pt 2
Before my mind started to walk down those dark roads of thought, my grandfather came stomping back through the treeline, bundle of broken branches under his arm. He set about showing me how to start a fire without matches or a lighter (he's old-fashioned like that) and soon enough we had a nice little campfire going. It wasn't until the heat off the fire hit me that I noticed how damn cold it was, my hands stiff and slight shivers going over me.
>"We should reach the cabin by about this time tomorrow if we keep up this pace. Before we go any further though I want you to understand something; things are different out here and if I tell you to do something I expect you to listen, understood?"
I nodded and told him my dad had given me the run down before I left
"How much did he tell you?"
"to listen to whatever you said and to stay safe" I replied, unsure of where he was going with this
>Ah, alright then
He didn't say anything for the rest of the night and I was too tired to ask. Despite my exhaustion I found that I lied awake for quite a while, staring up at the sky and listening to the gentle crackling of the fire.
I don't really know why, I should have had no problem sleeping after the day of hiking, cold notwithstanding, but regardless I found myself quite unable to drift off even after the moon had risen and shone over the area. It was around then that I heard something in the forest, like a sort of whispering. At first I figured it was just the wind but looking at the treetops they weren't moving at all. I listened harder but couldn't make out what was being said, it was so faint.
I sat up and looked around to see if something was there or if maybe my grandfather had been mumbling in his sleep but when I tried to listen in again, it was silent. I figured it was just something on the breeze and lay back again, sleep came soon after. >>697390306
I was once again woken by Dana as the sun had just begun its slow creep over the distant mountains. As we were gathering up our equipment he asked me if I had slept well, I told him that the cold would take a little getting used to but otherwise it was fine. He just sort of looked at me for a moment before grunting and tying off his pack. Once more we set off, deeper into the wilderness.
The third day went without incident; it was only after yet more hours of tedious and exhausting trailblazing that we finally came into view of my grandfather's "home". Built right up against a cliff face, no windows adorned it, just massive logs the whole way around. A small chimney rose up from the roof, easy to spot given that the trees had been cleared in about a 20 meter radius around the cabin, replaced with numerous small wooden stakes set at varying intervals.
As we got closer I noticed that they were actually fence posts, barbed wire was strung between them and every so often there was a much taller post, set a ways back from the fence. In the dim light I couldn't really make much out about it, though I was curious why they were there. Whatever the reason, I was in no mood to play 20 questions, I just wanted to get inside and sleep in a warm place.
before we could get in however, it seemed there were a few things to be done. My grandfather lifted one of the posts out of the ground allowing us to enter and told me to put it back and make sure it wasn't going to fall. He was going to go get the door open. It didn't take too long, the snow around the cabin was much less than the surrounding area making walking blessedly easier. After I finished I made my way around the side of the cabin and found my grandfather carefully taking down numerous little metallic things hung over the door, I could see them glinting in what little daylight was left but I couldn't make out what exactly they were supposed to be. Again, I was just too tired to really care and just wandered inside behind my grandfather as soon as he finished taking down the last one.
"bed over there'll be yours."
He said, pointing to a small cot in once corner of the room. Without much more though I ambled over and went to sleep. I really should have savored it more as this was the last good night's rest I was going to have for a while. I woke up the next morning to a mostly dark room; a candle was set on the table in the middle of the cottage giving enough light for me to figure out where the door was. Opening it and stepping outside I was greeted to a bright, midday sun.
Down the yard a ways I saw Dana finish clearing the excess snow from the plot of land, it was low enough that I could actually see the ground and a few feet beyond the fence the snow rose like a small wall all around us. The light, as well as something in the vein of 14 hours of sleep, allowed me to really take stock of the area around me. Anonymous Sun 31 Jul 2016 20:31 No.697390933 uoted By:
I could now see that the tall posts from the night before had been whittled down so that only pale heartwood remained, carved all over each of them were words, thousands of them all tightly packed and varying from neat to nigh indecipherable scratches. Reading through it there really didn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to what was written down, mostly it was just random words, mostly in Swedish and a few in Norwegian (I'm not fluent but I've picked up a little over the years). I guess Dana had noticed me staring at it as he had begun walking over.
>'What are these supposed to be?"
I gestured to the other posts of a similar nature around the yard.
"They were part of an "ord Vägg" or "Word Wall".
helps keep things calm at night, I wouldn't stare at
them too long though, won't do your head much good."
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