“What did they find?”
“I don’t know. Neither of them had time to tell us. I believe it may have something to do with the Ice People. You know, the secret store of herbs and potions.”
Gabriella turned to Mattias: “Where do you keep the secret store?”
“Certainly not in the attic! Because there’s no longer anybody that I need to hide it from. Everything’s stored with my medicines and equipment. Under lock and key, of course, because there are deadly poisons among them. But they’re not kept hidden away.”
Gabriella shivered. “So Tarjei and Kolgrim both went up into the attic and shortly afterwards both were dead. I don’t think I want to go up there!”
“Now you’re being silly,” said Kaleb. “I was there when they died, both of them! Their deaths were both because Kolgrim had taken some herb that drugged him and made him lose his common sense.”
Mattias turned the discussion back to the matter at hand.
“That doesn’t help us solve the problem of the noises. Shall we go up now and look around?”
“You’re certainly courageous,” thought Gabriella. “But you haven’t heard the frightful noises!”
“It’ll have to wait, Mattias,” said Liv. “Your granddad at Eikeby has sent word that he wants to see you again. And you, Gabriella, you need some sleep. Take a room down here where it’s quieter. Kaleb and I will see to the children. The attic can wait until this afternoon.”
But in the afternoon they were all invited to dinner at Linden Avenue, and when they returned to Graastensholm, it was already dark.
Andreas was as intrigued as anybody by the mystery and had come back with them, eager to help solve it.
Tarald and Yrja, on the other hand, showed no interest. They didn’t believe in sounds coming from an attic, they said. That was the way with old houses, they always had creaks and groans.
But the rest of the family was determined to investigate together, and the four children were moved to a room downstairs with a maid to look after them. They weren’t really sure about Frida. They were concerned that she might be a bad influence on the two boys. Gabriella felt the same but said nothing to the others. She didn’t want to expose herself to Kaleb’s ridicule yet again.
***
It was around midnight when, still wearing their outdoor clothes, they all gathered in Gabriella’s room, which seemed to be the best place to hear the noises. They all made themselves as comfortable as possible, sitting or half-lying on the beds. They spoke only in whispers so that they wouldn’t miss any sounds from above.
Gabriella sat looking secretly at Kaleb. In the dim light of the candle, he looked extremely strong and exciting. He was from a world that she knew nothing about at all. An unexpected shiver went though her, the kind that she instinctively knew was caused by the dangerous feelings and sensations that her mother, Cecilie, had always warned her about. Gabriella had never really understood why that should be the case, but she’d obediently kept her distance, holding herself coolly and politely apart from all men, including Simon.
Now realisation was slowly beginning to dawn on her. Her breath was becoming a little uneven and she very purposefully took her eyes off him and turned her attention back to the others.
Andreas was speaking and she concentrated carefully on what he was saying.
“Dad spoke of a mandrake that was supposed to have been with the herbs and things – but it’s disappeared. You don’t think it’s anything to do with that do you?”
“You mean because it was shaped like a man?” asked Liv. “Because it was said to be able to work miracles? I don’t think that sounds very nice.”
Although she wasn’t going to say so, Gabriella agreed.
“No,” whispered Kaleb, “we believe that Kolgrim must have had the mandrake on him when he was buried. That was the conclusion we came to.”
As she listened to Kaleb, Gabriella realised that she found the husky sound of his voice very appealing, and that worried her. She was already aware that she admired his physique and the way he moved. All these growing feelings were increasingly bewildering to her. Again she had to concentrate hard to turn her attention back to the conversation.
“One of the kitchen maids said that she saw something strange in the pantry yesterday,” Liv said. “She told me so this morning.”
“What did she see?”
“She couldn’t say for sure. She just felt that she wasn’t alone in the room and that glaring eyes were watching her from the shadows.”
“How nice,” muttered Gabriella.
“It can’t have found its way back here, can it?” asked Andreas. “The mandrake, I mean. To wreak some kind of revenge?”
“They do say that the mandrake is a living organism with a soul, but I don’t believe that,” replied Mattias. “Why would it ...?”
His voice froze suddenly and he stopped mid-sentence.
They’d all heard a soft, indistinct sound that clearly came from above, and it happened several times.
“Could it be rats?” whispered Gabriella anxiously.
“Not at Graastensholm,” replied Liv in a similar whisper. “A little mouse, maybe.”
Then immediately a dull thud came from above them.
“That was a big mouse,” observed Kaleb dryly.
“Shall we go up?” whispered Andreas.
All the men got to their feet. Gabriella looked at Liv for support, but she remained sitting.
“Well, Gabriella?” said Mattias. “Are you going to join us?”
“The marquise wouldn’t dare,” mumbled Kaleb.
Gabriella decided in an instant she’d take it no longer. “Of course I’ll go upstairs,” she said, and before she knew it, she was with the others in the corridor, creeping along to the next passageway.
Very soon she’d regret it bitterly – but it was too late to turn back.
Chapter 13
Liv had gone back to her own room and was lying on her bed, listening to the wind as it grew stronger. Sleet was being driven fiercely against her window panes. She was mulling over what Tarjei and Kolgrim might have found in the attic. She had no idea.
