Rulantica (1) E-Book

Michaela Hanauer

• Herausgeber: Coppenrath Verlag
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 397

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Aquina is a mermaid. She has always felt different from the other merpeople on Rulantica. Shortly after her twelfth birthday, she finds out something incredible: she has a twin brother. Mats, a human boy! And he is in great danger. For Aquina, there's no holding back: she has to find her real family before it's too late. Ever since he was found on the beach as a baby, Mats has been brought up in a children's home. He has always been afraid of the sea and of water. What he doesn't know is that he'll soon be diving into the biggest adventure of his life! By coming together, Aquina and Mats are fulfilling a centuries-old prophecy by the Nordic gods – this could be a chance to save the island world of Rulantica, but it could also mean its total destruction …

Leseprobe

eISBN 978-3-649-64012-7

© 2019 for the Original German Edition:

Coppenrath Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Hafenweg 30, 48155 Münster

© 2021 for the English Edition:

Coppenrath Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Hafenweg 30, 48155 Münster

All rights reserved

Licensed by Mack Media & Brands GmbH & Co. KG, Executive Director Michael Mack

In collaboration with

Published by arrangement with Literatur Agentur Hanauer

The characters and story world of Rulantica are protected by copyright and are property of Mack Media & Brands GmbH & Co. KG.

Based on an idea of Michael Mack, Jörg Ihle, Tobias Mundinger

Story world by Jörg Ihle

Original title: Rulantica – Die verborgene Insel

Text by Michaela Hanauer

Translation by Marielle Sutherland

Illustration and Design by Helge Vogt

Edits by Emma Roberts, Sara Falke

Layout by FSM Premedia

www.coppenrath.de

Print Edition 978-3-649-63998-5

Inhalt

PROLOGUE

I A LESSON ON THE CORAL REEF

II GROTTO ARREST

III THE SECRET IN THE KELP FOREST

IV IN THE ICE CITY

V ONE PART OF THE TRUTH

VI FREEDOM

VII IN HEL’S NET

VIII KELPIES

IX STRANDED

X IN THE HUMAN CITY

XI THE SPRING OF LIFE

XII THE CALL OF THE SEA

XIII TRE BJØRKER

XIV HUMAN MAGIC

XV KRØNASÅR

XVI IN THE ACE

XVII IMPRISONED

XVIII THE RETURN

XIX THE BATTLE FOR RULANTICA

XX END AND BEGINNING

EPILOGUE

PROLOGUE

Once, the god Loki removed a little stone from the wall surrounding Asgard, the home of the gods. Loki was jealous of the other gods’ close bond with mankind, and he wanted to prove how fallible and weak mortals really were. The stone landed in the ocean and formed an island. Loki knew that, with this stone, he had sent a piece of divine magic to Earth.

He delighted in exploring his island: the idyllic forests, mountains and rivers – but he could also see its fiery soul. He was particularly taken with a grotto where a spring burbled away cheerfully to itself. This seemed to him to be the ideal place for a sneaky trick. At the source of the spring, he spat a pip from one of the goddess Idun’s golden apples of immortality into the earth. From then on, the seed would release into the water the power of eternal life. Loki was sure no human being would be able to resist this temptation.

Pleased with himself and his work, he kept an eye out for a suitable victim and soon found one in Viken Rangnak, the leader of a Viking clan. Loki revealed himself to Viken and showed him the way to a promising new homeland: Rulantica. And so began the game of life and death.

Not for the first time, the young god Vidar feels he has big shoes to fill – those of his father, Odin. Until his demise, Odin had been the leader of all the ancient gods. Infinitely clever and wise as he was, Odin would have known what has happened to the stone. But it’s Vidar who is standing before the wall that was erected to protect the divine world of Asgard and the few gods who are still alive, and the wall has a hole in it.

How did the hole get there? Vidar thinks. It’ll be easy for the giants and other enemies of the gods to breach the wall and launch an attack at the point where it is crumbling.

One thing is clear to Vidar: nothing in Asgard happens purely by chance. But who might know something about the missing stone?

“Hugin! Munin!” he calls.

Right at that moment, long shadows fall across Vidar, as two ravens circle above his head. Their jet-black feathers are glinting in the sunlight. They come to rest on each of his shoulders and gaze intently at the young god.

“I’m going to visit Vali to consult with him. Fly to Thor’s sons and to Loki’s daughter Hel, and bid them come as soon as possible to join our council!”

The two ravens take off into the air to carry out their mission.

Vidar finds his half-brother Vali in the courtyard of his castle, doing target practice with his bow.

Vali greets him. “Vidar, how good to see you. So, what brings you to me?”

“Did you know that there’s a stone missing from the wall around Asgard?” Vidar asks bluntly.

“I’m very sorry, brother, but I’m much younger than you. If you don’t know something, then I won’t know it either.”

“That’s what I feared,” admits Vidar. “But it might help if we survey the nine worlds from father’s throne.”

“Then come into my hall,” says Vali.

