Tova opened the folder and leafed through the pages within, handing several to Nina. ‘I have an English translation here. It may not be as accurate as the Swedish, but it will give you a good idea.’
The American quickly scanned through the text. ‘An account of the preparations for Ragnarök?’ she said before long, looking up at Tova.
‘That is why it would be better if you could read the Swedish version,’ Tova replied. ‘There is more nuance. It is not exactly an account, more…’ She frowned; despite her excellent command of English, the correct words eluded her. ‘It is not the right tense, you could say. Calling it an account implies that it is in the past tense, a description of something that has already happened. The text on the Valhalla stone is more like…’ Another frown, before it came to her. ‘Like a prophecy.’
‘A prophecy?’ said Eddie. ‘About what?’
‘Ragnarök,’ Nina told him. ‘The end of the world.’
He moaned. ‘Not again!’
Tova gave him a confused look, then turned back to Nina. ‘That is right. In my belief, it tells the warriors what to do at Ragnarök.’
Nina was still reading, but wanted to hear Tova’s own interpretation. ‘Which is what?’
‘To travel to Valhalla and gather the weapons they will need to kill Jörmungandr and Fenrir — the serpent and the wolf,’ she elaborated. ‘Jörmungandr is the Midgard Serpent, a giant snake that encircles the earth beneath its surface, and Fenrir is a huge and monstrous wolf. When they return, it heralds Ragnarök. Although it is not quite right to say it is the end of the world,’ she corrected Nina. ‘The translation is closer to “the twilight of the gods”. It is more like the end of a cycle, as the world will renew in time, but there will be much destruction and death before that happens.’
Nina nodded, and kept reading. The large runestone had been crammed with text; the translation took up several pages. Eddie, meanwhile, had questions of his own. ‘So the stone actually tells you how to find Valhalla? I guess that’s another place we can add to the “thought they were legends, turns out they’re real” list.’
‘It’s not quite like getting directions from Google Maps,’ said Nina, still perusing the text. ‘It seems more like riddles.’
‘In a way,’ Tova replied. ‘This runestone tells you to reach Valhalla by travelling up a river until you reach Bifröst — the rainbow bridge that in myth joined the earth with Asgard, the realm of the gods. Once you cross it, you are not far from Valhalla. The runes tell you the path to take. But they do not say which river to follow.’
By now, Nina had reached a relevant part of the translation. ‘There’s a second runestone?’
‘Yes. The first gives a clue on how to find it, saying that a true warrior will understand it.’ She leaned across the desk, pointing out a particular passage. ‘“At the fellowship hall, the other part waits.” I believe it refers to a site in Norway. I would imagine that the other runestone is much like the first, but tells you which river to follow — without telling you how to reach Valhalla.’
‘It’s a security code,’ Eddie realised. ‘You need both runestones to find the place — but even if you’ve got one stone, unless you’re a proper Viking warrior you won’t know where the other one is.’
‘So what happens once you get there?’ Nina asked. ‘The text mentions a guide-stone…’
‘A sun compass,’ Tova told her. She took a photograph from the folder; it was a close-up of the circle of black stone set into the face of the granite monolith.
Nina regarded the picture. Faint lines were inscribed on the dark surface, lines arcing across it from one side to the other. The outer edge was also marked, angular chevrons evenly spaced around the circumference. Further runic symbols appeared in the spaces between the lines. ‘I’ve seen these before. The Vikings used them for navigation.’
Eddie peered at the image. ‘Looks a bit like a ship’s chart.’
‘It’s similar — they used them to determine latitude. The Vikings didn’t have magnetic compasses, so they needed another way to navigate at sea.’
‘Actually, that is still uncertain,’ Tova remarked. ‘The compass set into the runestone is magnetic. It is a carved piece of magnetite; a lodestone. But we don’t know if it was used to magnetise needles to point north, or was simply considered special because it was magnetic. Nobody has found proof that the Vikings used magnetic compasses, though.’
Eddie nodded. ‘That hole in the middle looks like it’s for a stick or something, so you can use it like a sundial.’
‘That’s basically right,’ Nina told him. ‘The lines,’ she indicated the various arcs, ‘represent different times of year to match the sun’s path in the sky, and you’d use the shadow to work out how far north you were. I think they were quite accurate.’
‘A skilled user could work out their position to within one degree of latitude,’ said Tova, with a hint of pride in her heritage.
Eddie was impressed. ‘Smart. There was more to the Vikings than pillaging and helmets with cow horns, then.’
‘There is no evidence that they ever wore horned helmets in battle,’ insisted the Swede, slightly testy. ‘That is as much of a myth as Odin and Thor.’
‘Maybe more of a myth, if you’re right about the runestone giving directions to Valhalla,’ said Nina. She looked back at the translation. ‘So the sun compass… “the two parts together brought, shall alone open the death-gate of Valhalla”? Do you know what that means?’
‘I’m afraid not. But there is a reference to a gate to Valhalla in the Poetic Edda — another of Snorri Sturluson’s works,’ she added for Eddie’s benefit. ‘Depending on the translation, it is referred to as a “holy gate”, a “sacred gate” — or a “death-barrier”.’
Eddie sighed. ‘Based on our luck in the past, I know which one it’ll turn out to be. If you find the place, watch out for booby-traps.’
Tova seemed alarmed at the prospect. ‘I had not thought of that!’
‘We’ve got prior experience,’ Nina told her mournfully. ‘Lots and lots of prior experience.’ She stared at the pages, thinking over what she had learned. ‘Okay, then. I think it’s safe to say that the Valhalla Runestone was stolen because someone,’ she avoided mentioning Berkeley’s name, mindful of Seretse’s advice, ‘wants to find Valhalla itself. Presumably they’re looking for the second runestone as well.’
‘Unless they’ve already got it,’ Eddie said.
‘Let’s hope not. But the question is: why do they want to find Valhalla so badly that they’re willing to kill for it?’
‘I do not know,’ said Tova, shaking her head. ‘The poem Grímnismál, in the Poetic Edda, describes Valhalla as “golden” and roofed with shields. In some interpretations of the poem they are made of gold, so perhaps the robbers think they will find treasure there.’
‘They’d have to be pretty bloody sure it was more than just a myth to murder somebody for it,’ said the Englishman.
‘Yeah,’ Nina agreed. ‘Is there anything more in the runes that might be useful?’ She looked back through the translated text, searching for clues.
Tova took the Swedish version of the ancient writing from the folder. ‘The runes tell you how to find Valhalla — or half of the route, at least — and then say you need the sun compass to get through the gate. There is little description of what is inside, though. All it says is that the warriors shall find everything they need to reach the battlefield where they will face the serpent and the wolf at Ragnarök. “The serpent’s venom lies thick deep below, black eitr that can kill even a god…”’