And yet she was the only person left who ought to know. She found that many events of the past few decades had long since become faded and clouded memories.
Meanwhile, the four younger members of her family were making their way up the attic stairway, although it was hardly more than a narrow and steep ladder. They went up as quietly as they could, worried that the steps would creak.
Gabriella, who naturally hung back a little, had been assigned the task of guarding the top of the stairs to prevent the unknown creature from escaping down them.
Given her obvious apprehension, it wasn’t a task that she relished. She was even less happy about having an iron rod thrust into her hand as a weapon, although the others had armed themselves with a variety of iron objects too.
The thought of battling with evil spirits if it became necessary was too frightening to contemplate.
Eventually they all reached the top of the stairs and stood staring into the huge, dark, unknown cavity of the attic which confronted them.
None of them knew what it looked like in daylight or what they could expect to find there, not even Mattias. They hadn’t brought candles with them because they didn’t want to announce their arrival.
The snow flurry pattering against the roof was finding its way between cracks and under the eaves. The wind was moaning and whistling eerily, drowning out any other noises they’d hoped to hear. The setting was unpleasant and unnerving for each and every one of them.
All lofts and attics have a melancholy air about them. They are the repositories of the past where all manner of objects, used, worn out and loved – perhaps by several generations – invariably end up.
But worst of all was the creeping fe
eling of uneasiness and panic from the secret things concealed there – and tonight was more spine-chilling than most.
They knew that whatever they were looking for would be in the furthest reaches of the dark void gaping before them.
As they advanced into the darkness, Gabriella panicked. She reached out and grabbed hold of a hand to keep at least one of them close to her.
Whoever it was took a step back and put his arm around her shoulders in a quick, reassuring embrace. She knew by his height that it was Kaleb. But then, a moment later, he was gone again.
His first friendly gesture towards her was so unexpected. She was so preoccupied thinking about it that she completely forgot that she was frightened.
Warmth filled her heart – a new sensation she hadn’t known before. There was none of the insecurity she had felt with Simon, fretting over whether or not he’d like her. No, this was something different. This was the response of a mature woman. It felt compelling and pleasing – not to mention a little arousing.
Kaleb had been equally surprised. Gabriella, he reflected, had never understood his coldness and didn’t realise that it was her attitude that made him so aggressive. He thought she was always patronising and disdainful whenever she was near him. This seemed to exaggerate and emphasise the class differences between them. So all his sharp comments were designed to bring her down a peg or two. But then suddenly, she’d reached out and held his hand. Yes, his hand!
He didn’t know that fate had decreed that it was to be his hand, nor did that matter. He was overcome with a feeling of tenderness, and suddenly he could see all Gabriella’s setbacks through her own eyes. He no longer saw her as a sulky, self-centred and conceited young woman but as a frightened, insecure little girl. She was crying out for affection after her rejection by a dim-witted nobleman.
All these thoughts astonished him, and he had to fight a strong urge to go back immediately and tell her all this.
It must be said that Gabriella’s mother, Cecilie, had been partly responsible for these painful misunderstandings between the two young people. She’d been afraid that the hot-blooded passions of the Ice People women would entice the girl into the kind of uncontrollable situation that Cecilie herself had experienced as a young woman. Cecilie had craved a man whom she felt she could never have. For that reason alone, she’d given herself to another whom she cared little or nothing for, seeking only sensual pleasure. Nothing like that, Cecilie had thought, must be allowed to happen to Gabriella. Without wishing to, she’d turned her daughter into a creature who appeared distant and cold in the eyes of men.
Kaleb knew nothing of all this. He felt only the aching emptiness and sadness of his own dejection because Gabriella was of noble birth while he was merely Kaleb.
Not wishing to become engulfed in such emotions, he closed his eyes for a second, drew a deep breath, and turned his attention back to the task at hand. He stood very still and listened intently. Blocking out the sounds of the rising snowstorm, he managed to hear the cautious, shuffling footsteps of Andreas and Mattias as they inched their way forward. One of them banged his foot against something and he heard a muffled oath. That would be Andreas, he thought. Mattias would never swear.
Then the next moment they all heard a sharp snapping sound followed by the noise of something being dragged along in a far corner of the attic.
Gabriella put a hand over her mouth to stifle the urge to scream. ‘What on earth did Tarjei and Kolgrim discover here?’ she asked herself for the hundredth time. ‘What secrets from the Ice People’s past were hidden up here? And what of the mandrake?’
No, she must stop herself thinking about it. It was just too morbid to even consider.
The three men made their way quickly and quietly in the direction of the noise until one of them stumbled over what sounded like a metal object; an iron chest or something. Kaleb had already reached the corner of the roof and could go no further.
Once again, he stood statue-like in the darkness. He felt that his leg was pressing lightly against something soft, like fabric. Very slowly, he moved his leg and reached out with his hand. But it was only a chair draped in a dust sheet.
