It was so dark that I couldn’t be sure until I was very close, but it clearly was not a tree. It looked like a person—a very oddly shaped person. Or perhaps “person” wasn’t the right word. It had a single torso, from which a great many arms were growing, and both the torso and the legs below were extremely long and thin. It appeared as though the legs had been cobbled together by taking the severed sections of many different legs and stacking them one on top of the other; and the torso, too, consisted of lots of trunks and hips piled together to achieve this great length, this one elongated body.
The body and arms resembled an enormous, upright, disgusting centipede, but when you added the long legs it took on human form. What’s more, there was a head on top of all this.
But when I looked up at it, I nearly fainted before I could even scream. The head, like the rest of the creature, consisted of many different heads all mashed together, each one with a face looking out, and on each face was a different expression.
My body froze with terror.
Surely this must be the Monster of the Forest. And yet its body appeared to have been made from the bodies of my friends.
My horror came from this realization, the knowledge that Nulla and Inte and Adju and Nej were somewhere in there, that their heads were all part of the monster’s head—and perhaps most of all from the thought that I was now willing to join them as well. I somehow instantly felt it would be easier to become a part of the monster than it was to remain out here, alone and terrified.
But that wasn’t true! Surely Nulla and the others hadn’t gone happily to their fate. As my eyes wandered from one face to another, I could see that nearly all of them were twisted with pain. The monster must have taken the children into its body and was now slowly killing them. Slowly, painfully, gradually killing them.
No! I couldn’t let it catch me! I made a decision: I would bring the monster down instead. I would save those children—my friends!—suffering there inside.
But how? I was just a young girl with no weapons. Not to mention the fact that I was petrified with fear, almost unable to breathe. What could I possibly do?
I hadn’t the faintest idea.
My own impotence made we want to cry. Everyone in the village and at school had always told me how steady and reliable I was—and I’d even come to think of myself that way. But here in this forest, face to face with this monster, I had come to realize that I was just a child like the others, foolish and powerless and destined to die.
Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!
Hejdanatt’s body passed behind me again. It wouldn’t be long before it reached the monster and Hejdanatt, too, would join the others. But as I watched her pass, I suddenly heard a voice behind me.
“Kerstin!”
Someone was calling my name.
“Kerstin!”
I turned to look at the monster and saw Hejdanatt’s pale face there in the midst of the others. The lines of blood had dried on her cheeks, and she was staring straight at me.
“Kerstin!”
I wanted to call back, to tell her I was here, but I was too frightened.
“Kerstin! Get on my body!” she cried.
I hesitated. Why did she want me to get back on? And how could I? She was running too fast.
But she called again. “Kerstin! Get on!” And this time it was just as her body was passing me.
Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!
It was impossible—my arms and legs were frozen with fear.
“Don’t give up, Kerstin!”
Another voice was calling. I looked back at the monster and could see Nulla’s face right near Hejdanatt’s.
“Kerstin! Get on Hejdanatt’s body!” Inte was there too.
“Kerstin!” “Kerstin!” Adju and Nej as well.
“Now!”
So I did what I’d thought was impossible: I jumped on her back as it charged by.
Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!
I clung on desperately to keep from being thrown as we raced at breakneck speed, my eyes fixed on the monster at the center of our ever-tightening circles. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. My dear, dear friends were there, inside that hateful beast, and the body of my sweet Hejdanatt would soon be part of it too.
At the end of a few more laps, we finally arrived at the monster’s feet. I had no idea what would happen now, but I steeled myself as I clung to Hejdanatt’s back.
“Come!”
Hejdanatt’s voice was calling from above. And with that, her body jumped onto the monster’s leg and began clambering up. I was doing my best to stay on, but without a head there was little to cling to and I felt myself slipping off.
“Hold on, Kerstin!” Hejdanatt’s head called.
I wrapped my arms around her waist and held on for dear life. When we had climbed to the monster’s body, a great many hands came reaching toward me. I wanted to cry out, but just as one hand was about to grab me another one appeared to fend it off.
“Don’t worry, Kerstin! I’ll protect you!” It was Inte’s voice, and it must have been his hand that had defended me just now.
“I will too!” This was Nulla, calling from above, and this time when another hand reached out to take hold of me, there were two hands to brush it away. With their help, Hejdanatt’s body was able to reach the top of the monster’s torso. When we had climbed above the spot where Nulla’s and Inte’s hands were attached, we came to Adju’s and Nej’s, and they helped us in the same way.
Thank you, Adju! Thank you, Nej!
I still had no idea what I was going to do, but I was somehow sure I was doing what I had
