The Valhalla Prophecy

by Andy McDermott

  “Sounds good.” Nina watched a symbol slowly move across the map, then regarded the view from the onboard camera. The diffuse light coming through the ice was already fading to darkness as the submersible descended. “Let’s see what’s down there.”

  “If there is anything,” Eddie added from behind her.

  She couldn’t help thinking from his tone that he was almost hoping there was not.

  The first hour of the search passed slowly, and fruitlessly.

  The readings from the MAD turned out to be a source of frustration for the uninitiated. Within minutes, there was excitement as something distorted the background magnetic field enough to trigger an alert—but Matt dismissed it almost immediately as nothing more than a piece of inert metal rather than an actual magnetic source, and was proven correct when he took Nelson in to investigate. The sub’s floodlights fell upon nothing more than a rusting boat anchor. Further signals turned out to be equally disappointing: a corroded car door, a piece of unidentifiable scrap. “Told you to bring an app,” Matt told Nina after the fourth false alarm.

  She was half wishing she did have something to pass the time, but all the same there was something oddly fascinating about the slowly changing view from beneath the surface. The valley had been as full of trees as the surrounding hills before it was flooded, and their remains were still there, standing in their hundreds like decaying grave markers. It was an eerie sight.

  Eddie was less impressed. “Bollocks to this,” he said, retreating from the tent. “I’m going for a walk. Give me a shout if anything interesting turns up.”

  Nothing did for the next hour. The Yorkshireman eventually returned to find the view on the monitor little changed. “Found any more buckets?” he asked.

  “Enough to open a bait shop,” Nina replied, stifling a yawn. “And some bits of boats, something that looked like an engine …”

  “No runestone, though,” Tova said glumly. “And I am sure we started searching near the old archaeological site. Perhaps I was wrong, and it is not here at all.”

  “Give it time,” Nina insisted. “It’s not as if they could get an exact GPS fix in the 1930s. If they were down in the forest and couldn’t see any landmarks, they could easily have gotten their position wrong.”

  “Yes, but by how much? The submarine is almost half a kilometer from where the search started. They would not—”

  A chime from the computer signaled another find for the MAD. “Hold on, this looks interesting,” Matt announced after checking the results. A graph displayed the readings as a series of fluctuating lines—one of which had just spiked considerably. “Definitely not a bucket. This is something actually magnetic, not just metal.”

  Eddie peered over his shoulder. “You’ve found it?”

  “Let’s take a look …” The Australian worked the controls, guiding the ROV between the drowned trunks. The lake bed came into view in the spotlights. Silt deposits had built up over the decades since the dam was constructed, but several large rocks were still visible.

  One stood out. Where the others were craggy, this had a more regular shape.

  Nina felt a surge of exhilaration. “Tova, look at this,” she said, moving aside so the Swede could get closer to the monitor. “Is that the second runestone?”

  Tova let out an audible gasp. “It—it could be,” she stammered. “I think it could be!”

  Matt brought the submersible closer. The lights picked out features on the rock’s flat face: lines scribed into the stone.

  Runes.

  “What about the other part of the compass?” Eddie asked. “Is that there?”

  The camera panned down. More runes were revealed, and an image below them—a stylized carving of a wolf. The beast was curled around something set into the surface beneath it …

  “That’s it!” Nina cried as darker stone came into view. Curving lines ran across the disk, notches cut into its edge. “It’s the other sun compass! We’ve found the second runestone.” She turned to Tova, who was gazing at the image with astonishment. “And once we get it out of the water, it’ll tell us how to find Valhalla.”

  12

  Vietnam

  Chase drifted through a nightmare. He was trapped in darkness by endless trees, slimy trunks blocking every line of escape as his pursuers drew nearer. He tried to run, but his feet sank deeper into the cloying mud with every step. The trees closed in, branches wrapping ever tighter around him, covering his face—

  He jerked awake, confused—then realized something was on his face. Barely holding in a startled yelp, he swatted away a centipede that had been exploring his cheek.

