Winter Storm, page 20
She walked inside again, dejected. She would have to try and forget her own worries. There were others whose problems were far worse.
“Now, now,” she said, choking. “Don’t worry, you’ll be alright. There’s no danger here. I’m with you.”
Then she bent down over the seriously wounded man. Never in her entire life had she felt so alone and helpless.
‘Northwards’, Eldar Black Forest thought to himself as he took a firmer grip on the pitchfork he had brought along as a weapon. ‘The battles were to take place northwards. Not far from here.’
He tried to find his bearings. The wind on the plateau howled. It had blown from a northern direction the evening before, and if the direction hadn’t changed, all he had to do was to walk against the wind.
He toiled purposefully forward, his jaw tightly clenched. His defeat with Villemo was still burning in him, mostly because he so badly wanted to make an impression on her. What a damn nuisance it was that that girl meant so much to him! Never before had he experienced anything like it.
He had probably been too pushy with her. There was no question that she was sick and she had fought hard to be there for them all. For all those insignificant people in there, and also for him. It had sounded so lovely when she said that she loved him. And what about him? Hadn’t he felt extremely cynical, as usual, when he had lured her with beautiful words of love and marriage? Cynicism generated strength.
Eldar stopped abruptly. No, he had meant every word! He realised more and more that he wanted her – for the rest of his life. He turned around, uncertain, as if to walk back, but now he no longer knew where he was. All he could see was a grey-white veil of almost horizontally drifting snow. Villemo ...
Eldar was overwhelmed by a feeling of warmth. She was in pain and he should have taken care of her. He would make sure that she was well and happy with him. Never again would he fret and fume in disgust. Because she had so much to give of all the things that had been missing in his life. Humanity, culture, a zest for life, confidence, affection ...
He looked at the pitchfork in his hand. What was he going to do with that? ... Fight! It woke him from his reverie. What a strange direction his thoughts had taken him. Had he gone mad?
He struggled onward with determination, northwards, to the fighting. Shortly afterwards, several things happened at once. The snowstorm ceased and he could see the plateau. It was endless. No mountain pastures anywhere, no traces of fighting. But he saw something else.
Four men, four riders, were moving towards him. The men from Woller had received a tip-off about Eldar and Villemo the night before. Woller’s men couldn’t care less about the fighting. They wanted a blood feud. They rode swiftly because they had seen Eldar.
“That’s Eldar Black Forest,” one of them said. “Now we have him! Then we just need to find the girl!”
Chapter 14
Niklas and Dominic had been forced to seek shelter on a heath up on the ridge. They hadn’t been able to find the right way, and they didn’t dare expose their horses to more hardships. When they had happened to come across some buildings, they were hugely relieved. They and their horses had managed to rest and get warm during the inhospitable night. However, the only thought on their minds before they fell asleep, and when they woke up in the morning, was Villemo. As soon as it was daybreak, they continued their search for their missing relative.
“It would seem that the snowfall is dying down,” Niklas said.
“You’re right,” Dominic said. “It looks promising.”
After ten minutes, the snowfall had ceased completely. The heath lay open before them. The wind was still howling, sweeping the thin layer of fallen snow across the earth like sand in a desert storm.
“There’s a mountain pasture over there,” Dominic said and pointed.
“And another one as well,” Niklas said. “In the opposite direction. Which should we take first, do you think?”
“The one that’s the closest. Let’s get a move on!”
They continued at a gallop. As they got closer, Dominic said in a tense voice, “There’s smoke coming out of the chimney.”
“Then this is where they’re bound to be. That damn Eldar Black Forest! And Villemo? What’s going through her head? Has she lost her sense of judgment?”
“She’s only seventeen,” Dominic said in a conciliatory tone of voice. “With all due respect, she’s surprisingly childish and immature for her age. She can’t see him clearly. She’s probably just besotted by his fascinating appearance.”
“And now we’ll probably interrupt them sitting quietly together. Do we knock on the door first or do we simply barge in?”
“They’re bound to have locked the door,” Dominic said tensely.
But when they lifted the door handle, it opened. They looked in surprise at the tableau in front of them in the semi-dark room.
Who were all these people lying in beds and sitting around the table? There were two seriously wounded men on the floor. Little Villemo, her face distorted with pain, walked about hunched-up, trying to help everybody at the same time.
“Villemo!”
She turned round abruptly, with lacklustre eyes, her face streaked from tears and hair sticking up in all directions as if it had never seen a comb.
“Niklas? Dominic?” she said as if she didn’t quite believe her own eyes.
They stepped in quickly.
“What on earth’s going on here?”
Villemo collapsed at the table, resting her forehead against her hand. “He’s left,” she said in a thick voice.
Niklas lifted her head. “You’re sick, Villemo.”
“I haven’t got time. Must help–”
“Now, you just sit where you are. Dominic and I will see to the sick and wounded. Tell us what’s happened.”
