Rituals, page 1
Rituals
The Legend of the Ice People 23 - Rituals
© Margit Sandemo 1984
© eBook in English: Jentas A/S, 2018
Series: The Legend of The Ice People
Title: Rituals
Title number: 23
Original title: Våroffer
Translator: Anna Halager
© Translation: Jentas A/S
ISBN: 978-87-7107-576-2
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchase.
All contracts and agreements regarding the work, translation, editing, and layout are owned by Jentas A/S.
Acknowledgement
The legend of the Ice People is dedicated with love and gratitude to the memory of my dear late husband Asbjorn Sandemo, who made my life a fairy tale.
Margit Sandemo
The Ice People - Reviews
‘Margit Sandemo is, simply, quite wonderful.’
- The Guardian
‘Full of convincing characters, well estabished in time and place, and enlightening ... will get your eyes popping, and quite possibly groins twitching ... these are graphic novels without pictures ... I want to know what happens next.’
- The Times
‘A mixure of myth and legend interwoven with historical events, this is imaginative creation that involves the reader from the first page to the last.’
- Historical Novels Review
‘Loved by the masses, the prolific Margit Sandemo has written over 172 novels to date and is Scandinavia s most widely read author...’
- Scanorama magazine
The Legend of the Ice People
The legend of the Ice People begins many centuries ago with Tengel the Evil. He was ruthless and greedy, and there was only one way to get everything that he wanted: he had to make a pact with the devil. He travelled far into the wilderness and summoned the devil with a magic potion that he had brewed in a pot. Tengel the Evil gained unlimited wealth and power but in exchange, he cursed his own family. One of his descendants in every generation would serve the Devil with evil deeds. When it was done, Tengel buried the pot. If anyone found it, the curse would be broken.
So the curse was passed down through Tengel’s descendants, the Ice People. One person in every generation was born with yellow cat’s eyes, a sign of the curse, and magical powers which they used to serve the Devil. One day the most powerful of all the cursed Ice People would be born.
This is what the legend says. Nobody knows whether it is true, but in the 16th century, a cursed child of the Ice People was born. He tried to turn evil into good, which is why they called him Tengel the Good. This legend is about his family. Actually, it is mostly about the women in his family – the women who held the fate of the Ice People in their hands.
Chapter 1
Winter at Elistrand.
Heavy snow had settled on the rooftops, roads and frozen lakes.
Inside, it was nice and cosy. In the special grey-purple glow of twilight, Vinga and her guest Heike sat by the hearth drying their feet after making a tour of inspection of the estate. They stretched out in comfortable chairs with footstools.
Vinga circled her toes coquettishly, enjoying the warmth of the fire. “It’s wonderful to see you again, Heike,” she said in her light, spirited voice. “It gets so lonely here. And you almost never come to see me!”
He smiled at her. “You know why. I can’t live here with you, dearest child. Not a single night would pass without my somehow landing in your bed.”
“Of your own free will?” she asked quickly. “Or because I would beg you to?”
“Of my own free will, as you know perfectly well. But ... your recklessness doesn’t exactly make it easier for me.”
“But Heike, I don’t understand why we can’t ...”
He interrupted her before she could make any tempting arguments. “A guardian does not sleep with his ward, Vinga! Especially not if she is only seventeen and the guardian ...”
“Stop!” she said, lifting her hand. “If I hear you say that you are ugly and grotesque one more time I won’t speak to you again!”
“Is that a promise?” he said, teasingly.
She threw a cushion at him.
But that was what he had been about to say. That same morning, when he had decided to visit Vinga – though with considerable hesitation because his longing for her had grown so strong – he had seen his reflection in the mirror and thought that perhaps it would be better for him to stay at home in his little house on the outskirts of Christiania. No one in the world could possibly be as ugly as he was. He was tall, slim and erect, but those were the only good features of his appearance. He looked at his wispy black hair, which seemed as though it might be hiding a pair of pointy troll-ears, and detested it. His eyes were slanted and yellow, his nose flared, his mouth was broad and wolf-like above a chin that was pointed like a fox’s. Those angular cheekbones, the shoulders, the hairy chest ...
He was one of the most stricken of the Ice People in terms of appearance.
And that crazy Vinga, the most beautiful creature on earth, claimed that he was handsome!
He had introduced her to other young men so that she could see the difference for herself. For he knew that he would someday lose her – it was only natural. But the nice young men bored her, she said. “They aren’t even beautiful! You are beautiful, Heike! The most beautiful thing in the world to me!”
So it wasn’t so strange that he only went there with reluctance.
He loved her, of course! He adored every inch of that ethereal little being: the blonde, cascading hair, the lively movements, the laughter, the cheerful eyes, her frequently shocking straightforwardness.
“How are you getting on with your attempt to regain Gråstensholm?” Vinga suddenly asked.
