LITMIR.BIZ

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      Because when a certain amount of time has passed you have nothing to go by any longer. And then there are no limits anymore.

      That she was able to maintain her common sense was entirely due to the little bat. To be allowed to sleep had been her greatest longing. And now she had learned to hibernate during other times than winter so the centuries passed faster than she had feared they would.

      How does a person in her situation make the time pass? Tiili composed little songs that she sometimes sang to overpower the sound of the whirling draught in the stillness of the mountain. Sometimes she created long stories, but the themes were limited since her only reference was the good yet toilsome life she had known in the valley.

      But she didn’t dare make up stories about her own rescue. She knew from experience that the sense of bitterness she would experience afterwards was worse than anything else.

      She was not aware of Heike’s and Tula’s battle against Tengel the Evil’s projection, because the time for her winter hibernation had already set in.

      She had long ago stopped reacting to the sounds and shouts from the empty space outside the tunnel. Whoever it was, they weren’t able to reach her, nor she them.

      Then followed a long period of silence. Years of silence.

      And then ...

      Something was happening around her mountain. All her senses, including the extra ones she had received from the bat, grew more intense.

      Something was brewing! She could have sworn it!

      New creatures had entered the empty space. Creatures that were able to get closer to her tunnel. But they never entered it.

      She shouted. Now she was shouting in a heart-wrenching frenzy. She felt that if she didn’t get into contact with those creatures now she would never manage to contact anyone.

      The unrest continued for several days. Tiili didn’t dare fall asleep. She kept all her senses awake in order not to miss out on anything.

      The tall, pale men were excited, she could sense that. And the new ones that had arrived? She received mixed impressions of them. But she was able to register that there was some kind of battle going on.

      Oh, she was so impatient! So desperately impatient, and worried that they would disappear again. For now it didn’t matter to her who came, friend or foe: all she wanted was for her captivity to end.

      Mostly she just wanted to die. To rest in peace.

      They were certainly capable of helping her with that. At least the pale men were.

      Don’t go away, oh please don’t go away, whoever you are!

      She had shouted so much that her voice had grown hoarse.

      And then finally – someone was approaching her tunnel!

      “Help!” she shouted. “In the name of compassion, help me to die!”

      Voices? They were unfamiliar voices but she understood what they were saying even though they didn’t speak the same dialect as her. But it wasn’t really a dialect either, more like another language of which she understood bits and pieces.

      They entered her tunnel! Oh, thank you dear gods, they’ve entered the tunnel!

      It was doubtful whether “Little Flower” had anything to thank the gods for after seven centuries of captivity, but perhaps her words made the almighty ones feel ashamed?

      She saw that four creatures had entered. Four humans. Her heart was pounding wildly and for a moment she forgot to shout from sheer excitement.

      She immediately reproached herself. Because they turned around! They turned around and left her because all of them, including herself, had heard some commotion outside the tunnel. She was also able to discern some creatures that came flying towards her rock wall. It seemed as though they landed next to the tunnel. But it was hard for her to see properly and make out what was going on out there.

      The four went back out. They hadn’t seen her. Her spirits sank and she sobbed dryly with disappointment.

      “I’m here!” she cried out. “Please be so kind as to come back. I can’t wait here any longer!”

      The unrest and commotion continued outside. It sounded as if there were quite a number of people out there. Or perhaps they weren’t all people?

      What could they be then? I must have fallen asleep, she thought. This must be a dream.

      Time passed. Tiili began to lose hope, and the familiar sense of powerlessness and dejection crept up on her. That mustn’t happen, not now! It pained her so much, and now it would feel a thousand times worse. She wouldn’t be able to take any more, she could feel that.

      Then she saw them again. She took a deep breath.

      There were more of them now. Eight of them.

      They had seen her! They had seen her! They seemed to stop abruptly in horror.

      What strange clothes they were wearing!

      What sort of creatures could they be? Now she was convinced that she was dreaming.

      Suddenly two more came, two women. They spoke to the others and took two of them back with them. Don’t go! Don’t leave me here, all of you!

      But those that remained approached her in disbelief. She was so excited now that she couldn’t speak properly, she just wept.

      They spoke to her! They said her name! How could they know it? Perhaps they were Tan-ghil’s helpers?

      No, they had friendly voices, and she could see tears in their eyes. Tears shed for her. What an unusual dream.

      Now they were asking her what they could do for her. Alas! Didn’t they realize that there was nothing that could be done in the face of Tan-ghil’s magical powers?

      “Let me die,” she said.

      She looked at them more closely, but her gaze had turned more hazy now so that they seemed to merge into one: three men, two women ...

      What was the sixth individual? So frightening ... so unreal ...

      She was looking at the storm demon, but she didn’t know it and there was no time to explain to her.

      How beautiful two of the men were! And so was one of the women. The other one was far from beautiful, but in her exhausted state Tiili found her to be pleasant, too.

      One of the handsome men spoke to her again. His name was Nataniel, she thought, that was what she had heard the others call him. He explained that they were looking for Tan-ghil’s water jar and she answered him as best she could. That it was located behind her but that they wouldn’t be able to get past her.

      And then she had to tell them about the lock. It was horribly embarrassing, she was about to die from shame, but they didn’t hold it against her in the least, they just felt sorry for her.

      How kind they were! And she was so dazed that she couldn’t think clearly.

      They introduced themselves, then they began discussing among themselves and all she could do was weep from shame and a sense of hopelessness.

      Then it seemed as though they had reached a decision. One of them had been selected to “open” the lock in place of Tan-ghil!

      But what could they possibly mean? That would be impossible! The one they had selected ... was the most handsome of them all, the one called Marco.

      Oh, the whole thing was getting too much! This is enough! I want to wake up now!

      The others left and she was alone in the company of this Marco.

      How embarrassing! How terribly embarrassing! And he looked so refined and kind!

      But it seemed that he was just as uneasy about the situation as she was.

      But what she expected

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