C5 Chapter 5

Inside the cottage on Dovre, Ian Morahan got up and staggered over to the wash basin. He blew his nose thoroughly and then rinsed his face.

“Forgive me,” he said as he dried himself with a towel.

Tova was still sitting on the bed. “Don’t ask for forgiveness: you’ll spoil everything!”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you think people are in the habit of using me as a shoulder to cry on? For the first time in my otherwise awful life someone has reached out to me. Accepted me as a person. And you’re asking for forgiveness for that? You must be mad.”

“Presumably your parents care about you?”

“Parents are programmed to like their children, no matter what they look like. And not only am I outwardly grotesque, but inwardly as well. I’m not charming or nice or lovable, or any of those attractive things everyone’s always talking about. I’m just repulsive. So repulsive that I can’t even stand myself. Ian, this is the first time I’ve felt any sort of tenderness for anyone.”

“Sympathy you mean?”

“No, certainly not! You showed me a little tenderness last night. And it really shocked me. I was able to reciprocate that tenderness completely spontaneously. Don’t you see what a breakthrough that was for me? Ugh, no! Let’s stop talking about it. How are you?”

He forced a smile. “I’ve managed to get my strength back. Should we go outside and see if the motorbike is still working?”

“You won’t give up, I see,” she said, smiling bitterly as she got to her feet. “I suppose there’s still something edible in the pannier? I’m as hungry as a wolf. Come on then, let’s continue on our wobbly journey!”

Morahan followed her outside after they had tidied up the cottage, and they locked the door securely behind them. He observed her stocky, dense figure with mixed feelings. She seemed relaxed enough, but he sincerely hoped he hadn’t awakened any warmer feelings within her. After all, he didn’t want to hurt the poor girl in that way!

But he immediately pushed those thoughts aside. She only had eyes for one man: the incredible Marco, which was reassuring, even though she would end up suffering just as much over him. But that was much better in Ian’s opinion. No man could hold a candle to Marco, especially not the incredibly dull Ian Morahan.

Once again, that same deep sense of anxiety gripped him. To have the chance to love someone and be loved back, to start a family. To leave children in the world, leave something that would make him part of history.

And not just disappear and be forgotten because no one had ever got to know and love him.

That thought was even worse than his fear of death.

The sadness ... These mountains would still be here after he was gone. Tova would go on living her life and soon forget all about him. He was overpowered by an intense sense of jealousy towards those who would have the chance to remain and see the world next year and the year after that ... But envy is a destructive feeling: he had to get past it!

Tova was very much aware of people’s changing moods. She stopped to wait for him and took his hand. They walked on together.

“We are standing outside life, you and I, Ian,” she said in a – for her – surprisingly soft voice. “We are standing on the sidelines, watching everything happen, but we can’t interfere with it, neither of us. We’ll both die without leaving any children behind, you because your time is running out and I because no one wants me. And I suppose you’ve already said your good-byes to life? Put it all behind you?”

“Perhaps,” he answered thoughtfully. “Yes, I suppose I have in a way.”

She laughed a little pitifully. “But we have each other.”

“Yes, we do. It’s good to have an equal in one’s hour of need. Thank you for being alive, Tova! I’m grateful that I’ve been given the chance to meet you!”

“No, now don’t make me feel ... I don’t know what it is I don’t want you to make me feel.”

“Conceited? Sentimental? Embarrassed?”

“Everything!” she said, grinning. “Everything all at once!”

“Tova,” he said, still thoughtfully. “Are you able to read thoughts?”

“What do you mean?”

“I was just thinking those exact same thoughts before you said them out loud. About leaving this life without having had any children. About seeing others continuing to live their lives happily.”

“Well, this whole happiness business is questionable. Name five people you consider to be entirely happy. I bet you can’t!”

“You’re right. But you didn’t answer my question.”

“What question?”

“Were you able to read my thoughts?”

“No, that’s not how it works for us Ice People. It’s more a matter of being able to sense the moods of others. We can also clearly sense things like aversions and sympathy ...”

“So you can sense that I feel sympathy for you?”

“It was an impression I didn’t dare believe was true.”

“Well, you should,” he said, giving her hand a small squeeze.

“Thank you,” was all she said as they continued plodding along among the frozen anthills and old snow.

The motorbike looked as if it might still be of some use. Ian was clever with his hands and loved working with engines and mechanical things. He hoped he wouldn’t need any new parts for it, because that would make things truly complicated. But if he could just manage to repair it with his own hands then the bike would be ready in no time.

The fuel tank was intact and no oil had spilled out. There was a dent in the mudguard, but that was insignificant. And they could definitely manage to repair a twisted handlebar if they both put some effort into it. Otherwise, there were just a few minor scratches, torn wires and that sort of thing. Yes, he was quite certain that he would be able to fix it!