  The sounds of the jungle surrounded him, an incessant chatter of insects and birds. He straightened, muscles and bones aching from the night spent curled up beneath the hollow log. The storm had passed. Shafts of bright sunlight cut through the canopy above to send up ghostly wafts of steam from the sodden ground. He was far from warm, though. His clothes were as damp as the soil, sticking unpleasantly to his skin. “Welcome to the fucking jungle,” he muttered as he started to stand …

  Memory forced its way through his mental fug. Chase instantly dropped back down and grabbed the Kalashnikov, the weapon awkward and unbalanced without its magazine. His gaze darted over his surroundings, hunting for movement, danger …

  Nobody was there. He was safe.

  For now.

  More cautiously, he rose again and peered into the open end of the log. “Natalia? Are you okay?”

  Matted blond hair slowly emerged from the folds of the camouflaged rain cape. “Wo bin … Where am I?” Natalia croaked as she squinted at the light.

  Chase saw fear rising over her bewilderment. “It’s okay,” he said, keeping the gun out of sight as he raised his free hand to show that he was not a threat. “It’s me—Eddie, remember? Eddie Chase? I brought you here last night.”

  Natalia stared up at him—then suddenly started to writhe against the claustrophobic confines of her shelter. She whimpered, crying out in German as her fists beat ineffectually against the moldering wood. “Hey, hey!” said Chase, trying to calm her. “It’s okay—I’ll get you out of there.”

  He reached into the log. She resisted his touch for a moment, before her own addled memory returned. “You … were carrying me, we were in the rain.”

  “Yeah, that’s right.” Taking care not to catch her skin on any protruding splinters, he eased her out of the hiding place.

  She looked around in alarm. “Someone was chasing us! You—you had a fight with him.”

  “I know. But we escaped. We’re safe for now, but we need to get moving. I’ve got friends waiting for us, but I’ll need to figure out where we are before we can reach them.”

  He set her on the ground. She winced as one bare foot touched down. “It hurts.”

  “Lift it up.” Chase shouldered the rifle, then crouched to examine her foot. A small fragment of wood was stuck in her sole, the skin around it red and swollen. “Hold still.” He carefully teased it out, blood beading in the little puncture wound. Natalia’s face tightened, but she endured the discomfort. He retrieved his backpack from under the log and took out a first-aid kit. A minute’s work, and a bandage was in place, antiseptic ointment applied under it. “That should be okay for now, but you’ll need to have it checked by a doctor when we get out of here. Drawing blood in the jungle’s never a good idea.”

  “I know, I have been working here for four months. We—” She stopped, dawning terror on her face. “We were attacked! They took us prisoner, they—”

  “It’s okay, it’s okay,” Chase said, holding her as she began to shake. “We were sent to rescue you. My mates got all the rest of your people out of there. We got cut off, but we’ll catch up with them. I promise.”

  Her trembling slowly subsided. “What happened to us? We were driving to another village when the bandits blocked the road. They had guns, there was nothing we could do. They put a blindfold on me, and then …” Her brow furrowed as
she struggled to recall events. “I don’t remember anything. I woke up, and … and I was with you.”

  “You don’t remember anything at all?” She shook her head. “You were in a camp in the jungle. Your friends were being kept in a tent, but you were in a cabin, on your own. Do you remember that?”

  “I don’t know. I …” Another, deeper frown. “There was a very bright light, in my face. And my arms hurt …” Natalia looked down at them—and gasped as she saw the bruises. She tried to pull away from Chase. “What did they do to me?”

  He eased his grip but didn’t fully let go, concerned that she would panic and try to flee. “I don’t know what they did. It looked like they were doing some sort of tests.” That reminded him of Hoyt, shooting the Russian scientist in cold blood and stealing his work, but this wasn’t the time to worry about the traitor’s true motives.

