Everyone held their breath, watching anxiously — Berkeley most of all — as she pushed the compasses fully into the hole—
Clang!
The dull ring of stone on metal echoed through the entrance as the discs finally had room to separate — and sprang apart, hitting the lead plates on each side of the slot. A muffled thumping came from inside the door, the mechanism being released…
And with an ear-splitting shrill the doors began to open for the first time in over a millennium.
‘Jesus!’ Eddie said, wincing. ‘My ears might be bad, but I heard that!’
‘And so will Hoyt’s guys!’ Nina realised in alarm. ‘Get inside, quick!’ She moved to the gap between the two-foot-thick doors, but it was widening with agonising slowness.
‘But we do not know what is in there!’ said Tova.
‘We know what’s out here — blokes with guns!’ Eddie shot back. He shoved Berkeley forward, looking down the cutting. A man ran into view at its end, shouting in alarm when he saw the intruders.
The doors finally parted enough for Nina to fit. She squeezed through, finding herself in darkness; the only thing revealed by the narrow line of daylight was a filthy stone floor. ‘Come on!’ she shouted, backing away to give the others room. Eddie held Berkeley back so Tova could enter, then pushed the American inside before following himself. Kagan brought up the rear, gun raised.
The mechanism ground on, the doors opening wider. More mercenaries appeared and ran along the trench. ‘Shut the fucking things!’ Eddie yelled, throwing Berkeley to the ground and slamming his back against one of the barriers. The doors slowed, but didn’t stop. ‘Kagan, get the other one!’
The Russian barged against the other door. The two men pushed, boots scrabbling for grip. With a deep and echoing creak, the barrier’s movement finally stopped — but even shoving with all their might, they couldn’t force it back. ‘Shit!’ Eddie yelled. ‘Nina, Tova, help us!’
Tova ran to add as much weight as she could to Kagan’s side. It was enough to tip the balance — but only slightly, the doors inching shut. Too slowly. The men outside were closing fast, drawing their weapons.
Nina went to help Eddie, but knew it would be futile—
Her eyes had adjusted enough to make out more of the interior — and the mechanism opening the lead-covered doors. ‘Eddie!’ she cried. ‘Give me your gun!’
‘You can’t take ’em all on!’ he protested.
‘I’m not going to! Quick!’
The conviction in his wife’s voice overcame his doubts. Still straining against the door, he passed her the Wildey. Nina whirled, falling a huge cylinder of roughly carved stone suspended by a thick skein of rope.
She pressed the muzzle against the trembling line — and pulled the trigger.
The deafening boom and pounding recoil made her stagger backwards. The .45-calibre round shredded the rope — and the great block slammed to the floor, shattering the flagstones and knocking her on to her back with the sheer force of the impact.
But with the counterweight gone, the doors were now free to move. ‘Push, push!’ Eddie yelled, driving himself backwards. Kagan and Tova did the same. The gap closed…
‘Shoot ’em, shoot!’ Hoyt bellowed from outside. ‘Don’t let ’em shut it!’
Guns cracked, bullets smacking through the lead sheeting and splintering the logs beneath. Eddie flinched as splinters caught the side of his face. He ignored the pain and kept pushing as more shots ripped into the doors.
The two sides met with a deep thump — and the rattle of a mechanism resetting. Some of the mercenaries charged against the doors, trying to ram them back open. Eddie lurched at the impact—
More jolts, these from within the barrier — and screams came from outside as the reactivated booby-traps fired a fusillade of bolts at point-blank range. Muffled sounds of panic reached him as the other mercenaries fled. ‘I think they got the point. Well, points.’
‘I’m sure you’ve used that one before,’ Nina said as she took out a flashlight and switched it on.
‘I’ll have words with my scriptwriters.’ He made sure the doors were secure, then saw that Tova was still pressed against them, curled up in a tight ball. ‘Tova, are you okay?’ he asked, worried that she had been hit.
Nina joined them. ‘Tova?’ She crouched beside the older woman, who was trembling. ‘It’s all right, we’re safe for now.’
Tova reluctantly lifted her head. Her face was tightly drawn, as she struggled to stop herself from crying. ‘I–I’m sorry, but…’ She swallowed, trying to lubricate her fear-dried throat. ‘I am scared! Everyone is trying to kill us, but you do not seem bothered!’
‘Oh, believe me, I’m bothered,’ Nina assured her.
‘But you do not show it!’
‘You get used to it after a while.’ Eddie reached down to help her up.
Tova stood. ‘I do not want to get used to it,’ she said quietly. ‘This is not what I want to do.’
Eddie and his wife exchanged concerned looks, then Nina saw something in the torchlight. In the back of one door were two slots down at knee level — and in each was one of the sun compasses. After releasing the lock, they had fallen down through the door’s innards so they could be collected. ‘Looks like we might need these again,’ she said, picking them up and letting the magnetised discs clap back together.
Kagan straightened, eyeing a ragged bullet hole beside his head. ‘You okay?’ Eddie asked.
‘Yes, but… that was close,’ he said. ‘We must go. They will blow up these doors soon enough.’
‘Yeah.’ The Englishman crossed to Berkeley, who was still lying on the floor. ‘All right, arsehole,’ he said, hauling him to his feet, ‘let’s move.’
‘They were shooting at us!’ Berkeley said in shrill outrage. ‘They could have hit me!’
‘Oh, you noticed?’ Nina replied scathingly. ‘These are the people you’re working for, Logan. You really know how to pick ’em.’ He opened his mouth to object, but she had already raised a warning finger. ‘Shut up. We don’t have much time.’
She turned her light down the tunnel. The floor and walls were stone, braced by thick logs. More broad beams supported the ceiling, but from the amount of dirt that had fallen on to the paving slabs and the shrivelled roots clawing down from above, it was clear that the sheer weight of the soil and trees concealing the Viking hall had taken its toll over the centuries.
But that it was here at all was incredible. Despite the adrenalin and fear running through her, Nina felt an undeniable thrill of discovery as she led the group deeper into Valhalla.
26
‘So,’ said Eddie as they advanced down the tunnel, ‘what are we looking for?’
Even with her misgivings, Tova was still a professional. ‘According to the mythology, there is a large main hall roofed with golden shields. I would say it is the most likely place to find anything.’
Ahead, the entrance tunnel ended at a junction, new passages heading left and right. ‘Which way?’ asked Kagan.
Tova shook her head. ‘I do not know.’
‘Nor do I,’ admitted Berkeley.
Nina glowered at him. ‘Colour me surprised.’
Eddie produced a flashlight, and shone it down the right-hand passage. ‘We should’ve brought that chainsaw.’ Gnarled roots hung down to the floor like a curtain, one of the ash trees above having broken through the ceiling beams. ‘Let’s try the other way.’
The group went left. A low doorway led into a side room, but Nina’s torch beam revealed only mouldering sacks covered in dirt. Whatever supplies the Vikings had left behind had long since rotted or been consumed by burrowing animals and insects. A short way on, the tunnel made a sharp turn to the right — and Eddie, leading, stopped immediately after rounding it. ‘Buggeration. Don’t think we’ll get through this way.’ The ceiling had collapsed, broken beams jutting from tons of fallen soil. More ash roots clawed their way into the space.