‘Yes, the sun is behind the mountains.’ observed Tengel. ‘This will never do. Where can they be?’
As the two of them stepped out into the yard to look, the three children came rushing wildly towards them round the corner of the cottage. ‘Father! mother!’ they shouted. ‘Come and see quickly! There’s a fire!’
Silje and Tengel ran out of the yard and heard terrible screams coming from the end of the valley closest to the entrance to the ice tunnel that led under the glacier. In sharp relief against the evening clouds they saw flames flickering skyward through a thick pall of smoke.
‘Oh my God!’ whispered Tengel.
‘It’s the cottage that guards the tunnel,’ cried Silje. ‘We must run and help!’
‘No!’ All colour had drained from Tengel’s face. ‘Look, it’s not only there. Hanna’s cottage is burning too – and the Bratten’s farm.’ His voice rose to a shout. ‘We’ll never get through there, Silje. It’s too late!’
‘Oh no,’ she groaned. ‘Has Heming done this?’
‘Yes. He’s been captured yet again – and this time he has betrayed us all to save his cowardly skin. I’ll wager he wanted revenge too – for that thrashing I gave him when he set upon you. I should have heeded my inner voice. I should have listened to you and Hanna. She was right. I am a fool. God, what are we going to do?’
‘Hanna’s house?’ wailed Sol. ‘My Hanna’s house is burning! I must go to her!’
Tengel grabbed her and held her back. Sol sank her teeth into him, but he ignored it. This was not the time to get angry with her.
‘We saw a lot of men by the ice gate,’ said Dag, ‘and their hats were all shiny.’
‘Soldiers’ helmets!’ Finally Tengel’s mind had begun to grasp the situation. ‘Hurry! We must get away from here and we must hide. Luckily our cottage is at the top end of the valley, so they will come here last of all. But we are the ones they’re after – we are the blood line of Tengel the Evil.’
‘Where can we go?’ asked Silje, her desperate tone indicating she was prepared for anything.
‘Into the forest. There is nowhere else.’ Tengel’s voice was filled with anxiety ‘But I don’t know how long we can hide there.’
‘What about the pass?’
Tengel stopped and thought for a moment. ‘Leave through the mountains, you mean? Yes! Yes, you’re right. The journey will be a nightmare, but we must try. The birch forest will give us cover for the first part of the way. I’ll saddle the horse, while you gather up only the most vital things – as little as possible. We will be sleeping outside, so bring some rugs and furs. Children, help your mother! We have so little time left.’
Realising the danger she found herself in. Sol stopped trying to run off Sobbing uncontrollably. she could only cast sorrowful glances down the valley towards where Hanna’s cottage was now rapidly becoming engulfed in flames.
****
They hurried to and fro, carrying out their tasks swiftly and efficiently There was no time to stop and think – they had to hurry – and Silje was reminded of a similar occasion when they had fled from Benedikt’s farm, although on this occasion there was a much greater need for urgency and the situation was far more frenzied.
‘My cat!’ shouted Sol. ‘Has anyone seen her?’
Silje, loving animals as she did, understood the girl’s sense of panic. ‘Look in the empty barn. And when you find her, put her in this sack.’
Sol tore the sack from her mother’s hands and raced off.
‘We ought to warn the neighbours,’ said Silje as she went out to Tengel with another load.
‘There is no time for that.’
‘But what about their livestock?’
‘The soldiers will take them – they are too valuable to be left unattended.’ Tengel grimaced when he saw Silje was carrying a large doll. ‘Oh no! This doll’s far too big to take.’
‘We mustn’t leave Liv’s doll behind, we just can’t!’
Tengel had carved the wooden doll and Silje had made clothes for it. Liv adored it.
‘No, you are right, we can’t,’ he agreed. ‘Was that the last bundle?’
‘I think so. Now let us be gone. At once!’