She tried to explain, but it became too complicated for her. The suffering creatures, who, upon seeing the strangers, had pulled back anxiously, now walked up to the two new arrivals and stared them directly in the face. Niklas and Dominic pretended not to take any notice of this.
The one man on the floor, the one with the crushed hand, said tiredly, “The young girl has carried out the most unimaginable job here. Everybody can see that she’s in pain but she hasn’t given up, she’s tried to comfort and console us.”
“Who are all these ... people?” Niklas asked, gesturing towards them as they crowded closer.
“They’re slaves from Tobrønn. There’s no reason to talk about their inhuman sufferings now. Eldar Black Forest and the girl were given orders to bring them to safety here before the fighting began. I wouldn’t exactly say that he’s behaved nicely towards her.”
“What do you mean by that?” Dominic asked.
“He threatened her with blackmail of the worst sort. And when he didn’t get what he wanted, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke and went out to fight.”
The two descendants of the Ice People turned towards Villemo.
“He hasn’t hurt you in any way, then?”
She shook her head. “It’s not true what the man says. Eldar was nice towards me. He wants to marry me. You don’t know him. His soul has unknown depths. And he didn’t do me any harm. Because I got such a nasty infection yesterday evening.”
“What sort of infection?”
“You know, the one ... where you run to the ... privy all the time. You know.”
After a short pause Dominic couldn’t help laughing heartily. “Saved! And by such a ridiculous thing!”
Villemo winced.
“There’s nothing funny about that,” Niklas said sharply. “The pain is terrible, I bet!”
Dominic turned serious. “I didn’t mean it in that way. I was just relieved. By the way, weren’t you the one who said you never wanted to get married?”
Villemo was silent.
“Is there any warm water here?” Niklas asked.
“Yes, here’s some.”
He poured it in a mug. “Villemo, drink this! Plus another mug of warm water. That’ll help. Do you want me to try and heal you with my special talents?”
“With your hands?” Dominic objected. “Oh, come on! Use your brain!”
Niklas realised that this might cause problems, so decided against it. He kneeled down by the wounded men and examined them while Villemo obediently drank the water, and Dominic sadly stroked her tangled hair. She was completely exhausted, shivering now and then from pain.
“Are you a person with medical knowledge?” the man with the damaged hand asked.
“Not exactly,” Niklas smiled. “Although I do have some knowledge, my strength is in my hands. They have healing powers.”
“Good God! Then maybe you can give me back my hand?”
“No, I can’t. But I‘ll do what I can. First I must attend to your comrade, if you’ll allow me?”
“Of course. How is he?”
Niklas loosened Villemo’s homemade bandage.
“This doesn’t look too good but I’ll do what I can.”
He got quite a large crowd of spectators. So big, in fact, that he had to ask them to move so that he could get enough light. Dominic stayed with Villemo.
“Can you forgive me?” he said in a low voice.
“For what?” she asked weakly.
“For the many times I’ve teased you. I didn’t mean to hurt you in any way.”
“Oh, that,” she muttered. “That means nothing.”
Her answer hurt him somehow.
“He’s left,” she continued. “Because of us.”
“What do you mean by ‘us’?”
“All of us. We have Danish or Swedish blood in our veins and we have ruined Norway. I don’t want to be Danish anymore. I’m ashamed of it.”
“Now listen, Villemo,” Dominic said sternly, “that rascal has brainwashed you.”
“Let me go,” she sobbed, breaking loose from his kind hand. “I don’t want to have anything to do with you!”
Dominic looked very serious. “We all want a free Norway, Villemo, and that also goes for those of us who have foreign relatives. Even your granddad, Alexander, wanted it. But it can’t be done in this manner, not with hatred and the bloodshed of innocent people. Norway’s time will surely come.”
She returned to the most urgent problem. “He’s left.”
“It’s a good thing that it ended like this. And now you come back home with us. You’re free now, exonerated from the murder.”
Finally a glimmer of light appeared in her eyes. “Eldar as well?”
“Eldar as well. The judge decided that you both acted in self-defence.”
She got up, strong and active again. “I must find him!”
“Eldar? Are you mad?”
“He must be told that we can journey home. That we can get married.”
“That is totally out of the question, Villemo!”
“But I love him, don’t you understand? And when I love a person, it’s for life!”
Niklas looked up. “Are you sure of that? That it’s a matter of love? Isn’t it stubbornness?”
“You’re stupid,” she said childishly. “Really, I think I’m the best judge of what I feel!”
They seriously doubted that, but they managed to convince her to sit on the bench again. Niklas and Dominic began to treat the dying man. They spent half an hour in a hectic struggle to save his life.
When they looked up, they discovered that Villemo wasn’t there. Dominic jumped up and searched the entire cabin feverishly. Then he went out. He could discern her footprints in the snowdrifts which the wind had created. She had clearly walked northwards.
But the footprints would soon disappear. The two relatives quickly finished seeing to the last wounds and sores. Then Dominic rode out while Niklas remained to watch over the flock in the mountain cabin.
