The Valhalla Prophecy

32

The wolf curled back its gore-stained lips and snarled, advancing on the couple. ‘Get behind me,’ Eddie told Nina, eyes locked on to the predator as he slowly unzipped his coat. ‘Don’t make any sudden moves.’

Nina cautiously sidestepped around her husband — only to turn in fear at a new sound. ‘Shit!’ A second wolf, as large and twisted as the first, faded into view through the fog. It too was smeared with the fresh blood of its latest kill — the second Russian soldier. ‘Eddie, there’s another one!’

Eddie’s hand closed around his Wildey. The first wolf was about twenty feet away, padding closer with a measured, almost mechanical relentlessness. He started to draw the gun, looking away from the approaching animal to check the position of its hunting partner. It was further away, head low as it advanced.

He looked back—

The wolf charged.

The gun was out of its holster — but the beast had already leapt with shocking speed, knocking Eddie over. Nina shrieked as she jumped out of the way.

The wolf weighed as much as a man, and was easily as strong, claws raking his clothing as it lunged for his throat. Eddie managed to whip up his right arm and force the creature’s head back just as its jaws snapped, twisted teeth mere inches from his face.

He pulled the Wildey’s trigger. The huge handgun’s boom was almost deafening; he expected the noise to scare off both attackers.

It didn’t. The wolf flinched away from the retort and muzzle flash, but then continued its attack with even greater ferocity, bloodlust overpowering fear. The second animal hesitated, only to resume its advance when it saw its companion was not harmed.

‘Nina!’ Eddie cried, struggling to hold off the writhing monstrosity. ‘Get out of here, run!’

Nina stumbled back, caught between the urge to flee and the desire to help her husband. She chose the latter, drawing back a leg to kick the wolf off him—

The other animal made its move, rushing at her. Nina broke off her attempted attack and ducked sideways. Its momentum carried it past her — but it immediately scrabbled around for another try, growling and slavering.

She ran for the overturned snowmobile, but could already hear the wolf closing fast from behind—

Nina dived over the vehicle, landing hard amongst its scattered equipment. The animal veered away to circle the snowmobile for a clear run at its prey.

Eddie yelled as the wolf’s claws slashed at him again, ripping through his hood and gouging his jaw. A couple of inches lower, and it would have torn into his neck. ‘Fuck off, Cujo!’ he growled, clenching his free hand into a fist and punching the animal in the face.

Pinned by the monster, he couldn’t put his full force into the blow — but it was still enough to startle it. The wolf let out an angry growl, pulling back before making another lunge.

The momentary retreat gave Eddie the chance to move his arm. He brought the Wildey to bear—

The wolf’s huge jaws clamped around his hand. Sharp fangs tore through his coat’s thick sleeve. They dug into his skin, about to slash tendons and arteries—

Another Magnum round boomed — and the entire back of the creature’s head exploded.

The Wildey was inside its mouth — and Eddie had pulled the trigger.

The wolf collapsed on top of him. He pulled open the animal’s slack jaws to extract his gun, then shoved the corpse away. ‘Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf now?’ he muttered as he got to his feet — only to freeze at a sound from the void.

A long, keening howl.

More shadowy shapes loomed through the drifting fog. The rest of the wolf pack.

They circled, closing in. Eddie turned, tracking them — then remembered there was another, much nearer. ‘Nina!’

The gunshot had again caused the second wolf to freeze, but now it resumed its charge at Nina, still on her hands and knees beside the wrecked snowmobile. She desperately snatched up a baton-shaped piece of fallen cargo, about to wield it as a club—

It had a better use.

The baton was a flare. She yanked off the protective plastic cap and slapped her palm against the striker as the snarling predator raced in for the kill. The flare sizzled to life, blazing bright red at its tip.

She brought it up—

The wolf sprang.

It slammed her back against the snowmobile with an almost triumphant snarl — which turned to a shriek as she stabbed the burning flare into its neck. The beast leapt away, jumping and spinning as it tried to escape the searing pain, but the intense heat had set its fur alight. With a horrible wail, it raced away into the fog, flames spreading over its body and turning it into a running torch.

Eddie scrambled across the snow, vaulting the snowmobile to land beside her. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Yeah, I think so,’ she gasped, still winded. She saw his torn and bloodied clothing. ‘Jesus! What about you?’

