Forgotten Love: An Action-Packed Adventure Romance (The Forgotten Chronicles) (3 page)

Dingo was smiling through the truck's passenger side window. God, that man moved fast! "I sure would like that, Theo," he said.

"Go! Go!" Theo urged the driver and they pulled out into the slow moving exit lane leaving the smiling Dingo on the curb.

The cab of the truck was cozy, to say the least. Gillian would have turned around to get a better look if there was room in the cab to do so. "He seemed nice," she said.

"He must have already fed today," Theo told her.

Gillian squirmed in the middle of the bench seat, determinedly keeping her legs away from the gearshift. The driver seemed to delight in getting friendly with her every time he changed gears.

"Gillian Langtree, meet Minik Pederson," Theo said. The truck's driver was an older man with a shaved head. He had a thick mustache, though, as if all of his hair had migrated to the top of his lip when it was forbidden to grow on his scalp.

"We're familiar," Gillian quipped, moving Minik's hand as it lingered too long on her knee.

"How was your flight?" Minik asked.

"Good," Theo told him. "Did you pick up my shipment?"

"Yes. Everything is at base. You didn't say you would be bringing company."

"I'm not company," Gillian said. "I'm a research partner."

"I know what you are," Minik said. "I meant the other invaders to Greenland."

Theo shook his head. "Word got out. Blame the media, not me. Anyone looking where we discussed?"

"Not even close," Minik said. "All of them so far are looking at the debris fields left by—

"Wait a minute," Gillian interrupted. "What do you mean you know what I am?"

"Mr. Cutro's partner, of course."

"
Research
partner," Gillian emphasized.

"That's what I said."

Theo grinned. "Minik grew up here in Nuuk. He knows I'm looking for moulins and he knows just the place to take us. Tell her about the local legend, Minik."

"It's not just a local legend my friend, the elders call it the old religion," Minik began. "In Norse mythology there are nine worlds. These nine worlds are on three separate levels, Heaven, Earth and Hell. When I was a young boy my father explained it to me like this..." Minik continued. "There's an enormous ash tree, called the World Tree that connects everything in the universe. You and I can't see World Tree, because it is invisible to humans. It has three massive roots that support it. One root extends into the world of the gods, where the Well of Fate waters it. The second root extends into a world of giants, and is watered by the Well of Wisdom.

The third root sinks deep down into the lowest level of the Norse cosmos, a world of ice, darkness, and death called Niflheim. There the root is watered by the only source of heat in this dismal land, a hot spring called the Roaring Kettle." Minik paused, as he turned onto a dirt road leading away from the capital city of Nuuk.

It was a good thing that Minik knew the way, because Theo couldn't see any sign or landmark indicating this was the turn.

"Well..." Gillian said. "That's a colorful legend."

"Yeah I thought you'd like it," Theo said.

"But what's it have to do with moulins?"

Minik took his eyes off the road momentarily to look at Theo and hit a pothole that rattled the old truck. "Lady asks many questions," he teased.

"Don't get her started," Theo said, grinning at Gillian. "Please, continue..."

Minik nodded and continued his story. "Flowing from the waters of the Roaring Kettle is the freezing River of Knives, which separates the world of the humans, from Helheim—the world of death. Also on this lower level is the Shore of Corpses, where the evil serpent Nidhogg feasts on the flesh of murderers, liars, and adulterers and gnaws endlessly on the root of the World Tree, hoping to one day break free."

"I still don't see how—"

"Gillian, let him finish," Theo interrupted. "Sorry Minik. Please, tell her the part you told me."

"Well," Minik continued, "many elders believe the world of Helheim exists deep beneath the earth and moulins are the entryway into this underworld."

"So now you tell me your plan is to go trekking down a shaft that leads to God alone knows where to look for some giant serpent monster that gnaws at an invisible tree and eats the bodies of the dead?"

Theo shook his head. "I don't believe in monsters. Except the human kind."

Gillian glared at him with her jaw set. "Local legends usually have a grain of truth to them. Sometimes more than a grain."

"Oh, this one has more than grains," Minik said. "It has corpses."

