Winter Storm, page 17
She got up. Everything swayed before her eyes: the courtyard, the tree, the sky and the ground, and she no longer felt the snow. Two opposing forces were struggling for control within her, the rapture of his words and the guilt and unpleasantness they triggered.
Eldar had also got up.“Admit that you want to! Admit it!”
“Hit me, Eldar, quickly! They can see us from the window.”
“I can’t, I don’t want to hit you!”
“Yes, your agitation is much too obvious, and mine is probably as well. They’re bound to be puzzled.”
“I understand. It looks better that I’m angry with you than that I desire you.”
“Exactly, big brother.”
“But I can't do it.”
She provoked Eldar. “Then you’re a horrible swine, a nasty piece of work who’s no wiser than the creatures in the basement.”
That did the trick. Eldar hit her, harder than she had expected. The pain made her furious. She was just about to retaliate but then she remembered her role, put her hands up to her face and dashed indoors. The farmer’s wife waited for her in there.
“It seems you’ve been punished,” she said, not without malicious pleasure.
Villemo sobbed. The beating had made the tears pour down her cheeks all by themselves.
“What was he so angry about?”
“Madam, I happened to complain that it’s so difficult getting up in the morning. I’ve always been tired in the morning, I can’t help it.”
That was a lie because Villemo was always refreshed after a good night’s sleep.
“Well? What did he say to that?”
“He said we’re being treated exceptionally well here – which is true – and that I should be grateful.”
The farmer’s wife nodded and agreed completely.
“Then I said that he was behaving badly towards me and then he hit me.”
Villemo began to weep again.
“It’s a brother’s duty to chastise his younger siblings,” the wife said pompously. “He did the right thing, and you should be ashamed of yourself. Now you see to your duties, naughty girl.”
“Yes, Madam.” Villemo curtsied and quickly disappeared into the rooms.
‘Soon, very soon, your heyday will be over,’ she thought.
A wave of anxiety swept over her as she thought of what was about to happen with the people at Tobrønn. But now there was no way back.
The bailiff arrived at Tobrønn. He had come all the way from Moberg, tempted by the rumours that had circulated like wind-blown chaff over the villages in Akershus. And with him came all his loyal mercenaries – and the Woller People’s farmhands. They had heard from acquaintances that two of the young men of the Ice People had been riding towards the northeast, towards Romerike, the day before.
Maybe the two had gone on the trail of the despised Eldar Black Forest and his mistress, Villemo Kalebsdatter Elistrand? These were the two People that the Woller people wanted to get more than anything else for the killing of Mons Woller and one of his closest men. So they also rode eastwards.
Some men with Danish sympathies had tried to warn the prefect, who was now at Tobrønn. But they were stopped by the insurgents’ guards who were lined up along the edge of the forest leading to the farm. So the prefect and the farmer at Tobrønn knew nothing.
The air became a little warmer and the snowfall changed to rain around dusk. But the wind was still howling through the farm, maybe even slightly stronger now as is usually the case when thaw sets in. The wind howled through the eaves, leaky walls, and in narrow passages between the houses.
The farm was calm as night drew in. Everything was quiet and the whole area seemed to be wrapped in a gloomy calm. Nobody saw the men who stood tense and freezing with cold at the edge of the forest around the whole plateau. A cart creaked its way along the road to that forest, stopped there and waited.
A warm, yellow light shone out from the windows in the main building. Inside there was a party for the prefect and his entourage. The voices began to talk nonsense and sound muddled and there was more and more laughter. The party dragged on. Villemo, who had helped the whole evening, was getting nervous. She had to put on an act to get out of there.
She excused herself to her mistress and said that she was feeling unwell. She said that she had just fainted in the pantry and she didn’t want it to happen in here among the guests. No, she wasn’t with child, how could the mistress imagine that? She had probably just eaten something that didn’t agree with her. Could she be allowed to go up to her room and lie down?
The farmer’s wife studied her. She really didn’t look well at all. Villemo had always been a good actress. Nobody could look as fatigued as her when she wanted to. “You can leave after you’ve taken out the dirty plates. We can’t have somebody who’s sickly around here.”
Villemo obeyed immediately. She managed to get hold of the key to the basement and a few minutes later she was with Eldar, who had been waiting impatiently.
“Why the hell did you keep me waiting? Have you put on some warm clothes?”
“Everything I have with me,” she laughed nervously.
“Then come on, quickly! They’re waiting for us.”
He didn’t explain who “they” were, but she assumed that he meant the men at the edge of the forest, who would wait to see the cart leave the forest before they would strike. Villemo sent them a grateful thought for their care of the weak. So there was some humanity in the world after all.
When they went down into the basement, the two of them realised that they should have been many, many more. The unfortunate creatures didn’t understand that they only wanted the best for them. However, after Eldar had spoken in some detail with Jens, he grasped what it was all about and willingly accepted being gagged and having his hands tied behind his back. Then the others accepted the same, slowly and frightened. One of them began to kick up a fuss and squeal like a stuck pig. Finally, Eldar was forced to hit him hard.
