 Chapter 12

Nataniel had a new sense of self-confidence that Jonathan couldn’t recognize at all. His earlier indecisiveness was gone. It was as though he had suddenly discovered his own strength.

And it was about time, Jonathan thought.

Still, he had a small suspicion that the full extent of Nataniel’s strength had yet to be seen. And that probably even Nataniel himself wasn’t fully aware of it.

“I have to find the right person,” repeated the remarkable chosen one with the extraordinary talents. “It has to be a real person whose name we know. I can’t just say that I want to enter a warrior in the Heike clan, just anyone who happens to be fighting. That won’t do.”

Dr Sørensen agreed with him. “Well, who do we know then?”

Nataniel thought for a moment. “Someone who will be close to Setsuko at the moment of her death ... and it has to be a man. I mean, I have the soul of a man and there is a difference between being a man and being a woman. They think differently, no matter what people say. The problem is that we know so few of the names in the Heike camp.”

Sørensen was leaning against the wall and had to pinch himself. Before him sat a seemingly intelligent and sensible young man talking about being transported back to a battle that took place eight hundred years ago. In Japan! And he, Dr Sørensen, was to assist him in doing it!

And the worst of it was that he believed him and was willing to help him. It was a good thing that the health authorities weren’t present!

“Yes, well, who do we know?” he heard himself say.

“Antoku, the emperor?” Jonathan suggested in a low voice.

“He’s actually the only one,” Nataniel responded. “But he was only eight years old and we have to assume that he died before Setsuko. It was his grandmother, the widow Nii, who was the first to hurl herself into the sea together with the child emperor. We must assume that the ladies-in-waiting followed in their footsteps.”

Sørensen nodded. “That’s how it was done in ancient Japan. They had a great sense of honour then. Honour and loyalty first and foremost.”

Nataniel was thoughtful. “There are no male names on the Heike side. So we’ll have to go to the enemy. We know a few more there.”

“Yoshitsune, the victor,” said Jonathan as he stole a look at the papers that Nataniel had received from the embassy.

Nataniel smiled wryly. “Though it is tempting to be a winner, he never made it on board the emperor’s ship. He probably had far too much respect for the Emperor of the Sun for that, superstitious as he was. I could also imagine being the mighty Benkei if it weren’t for the fact that he followed Yoshitsune through thick and thin. No, now I think I know who I can be. The Genji clan’s army commander, Yoshitsune’s elder brother, Yoritomo. We don’t know much about him, but he can still be used. Can’t you see it all? The leader who sees his little brother charge forward as the hero and conqueror. Yoritomo was passed over. For that reason, one could easily imagine him conquering the emperor’s ship because he believed that it was his right to take power now that Japan lacked an emperor.

“You are philosophizing,“ said Jonathan who was nine years his senior. “However, I have a little bit of experience of war and find your theory plausible. It can’t do any harm to try.”

“It can’t?” Nataniel asked, smiling ironically.

“I’m sorry, I take that back. It can, of course.”

“It has to work,” Nataniel said. “How else will we ever get Tova back to her own life? Transfer me back to Dan-no-ura by the Shimonoseki Sound in Japan on the 24th day in the third month of the year 1185. Let’s say a good half hour before the time of Setsuko’s moment of death. I’ll need a little time to size up the situation. Let me be Minamoto no Yoritomo, the oldest son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo and the highest-ranking leader of the Genji clan!”

“You are certainly familiar with them,” muttered Jonathan.

“I have to be certain of getting to the right place,” said Nataniel as he lay down on the sofa in the living room instead of next to Tova. This seance was going to demand his full concentration and peace so that he could work, and Tova’s lifeless body might have a disturbing and discouraging effect on his thoughts.

Jonathan looked discreetly at the clock. It was late at night now, but no one had time to eat or sleep. They were fully dedicated to the task at hand. Because there was a good chance that the following morning Rikard and Vinnie would start to worry and wonder where Tova was. They would start searching and Rikard would send his colleagues in the police out to investigate. Vinnie would start making inquiries among her family members, and the Volden family would be informed of it and come here, and that mustn’t happen!