A silver dome spans the magnificent marble hall, the brothers stride through, hastening towards the throne.

“Ow-ooo!” Two wolves are standing by a white pillar in the hall. They howl, but do not come any closer.

Vidar greets Geri and Freki, the wolves. Vali inherited them from Odin, as well as the throne, which grants a clear view into all the worlds to anyone who sits on it. Vidar, on the other hand, inherited the two ravens from his father, along with the great task of ruling over the worlds as Odin’s successor.

The two brothers wheel round at the sound of raucous bellowing.

“Where is everybody?”

“Is there nothing to drink here?”

Magni and Modi, the sons of Thor, bluster in, and Vidar immediately regrets having summoned them to the meeting.

“We’re trying to find out why there is a hole in the Asgard wall,” explains Vidar.

“If you need a hole in the wall, I’ll happily make one for you,” offers Modi.

Vali rolls his eyes. “Do you always have to boast about the fact you inherited Thor’s hammer?”

Magni and Modi grin simultaneously. “We don’t have to,” says Magni.

“But we like to,” adds Modi.

“If I’ve only come to listen to this, then I’m out of here,” says a female voice.

“I really appreciate you being here, Hel,” says Vidar quickly, trying to mollify her.

“What’s worrying you?” Hel turns the beautiful side of her face towards Vidar.

“How do you know I’m worried?” asks Vidar, startled.

“I can see it in your face. Every day, many people cross my threshold into the kingdom of the dead. And I don’t like to be fooled, if you know what I mean.”

“So, do you know anything about the stone that is missing from Asgard’s wall?” asks Vidar.

Hel cocks her head thoughtfully. “Not enough yet, but I fear my father, Loki, is involved. She steps up onto the plinth of Odin’s throne, stands next to Vidar and points out into the distance. “Look for an island in the human world that contains the divine spark, and you’ll find your answer there.”

But as hard as he tries, Vidar can find nothing in the whole of Midgard that fits this description.

“I can’t see anything,” he says.

“Me neither,” says Vali.

“Ha ha, even more blind than their father, with his one eye,” quips Magni.

Vidar ignores this impertinent remark and turns his full attention to Hel.

“Don’t look for the obvious,” she says. “If it’s anything to do with Loki, then it’s something sneaky – something that, even after thousands of years, will let him slip in and get up to mischief in our worlds.”

A shudder runs down Vidar’s spine. Even Odin couldn’t keep Loki in check – and without Odin, it will be almost impossible to get a grip on Loki’s latest meddling. Especially if no one knows exactly what it is he’s supposed to have done…

He looks over at Hel and wonders what she’s thinking.

“Don’t worry – I’m not my father!” says Hel. “If we find something, you can count on me!”

Vali leaps up from the throne. “There! The fog in the middle of the sea! Could that be what we’re looking for?”

The three young gods cluster around the throne and look out to see what Vali has discovered.

“Something hidden by fog – that would be my father’s style exactly,” says Hel.

“In the middle of the ocean. The stone could actually have turned into an island,” suggests Vidar. “A piece of Asgard in the middle of Midgard!”

“So, all we need to do is go and destroy the island, and then we’re rid of the problem,” Modi proposes.

“Exactly,” his brother agrees. “We’ll bring the stone back, and then we can repair the wall straightaway!”

“No, we won’t,” Vidar interrupts. “We won’t destroy anything until we know more.”

“And what if your hesitation puts us in danger?” Vali points out.

“Whatever is hiding within the fog could be thousands of years old, older than you, older than me,” retorts Vidar. “A few more days won’t hurt if we’re trying to find out what exactly has been created there. I don’t want to annihilate the place and then ask questions. We are gods, not giants!”

“You’re always spoiling our fun!” grumbles Magni.

But Vidar doesn’t relent. “As your leader, I demand you swear that you will lift the fog before interfering in any way!”

“I wouldn’t be so fussy,” grunts Modi.

“Then all the better that Odin’s sons are guarding his throne, and not Thor’s hooligans,” says Hel pointedly.

“You can talk,” snaps Magni. “Your father is probably to blame for the hole in our wall, and once again it’s us who have to suffer!”

“That’s enough!” orders Vidar. “Swear your obedience to me, or you’ll be accompanying Hel back to her kingdom!”

He holds out his hand. Vali is the first to shake on it. Magni and Modi follow hesitantly, and finally, Hel places her slender hand on top, sealing the five gods’ promise.

“We’ll meet again in a week and see what each of us has found out,” says Vidar as they go their separate ways.

A LESSON ON THE CORAL REEF

“Aquina.”

“Aquina, it’s your turn!”

“AQUINA! Your skjol, please!”

Aquina feels an elbow digging her in the ribs – it belongs to her friend, Orchid, who is perched beside her on the large coral reef, rolling his eyes to the front as discreetly as possible. She takes his hint and finds herself looking into the strict face of Manati, the old singing teacher, who has always reminded Aquina a little of a sea cow, with the same flat nose and wrinkles and, if you look closely, even a few whiskers on her cheeks. Manati is obviously waiting for something, drumming her fingertips together, ever faster and more impatiently. The other eleven merchildren have now all turned to look at Aquina.

