The Ice Lands, page 24
Before wandering alone on the sands, she had been in the village, the one she hadn’t dared enter before. She couldn’t remember why she dared now – she had been fleeing someone. She was naked, and in place of her breasts were two red circles the size of an outstretched palm, glistening like strawberries, her ribcage showing beneath. In the centre of the village was a sort of park, with fires burning along its walls, and the night was dark red, lighting up and dimming by turns. Everything was in constant motion, nothing was still; she was part of that motion and didn’t try to resist. Sitting across from one another at a table, Hrafn and Egill were passing something between them. The lower part of Egill’s face was missing, his jaw an open wound as if a wild animal had attacked him and devoured half his face. She ran her hands over her chest, shook her antlers, hips swaying as she sashayed around the table. There was a heavy thud as Hrafn’s head disappeared, and he slumped forward. A moment later, Egill’s head was enveloped in a pink mist. She touched her face and discovered that she was bathed in sweat.
She was being spoon-fed, and she recognized the warm, sweet aroma of the food before it was brought into her room. Her friend sat weeping by the bed, someone shouted and her hands fell free from the sides of the bed. Her mother came to see her, floated above her bed with a yellow plastic shopping bag in each hand, and during the daytime she sat beside the window gazing out. A gentle smile played on her lips, and her face was serene. She gazed out at the garden, watching as the sun rose in the sky and the shadows crept slowly across the lawn before disappearing into the wall. In the corner of the garden stood a little shed with a red, corrugated-iron roof and rectangular windows. High up above the shed, a tree that was coming into leaf spread its boughs, and the newly sprouted leaves fluttered sweetly in the breeze, all in their right place.
TRANSLATOR’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank Ösp Viggósdóttir for her invaluable collaboration.
THE ICE LANDS
Steinar Bragi (b. 1975), of Reykjavík, Iceland, is a critically acclaimed poet and author. The Ice Lands is Bragi’s second novel. His first novel, the deeply unsettling Women, was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize.
First published 2016 by Macmillan
This electronic edition published 2016 by Macmillan
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-4472-9883-0
Copyright © Steinar Bragi 2016
Translation copyright © Macmillan Publishers International Limited 2016
Cover images © Alamy and Shutterstock
The right of Steinar Bragi to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Published by agreement with Salomonsson Agency.
Pan Macmillan does not have any control over, or any responsibility for, any author or third-party websites referred to in or on this book.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Visit www.panmacmillan.com to read more about all our books and to buy them. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters so that you’re always first to hear about our new releases.
Steinar Bragi, The Ice Lands
