PROLOGUE

The patient’s empty eyes glared at the ceiling, wheezing and shuddering in a mix of delirium and pain. Doctor Lande frowned sternly, moving his eyes rapidly between the man with the hunting rifle in front of him and the patient.

“And you brought him here alone?” asked Lande, trying to make out the markings on the patient’s flesh through the poor lighting and blood-drenched fabric.

The man with the rifle nodded.

“All this way?”

He nodded again. Lande, with a sigh, began to undress the patient, and gestured for the man with the rifle to pass the lamp closer to him. The howl of the winter’s cold could be heard through the creaky wooden walls of the hospital, and Lande needed to raise his voice to be heard.

“You can stay here for the night. I don’t want you to be going out when things are like this. When my assistant comes in the morning, you tell him everything. Am I clear?”

“Yes. Yes, doctor”, the man with the rifle said while nodding again. The doctor was unable to tell if his face and lips were pale and his demeanour lethargic, but realising it was cold, he decided that he might speak more if he were comfortable.

“You’d best throw some logs into the fireplace if we want this man to have the best chance of recovery. Do you have a name?” asked Doctor Lande.

“Tobi,” the man said, still frozen into place. The doctor gestured towards the fireplace dismissively, and took a closer look at the patient. His ribs were jagged and crushed, and his torso was purple with bruises, save for a bloodied gash just under his heart. The patient’s weak, neurotic, and pale hands clutched the doctor’s suit, as his head shook with sobs. It almost sounded like he was going to say something, but his lungs would not let him give out any more than a few spluttered syllables. The doctor hushed, and inspected the wounds fastidiously.

“Attacked by animals, you say?” asked Lande, turning his head back at Tobi, who was busy thawing his palms by the now-roaring fireplace.

Tobi nodded, his mind still seemingly in a sort of trance, as his brain imagined rushing shapes in the fireplace to distract him from the terrible sights he had seen.

“You always hear rumours about it,” Lande remarked. “But here?”

“Yeah,” Tobi sighed.

As soon as Tobi spoke, Lande instinctively turned his head back to him, surprised that he had said anything so relatively unprompted after such a spell of silence. Even though Tobi was not facing the doctor, he could sense his surprise, and turned to meet his eyes.

“Sorry. You should get back to him.”

Lande nodded in agreement, and began to check the patient for signs of infection. The delirious patient was still mouthing some unknown sentences, shaking his head as if he was about to burst into tears, and clenching a fist with anguish. The doctor held his hand to comfort him, and took a more thorough look at the wounds. Lande’s eyebrow furrowed in confusion, as he struggled to identify the dreadful markings on his flesh.

“Several animals, indeed, but these are not all the signs of a predator. It almost seems as if, dare I say, prey animals had charged at him with some manic frenzy… I’ve never seen anything like it!” the doctor said, forcing a frown to hide his morbid enthusiasm at this strange and almost exciting phenomenon.

“And, and,” the patient sputtered, beating his fist against the bed weakly in order to bring some attention to himself. Immediately, the doctor leaned over him, and rubbed his arm.

“And what?” asked the doctor. “Come on!”

But the patient was only hyperventilating now, making the same beating motion with his hands, and his neck still rising and falling as if he was going to garble out an account of the event any second. But soon, he grew more exhausted and out of breath, so he collapsed fully back on the bed and breathed sharply, his tortured visage wincing in pain.

“It was horrible,” Tobi said, staring at the fire. “That poor soul.”

“Perhaps if you told me exactly what happened, I would be able to better treat the patient,” Lande said with a gentle frustration in his voice, as he began to dress the wounds and write notes about the patient’s condition. As he wrote, Lande turned to Tobi, hoping that he would finally become clearer and provide some sort of explanation of the situation in which Lande had been left so hopelessly in the dark. As he waited for Tobi to speak, the rustling winds smacked against the trees outside, causing even the doctor to become slightly unnerved with the strength of the gusts. Despite this, Tobi was silent for many moments, until the strange whistling became too much for him to bear, and he finally spoke again.