‘I’m fine — the blood’s from Mr Wool-uff.’

‘What happened to it?’

He held up the Wildey, drool still glistening on the polished metal. ‘It bit off more than it could chew.’ A very brief smile, which disappeared as he looked back at the approaching pack. ‘There’s more of the fucking things, though.’

‘Okay, so shoot them!’

‘I will, when I get a clear shot. They’re not daft, though.’ The other wolves had clearly recognised that their prey was far from defenceless, and changed tactics. They were now circling the couple and drawing away to fade into the fog before darting back into view as if daring them to react. ‘I don’t even know how many there are. Three, four — I can’t tell.’ He tracked one of the running shapes, which sensed the danger and retreated into the void, only for one of its companions to appear off to the side, moving in the other direction. ‘And I’ve only got five shots left in this mag — if I miss, it’ll take me a few seconds to reload, and that’ll give them a chance to come at us.’

‘Would this help?’

She had picked up one of the soldiers’ AK-12s and flicked off the safety, raising the assault rifle to firing position. He grinned. ‘And I thought you didn’t like guns.’

‘I don’t, but sometimes they’re useful!’ Nina looked down the sights, following one of the wolves as it ran at her — and fired. The gun was set to fully automatic, unleashing a thudding fusillade of bullets. The monster screeched and tumbled to a stop in the blood-speckled snow.

‘Over here!’ Eddie warned. She spun as two more wolves charged towards the snowmobile from the opposite direction. Another burst from the Kalashnikov brought one of them down, the other felled by a single cannonfire blast from the Wildey.

Nina’s dismay at killing the creatures was tempered by the sure knowledge that they had been about to tear out her throat. ‘Are there any more of them?’ she asked, scanning the emptiness surrounding her.

‘Don’t know.’ Eddie did the same, keeping the Wildey raised. ‘There might— Shit!’

Movement in the corner of his vision — which resolved into a wolf racing towards him at terrifying speed. He whirled as it made a flying leap over the snowmobile—

The Wildey boomed again, but the animal’s momentum carried it onwards. It hit Eddie, bowling him over and sending the gun flying.

‘Eddie!’ Nina cried, pointing the AK at the wolf — but it did not move, lying on its side with its mouth agape. The snow beneath it slowly turned red.

Eddie stood, wincing at a pain in his shoulder from the collision. ‘Aaa-fuckin’-wooo, you bastard,’ he told the dead beast, before looking around. If there were any more wolves out in the fog, they had taken the hint and fled. ‘Where’d my gun go? If I lose another Wildey, you’ll never let me hear the bloody end of it…’

‘I probably shouldn’t tell you that it’s over there, then,’ said Nina, managing a faint smile as she caught her breath.

Eddie tramped to where she had indicated, finding his gun half buried in the snow. He retrieved it, then came back to her, taking a closer look at the wolf’s body. It was just as deformed as the first they had seen, oversized and overmuscled but also misshapen, ugly lumps beneath its skin — and in some cases bursting out through it, lesions visible through the fur. ‘Christ, look at this. It’s like something out of The Thing.’

Nina had seen similar deformities before. ‘It’s the eitr,’ she said, with a shiver that was caused by more than just the cold. ‘Just like in those photos Kagan’s boss showed us.’

‘Yeah. We must be in the right place, then. The stuff’s mutated them.’

They both stared unhappily at the corpse, then turned at a noise. Not the howl of wolves this time, but the burr of engines. The other snowmobiles came into view.

The two remaining soldiers halted thirty feet away and jumped off their snowmobile, AK-12s at the ready as they checked for threats. ‘My God!’ Berkeley exclaimed as Kagan stopped beside Eddie and Nina. ‘We heard the shots. What the hell happened here?’

Kagan was more concerned by his comrade’s body. ‘Kontarsky!’ he cried, running to the fallen figure, but after a brief examination he returned more slowly, expression stricken. ‘Have you seen Lishin?’ he asked Eddie.

The Yorkshireman shook his head. ‘One of them dragged him off. Don’t know where, but we haven’t seen him. He’s probably dead. I’m sorry.’

‘So am I,’ Kagan said quietly. He regarded one of the animals. ‘The eitr — it did this to them. It is the only explanation.’

