‘They’re all over the place,’ Eddie reported, sweeping his beam across the flagstones. The floor was noticeably cleaner than outside, the golden scales on the roof holding back the soil, but it was instead strewn with straw… and discarded weapons: knives, swords, axes and even spears. More such items lay on the tables. ‘Christ, so they just chucked the stuff down wherever and hoped that the sword fairy’d pick up after them?’
‘Like you and your socks,’ Nina joked. Taking care not to step on anything, she headed down the great hall. The room was well over a hundred feet long, and almost three quarters as wide. As she advanced, she spotted something on the far wall. ‘Tova, look at this.’
The Swede joined her as they approached a stone dais, on which stood three ornate thrones, dark carved oak decorated with silver and gold detailings. But it was not the chairs that had caught the attention of the archaeologists; rather, what was on the wall behind them. More runes were carved into granite slabs, around them running a now familiar symboclass="underline" the snaking form of Jörmungandr, the Midgard Serpent. ‘What do they say?’ Eddie asked.
Tova examined the inscriptions. ‘These are definitely very old, from possibly as long ago as AD 200. It is the early runic alphabet of twenty-four characters, not the sixteen from after AD 800. Let me see if I can translate them…’
‘Actually, I may be able to speed things along,’ said Berkeley haughtily. He raised his tablet computer, only to flinch as Eddie pointed the Wildey at him. ‘Whoa, whoa! It’s a translation app. It’s a lot faster than doing it the old-fashioned way.’
‘For you, perhaps,’ said Tova, offended.
Eddie looked at Nina, who shrugged. ‘We know his program works, otherwise he wouldn’t be here,’ she pointed out.
‘Don’t try anything,’ Eddie rumbled as he ushered Berkeley to the dais.
Now it was the rogue archaeologist’s turn to take offence. ‘I’m as interested in this as anyone. Well, okay, maybe not you. Although I have no idea what you’re interested in. Apart from swearing and violence, obviously.’
‘Hegelian dialecticism, mate,’ the Yorkshireman replied, to Berkeley’s surprise. ‘All right, see if your iPad can do better than a real person.’
Still aggrieved, Berkeley switched on his tablet and brought up an app before aiming its camera at the runes. Nina sidled up to her husband. ‘Since when are you interested in Hegelian dialecticism?’ she whispered.
He chuckled. ‘Since never — I don’t even know what the fuck it means. It was a question on Jeopardy, that’s all.’
Nina sighed. ‘For one brief moment, I thought I’d got you interested in philosophy. Oh well…’
‘Look at this,’ said Tova. She indicated part of the runes. ‘These do describe the route to one of the eitr pits, I have read that much already.’
‘I agree; these are definitely directions,’ Berkeley added. Nina went to him and regarded his tablet’s screen. The app was similar to programs she had used herself; the user photographed ancient text, and it employed pattern recognition algorithms to identify words, which were then translated into English. The computer was working through the runes line by line. Such software lacked nuance; the translations were blunt and often awkwardly phrased, and could not compete with the work of a human expert, but were effective enough at uncovering the gist of the original text. ‘Almost a step-by-step guide. Look, here — it starts by telling you to travel across Bifröst and back down the river to the lightning lake.’
‘But are those the directions to the eitr pit the Soviets already found, or the other one?’ Nina asked.
‘I don’t know yet. It’ll take a while for it to translate the whole thing.’
Eddie glanced back towards the entrance. ‘Yeah, you just take your time, mate. No rush.’
‘I think I can be faster,’ said Tova. She was examining one of the blocks of runes, running her finger over the ancient text — but rather than doing so line by line, she was skipping quickly through it, picking out key words. ‘I know where these directions lead.’
Nina and Berkeley hurried across to her. ‘Where?’ Nina asked.
Tova tapped on one particular word. ‘Here. This says “Helluland”. It is the Old Norse name for—’
‘Baffin Island!’ Berkeley interrupted. He raised his tablet and took a snapshot of the text. ‘Of course, it makes sense. There’s archaeological evidence that Vikings had reached there even before Leif Erikson. Tanfield Valley, Kimmirut—’
Tova shot him an annoyed glare. ‘Those finds are not conclusive. But…’ she read on, ‘this may help confirm them. The runes say where to land on Helluland, and from there,’ excitement filled her face, ‘it tells us the way to Jörmungandr’s western lair!’
‘That is what I feared,’ said Kagan. He strode to the group of archaeologists, and before anyone could react snatched Berkeley’s tablet from his hands and dashed it to the floor. The screen cracked, shards of glass scattering.
‘Hey!’ Berkeley protested. ‘What — what are you doing?’
‘My job.’ The Russian shoved the two women aside, Berkeley already having retreated in shocked fear, and drew his gun. ‘Get back.’
Nina grabbed the startled Swede and pulled her away as Kagan aimed at the carved runes and fired at almost point-blank range. Gritty splinters spat at them as the bullet shattered a palm-sized chunk of the ancient stone. ‘Jesus!’ Nina yelped. ‘Why the hell did you do that?’
‘This is the best way to make sure that nobody finds the eitr,’ Kagan told her. ‘We destroy the runes and the sun compasses. That way, nobody will be able to follow the path of the Vikings.’
Nina interposed herself between him and the carved text. Kagan lowered his gun, but did not put it away. ‘And you’re going to do that by shooting them to pieces?’
‘We have no explosives, so it is either that or hit them with axes. And we do not have much time — Hoyt and his men will soon blow up the gate. Now move.’
‘But this is Valhalla!’ Tova protested. ‘It is the most incredible Norse site to be discovered in centuries. Nina, you can’t let him destroy it.’
‘I don’t intend to,’ Nina assured her.
‘You must,’ Kagan insisted. ‘You are the director of the IHA — you know what is at stake here! This is a matter of global security, not archaeology. We have to destroy the runes. Quickly!’
Nina looked to her husband for support, but he shook his head. ‘Sorry, but he’s right. We can’t let Hoyt get hold of this shit. It’s too dangerous.’
‘Dammit, Eddie!’ she cried. ‘If we translate the runes, we give Unit 201 a chance to use Thor’s Hammer on the eitr and neutralise it!’
That gave Kagan pause for thought, but Eddie was unswayed. ‘And if it doesn’t work, they’ll nuke the fucking place! That’ll do a world of good for global security, won’t it? Especially if it turns out the other pit’s in Norway or Scotland, or even the States.’
Kagan’s moment of doubt passed. ‘It must be done.’ He brought his gun back up — aiming at Nina. ‘Move aside.’
She flinched, but held firm. ‘No. There has to be another way.’
The Russian was unmoved. ‘I will shoot through you if I have to—’
Eddie’s own gun snapped up, finding a target: Kagan’s head. ‘Oi! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?’
Kagan tensed, but held his position. ‘Chase, we have to do this. You know I am right!’
‘Yeah, I know, but hello! You’re pointing a fucking gun at my wife! I don’t care how right you are, I’ll fucking shoot you if you don’t—’
The whole chamber shook at the piercing boom of an explosion.