Dr Sørensen concentrated all his energy on the most challenging task of his life. He was very doubtful that it would succeed.

But he didn’t know Nataniel very well. The chosen one of the Ice People, the descendant of the black angels, night demons and storm demons, and the seventh son of a seventh son.

Nataniel’s fault throughout life had been that he was much too modest. Now he would have to demonstrate what he was truly made of.

He could hear Dr Sørensen’s mumbling voice but it grew increasingly faint.

“You are sinking,” said the voice incessantly. “You are sinking deeper and deeper ... not in your own soul, you have to move into someone else’s body. You are sinking through layers of time ... century after century ... the nineteenth century, you are sinking past the eighteenth century. Now you are in the seventeenth century, but you are sinking further, to the sixteenth century ... the fifteenth century.”

Nataniel could sense the doctor’s lack of confidence that they were going to succeed in doing this. “Continue, don’t stop, it’s going just fine,” he said hazily.

“The fourteenth century,” said Sørensen with more confidence in his voice. “It’s now the twelfth century. You are sinking further but now it’s going more slow ... ly ...”

Nataniel’s brain became increasingly sluggish, his mental activity ceased, he was merely receiving orders.

“1190 ... 1189 ... 88 ... 87 ... 86 ... 1185, and that’s where you’ll stay!”

The doctor’s voice was so low, so low, so slow and so sleep-inducing.

“You are now moving through space. You must go east. You are floating above the ground.”

Up until that point Nataniel had made use of his power of imagination. He had had no problem using his mental capacities to make his way through the centuries. He saw time transform as he moved back through it and into an increasingly primitive standard of living among humans.

He would have to use a different method now. It was a little time-consuming for him and demanded a great deal of mental power. But then he nodded faintly at the doctor. He saw himself floating through space across the earth.

“Look down,” said the doctor in a monotonous voice. “There’s Sweden. Do you see it?”

“Yes.”

“We are slowly moving east. The Baltic Sea, Finland, the infinite land of Russia.”

There were long intervals between the doctor’s suggestions. Nataniel had plenty of time to envision the various countries.

“And there’s Siberia. You’ve just been there, so you know this deserted country. Now you are above northern China ... Mongolia ... Korea. And then across the East China Sea. You are heading towards the southern tip of the Japanese island of Honshu. Shimonoseki. You are now there. You are at Dan-no-ura. Nataniel? What is it?”

Both Jonathan and the doctor were bending over him in alarm. He had drawn in a last, howling gasp of breath before growing completely still. He was holding his breath.

“Nataniel!” Jonathan screamed.

Something grabbed hold of him, pulling him at a dizzying and turbulent speed down towards the ground. It was an inhuman suction, a force beyond comparison. He struggled against it. This is dangerous, a voice within him was shouting, but he had no power to resist it. He had ventured onto paths that led to unknown dimensions.

His heart was pounding at an incredible speed, he became scared and wanted to tell the doctor but couldn’t. He was helplessly caught within the confines of a stifling force. You shouldn’t play with time and space in this way, he thought. My God, what have I done?

All at once everything around him grew calm. At least for a moment. He took a breath and made a sign to the doctor indicating that everything was all right.

“What happened?” Jonathan asked.

Nataniel shook his head impatiently. “Continue,” he whispered.

The doctor sighed somewhat fearfully and continued talking to him. “You are on the beach at Dan-no-ura ...”

“Yes, I’m there now.”

“What do you see?”

“Ships,” said Nataniel, almost inaudibly. “Lines of fog or smoke surrounding them. The brilliant colours of banners or flags hanging from the masts or sides of the ships. Antique, very beautiful ships. Warriors with bows and arrows, screams, noise and blood ... The jarring sound of boats ramming into one another. A great battle is being fought, and the beach is teeming with warriors ...”

