​Chapter 3 – Dancing With a Huldra

The calm of the little pool under the waterfall was starting to affect me. Every day was the same, no stress, no goals, no money to be made. It all made me feel relaxed, and even able to enjoy the strange, alluring music that the man played almost constantly. I talked to Vivi, the flying lizard whose existence I had somehow managed to get used to, and she often brought me berries to eat and water from the pool to drink. I never climbed down the cliff, nor did I try to walk away again. As much as I hated to admit it, I was afraid of what that man might do to me if I did either of those things. The lizard had called him a nix, and I – as all other Swedes – knew the legends about the nix. A beautiful naked man sitting in the middle of a brook and playing the violin. With the music he'd lure people, preferably young women, down in the water and then drown them. The only problem was... I probably shouldn't refer to it as a 'problem'. I was still alive. I had asked Vivi what he wanted with me, but I had only gotten odd answers about me being interesting, or a repetition of her first statement that the nix would let me go when he had grown tired of me.

Vivi brought me more berries now. Barely more than a handful, carried in a small basket made out of braided grass, yet strangely filling. I had a nagging feeling that I wasn't eating enough to stay alive, yet I never became properly hungry. I knew my parents would be out picking lingonberries at this time of the year, since they had a good place for it quite close to their house. I'd usually drive through half the country to help them, but this year I hadn't had time for it, as with everything else. We always picked too much, so they would give me quite a few jars to bring home, and I'd accept it even though I knew I wouldn't be able to eat all of it. Annika didn't really like it, and our daughters refused to even touch it. It sometimes annoyed me how picky they could be about food, and things in general. It was a bit too apparent that they had grown up in the city.

“You look sad,” remarked the little brown lizard. “I'm sure I didn't bring you any crowberries.”

I shook my head. “No, you didn't bring me any crowberries. I'm just thinking about my family.”

Vivi showed her small pointed teeth, in what I assumed was a smile. “If you dislike them so much you should stop thinking about them.”

I was about to explain that she had gotten it wrong, when the nix's music abruptly ceased, and both the lizard and I tensed. Getting up and looking down to see if he was still there seemed risky, even though I had never seen him leave the pond. Even though I was too far away for him to pull me down again it still felt like he could easily swoop up and grab me at any time. We both waited in silence, throwing glances towards the edge of the cliff, but never moving to look, never opening our mouths to ask. This is my chance. I have to talk to him. Surely it was absurd of me to think that he'd somehow be able to fly up the cliff and pull me down... But then again, a few days ago - how many days has it been? - a talking and flying lizard would've seemed absurd as well.

Finally I swallowed and forced myself to stand up, brushing a few pine needles from my pants as I did so, and walked over to the edge, of some reason trying to sneak. As soon as I spotted the garland of water lilies and the black hair at the top of his head I froze, acutely aware of how loud my breathing seemed to be, even though the sound of the small waterfall should've drowned it out. This is ridiculous. You're a grown man with a family waiting at home for you, and you can't even talk.

“Excuse me!” The words came out far louder than I had intended them to, and I stepped a little closer so that I could at least see most of his bare torso. He didn't move, didn't even blink, and I wasn't sure if he was ignoring me or if he simply hadn't heard me. It didn't really matter, as I was mostly relieved he hadn't just killed me.

“Excuse me!” I tried again, even louder this time. There was no visible response in him, so I followed the direction of his steady gaze, and discovered a magpie bathing in the shallow part of the pool, its black feathers shining in blue, green and purple, just like oil, while the white ones stood out like snow. The content cawing sounded hauntingly familiar, and so misplaced in this strange place.

“There's no point in trying to talk to him.” The voice startled me, and I realized from the dim light and the flaming orange clouds surrounding the rounded top of a mountain that I must have stood there for hours. What is happening to me? “He cares for nothing but his music, and does his chores only because he has to.” It was a female voice, but it wasn't the high-pitched one that belonged to Vivi. This one was husky, almost seductively so.

I turned around slowly, thrilled at meeting someone else in these lonely mountains, but at the same time afraid of what exactly I was going to see. What I saw made me surprised, but not unpleasantly so. It was a woman, maybe ten years younger than I, just as naked as the man bellow. I tried to stop my eyes from gliding over her body, but there was something compelling about it, just like the nix's music it wanted you to come closer. A charming giggle made me realize I was staring, and I was finally able to tear my eyes from those full curves and look into her eyes. Somewhere inside of me I felt a tinge of guilt for begin attracted to her, but for the first time since I came here I felt safe, and that feeling of safety meant more to me than worry about what my wife might think.