  She froze. “Tests?” she said, voice child-like, barely a whisper. “Like … experiments?”

  “I suppose, yeah.” She was still afraid, but something about her fear had changed. “Do you know why they were doing it?” Her only reply was another shake of the head.

  Chase got the feeling that her silence was more from reluctance to face the subject than ignorance, but decided not to push her on it; for now, there were bigger concerns. He released her and checked his watch. It was slightly after eight in the morning. He used the angle of the sunbeams cutting through the trees to work out which way was north. “We need to get moving. Can you walk?”

  Natalia hesitantly put weight on her bandaged foot. “I think so.”

  “Good. If it starts hurting, let me know and I’ll carry you. Ready?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay.” He was about to set off, then paused, spotting something hanging from a nearby small tree. “Who’d have thought, Hugo actually said something useful …”

  “What are you doing?” Natalia asked.

  “Getting you something to eat. I think they’re called longans.” He plucked a bunch of orange-brown fruit from one of the branches. “No idea what they’re like, but a mate of mine from Belgium likes them, so hopefully German tastes aren’t too different.”

  He gave them to her. She looked uncertain, but hunger won out and she split open one of the small round fruits to test the pale flesh inside. “Oh! This is good.” She devoured it and spat out the black stone before giving Chase a sheepish look. “Sorry. I am usually more polite …”

  He grinned. “Don’t worry about being polite around me, love. But those are okay?”

  “Yes, I have had them before, in one of the villages. I just had not seen them growing on a tree.”

  “If you like ’em, then tuck in. I might even try one myself. Once you’re full, I mean—you need to eat more than I do.”

  Natalia opened another longan, nibbling at it with more decorum. “Thank you.”

  “No problem. All right, let’s find a way out of here.”

  He set off, heading north. Natalia followed, still eating.

  Although Chase knew they were going in the right direction to reach the rendezvous, he was not sure of their actual position. He took out the map, but it was little help; no landmarks were visible through the dense jungle. “We need to get to higher ground,” he said. The ground to the northeast rose up a slope. “If I can see the landscape, I can figure out where we are.”

  Natalia peered with interest at the map. “The camp where you rescued me—where was it?”

  He pointed it out. “About here.”

  “Let me see.” She took the map and examined it more closely. “I know this place!” she said excitedly, tapping on a small black square marked with Vietnamese text. “This is Ly Quang—the village where we were working before we were … before we were taken.” Her tone became more somber. “We were driving from it when they stopped our bus.”

  Chase saw that the village was about two kilometers northeast of the camp, another few kilometers south of the highway. “You got friends there?”

  “Yes, yes! We were there for four days. We helped them—we gave them medical treatment, vaccinations.”

  “Anyone there have a phone?”

  “There is one telephone, yes.”

  He silently debated the options. Sullivan had given him an emergency number; it would, hopefully, allow him to contact their Vietnamese driver, who had a satellite phone. If he reached Thuc, he could find out the status of the rest of the team and the hostages, arrange to be picked up—and warn Sullivan about Hoyt.

  The danger was that the kidnappers would also know about the village. It would be an obvious place to search for the fugitives … or lie in wait for them.

  “We’ll try to get there,” he decided. The benefits outweighed the risks; reaching a phone would save them a longer trek to the rendezvous point, and he was confident he could spot an ambush. “We just need to work out how.”

  “Do you know where we are now?”

  He waved a finger over the area east of the camp. “Here, somewhere.”

  Natalia regarded the map again, then indicated a spot south of the village. “There is a tower on the top of a hill,” she said thoughtfully. “It is from the war, the Americans built it. The people in Ly Quang told me about it. You can see it from the village—it is quite high. If we can see it too …”

  “We’ll know where we are,” Chase finished. He put away the map, then turned to her. “How’s your foot?”

