A hole blew open, a huge cloud of steam shrieking out into the frigid air as thousands of gallons of boiling water cascaded down. The dark mass of the ice-burner hit the ground with a massive thud. The drum rolled down the slope, flying over the edge of the cliff amid a scalding waterfall to hit the ground outside the temple with a bang that echoed through the entire cavern.
No sooner had that noise faded than another reached them, a second black drum falling from the roof above the domed houses in another vast column of steam and melted ice.
Chase pushed Nina and Sophia through the door as the steam cloud whooshed past them, the sudden clammy heat a shock after the constant cold. ‘Last thing I expected down here was a sauna,’ he wheezed as he slammed the door. He waited for the steam to disperse, then opened the door slightly to look out. A mist hung over the slope outside, but it was clear enough for him to see a rope drop through the new shaft overhead. He hurriedly closed the door again. ‘Guess who else wants a steam?’
‘The Covenant?’ Nina asked, already knowing the answer. ‘Oh, man! That means somebody’s now tried to kill me on every single continent on earth!’
‘Shall I call the Guinness Book of Records?’ Sophia snarked.
‘We’ll have to try climbing down that statue,’ said Chase. ‘Come on - it’ll take ’em a minute to get down here and get their bearings.’
‘But there are more of them in the city,’ Sophia pointed out.
‘Let’s get out of the fucking Fortress of Solitude here first, then worry about them,’ he said. Less than fifty minutes left, and they were no nearer finding a way down than before. They ran from the library, emerging at the top of the shaft behind the temple. ‘Sorry, love,’ he told Nina, ‘but we’re going to have to put that window through.’
She looked very unhappy. ‘Oh God, it’s absolutely priceless . . . but do it. I just won’t watch.’
Taking out the pickaxe, Chase made his way as quickly as he dared round the ledge to the window. He glanced back. Nina winced and looked away. Taking that as a cue, he whacked the axe against the ancient window. The stained glass was already brittle from age and cold and shattered easily; the gold leading was tougher, needing several blows before he was able to bend the soft metal aside.
He clambered through the gap, finding himself on the statue’s broad, squared-off shoulders. Ice covered the stone and the golden ornamentation. ‘Is it okay?’ Nina shouted across to him.
‘Yeah, come on over. Just don’t slip.’ Now that he was up here, he realised the statue’s left arm, raised as if giving a gift, wasn’t at as steep an angle as he’d thought. It might be possible to climb down it . . . though that still left the problem of where to go next. The statue’s hand was at least thirty feet in the air.
Nina rounded the ledge. He moved back to the window to help her through, then waited as Sophia negotiated the narrow path. ‘All right,’ he said as she reached him, ‘we’re still sixty feet up without any rope. Suggestions would be good. Even daft ones.’
Nina knelt to look over the edge of the statue’s shoulders at the golden necklace reaching partway down its chest. ‘Would this be strong enough to hold us? If we could climb down one of the counterpoises, we might be able to drop down - it looks like there’s a ledge around its waist, where the belt is.’
Chase leaned out to see. ‘You’d have to drop at least ten feet - and the ledge doesn’t look all that wide. And you’d still be a long way up.’
Sophia directed her light down the back of the statue. ‘Eddie, the statue’s quite close to the wall here. We might be able to do a chimney climb down it.’
He went to her and checked. It did indeed look as though it would be possible to descend by pressing their backs firmly against the statue and using their outstretched feet to lower themselves down the wall - but there was one problem. ‘We might,’ he said, ‘but Nina couldn’t.’
‘What?’ Nina protested. ‘Now she’s some super-mountaineer, but I’m not, is that it?’
‘No, it’s that you got shot in the leg four months ago!’ Chase replied. ‘You might think it’s okay now because it’s stopped hurting, but if you try to do a chimney climb, you’ll put a load of strain on it - and if the muscle tears, that’s it, you’ll fall. We need another way.’ He returned his attention to the outstretched left arm. The hand’s upturned palm was almost flat - and not all that far from the temple wall, where there was one of the tall, narrow windows . . . and a ledge just below it.
Nina had seen it too. ‘How far’s the jump?’
‘Five feet, maybe six.’ He tried to picture the temple’s exterior. There had been similar ledges running round the outside beneath each row of windows . . . at the same level as the tops of the buttresses. ‘If we can jump across to the window, we’ll be able to slide down those supports on the outside!’
‘If we can get to the hand,’ said Sophia, regarding the route uncertainly. The shoulder was thick with ice, and apart from a pair of metal bands around the upper arm and wrist the statue offered almost nothing in the way of handholds.
‘I’ll go first,’ Chase said. He cautiously stepped across the statue’s shoulder. Ice squeaked and crunched under his weight. He dropped to all fours, turning to descend the arm feet first.