“Sing!” hisses Jade, who, just like Aquina, is twelve years old and is sitting on her other side.

Aquina quickly raises her tail fin, clears her throat and begins. Her voice is soft as she searches for the first notes. Aquina’s mind is still on the graceful backwards-fish she has just been watching at the edge of the coral reef. They swim tail-first. People say that time actually moves backwards for anyone who ends up in the middle of their shoal. When she was little, Aquina tried it out, but she still couldn’t say if it was true. Not enough happened in the brief moment when the shoal passed her by to notice any change. Strictly speaking, apart from a few fish gently brushing past her arms, nothing happened at all. Everything was just peaceful and quiet, as is always the case down here at the bottom of the sea.

Aquina packs all this into her melody. Aquina herself can hear that, even without words, her singing describes what is going through her mind. Like, how incredibly beautiful it is in the underwater city of Aquamaris – and it is beautiful, without a doubt – but also, how unexciting.

Now she has found her full voice. Out of the corner of her eye, she spies a little neon starfish, clinging to the wall of rock shaped by the currents beside the coral reef, and changing its colour in time with her melody. Now Aquina makes her song more urgent and enticing, as clear as seawater on a summer’s day. It takes on the delicate shades of red, purple and orange that mix with the blue of the water and form the different layers of the reef. As well as reflecting the loveliness of her surroundings, she fills the notes with her own longing.

When she has finished, Manati shakes her head disapprovingly. “You’re daydreaming again! When are you going to understand that we sirens want to scare our enemies off, not lure them in! Sit down!” Her eyes roam over the group. “Who can give me a proper skjol? Larima, do you want to try?”

A very pale mermaid with mud-coloured hair leaps up as if she was just waiting to be asked. She starts up a growling, thundering, rumbling sound, like a storm front approaching. To conclude, she lets out the hiss of a bolt of lightning, sending it in Aquina’s direction with a superior smile. It even makes Manati wince – briefly, but obviously – and Aquina suddenly wants to growl too, with rage. It’s just typical of Larima, the teacher’s pet, to not only do it perfectly but to also rub Aquina’s nose right in her own failure.

“Very good, Larima!” Manati praises her, though there is really no need. “The rest of you, take that as an example of how to use your voice to protect our island. Now, before tomorrow, you can all think about what other off-putting noises might be suitable for this important task.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Jade whispers to Aquina as they leave the coral reef with the others for their lunch break. “Your voice is much more beautiful than Larima’s.”

Aquina pulls a face. “What good is that if I’m not allowed to sing the way I want to?”

Jade shrugs apologetically. “Why don’t you come to High Cliffs with me, Orchid and Ruby? That would take your mind off it. Apparently, there are loads of oysters up there!”

Aquina shakes her head. “Thanks, but I’ve stopped eating fish.”

Jade’s green eyes widen even further. “Really? Not even shellfish? You’re still going through with that?”

Aquina sighs. Why doesn’t anyone understand her? “Fish and shellfish are my friends, just like you are. I wouldn’t bite your nose off or eat your little sticky-outy ears for breakfast either!”

“Sticky-outy ears yourself,” Jade mutters, but quickly tries to rearrange her long black hair to cover her ears. “So, what do you eat?”

“Sea salad, sea asparagus and algae pesto. And I’m growing my own sea herbs,” Aquina explains proudly.

“You’re doing WHAT?” Jade forgets her ears at once.

“Ye-es, that’s kind of how my mother reacted, too.”

“I’m not surprised! You’re the only – er, what do you call it exactly? ‘Non-fish-eater’ in the whole of Aquamaris.”

“I prefer algaetarian.”

“All right, you crazy algaetarian. I’m sure there’ll be some crunchy algae for you in amongst the oysters!” Jade peers after the group, who are already a good way off, swimming up to High Cliffs, at the edge of town.

“Or you could come home with me and I’ll show you my herb garden,” Aquina tempts her. “There’s a delicious sea cucumber waiting for you…”

“Sea cucumbers aren’t plants!” Jade exclaims.

“I know,” Aquina smiles, “but my mother thinks she can trick me with them. Like she did with fish in crispy sea salt last week. But if you eat my portion for me, I’ll be left in peace for a few more days!”

“I’m not sure I should get involved…” Jade says uncertainly.

Aquina reaches out and hooks her silvery-turquoise tail fin around Jade’s green one. “Oh, come on, you’re my best friend – we have to stick together!”

“Tomorrow,” says Jade. “I’ll come to yours tomorrow, I promise. And then I’ll stuff myself with as many sea cucumbers for you as I can. But today, let’s go to High Cliffs!”

Aquina pulls her tail fin back. “No problem. You swim off to the oysters, then, and I’ll go up to the surface.”

Jade almost chokes on a mouthful of seawater. “You’re going up there? But you know we’re not allowed to without our parents!” She stretches her pale arms out as if to prove a point. “The sun is dangerous for our mermaid skin and could even dry our fish tails out!”

