C6 Chapter 6

They were abandoned inside the little mountain hut. But they could hear that most of the men stayed just outside in order to keep an eye on them.

“Don’t go inside to them,” they heard Number One’s voice say. “You don’t know what kind of tricks they might get up to, so don’t let yourselves be fooled! I’m going back to meet with my master. When I come back I expect to find those three still in there!”

The men assured him that he would.

“And as I said, don’t touch them! The master wants them alive and able to receive his ... special little training methods.”

The cohort out there gave a low and expectant laugh. But from the rather trembling sound it was clear that they both feared and were somewhat unsure of Number One.

“I’ll take some men along with me,” said the frightening voice, which the three prisoners had a hard time understanding. “Twenty of you should be sufficient to keep an eye on them.”

They heard footsteps fading in the distance.

It grew calm outside. The men had obviously sat down in order to play cards, judging by their cursing and the sound of cards being slapped down on the rocks.

Every so often they would curse at the coldness of the mountain. There was snow right next to them and it cooled everything down.

“Who the hell is he anyway ... Number One?” asked a coarse voice.

“Shh,” said another one, “It’s best not to know.”

“He gives me goosebumps,” a third one said.

“Yeah. And rumour has it that the commanding officer is even worse.”

“Ugh!”

“But we’re doing all right.”

“Do you think so? It’s freezing cold here.”

“Yeah – but think what we’re getting paid. Without the cops being able to stick their noses in.”

“Oh, shut up! It’s your turn to play and you’re just sitting there blabbering!”

It grew quiet again. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of the cards being slapped against the rocks, and every now and then someone would make a comment or two about them. At one point two of the guards almost got into a fight, but another one managed to calm the situation.

Marco and Halkatla had a chance to look at Rune’s leg. It was so dark in there that they had difficulty discerning the details, but once they had moved him to the spot with the broadest strip of light they could see that his leg had been broken around his mid-calf. Halkatla found some old wooden ladles inside an old wall bench, which she used as splints, while Marco took off his shirt and wrapped it around Rune’s injured leg.

“There’s an open wound at the point of fracture,” said Marco, “But I think it will heal well.”

At first Halkatla didn’t speak. Her mouth was tightly closed. As though she didn’t want to reveal an embarrassing secret. Not until they had finished with Rune and had helped him sit upright did she say: “You didn’t bleed, Rune. Something seeped out of the wound but it was completely insignificant and very light-looking. Like juice.”

Rune turned away. Even though it was almost dark and he really did have a wooden face, they could see how upset he was.

Halkatla spontaneously took his head between her hands and pressed him against her. Her tears dripped down into his tangled hemp-like hair.

Marco took Rune’s hand. The strange mandrake man sat still, accepting all their gestures of sympathy. He no longer had any mental strength left to resist them.

Only then did they realize how much he would have preferred to have been a human being.

They finally let go of him and all three of them sat close together on the unbelievably short, built-in bed.

“We can’t meet him,” Marco said quietly. “Not yet.”

“No,” replied Rune. “Especially not you!”

Marco agreed with him. “He mustn’t break me, that would never do.”

“How many bottles do you have on you?”

“Two. Mine and Ellen’s.”

“That’s very dangerous! We have to get out of here before he arrives.”

“Who can we summon to help us?”

“The storm demons are gone. And the spirits of our ancestors are keeping their eyes partly on the living ones in our family and partly on Tova and Morahan.”

“I have an idea,” Halkatla whispered. “You saw earlier how it isn’t always sheer power that works. Would you mind if I summoned Sol? And asked her to mobilize all the beautiful witches to seduce all the louts out there?”

“Why not?” said Marco after thinking about it for a moment. “Sol would be delighted to be asked such a thing. And it can’t hurt us. And it can’t hurt the men, either. They’ll just get something other than us to think about.”

All three concentrated on summoning Sol.

“She must have been standing just around the corner,” Marco muttered when Sol appeared before them almost immediately.

“What is your wish?” she asked, her eyes glistening. “And how did you manage to get yourselves into this trap, you clumsy fools!”

“Please don’t tease us,” Marco said, smiling. “We did our best.”

“I know. Anyway, how can I help you?”

Halkatla explained it to her in faltering words. She had great respect for Sol, the great leader of all the witches.

Sol laughed quietly when she had finished. “Yes, Halkatla, we saw what you did to the shell man ... and you’d like us to take care of the rest of them out there?”

“Yes, please. If there are enough of you.”

Sol quietly counted on her fingers. “There should be enough. This is going to be fun. It’s been ages since I’ve seduced anyone. In fact, it’s been centuries! You can count on me! But we might not go quite as far as you did.”

When she had disappeared they looked at one another.

“I’ve got to see this,” said Halkatla.

“Me, too,” said Marco. “Dare we open the peephole?”

