LITMIR.BIZ

      This is what the legend says. Nobody knows whether it is true, but in the 16th century, a cursed child of the Ice People was born. He tried to turn evil into good, which is why they called him Tengel the Good. This legend is about his family. Actually, it is mostly about the women in his family – the women who held the fate of the Ice People in their hands.

      Chapter 1

      Deep in thought, Nataniel gazed over the Valley of the Ice People.

      The rest of the world lay outside the valley, he thought, and nobody in the whole wide world knew that the hour of destiny was drawing frighteningly near.

      If we can’t the save the world now, we never will.

      The task seemed to be far worse than they had reckoned with. Honestly. It seemed hopeless.

      Tengel the Evil was in the valley now. He was on his way towards them and he had every chance of reaching them – because they couldn’t get across here. Perhaps Tan-ghil might, Nataniel thought grimly.

      Nataniel knew that this was his task. Marco had carried out his. Tova and Ian could only serve as supporters, and Gabriel only as an observer.

      The final struggle against Tengel the Evil, the race to his hidden vessel of water, the fight for the wellbeing of the world, was Nataniel’s task, and nobody else’s.

      The clouds hung heavily over the earth up here on the mountain heights. The valley lay frozen down below. The crater in front of Nataniel seethed and bubbled. Otherwise, not a sound could be heard.

      It was obvious that they couldn’t reach the vessel along this route. Over the centuries, the presence of the black water of evil had infected the surrounding countryside so badly that everything was ruined, sick and scarred.

      The gaping, steaming hole in the ground showed where the vessel lay. But the earth around it trembled in sickly colours. Nobody could put a foot on that ground; everything looked like a bottomless bog of atrocities.

      “How about dropping a few drops of the clear water on the ground?” suggested Tova.

      “We can’t spare it,” Nataniel replied. “We must go easy on the water right up until its final purpose. Is there anything left of yours, Marco? Or did you have to use it all on Lynx?” He didn’t want to be reminded about the terrible, unfathomable thing that had happened to that man.

      “I have a few drops left,” said Marco. “A quarter of the bottle perhaps.”

      Nataniel nodded. He was now fully in charge of the group. “We must be content with what we have. Save every single drop.”

      “You’re right,” said Marco. “We can’t start experimenting here.”

      They had withdrawn from the eerie area. Now they were back in a small glade, with the projecting cliff between them and what Tova called “the nameless horror” – the gaping hole in the ground.

      “Well then ...” said Ian. “Then we’d better take Gabriel’s strange dream as our point of departure. What do you think?”

      “You’re absolutely right, Ian,” said Nataniel. “How did it go, Gabriel? ‘Take the other thing first. Don’t forget.’ It’s important, that bit about taking the second thing first! Wasn’t that how the dream went?”

      Gabriel nodded. “Yes. Although ‘the other thing’ could mean anything. But shouldn’t we give it a try anyway?”

      “Yes,” said Nataniel firmly. “Yes, I think we’d better do that. Even if it seems a bitter thing to have to turn around – when we are so close to our target.”

      “Perhaps Tengel the Evil hid the key to the riddle there,” Marco said. “Gabriel, who spoke those words in your dream? About the chains of the dead and about the ‘other thing’, the important point, that was to be taken first?”

      “I don’t know, Marco. I don’t know.”

      “I know. Nataniel, it was Silje’s diary!”

      “I thought exactly the same thing,” said Nataniel, and immediately produced the age-old diary from his rucksack.

      “Here’s the map of the Valley of the Ice People,” he said, and they all bent over the book. “This is where we are right now ... So where do we find what Sunniva the Elder called ‘the other place’?”

      Marco pointed at a fresh spot on the map. “There.”

      They looked up and gauged the distance above the mountain range. It was getting cold; the evening shadows were appearing over the valley.

      So many days ... thought Gabriel. We left home such a long time ago. I’ve lost track of the days.

      “Come on,” said Nataniel, interrupting his thoughts. “Come, let’s find the place.”

      Gabriel

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