Strange Shores

57

He opens his eyes. That insufferable question again.

‘I know who you are,’ he says.

‘Yes?’ says the traveller.

‘You once came to our house and talked to Bergur.’

‘You remember.’

‘You said we wouldn’t have him with us for long.’

The traveller makes no reply to this.

‘Because he was that kind of soul. It was you. I remember it clearly. Who are you? Why are you here?’

Still no answer.

‘Where are we?’

He has been under the impression that he was lying on his sleeping mat in the ruined farmhouse and that the man has come to visit him there. But that can’t be right because he now recalls leaving the house. He left behind his belongings and the car, and set out, unencumbered, for the mountain, for the north flank of Hardskafi. Although he barely surfaces into consciousness for more than a few seconds at a time, and the cold that is gradually killing him has addled his brain, he is fairly sure of this fact at least. He can’t be speaking to the man in the old croft because there is nobody there, not even himself.

‘Don’t you know?’ asks the traveller.

‘Where do you come from?’

No reply.

‘Where am I?’ he asks.

Again he senses that the traveller who once enjoyed his parents’ hospitality at Bakkasel is not alone. He is accompanied by that invisible being whose presence he has felt so strongly, never more so than now.

‘Who’s that with you?’ he asks yet again.

‘Who?’

‘The person with you? Who is he?’

‘You needn’t be afraid of him.’

Silence.

‘Do you think the time has come to meet him?’

‘Who is he?’

‘You’re holding him at arm’s length, but you know who he is. Deep down. You know who’s come with me to see you. He says you have nothing to fear. Do you believe him? Do you believe him when he says you have nothing to fear?’

Silence.

‘You know who he is.’

‘Not. .’

‘It’s you who’s keeping him away.’

When the traveller disappears he thinks he hears a child’s voice. Faint, remote. He can’t distinguish the words. But he knows who the voice belongs to, knows now who is with the man. He hasn’t heard that voice for many a long year and had believed he would never hear it again.

Briefly he recovers his wits, to find that the cold has intensified.

His consciousness fades once more.