“Perhaps a little bit. Enough so that we can all see out of it. Because you want to see too, don’t you, Rune?”

He smiled insecurely. “I’d prefer not to.”

“Fine, there’ll be more room for us then.”

As they coaxed the wooden peg off the peephole, they heard one of the poker players say, “What in hell is that coming down the road?”

“A coach! Full of women!”

“And it’s stopping right there. My God!”

“What in hell? They’re on their way up here!”

“They’re not allowed to do that! Stop them!”

“Who cares? Broads are too dumb to be dangerous!”

Halkatla cursed to herself in a low voice. Marco gave her a warning look.

“Can you see them?” she asked, whispering.

“Not yet. Oh, yes, now they’re coming into view.”

“But ...” Halkatla said as she stared out. “No, it can’t be true!”

Sol had truly managed to mobilize the most beautiful members of the Ice People.

The twenty men immediately rose to their feet and stood staring, their mouths agape.

Such a beautiful group of women had never before been seen in the world!

Sol was there, of course, as was Ingrid and Dida. In addition, there was Tun-sij, the shaman woman, who had been a great beauty in her youth and who was young in this setting. Shira wasn’t there because she had to be protected until the final crucial moment came – when she was to destroy the dark water. But there were others among them who were also making their way up the path.

Such as Lilit, who was sinfully beautiful. She had brought with her three ladies from the group of night demons and, as the primal mother of the underground ones, she had also managed to bring five extremely beautiful fairies. Marco could see that they were black fairies. But that didn’t make them less beautiful, just more dangerous.

And ... it was this last group that caused Marco and Halkatla to react: the seven demons of damnation were there, too! Those exceptionally dangerous creatures who lured with love and brought ruin instead. Those who could cause such severe depressions in humans that the result was mass suicide.

So those proud creatures had also wanted to join them! To save the children of the Ice People in their hour of need.

Marco felt an ecstatic sense of joy at the thought of it.

But ... he was realistic enough to understand that many of them were doing this simply for amusement. Their lives were perhaps not always so exciting or fun.

“Have you ever seen anything so gorgeous?” moaned one of the men.

“I can’t believe my own eyes. We’re going to have a good time, boys!”

“I’ll say,” said another one. “They’re going to get a taste of real menfolk before they leave! My god, they’re gorgeous! They must be on their way to a beauty pageant!”

“They are man-crazy, I can tell you. Just look at the way they’re approaching us!”

“They won’t be disappointed.”

A couple of the men had already begun to loosen their belts.

“At them, boys!”

“No wait!” said one of them. “We have to do it in style.”

He made his way over to the women, who had now reached the hut. At first, he couldn’t articulate the words, he was so mesmerized by them, but he finally managed to greet them with excessive politeness. “Welcome, ladies. And how can we men be of service to you?”

“Be of service,” giggled one at the back of the group.

Sol smiled her dazzling smile to the man standing in front. “We were tired and thirsty and wondered whether it would be all right to take a rest here?”

“But of course! Come over here and sit down on the bench.”

He gallantly took out a worn handkerchief and dried off the bench with big, sweeping gestures.

The men had come closer, laughing.

“Have you just been to a carnival?” asked one of the men, referring to the ladies’ peculiar outfits.

“So we have!” Sol chirped. “But why don’t you come over here and sit next to me?”

She patted the bench invitingly with her hand. Three men tried to sit down on that very spot but as soon as they discovered that the other women were just as willing they quickly found others to sit next to.

Included in the flock that Number One had assembled were Lasse and Børt, who had only recently abducted Tova from Fornebu.

Lasse, who wasn’t the brightest person in the world, had found a real beauty. He couldn’t believe his luck that a woman like that would give him the time of day. The fact that he had happened to get Lilit, the night demon, was something he was completely unaware of.

“Have you ever seen anything like this?” one of the men stupidly shouted with joy. “There’s precisely one for each of us! As though it had been calculated!”

“Yes,” Marco thought bitterly. He would have preferred not to have seen more but was too fascinated not to watch.

“Come with me around the corner,” said Lasse to Lilit. “It’s much too crowded here.”

She followed him with a secretive smile on her lips.

As soon as they had gone behind the house, Lasse put his hand up her thin and fluttering skirts. “You are so gorgeous,” he mumbled. “My little darling! You and I are going to have a good time, aren’t we?”

“Oh, yes,” Lilit answered as she wrapped her narrow little hands around his pride and joy while he looked into her deadly eyes.

“What in hell are you doing? Don’t squeeze so hard!” he muttered. “Take it easy, you’ll get your chance to taste ... Oh ... let go! Oh ...”

Lilit slowly returned to the others as though nothing unusual had taken place.

Børt was slightly more intelligent than his friend. He had found one of the irresistible fairies and attended to her in the most chivalrous way.