Dr Sørensen was so excited that he could barely get a word out. He was struggling to keep his voice on the same sleep-inducing tone. They had succeeded! They had succeeded!

So far so good. Now all they needed was to transfer Nataniel Gard into someone else’s body.

How in the world they were supposed to make that happen.

“You are now in the last phase of the battle. Half an hour before the child emperor is going to die. You are on board Genji’s leading ship. Have you found it?”

Nataniel now spoke only intermittently and in such a low voice that they had to bend down to hear him. He tried to escape the dreadful sense of being in danger, but he couldn’t. It was as though something grew with every step his thoughts took, as though someone was waiting ...

“Yes, I have found ... the leading ship,” he mustered up. “We are now ... in the Hour of the Hare ... on this bloody afternoon. The tide ... a catastrophe for Taira ...”

“You mean the Heike clan?”

“Yes. The sea is red with their blood ... and the red banners are lying on the surface of the sea like the leaves of maple trees in the autumn.”

“Do you see Genji’s leader, Yoritomo? Find him!”

Danger, danger! Look up! Look around! Can’t you see it?

But no, Nataniel couldn’t see anything. There was fighting, of course, there were killings, which were terrible enough in themselves, but this thing that rang like a bell in his mind was much more treacherous and directed at him, the intruder from the future.

“He ... I see the leader. But it can’t be Yoritomo. This is a young man, much too young. It must be Yoshitsune, the younger brother, the one who became a national hero. Yes, because he has the mighty Benkei with him. Wait a moment! Was it mentioned anywhere ... that Yoritomo ... took part in this battle?”

They thought for a moment and Jonathan checked the documents.

“No,” he said. “The conquest at Dan-no-ura was entirely Yoshitsune’s.”

Nataniel became nervous. Nothing was going as planned. The lurking danger that lay in wait terrified the life out of him; he had to get away from here. But first he had to find Tova and take her with him.

“Yoritomo isn’t here,” he gasped weakly. “I must ... No, first lead me to Setsuko’s ship.”

“To the emperor ship of the Heike clan? Well, seek it out, then!” the doctor urged him.

They waited. Nataniel lay with closed eyes, very tired and tormented. Was this really such a good idea? The doctor thought. But now it had to be done.

“I ... have found ... the emperor’s ship,” Nataniel whispered and didn’t even have the strength to finish the sentence. “But I am too ... weak. Alone. I must enter ... someone. Use some of the strength of those who are present ...”

He more or less collapsed with fatigue. “I have to hide.”

They didn’t understand that.

“What do you mean?” Jonathan asked.

But Nataniel didn’t have the strength to answer him properly. “I’m going to have to make use of someone else’s strength.”

“Yes, but whose?” Jonathan asked.

“The little emperor has a protector, I can see. A big ... heavy-set ... loyal ... warrior.”

Nataniel smiled slightly. “He could pass ... as one of ... the Ice People’s ...”

His voice faded. “Nataniel,” said Dr Sørensen, touching his arm lightly.

Nataniel began speaking again, as quietly as a breath of air. “I ... don’t know ... his name. Can I ... still ... use him?”

The doctor thought for a moment. Everything was happening so fast that he didn’t have the chance to think things through properly. “Yes, why not? As long as you can see him, what does a name really matter?”

“It’s better ... that he ... belongs to Heike. I’ll do it. Then he’ll get closer to ... Setsu ...”

Once again, Nataniel’s strength let him down. The doctor said quickly, “Do it! enter that warrior’s soul. Now, right away!”

They watched as Nataniel’s face became distorted with pain. Then they waited. They had to wait for a long time. For a very, very long time.

“Are you there now?” Jonathan asked at last, his voice full of concern.

Nataniel answered him in what was a much clearer voice, but ...

They stared at one another.

“But that’s impossible,” Jonathan whispered.

“Good God,” said the doctor in a tired voice. “He answered in Japanese!”

He quickly told Nataniel: “Don’t concern yourself with us for the time being. Don’t waste your energy on communicating with us. Focus instead on the task at hand!”

