“I know!” Nataniel exclaimed. “My mother, Christa! She’s Tamlin’s daughter and she’s intelligent. She knows where to search, and she’s been rather low since Dad died and I left. She could do with a distraction.”
“Christa is a good choice,” said Marcel, and once again they saw his cheerfully calculating expression, which they had all seen before but could no longer remember in what context. “I’ll send someone to her straight away. It will be someone she can fully trust with a message.”
“Linde-Lou?”
“Precisely. It will do him good because, as I said, he’s not in such a good frame of mind right now. I want so much to do something for my poor grandson.”
Nataniel began to feel concerned. Perhaps he was beginning to understand Lucifer’s whimsical smile? No, that was just a passing thought.
Gabriel had noticed nothing. He said quickly, matter-of-fact: “After all, Christa and Linde-Lou are both your descendants.”
“You’re quite right, my young friend. Now I have four in action: that’s just about all of them. Only Vanja and Ulvar are missing.”
“They’re fully committed to defeating Tengel the Evil!” Ian said gravely. “It calls for great sacrifices.”
“Yes, Irishman, it does,” Lucifer replied just as gravely. “But I’ve also exposed myself to danger, not just others. And now goodbye, my friends. From unknown hiding places we’ll follow your journey into the valley, even if we can’t interfere. The struggle is yours and only yours, children of humankind. Don’t forget that. Marco, my beloved son! You’re now a human being, not a black angel with special privileges by virtue of your origin.”
“I’ll remember, Father,” said Marco calmly.
“Linde-Lou will bring you the information that Christa gathers about Lynx.”
Once again, Lucifer’s face showed that strange expression with the absentminded smile, which made them understand that in spite of everything he was a fallen angel and anything but a white angel. Tova thought suddenly that she could feel a cold wind blowing through the mountain pass and she shivered.
Lucifer took Tarjei and Rune with him and they went back across the glacier. After a while, they disappeared in the fog.
Tengel the Evil could no longer be seen or heard. But they suspected that he was intent on crossing the glacier despite the burden of corpses that he was dragging.
The five chosen ones retired for the night. Lucifer had let the warmth remain in the earth and they wrapped themselves in their light coats and rain capes.
Marco looked up into the fog that enveloped them as his thoughts wandered. His whole life passed before him in this fateful hour. He realized that his task was virtually impossible.
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