She smiled graciously back at him and let him do with her what he wanted. They had gone round to the back of the outhouse and now he had her where he wanted her. Beside himself with bliss, he placed his private part where he wanted it, whereupon he felt that what was beneath him seemed to dissolve and he was now staring down at an abominable face that had nothing human about it. He screamed loudly but his organ was stuck, as if in a vice. A minute later he was lying on the ground on his stomach, his front completely corroded, dead.

The same thing happened to all the men who had chosen the black fairies.

The four men who had been exposed to the lamenting demons of the damned shot themselves after having looked into those eyes of sadness.

Sol, Ingrid and Dida weren’t quite so bloodthirsty. They let their three men come halfway, whereupon they gave them the impression that they were frogs seeking out a lake nearby. Croaking, with large graceful leaps they jumped straight into the freezing cold water.

The one who had been given Tun-sij thought he had hit the jackpot until the fascinating woman began to chant troll runes in a low voice and conjured him up onto the roof of the hut, from which he threw himself with a most impressive bird-like jump, his arms outstretched, and then smack! He was over and done with.

The three female night demons whom Lilit had brought with her inflicted the most horrible nightmares on their designated men just when they thought they were about to enter a state of bliss. One of them thought he had a semi-decayed corpse underneath him, another was suddenly holding a huge slimy eel in his arms and a third one discovered that he was copulating with an old, withered greybeard.

But the worst outcome befell the three men who had conquered the three fair demons of damnation. One was thoroughly seduced by his woman whereupon he was condemned for all eternity; he followed the same path as Tamlin had: out into the empty space of the universe where he was doomed to float around for all eternity. He who had got hold of the demon of false hopes thought he had conquered the most blissful thing in the world, only to feel how his body dissolved piece by piece until death compassionately took him. And the third was so completely destroyed that there wasn’t a single shred left.

The battle had been won. All the women looked at one another and either smiled or guffawed, depending on their nature.

The pathetic men who had survived the brawl were chased down the hill. One of them wasn’t wearing any pants. Sol and Ingrid recklessly chased and jeered at them in order to frighten them away. The two young, beautiful witches shrieked with laughter.

“Goodness,” said Marco in a tired voice as he sat down.

“I should have taken part in that,” Halkatla complained.

“How do we get out of here?” Rune asked dryly.

Marco immediately got to his feet. “That door can’t possibly be all that sturdy. Halkatla, help me, and we’ll break the lock!”

“But can’t the ones outside ...?”

“No, they can’t do anything practical, only illusions!”

“Well,” said Halkatla in a low voice. “Those things they did weren’t exactly illusions.”

The door finally gave in to their weight and after a few hard thrusts it opened and they were out.

To their astonishment the women were still there. They looked rather proud. Marco tried to avoid looking down at the ground.

He bowed deeply. “We are extremely grateful that you saved us from Tengel the Evil.”

“It was our pleasure,” said Sol lightly, but her elation was clearly visible in her eyes.

“Just let us know if you need us another time,” said Lilit and the other female creatures nodded in agreement.

Even the cold demons of damnation looked gracious, Marco couldn’t help noticing, to his great surprise.

“I miss Villemo and Tula in this gathering,” said Halkatla to Sol. “And I should have been a participant here. It made me sick having to be a passive observer.”

“You certainly did quite a job with the shell man,” Sol said, smiling. “But with regard to the other two you mentioned, Villemo can’t really be counted as a witch. She was a dignified noblewoman with certain little ... shall we say, vulgar talents? Furthermore, she’s busy trying to find Ellen, who was under her protection. And Tula already has her hands full, what with having to organize everything in the Demon’s Mountain and keeping an eye on the Ice People’s children who are all gathered there when she’s not with her protegé, André, and consoling him for the loss of his mother, Benedikte.”

Marco wanted to get away from the eerie place as quickly as possible, so he thanked them once again for their help and said they had to leave before Tengel the Evil and his first officer returned.

He didn’t look back once as the three of them made their way down the road.

“We have dangerous assistants,” said Rune, who was walking between the two others and leaning against them.

“Yes,” Marco replied curtly.

Halkatla turned around. “Well, they’ve gone!”

“We should have buried the dead,” said Marco. “For the sake of the people living in the village. But there’s no time to waste. And quite frankly, I didn’t have the energy for it. I didn’t want to see what our ancestors had done.”

Down on the road there was an unforeseen obstacle. Their car was completely smashed and couldn’t be repaired. The barrier was now open but Number One and his men had taken the small cars. The only thing left was the semi-trailer.

“Can you manage that?” Rune asked.

“I’ve never tried before,” said Marco. “But it’ll be fine.”