‘We know,’ said Nina.

‘And this would have been from only the smallest exposure. Anything more, and they would not have lived this long. I have never seen the effects with my own eyes before, but…’ A pause, then he set his shoulders. ‘Now you know why we must destroy the eitr, yes? What happened to the wolves must never get off this island.’

‘Can’t argue with you there,’ said Eddie.

Berkeley shook his head. ‘I don’t understand. How could these wolves have survived so long? The Vikings called this place the vale of Fenrir, but they can’t possibly have lived all this time.’

‘These are probably the children of animals that came on to the island a few months ago when the sea was frozen,’ Kagan told him. ‘The parents would have died after being exposed to the eitr — but their pups lived for a time, even like this.’

‘It’s horrible,’ said Nina.

‘Yes. But we can stop it — we must stop it.’ Another regretful look at the soldier’s body, then the Russian returned to his vehicle. ‘Come. We must move.’

‘Keep it,’ Eddie said to Nina as she was about to put down the AK-12. ‘We might need it.’ He holstered the Wildey and they returned to their snowmobile as the others restarted their engines. ‘Oi! This time, don’t go so bloody fast!’ he shouted. ‘We need to stick together!’

‘Agreed,’ said Kagan. He wheeled around back along his own trail, then powered away, though with more restraint than before. The soldiers followed, Eddie bringing the third snowmobile into line behind them.

The landscape began to climb again, before long lifting them clear of the fog trapped in the valley. Swathes of low cloud still clung to the mountainside, but the peak itself came back into clear view, an ominous, irregular pyramid jabbing at the overcast sky.

Berkeley’s translations of the ancient runes required very little interpretation to follow. The ‘broken finger’ was a long slab of rock that the cold had sheared in two along a fault line, the narrow end pointing uphill. The barren island spread out below as they ascended.

The group was concerned only with what awaited above, however. There had been no sight or sound of the helicopter; the only conclusion was that it had landed.

And if it had… then its occupants had found the object of their search.

Berkeley tapped Kagan’s shoulder. The Russian pulled up, the other two snowmobiles drawing alongside. ‘What is it?’ Nina asked.

‘End of the line,’ said Berkeley. ‘We need to look for open ground. Once we find it… that’s it. We’re at Vigrid, where the Vikings were going to face Ragnarök.’

Eddie gazed up the slope. ‘It’s got to be that,’ he said, pointing. Off to one side of the looming peak, a few hundred feet higher than the group’s position, part of the terrain levelled out. The wind blew spiralling wisps of snow off its edge.

‘Looks like we can ride all the way to it,’ said Nina.

‘Don’t think we should, though. We don’t want ’em to know we’re coming. If they saw the ship, they might be watching out for company.’

‘That rock,’ said Kagan, pointing at a boulder not far below the flatter ground. ‘We will leave the snowmobiles there and go on foot.’ He glanced behind Berkeley as if to reassure himself that the case containing Thor’s Hammer was still secured, then set off once more. Eddie kept pace alongside him, the soldiers bringing up the rear.

It took five minutes to reach their destination. Eddie stopped his snowmobile by the boulder and dismounted, Nina slinging her borrowed Kalashnikov from one shoulder. A disgruntled Berkeley watched her. ‘Shouldn’t I have a gun too?’ he asked.

Kagan’s only response was a brief barking laugh, while Eddie was more verbose. ‘Don’t fucking think so, mate.’

‘Why not? I know how to handle myself — I’ve used guns before. Well, okay, I’ve done some target shooting, but I know one end from the other. And I must have proved I’m on your side by now. Even to you, Nina.’

‘Maybe so,’ she replied, ‘but even if I did want you to have one, the other gun’s back down there with those wolves.’ She gestured into the grey haze below. ‘And I don’t know if we got all of them or not.’

Berkeley looked for a moment as if he were seriously considering trekking back down the mountain to retrieve the weapon, then shook his head in resignation. ‘All right, okay. But if we find ourselves outgunned when we get up there, don’t blame me.’

‘That’s fine. There are plenty of other things I can blame you for.’

‘For God’s sake,’ he muttered, before changing the subject by taking out his notes. ‘Okay. This has to be Vigrid. Once we’re up there,’ he gestured towards the plateau, ‘then we’re at the pit. The lair of Jörmungandr. The Midgard Serpent.’