“What rubbish!” Aquina laughs. “I stopped believing that fairy tale when I was six years old!”

“Have you been up there on your own a lot, then?” Jade asks timidly.

“Of course,” Aquina boasts, “so many times I’ve lost count! Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?”

Fear and curiosity wrestle with each other on Jade’s face. But then she shakes her head resolutely. “I can’t. But tell me all about it this afternoon – promise?”

“Promise,” says Aquina, feeling a tiny bit disappointed, even though she knew all along how the conversation was going to turn out. She’d never begrudge Jade and the others having fun at High Cliffs, she just feels much more strongly – almost ma gically – drawn to the surface.

Aquina glides through the water. Almost weightless, she moves forward with an occasional, gentle swish of her fish tail. She’s in no hurry.

Down in the depths where Aquamaris lies, almost all the colours look like they have a blue filter laid over them – the reds and yellows in particular. But the closer she gets to her destination, the more the sun casts lush, bright-yellow points of light on the surface of the water that entice Aquina almost hypnotically. Why do the other merpeople hardly ever come up here? She loves the sun, the warmth and the vivid colours.

Sighing happily, Aquina turns onto her back and lets the waves carry her. How carefree the world is here. She could lie like this forever. Aquina blinks into the sunbeams that tickle her nose. What would it be like to be human? Like her forefathers… Aquina screws up her eyes thinking about it.

Her mother Kailani, leader of the sirens, told her that her forefathers were humans – Vikings – when they came to Rulantica. Back then, their leader was Viken Rangnak, who went in search of a new home for his clan when the barren island they came from couldn’t produce enough food for them any more. He called on the old Norse gods for help in his search. At first, none of them seemed to hear his plea, and the Vikings sailed aimlessly around the North Sea. Then, the cunning god Loki finally revealed himself. He broke off a horn from his mighty helmet, gave it to Viken and told him to blow into it after one more day at sea, as soon as they reached a thick wall of fog. Viken followed Loki’s instructions and, right in front of his eyes, an island, full of promise, appeared out of the fog. Viken and his clan explored it, and decided to settle there. They called the island Rulantica. And that is its name to this day.

Beneath the island lies Aquamaris, the underwater city where Aquina lives. After Odin cursed the Vikings, forcing them to forever guard the spring of life, or be devoured by the powerful sea monster Svalgur, they turned into merpeople.

And so that no siren will ever forget how it all began and why they are here, Kailani introduced Frigg Day, on which she tells the story of Odin’s curse and the prophecy given by Odin’s wife Frigg in reply.

Aquina knows these stories off by heart; she can recite them in her sleep. As Kailani’s daughter, she has all kinds of privileges: a lovely home in Seashell Palace, access to a huge number of sagas and legends… but at the same time, there are still many things she is not allowed to do.

Aquina lifts her head a little way out of the water and peers over at the land that rises out of the sea, just a few metres from her. There is the island, solitary and peaceful. How stupid that her ancestors didn’t see the trap Loki was luring them into. If they had, they would still be humans today, and Aquina could go off and see the whole world, instead of being stuck in the three-mile zone around Rulantica. And she could sing as beautifully as she wanted, and wouldn’t have to perform a bloodcurdling skjol to scare off intruders.

On her excursions to the surface, she often imagines how her ancestors lived in the Rangnakor Viking settlement. From the water, she can still make out a few of the tall buildings on stilts with their carved wooden gables. The paint on the beams has long since flaked off, the buildings are weather-beaten and some have collapsed, while in others, birds of prey, like the great black mauks, make their nests. But in Aquina’s imagination, she sits with the Vikings around their fire pits, stirring a huge cauldron and preparing to set sail in one of their proud ships. She wants to see new cities and countries, talk to people she hasn’t known all her life, and have adventures. Or at the very least, to explore every corner of the island that she can’t see from the water. How must it have felt to live on land and be able to walk everywhere?

As one of the ancient immortals who were transformed from humans into merpeople, Kailani could tell her. But whenever Aquina broaches the question, her mother just plays it down, saying, “Yes, but we couldn’t swim very well.”

“But at least you could swim a bit,” Aquina always replies. “I can’t walk at all, not even a little!”

“Believe me, it’s much nicer in the sea than it is on land,” Kailani says every time, trying to reassure her daughter. And she never forgets to add a warning: “Stay away from Rulantica! Even from the water around it, do you understand? They say dangerous creatures have moved into Rangnakor. It’s no place for a young mermaid like you!”

“But there are dangerous creatures here too. Like ice sharks and manta rays,” Aquina always objects.

But Kailani refuses to let her daughter persuade her. “That’s entirely different. You’ve learnt how to deal with the dangers of the sea, from me, from Papa and at school. You’re prepared for these dangers, but not for those on land!”

But the warnings just make Rulantica more attractive to Aquina. For a while now, she has been venturing closer and closer, trying to see as much of the island’s surface as possible. She says nothing to her mother about this.