“I could barely even make it out from where I was standing, alright? I can’t remember that well,” Tobi said.

The doctor remained silent.

“But I remember hearing screams when I was in the forest. I had my gun, so I pointed it at the direction of the screaming and I rushed forwards. And there were so many animals charging at this poor man.”

“Animals?” asked Lande. “A blackbird or a bear?”

“I think they were sheep? It’s a bit hazy. It wasn’t all that close-”

Lande interrupted him, smiling in an almost mocking way. “You do mean a ram, don’t you?”

“Honestly? I don’t think so. I don’t think they had horns. Not all of them. Maybe there were some rams. But the sheep were attacking him too.”

The doctor’s smile disappeared, and he stopped for a few seconds in reflection. With less mockery and more fascination in his voice, he began to speak again. “Remarkable. And how did you scare them off”

Tobi tilted his head towards the rifle he leaned upon the wall. “Well. It didn’t scare them at first. I missed the first shot, and they acted as if they didn’t hear it... But when the second shot went in, the rest of the animals scattered in some sort of frenzy.”

“Some sort of frenzy?” asked the doctor.

“Well, they seemed to run in circles or something. They crashed into each other, even. It took them a good minute to get their bearings and finally get out of there. I’ve seen nothing like it,” Tobi explained.

“Well,” said Lande, frozen with bewilderment for a few seconds. “I, hmm… one second”

Tobi kept facing Doctor Lande, as the doctor turned his back to do some things with the patient. He had stopped trying to talk, and had closed his eyes. Lande placed a stethoscope upon his chest, listened, and breathed a sigh of exhausted relief. Scribbling down a few notes, he began to ponder for a few seconds, and clicked his finger unconvincingly, while turning around to face Tobi.

“It must be the terrible noises and lights from those ships which terrify and shock the poor animals. I don’t think their brains are built to deal with such conditions,” Lande said with little conviction in his explanation.

It seemed as if Tobi could detect his tone easily. “Ships? Really? Surely there aren’t enough large ones sailing here at night to cause huge problems for anybody?”

Lande frowned, and looked back at the patient. The patient had stopped breathing momentarily, and so the doctor shook him and poured water onto his face. Suddenly, the patient wheezed, before gagging, choking up some blood, then gasping. Lande heard footsteps behind him as he inspected the dying man, and turned around. It was Tobi, who was inspecting the corpse.

“Very nice watch,” Tobi said. “Never knew Mr. Fredriksen was a wealthy man.”

Lande shook his head. “It did him no good. The beasts must have rammed his wrist into his chest, bruising him even harder with the metal. Awful luck…”

“Do you think he will survive?”, Tobi asked with childlike bluntness.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

When the doctor said nothing, Tobi’s eyes rose from the watch to meet the doctor’s face. He saw that Lande was a rather portly man in his late forties, with a black moustache as thick as a paintbrush and quick eyes which darted across the room when he became uncomfortable or impatient. This was one of such moments, and he pretended to ignore the comment, until once again the slight quieting of the fire allowed the ominous gusts to sound, and Lande decided to answer.

“Almost impossible. I’ve never seen someone take so much trauma. His vital organs have been badly damaged, I am almost certain.”

“What are you going to do?” Tobi replied very quickly, with a slight sweat building up on his forehead.

“Not much I can do, I’m afraid. I’ve cleaned up the blood, but there is little more I can do. As for the patient, he needs all the rest he can get.”

“We must pray for his speedy recovery!” Tobi gasped, grabbing his collar and rubbing it neurotically with his thumb.

“Or any recovery at all”, said Lande, as he made his way to one of his cabinets. Tobi tried to take a closer look at what Doctor Lande was doing, but a slight glow returned to his face when he saw the doctor turn back towards him with two glasses of brandy. Lande couldn’t help but smile a little when he saw some joy come back to Tobi’s, and he handed him a glass.