‘Well, we already fought his brother the wolf,’ said Eddie, gathering his gear from the back of the snowmobile. ‘How does that work, by the way? Their dad must have been into some fucked-up stuff.’

‘Loki was a trickster,’ said Berkeley as the rest of the team collected their own belongings and followed the Englishman up the hill. ‘He could take on any form. Actually,’ he continued, suddenly brightening as a thought struck him, ‘the mutation of those wolves? If that was caused by the eitr, it could explain some other Norse legends. Giants, monopodes, skraelings — they might all have been people or creatures who’d suffered the same sort of mutations.’

‘Maybe you can rehabilitate yourself in the archaeological world by writing a paper about it,’ Nina said in a cutting tone. Berkeley got the message and fell into a sullen silence.

They climbed the slope. It grew steeper as they approached the lip of the plateau, bare rock exposed where snow could no longer find purchase. The last few dozen yards became a climb.

Eddie was first to the top. He waved for the others to hold position, cautiously raising his head to peer over the edge. ‘I can see the chopper,’ he reported.

Kagan joined him, the case containing Thor’s Hammer on his back. ‘What about Lock and his people?’

‘There’s a guy hanging about, but I don’t see anyone else. Although…’ He brought up a hand to shield his eyes from the blowing snow. ‘There’s a big crater as well. It must be the eitr pit.’

There was a flurry of movement as Nina, Berkeley and the soldiers all scrambled up to look. ‘You are right,’ said Kagan grimly. ‘It is like the one that was found on Novaya Zemlya.’

The plateau was not quite flat; they had arrived near its upper end, the snowy plain dropping gently by about a hundred feet over its length before falling sharply away down the mountainside. The helicopter, a large Sikorsky S-76 painted in high-visibility red to stand out in Arctic conditions, sat motionless two hundred yards away, below their position. A man stood near it, apparently on guard, but he was looking away from them towards the only other feature nearby.

A gaping hole.

It was a ragged oval dropping into the heart of the mountain, over a hundred feet across at its widest. Steam rose from the opening, condensing as it hit the colder air above before being whisked away by the endless wind. ‘There’s something warm down there,’ said Nina, seeing no snow around its edge.

Kagan nodded. ‘The eitr comes from somewhere deep inside the earth. The other pit was hot also.’

‘Looks like Lock and Hoyt are already inside,’ said Eddie. At one side of the pit, a metal trestle had been set up to hold several ropes descending into the abyss.

‘How many of them are there?’ Nina asked.

‘Chopper that size could carry a dozen people, easy. Great, another fucking private army.’

‘So what are we going to do?’ said Berkeley.

‘No matter what, we cannot let them leave with the eitr,’ insisted Kagan. ‘We must take out that helicopter. Then we will go into the pit and use Thor’s Hammer to neutralise the eitr.’

‘If it works,’ said Eddie. He observed the scene below thoughtfully. The man was still watching the pit, apparently waiting for those inside to return to the surface. ‘They don’t know we’re here.’

‘You sure?’ said Nina.

‘If they did, Hoyt wouldn’t have only left one bloke up here. He’s nasty, but he’s not stupid. That guy’s just keeping an eye on the ropes.’

‘What are you thinking?’ Kagan asked.

‘That we can sneak right up to the chopper without being seen. We’ll use those rocks for cover.’ He gestured at several stones poking up from the snow between the group’s position and the helicopter. ‘If he stays focused on the hole, we can get within fifty feet of him before he even realises we’re there.’

‘And if he looks around before then?’ said Berkeley.

Eddie took out the Wildey. ‘Then I find out how accurate this is at long range! But I reckon we can do it.’

‘So do I,’ said Kagan, nodding. He spoke to his men in Russian, then turned back to Eddie. ‘They will keep us covered on the way to the helicopter.’

‘Make sure they don’t shoot that thing on your back, eh?’ The Englishman cautiously rose. ‘Nina, wait here until it’s safe. Keep an eye on him.’ He jerked a thumb at Berkeley.

‘I don’t need to be baby-sat,’ Berkeley complained. His sour expression became more concerned as Nina unslung her AK-12. ‘Nina, are you sure you know how to use that thing?’

