Another turn — and the lid came free.
He tossed it aside, seeing what was inside the canister for the first time. Article 3472 — Thor’s Hammer — was, like the substance it was intended to counter, a thick black slime, a new and even more foul odour coming from it. Eddie recoiled; while the fumes from the eitr might not be lethal, he had no idea if the same was true of its counter-agent.
The rubble shifted beneath him, the liquid lapping closer to his boots. He took a step back, supporting the container with both hands. No time for speeches, or even smart-arse comments: he knew what he had to do.
With a grunt, he lobbed Thor’s Hammer into the eitr.
The container flipped over as it arced down towards the heart of the lake. The black fluid sluiced out. The effect was immediate as it splashed into the eitr, a sizzling reaction sending up bursts of steaming vapour. A moment later, the canister hit the surface with a wet smack and sank out of sight…
The eitr immediately began to change.
A swirling, churning whirlpool of froth erupted where the cylinder had landed, and around it the glistening black oil turned a dull, sickly grey, the metamorphosis sweeping outwards.
As it reached the base of the great crystals, they too changed. Black scales turned grey, then flaked and crumbled, stress fractures stabbing upwards through the dark spires. One spar, angling almost horizontally from the surface until it hit the cavern’s far wall, collapsed into the lake of ooze with a thunderous boom. Whatever else Thor’s Hammer was doing to the eitr, it was clearly also affecting the crystals that had grown from it, removing the slight flexibility in their structure that had allowed them to curl and zigzag up the shaft like serpents — and without it, the huge natural formations were unable to support their own weight.
More crystals splintered with gunfire cracks as the discoloration seeped upwards. Eddie saw that his position was more dangerous than ever, any doubts disappearing when one of the light globes floating on the eitr ruptured as the sizzling froth ate through it. ‘Oh, fuckeration!’ he yelped, jumping back from the lake’s edge as it crumbled and sank into the slime.
He ran for the crystal that Lock had used to make his ascent, hoping it would survive long enough for him to follow the American’s route upwards — but swerved as he spotted his Wildey. The rubble beneath it was being eaten away by the chemical reaction spreading through the eitr, and the toxic substance was surging up from below, about to swallow the weapon—
Eddie snatched up the gun just before the liquid claimed it. ‘No you fucking don’t!’ he gasped, changing course back to his escape route and pounding up it as fast as he dared. The span shifted under his weight, pieces shearing away where it scraped against other crystals below it.
Nina made an awkward landing, having to drop to all fours to keep her balance on the crystal bridge. She gripped it for a few seconds until she had stabilised, then looked down to locate Lock and the eitr canister.
The latter was still swaying from the jutting black spike, the green LED glowing. Lock was below it, standing on another span and reaching up for his prize—
Still on her knees, she lunged just as he clamped his hands around the sides of the cylinder and jerked it upwards to flick it free. She grabbed the strap as it fell away — but was now caught in a tug of war against a much stronger and heavier opponent. And Lock had secure footing, while she was unbalanced, arms outstretched as she struggled to keep her knees on the crossing’s upper facet. She pulled as hard as she could, trying to snatch the canister from Lock’s grip…
It wasn’t enough.
A sharp yank from below tipped her forward — and for the second time in mere minutes an awful shock of fear slammed her heart as she fell.
She screamed — only for it to be cut off as she slammed to a joint-straining halt.
The strap had caught again, this time over the top of a cluster of larger spikes stabbing out from the flank of the crystalline span. They creaked alarmingly, black turning almost to white as fracture lines formed, but held firm. She was dangling just a couple of feet from Lock, but while he was standing firm on the narrow crossing, there was nothing below her except the now-seething surface of the eitr lake. Eddie must have used Thor’s Hammer, she told herself as she glanced down, but that gave her neither help nor comfort.
She looked back at Lock. He was still gripping the inverted canister with both raised hands, but with Nina’s entire weight now pulling against it was straining to keep his hold on the slick metal. If he let go, Nina would drop to her death — but he would also lose the eitr sample.
If he leaned across to kick Nina loose, however, the container would drop neatly back into his arms as she fell…
Lock had realised this too. His knuckles whitened as he tightened his grip on the stainless-steel cylinder, then he hesitantly lifted one leg to check that he could maintain his balance — before lashing out.
The toe of his boot hit Nina’s calf. She imprisoned a cry behind clenched teeth, squeezing her hands more tightly around the strap. Another blow, this one less painful, but Lock was already lining up for a third strike. She looked up. The strap was bunched up in her grasp. She jerked one hand, clamping it back around the tough woven nylon and pulling herself upwards by a few inches.
Lock redirected his attack as Nina dragged herself up by another palm’s-width. His boot cracked viciously against her ankle, her own sturdy Arctic footwear saving her from an agonising injury. Even so, she still squealed in pain as she dragged herself higher once more.
‘God damn it, woman, you don’t know when you’re beaten,’ he growled. ‘Just give it up!’ He struck again, this time landing a solid hit on her shin. Nina shrieked, the muscles in her hands burning as she clutched her lifeline. ‘The eitr’s mine!’
He pulled back his leg for the last time—
Nina strained to pull herself another few inches up the strap — and to Lock’s surprise let go with one hand. ‘You want it?’ she gasped, stretching out her arm towards the eitr canister. ‘Take it!’
She jabbed her forefinger at the latch button. There was a click, the green LED turning red…
The lid released.
‘No!’ Lock cried — then his voice became a gargling scream as the container’s deadly contents gushed over his face, his skin blistering and his nostrils and mouth filling with the black poison. He thrashed in mindless agony, globules of eitr flying from his dissolving flesh—
One of them hit Nina’s left cheek.
It was only the tiniest drop, but it still felt as if she had been stabbed by a red-hot needle. A new terror filled her as she realised what had happened — but she had no time to react as Lock let go of the now empty container.
She plunged—
Strong hands seized her wrist.
‘Gotcha!’ Eddie yelled.
Lock let out a final choking wail. Most of the eitr had now run off his face, exposing the ruination it had wrought. Both his eyes were gone, black-tainted blood oozing from their sockets where the caustic toxin had dissolved the soft tissue. The flesh on his cheeks had almost liquefied to expose teeth and bone beneath. Bubbles gurgled from his throat… then he keeled over, tumbling back down the shaft to hit the seething froth filling the bottom of the cavern with a sizzling splash.
Eddie hauled Nina up, her feet gratefully finding purchase. ‘You okay?’