Instinctively, Heike lifted his eyes and looked out towards the large farm far off in the hills. But when he looked out the window all he saw, of course, was the darkness and a wall of falling snow.
“Not well,” he said. “Snivel is still sitting there like a big fat toad guarding his treasures. My treasures! He has no intention of disappearing.”
“Yes, I’m well aware of that, thank you very much.”
“Does he bother you?”
“He certainly does! He hates me, Heike. He hates me because the court gave Elistrand back to me and because I was awarded the money Sørensen had cheated my father out of. Things are good here now, the servants are dedicated and Elistrand is running well. Or, at least, acceptably – you saw the state of things yourself when we walked round it. It’s hard work, of course! But my mere presence is a thorn in Snivel’s side.”
“How does he bother you?”
“First he tried to get me ostracized in the parish by ruining my reputation. But he didn’t manage it, because the Ice People have always been loved in Gråstensholm Parish and no one likes Snivel. Since then he’s tried to vandalize the sawmill, the boat and the fishing tackle, and interfere with the grain production and the forestry. But thanks to my very loyal people I have managed to hold my ground and repair the damage. It’s as though I am being assisted by a higher power. Each time we think we’ll have to give up, unexpected help comes to us in the form of money or more grain or the like. People who owed my father something ...”
She looked confused. Heike turned his head away so that she wouldn’t be able to read his eyes and realize where the help was coming from ...
Vinga woke from her thoughts. “But Snivel’s perpetual smear campaign is taxing my energy, Heike. It makes one tired.”
“But it clearly can’t go on!” Heike said with fury. “He can’t be allowed to do this sort of thing!”
“And you haven’t even heard the worst of it yet. One of my stable hands thought he saw one of Snivel’s men lurking in our carriage shed. And the following day, when I was out in the carriage, the axle broke on the steep hill leading down to the lake. We could see that someone had sawn through it.”
Heike jumped up and began pacing the room restlessly.
“He has to be removed,” he said “He must go! Immediately! My God, that’s my house – he has no right to keep it! Just because he is a judge no one can convict him. Or, rather, no one dares to!”
“What about Menger, the attorney?”
“I don’t want to ask any more favours of him, Vinga. He performed a great feat when he managed to get Elistrand returned to you, but I can’t ask more of a terminally ill man. Snivel would be sure to get rid of him.”
“You mean in court?”
“Yes, there too, but I mean in the more literal sense. If Menger summons Snivel, Snivel will be sure to crush him before the case is heard. It wouldn’t be beyond Snivel to commit murder. And you remember how he managed to buy off practically all the members of the court over Elistrand.”
“Yes, but what else have you been doing, Heike? Because you haven’t been idle, have you? Nine months have passed!”
Heike sighed. “I’ve tried everything. I went to the Supreme Court and asked for help to get my own home back, but they looked at me as if I was dirt on their shoes, and I quickly realized that Judge Snivel had also used his influence with them. I suppose he had worked out that I would try there.”
He sat down again. “Of course I received a response to my letters to Aunt Ingela and Arv Grip. Well, you know, of course, because you were the one who read their letter aloud to me. They would very much have liked to help us, but neither is in a position to abandon their own responsibilities at home. Vinga, I have spoken with so many people in Christiania. I have humiliated myself and been thrown out because people thought I was a devil or a changeling. People refuse to help me! I’ve even been up to Gråstensholm and spoken to Snivel himself. I tried to persuade him to hand over Gråstensholm of his own accord.”
“Goodness, Heike! You didn’t really do that?”
“Yes, that’s how naive I was. It wasn’t pleasant, I can tell you. The nicest thing he said was that he was under no obligation to hand over his estate to the spawn of Satan!”
“Well, I suppose you’ve heard that one before.”
“Yes, hundreds of times. But, as I said, that was the nicest thing he said. And when I left, a bullet whistled past my ear. It came from the direction of the outhouses.”
“You didn’t mention that,” said Vinga, her face turning red with rage. “I’ll ... no, I won’t. But can’t the high sheriff do anything? That was attempted murder! At least he ought to be able to throw Snivel out?”
“Throw out a judge? I’d like to see a high sheriff dare to do anything like that! With Snivel, anyway. He still has enormous power, even though it was somewhat tested last year. With a single word he could get rid of the high sheriff and disgrace him. And that bullet ... well, you can easily fire an accidental shot when you’re out hunting.”
“Can’t you go to the king? Heike, Gråstensholm is yours! It’s been stolen from you, pure and simple, using forged letters!”
“To the king? A king who rules Denmark and has more than enough to see to? He doesn’t care a jot about Gråstensholm or the Ice People in little Norway.”
“The king is said to be a little mad, but apart from that he is well loved.”
“That may be, but do you think he personally receives all the letters people send him? He must have a huge staff to do his bidding. And who is to write the letter to him? Me? I can’t even write my own name!”