Curiosity and a longing to travel pull and tug at Aquina like salt burning on her skin when she turns her face to the sun for too long. She can just about stand it, but the feeling will never completely go away until she does something about it.

As if someone has read her mind, there is a sudden, deafening howl that eclipses even Larima’s skjol. Quick as a flash, Aquina rolls over and tries to spot the source of the noise. There is nothing to be seen. But it is clearly coming from the island, and Aquina has a terrible sense of foreboding about who it might be. At a speed that would make a swordfish look like a sea snail, Aquina heads for the shore. The beach of Rulantica comes closer, shining in the sunlight – it used to be called Golden Sands for that reason, although all kinds of flotsam and jetsam has collected there now. Mainly from all the ships that Exena, the leader of the spring guardians, has sunk here over the centuries, the wrecks of which are gradually being washed up along the shore. Aquina snakes her way through the rubbish, looking around over the surface of the water. She just manages to dodge a mast that is sticking up like a spear below the surface. And then – swoosh – her tail immediately scrapes the next mast. She hopes it hasn’t scratched off any scales. She ducks her head under water to get her bearings for a moment and to see where the next obstacles are lurking. It’s never a good idea to go swimming about in the labyrinth of the shipwrecks, but there’s one creature who would be reckless enough to risk it to get to the beach…

From a long way off, her suspicion is confirmed. On the golden sand, she spots a bright-blue, ball-like head and five tentacles waving about wildly. A sixth tentacle seems to be stuck in the washed-up rubbish and the little ball-shaped head is pulling and tugging. It keeps howling in the most heart-rending way. Aquina swims up as close as she can, but there is still at least a ship’s length between them.

“Snorri!” she cries. The little head turns towards her. Unlike Aquina, her six-armed octopus friend can also walk around on land. Usually she envies him for it, but today his curiosity seems to have got him into trouble. “What are you doing here, Snorri? The beach is dangerous, with all this rotten junk everywhere!”

“SNRRR, SNG, SNGG!” he replies shrilly. Aquina can only vaguely interpret his language, but Snorri’s whimpering is enough to tell her that he has got his arm trapped and can’t get off the beach.

“What shall I do?” wails Aquina. “I can’t come ashore to help you.”

“SNNN-NN,” Snorri cries. The pink comb on his head is already swollen and fiery-red with the effort of trying to escape.

Aquina tries to raise herself a little way above the surface to see what Snorri has got himself stuck in, but it’s impossible to tell from a distance. Across the waves, Aquina can sense the little sixtopus’s rising panic. Snorri can survive for quite some time out of the water, but if he’s stuck there, he’ll be easy prey for seals or other predators, or the sun will gradually dry out his delicate sea-skin.

Aquina gulps. If only she had legs! She could just walk onto the beach and free her friend! But she doesn’t, so she will have to come up with something else. She certainly won’t just watch as her sixtopus friend meets a terrible fate. Snorri’s the only one who understands her deepest longing – even without speaking. The only one she can go exploring with, without having to hear how dangerous it is for a mermaid.

Snorri continues to tug at his arm but has to keep stopping for longer and longer periods. His exhausted gasps for air travel through the water to Aquina. She looks around in panic. There are no predators in sight yet, but, unfortunately, neither is there any obvious solution. All she can see are these stupid shipwrecks… Hang on! Maybe they aren’t so stupid after all…

Aquina dives a little way down and sets her sights on a loose plank on a ship. Will it be long enough to reach to the shore? She loosens the plank from the hulk and swims back to the surface with it. Odin’s curse! The wooden slat is too short! But it might work if she can get an undamaged one that runs the length of the whole ship.

Aquina dives down again and heads towards the next suitable wreck. She pulls and yanks at another plank almost as much as Snorri is tugging on his arm above it. The rusty old nails holding the ship together are still doing their job surprisingly well after all these years.

Finally, with a loud crack, the middle nails loosen – now the whole thing is only attached on one side. Aquina grasps the end of the plank and flinches as a snake-like fish darts towards her and bares its sharp teeth – it’s a brownish-grey moray eel and it was clearly hiding in the wreck. Aquina has not only woken it from its siesta – she’s also destroyed its home, and the eel is pretty disgruntled with her. Aquina gets on very well with most sea dwellers, but she knows not to mess with moray eels – especially not when they’re hiding in shipwrecks. But today, she can’t just beat a hasty retreat. Snorri is far too important! Aquina dodges the zig-zagging eel, protecting her face with her left arm while still pulling hard on the plank with her right. One more big tug, and the last nail should give way…

But the moray eel is not going to let its home be dismantled without a fight. It snaps at her. Ouch! That really stings! Aquina eyes the nasty little holes its teeth have left in the back of her hand. Without a second thought, she roars at the eel. “GET LOST!”

A furious little wave repels the fish; it is as surprised as Aquina herself by this outburst. It is used to everyone fleeing at the sight of it, or at least when it bites them. For a brief moment, it gawks at Aquina with its round white eyes, the fixed black pupils like deep-sea craters, then it actually begins to retreat back into the belly of the ship.