‘Ask the wolves,’ she replied. Then she reached out and squeezed Eddie’s hand. ‘Good luck.’

‘See you soon,’ he said, smiling. ‘Okay, Kagan, let’s go. There’s trouble down’t pit!’ He grinned, adding: ‘I always wanted an excuse to say that.’ Everyone looked at him. ‘It’s a Yorkshire thing… oh, never bloody mind. Come on.’

He climbed on to the plateau, keeping low as he headed for the first rock. Kagan followed. The Russian soldiers spread out along the rocky edge to cover them.

‘So,’ said Kagan, eyeing the Wildey, ‘the big gun. Does it impress the women?’ He smirked.

Eddie made an irritated noise. ‘Everyone’s a fucking comedian. I use a big gun because when I shoot someone with it, they fall down and don’t get back up, okay? Well, usually they don’t.’ They reached the rock and hunched behind it. The lone guard was still watching the pit; now that Eddie was closer, he could tell from the man’s body language that he was both cold and bored. Presumably Lock and company were not rushing their descent into the depths of the earth. ‘Okay, his gun’s over his shoulder, so he’s definitely not expecting trouble. What’s that in his left hand?’

Kagan narrowed his eyes. ‘A radio, perhaps? I cannot see it properly.’

‘Maybe he’s waiting for Lock to tell him they’ve got the eitr, so he can help pull ’em out.’

‘Then we must get there before he does.’

They zigzagged between the rocks. About a hundred feet from the helicopter, Eddie signalled for Kagan to pause. ‘There’s someone else in the chopper,’ he said as they crouched behind a snow-covered boulder. A shadowy figure was visible through the aircraft’s windows. ‘The pilot.’

‘There is another person,’ said Kagan. Somebody was in one of the passenger seats.

Somebody blonde.

‘It’s Tova!’ Eddie said. ‘They must have brought her in case there were any more runes they needed translating.’

‘They will not need her for much longer,’ Kagan pointed out ominously.

‘We’ve got to get her out of there. You sort out the guard; I’ll—’

He broke off, both men ducking as the mercenary moved. The object in his hand was indeed a radio, the squawk as it received a message carried by the wind to the observers. Eddie couldn’t quite make out the words, but he recognised the voice. ‘Hoyt! That bastard.’ He leaned out, trying to listen to the message. ‘Can you hear what he’s saying?’

‘No, he is too far— Wait, get back.’

Eddie pulled into cover as the mercenary turned and started back to the helicopter, still listening to his leader. Fragments of the transmission reached the lurking duo. ‘… at the bottom,’ said Hoyt. ‘Make sure the ropes… gonna get the stuff. Once we’ve… boss wants us to head straight back up. Tell the pilot…’

‘They are about to take the eitr,’ said Kagan in alarm. He raised his AK. ‘We cannot wait — we must stop them.’

‘Hold on, hold on,’ Eddie told him. The radio message became clearer as the merc neared the helicopter.

Hoyt’s words sent a chill through him. ‘And the boss says we’re finished with Blondie. Take her out and shoot her.’

‘Roger that,’ said the mercenary, a sadistic smile crossing his face. He clipped his radio to his belt and unslung his rifle as he reached the helicopter. ‘Okay, out,’ he barked as he opened the door, pulling Tova from the aircraft. Her hands were secured behind her back by flex-cuffs, and she almost fell.

‘Fuckers,’ Eddie hissed as he saw the Swede’s face. Without Nina as leverage, Hoyt and Lock had resorted to much more direct — and brutal — ways of forcing obedience from the archaeologist. Tova’s face bore several bruises, her lower lip swollen. Her eyes were puffy and red from exhaustion — and fear. ‘I’m going in.’

‘Chase, wait—’ Kagan began, but the Englishman was already moving.

He scuttled towards the helicopter, keeping out of the line of sight of both its pilot and the mercenary. He couldn’t risk a shot at the latter; even if the bullet was dead on target, it might rip right through the man’s body and hit Tova as well.

He would have to be more hands-on.

The mercenary dragged Tova to a spot ten feet from the helicopter. ‘Oh God,’ she gasped, realising what he was about to do. ‘No, please! I did what you wanted!’

