Cecilie’s heart skipped a beat. She couldn’t bear to think of her beloved Dad growing old.
“Aah! This is Liv, that’s obvious,” said Alexander. “And this last one is Are.” He fell silent again, absorbed in thought as he continued to study and re-study the pictures. “You know, Cecilie,” he said at last, “your grandma was a very good artist.”
“You should see her wall paintings and tapestries as well,” she replied.
“May I?” he asked, looking at Tarjei. “I’d be very honoured.”
Tarjei gladly arranged for the other rooms where they were stored and hung to be opened, and at the end of this, a very impressed Alexander asked very politely if he might be allowed to take one or two back to Gabrielshus. Cecilie immediately expressed her approval of the suggestion and promised to talk to Liv and Are about it.
Tarjei responded to a discreet wink from Cecilie and so Tarjei lured Kolgrim away so that she and Alexander could continue looking over the estates on their own. The boy was unable to resist Tarjei’s exciting offer to “swap magic tricks” and walked off obediently at Tarjei’s heels. Alexander and Cecilie left Linden Avenue very quietly and made their way across the fields and into the trees.
Lost in thought, conversation and the pleasure of each other’s company, they wandered deeper and deeper into the forest until they happened to come to a sunlit clearing next to a stream. What they didn’t know was that this was the same place where Sol would often visit secretly with her cat to practise and cast her spells. They sat down happily together on the grass, relishing the calm of the forest, the birdsong and the warm sunlight.
“I’ve got that feeling again,” said Cecilie as she lay back on the grass and looked up at the sky.
Alexander had picked a blade of grass and was running it across her brow.
“What feeling is that?” he murmured.
“That I’ve been here before.”
“That’s quite possible, isn’t it?”
“No, I would have remembered if I had – because it’s such a long walk through the forest. But I feel I like this place very much.”
“So do I. Here we’re lost to the world.”
They drew closer together and put their arms around one another. The birds continued singing, the sunshine became warmer and the leaves of the forest stirred only very gently in the spring breeze. And so it happened in this place, where Sol had once laid out her spells and potions and muttered her incantations, that Alexander’s seed found its way to where it would create new life, new families, new generations.
Sol would most certainly have approved of their presence there on that lovely, fresh spring day. She would have especially approved of the intense pleasures they shared and gave each other, time after time. In short, she would have said that they’d chosen a perfect spot to celebrate their newfound and passionate love for one another.
Chapter 14
Some months later, Brand and Matilda were delighted to welcome their baby boy. He was as splendid, normal and robust as his parents. Linden Avenue’s new son was baptised Andreas. By then, Tarjei felt that he’d recovered sufficiently and had therefore returned to complete his studies at Tübingen. Are and Meta moved into the older part of the house to make room for the younger generation.
Beyond the boundaries of Linden Avenue and Graastensholm and the daily events in the lives of the Ice People who lived there, the conflict that would later become known as the Thirty Years’ War was continuing. Before it ended, it would irrevocably change the boundaries of many European states, but now it had become Sweden’s turn to lead the new Protestant armies.
The Swedish King, Gustav II Adolf whose full title was Gustavus Adolphus, was a far better strategist than King Christian, and signs were already emerging that he might be successful. By this time, King Christian’s Danish expedition had ended in failure – utter failure. When the Danish troops heard that Wallenstein’s mercenaries were harrying them, they’d panicked and fled for home, towards Jutland. As they went, they pillaged and plundered for all they were worth because just like their Catholic pursuers they were also mostly mercenaries.
For the population of Jutland it was a catastrophe, made worse by the failure of the harvest in 1627 and compounded further by the arrival shortly afterwards of Wallenstein and his furious rampaging hordes. He occupied all of Jutland and countless Danes, from peasants to nobles, were forced to flee from the mainland peninsula to Zealand or Norway.
Besides, fate didn’t smile on King Christian himself. He was suffering pain from a wound in his arm, which he’d received in combat, and furthermore he had nagging suspicions that his wife, Kirsten Munk, had turned rather cool and brusque towards him. He was already heavily weighed down by the setbacks and defeats he’d suffered on the battlefield and to add insult to injury, the Swedish King now looked set to take over and claim all the glory. That upset him above all else.
So the Court in Copenhagen was therefore not the happiest of places, but Marquis Alexander Paladin and his wife, Cecilie, stayed well clear of its disharmonies and intrigues. They preferred to carry on with their increasingly happy lives at Gabrielshus, where one of Silje’s earlier tapestries now decorated a wall. When Ursula was told that Cecilie was expecting another baby, she soon arrived and took charge of the household. This time nothing was to be allowed to happen to the heir of the estate and the family name. Ursula had made it very clear when she arrived that she would see to that. Alexander was angry at his sister’s actions, but hid it well.
They had managed to keep her at a distance during Alexander’s long period of recovery, but on this occasion they might as well have tried to whistle in the wind. When Ursula arrived, she commanded the territory of Gabrielshus with a determined strategy. She appeared to be kind, considerate and sweet and wanted the best for everyone – but she pestered them with her thoughtfulness. As the days passed, the servants’ faces all took on a look of quiet desperation.