‘The book is there – so are Dag’s clothes and your wedding gift. Silje you’re so fond of useless things with sentimental value – but I love you for it. Wait, you’ve forgotten the glazed mosaic!’
‘We cannot take that as well.’
‘We have to,’ said Tengel and ran back inside, shouting,
‘Get the children into the saddle!’
Silje hoisted up the two youngest children, thinking that she wasn’t the only one fond of useless items. How would he get the mosaic onto a horse?
‘Sol! Sol! Where are you?’ she yelled. ‘For God’s sake come on!’
Sol reappeared from the barn in tears. ‘l can’t find her!’ she cried just as Tengel emerged from the house to fasten the mosaic to the rest of the baggage.
‘The cat?’ he asked. ‘She was behind the workshop a minute ago, hunting for mice.’
Sol rushed away again and returned a few minutes later proudly grasping the sack in front of her, just as the rest of them were setting off. A coal-black tail thrashed angrily through the top of the sack, displaying to the world how unjust humans could be in disturbing a great mouse-hunt!
‘Well, thank heavens for that,’ Silje sighed.
Soon after they left the farmyard they were swallowed up from view by the forest of birch.
‘We have too little food with us,’ Silje told Tengel anxiously ‘Grimar ate the cloud berries and almost everything else. I was going to bake more bread tomorrow.’
‘That can’t be helped. We at least have some food with us, don’t we?’
‘Of course, but it won’t last long.’
****
The Valley of the Ice People now lay beneath them under a thick pall of smoke, but this did not prevent the sounds of the raging fires and panic-filled screams from reaching them. Silje had to run in an effort to keep up with the horse and she was constantly fighting down a wave of nausea brought on by a mixture of fear for her family and pity for those left behind. Tengel drove the horse onward outpacing her, whilst the three children perched on its back had to cling on tightly. Her breathing became painful, burning in her throat and making her chest ache as she struggled to carry the belongings that they had been unable to put on the horse. So many things we’ve had to leave behind, she thought, so much of the past abandoned.
She felt like shouting, ‘Wait, I can’t keep up! I have another child to think of!’ But she said nothing, knowing that each moment was precious. She could imagine no situation more desperate than the one in which they now found themselves – running uphill like this over rough ground with the threat of certain death close behind them, driven on by blind panic, fighting for the strength to go on.
Noticing how far Silje was lagging behind, Tengel eventually stopped and waited for her to catch up. As she passed an opening between the trees, Silje turned and looked back. She was wheezing badly, trying to catch her breath, and what she saw almost caused her legs to buckle beneath her. Every farmstead now stood in flames, including the chieftain’s house with its beautiful woodcarvings. And there – yes! Their house as well! Tengel’s childhood home was ablaze!
‘Oh, Tengel!’ she wailed.
‘We must go on,’ he said sharply. ‘Hurry!’
‘Do you think they are following us?’
‘Maybe not yet. Who can say? Come on.’
Her rest had been short-lived. Tengel had barely waited for her to make up ground and then started off again – so he had rested, while she had not. The uphill trek became a nightmare. Occasionally she caught sight of the countryside stretching away below them in the fading light. Then suddenly she saw something that made the hairs on the nape of her neck stand on end.
‘Tengel!’ she called. ‘Look!’
He stopped and muttered something inaudible through clen
ched teeth. From the direction of their cottage, and coming up the hillside behind them, three young lads were running for their lives, closely pursued by a pack of soldiers.
‘Poor boys,’ groaned Silje. ‘Poor, dear boys! But they are leading the guards this way! We shan’t be able to escape them!’ She turned and half-ran, half-stumbled to reach Tengel and the horse.
‘Don’t look,’ he said to the children as he grasped Silje’s hand and urged the horse forward.
A terrible scream of anguish reached them a few moments later and they knew that the boys’ attempts to flee had been in vain. Tengel glanced back to where he could see the group of soldiers huddled together in a stationary group. ‘The guards are standing talking. We must keep still, we’re well hidden from them here.’