“Thank you for your help,” Lande said with a strong aura of grateful sincerity. “We must speak more tomorrow morning. Get some rest. I will set your bed for you”.

Tobi nodded deeply in a semi-bow while raising the glass a little. “Tomorrow.”

--END OF PROLOGUE--

CHAPTER ONE

The Little Ålesund approached the coast of Selby, tilting gently from side to side in the choppy waters. A kind ocean breeze was rushing through Carl’s hair, as he looked out towards the distant green  coastline, which grew larger and larger with each passing minute. As the ship got closer, Carl was able to make out the leaves on the trees, those familiar trees - home at last!

He couldn’t help but smile widely as he held the ship’s rails and tried to make out what had changed since he had left for England. As he lost himself in thought, the wind slowly grew stronger, so he buttoned up his coat and held his hat close to his head. Still, nothing could break his spirits, and refused to step back into the cabins. Carl tried to make out Tobi and Katrine on the docks, but there was a moving mass of people. He tried squinting his eyes, but even when the ship was only meters away, he still had no idea where they were.

Carl frowned, thinking about the letter he had received. 

When the ship finally reached the dock, he eagerly handed over the wrong documents to the official, before rummaging around in his suitcase desperately. As he dug through the documents frantically, he gave a forced smile to the official, who did not look amused by the proceedings. Nevertheless, he eventually found the right papers, and the official gestured towards the town. Carl went along quickly, looking left and right for his cousin. He began to clench his fist and increase his speed when he realised he couldn’t find them anywhere. Why were there so many people here? 

After almost five minutes of frantic searching, he saw two familiar faces raising their hand, and running towards the dock, panting. Carl rushed towards them with exhausted relief, and put down his suitcases to give Tobi a handshake. Tobi was evidently quite puzzled by such formality, but he returned the handshake, and gestured for Carl to pick up his bags and walk along with them.

“Carl! What a pleasure to see you. How is London? What brings you here to Selby?,” Tobi asked, taking a good look at Carl. He was certainly the most finely dressed man in town, and he walked with an aristocratic gait. “Have you come to see me after so long?”

Carl smiled, and laughed a little. “Well, I suppose you could say that, Tobi. London is everything I ever wanted from my life, and my companions there are doing well.”

Tobi barely gave him time to speak. “Found a wife yet?”

Carl smiled again, and shook his head. “In due time, Tobi, in due time.”

Though it hadn’t snowed for a while, there were still thin patches of ice on the ground on the side of the footpaths. The shrubs in the area looked thin and anaemic, though the evergreen trees still stood as proud as ever. Carl spotted an empty nest in one of the trees, and the wind was getting ever more bitter.

“It’s very different from how I remember it,” Carl remarked, and not with the usual gleam of amusement in his voice.

“Well, we idolise things when we are children, do we not?” Tobi said.

Katrine shook her head, and turned to face Tobi. “No, I think this place has changed. I do wish you would stop idolising it so much. Can we not move somewhere a bit bigger than this?”

Tobi grumbled and shook his head with disregard, and there was an awkward silence for a few moments as the three walked through the forest of spruce trees. The muddy footpath squelched under their feet. Carl held back a frown, checking his shoes for mud, and grumbling as he saw a few prominent stains. It soon became evident that the atmosphere was beginning to sour, so Katrine turned to Carl.

“So, London? Why would you come to meet your cousin before your own parents?” Katrine asked. Tobi pulled a face of mild displeasure at what he deemed to be an interrogation, but Carl noticed this, and replied softly.

“An astute observation, madam. I have done much research in the city, and decided to do much research on Oslo and Selby. Oslo has been researched extensively already, but Selby shows much promise. In fact, I’m here to do some studies on rock formations and potential habitation of the caves”

Tobi and Katrine gave each other a brief glance, and then both of them pretended to smile. “Aha, archaeology. So you could have been exploring the pyramids, but you came to miserable Selby?” Tobi asked with a smile.