  “I am good, thank you.” She lifted her bandaged foot to examine it, pale skin almost hidden by dirt. “It is …” She searched for the English word. “Sore. But I will be okay.”

  “Good. If you have any trouble, tell me.”

  “Thank you,” she said again. Chase smiled, and they started up the hill. “Mr. Chase …”

  “Eddie. Call me Eddie.”

  “Okay. Eddie.” A coy grin, which quickly faded. “Last night, you said my father sent you?”

  “Yeah. Me and some other guys were hired to rescue you and your friends.”

  “You are soldiers?”

  “Used to be. We’re mercenaries, technically. But the good kind.” The thought of Hoyt darkened his expression. “Mostly.”

  Natalia was too concerned with her own thoughts to notice. “He does not know any soldiers, or mercenaries—and he does not have a lot of money. How did he afford to do this?”

  “I dunno. But he’s waiting for you in Da Nang.”

  Her face lit up. “He is here?”

  “Yeah. And I’ll get you to him. That’s a promise. Once we’re out of this bloody jungle, that is.”

  They continued up the slope. Chase checked for any signs that their pursuers were nearby, but there were none, just the constant drone and flutter of insects and the calls of birds. Even though it was still early in the day, the heat was already rising. “You told me the people who took me were Russians,” said Natalia, also thinking about her former captors. “Do you know what they were doing to me?”

  “No,” he admitted. “They had you drugged, and they were taking blood samples. But I don’t know what they were looking for, or why they were doing it.” He glanced at her; the fearful expression, though veiled, had returned. “Do you know?”

  She clearly did, or at least had an idea, but it was equally obvious that she remained unwilling to discuss it. “If you don’t want to tell me, that’s not a problem,” Chase went on, giving her a reassuring smile. “My job’s to get you to somewhere safe, that’s all.”

  Her only reply was a quiet “Thank you.” Deciding to let her talk again when she was ready, Chase plodded on up the steepening hill.

  Before long, brighter daylight flared through the jungle canopy to the north. He angled toward it. The slope flattened out. Ahead, the ground dropped steeply away to reveal the lush green carpet of the rain forest spread out below. The hill was not high, but it was enough to clear the tops of all but the tallest trees.

  He took out the map again. Now that he could see the lay of the land, it would not take lo
ng to work out their position. However, Natalia had already found a way to speed up the process. “Look, over there!” she said, pointing to the northeast. Chase advanced until he had a clearer view and followed her gaze. There was a higher hilltop around three quarters of a mile away. A spindly tower rose from its summit. He guessed that it had been a radio mast. Decades of neglect had taken their toll: The top was crooked and missing parts of its gridwork. “The village is about a kilometer from there,” she continued.

  He quickly translated the view to the map’s two-dimensional grid. “Okay, that puts us here,” he said, tapping the paper. “If we go, let’s see … east across the top of this hill and then follow it down, we can go ’round the bottom of the hill with the tower and head north to the village.”

  “Wouldn’t it be quicker to get to this road?” Natalia asked, indicating a thin line running southeast from Ly Quang.

  “Yeah, but I want to stay in the jungle until I’m sure it’s safe. The bad guys’ll still be looking for us.”

  Her face fell. “Oh. Yes, I see.”

  “Hey, it’s okay,” he said, trying to perk her up. “Once we reach the phone, my friends’ll be able to come and get us.”

  “What about my friends? Will they be safe?”

  “They’re probably on their way to Da Nang already. Those people at the camp looked like they were only coming after us.”

  That produced mixed emotions. “I hope they got away, but … that is not good for us, if they want me so badly, is it?”

  “I’ll do everything I can to get you back to your dad,” he assured the young woman. “And the quicker we start moving, the sooner that’ll be.”

  They set off across the hilltop. “You do not like to keep still, do you, Eddie?” said Natalia with a half smile.

  “Sitting around on my arse has never been my thing,” he said, amused. “I like to do stuff, you know? Feel like I’m actually accomplishing something.”