The effort required to stand without moving, unable to run away, was almost unbearable, even though the soldiers were still a safe distance away. Silje’s lungs ached with every breath she took as she peered between the branches of the birch trees. Fatigue was causing her vision to blur, but she could see guards and soldiers everywhere; a small herd of cattle was also being driven towards the entrance to the ice tunnel. These were probably all the animals that were left after the hard winter. There was no sign of the people of the valley and Silje shuddered violently.
‘I don’t know what’s happened to those soldiers who were behind us,’ said Tengel uneasily. ‘Either they’re still following us or they’ve gone back down. Whichever it is, we must keep going as fast as we can.’
They climbed steadily higher and as they did so their progress became slower and slower. Silje fell behind once more, suffering now from cramps in her stomach. She started to worry about the tiny life within her that she had been trying so hard to conceal; every heartbeat throbbed through her brain, her legs had lost all feeling and each breath was torture – but still Tengel pressed on relentlessly.
They had reached the edge of the forest and would now have to continue across open countryside. The midsummer twilight would not be dark enough to conceal them from any watching eyes. At that point, beside the last trees, Silje gave up. Overcome with nausea, she collapsed behind a large boulder vomiting uncontrollably, the pain in her belly more than she could bear.
Finally she got to her feet again and wiped the sweat from her face. She took a couple of deep breaths and then staggered backwards, losing her balance. Tengel was coming towards her. ‘Well, now, my young woman,’ his tone was worryingly calm, ‘is there something you should be telling me?’
There was no strength left in her legs and her willpower was completely drained. ‘Yes.’ she sobbed.
He put his arm around her and helped her back to where the horse was waiting. ‘Silly thing!’ he said lovingly. ‘Silly thing! And you were going to say nothing at all?’
‘No!’ she replied sniffing and wiping her nose. ‘We are not in agreement.’
‘No. we are not, but now is not the time to think about it. You must not fear me, dearest! Now you must have help.’
‘You were walking so quickly,’ she choked back another sob. ‘I couldn’t keep up with you.’
‘I did not notice. I was fearful for the children and desperate to get away from the soldiers. Forgive me, my dearest! Sol and Dag, climb down from the horse. Mother must climb up and rest.’
They started off again, but their progress was much slower with Silje riding and the two children on foot. Silje felt guilty about this, despite knowing that she barely had strength enough to cling to the horse. Little Liv was perched behind her, small hands gripping the waistband of her skirts.
She looked down at the others. Tengel and the children were all wearing tunics and cowls that covered their shoulders. They had pulled these off their heads to let them hang down their backs, now that they were beginning to feel warm from their exertions. Both the children had grim expressions on their faces, as they trudged determinedly onward and Silje could not help wondering what they might be thinking or how much they understood. Inside its sack, the cat hissed angrily, causing Sol’s grip to tighten still further.
Without thinking, Silje glanced back the way they had come. ‘Tengel! They will see us! We can look down over the whole valley.’
‘There is too much smoke down there.’
‘But what if someone has come up above the smoke – looking for us?’
‘You keep going,’ he said as he stopped abruptly.
Silje turned to see what he was doing and felt a chill run through her veins. He was standing on the edge of a precipice, looking down into the valley far below, with both arms outstretched in front of him, palms forward, as though trying to bar the way to an intruder. A strange authority, an air of majesty, seemed to surround him.
Silje had rarely witnessed him practising the powers he was said to command, but she realised immediately that this was what he was doing. Then, to her horror, Sol walked over and stood beside Tengel, glancing briefly up at him before stretching out her arms just as he had done.
Silje dared not move for fear of disturbing the pair of them. Dag and Liv were also watching in wonderment, almost in veneration, and nobody could deny that Tengel and Sol, standing tall and dominant, were imposing something powerful but indefinable on their surroundings. Finally Tengel lowered his arms and released his pent-up breath. Sol followed suit and together they walked back to the others. Sol joined her brother and Tengel made his way to where Silje sat with Liv on the horse and they resumed their journey once more.