‘It’s nothing personal,’ said the mercenary, though the relish in his voice gave away that the act of killing was more than pure business to him. ‘On your knees.’

‘Please, don’t!’ she wailed.

‘Shut up.’ He forced her down to the snowy ground, then raised his gun to the back of her head. ‘If it wasn’t so fuckin’ cold, I’d have you facing the other way first. Bit of fun in return for me makin’ it quick—’

‘Make this quick,’ Eddie growled as he rose up like a spectre behind the mercenary, clamping one arm around the man’s head and the other across the front of his shoulders — and twisting them in different directions.

There was a revolting snap from deep inside the mercenary’s neck as bone splintered, muscle and tissue compressing with a wet squish. The man’s eyes bugged wide and he opened his mouth to scream in pain, but no air escaped; his windpipe was crushed shut, spinal cord severed below the fourth vertebra. Eddie let him drop. The man crumpled to the ground, completely limp, mouth gaping silently like a goldfish out of water. ‘Don’t fuck with my friends,’ the Englishman told him, then moved to help Tova. ‘It’s okay, we’re going to get you out of here.’

‘Eddie?’ she said, looking around at him with shocked surprise. ‘Oj, herre Gud, Eddie! You found me!’

‘Yeah, we followed the runes. Hate to admit it, but Berkeley knows what he’s doing.’ He raised her back to her feet, then drew his Wildey and went to the helicopter’s door. The pilot had just realised what had happened outside and was fumbling for a radio handset, but the sight of the huge gun made him drop it and freeze without even needing to be told.

Kagan ran up behind Eddie. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked Tova, taking out a knife and cutting her hands free.

‘Yes, thank you! Thank you both,’ she sobbed.

Eddie gestured for the pilot to get out. ‘How many of ’em are there?’ he asked the Swede. ‘We know Hoyt’s here — what about Lock?’

‘Yes, they are both here.’ Tova rubbed her wrists where the plastic strap had bitten into her skin. ‘They have six men with them. They went down there.’ She indicated the pit.

‘They’re not coming back out,’ he assured her, before signalling for Nina and the others to join him. ‘All right, you,’ he said, rounding on the pilot. ‘Got a good reason why I shouldn’t blow your fucking head off?’

The man’s face twisted in terror. ‘I–I — I don’t know what is going on!’ he gabbled, his accent French-Canadian. ‘I was just hired to fly here!’

‘By a bunch of guys with guns who were holding a beaten-up woman prisoner. That didn’t drop any hints that the job might be a bit dodgy?’

‘I don’t ask questions, I just fly the chopper!’ He stared at the mercenary in horror. A last gurgling sound emerged from the fallen man’s mouth, then he went still. ‘I’ll do whatever you want, just please don’t kill me!’

Kagan leaned into the cockpit, examining something taped to the instrument panel. ‘I think he is telling the truth. This says he works for an air charter company.’

Eddie nodded. ‘Okay, hero,’ he said to the pilot. ‘What were you hired to do, and where were you going to take ’em from here?’

‘They wanted me to fly them to these coordinates,’ the Canadian replied. ‘They had pictures, satellite photos. When they saw the hole, we landed and they went down into it. They were going to collect some kind of sample, and then I would fly them back to Iqaluit to meet their jet. That’s all I know, I swear!’

The man’s fear was genuine. Eddie reluctantly accepted his story. ‘All right, I’m not going to kill you — unless you piss me about,’ he added with a wave of the gun, the pilot’s moment of relief instantly vanishing. ‘Okay, Kagan, what do we need to do? Can you just dump that stuff down the hole?’

Kagan put down the case and opened it, revealing the steel cylinder. ‘No. It will have to be poured directly into the eitr.’

‘Yeah, I thought so.’ A weary sigh, then Eddie looked towards the pit. Steam was still condensing above it; the air below was both warm and humid. ‘How hot’s it going to be down there?’

‘The Academician told me it could reach over one hundred degrees Fahrenheit inside the pit, even in winter.’

‘So it’s not just a horrible fucking mutagenic poison, it’s a boiling horrible fucking mutagenic poison. Fantastic.’ He turned as Nina, Berkeley and the two soldiers arrived at a run. ‘Ay up. Glad you could join us.’ Kagan issued an order to his men, and, AKs at the ready, they moved to guard the pit.