Theo turned to Gillian. "There's no such thing as this Nidhogg. Trust me. What could go wrong?"

"Do you make it a habit to end conversations with the words you want chiseled on your gravestone?" Gillian asked.

"You know, Theo," Minik mused, "John Lennon once said he found America by coming to Greenland and turning left."

"I didn't know that, actually. Is there a lesson in that?"

"Yup." Minik nodded his head at Gillian. "Means you should have left her in America."

Theo laughed harder than he probably should have.

Gillian was not amused. "I hope our hotel has decent water pressure. I can't wait to take a long hot shower before dinner."

"Oh, we're not going to the hotel now, lady," said Minik. He looked over at her with a big brown-toothed smile.

The potholes in the road got worse as they went along. One bad bounce lifted Gillian up enough to land her in his lap.

Gillian moved quickly back to her seat and asked "How much further do we have to go?"

"'Nother mile or so in this direction." Minik smiled at Gillian's obvious discomfort.

"And what direction is that?"

He shook his hand at the windshield. "That-a-way."

Theo laughed. Gillian didn't.

"Uh, Minik, I think Gillian would feel better if you could tell her where, exactly, you're taking us."

His friend looked at him quickly with a wink. Screwing up his face he made his accent thicker yet. "We have to go past second polar bear, then left at igloo."

"And then where?" demanded Gillian.

"Yes, where?" asked Theo.

"To the chopper. I think you want to have a look-see today before you start work tomorrow."

"Great idea," Theo said. "A little reconnaissance before dinner."

"Great," said Gillian.

"Don't you worry lady. Minik flies as good as he drives." They hit a pothole that threw everyone three inches out of their seats.

"You guys hold onto something now. We gonna go off road a little," Minik warned, just before making a sharp left turn and driving across the tundra. Dwarf shrubs grew everywhere and Minik drove through them without a care, avoiding a few stunted trees and boulders along the way.

Gillian braced herself and stared resolutely straight ahead as the truck bounced and jittered along what probably passed for a main road, leading into a barren wilderness that had once been blanketed in thick snow and ice.

* * *

After about an hour they came to a ten-foot chain link fence topped with barbed wire. Minik came to an abrupt stop with a rattle of rusty metal and got out without a word. Several buildings that appeared to be held up by nothing but duct-tape and a prayer were scattered in the rocky lot. A dozen or so goats wandered aimlessly about while the world's most apathetic border collie watched from the top of a large, sun-warmed rock.

Theo was glad to be able to stretch his legs and even gladder to watch Gillian stretch hers. He repeated the mantra, Saul's girlfriend, Saul's girlfriend... silently in his head.

Minik unlocked the four padlocks that secured the gate. Gillian watched him questioningly. "Those are very expensive goats," he said to her.

He led them to the largest building—a barn. Inside, Theo found the stack of equipment that he had sent ahead and went into inventory mode. He always checked things over himself. Where were the climbing stakes? Oh yes, there they were. And the rope and harnesses, too. Good. He'd had too many mishaps trusting other people. Which was why he preferred to work alone. Well. One of the reasons.

Gillian stayed outside, staring in horror at a machine that looked like it once could have been a helicopter. She squealed when she was bumped from behind by one of the goats.

"Are you menstruating?" asked Minik.

The goat followed Gillian very closely. "What?" she said.

"Are you on your lady's time? Gulla will like you very much if you are."

"Well, I'm not," Gillian said, pushing the goat's head out of her crotch.

Minik shrugged. "Must be close though. I could use a hand with the chopper." He turned a crank on one of the machine's skids and a set of small wheels emerged.

Theo went to the other skid, lowered the wheels and the men pushed the helicopter outside. Minik moved very well for a man of his age and size, climbing up to release the rotor blades and click them into place. He performed a quick pre-flight check that consisted of checking the fuel tank and shrugging. "Good enough," he said. "All aboard!"

The situation was outrageous, Theo was aware. He knew Minik only from internet conversations, having been introduced by a friend of a friend of a friend. He didn't know if the man possessed a driver's license, let alone a pilot's... but this was what Theo lived for! He grinned at Gillian, "The adventure begins!"