‘What were you doing?’ Silje asked softly after a while. ‘Did you make us invisible to them?’
Despite his wry smile, Tengel’s eyes had a sombre expression. ‘Nothing quite so extreme – no one can do that! I tried to force all thoughts of looking up here out of their heads.’
This was very hard for her to grasp. ‘A bit like reading their minds, you mean?’
‘You might say something like that. Or call it hypnosis – directing their minds – something of that kind.’
‘Do you think that it worked?’
‘I can’t say,’ he replied with an awkward chuckle. ‘I don’t know the strength of my power, I simply did my best.’
‘And Sol. did she know what she was doing?’
Tengel shuddered. ‘Of that I’m certain. A mighty force was binding us to each other. We understood and sustained one another. But, Silje, I fear for that girl!’
Silje’s reply was slow and deliberate. ‘She has a large bundle of things hidden among the baggage.’
‘I know. Hanna gave it to her.’
‘Had you thought to let her keep it?’
‘Had you?’ he asked instantly.
‘That is something you must decide. Have you ever wondered whether it is all Hanna’s – what shall I call it? Has Sol inherited Hanna?’
‘I am certain of it. I have been sure for a long time that Hanna had chosen Sol as her successor. There was a time, many years ago, when she tried to persuade me to be her successor, but I refused. Since that day she has hated me. Sol was the answer to her wishes and there are certain to be extremely valuable things in that bundle. There will be salves and remedies, otherwise forgotten and no longer used, which must not leave the protection of the family. I expect Hanna kept herself alive just long enough to find a person to pass them on to. So I do not want to take the bundle from Sol just yet.’
‘No,’ she said, ‘you’re right. Come on, children! Try to keep up!’
They began to walk faster. Although the evening light had faded, the night sky at that time of year never became completely dark. This was a blessing, for they had almost reached the mountain pass.
‘Do you think you will get the horse through?’ asked Silje, her voice betraying a note of doubt as she took in the threatening mass of jagged rock rearing above the crevice through which they would have to pass.
‘I’ll try, or else he will have to be left behind.’
‘Here? Alone in this deserted valley and unable to leave? We can’t do that!’
>
‘That wasn’t what l meant, Silje.’
She stared at him, aggressive and defiant. She knew what he was thinking.
‘The horse will get through,’ she said tersely. ‘We need him, don’t we?’
‘True.’
‘And he needs us!’
Tengel looked away, hiding the trace of a smile at her determination. It had turned her cheeks a bright crimson and he knew that she would fight to the last to save the horse. Tears welled up and he was overcome with great affection for his young wife. Then he blinked quickly and brushed the tears from his face.
****
Step by step they trudged onwards, around and over the harsh and jagged rocks, only to find themselves again and again trapped in a morass. Each time they carefully retraced their steps to find a better way forward. There was no doubt that the horse presented the greatest problem, but by this time they were all determined to get the creature over the pass. Then, in due course, came the inescapable moment when they stopped and took a final sorrowful look back towards the devastated Valley of the Ice People.
Although it was almost totally concealed by the blanket of smoke spreading along the length and breadth of the valley, they knew that their abandoned home lay hidden from view somewhere far below – a home to which they would never return!
They stood in silence for a long time. Dag tried not to let his sobs be heard, but he understood their predicament very well. Tengel put a hand on his shoulder.
‘I shall miss the valley,’ said Silje surprisingly. ‘It holds many good memories. We, this little family, were safe and happy there.’
Tengel nodded, ‘Yes, we were.’
‘So we should not hold a grudge against those children that tormented and bullied ours. They had little of which to be proud and needed a scapegoat, the way people often do. As kindred blood to Tengel the Evil, it was easy for them to pick on our little ones.’
Witch-Hunt Page 4