Berkeley grimaced at the sight of the dead mercenary. ‘You’ve, ah, being doing your thing, then.’

Nina was more concerned about Tova. ‘Jeez,’ she said, seeing the bruises. ‘Are you okay?’

‘I will be fine,’ Tova replied. ‘I am sorry.’

‘For what?’

‘For telling them how to find this place. If I had been stronger, you could have reached here first.’

‘It’s not your fault,’ Nina insisted.

‘Just… do not let them get away with the eitr. Please?’

‘We won’t,’ said Eddie.

‘You’ve got a plan?’ asked Berkeley.

‘Go down there, kill every living thing we find, pour the Russian goop into the eitr, head home. Sound good?’

‘You should come to more IHA meetings,’ Nina told him. ‘Your bullet points are way more concise than mine.’

‘Only if I get to bring Mr Wildey.’ Eddie held up the gun. ‘He’d encourage everyone to keep it brief.’

‘I’m just picturing Seretse’s face if he held a meeting where you had that thing on the desk in front of you.’ She turned to Kagan. The Russian had carefully removed the steel canister from its case, and was now taking a chunky military radio from the rest of his gear. ‘What are you doing?’

‘My orders are to report the location of the eitr pit once we have found it and are ready to deliver Thor’s Hammer,’ he replied as he switched the unit on, then spoke into it in Russian. A reply came quickly; he began a rapid-fire conversation.

Nina regarded the pit. An object stood out above the snow near its lip — another runestone, worn by the savage weather. ‘Tova, did you translate that?’

‘Yes,’ Tova replied. ‘It is a message to any Viking warriors who followed the trail from Valhalla, congratulating them on their strength for surviving the journey — and wishing them courage for the battle against the Midgard Serpent.’

‘Doesn’t look like they’d find many snakes around here,’ said Eddie, surveying the frozen desolation.

‘No, but I did not go into the pit. I do not know what is down there.’

‘We’re about to find out,’ Nina said, far from thrilled at the prospect. ‘And we’ve got Lock, Hoyt and six other guys down there as well.’

‘We’ve got surprise, though,’ Eddie reminded her. ‘If we catch ’em before they come out, we—’

‘Ebat kopat!’ cried Kagan, appalled. All eyes went to him as he spoke frantically into the radio. The reply was stern and unwavering, lengthening his expression of dismay.

‘What’s wrong?’ Nina demanded.

Kagan looked at her, eyes wide. ‘I gave them the coordinates of the eitr pit — and now they are going to activate the Tsar Protocol!’ Eddie, Nina and Tova exchanged horrified glances.

Berkeley pursed his lips. ‘I take it that is… not a good thing.’

‘No shit,’ said Nina. ‘They’re going to drop a nuke on us!’

Berkeley’s reaction was as confused as if she had spoken to him in Swahili. ‘When you say “a nuke”, you mean…’

‘Yeah, an actual nuclear bomb!’ She turned back to Kagan. ‘Tell them not to!’

‘I tried,’ said the Russian. ‘They will not listen. They know Lock is already here, so my orders are now to stop them from leaving with the eitr.’

‘That’s easy enough,’ said Berkeley, almost quivering in nervous agitation. ‘We get in the helicopter and tell the pilot to fly us out of here.’ The pilot nodded in vigorous agreement. ‘Lock and his buddies are stranded, and when the nuke arrives, they get fried. Simple!’ He took in the hostile frowns of his companions. ‘Not so simple?’

‘Russia is about to launch a nuclear attack on Canada,’ Nina said, scathing. ‘How do you think NATO will respond to that?’

‘When are they launching it?’ Eddie asked.

The radio came to life again, the Russian at the other end of the line delivering a curt statement. Kagan went pale. ‘They just did.’

‘What?’ Nina gasped.

‘They had a Tupolev-160 on combat patrol over the Arctic Ocean. It is — was carrying a Kh-102 cruise missile. It is a stealth weapon; NATO’s radars will not see it.’

‘I fucking knew I should have shot up those Tu-160s!’ Eddie growled. ‘How big’s the warhead?’

‘Two hundred kilotons. Much smaller than the Tsar Bomba, but it does not need to be so big. It is very accurate.’ He glanced towards the steaming pit. ‘They will be able to drop it straight down the hole.’

