Ellen understood immediately. With a wail she sank to her knees and began brushing off the snow with agitated movements.
She was greatly assisted by the others. Nataniel was unearthed in no time.
Marco, who was on his knees, straightened up and asked the black angels: “Is it too late?”
They didn’t answer. They just waved humans, demons and spirits away with authority. Then they pointed their right hands at the frozen figure, making the air flash and spark so that the humans were forced to turn away.
“It’s not too late,” said one of the angels, turning to Ellen. “It was for your sake, Lady, that our lord bade us find the dying one. For he was as good as dead. He had three alarming injuries on his arm. There is nothing we can do about them. But he is abundantly endowed with special gifts. As well as being of our blood. Our lord has mercy on you both, you have suffered greatly. Take good care of him!”
“We will,” said Ellen with tears of joy.
The black angels concluded their work.
“We’ll see you again one day,” said one of them, and then they took off from the ice with a roaring boom.
“Did you hear what they said?” asked Gabriel, his eyes beaming. “We’ll see them again!”
Marco nodded. His face was very pale and stern-looking.
Nataniel, on the other hand, had regained his colour. He stretched, opened his eyes and smiled at Ellen, hampered by the pain in his arm.
They got him to his feet and gave him some clothes. Several of the living humans were rather scantily dressed by this time.
“Let’s get out of this cursed valley,” Tova muttered.
The only one who objected was Nataniel himself.
“Let’s first get hold of whatever we can of the treasure of the Ice People! Let’s go to Sunniva’s place.”
So they did. But it was merely an empty meadow. There were no tracks to find in the newly fallen snow, no flat stone with directions on how to get to the stairs leading to the catacombs and the Great Abyss.
Nataniel took a deep breath.
“Then we’ll have to assume that the treasure is gone.”
“Well, it served its purpose well,” said Marco. “But since we’re here anyway, I think I’ll summon some of our friends.”
They immediately knew to whom he was referring. No one was surprised to see Ulvhedin and Lilit heading towards them in the light, snowy mist.
“I know what you want,” said the beautiful Lilit, smiling bitterly. “It’s good to see you again, by the way, you’ve done a good job. Ulvhedin, let’s get started right away.”
Whereupon a ceremony was initiated of which they didn’t understand a word, but that didn’t matter because they understood its purpose all the better.
“It’s my responsibility,” Lilit explained. “And Ulvhedin was born with the ability to conjure. He’s done this before.”
Strange words echoed off the rocks as Lilit and Ulvhedin exorcised the bog men from the Valley of the Ice People, forcing them to go far away, deeper into the ground where they really belonged. Lilit locked all their paths leading up to the human world, and all engravings on flat rocks and stones were erased. As Lilit so acidly said: “If people dig too far down, they have only themselves to blame. The bog men have to live somewhere, too!”
The conjuration was over; the place was cleansed.
Lilit half-turned from the group of humans and animals while still addressing them. “And now I believe we are to receive a visit ...”
Into the meadow emerged all those who had taken part in the battle from the very beginning. The Taran-gais, who greeted Orin and Vassar like long-lost sons, and all the ancestors of the Ice People. The horrible female demons, the abandoned ones ...
Their joy at meeting again was great.
Of course, it was greatest for Tiili and her mother and brother. For a long time, many tears were shed and there were many clumsy attempts to explain what had happened before they could continue. But as had been agreed earlier, Dida and Targenor were never told exactly what Tiili had had to endure. Neither of them would have been able to bear knowing about her seven-century wait in fear and terror and the deepest loneliness.
Halkatla threw herself at Rune and kissed him intensely. He was terribly shy and muttered something about it being nice to see her again.
Lilit hadn’t had time until now to greet her son Tamlin and the nineteen night demons who had been held captive in the Great Abyss. She made up for that and hugged them one after the other. Ingrid did the same with her five demons, perhaps with more intimacy and emotion. Tengel the Good and Sol and Heike were there and wished luck to Nataniel and the object of his desire, and Benedikte, who was much closer to the present day, embraced Tova, her grandson’s daughter, and welcomed Ian into the family.
There was quite a bit of commotion for a while.
Then Lilit raised her hand and asked for silence. She had something to say.
Several of them were completely dazzled by her unique and dangerous beauty.
“Our master, who has come to earth this year, would like to meet all of you. All of you participated in the battle that ended so well. But some of you are terribly tired and horribly cold. So he’s going to keep this meeting short. Our ruler, whom I have known since the time of Eden, will then leave you time for rest and contemplation. He will return on the shortest night of the year to meet you properly. That is a good night, suitable for all the things that humans don’t believe ought to awaken. We will all meet then, on the mountain above old Gråstensholm, because Linden Avenue doesn’t have enough space for everyone.”
“In that bewitched place?” Gabriel asked excitedly.
“Exactly. There is a lot that needs to be straightened out and planned and prepared. For various reasons we will be meeting there and not at the Demon’s Mountain.”
She slowly extended her arm in a dignified gesture. “My friends ... please make room for our lord.”
There they were again! The black angels. But this time they were escorting their master, Lucifer, who came in great majesty, gliding across the meadow towards the big, dumbfounded group.
He was so huge! So ... overwhelming, not just because of his unusual height but mostly because of the utter sense of authority he emitted. In his true form he was more glorious to look at than any human child could possibly imagine, and the light in his eyes was almost unbearable. Lucifer was pitch black, glistening black like coal. He was stately, so mighty that it brought tears to your eyes. This was truly one of the archangels! The supreme one, the outcast, the fallen one.
All the demons prostrated themselves in reverence.
God, thought Tova. God! I knew it! It was Marco they had been following, the prince of the black halls!
She felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. But she didn’t have a chance to analyse it properly for Lucifer raised his hand. Smiling, he spoke with a soft, melodic voice that purred in one’s ears: “You are cold, my chosen friends. From this very moment you will no longer have to freeze.”
He made a sweeping gesture with his arm and they watched all the snow on the ground melt; they felt a summery, pleasant warmth spread over them as the snowy weather retreated. He bade them sit down, and took on a more human size for their sake.
It was wonderful to have a chance to rest one’s feet after all that sliding around on the ice of the glacier. It was wonderful to feel the heat from the earth seep through one’s clothes and thaw out one’s body. Tova sensed that she must be careful not to fall asleep: there was a great danger