Young Niklas had gained many admirers. The helpless loved him because of his warm hands, which he had placed on all of them in turn to relieve their suffering. The man who had asked about his hand was deeply impressed with Niklas’s skills. The man’s comrade was still unconscious and hovering between life and death. Niklas’s hands lay calmly on his chest. Kristine Tobrønn had been carried down and was given some food and something to drink. She was in a very bad state after two years of being confined to a bed.
All Niklas’s thoughts were with Villemo, the impossible girl, who had caused so much sorrow and misery because of her impulsive nature.
Finally, Villemo found Eldar. He hadn’t stood a chance with the pitchfork. Four bullets had hit him – they had only grazed him but had been quite effective nevertheless. He lay all alone, gasping for breath when Villemo came.
“Villemo,” he whispered hoarsely. “It’s true what you said. Another kind of love exists.”
“Of course it does,” she said in a thick voice. “And Eldar, we’re free, exonerated, we’re no longer guilty of murdering Mons Woller.”
He looked questioningly at her.
“My cousins arrived at the cabin,” she explained. “Well, they’re not exactly my cousins, but my relatives. They’re taking us back to the Parish of Graastensholm, and everything will be good again.”
He looked at her drowsily. “I really love you, Villemo. I mean it. I’ve never meant anything so seriously before.”
“I know, my dear.”
“Listen, your relatives ... It wasn’t the Swede, was it?”
“Dominic? Yes, and Niklas.”
A weak hand squeezed her arm. “You’re mine, Villemo. I don’t want–”
He had to cough and couldn’t continue. All of a sudden he understood how seriously he was wounded.
“Villemo, maybe–”
“No, Eldar. You won’t die, I know you won’t! I won’t allow that to happen!”
He didn’t listen to her. “I don’t want to leave you. Come with me, Villemo! Nobody must have you, you’re mine. Come with me!”
“Oh, Eldar. You know that if you die I can’t live any longer.”
“Then follow me!”
“Yes, I–”
She gasped for breath. A freezing cold certainty pierced her.
“No, I can’t join you, Eldar. I have a calling in life I must fulfil first.”
“What do you mean?”
She looked to the sky. “For the first time in my life, I feel that I belong to the Ice People. That I’m chosen.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She looked down at him once more. “My eyes. People have always wondered why Niklas and Dominic and I have got yellow eyes. Now I know why. I can’t leave yet. Because we’re chosen for something great, and something terrible that’s unavoidable.”
Eldar looked suspiciously at her. He understood nothing.
Villemo burst into a pathetic, nervous laughter. “In some strange way, I feel as if it has something to do with you. I don’t understand that feeling.”
“Maybe I’ll be with you?”
She was doubtful. “Maybe.”
His eyes became dull.
“Eldar?” she whispered. “Eldar, can you hear me?”
“Yes” he whispered.
“You can’t leave me, Eldar. I’m not going to follow you because you have to stay with me. You must survive, you must!”
“Villemo, I love you.”
Though she had never done it before, Villemo folded her hands in a fervent prayer.
“Oh, merciful God! Let him live, gentle Lord. He’s all I have on earth, everything I want. Let him live. I love him even out here in the middle of a winter storm, so you must understand how strong my love is.”
Alas, Villemo. Loving another human being in hard times is not hard. It’s in the humdrum of everyday life in which love is tried.
Dominic searched for a long time. Her footprints had been wiped out a long time ago by the stiff wind and he no longer knew where to search.
‘She’s sick and the cold is penetrating everything, even my clothes,’ he thought. ‘I must find her soon before it’s too late.’
Then he saw her. A tiny figure who came down from the heights, staggering in the snowdrifts. He spurred the horse and rode across the plateau towards her.
He stared in horror at her hands.
“Villemo! What have you done?”
She looked up at him slowly. Her eyes seemed dead.
“I’ve buried my love.” she said flatly. “I buried him with my bare hands. My life’s only love.”
He got off his horse without a word and got her up on the horse. Then he sat right behind her and rode towards what he hoped was the mountain pasture.
“But you couldn’t have buried him in the frozen earth?”
“I dug with a small, sharp stone until I ripped my nails and the blood flowed. Because he couldn’t just lie there so lonely. I only managed to dig a tiny hole, I could never have finished the job. So I found some stones – and some earth – and put it over him. I covered his beautiful body.”
“Just like the Samis and the Eskimos,” Dominic mumbled. He had wrapped his cape around her.
“I prayed to God, Dominic,” she said with the same monotonous voice. “I prayed and prayed that he might survive. But his eyes became increasingly dull. He no longer heard me. And the light in his eyes went out. I just sat there with him in my arms, and I couldn’t believe that he was gone. But then he turned stiff and cold – staring right up into the sky – and then I knew that he’d ... passed away.”
Dominic said nothing. He just held her very tightly. She sat completely still and in shock all the way back to the mountain cabin. They found it quickly with surprising ease. Dominic thought that he must have taken strange routes before.
Niklas opened the door. “You were gone for a long time,” he shouted from a distance.