In the end, Alexander stooped to a slight deception to entice his over-helpful sister back to Jutland and told her that Wallenstein’s soldiers were about to expropriate her estates in her absence. There had been no other way since Cecilie couldn’t endure such zealous care. She hadn’t even been allowed out of bed, let alone take a walk outside to get some fresh air.
Once they’d waved goodbye to Ursula, Alexander and Cecilie sat down in their favourite chairs and laughed out loud with relief. After their laughter subsided, Alexander ran his eyes over Cecilie’s matronly form, which she was doing her best to conceal under a large crinoline and skirts.
“He’s certainly going to be a well-built boy, isn’t he?” he said, smiling across at her with great affection.
She gave him a very serious look. “Don’t say that, Alexander. It frightens me. The Ice People’s ‘well-built lads’ have an unfortunate habit of killing their mothers in childbirth.”
“That won’t happen here! We’ll send for Tarjei.”
“No, thank you!”
“But he’s the finest physician there is.”
But Cecilie was adamant. “He’s my cousin, Alexander! And he’s five years younger than me. There has to be some privacy between cousins, doesn’t there?”
“But ...”
“Don’t try to persuade me. There are certain parts of my body that you alone may see, and nobody else.”
“What about the midwife?”
“That’s a very different matter.”
“I never thought you’d be so prudish, Cecilie.”
“I’m not prudish! Just – not Tarjei! He’s a good friend. I’ve squabbled many times with him but also enjoyed scholarly conversations. I only exist above my waist where Tarjei is concerned. I’m a lady – there are no nether regions, do you understand? And besides, would you want your sister to see you naked?”
“No, heaven forbid! Alright, you’ve won – but I’ll still have a field s
urgeon I know on hand.”
Cecilie nodded. “Do so by all means. The legacy of the Ice People isn’t to be taken lightly.”
He looked at her with a wary expression. “But didn’t you say that there was already an accursed one in this next generation?”
“Yes – Kolgrim! But many times in the past there has been more than one in a generation. They say that there was a woman in the Ice Valley who was the same age as Hanna and she was just as terrible a creature. And the clan and kin are growing again after having been reduced to so few. For at one time, there was only grandpa Tengel, my mum and Tengel’s niece, Sol. That was when the Ice People’s valley was destroyed and everybody except Tengel’s small family was put to death. Now our numbers are growing again, and there’ll be more to come.” She stopped and chose her words carefully before continuing: “There’s just one other thing you ought to know about us, Alexander. The women of the Ice People bear few children. Uncle Are was exceptional with his three sons – nothing like that had ever happened before. I’ve already had one child so in all probability this will be my last.”
Alexander couldn’t find the words to answer her. He simply reached for her hand to squeeze it lovingly.
Cecilie sighed. “Members of the Ice People should never really be allowed to marry, that’s the truth of the matter.”
“I beg to differ,” he said quietly. “I think they’re to be cherished and sought after for all their wonderful qualities – their courage, compassion and tolerance ...”
She waved a hand and stopped him in mid-stream. “Thank you, but I wasn’t fishing for compliments.”
“I know you wouldn’t do that.”
‘I know this is tempting fate,’ Cecilie was thinking, ‘and whatever this child may or may not be, it will be made very welcome. But dear Lord, please let it be a boy – for Alexander’s sake and for the family name of Paladin!’ All of a sudden, the burden of responsibility seemed far too great, and she was seething with rage: ‘But what does it matter if it’s a girl? She’ll still have all my love and never be made to feel unwelcome. She’ll be worth much more than ... ’
Alexander’s voice suddenly interrupted her unruly thoughts. “There are already three small boys in your family, so I’d say that you’re most likely to have another ...”
Cecilie’s cheeks reddened. “Another?”
Alexander took a sharp breath – he could have kicked himself. “Forgive me! I’d completely forgotten that you didn’t know. The child you lost would have been a male. I’m so sorry.”
Because of her condition, Cecilie was far more emotional than she would usually have been and she burst into floods of tears.
“Are you still really distressed at losing that child?” he asked gently.
She’d begun to regain her composure. “No, not really, but what you said just then made him seem suddenly more real. A baby boy? My distress is for him – the result of a relationship between two people who meant nothing to each other. And he never lived to see a moment of sunshine, the poor little thing!”
“I understand how you must feel, my dearest Cecilie. But let’s look at it another way. If we already had a son, no matter that I would have accepted him as my own, and you gave birth to another now – well, we might have been faced with a dilemma as to who would be the rightful heir!”
She smiled and gave a little nod. “I understand. It wouldn’t have been fair to the second son because he would have been your firstborn, Alexander.”
“Indeed, and if son number two had been left everything, it would have been unfair to his older brother.”
Cecilie’s voice was calmer and brighter. “Yes, then it was probably all for the best – if this one’s a boy!”
“Let’s put that in God’s hands,” he replied. His piety always surprised her because where Alexander Paladin was concerned, the Lord God hadn’t always been so considerate. She wondered about his faith and deepest beliefs, but as she did so, thoughts of the opposite kind flashed into her mind and she chuckled.