Nataniel didn’t answer him.

Nataniel’s thoughts were now confined within the mind of a doomed warrior. He had focused all his concentration on getting that far and he was worn out. One tends to get irritable in such a state and that was exactly how he felt now.

He was furious with Tova for starting this whole thing. He felt that the battle to release her was going to be hard and very complicated, and he had no more energy left! He had the warrior’s energy, which he could sense, but he could also feel his dismay and his enormous grief at not being able to properly protect the child-emperor, and Nataniel could also feel his almost frenzied sense of hatred towards the Genji clan, who were raiding Heike’s ship at the outer edge of the armada. Soon they would be there ...

He had to hurry and locate Setsuko.

The very distinguished Nii was busy dressing herself in her grey mourning robe. The little emperor stood trembling with his hands pressed together before his chest. Nataniel was gripped by a boundless sense of compassion for the poor child. And in the background the ladies-in-waiting stood weeping helplessly as they attempted to control their feelings of panic.

But ...

Shocked and horrified, Nataniel now realized for the first time that he didn’t actually know which one of them was Setsuko!

And apparently neither did the warrior, or Nataniel would have known through his thoughts.

Oh, how complicated it all was! Had Nataniel not been so tense he would have desperately searched for her. But this was much too serious and dangerous, and completely uncharted territory for him. He had constantly to be on his guard so that he wouldn’t end up getting stuck in some ancient time as well.

How on earth was he to make contact with Tova?

He couldn’t seek out all the ladies at their moment of death in order to find Tova’s soul.

The final phase of the battle was approaching. Genji’s men came rushing forth, hurling themselves from ship to ship, mowing down whatever stood in their way.

In the guise of the Heike warrior, Nataniel was standing much too far from the ladies-in-waiting.

Which wasn’t something he had counted on. He would have to be close to Setsuko at her moment of death.

It was a hopeless endeavour. He might just as well give up.

It was most likely, of course, that this warrior who was protecting his emperor and the widow Nii would be the first to fall.

Why hadn’t Nataniel thought these things through properly?

But who else could he have chosen?

The Genji warriors were now only two ships away. The arrows from other boats whizzed past their ears and Nataniel’s warrior responded unremittingly, together with a few other men who were loyal to their emperor.

Nataniel didn’t have time for useless fighting.

There ... now Nii was grabbing hold of the little emperor. Nataniel could sense the warrior’s desperate sorrow.

And suddenly Nataniel knew what he had to do.

With all his might he stamped his wish into the mind of the warrior, who, with surprise, stopped in the middle of his fighting and turned towards the elaborately decorated deck.

Within him there was a fight taking place between his own will and that of another.

Then he shouted, “Setsuko!”

He himself didn’t seem to understand what he was doing, but Nataniel had got what he wanted. A tiny, sweet-looking Japanese woman pattering in her high sandals, tears streaming down her face. And then the warrior turned back towards the enemy. Little Setsuko – the name had sounded completely different when the warrior said it – returned to her place on the deck in confusion. All the ladies wore almost identical outfits, but her kimono had a red pattern with a red obi, or belt.

Now Nataniel knew where Tova was. But that wasn’t enough. He also had to get up close to her.

The closest ship in the vicinity was teeming with enemy warriors.

And then the widow Nii threw herself overboard with the child emperor.

The ladies-in-waiting screamed in grief and terror. Nataniel felt the warrior’s enormous sense of despair, could feel it within himself like burning iron. And he understood that the man, in his indomitable rage, would lash out with his sword at the onrushing enemy until he himself had fallen.

That mustn’t happen. Not yet. Nataniel saw the ladies-in-waiting standing bewildered and terrified by the guard rail. Nii had ordered them to follow her.

But they hesitated. In just a few seconds, they would no longer have many choices left ...

Nataniel would have to steer the warrior’s thoughts towards Setsuko again. The man had to be ... well, he would have to fall head over heels in love with her.

But how ...?