“Indeed”, Carl said, chuckling. “I thought it would be nice to work somewhere I could see my family again. And it’s not just nonsense, you know. I figure we can use this to make a compelling case for our distinctiveness from the Swedish. I assure you, I’ll be famous, and it’ll make a great case for the Norwegian societies in London. But I suppose you wouldn’t know much about that.”

Tobi exhaled out of his nose, looking again at his wife, and suppressing a smile.

“Most interesting,” Tobi said sardonically. “Truly, your work is utterly incredible, but I do not wish to stress you with talk of it so soon after your arrival! Why, as much as we are interested in the whimsical endeavours of these societies, we are your hosts, and besides, you have not been in Selby for so long! We live in a much finer house now, and the shop is doing very well.”

As the three got closer to the house, Carl noticed the local church, as humble as it had always been. The wood had a large scratch on one of the sides, and as they approached the front, Carl turned to Tobi.

“Is Father Olav still alive?”

“Yes, but he has been very ill recently. I presume he will not be for much longer, though it is rude to say so,” Tobi responded.

“Hmph, he’s not the only one. You should have seen the sunken eyes of those bloody dock workers! I’d wager it’s tuberculosis. It’s usually tuberculosis.”

Tobi and Katrine grated their teeth, before regaining composure. Tobi mustered up the courage to challenge his comment. “Well, he doesn’t cough or anything, I think he’s just getting a bit old. Perhaps you could actually…”

“Tobi, enough,” Katrine interjected.

Carl raised his hands in acquiescence. “No, no, my bad. You’ve been very polite to me. It is just very different to what I am used to here. I shouldn’t be comparing you to the people back home.”

As he said this and walked past the church, he tried to hide a face of disgust as he saw a dead bird that seems to have flown into the ground near the graveyard fence, its corpse half rotten and decaying. He wasn't sure if Tobi and Katrine saw, but the uneasy air never dissipated throughout the awkward walk.

After a twenty minute walk, the three finally made it to a large two-storey house, with bright red paint across the walls and an immaculately white roof. It clearly had only been painted recently, and even the door handle was well polished and ornate. Even Carl seemed impressed by the fine condition of the house, even if it were perhaps slightly humble by his standards. Tobi opened the door, and gestured for the two to go inside. Carl aggressively brushed his feet upon the doormat, and hung up his coat. Tobi smiled at him, and gestured upstairs.

“I have a room prepared for you at the second door on the right when you go up. Unpack, get changed, you must have had a very long journey! Katrine will be making soup, but I will call you up when we are ready. Enjoy yourself!”

Carl almost noticed Tobi breathe a sigh of relief as he opened one of the doors into the other room. As the clanging of pots in the other room became but a quiet echo, Carl stared back at his coat. Casting his eyes back to the window, he noticed a certain paleness to the atmosphere that filled him with the most odd feeling. The trees looked so thin and so ill. It was as if nature itself had been filled with the same lethargy that Tobi had described, and Carl did not like it one bit. The furniture: that was nice. He couldn’t help but feel surprised at how well Tobi had done for himself. The furniture in the main hall was so neatly arrayed, save for a misplaced bolt of cloth with some iron scissors laid open on top of it. Carl instinctively felt the cloth between his fingers - it was coarser than the fabric of his coat, that was for sure. Carl’s smile widened further. Tobi may have done successfully, but he was still a long way away from making any sort of real fortune.

Carl made his way to the room he had been assigned. A change of clothes was neatly laid out for him, and although it was not something he would usually have worn, he began to change. After all, he did not want an argument so soon into his visit. Curiously, he ran his fingers along the bookshelf, looking for any texts which he recognised. Many of the childish folktales from his childhood jutted out with battered spines, although a few newer classics leaned against them. He then looked at the small statuettes of elves that guarded the bookcase. Not very interesting. Losing his interests in the surroundings of the room, he brought himself to the window again. The sky was choked bare by white clouds, and the other houses looked very dim indeed. A lone squirrel was rushing past the trees, but there was nothing else of interest, except for what he thought was a man in the distance perhaps shovelling some snow. He began to get lost in a bored trance, sighing as the world outside barely changed save for the calm swaying of the bare trees.