Standing in the darkest recess of the attic, he could make out the faint silhouette of Mattias against the background of one of the attic’s windows. The younger man was a black outline against the pale swirling snow of the night sky. Andreas, he was sure, was to his right, and Gabriella was over by the entry stairs.
So who, or what, was standing on his left, in the corner ...?
There was an unmistakable presence there, and an icy shiver crept down his spine.
Now he could hear breathing, tiny almost silent breaths, very close to him, and felt the warmth of a living being. Kaleb thrust out his arm, grabbed a handful of cloth and what felt like the shoulder of a small, short creature which soon tore itself from his grasp. In that same instant, grotesque pictures flashed through his mind together with the voices of Tarjei and Kolgrim up in the Valley of the Ice People so long ago. Voices carried by the wind that he was never meant to hear. Kolgrim speaking of a tiny, gruesome creature with a beak-like nose, and Tarjei explaining that it wasn’t Satan but Tengel the Evil of the Ice People – and he’d been dead for four hundred years!
Although those anxious thoughts had come and gone in a moment, they’d caused Kaleb to ease his grip sufficiently for the creature to turn and run. Whatever it was, it flew across the attic like a scalded cat. As Kaleb gave chase, it was his turn to stumble and fall headlong over the metal box that seemed to be getting in everyone’s way. He got to his feet once more and shoved the iron chest out of the way, under some other piece of furniture. Just then, Gabriella let out a piercing scream.
The other two men flew down the stairs, chasing whatever creature it was they’d just found. Kaleb stopped to help Gabriella, who was lying on the floor, groaning.
“Are you alright?” he asked anxiously as he lifted her in his arms.
She leaned her head against his shoulder, but didn’t speak.
“There there,” he whispered gently in her hair, “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine now.”
She felt wonderful, and she knew it wasn’t the fall that had made her feel light-hearted.
“Forgive me,” she whispered on an impulse, feeling instinctively that this might be a way to free herself from the past.
“There’s nothing to forgive,” replied Kaleb, taken aback. “Come now, we must help the others.”
Helping her gently to her feet, he guided her back down the stairs. Because his hand felt so strong and safe, she held on to it tightly, her heart pounding with exhilaration.
They ran in pitch darkness towards the commotion they could hear in the corridor ahead, eager to find out what was going on. But on rounding a corner, they ran into a raging battle without any warning.
Before she knew it, Gabriella had been bitten on the wrist, which caused her to screech with pain and fright. But because no one could see what or who they were wrestling with, they held back slightly.
Finally, the “monster” was overpowered, but it continued to spit and hiss while bombarding them with the most foul-mouthed, grotesque oaths and curses, the likes of which none of them had ever heard.
Or had they? That crude hoarse voice was suddenly familiar to more than one of them.
“Alright, calm down now!” commanded Kaleb coldly. “And explain what you’re doing here!”
“I’ve got just as much a right as Frida to be here, haven’t I? I was good to her. Then she’s the rotten one who gets to live in a fine house. Am I not as good as what she is?”
By now Liv and the other members of the household had started arriving. Bleary-eyed and still wearing their nightclothes, they’d brought with them much-needed candles and lanterns, which lit up the corridor with their glow.
“Of course you’re as good as Frida,” said Gabriella gently. I
n her present euphoric state, she was ready to embrace the whole world. “We should have given you more thought. You’re not much more than a child yourself. Help her up, gentlemen.”
“But we’ve no room for her here,” Kaleb objected. “What’s more, she’ll be a bad influence on the other children, especially Frida.”
“Of course we’ve got room for her,” said Liv with a quiet note of authority. “She can share her sister’s bed to begin with. What’s your name?”
“None of your business, you old cow,” said the girl, responding rudely out of habit before she realised that her future might be at stake. “My name’s Oline,” she mumbled a few moments later in an effort to make amends. “Bloody silly name they gave me, eh? Angelina or Mariana would have suited me better. Anyway, what you devils done with Frida?”
“Frida’s sleeping,” Liv said openly. Then she turned to the housemaids and told them to prepare a bathtub, for never had a bath been needed as much as it was now.
“You’ll sleep in a comfortable bed tonight,” promised Mattias. “But first thing tomorrow, I’ll want to examine you from head to toe.”
“You naughty boy!” grinned Oline. “But that’s alright. I’ll let you!”
“Are you hungry?” asked Liv sternly, ignoring the innuendo.
“So hungry! You haven’t got much worth having in your pantry, have you? You’ve hidden all the good stuff.”
Bathing wasn’t something that had ever come naturally to Oline. Even the very mention of the word ‘bath’ had caused her to back up against the wall and spit vilely at anyone who came near her.
Liv watched this for a little while, then said persuasively: “Frida also had to bathe when she first came here. All the children did and it’s a condition of coming to live with us. There will only be women with you.”
“What? Are old hags going to watch me? Nah! No, thank you very much indeed – least not that snot-nosed strumpet,” she screeched, pointing at Gabriella. “She’s so bloody ugly and skinny and boring. When she sees what a real woman looks like, she’ll be so jealous. And she’s not to touch me either, not with those bony fingers of hers! She can go to hell!”
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