Tova stood watching his hands as he fiddled with the motorbike, and she liked those hands. Actually, she liked the whole man. If only he hadn’t been so fearfully and heart-wrenchingly scrawny! She recalled how she had placed her hand under his shirt in order to detect his heartbeat. Recalled how she had been able to feel every single one of his ribs as though they had been covered with a thin layer of silk instead of skin. And then she recalled something she wished she could forget, feeling his enlarged liver below his ribs. And the spleen ... it was actually extraordinary that he was still alive! And even more incredible that he could stand on his own two feet.

His lungs were practically completely clogged up, he had said. Yes, she could hear by his shallow and yet extremely strenuous breathing.

Once again, the feeling of extreme tenderness rose in her. If only there was something she could do to help him!

“Would you please hand me the small pair of pliers from the tool box, Tova?”

She rushed to fulfil his wish and when her hand touched his, she felt a new and pleasant tingling sensation on her skin.

Tova smiled to herself. It was so nice to be two! And for there to be no sense of aggression between them. Until then she had assumed that she had to be aggressive when she was in the company of another person, because it conveniently put her in a defensive position.

But in this instance that wasn’t necessary.

She lifted her head. How beautiful it was on the mountain! How could she not have noticed it before? How strange!

The three passengers in the car stared at the scene in front of them.

Rune had actually been wrong when he said that they were in trouble again. Because this time it wasn’t Tengel the Evil’s henchman who was blocking their path. It looked like an ordinary road accident, but it would indirectly help their enemies to catch up with them.

“It doesn’t look good,” said Marco. “We have to help.”

A semi-trailer was blocking the road so no traffic could get past it. It had collided with a car that was more or less underneath it and was really rather smashed up. The accident could only just have happened, because the only people there were the truck driver and his mate. They were standing bent over the little car with concerned looks on their faces.

The three friends got out of the car. As the first people to arrive at the scene of the accident it was their obvious duty to do what they could to help.

Marco realized that he was dragging his feet and he was also the last one to reach the spot. Human suffering had always shaken him violently. He definitely wasn’t the type to stop out of curiosity when he saw an accident, just to look at all the blood and mutilated victims. The truth was that he was terribly afraid of what he might see now. Small children perhaps. Or ...

Halkatla was the first to arrive at the small car. Perhaps she didn’t realize what death traps they were, these cars that she referred to as amazing inventions. Rune was at her heels.

The two men looked up when they arrived and in their distress tried to explain what had occurred.

Then everything happened at once:

Rune and Halkatla were bending over the car and Marco had just reached it. He sensed a movement out of the corner of his eye just as Halkatla looked up in surprise, saying: “There’s no one in it!” And that’s when the blow from one of the men’s monkey wrenches hit Rune in the head, and Marco shouted, “Get back to the car!”

Now Rune happened to have a wooden head, literally, and that was what saved him. Halkatla wouldn’t have been injured either had she been hit. Marco, on the other hand, would have been a different story. Although he had the black angels’ characteristic stamp of immortality, the human in him would have had difficulty coping with the attack. Both he and Halkatla responded as fast as lightning, each grabbing one of Rune’s arms and pulling him with them. He was, after all, almost human, so the blow had made him lose his balance.

The two men were on top of them, but something, they couldn’t tell what, got in their way. The hissing and scratching forced Tengel the Evil’s men to defend themselves against “those confounded insects” that they were screaming about. Marco had a suspicion that it might be some of the teeny tiny creatures belonging to the night demons, since they came in all sizes and were also invisible.

When the three of them reached their car, they saw three cars coming towards them at a raging speed. Number One and his men must now have sprung into action, Marco thought. They got Rune into the back seat and Halkatla hurled herself in there just as the two drivers threw themselves at the car, trying to tear open the doors. Marco started the car and at the same time considered the possibilities.

There weren’t many. He couldn’t turn the car around, there wasn’t room for that, and with three cars chasing him he probably wouldn’t get very far anyway. The road going north was blocked by the “accident”. The ditches were deep but they were his only chance. If only he could squeeze the car between the trailer and the ditch on the right shoulder?

He didn’t have time to consider whether it would work or not, he just did it. He heard Halkatla sucking air through her teeth as though she was shrinking from an unpleasant image. And the scream he heard indicated that one of the drivers who had been clinging to the car had fallen off at the abrupt start and had landed under one of the cars chasing them.

Then the only thing Marco could concentrate on was keeping the car on an even keel along the ditch. But both Halkatla and Rune had thrown themselves to the opposite side of the car: whether that helped them or not was hard to say, but suddenly the car tilted back on the right track, and Marco could swing it back up onto the road.