“This might sound uncanny, even blasphemous, Alexander, but I believe the seed of this child was sown when we were in the forest at Graastensholm.”
Alexander nodded but said nothing.
“And do you remember that I also had a strange, overpowering sense that someone or something was there with us?”
Alexander gave her a questioning, slightly puzzled look. “It wasn’t Kolgrim, my dear. I’m sure of that. He was with Tarjei until late that afternoon.”
“No, of course not. But I can’t really explain it. I had such strong feelings of Sol at the time. As if she must have been there at that exact spot a long time ago – long before us, Alexander.”
“Was it as if the place was bewitched? Is that what you sensed?”
“Or blessed, for it’s where I conceived. It’s where I became pregnant.”
“Yes, that’s true,” he answered. Cecilie didn’t want to say any more to him, but her unspoken thoughts were very troubling. ‘What sort of a child will it be if a witch of the Ice People was watching at the moment of conception?’ she asked herself. ‘And even worse, a witch guided by Hanna to preserve all the evil that the Ice People possess. It doesn’t bode well.’
She looked into Alexander’s eyes and could see that his thoughts mirrored her own. With a concerned frown, he moved round to stand behind his wife’s chair and leaned down to put his arms round her, as though he were protecting her from some unseen attack. But how, he reflected as he did so, would he be able to protect her from a danger that may come from within?
***
On a cold, dark February night in the year 1628, a carriage left Gabrielshus with all the speed the driver could muster. It was on its way to fetch the midwife and surgeon and there wasn’t a minute to lose. Infants have a habit of choosing to come into the world at night and often they do so as agonisingly as they can. This was something that Alexander and Cecilie were acutely aware of, and their emotions had become numbed from the constant shift between confidence and anxiety.
The worst nightmare for any woman of the Ice People was that they would give birth to one of the accursed ones. This was also the case for Cecilie, and to make matters worse she appeared to be carrying a large baby. She had talked over things about the baby with Alexander and one outcome was that she’d forbidden him to be present when her time came.
“Call me shy or prudish, what you will,” she’d told him, “but I definitely prefer to do this on my own – well, almost on my own!”
One of the older, experienced servants waited anxiously with her until the midwife arrived. Cecilie had already caused consternation by having several false alarms, but this time there was no mistake. Several more hours elapsed before the child was born, by which time the surgeon was also at her bedside – and at the outset he didn’t like what he saw.
A little later, Alexander heard Cecilie’s sudden scream of agony. She hadn’t cried out at all until then – bravely enduring all the discomfort and pain through gritted teeth. But now she’d become quiet again and all he could hear was the sound of hurried footsteps.
“Dear God,” he prayed silently, “dear God!”
And then, like a rusted wheel being spun faster and faster on its axle, the sound of a pitiful squeak reached his ears. His heart started to beat harder. ‘That’s my child!’ he thought. ‘A true Paladin! How extraordinary that I – the most worthless and despised of all people – should be a part of this!’
He let his thoughts go back to when Cecilie had confided in him that she suspected she was pregnant – with their child. He’d almost not believed her, convincing himself that because of his earlier “disposition” and more especially since he’d been paralysed, he’d never be able to father any children. But had it now happened at long last?
‘Thank you, dear God, for that miracle, if this has happened,’ he said inwardly. ‘But should
I go in yet? No, Cecilie told me not to. But it’s all over now, isn’t it? Why are they so quiet? There seems to be no sound but the cry of the baby. Lord, be merciful!’
His long wait finally ended when the door opened and the midwife came out. Very tenderly, she placed a small bundle in his arms.‘Goodness. It’s as light as a feather! Surely there’s nothing inside?’ he thought in astonishment. Hesitating, he peered into the tightly wrapped bundle of cloth. The sight of a shock of black hair and a little dark red face rewarded his curiosity. Two incredibly tiny, perfect hands were gesturing to him.
“A baby Marquise, my Lord,” said the midwife. “It’s your daughter.”
Alexander swallowed to clear this throat. His daughter! A girl. He felt a slight sting of disappointment but it was gone in an instant. He’d already held this tiny life in his arms and he felt the bond, the tenderness and the responsibility that he owed it. He was also filled with a wilder feeling of unrestrained affection and love. He laughed joyfully and his eyes were brimming with tears.
“Just think,” he said, “how big Cecilie had grown and that there was this little gem inside. What a lot of effort for such a tiny thing – but what a wonderful tiny thing she is! And it’s all ended very well ...”
He couldn’t take his eyes off his newborn daughter. She looked absolutely adorable. Then he realised that the field surgeon had appeared in the doorway.
“Oh, no, my dear Marquis! I’m afraid we’re not quite finished yet. There’s more to come!”
“What?”
“Come back in here, quickly please,” the surgeon urged the midwife. “There’s more to do.”
‘Twins?’ thought Alexander in amazement. ‘Two baby girls?’
The midwife took the baby from him and hurried back to Cecilie. Alexander stood empty-handed, listening to the faint and distant whimpering of his daughter. All of a sudden he yearned to hold her again. ‘She was so quiet while I was holding her in my arms,’ he thought, ‘maybe she felt safe with me, her dad?’ he wanted so much to believe it was true.
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