“Why didn’t you just do that before?” Aquina snarls after it. She rubs her hand and continues to tug at the plank. “Come on! This thing just has to… Help!” Aquina is in danger of losing her grip, but then the final nail gives way and she is catapulted like a slingshot out of the ship’s hull. The long wooden board follows and lands in Aquina’s arms. Even though everything weighs less under water, Aquina can barely keep her grip on the enormous plank, never mind push it to Snorri on the shore.

Aquina lays the plank down on the deck of another ship and cranes her neck out of the water to see how Snorri is doing. No change. He’s still stuck, but his resistance has weakened because he’s running out of strength. He waves at her with one of his free arms, pleading with her, wailing again so miserably that it spurs Aquina on. She has to find a solution!

Next to her, something is protruding out of the water. Not particularly high – just a few fish scales in length. It’s the highest mast of the sunken ship, and just underneath it, what the seafarers call the crow’s nest: the lookout point where they send the sailor who is least afraid of heights so he can report when he sees land or any dangers looming. Not that he was any use to this ship, though. Even if the sailor had been alert enough to have seen the ice wave in advance, he wouldn’t have been able to save himself or his crew. Exena’s heart is as ice-cold as her magic, and if she spots a ship coming too close to the island, all it takes is a few waves and it’s on its way to the bottom of the sea – and with it the whole crew, who are frozen into blocks of ice. This is the fundamental difference between Exena and the sirens – Exena and her spring guardians take action against humans instead of singing songs to ward them off. Usually Aquina thinks this is dreadful, but now, the mast of the ship has come to her as if on cue. If she can manage to heave the plank up to here, she can use the crow’s nest to rest it on.

Aquina’s face turns almost as red as Snorri’s comb as she tries to put her plan into action. The plank keeps slipping out of her hand; she almost knocks herself flying when the stupid thing starts rotating.

“Hang on in there!” she calls across the water, talking to herself as much as to Snorri.

She could really do with some help, but there’s no one to be seen for miles around, apart from a few schooling fish who couldn’t lift even one of the nails in the wood, let alone a whole plank. Right then – one more try! With a strength born of desperation, Aquina grasps the wooden board, which has once again sunk, almost to the seabed. Carefully, so that it doesn’t drift away, she heaves it higher and higher. Wobbling and wavering, she supports the plank with her fish tail; although this slows her down, it means she can move through the water with greater stability. It’s almost as if the sea is on her side this time, keeping very still until Aquina has pulled the plank to the top of the crow’s nest and has managed to lay it down. Now she can push the plank towards Snorri as if it were on a track, without needing to lift it at the same time.

“Watch out!” she calls to her friend. “Help is on its way!”

At first, Snorri eyes the board like a snake that has it in for him, recoiling as far as his trapped arm will allow. He only calms down a little once he realises the plank isn’t planning to eat him, but rather that Aquina is steering it.

“Go on then, hold on to it with your free arms!” Aquina tells him.

Still sceptical, Snorri taps the plank with the tip of his tentacle. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Aquina has to stifle a smile. Sometimes, Snorri’s just too cute!

“Give it a go!” she urges him.

Snorri continues to toy with the plank for a while longer, but then a shadow falls across him. Snorri and Aquina throw their heads back and squint up into the sky. Aquina flinches – a black mauk!

“Mrk, mrrrrk!” The squawk of the enormous bird sounds like a victory cry.

“It wants you for lunch!” calls Aquina. “Hurry up and grab the board!”

The bird circling above spurs Snorri on. He wraps his tentacles around the wood as tightly as he can and screws up his eyes.

First, Aquina tries to pull the board through the water towards her, but she soon realises she doesn’t have enough strength in her arms. She’ll have to—

“MRRRRK!”

The mauk begins to fly at low altitude. No time to think now. Aquina has only one shot at it. She pulls herself up to the top of the crow’s nest and, from as great a height as possible – fish-scale-bottom first – flops down onto the short side of the board.

Everything happens at once. Aquina feels the painful impact of her bottom on the board. She lands in the water. A whistling sound in the air. Something whooshes over her head. A loud splash. The board flies past her nose. The mauk gives a loud squawk. The board flips over and sinks into the water. Aquina goes under.

Has she done it? Was the momentum enough to free Snorri? Or has he been caught by the sharp, shiny red beak of the mauk? Aquina heads for the place the first splash came from. Snorri? He must be here somewhere! Her desperation is growing with each stroke.

“Snorri! Snorriiii!”

“Snr.” Very quiet, very small. But Aquina hears it. He’s there, squatting on the seabed, holding his head in two of his arms.

“Are you okay?” Aquina sits down beside Snorri. The first thing she does is count: one, two, three, four, five… six. Phew! He still has all his tentacles!

Snorri extends one towards her; it’s very red and swollen. Aquina strokes it tenderly with her fingers.

“Does it hurt a lot?”