Ellen. Nataniel thought of Ellen, pretended that the warrior was him and that Setsuko was Ellen. In that way he managed to bring forth the feeling in a true and genuine form.

You love her, Nataniel thought. You love her just as much as I love Ellen. You wish to die with Setsuko! Yes, you do!

The warrior’s sword was slowly lowered. His eyes sought Setsuko’s.

Tova hadn’t understood what was happening when a major change took place for her in her life as Setsuko.

She had been wandering about in the sorrow-stricken palace in Kyoto, trembling with fear at the things that lay ahead.

And then she had suddenly been whirled into a maelstrom, had tumbled about in time and then all at once she was standing on a deck.

She had grown older, she sensed. She – Setsuko – had experienced a lot.

A ship, she thought in panic, and now it was Tova’s thoughts that were dominating. I don’t want to be on a ship again, I had my share on board that ill-fated ship Stella. I don’t want to go on board a ship again.

I want to be on land! But that isn’t to be.

What am I doing here? Men’s corpses are floating around, a group of tall men are sitting at the bow and praying to the godhead. The men are wearing tall, black headdresses. Every so often they bow down and touch the deck with their foreheads.

Then she remembered.

I am Setsuko. I am to die today. This is the battle of Dan-no-ura. Nataniel promised to bring me four years into the future. Which he has done. He was supposed to save me. But where is he?

Nataniel! Where are you? I don’t want to die! All the ladies-in-waiting around me are scared out of their wits. I am a blend of Tova and Setsuko and both are terribly afraid. I must try to become one person or else I’ll be too split, but it’s so hard. I, Setsuko, am bound by loyalty to the honorable Lady Nii and the little emperor, while I, Tova, am looking for Nataniel who was supposed to be here but hasn’t yet arrived – and it’s impossible to unify the thoughts of two people in one body. Why did I even think of it in the first place? I’ll never get out of this alive. I, Tova will die with Setsuko ...

Those four years, what happened then?

That was when Tengel the Evil was supposed to have woken up – in the present – but I don’t remember those years. Setsuko is now four years older. But what about me, Tova?

I don’t understand anything!

I want to get away from this boat!

Would it be possible for me to swim back to land?

It’s too far, I can’t. I’d get an arrow in my back right away. And I can’t abandon the emperor. My place is with him. I am forced to follow him wherever he goes.

They’re coming! The enemy is coming closer! So many of our men have died! I am scared, so scared, I’m just a little Japanese girl who hasn’t lived her life yet, I ...

Someone’s calling my name.

“Setsuko!” someone shouted. A man’s voice. I don’t know any of these men.

Who was it that shouted?

The big warrior at the stern! He’s pledged to protect the emperor with his life. He was the one who shouted.

She reluctantly stepped forward. He looked at her.

What did he want with her? How did he know her name?

Then he turned away again and she returned to her place. She didn’t understand anything.

The ladies-in-waiting around her screamed senselessly with fear.

Kiyomori’s widow, Nii, had jumped overboard. With the little emperor, Antoku!

Oh, good gods, what are we to do now? She has requested that we follow her.

The enemy ... the enemy is boarding the ship. We can’t stay here any longer.

Nataniel! Help me!

The ladies-in-waiting hesitated. They screamed in confusion and dismay.

Then they threw themselves into the water, away from the wild enemy raiding the ship, and everything was chaos.

Tova caught a glimpse of the big Heike warrior running over to her just as Setsuko jumped. He shouted her name, had to cut his way through to her, mow his enemies down, then he hurled himself into the water after her.

He had called Setsuko’s name – but at that very moment Tova understood. Through the shouts the warrior’s thoughts had penetrated her and those thoughts had pronounced her name!

The ladies-in-waiting weren’t as courageous as Nii. She saw them swimming about in a panic in the bloody water, saw the Genji warriors grabbing hold of them and pulling them back on board. But Setsuko thought of her emperor, the little child who was never given the chance to live life, and she swallowed her tears so that it hurt her throat and let herself sink to the bottom of the sea.