When Carl had put on his change of clothes, he opened up his suitcase and picked up his notebook. It was covered in worn, black leather, and was filled with poorly scratched notes. Only Carl was able to decipher such awful handwriting, and as he tried to open the pages on Selby, he left the room, and looked out the hallway windows. Carl could see the ocean from here, with the little dots in the distance. He had seen them earlier when he had sailed in - they were fishermen in oilskins, sailing along the sea and catching fish. Despite the slightly unsettling image that had been painted of this town from both the dead animals and Tobi’s comments, it was rather quaint here. Carl decided he would do some light reading of his notes before coming down for some talk with Tobi. They hadn’t spoken in person for years, and he thought it would be best not only to endear himself to his cousin, but also to learn more about how things had changed. He went down the stairs, where he could hear Tobi and Katrine chattering about something, almost arguing. But as Carl opened the door, the talking stopped, and the two looked at him.

“Why don’t you two sit down and talk. I’m sure you have a lot to discuss, you two,” Katrine said with a slight bitterness in her voice.

Tobi ignored this, and smiled. He gestured Carl towards some armchairs by the fireplace, and sat down. Carl tried to peer through the corner to see how Katrine was doing, but all he could hear was the chopping of some vegetables.

“I have to say, Carl. As happy as I am to see you, you really did pick the worst time to come and visit,” Tobi said bluntly.

“Is it about the tuberculosis outbreak?” Carl asked him, inquisitively.

Tobi sighed, and rolled his eyes, pointing out the window.

“There’s no tuberculosis,” Tobi replied angrily. He continued, his tone calming. “But there’s a lot of strange stuff going on. Doctor Lande says it’s because of all of the ships, but I don’t buy it. People are lethargic and ill and just... odd. Mr. Fredriksen died two weeks ago, and it was just awful.”

Carl’s head sank, and his lip stiffened. “That truly is awful. Old age?”

“No. I don’t want to talk about it.”

Carl nodded. “Of course. But surely someone must be trying to bring the community together? Is Father Olav doing his best?”

“Of course he is! But his best isn’t very good anymore. Not many people attend the services anymore, see-”

“I don’t blame them,” Katrine interrupted from the other room. “Barely anybody wants to listen to that walking corpse. I want to leave this town. Why can’t we leave?”

Tobi grumbled, and made a disregarding gesture with his hands. “Pah. We’re going to see him tomorrow and that’s that. Besides, it’ll be nice for Carl to meet some of our friends. We’re working on some community engagement with the church. There’s no point leaving this place when we can just improve it, no? So go to bed at a sensible time, we have a lot planned tomorrow.”

Carl’s mind lit up, as he remembered the notes he had been reading about Selby, and the exciting discoveries he would be making here.

“Ah! And, what about my work here, hm? I was about to ask about how easy it is to get access to the caves by the mountain. A simple affair, is it not?”

Tobi shook his head. “No. Fredriksen died by the mountain path. We’re not going to let you go there. The animals are frantic. Just... leave that to the miners and the mountain shepherds, will you? I know you’re excited about visiting us, but this isn’t some Londoner fantasy! It’s serious, and our town has had many accidents from careless wanderers. You’ll meet my friends at the church and help us.”

“But I came here to work”, Carl said with a defeated tone in his voice, and shaking his head. “I’ve got to do this.”

Katrine spoke up abruptly. “Soup is ready, so you’d best get to the table, you two.” There was an underlying annoyance to her voice, and Carl wasn’t about to question it. Getting up from the armchair, he made his way to the table. He realised it was a little rickety, and the legs moved around as the table shifted. The soup, too, tasted far too salty, and the vegetables were devoid of much flavour. As Carl looked around him, looking into the disappointed faces of Tobi and Katrine, he realised what he had got himself into, and his heart sank. Gone were the fine meals of his new home: he was back in the awful, flavourless town of Selby.