“Are they chasing us?” he asked flatly, rather fatigued after all the tension and excitement.

Halkatla turned around. “Yes, the first car is coming exactly right ... No, it just drove into the ditch! It drove into the ditch!” she cheered.

“Then we’re safe for now,” Marco said, letting out a sigh of relief. “At least until they manage to turn the trailer around. How are you, Rune?”

“All right, thank you for asking. The blow didn’t go unnoticed, but I have a good head.”

That made the others laugh.

“So you have a headache?” Marco asked.

“Oh yes! It’s quite bad, in fact!”

“Interesting,” said Halkatla. “It makes you wonder how much of you is human and how much is mandrake.”

“Plants can suffer, too,” Rune said gently.

“I’ve heard about that,” said Marco. “Some experiments have been performed that show that plants respond both to good and evil things. I suppose that’s why those who talk to their plants end up getting such good results.”

“That’s true,” said Rune. “If humans only knew how much pain and sorrow they cause plants and trees they wouldn’t be able to stand living out in nature. Then everybody would move into the cities in order not to risk stepping on a single blade of grass. And that’s not exactly a great future to wish for. Everybody living in cities, I mean.”

“I’ll be more careful in the future,” Marco promised.

Halkatla didn’t comment. Her footsteps never put weight on any plants. “So you consider yourself to be more plant than human, Rune?”

“I don’t know,” he said helplessly. “I actually don’t know which group I really belong to.”

“But you weren’t affected when I tried to seduce you?”

“Halkatla ...” Marco warned her.

“Stay out of this,” Halkatla said sharply. “Were you affected, Rune?”

“Regardless of whether I was or not, you are a very attractive woman, Halkatla,” said Rune.

She purred like a satisfied cat. “I could help you discover whether you are more human than plant, Rune.”

Marco sighed. “I told you to leave him alone!”

She leaned forward and hissed in his ear, “Before I return to my life as a spirit, I intend to have a man! And he’s going to have an experience he’ll never forget! And you just beware, Marco, that it doesn’t end up being you!”

He stopped the car. “It’s possible to walk to the Valley of the Ice People from here!”

“No, no, I promise to be virtuous, as long as I can ride in my beloved car!”

Marco picked up the speed again. “I wonder how far Tova and Morahan have got,” he said in order to change the topic of this uncomfortable conversation. “They must have come down from Dovre by now and be on their way into the valleys in South Tröndelag.”

But they weren’t, they were still in the cottage. It was a good thing that the three passengers in the car didn’t know just how slowly Tova’s journey had progressed.

“Morahan is a fine man,” said Rune.

“Yes, it’s a good thing that he is with Tova.”

“You can’t do anything for him, can you, Marco?”

“Not now. Not until I become a black angel again.”

“Which you won’t until we manage to neutralize Tengel the Evil’s black water. If we do, that is.”

“Morahan can’t wait that long.”

“I know his time is running out at a catastrophic speed.”

“I’m rather concerned,” said Halkatla. “I mean, you’re Tova’s protector, Marco, and I’m your backup. And we’re just sitting here!”

Marco smiled. “Take it easy. Tova and Morahan are being seen to and are well protected. Many of our friends are keeping an eye on them.”

“Yes, but do they know that?”

“No, they don’t,” Marco said pensively. “I hope they aren’t unnecessarily worried.”

“At any rate,” said Rune, “We’ve delayed our enemies for so long now that Tova and Morahan will have managed to slip away. So all we need to do now is get a move on, right?”

“We ought to. It won’t be long before we have the horde at our heels.”

“Marco, can’t you do anything about this rumbling under the rear wheels? I won’t be able to stand it much longer,” Halkatla complained.

“Yes, I’ve heard it. But under the rear wheels? That’s a rather inaccurate description. You mean below the rear axle.”

“That’s irrelevant, isn’t it?” Halkatla hissed, offended. She was a free witch and refused to be put in her place like that.

“It must be the exhaust pipe that’s come loose,” said Rune, “When we were down in the ditch. We probably ought to fix it before we lose the whole thing.”

“Yes,” said Marco, “I’ll find a side road.”

It took a while before they found a road that fully suited them. Because it had to be a road where they couldn’t be seen from the main road.

“Assist me, Rune! And you keep watch, Halkatla!”

They worked in silence and had to use steel wire in order to fasten the exhaust pipe properly, but it was the best they could do. Just as they finished, Halkatla came running up.

“Three cars and a truck just passed at full speed. I waved to them. No, just kidding, they didn’t see me.”

