LITMIR.BIZ

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longer seemed out of place in this landscape.

      They waited attentively.

      Chapter 3

      Everything was so quiet.

      The wind swept through the pass, but it didn’t bother them. They sat sheltered within the warm circle that Lucifer had drawn with his hands.

      Tova sat with her back against the cliff. She had a view of the valley. Right now, she hated the valley as it lay there in the gathering dusk. Hidden in fog, threatening, secretive. She couldn’t understand how Tarjei had managed to stay here for so long, surrounded by all Tan-ghil the Evil’s horror. Tarjei was able to read her thoughts and he smiled at her in sympathy. It was as if he was saying: “It wasn’t that bad. I’m just a spirit and quite free. The evil didn’t affect me very much.”

      That comforted her.

      “We have plenty of time,” Marcel explained. “Tan-ghil won’t get free in the foreseeable future.”

      “Can Lynx create problems in the valley?” Nataniel wanted to know.

      “Only by sending you to the Great Abyss, which he can’t do now. Not while I’m here.”

      “What exactly is the Great Abyss?” asked Tova.

      Marcel-Lucifer shook his head so that his black curls moved. “I don’t know. Just as the Demon’s Mountain is your secret, which Tengel the Evil doesn’t know about, he has the Abyss, which lies beyond our sphere of knowledge. All we know is that it’s a horrible place and that nobody has come back from it.”

      Nataniel gritted his teeth. The loss of Ellen was still too painful to dwell on.

      Gabriel, who sat with his pen hovering over his notebook, said: “What was it Your Highness wanted to tell us?”

      “Right, I’ll tell you now. We in our remote world have long known of Tan-ghil the Evil and his journey to the Source of Evil.”

      Gabriel wondered who “we” referred to. The archangels? Or the powers of good more broadly?

      “We knew that only a human being could defeat him, because the Sources of Life are for humans, not for other creatures. If anybody was to make it, it would have to be a member of the Ice People, because they possess greater powers than other people. From an early stage we knew that somebody would be born into the Ice People with greater supernatural abilities than the world had ever seen.”

      Marcel, Marco’s father, smiled, and Gabriel thought he had never seen anything so exciting. Despite the fact that he now appeared like a human being, without his wings or other attributes, Lucifer was different in some way that was difficult to define. You couldn’t help seeing immediately that he was something special.

      The strange angel of light said: “You see, we’ve been keeping an eye on you, and when it was evident that Tarjei was the chosen one we were very concerned. Tarjei would never have been able to resist Tengel the Evil’s strength. So we decided to keep Tarjei’s abilities a secret from all, even himself. Then something very tragic occurred. A member of your own people, Kolgrim, killed Tarjei. We didn't expect that. So, Tarjei, we didn’t want you to die because you weren’t strong enough. Your death was a complete surprise to us. We hadn’t yet had time to figure out how we were to give you the necessary strength before it was all over. Believe me: we grieved over you.”

      Tarjei nodded in gratitude.

      With a new smile, Marcel continued: “Then we decided to intervene. As you know, I appear on earth once in every century. In 1660, there was no suitable woman of the Ice People. Villemo was still too young, but when I met her, I endowed her with extra occult abilities. She didn’t see me; after all, she was only a child. The same can be said of 1760: there was no woman of a suitable age because at the time Shira was too old to have children. But in 1860 ... there was Saga!”

      “So it was no coincidence that Your Highness met her?” Nataniel asked, surprised.

      “No, it was no coincidence. It was planned. I wanted to add more strength and greater abilities to the Ice People so that you could withstand Tengel the Evil.”

      Lucifer got a distant look in his eyes. “However, it was a complete surprise to me that I became so fond of her that I couldn’t imagine the future without her. She bore me two sons. Unfortunately, one of them was lost.”

      “No, he wasn’t,” said Tova eagerly, and they all began talking because they wanted to tell Marcel about Ulvar’s 'conversion'. Lucifer was delighted, and wanted to meet Ulvar as soon as possible.

      Nataniel felt overwhelmed. “Was it planned in advance that I was to have the blood of the black angels in my veins? And the demons of the night and the storm demons?”

      “No, the last was Tengel the Evil’s doing. With the help of Lilit, he placed a spy in Linden Avenue: Tamlin, her son with Typhoon. But Tamlin fell in love with Vanja of the Ice People. I sent my black angels to help and convert the demons of the night. I succeeded in that and they have been a great help and joy to us. Especially Tamlin, who has lived in my halls. But now I hear that we’ve lost him. I’m very sorry to hear that ...”

      Marcel was lost in his own thoughts. Then he said slowly: “The Great Abyss ... that nobody returns from ...”

      The others were silent. They knew that he was pondering the same thing he had done all along: what was the Abyss? And must they really regard their loved ones as lost forever?

      It was a bitter thought. But deep down they knew that there was no hope. Whoever was cast into the Great Abyss disappeared forever. The dead could come back as spirits and helpers, but there was no return from the Abyss.

      “Yes,” said Nataniel dreamily. “So now I know why I have the blood of the black angels in my veins. And the night demons and the storm demons. I knew that I was the chosen one of the Ice People. But I am also the seventh son of a seventh son. Was that not a coincidence either?”

      “No, no,” replied Marcel cheerfully. “We arranged for Christa to meet Abel Gard, who was a seventh son who had six sons. Well, actually there were seven but we knew that one of them wasn’t really his. Now it so happened that another person entered the picture – young Linde-Lou. He very nearly made things difficult for us. He was a member of the Ice People we didn’t know anything about. As soon as we got to know him, we came to like him a lot, me perhaps because he was my grandson. I’ve tried to compensate for the bitter life he lived on earth. Now he’s happy – except in one particular area ...”

      Marcel fell silent. He looked pensive.

      “Linde-Lou is a wonderful person,” said Nataniel passionately.

      “Oh, absolutely,” replied Marcel-Lucifer, giving Nataniel a strange look.

      Everybody saw it but nobody had time to interpret it. Afterwards, Tova said that Marcel seemed to have plans. Perhaps he was merely thinking of Linde-Lou’s future? Perhaps he would take him with him to the Black Halls?

      “Well what about Shira?” said Marco. “Surely she’s also crucial in our struggle to conquer Tengel the Evil?”

      “Shira is the most important of all. Her walk through the grottos, once the four elements had selected her, was done only for the sake of Taran-gai. But that wasn’t really the case. We were the ones who got in touch with the four spirits of Taran-gai: Earth, Air, Fire and Water.”

      “I’m sorry,” said Gabriel humbly. “Just for the sake of the notes I’m taking ... Who are ‘we’?”

      Lucifer smiled. “Just write ‘The Higher Powers’, Gabriel. I oughtn’t to tell you who we are.”

      Gabriel nodded eagerly, with the tip of his tongue in one corner of his mouth.

      Nataniel was silent. He was thinking of what he had heard about Shira’s journey through the grottos. About the letter that Daniel had written to her on the deserted beach: “... I live only on the outskirts of the evil story you will be drawn into. I don’t

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