Gillian had turned deathly pale, but was reluctant to stay alone with the amorous goat. She began to climb into the helicopter but Minik stopped her.

"How much do you weigh?" he demanded.

"One hundred twenty pounds," she replied.

Minik looked at her skeptically.

"One thirty-four," she said firmly.

Minik allowed her aboard. She was followed by Theo.

"Aren't you going to ask what he weighs?" Gillian said, blocking Theo's entrance.

"No," said Minik. "I don't care."

"Then why did you ask me?" Gillian asked.

Theo looked her in the eye and said, "One eighty-seven."

"Don't tell me," said Gillian. "Tell him!"

"He said he doesn't care."

"I don't care either!"

"Well then, move and let me in my seat."

Gillian huffed and then sat down on the bench seat directly behind the two bucket seats in front. She busied herself untangling the seatbelt and strapping herself in while Theo did the same up front and Minik fired up the machine.

* * *

From the air, Greenland was nothing like the frozen wonderland Theo had seen in pictures. Amazing, Theo thought, how one climactic event could change so much of the landscape of a continent. On the one hand, it was terrifying to think of that kind of devastation. On the other, it was an archaeologist's dream. The top ice sheet that had covered this part Greenland until just two weeks ago was estimated to be more than 100,000 years old, older than recorded history. There was still snow to be seen, but here where the glacier once was, thousands of rocks dotted the flat landscape. And everywhere, water flowed in little rivulets and larger streams.

God alone knew what might be revealed now where the ice was gone. If Theo could have asked the Lord Almighty, he would have. But he was more likely to get an answer from a more local source. Theo pressed a button on the side of his helmet, activating the communication system. "Were these streams always here?" he asked as they passed an area where a shack of some kind stood door handle deep in the middle of flowing water.

"Nope," Minik answered with a frown. "When the inlandsis—the ice sheet—melted a couple weeks ago, many coastal villages flooded. Bridges washed out, roads were undercut and erased off the map, things like that. There was a village over by Sisimiut that's no longer there. The authorities are still trying to account for everyone. Went over there not too long ago to help. Not good."

Gillian remained silent in the back seat of the chopper. Theo didn't know if she was stunned into silence by the scope of the natural disaster or if she was simply paralyzed by fright. Either way, he appreciated the break and tried not to let the aerial view of the dozens of camps belonging to other explorers ruin his good mood. Some of them had been here for at least a week and some of them had some very sophisticated set ups... but he reminded himself that none of them were going where they were going.

After another hour or so, Theo heard Minik tap one of the gages on the control panel and say, "Humph."

A moment later, this was followed by the announcement, "Folks, I got good news and I got bad news..."

Then the helicopter began to drop.

Gillian found her voice—a high soprano that blended with Theo's tenor and Minik's baritone the machine dropped sixty feet straight down, hiccupped when the skids hit the ground, rose again as the chopper bounced once and then trailed off as they finally settled in a cloud of dust and ice.

"We're here...Helheim Glacier!" announced Minik. "That's the good news," he added.

Before he could speak, Theo was interrupted by a flurry of activity from the back seat as Gillian tore off her seat restraints and helmet and scrambled over him to exit the helicopter and run. She turned around and looked back at them after thirty feet. "Get out! Hurry before it blows," she shouted.

"It won't blow," said Minik. "Fuel tank is empty. That's the bad news. Or maybe that is also good? It depends how you look at it." He grinned and got out of the helicopter. Theo followed him.

"Wait, did you say Helheim Glacier?" Gillian demanded, still keeping a wary distance. "Helheim, like the story, Helheim? And out of fuel? Are you fucking kidding me?"

Minik walked around the helicopter to check the fuel tank. "Yes, like the story...and No, I am not fucking kidding anyone," he said.

Gillian charged up to Minik, raving. "You knew where we were going!"

"And we are here," Minik said calmly as he inspected the machine.

"You didn't think we also wanted to go back? We don't have any equipment!"

"We have some..." Theo said, hoisting his backpack out of the passenger compartment.

Gillian continued, "We have no food, no water..."

"Ah," said Minik from underneath the helicopter, "I'll tell you what we do have, a fuel leak."