“So now they’re ahead of us again,” said Rune, “But we had no choice.”

Finally, the exhaust pipe was properly set in place and they backed out to the road.

“We could have done with Nataniel’s map now,” said Marco, “so we could have seen if there was a detour.”

Oh, yes, Nataniel: it felt like ages since they had parted from him! And Gabriel. And when they started to think about Ellen they each felt a lump in the throat.

They drove off in silence as night faded away and morning began to break.

They left the Gudbrands Valley at Dombås and began the ascent up Dovre. There were no more houses. Patches of snow popped up here and there.

“So far so good,” said Marco.

But before he had finished saying those words he had to put his foot on the brake again.

“Oh goodness,” said Halkatla with foreboding. “It seems Tengel the Evil has taken out his big sledgehammer.”

A big contingent of which were clearly criminals stood in tight rows across the road. And they were armed with various forms of firearms.

And standing off to the side was the terrible Number One, as usual.

“How does he manage to mobilize them?” asked Marco with a sigh.

“The world is full of those kinds of questionable types,” said Rune.

“I would venture to say that this group is more than just questionable,” muttered Halkatla. “They are downright thugs.”

“Tengel the Evil has plenty to choose from in this world.”

“They must have been transported here by car,” said Marco, “Because you can’t convince me that the people of the Gudbrands Valley are this criminal – and certainly not in those numbers!”

“No, they appear to come from the city,” said Rune. “They look ruthless, but we’ve got to remember not to paint the big city entirely black. Most people who live there originally arrived from the countryside.”

“Yes, and they usually end up becoming the worst ones in the criminal quagmire.”

The big of group of men – perhaps thirty or forty of them – stood motionless, waiting. The distance between them and the car, which was also waiting, was still relatively great.

“We should have acquired some firearms,” said Rune.

“No,” admonished Marco. “Killing isn’t our style. We may have to do it every now and then. But none of us like it. “

“Oh?” Halkatla muttered from the back seat. Marco pretended not to hear.

This time the enemy hadn’t taken any chances. The place had been carefully chosen. There was no place for a car to slip past them down in a ditch. And behind the wall of men a semi-trailer was parked.

“Are we to believe that those men were hidden in there?” Marco wondered.

“Probably. Especially as it had an Oslo licence plate. That explains how they got here.”

“What do we do now?” asked Halkatla.

“We can’t back up and we can’t turn around,” said Marco. “They’ve chosen the place well. But ... it looks as if we might be able to pass the semi-trailer, if we can only get through the living barricade. Should we take the risk and assume that they’ll all jump aside? And just charge right through them?”

“We have no choice,” said Rune, “But we’ll have to watch out for all the pistols and rifles and whatever else they have.”

“Yes, you two lie down, preferably on the floor. Then I’ll stay as low as I can. Are you ready?”

He changed gear and hit the accelerator. The car charged towards the waiting horde with a roar.

The gun shots came immediately, bullets whistling past them.

“They’re fleeing,” said Marco. “Oh no!”

He discovered the danger too late. Behind the men a glistening steel bar spanned the road.

The car crashed into it with an awful bang. All three of them were tossed forward. And as they tried to recover from the shock, the men descended on them like hawks. The car doors were torn open and they were hauled out before they had a chance to defend themselves. But then they began to come to. They kicked and whacked and bit and tore.

But it was no use. Above the noise could be heard a hissing voice – Number One.

“Alive, boys, take them alive! Our great master would like to have a look at at least a few of them. But what in the world have you done?” he asked with feigned sadness. “Did you actually break his leg?”

Marco saw in a flash that Rune’s leg was dangling at an unnerving angle and he was gripped with fury. But it was nothing compared to Halkatla’s anger.

“What have you done, you miserable wretches who aren’t worth a zillionth of what he’s worth?”

“Shut up, wench, or I’ll kill you,” said one of them.

“Just try,” said Halkatla heartily, and Marco couldn’t help smiling amid all his despair.

All three were actually immortal, though none of them wished to stand face to face with Tengel the Evil just at this moment.

But right now, they didn’t have much choice. They were dragged and carried to a small mountain hut not far from the road. It wasn’t the same hut in which Tova and Morahan had rested – that was farther off. This one stood just about in the middle of the big, deserted stretch of marshy land near Fokstua.

The hut was very old. It didn’t even have windows, just a small peephole with a wooden shutter in front of it, so it was rather dark inside. Only a little faint light was able to seep through the cracks between the rotten beams.

And Marco, Rune and Halkatla were tossed into this miserable hiding place at the same time that Tova and Morahan got the motorbike working again and continued on their way northward.

They were free and still undetected.

But the situation of Marco and his friends was utterly precarious.