“Then it’s about time you learned,” Vinga answered, a little saucily, and he had to agree with her.
They fell silent and stared into the fire. That is to say, Heike did that only for a second. Then his eyes automatically sought out Vinga’s irresistible figure. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.
Without giving much consideration to what he was doing, Heike voiced his thoughts and his deep voice filled the room with lingering, almost magical words.
“I want to carry you in my arms, Vinga, hold you before me like a blessing, go out through the window, straight into the winter storm. I would travel through space with you lying outstretched in my arms so that your hair would stream from your head like a river of gold. In the quiet winter night we would make our way across the snowstorm to where the stars twinkle. I would hold you out to them, lift you above my head and say, ‘See what I have brought you! Please accept this forest elf, Vinga, made of stardust, for her home is with you. A monster from the underworld brings her to you in the silence of the night so that you may bless her.’ ‘No,’ say the stars. ‘She is your responsibility, you, spirit of the abyss. You are to accompany her through human life, protect her with your life, honour and love her, but never touch her, you giant, ugly troll.’”
“Heike,” Vinga whispered as she spontaneously fell to her knees beside him, hiding her face in his lap. “You aren’t from the underworld, you know that! And you aren’t a spirit of the abyss! But on second thoughts, you must be, because I love demons like you!”
He smiled as he caressed her golden, glistening hair. “The demon and the virgin. Isn’t that what they called us?”
She laughed, still with her face against his knees.
“But it’s not true, I’m no angel.”
“An angel and a virgin aren’t the same thing.”
“No, but I’m no virgin, either. Well, technically I am, and it’s all your fault!”
“It’s to my credit, don’t you mean?”
“No, that’s not what I mean at all! And you are not to think of me as something ethereal or worship me like a goddess. Heike, I don’t want that! For I can often be petty and wicked, and furthermore ... furthermore I’ve grown up a lot lately. Haven’t you noticed my curves? Haven’t you seen my breasts and hips? I’m not a child any more!”
“Do you think I haven’t noticed?” he smiled wistfully. “Why do you think I try to avoid looking at you?”
She nodded, pleased. One of her hands began moving upwards along his inner thigh. Heike immediately grabbed hold of her arm.
“For heaven’s sake, Vinga!”
She lifted her head, smiling. “But I love to feel how stirred you are by my presence. You have quite a lot to offer. No one can hold a candle to you there!”
“How do you know?” he said sharply as he tried to get a firm grip on her determined hands.
“Well, there are such things as paintings and sculptures. And you know I once caught sight of a farm hand when I was a child. No one has a body like yours!”
“No,” Heike closed down the conversation. “You’re right about that.”
“Don’t sound so bitter. I love you! Isn’t that enough for you?”
Then he looked down at her and gently raised her to her feet. “All I desire in life is your love. But how long will that love last?”
“Oh, sometimes I just feel like hitting you! What makes you so convinced that I would ever fall for anyone else?”
“Because you’re so young!”
“That was what you said nine months ago. You decided the limit was going to be eighteen years ...
“You were the one who set that limit. I said you ought to wait until you’re twenty.”
“Yes, but we changed it to eighteen,” she continued. “Well, I’ll behave myself until then – I think.”
She sat back down in her chair. “But you were lying just now.”
“I never lie.”
“Ha! It was your biggest lie. Vinga Tark is not all you desire in life. You also want Gråstensholm.”
“Yes, I do. But it comes in second place.”
“Well, then let’s start with second place! Then perhaps you’ll have more time to take pity on troublesome me later on.”
“Honestly, Vinga!” Heike said, smiling, as he rose to his full impressive height. She was always a little shocked at how commanding he looked. It was probably because of his shoulders. Those peculiar Ice People shoulders with the frightening, pointy bones turning upwards. And his narrow thighs and long, straight legs. His upper body and head seemed to tower above one so overwhelmingly.
She immediately got up and took a step towards him, afraid he might leave. “Another glass of wine?”
“In your presence? No thank you! I’d prefer to maintain my composure.”
“What a shame! Did you realize that you’ve never even so much as kissed me, Heike?”
“I’m perfectly aware of that. I hardly think of anything else.”
“Well, do it, then,” she said, standing as if glued to him and looking up at him with sparkling, pleading eyes.
He couldn’t stay serious. “It would be the beginning of the end for us, Vinga.”
“What end?” she hissed, hitting his chest with her small hand. “Whom would we be harming by having a nice time together?”
Heike grabbed her by the wrists and held her firmly, but he didn’t look at all angry; on the contrary, he laughed at her rage.
“I would be upset about it. I would never be able to forgive myself if I violated you.”
“We’re back to the goddess thing again,” she snorted. Then she grew affectionate and charming again. Oh, how well he knew all her tricks! “Heike,” she said in a persuasive voice. “We had such a wonderful time in that cart, didn’t we? It was the only time you ever gave in.”