Snorri pushes out his bottom lip and nods. He raises his arm and draws a circle in the water, pulling a face.

Aquina smiles at him encouragingly. “If you can still do that, you’ll soon be better!”

She places her arm around the little sixtopus and he snuggles up to her. “So, why were you trying to go ashore?” asks Aquina.

Snorri puts on an innocent expression.

“Come on, tell me,” Aquina urges.

An impish smile flits across his face, then he slides to the side so Aquina can see what he’s sitting on. Aquina studies the squashed mass. Before the impact, it must have been been as big as the palm of a hand and probably almost round, with a kind of reddish-yellow shell, but the flattened contents are now spilling out from the inside. There’s nothing but a revolting sludge – yellow with brownish spots, and a little wooden stalk is protruding from the middle. Surely Snorri didn’t go and get himself stuck for the sake of this mound of sludge?

“Is that why you got your arm stuck?” asks Aquina.

Snorri lowers his head and peers at her guiltily, before nodding.

“Have you taken leave of your sea-senses? You don’t put your life on the line for things like this!”

Instead of answering, Snorri dips his tentacle into the sludge and then into his mouth. He rolls his eyes appreciatively and smacks his lips.

Aquina twitches in disgust. “Surely you’re not telling me that tastes good?”

Snorri extends his arm again, carefully takes a little of the mush and offers it to Aquina.

“I’m not eating that!”

But the sixtopus won’t give up; he swings his tentacle under her nose until she can smell the sweet fragrance.

“I suppose it does smell better than it looks…” Aquina concedes.

Snorri grins and licks his lips. Aquina tries to decide whether or not try it. It’s certainly not poisonous, and if it tastes horrible, I can just spit it out again, she tells herself. So, she opens her mouth and lets Snorri feed her. She isn’t expecting much. Somewhere between the sea-salty taste of algae and the delicate, tangy aroma of the herbs in her garden, perhaps with a hint of seabed mud. But the sludge exceeds all expectations – Aquina has never eaten anything like it before in her life. It’s juicy and sweet, and at the same time fresh and crisp, but without the grinding sand that usually ends up in her mouth whenever she’s eating something from the water. She really doesn’t care what it looks like; if she could, she’d polish off the whole heap and never eat anything else again.

“Snorri, this is delicious! Where does it come from? Is there any more of it?”

Snorri grins from ear funnel to ear funnel. He points enthusiastically upwards.

“Yes, I know, it must come from the land,” Aquina translates, “but how can I get more?”

He gestures to her to follow him and shoots off, a little bundle of energy now, the pain in his tentacle forgotten. Aquina swims along behind him. Once they have surfaced, the first thing they do is search the sky; fortunately, the black mauk has already cleared off. Snorri heads towards Rulantica but swims past the beach.

“You know I can’t go ashore, don’t you?” Aquina reminds him cautiously.

Snorri can’t hold back a little smirk.

“Go ahead – laugh at me. Next time you’re stuck somewhere, it won’t be me who rescues you!”

To make it up to Aquina, Snorri links arms with her and points to a row of large plants on the shore that are rising up into the sky, some distance away. Several little branches are growing out of a trunk; they stick out in all directions and are covered in green leaves. Aquina marvels at the giant plants – she’s never really noticed them before. Up till now, she’s been more interested in the old ships and ruins of Rangnakor. There’s fruit there too: round red globes, nestled between the green leaves. When they’re not flattened, they look just as delicious as they taste! Aquina’s mouth starts to water. But even though the giant plants are standing relatively close to the shore, she cannot reach them. She sighs and peers over at Snorri. Unlike her, and unlike the eight-legged octopuses she knows, Snorri can move on land, but she doubts even he could climb up the giant plants and pick one of the red globes.

Or could he…?

“How did you get to the fruit, Snorri? With your floating magic? Is it that strong?”

Aquina remembers that the little sixtopus showed her a secret a little while ago: if he concentrates very hard on an object, he can summon it without touching it. Snorri had demonstrated using a large, brightly coloured shimmering seashell that had floated towards Aquina through the water as if propelled by an invisible hand. But that was under water, and Aquina had assumed it was a kind of wave magic. Could Snorri do that on land too?

Snorri shakes his head, pointing his tentacle at the giant plants. Aquina watches her friend’s comb swelling up with the exertion. The red globes do indeed move a little, as if an invisible hand were pulling at them, but their stalks remain firmly attached to the arms of the plant. Snorri does not have enough strength to detach them, but Aquina is still very impressed – an underwater and overwater magic!

Now Snorri dives briefly back into the water and returns with a stone. He turns upside down and extends his tentacles into the air as if he were a branch of one of the giant plants. He shakes his tentacles and, after a while, drops the stone into the water.

Aquina claps her hands. “I understand! At some point, the globes fall from the plants and then you just have to pick them up from the ground!”

Snorri nods, delighted that Aquina has understood his mime.

“And how long do we have to wait before the next one falls down?”