‘How long have we got?’

Kagan spoke into the radio, soon getting a reply. ‘Thirty minutes. The missile is subsonic — but it is still as fast as a jet.’

‘But they haven’t even given us a chance,’ protested Nina. ‘We can still try to use Thor’s Hammer. If it works, they don’t need to nuke the pit!’

‘Can they abort the missile in flight?’ Eddie asked. Kagan nodded. ‘Then get back on the blower and tell ’em we’ll confirm that the eitr’s been neutralised in twenty-nine minutes!’

‘Preferably less,’ said Nina. ‘I hate it when we cut things that fine.’

‘I don’t like to point this out,’ said Berkeley as Kagan reopened the channel to the Kremlin, ‘but I doubt Lock and Hoyt will let us just do whatever we’re going to do.’

‘We don’t have much choice, do we?’

‘There is still the helicopter option…’

‘If that nuke goes off, and NATO realises where it came from and retaliates, there might not be anywhere left for us to go home to!’ Kagan finished his brief discussion. ‘What did they say?’ she asked him.

‘If we neutralise the eitr, they will abort the missile,’ he replied.

‘Okay, then let’s wait five minutes and say we’ve done it,’ Berkeley suggested.

Kagan was not impressed. ‘One way or another, Russia will destroy the eitr,’ he said. ‘For the sake of the world, we must make it Unit 201’s way.’

Nina turned to Tova. ‘You don’t have to come with us. Wait in the helicopter — and keep an eye on him,’ she said, giving the pilot a suspicious look. She collected the dead mercenary’s gun and offered it to her. ‘You know how to use one of these?’

‘I think so,’ Tova replied, hesitantly accepting the weapon.

Eddie glanced at it. ‘Safety’s off.’

‘Then I know so.’

‘Take this too,’ said Kagan, giving her the radio. ‘It is a satellite system,’ he explained. ‘It will not work in the pit. This way, it will be safe.’

Nina gave Tova a smile of reassurance. ‘Don’t take off until we get back.’

‘You came for me, so I will wait for you,’ said the Swede. ‘Do not worry, I will watch the pilot. Good luck.’

‘Thanks, I think we’ll need as much as we can bloody get!’ said Eddie. He opened the helicopter’s door and shoved the pilot inside, then moved back to let Tova enter.

Berkeley looked hopefully at the aircraft. ‘What about me?’

‘Make yourself useful,’ the Yorkshireman told him. He indicated the metal cylinder. ‘Carry that. And don’t fucking drop it, or you’ll be dead before I have a chance to shoot you!’

The scientist was about to object, but a hard glare from Kagan silenced him. ‘We must hurry. Come.’ He jogged towards the pit, Nina, Eddie and the reluctant Berkeley following.

Shapes were visible beneath the snow as they neared the opening. Eddie wrinkled his face in disgust at the sight of a dead wolf, the cold having preserved its monstrously deformed and diseased features. ‘They must have come up here ’cause it was warmer in the pit. Bad move.’

‘Maybe they didn’t even go into the pit,’ said Nina, alarmed. ‘The whole environment might be toxic. God knows what we’ll be breathing in.’

‘If it is like the pit on Novaya Zemlya,’ Kagan said, ‘the air is not deadly — but it will not be pleasant either.’

Eddie grunted sarcastically. ‘We go to all the nice places, don’t we?’

They reached the two soldiers, the Russian officer exchanging brief words with them. Nina glanced at the nearby runestone, the final marker along the Vikings’ long journey, then down into the pit itself.

There was not much to see, the rising steam making it hard to pick out details. But the exposed rock was dark — almost black, in fact, caked with oily deposits. She stepped closer for a better look, only to cough as hot vapour wafted past her. Kagan had been right; it was unpleasant, a stinging, almost acidic sensation rasping at her sinuses. ‘I hope you’re right about this crap not being toxic,’ she told the Russian.

‘If we do not succeed, it will not matter if it is or not,’ he replied, checking that the ropes were secure before squinting into the depths of the pit. ‘Okay, I will climb down first.’

‘You ready?’ Eddie asked Nina.

‘As ready as I can be.’

He smiled. ‘Then let’s save the world. Again.’