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Peer’s breath shortened. “Hilde! Where are you?”
“Here!” Their groping hands met. “I thought there would be lights,” she whispered, gripping him. “Why is it dark?”
Her touch steadied him. “It’s daybreak.” Peer remembered something the Nis had once said. “That’s night-time for trolls.”
“If they’re all asleep, who let us in?”
“Ssh!” said Peer, freezing. They listened, tense. Was anyone there? Peer heard water dripping, and his own harsh breath. He closed his eyes, opened them wide. It made no difference. The darkness moulded to his face, clung to him, caught in his throat like black glue…
“Hello!” Hilde’s bold voice rang out. “Gatekeeper! We’ve come to see the Gaffer. Bring us a light!”
There was a soft clap and an explosion of light. The tunnel blanched. Painfully, through watering eyes, Peer saw a spindly figure twirling a bright sphere, like a little sun, on one crooked forefinger. It laughed quietly: “Ho, ho!”
“We want – to see – the Gaffer,” Hilde gasped.
A dark hooked arm bowled the ball of light towards them. They dodged, and the quivering light rolled past, illuminating the first few yards of a long passage. They looked back at the stone door, trying to see the gatekeeper, but their own shadows blotted it out – except for a long clawed foot, like a bird’s, scraping along the floor.
Peer and Hilde turned and ran. “Oh my goodness,” panted Hilde. “It must have been standing right behind us in the dark!”
“What now?” Peer demanded. “What do we do?”
“Follow the light, I think. Come on!” She tugged his hand. Peer came, throwing a nervous glance over his shoulder. But only darkness followed them.
At first, the passage was wide enough to walk abreast. Peer clumped along in his wet boots, trying not to shiver. Troll Fell had swallowed him and here he was in its long stone gullet. The air was chill. The floor rose and fell, with unexpected puddles.
Sometimes the passage twisted, or branched into side passages, which corkscrewed up or dived into darkness. Sometimes the roof dipped, and they had to duck. Or the walls bulged, nipping the passage into a tight waist. “One at a time here,” muttered Hilde, sliding sideways. “Come on!” Peer squeezed after her: the stone felt wet and smooth, slick as a cow’s tongue.
On the other side Hilde clutched him, shouting. “Look at that!”
A rough cataract of yellow water shot from a hole in the ceiling and hurtled into a pit. The only way past was along a slanting ledge on the left-hand wall. Peer looked down the shaft. The water careered into darkness.
“I’ll go first!” he said grimly. He needed to keep moving. When he stood still, he felt as though the whole weight of Troll Fell was pressing on his shoulders. “It’s not too bad,” he shouted. “Keep near the wall like this, and – ah!”
His foot slipped and in panic he snatched at the rocks. One hand curled over a sharp rim and he hung over the drop, kicking. Water drummed on his back. Hilde screamed; then her hand caught his flailing wrist and she hauled. He dragged his knee up and over, and clawed his way further up the slippery shelf. Together they crawled out of the spray to where the passage opened again on the far side of the shaft.
The ball of light was loitering there, bluish and fitful. As they scrambled to their feet it turned a couple of brisk spins, brightened, and whirled off down the tunnel. Bruised and bedraggled, Peer and Hilde limped along. They stumbled up a flight of shallow steps. At the top the light sprang up and hung overhead, rotating lazily.
Deep in the rock of the left-hand wall was a crevice, shaped into a rough archway. Set back into it was a solid wooden door.
Peer looked at Hilde. She gave him an anxious nod. He knocked.
In a moment the door opened a crack and small troll looked out, holding a smoking pine branch in one fist. It saw them and hissed, exposing needle sharp teeth and began to shut the door again, but Peer stuck his foot in the way.
“We want to see the Gaffer!”
The troll jerked at the door. Peer got his fingers around the edge and dragged it back. Feverishly, Hilde unwrapped the golden cup.
The troll’s eyes grew round and black. It let go of the door and sprang up and down, tail lashing. “Give! Give!” it squeaked.
“It’s not for you.” Hilde held the cup high in the air. “It’s for the Gaffer. We want to see him – now!”
The little troll’s claws shot out and its ears folded flat like an angry cat’s, but it stood back and opened the door wide. Side by side, shoulder to shoulder, Peer and Hilde stepped in.
It was a large chamber, gloriously warm and smelling of pine needles. In the middle of the floor a brazier glowed red, filled with logs. The troll pitched the burning branch back into the flames.
Beyond the brazier was a stone bed. Its four crooked posts seemed to have dripped from the ceiling and grown from the floor. Peer and Hilde tiptoed closer. On it, snoring loudly under a pile of sheepskins, the old Gaffer of Troll Fell lay – apparently asleep. His mouth hung open, showing two long brown curving teeth like tusks. His eyes were closed. But in the middle of his forehead a third eye glared, red-rimmed and weeping. It rolled around and fixed on Peer and Hilde.
