Kagan spoke to the captain. ‘We are just past sixty-eight degrees north,’ he told the others. ‘The Vikings were very good navigators.’
‘If this is the right place,’ said Eddie, handing the goggles to Berkeley. ‘It’s a pretty close match, though.’
‘The island is called Nektaluk,’ the Russian said, going to the bridge’s plotting table and pointing it out on a chart. It was one of a ragged group of islands off the main coast, none marked with any signs of human habitation. ‘I used the satellite link to get information about it, but apart from its name and position, I could find nothing.’ With a faint smile, he added: ‘It does not even have a Wikipedia page.’
Eddie regarded the map. ‘So it’s twelve miles of bugger-all, then.’
‘Except maybe for a pit full of the most toxic substance on earth,’ said Nina, joining him. The map’s contour lines showed the highest point on Nektaluk island as around 550 metres above sea level; she did some rapid mental arithmetic to convert the figure to 1,800 feet. Depending on whose definition was being used, that was not even tall enough to qualify as a mountain in many countries — but in this case, it was the opinion of the ancient Vikings that counted. They had climbed a path up its slopes to find the site of the battle that would decide the fate of the world.
And now, over a thousand years later, she was about to follow in their footsteps.
31
Dawn crept sluggishly over the island as the Akademik Rozhkov moved closer to shore to send out its boats. Even when full daylight finally arrived, the sun taking its languid time to rise this far north, the day was far from bright; clouds still covered the entire sky.
The weather was unlikely to improve. Nina looked ahead as the rigid inflatable boat carrying the expedition members approached the barren shore. The distant mountain’s peak was barely visible, shrouded by the low-hanging clouds, and there were swathes of bleak mist lower down its slopes. The entire vista was a flat, dreary monochrome, not one single patch of colour to break the monotony of white snow and grey rock.
‘Could be worse,’ said Eddie from beside her. ‘At least it’s not raining.’
‘I’m sure it’ll find a way,’ she replied. Even wrapped in far thicker clothing than she had worn on the search for Valhalla in Sweden, she was still desperately cold.
‘It will not take us long to reach the pit,’ said Kagan determinedly, gesturing towards a second RIB off to one side. This was a larger craft, carrying the team’s equipment — most prominently two of their four snowmobiles. ‘We travel, what? Ten or eleven kilometres?’ He looked to Berkeley for confirmation; the American nodded. ‘All we have to do is follow the route from the runes of Valhalla, then locate the pit — and deliver Thor’s Hammer.’
He glanced down. Between his feet was a case made of high-impact plastic, inside which was the steel canister containing the biological counter-agent. ‘Once the eitr is neutralised, then all this is over. We can return home.’
‘There are still a lot of ifs, though,’ said Nina. ‘If Thor’s Hammer works. If the pit is there. If we’ve translated the runes correctly. Hell, if this is even the right island!’
‘You needn’t worry about the translation,’ said Berkeley snippily. ‘I’ve done my job.’
‘If you hadn’t done your “job”, we wouldn’t all be here at the arse-end of the world,’ Eddie reminded him. ‘But it looks like we’re in the right place. Question is, have Hoyt and Lock made Tova tell ’em where it is too?’
‘They would have had less leverage without me,’ said Nina.
Kagan shook his head. ‘That will not matter. With so much at stake, they will do whatever they have to. They will have found other ways to force her to translate the runes.’
The rest of the short voyage continued in gloomy silence until the boat reached the shore. The four Russian soldiers jumped out on Kagan’s order, hauling the RIB on to the shingle so the rest of its passengers could disembark and unload their gear. While they were doing so, the soldiers splashed through the breaking waves to the second boat and carefully carried the snowmobiles to the miserable beach. The vehicles had been partially disassembled for transport; the men began to put them back together as the boat turned back to the Rozhkov for the second pair.
‘Are these guys any good, then?’ Eddie asked Kagan, regarding the four younger men. ‘Where did you get ’em?’
‘They are members of Unit 201,’ Kagan replied. ‘Fortunately, they were away from the bunker on training. I called them back for this mission.’
‘Why do I get the feeling they’re the only members of Unit 201 left that you could call back?’ asked Nina. Kagan gave her a pained look, but said nothing.
The second boat returned with the other snowmobiles fifteen minutes later. Berkeley used the time to reread his notes, occasionally glancing up towards the distant mountain. ‘Do you know which way we need to go?’ said Nina.
‘I think so,’ he answered. ‘I’m having to work a little to put myself into their mindset.’
‘Yeah, I bet,’ said Eddie. ‘“Tough Viking warrior” isn’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind when I look at you.’
Berkeley huffed, then continued: ‘But I think I’ve figured it out. We need to go north-west, up that hill.’ He pointed inland. ‘At the top, we should see a landmark they called “the shield stone”. Hopefully it’ll be obvious what it is.’
‘At least we won’t have to walk,’ said Nina, looking around as the soldiers waded to the returning boat to unload the snowmobiles. The hillside in question started out shallow as it rose away from the beach, but quickly became steeper. However, she was sure the vehicles could handle the climb. ‘What about after that?’
‘From this shield stone we go along the top of a ridge, and then at the other end we have to cross through the vale of Fenrir. I still have no idea what that means, exactly — I just hope we’ll know it when we see it.’ He consulted his notes again. ‘As long as we can find the landmarks, I don’t think we’ll have any trouble following the route. It’s not as if there are any trees to block our view.’
‘There’s fog, though,’ said Eddie. The wallowing clouds were still hanging over the summit, turning the mountain’s peak into a vague shadow amongst the endless grey, and some of the banks lower down had spread. ‘Looks pretty thick. We’ll need to stick close together if we go into that lot.’
‘We will manage,’ Kagan assured him. He turned to watch his men bringing the last pieces of cargo from the boat. ‘We will be ready to move out in a few minutes, once they have put together the snowmobiles. Are you all ready?’
‘I’m set,’ said Nina.
‘Me too,’ Eddie said. ‘Standing around on a freezing cold beach isn’t my idea of fun. Too many flashbacks to my SAS training.’
Kagan was amused. ‘SAS, pah! Cold like this? This is just an ordinary day for every Russian soldier.’
‘Oh God, don’t set him off,’ Nina begged, seeing that her husband’s pride in his former service was about to demand satisfaction. ‘Once he starts ranting about how much better the SAS is than anyone else, he never shuts up.’
‘Then I will not listen to him,’ the Russian said with a smirk, moving to join the soldiers.
‘Cheeky bugger,’ Eddie grumbled. Nina laughed.
It did not take long for the snowmobiles to be assembled and loaded. The drivers took their places, then engines roared to life in unison. Each vehicle carried two people; the four Russian troopers took a pair of snowmobiles between them, Berkeley rode pillion with Kagan, while Nina straddled the last machine behind Eddie. A moment’s hesitation, then she put her arms around his waist.