Draugr by Arthur Slade Page B

could prove anything. Finally, the search was given up. Every couple of years there’s something in the paper about the boy—it’s one of the biggest tragedies to hit Gimli.”
    Althea paused. She reached slowly down to her cup of tea, grasped it, and took a sip.
    â€œWhat happened to this Kormak guy?” Angie asked.
    Althea set down her cup. “He died about five years later.”
    â€œWell,” I said, “if this boy and Eric are the same person—then why? I mean, what was he doing out there?”
    â€œLet me begin by saying that I’ve seen him too.”
    â€œYou have?” Michael asked.
    â€œYes.” Althea nodded. “About four years ago this summer I was on my way north to a reading by a writer friend of mine. I had agreed to set up a display of his work. It was late and I was driving not too far from where you three were walking. All of a sudden there was this little glowing figure on the road—he just appeared out of nowhere. I slammed on my brakes, swerved to miss him, and he vanished. At the same time I came over the rise of a hill and a deer was in the middle of the highway, staring at me. I would have never been able to stop in time. I got out and looked for the boy but he had disappeared.”
    â€œYou mean he warned you?” Brand asked.
    â€œYes. I think so. I don’t know exactly how he died, but I think his spirit is here as an omen of sorts—a good omen. I know Eric is more likely to appear in the early summer—it’s near the anniversary of his death. Powerful things happen around the anniversary of anyone’s death, sometimes good, sometimes bad. I have met a few other people who’ve seen him. One was a woman hiker who would have fallen into an old well if he hadn’t attracted her attention. I think he’s there to try and stop more bad things from happening.”
    â€œThat’s awful,” Angie said.
    â€œWhat do you mean?” I asked.
    She looked a little sad. “That this poor boy has to wander around, warning people. Never doing whatever little boys get to do in heaven.”
    Althea nodded. “It does seem unfair, doesn’t it? But we don’t know what happens next. I don’t think time is the same to him. Maybe he drifts from here to a better place and back. Who knows.”
    â€œIt doesn’t sound like much of an afterlife.” Angie was frowning now.
    â€œIt’s not for us to judge,” Althea said finally.
    I sat back. “What do you think the boy was warning us about?”
    â€œI can’t really say for sure. Just that something bad was going to happen. And obviously it did.”
    â€œWas he—” I swallowed. “Was he warning us about a
draugr?
”
    Althea laughed, so loudly and forcefully that I was shocked. “Heavens no! Thursten’s been filling your head full of stories. I’ll tell you what I believe happened last night. It’s exactly what I told the police.”

18
    Althea reached for the largest of the books on the table, a tattered and stained journal. It looked like it had been through the wringer a hundred times over. I remembered that it had scribbled handwriting inside.
    Althea opened the cover carefully. “Last winter I found a large, brown package waiting for me at the post office—it was this book. It had been sent to me by members of Kormak’s family. They still own the land he dwelled on, and one of them had made the journey to the cabin and found this. They kept it at their home in Iceland for a few years, unopened. Then they heard I was writing a history of Gimli, so they sent it to me. It’s Kormak’s old journals.”
    â€œWhat does a man who died years ago have to do with Grandpa?” Michael asked.
    â€œI’ll get to that. Just give me a second.” She flipped through a few pages, read a bit to herself, then flipped ahead some more. All the paper was yellow and the book