“I see strangers,” the Gaffer mumbled in his sleep. He yawned, stretched and sat up, opening his other eyes – and as he did so, the eye in the middle of his forehead fluttered slowly shut.
“Hutututu! What’s this, what’s this?” growled the Gaffer. Peer and Hilde grabbed hands.
“I’m Ralf Eiriksson’s daughter.” Hilde spoke up bravely. “I’ve come for my little brother and sister. The millers of Trollsvik stole them.”
“We brought you something in exchange,” Peer added as the Gaffer scowled.
Hilde held up the golden cup. “This! You lost it years ago. Give me back my brother and sister, and in return —”
“Lost it?” the Gaffer interrupted. “It was stolen! Stolen by your father, a thief if ever there was. How dare you make bargains with me?”
“How dare you call him a thief?” Hilde cried. “You trolls tried to poison him!”
“Hilde —” said Peer.
“It wasn’t poison!” shouted the King of Troll Fell.
“Then why did it burn all the hair off his pony’s tail?” Hilde yelled.
“Hilde —”
Hilde grabbed a sheepskin from the Gaffer’s bed and shook it in his face. “See that?” she panted. “See that mark? That came from one of our sheep – and so did this!” She seized another fleece, and another. “Who’s the thief now?” She threw them down and stood glaring at him.
Peer expected the Gaffer to call his trolls and have both of them torn to pieces. To his immense relief, the huge old troll began to laugh. He screwed up all three eyes and rocked to and fro on the edge of his bed, choking.
“Well, what’s a little borrowing between neighbours?” he coughed, slapping his knees. “Give me that!” He snatched the cup and turned it in his claws, admiring it.
“Nice timing,” he grinned at Hilde. “We need this for the wedding. It’s the Bride Cup of Troll Fell, always used at weddings. Traditional! Belonged to my grandmother. Skotte!”
The little troll in the corner gave a shrill squeak and stood to attention.
“Get everyone up,” said the Gaffer. “If I’m awake, no one else sleeps. There’s plenty to do. I want the Hall ready before midnight. Wake up the princess. I want to see her.” The little troll doubled over in a bow and scuttled out.
The troll king reached for his coat, which was made of sewn-together cat skins, mostly tabby. There was a slit in the back for his cow-like tail. He thrashed about. “Help me!” he growled, and Peer gingerly bent and hooked the tail through.
“Follow me,” the Gaffer commanded. He threw open the door and stumped out. The ball of light, idly drifting against the ceiling, brightened rapidly and bounded ahead of him as he marched along the tunnel.
Peer and Hilde began to hear noises ahead: bangs, crashes and whoops. The passage ended in some steps, and they found themselves looking into the splendid Hall under Troll Fell.
It was a huge cavern. The roof was an arch of darkness, patrolled by many floating lights, golden and blue. Their own ball whirled aloft to join the others.
Opposite them, a waterfall found its way in white threads down between rocks. At the foot of the waterfall was a stone chair. The water divided around it and flowed away in a channel under an archway.
The Hall was filling with trolls. Some tumbled from dark chimneys in the roof and dropped to the floor like bouncing balls. Others scrambled out from underneath boulders. Gangs rushed in with tables and benches, dragging them here and there, setting them in order. Over by the river a group of dripping water spirits, or nixies, scoured a pile of golden plates with handfuls of fine white sand. Everyone was shouting at once:
“Fetch a high-seat for the King of the Dovre!”
“A special table for his son and daughter!”
“How many tubs of water for the merrows?”
“We need to have just as many for the nixies!”
“Couldn’t they sit on wet stones…?”
Peer scanned the crowd for a sight of Sigurd or Sigrid. He saw trolls with pigs’ snouts, trolls with owls’ eyes, trolls with birds’ beaks. There was not a human face among them – except for the nixies whose beautiful faces were narrow and sly with curious slanting eyes.
Then he saw them – slouching on rocks at the bottom of the waterfall – not the children, but the burly, black-haired figures of the Grimsson twins. He winced.
“Don’t worry, Peer,” whispered Hilde beside him.
“I’m not,” he lied. The Gaffer set off across the uneven stone floor. They followed. The trolls fell back for them, muttering.
Cold with fright, Peer threw his head back and stared at his two uncles. They hadn’t seen him yet, and he wasn’t looking forward to the moment when they did. Baldur noticed the Gaffer and got to his feet, jogging his brother’s elbow – and then he spotted Peer. His jaw dropped. So did Grim’s. Their faces registered blank astonishment changing to pop-eyed fury. Scared though he was, Peer had to giggle.
The Gaffer walked past the Grimsson brothers, ignoring them, and climbed on to his throne. He swept his tail out of the way and settled himself. But as Peer and Hilde drew near, the two men came out of their trance. Baldur shot out a thick arm. He caught Peer by the scruff and shook him like a puppet.
“Let him go!” Hilde shrieked, trying to pull him free. Grim kicked her, and there was a hiss of delight from the assembled trolls: “Bite them and tear them! Pull them to pieces!”