Snorri raises and lowers his tentacles. For a while, the two of them stare longingly at the red globes. Suddenly, the giant plants begin to vibrate.

Aquina’s eyes widen. Surely that can’t be Snorri’s doing. “What’s going on now?” she asks.

“Snrr, Snrr,” replies Snorri, pointing to Rulantica.

“I think you’re saying that it’s coming from the island.”

“Sn,” sighs Snorri.

“Yes, I know, sometimes it would be better if we spoke the same language,” Aquina agrees.

But before she can give any further consideration to this, the vibrations become stronger and stronger. It’s not only the giant plants that are wobbling, but the whole island. Aquina swims a little closer so she can get a better view.

“Sn, sn!” Snorri points further into the interior of the island.

“What is th— Oh!”

Right at that moment, Aquina sees what he is pointing to. Enthroned in the middle of the island is a mountain; all the other rocks look like toys in comparison with it, and although it is far from the sea, Aquina can feel the power coming from it. The tip is missing from its peak, as if someone has bitten it off and left a crater behind. And now, smoke is beginning to rise out of the crater. At first, it’s only a light-grey column of smoke, but then the column becomes thicker and darker. At the same time, the earth continues to tremble and the calm, clear, turquoise water suddenly turns cloudy and forms ripples.

Things are really getting going now. The top of the mountain starts spitting out glowing rocks. They fly halfway across the island, where some fizzle out immediately, but others liquefy on impact and flow onwards like tongues of fire.

“The Fire Mountain,” Aquina whispers silently. She’s heard her mother and the older sirens whispering about it. How dangerous it can be if you get too close to it, especially when it’s really erupting – not just hurling the occasional lump into the air, but pouring forth its pent-up fury in fiery streams across the land and transforming the water on the shoreline into boiling hot lava.

“The Fire Mountain is where we can see the island’s magic in a physical form,” Aquina’s father, Bror, had once claimed. “The mountain is the core of the magic.”

“Yes,” Kailani had added. “And that’s because Rulantica is actually a piece of Asgard, the land that was once the home of the gods. Once, Loki broke a piece from it, rolled it across the rainbow bridge into our world of Midgard, and created Rulantica out of it for us.”

So far, try as she might, Aquina hadn’t been able to imagine anyone or anything that could take on the ice magic of the spring guardians. She’s watched them in training before, speeding off at full gallop on their water horses, the kelpies, firing ice arrows from their fingertips and managing to hit tiny targets far off in the distance. Each time, their strike is fatal: hard, cold and calculated to precision. Only the powerful sea serpent Svalgur would represent a danger to them, should he ever awaken in his sacred hall.

But now, looking at the Fire Mountain erupting, Aquina isn’t so sure any more. What would happen if there were a collision between fire and ice? She can feel the elemental force of the mountain. It terrifies her, but she’s fascinated at the same time. She should flee, and take cover as far away as possible from the eruption, but she just can’t tear her eyes away from it. The glowing play of colours, of vibrant orange and yellow, has captivated her.

Aquina loses track of how long she’s been marvelling at the Fire Mountain, but gradually, fewer and fewer rocks erupt, the glow fades, the smoke retreats and the mountain stands dark and silent in shadow, no longer stirring.

Only now does Aquina snap her gaping mouth shut, as if awakening from a dream.

“Shnn,” sighs Snorri next to her. The spectacle has left him with the same sense of wonder, but he has noticed something else too. He tugs Aquina’s arm excitedly.

“Yes, I know, it was absolutely beautiful.” Aquina smiles, but Snorri doesn’t stop tugging.

Finally, the penny drops.

“Goodness me! Never mind dangerous… the Fire Mountain’s actually left us a present!” Aquina cries.

The earthquake has brought almost all the fruit from the giant plants tumbling down, and there it is, on the ground, waiting to be gathered up.

“Can you get them, Snorri?” Aquina asks.

With a look of concentration on his face, and waving three tentacles around in the air, the sixtopus treads water with the other three tentacles so he can hold his position in the sea. As if caught up in a gust of wind, three pieces of fruit rise up from the land and float slowly across the waves, circle momentarily above Aquina’s head and then splash down into the water in front of her.

“Come here!” Aquina snatches up a fruit and bites straight into it with relish. “Delicious!” she declares, smacking her lips.

Snorri reaches for the other two and takes a bite, and then another, alternating left and right between them, until the juice is running out of his mouth. When he’s finished, he floats the next pieces of fruit towards them.

“I’d like to be able to do that too,” says Aquina admiringly. “Can’t you teach me your floating magic, somehow?”

Snorri holds up a tentacle, examines it from all sides, then shakes his head with a sad expression on his face.

Aquina cannot help but laugh. “Okay, okay, you don’t even know yourself how you do it! I got that a while ago. And I suppose as long as we’re together, I don’t have to be able to do it myself! But I can do something new too – watch!”

Aquina puts her index finger in the water, holds it still and starts singing, at first quietly and then a little louder. “Vatt galdur. Vatt Galdur, VATT GALDUR!”