Halkatla grieved deeply over the loss of her “beloved” car, but when they had moved their things and climbed up into the high semi-trailer cab she squealed enthusiastically. To her it felt as though she owned the whole world as she sat up there high above the ground.

The key was in the ignition. After numerous attempts and inspections of the dashboard Marco got the big engine started. He complained a little bit about the trailer, which he wasn’t really able to swing around the corners properly, but he eventually learned the technique.

Then they were once again on their way north.

The travelling salesman, Per Olav Winger, arrived in an elegant car together with Number One and a driver. And the rest of the men, about ten of them, followed in a few cars behind them.

It had been difficult getting Winger into the car in Dombås. Tengel the Evil didn’t care for the kind of vehicles that weren’t pulled by horses. He preferred his own way of travelling. The fact that he had to conceal himself in Per Olav’s body made him heavy and slowed him down quite a bit, but at night he would move like an upright standing shadow a few feet above the ground. In that way he had managed to move from the Oslo area to the Gudbrands Valley. He was irritated by animals that couldn’t tolerate him even though he looked like Winger, and sour at humans who pulled back from him.

But he was met at Dombås by Number One, who insisted that they take one of those mechanical vehicles – because the journey would be much faster that way.

Tengel the Evil didn’t want to lose face in front of his second-in-command and all his henchmen, none of whom were the least bit afraid of the magic carriage. So he concealed his primitive scepticism. With great reluctance Per Olav Winger got into the back seat to which he had been directed. At first, he had wanted to sit in the driver’s seat, because that seemed to be the most important seat, but Number One had discreetly hinted that sitting there also involved steering the monster machine. So Tengel the Evil had climbed onto the back seat, sitting on its very edge. The driver started to cough and immediately rolled down the window. It may have been cold outside, but that was just too bad.

It was a very fast machine. After a while Tengel started to relax and instead became excited by the rapid speed with which they were moving.

He wanted to acquire as many of these vehicles as possible! That would be something he could impress others with!

But who was he going to impress? The Ice People who had lived in the valley in the thirteenth century?

Time had flown away from Tengel the Evil. Once more he had to admit it to himself. Instead, he began coolly and arrogantly to talk about something else.

“So you have them now?”

“Yes, we have them now,” answered Number One. “We have three. Twenty of my men are guarding them, so they can’t possibly get away.”

“And one of the three is my unknown enemy?”

“Yes, in all probability. A stunningly handsome man.”

Per Olav Winger’s mouth curled in sheer delight and deep contempt. Finally, finally, he would have the chance to see the man who had been playing all those tricks on him for so long! His name was Marco. Tengel the Evil couldn’t figure out who he was.

But there was one thing Tengel knew for sure: this Marco was going to suffer terribly for the way he had treated his ancestor. What type of torture would he expose the scoundrel to? Tengel the Evil sat gloating over the many possibilities available to him ...

“And then there’s the strange one who almost seems to be made of wood,” Number One continued. “And then there’s Kattehale ...”

“Halkatla,” Tengel the Evil corrected him impatiently. “She is my slave. She’s probably keeping an eye on the other two until I get there.”

Number One didn’t mention anything about the fact that he had found Halkatla’s resistance very strong and genuine. There was no reason to irritate this Winger: he could be dangerous, as could his loyal conspirators.

“Here,” said Number One to the driver. “Stop here. It’s just over there.”

In his eagerness he didn’t notice that the semi-trailer had gone. All his attention was focused on the little mountain hut up the hill. The sense of triumph! The reward he would get from Winger ...

The other cars stopped and the men came pouring out. They followed at a respectful distance.

The two principals made their way up to the hut fairly quickly. Number One was slightly uneasy over the fact that it was so quiet up there. But the twenty men must be sitting out of the wind at the back of the house. There were just a few steps now!

His face froze like ice and he stopped abruptly in his tracks. His superior stood staring as well.

They were surrounded by what resembled a battlefield.

And the door stood ajar into an empty room.

The men had joined them. “Good God,” muttered one of them. Another began to throw up.

Ominously quietly, Per Olav Winger walked around examining the corpses. He kicked at one and turned it over with his foot. And the next one ...

“Clean up this mess!” he roared at the men. “Bury them in the ground: make sure there isn’t a trace of them left, is that understood?”

He finally came back to the group. He didn’t say a word to his first officer. But the looks he gave him were the worst Number One had ever seen.

The two men swept off down to the road, leaving the rest of the men to take care of the miserable scene behind them.

Tengel the Evil was deadly quiet all the way down.

It wasn’t until now that he realized that his enemies were much stronger than he had thought. The Ice People couldn’t possibly have managed this alone.

After all, he had already taken the storm demons!

But who else was helping the Ice People?

A fanatically determined and murderous look crossed Per Olav Winger’s face. Had Number One been looking in his direction it would have been obvious that the person in charge here was not the seemingly innocent salesman.