And the warrior followed her. She saw the water turn red all around him and understood that he had been fatally injured. But his arms grabbed hold of her and he held her closely to him – and Tova heard Nataniel’s thoughts in her mind. They came from the warrior.

“I am here with you, Tova. Everything will be all right. Send your thoughts to me. Tell me when Setsuko’s life starts to fade away – and I will release you.”

“Oh, Nataniel!” her thoughts lamented in response. “You came after all! You came, you came!”

As she was experiencing her own sense of relief she sensed little Setsuko struggling against death with all the panic that entails. Her loyalty to the emperor was mixed with doubt and a primitive urge to struggle back up to the surface and get some air! But the dying warrior’s grip on her was firm and she no longer had any choice.

Little Setsuko, Tova thought. Poor little girl. But you have to die now anyway, you see.

I have to get out of this before the warrior dies, thought Nataniel. We risk Setsuko surviving him. And what will happen then? Then I might not have the chance to release Tova.

Setsuko had to give up. Bubbles rose up to the surface of the tumultuous water. Tova’s sense of compassion was so strong that it was practically stifling, while at the same time she experienced Setsuko’s actual stifling in the water.

“Aren’t we changing the course of events by doing this?”

“I don’t believe we are,” Nataniel’s thoughts responded. “You’re thinking of whether I am influencing the warrior to follow Setsuko? Whether he died on the water or on deck doesn’t matter. Oh God, I hope he holds out a little longer.”

Something glinted, spinning and fluttering in the water. The sacred mirror, one of the holy symbols of the empire.

“Nataniel ... now!” Tova gasped. “Now ... she ... is dying. Oh, how sad! It hurts so much, Nataniel!”

The time has come. Tova Brink of the Ice People, you are now released from your captivity in the body and soul of another. Follow me to the year 1959! I, Nataniel Gard of the Ice People, descendant of the black angels and demons, order you to do so ... now!”

Tova sensed how Setsuko’s body sank to the bottom while she watched it from the inside. It didn’t concern her so much anymore. Not directly or personally. She could also see how the warrior’s grip on her loosened and the two bodies drifted apart from one another. “Good-bye, Setsuko,” she thought somewhat sadly.

She was up out of the water. It felt like a great sense of relief. She floated freely in the empty space that can’t be seen but that is an indigo-blue darkness with whirling clouds.

And she saw Nataniel! He had a shape now, even though his contours were somewhat fuzzy and hazy since he was only a projection of his own thoughts. But he was there. It felt unbelievably reassuring. She looked down at herself and realized that he was also able to register her. Just as faintly, yet still almost like a physical figure.

And they could talk to each other and not just be thoughts in their minds.

“Well, Tova,” said Nataniel, and it was as though his voice was also hollow and dampened by something. “From now on we’ll have to concentrate on returning. We’ve got to get Dr Sørensen to wake you up from your coma.”

“Yes, oh, thank you, Nataniel!”

“That can wait. I tried to get you, and myself of course, back to Oslo in 1959, but it would seem that that wasn’t enough. Focus all your concentration on Dr Sørensen now!”

“Yes, I ...”

She froze. Within the whirling clouds a vague face had emerged. An abominable face that was glowing with anger, malice and hatred. They could only barely discern the figure, small and horrendous and stinking of old rot and mould.

The creature stared hatefully at Nataniel.

“So you attempted to take my captive away from me!” he hissed hoarsely. “You can’t do that! But it’s a good thing you came! Finally, you have shown me your face, you pathetic, miserable little rebel in whom the Ice People so naively puts all their confidence.”

“No,” Tova shouted, “No, no, not now! Oh, what have I done?”

The dirty yellow eye slits turned on her, and the mouth, which, had transformed with age into a withered, beak-like gape, hissed as grey-green smoke emerged out of it.

“Shut up, vermin! I’ll take care of you afterwards!”

Again, the flat head turned to Nataniel. The eyes grew even narrower. “But first I have to put an end to this miserable wretch! Then my path will be clear!”