“All this is so damned unnecessary,” he said with clenched teeth to Villemo. “Wouldn’t it have been better to torch this hovel?”
She was dismayed when she realised that it wasn’t him who had wanted to save the defenceless. But he was probably just agitated right now.
Fortunately, the prisoners were used to walking together in chains. Eldar twisted some spare clothes around the chains so that they didn’t rattle, and then they all walked out.
“Wait,” Villemo whispered to Eldar. “Walk slowly towards the forest. I’ll be back very soon.”
“I can’t take them all on my own,” he snarled.
“Of course you can. They’re compliant now. I’m borrowing your knife.”
She disappeared before he had time to protest any further. She dashed like lightning to a little house in the cluster, found the key behind the stone in the wall and opened the door.
Kristine Tobrønn lay in the same spot. Villemo slashed the straps and wrapped the bedclothes around her.
“Can you walk on your own?” she asked. “Now is the time to flee.”
The young woman began to shake. “I don’t know. I haven’t stood on my legs for a long time.”
They tried, but she collapsed immediately.
“Lean on me. I can’t carry you,” Villemo whispered. “Hurry up, they’re waiting for us.”
She practically dragged the woman out of the house and onto the plateau. They could discern the long row of people in the dark.
“Here’s Kristine,” she whispered to Eldar. “She can’t walk on her own, can you carry her?”
“And who’s then going to help the man with the wound?”
“I will.”
She took over from Eldar. She tried to stop inhaling the acrid stench from the man, who was leaning heavily against her. Now and then a moan could be heard from the crowd and a few of them tried to run away, but Eldar kept a watchful eye all the time.
The journey was a nightmare. The forest was so far away, and every moment they expected to be discovered. The helpless creatures tugged and tore at their chains to be free. They didn’t know Eldar and Villemo, and the nervous atmosphere frightened them. Villemo felt so sorry for them, but this was the only way they could get them out.
Something moved in the darkness. Villemo started and wanted to run away but then she realised that it was the man with the cart. She was disappointed in herself. One moment you’ll do everything for these unfortunate people – and the next moment you’ve almost forgotten them in order to save yourself.
She knew, however, that she was being slightly unfair towards herself. A pure reflex had seized her but she was convinced, after collecting her thoughts, that she wouldn’t have actually abandoned them.
The man helped get the people in the cart. Some of them resisted, and this rubbed off on the others – but finally everyone was up in the cart, and Villemo was helped up in a hurry. The two horses were driven forward. It was a heavy load and the cart groaned as they set off.
“Couldn’t they have oiled the wheels?” she said nervously. “They can be heard to the end of the world!”
“They’re in the middle of their party. They can’t hear anything in there,” Eldar said.
Finally, they were in the shelter of the forest. Men appeared from under the trees. They stopped the cart.
“Eldar Black Forest?” the man said.
“Yes.”
“You take care of the cart. You’re sure you know the way to the mountain pasture?”
“Yes, but–”
“You can’t come with us. You’ve been given your task, so stick to it! The girl goes with you.”
The man who had accompanied them jumped down from the cart and handed the reins to Eldar.
Eldar fumed, “It’s a soft job. Sitting in a mountain pasture watching a bunch of damned idiots – while others carry out heroic deeds!”
“I think that saving lives is a greater feat than extinguishing them,” Villemo said.
“Oh, shut up,” Eldar said.
Villemo trembled a bit and crouched in the back of the cart where she could keep an eye on them all. They were paralysed over everything they saw – the floor that moved under them, the cold, the forest – everything was a novelty to them. Kristine had placed herself next to Villemo, who put her arm around the young woman.
The message went through the forest that the battle could begin. The battle over Norway. A beacon was lit. Immediately afterwards, another was lit up on one of the mountain ridges near Tobrønn. And another one. And another one farther way. Shortly after, the beacons were lit across large parts of Akershus.
The bailiffs, standing in various places with their men, saw the beacons.
“Now they’re lighting their own pyres,” one of the bailiffs said to his closest helpers. “Maybe it’s more our signal than it is theirs. Don’t let any of those devils get out of this alive!”
Chapter 12
The prefect in the county of Akershus had a bulk that was the sign of a life lived in luxury. He breathed heavily sitting there in the banqueting hall with a glass of wine in his chubby hand.
Like most civil servants in Norway, the prefect was German. Some of them were Danes and a small minority was Norwegian. A frown of irritation showed under the neat waves of his wig. Where was the sweet little maid? He had thought of arranging a nice little visit to her room later that night. Or even better, she could come to his room. Now she had vanished and it would be twice as difficult to reach her without knowing which room was hers.
He was grateful that his wife – that sour face – hadn’t joined him this time. She would just sit there glaring at him if he happened to drink a bit too much or looked at other ladies.
It was wonderful here at Tobrønn. The food was exquisite and plentiful and so was the joie de vivre. Actually, one tended to be far too isolated in this province, which Norway was. It was a country of refractory and grumpy people with no culture. The farmer at Tobrønn was a good friend to have. Wealthy, debonair and loyal towards the powers that be.