“How curious of him to take another human. Are you special in some way?” Her eyes were golden, unlike any eyes I'd ever seen, and her skin as perfect as that of the nix, but with far more colour and life. There was a vitality in those eyes unlike anything I had ever seen any other person. The fire orange of her hair matched and even outdid the sunset, even though there were pine needles and twigs tangled up in it. She looked wild.

“N-n-no.” I hadn't stuttered since I was a kid, but now it suddenly acted up again as I fought the urge to touch that creamy skin. “I'm just a normal man.”

For a moment she looked so disappointed that I wanted to apologize, but then she smiled warmly again. “How curious.” We both stood in silence for some time, looking into each other's eyes, hers seeming teasing, like she wanted me to act on those urges that were getting more and more difficult to fight.

When the silence was finally broken by the sound of the nix's violin I felt relieved as those urges were redirected, almost cancelled out completely. I though I saw anger glimmer by in her eyes, but it disappeared before I could properly tell what it was.

“A new melody.” This time the voice did belong to Vivi, and I didn't need to turn my head to see her, to know that she was perched on my shoulder.

The music carried that same familiarity as the magpie's cawing, but this sound was anything but misplaced. My surroundings no longer seemed as strange and dangerous as before, but rather warm and welcoming.

“This is...” She smiled wryly, holding out her hands to me like she wanted me to take them. “Something that one should dance to. Will you join me?”

The yes was at the tip of my tongue, but the thought of dancing with a woman that had no clothes on made me blush, and I shook my head instead, taking a step back and nearly tripping over the heather that somehow seemed to have stuck to my boots. “I'm sorry, but I'm not very good at...” She did not wait for me to finish my sentence but took hold of my wrists, pulling me close and waging her hips in a dance that somehow manage to fit the music. I did my best to keep my eyes locked on hers, rather than some other part of her, feeling my cheeks becoming warm against the cold night air. As she pulled me into her dance I felt like a helpless teenage boy, not knowing where to put my hands or feet, stumbling over rocks and heather while she seemed almost to float. I felt like I was going to be sick, but also like I didn't want to be anywhere else.

“Look, we have an audience.” I glanced towards the forest, the white trunks of the birches still clearly visible even though the sun had fallen down through the mountain, the late summer night not much darker than the day. What really caught my eyes where the creatures I saw hiding among the trees, watching us dance from a safe distance.

“What are they?” I could identify some from the stories I had heard as a child. There was definitely a troll there, a few gnomes and a will-o'-the-wisp. “And why are they here? And what are you?” I should've been worried, scared out of my mind even, but I felt nothing of the sort. The musky smell of pine resin coming from the woman, combined with the familiarity of the music the nix was playing made any fear I should've had disappear.

“Oh, they are all sorts of creatures,” she explained calmly. “They are here because they're curious, of course. They heard the new melody and they came to listen, and then they saw you. A human walking among us, seeing us and talking to us. You're not just any human... And I'm not just any huldra.” As I almost fell she pulled me up, and I was once again amazed at her strength. That she wasn't human hadn't occurred to me before now.

“How come I can see you?” As she opened her mouth the music suddenly stopped, not as calmly as it normally did, but in the middle of a note. It was almost painful, like that cut off note had been cut off from myself, as if it was a part of me that someone had ripped out. The woman had let go of me, and was quickly walking backwards into the forest. The other creatures were nowhere to be seen.

“We will see each other again.” I blinked, and she was gone, and suddenly my mind was clear, if only for a brief moment. The short time seemed to be compensated by with intensity, as the fear and crushing homesickness I should've felt all along hit me with a ferocity I had never felt before. The night air that had felt refreshing now seemed to turn cold, the dark mountains that had been so round and inviting became distant and imposing, and the soft heather was no longer enough to cover the hardness of the ground.

With tears in my eyes I crawled over to the edge of the cliff, searching for the nix that was nowhere to be seen. Those feeling of loss, grief and fear turned into hate and anger, and the only thing that kept me from screaming in frustration was the thought of my fingers being wrapped around that pale thing neck, pressing until something gave way. He had taken me from my family and was keeping me here, like some kind of prisoner. Was Nora and Selma crying? Where they asking their mother where I was?

As I wallowed in my memories and most dreaded fantasies the night turned to day and then to night again, and I felt something land on my shoulder, its happy voice making me want to swat it like a fly, but its words made me change my mind.

“Come with me. I'll lead you through the forest to a place you've never seen.”