“QUIET!” bellowed the Gaffer. He folded his arms. “Huuuu! If we’re not ready by midnight for the King of the Dovre, I’ll look at you all with my other eye and shrivel you into earthworms! Get on with your work.” The trolls began to bustle about very busily.
Baldur dropped Peer and turned blustering to the Gaffer. “Whatever the boy’s said to you, don’t listen to him! We’ve done what you asked, haven’t we? We’ve got you those children – just what you wanted!”
“S’right!” added Grim. “Give us our gold – as much as we can carry!”
“I’ll do as I please,” said the Gaffer, growling.
With a discordant blast, horns sounded in a corner of the Hall. The little troll came hurrying in and bowed several times, out of breath. “The princess!” it gasped. “And the prince!”
Into the Hall came the Gaffer’s eldest daughter. She was in a bad temper, for the occasion was so great: she had never been married before! She was pretty; her mother had been a nixie. Her eyes were large, slanted like birch leaves, and her tail was as delicate as a cat’s.
“The spiders haven’t finished my wedding dress,” she complained. “And look at all the dust! You should have raised the hill yesterday and aired the place. Then North Wind could have swept in here. We shall never be ready in time, and the King of the Dovre will think I’m a bad housewife.”
“He won’t think that as long as there’s enough beer,” chuckled the Gaffer. “Besides, my dear, look what I have for you! The Bride Cup you so foolishly lost, long ago.”
The troll princess looked at it carelessly. “That old thing? You’ve got it back? So at last you’ll stop fussing?”
“It’s an heirloom, my dear!”
Up came her brother the troll prince, a sulky expression on his piggish face. “Those two children you’ve got for us are terrible,” he burst out. “They won’t fetch or carry or dance or sing. They won’t do anything but scream and cry. I can’t possibly give the girl to my bride.”
“I can’t possibly give the boy to my husband!” agreed the troll princess.
They glared at their father who in turn scowled at the Grimssons.
“‘Just what I wanted,’ eh?” he growled, and the eye in the middle of his forehead flickered in a red blink. The two big men shuffled their feet.
“How can they sing when they’re unhappy? Where are they?” cried Hilde, imagining the children locked in some dark cave. But Peer pulled her arm and there, creeping into the Hall, holding hands tightly, were Sigurd and Sigrid. Their dirty tear-streaked faces brightened as they saw Hilde, and they raced to meet her. She grabbed one in each arm and hugged them close. “This’ll teach you to go running off,” she choked. “I told you to stay with Grandpa!”
Sigrid sobbed. Peer tousled her hair, a brotherly lump in his throat. “Don’t scold, Hilde,” he whispered.
“I’m not,” sniffed Hilde. “Don’t cry any more, Siggy. We’re taking you home.”
“Are you, now?” asked the Gaffer drily.
Hilde turned on him. “I brought you the cup!”
“And the prince and princess don’t want the children,” Peer added.
“It’s what I want that counts!” the Gaffer snarled. “And it boils down to this. I want a pair of you for the Dovreking’s son and daughter. So two of you may go – but two must stay.
“I’m feeling generous,” he added genially, “so I’ll let you choose.”
“You don’t mean it,” said Hilde in horror.
The Gaffer looked at her.
“But —” She stopped, gasping. “How can we choose?”
“Take your time,” the Gaffer advised merrily. “Think hard. Don’t decide in a hurry!”
“Can’t we go home?” Sigrid wept, her mouth turned down. “I want to go home!”
“So do I!” cried Sigurd. They buried themselves in Hilde’s clothes. She looked down at them and bit her lip.
“I – I suppose I had better stay,” she whispered.
Sick with shock, Peer opened his mouth, and closed it again, unable to say the words that would condemn him to a life of slavery. He imagined living here, trapped – never seeing Loki again, never seeing anyone but trolls – and choked. He looked at Hilde and she turned away. Peer thought it was scorn. He gritted his teeth. It was easy for her to be brave. The twins were her family!
He stole another glance. Hilde’s head was bowed, her fists clenched. Peer was ashamed of himself. Of course it wasn’t easy.
He stared dizzily around the Hall – the scurrying trolls, the white strands of the waterfall, the moving lights in the dark roof. It all seemed horribly strange and meaningless. I’ve got to get out! Out, where the sun shines and the wind blows!
Again he looked at Hilde, who still would not look at him. And then his eyes came to rest on the stupid, brutal, calculating faces of Baldur and Grim. A cold thought penetrated. What sort of life would it be, to go back to the mill with those two? How could he live, knowing he had abandoned Hilde?
I’d be as bad as they are, he thought in revulsion.
He pressed his hands over his eyes. It was the same choice he had made on the mountain, but this time it was much harder. Who would have thought you had to keep on choosing and choosing? I can’t keep running away, Father, he said silently in the blackness behind his closed lids. It doesn’t work. It’s time to stand up to them. And he opened his eyes.
“I’ll stay here too.”