But the journey here had been damn cold. Imagine that people could live in this country all their lives. It was quite unfathomable. When his tenure was over, he would return to the German Realm. He was much wealthier now than when he first came to Norway. Because, of course, he had to grab as much as he could if he had to suffer in this miserable country. His coffers were plentiful since several fortunes had become his.
One of the men, wasn’t it Syver, the son of the house? Yes, he could never remember names and faces but that probably was his name. He had stood by the window and now walked over to them at the table.
“Bonfires are burning on the eastward mountain ridge, Dad.”
“Oh,” the Tobrønn farmer muttered. “Probably just a poor devil who’s feeling the cold tonight.”
“Yes, it’s thawed, but the wind is blowing worse than ever.”
“Indeed it is, we can hear it,” his dad said. “The roof could blow away at any moment.”
“A terrific winter storm,” the prefect grunted. “It’s good that we’re indoors.”
The cart with Eldar at the reins passed a stretch of meadowland. Villemo had removed the gags and the bewildered crowd mumbled, “Freezing, freezing” all the time without her being able to do anything for them. She had wrapped her big shawl around Kristine and tried to help the others so that the wind bothered them as little as possible. She had tucked their hands inside their jumpers, wiped away the spit which would have frozen to ice and tied the pieces of clothing that had been used as gags around their heads. But many of them tore them off again and Villemo was constantly having to help here, there and everywhere.
At one point when she was up on the driver’s seat, Eldar murmured:
“Why the hell are we supposed to help them? They can’t even bring themselves to say thank you, in fact, it’s quite the opposite!”
Villemo was shivering. “Good deeds aren’t always unselfish, Eldar. Of course, there are those who stay anonymous when they do good deeds, but generally the giver isn’t satisfied if he doesn’t get to see the result, and see how happy and grateful the recipient becomes. Most good deeds are purely egotistical. The objective is to make oneself feel noble and valued.”
“You’re mad,” he snorted. “You just have to lecture me don’t you – even in a snowstorm!”
Villemo just smiled briefly then crept to the back of the cart to help the others again. The snow was still falling up here in the mountains. Bitterly cold, tiny snowflakes which crept into their collars and sleeves and settled in their hair. The icy wind had an unpleasant tendency to blow up between the gaps in the floorboards and get under Villemo’s skirts.
‘I hope I won’t get sick’, she thought anxiously. ‘My little attic room was draughty too. But I just can’t get sick now. Not when Eldar and I are on such a vital assignment. Oh, I hope we’re there soon.’
Eldar Black Forest was livid and dismayed. He took it as a personal insult that he had been relegated to this ridiculous journey with a bunch of idiots as he called them. Instead of having a gun or a knife to go and kill that damned Tobrønn farmer and his farmhands and stupid maids, who had gloated over him for so long. He who had been in the insurgency movement for so many years had waited patiently for the day when they were to strike against Danish supremacy, and he wasn’t allowed to take part in it! Of course, these men didn’t know how important a person he was among the insurgents. This task was so degrading that he could have screamed!
He had no idea that his own leader had come from his home parish and warned them against using Eldar Black Forest’s services. Eldar was ruthless, untamed, and his sole objective was to see blood, no matter what. He was banned from battle.
At the very back of the cart sat a starry-eyed Villemo, gazing at the figure on the driver’s seat. True, he certainly had many bad traits, but in her heart of hearts she knew that he was a good person. Life had treated him badly, but with Villemo’s boundless love, he would surely find goodness within himself again.
Up in the mountains, the beacons struggled against the wind, rain and snow. And there was unrest in many of the camps across the region. The bailiff’s mercenaries had been glimpsed in the forest and the insurgents hadn’t reached the farm in Tobrønn. On top of this, other groups hadn’t managed to see the signals of the struggling fires. So many other fires remained unlit in the county of Akershus. The men waited in vain. The bailiffs managed to strike and the little resistance the insurgents could muster was soon quelled and most men were forced to flee.
By now, most of the bailiffs had gathered their well-armed mercenaries around Tobrønn.
“There’s the cabin,” Eldar shouted over his shoulder to Villemo.
“Thank God,” she whispered. The people at the back of the cart were becoming very restless and were crying because of the winter storm. Once more, Villemo felt the powerless, exhausting sorrow over the fate of these unfortunate people.
As she and Eldar helped them off the cart, Villemo said: “Eldar, it’s not that I’m bloodthirsty but I do hope that the people at Tobrønn are done for!”
He didn’t answer. He was still in a dark mood. This made Villemo angry as they led the procession into the house. “Your mood doesn’t exactly make it easy for others to remain cheerful!”
He gave her an angry look as he saw snow biting at her face and her frozen fingers. Then his voice became more subdued.
“I’m just so disappointed.”
“I know, and now you’ll have to make do with me. Of course, it won’t be the same but–”
His eyes twinkled in the darkness. “The two of us are certain to pass the time,” he said grimly. “If I’m not allowed to fight, I can at least lie with you.”