The first golden band was only a few feet below. Using it to brace his feet, Chase lowered himself until he was able to grip the edge of the metal and continue down. There was a depression in the statue’s elbow, which had filled with ice; he rasped at it with his crampon spikes until he found grip.
Though terrified that he might fall, Nina couldn’t look away - until she heard a noise behind her. ‘Eddie,’ she called, worried, ‘they’re in the library!’
Chase acknowledged her with a nod, then continued. There was less purchase on the forearm - not only was it narrower than the upper arm, but it was also longer, the stylised proportions not the same as a human body. The band round the wrist was nearly eight feet below the elbow, and there were no protrusions he could hold.
He put his hands on the cold stone, fingers splayed to maximise his grip, and edged downwards. Probing with his toes, he felt for the golden band. No luck. Looking down, he saw there was still over a foot to go.
No choice but to let go. He inched one hand down, then the other, moving them slightly further each time—
His left hand slipped.
He slithered down the statue’s arm on his stomach, clawing for grip and finding only ice. Instead, he opened his arms and tried to wrap them round the stone, toes scrabbling for any purchase as he felt himself rolling over the edge—
His feet slammed against the top of the giant bracelet. Chase squeezed his arms round the statue, heart thudding as he arrested his fall. He wriggled sideways until he was back atop the arm, then lowered himself on to the stone hand.
‘Eddie!’ Nina shouted. ‘Jesus, are you okay? Eddie!’
‘I’m okay, I’m okay,’ Chase panted, slowly getting to his feet. ‘You just need to watch that last little bit there.’ He looked at the nearest window, a vertical slash of backlit blue. It was further away than he’d initially thought, but still reachable.
He hefted the pickaxe. ‘All right, here I go. If I make it, I’ll break the window so I can get through and grab you from the other side. If I don’t make it . . .’ a glance at the shadowed floor below, ‘then I hope I land on my head, ’cause that’s a break-both-legs kind of fall.’
‘Thanks for that reassuring image, Eddie,’ said Sophia.
Nina unconsciously reached for her pendant as Chase prepared to make the jump, only realising what she was doing when she couldn’t touch it - it was hidden under several layers of clothing. Hoping it was the thought that counted, she held her breath, watching as he psyched himself up, readying the axe, drawing back . . .
And hurling himself across the gap.
Chase swung the pickaxe just before he landed on the narrow ledge, smashing the glass. He hacked with the axe, trying to hook it on to something secur
e. Lead bent and glass broke, one of his feet slipping off the ledge as he overbalanced, toppling backwards—
A harsh clink of metal on stone. The pickaxe found the window’s frame. Arm straining, Chase pulled himself upright, regaining his footing and reaching through the broken window to grip its sill. He used the pickaxe to knock out more of the glass, wrenching away the leading until the gap was large enough to fit through.
He poked his head through to check there actually was a ledge outside. To his relief, there was. One of the buttresses curved away to the ground a few feet to his right.
To his dismay, he also saw figures making rapid descents from the shaft cut by the second ice-burner. The Covenant were coming from two directions, maybe even three if they were also using the shaft Trulli had drilled - and he, Nina and Sophia were caught between them.
Spurred on by the sight, he climbed through, then leaned back into the temple over the sill. ‘Okay, come on!’ he called, seeing that Sophia was already descending. ‘Jump and I’ll grab you!’
She reached the hand with little trouble. Eyes locked on his, she made the jump, sailing across to land almost perfectly on the ledge. Chase seized her arms, holding on until she had fully recovered her balance, then shuffled sideways so she could climb through.
‘Wait for me at the top of that,’ he said, indicating the buttress. He returned to the window as Sophia edged along the ledge. ‘Okay, Nina. Do what I did - no, wait, do whatever Sophia did and come down the arm. My way was a bit pants-filling.’
Nina gave him a small smile and stepped across the statue’s shoulders.
She didn’t even reach the arm.
The ice shrouding the stone, weakened by Chase and Sophia’s footsteps, sheared apart. She stumbled, trying to regain her footing - and a spear of pain from overstressed muscle pierced the wound on her right thigh. Her knee buckled. She landed hard on her side, grasping in panic for anything that could stop her from going over the edge—
There was nothing.
She slithered down the statue’s chest towards the sheer drop below.
26
‘Nina!’ Chase screamed. She hit one of the necklace’s long rectangular counterpoises.
And caught it.
But it didn’t stop her. The metal was too thin to support her, buckling and swinging her across the statue’s front. She slammed to a stop against a carved protrusion.
The counterpoise broke off. Nina plunged straight down—
Her feet hit the statue’s gilded belt. Even as more pain exploded in her legs, she had just enough presence of mind to throw herself backwards against the great figure’s stone stomach, collapsing on the small ledge at its waist. The long spear of the counterpoise plunged past, hitting the temple floor with an echoing clang.
Chase stared in horror, seeing Nina’s face twisted in pain. ‘Wait there!’ he yelled. ‘I’m coming!’
He started to climb through the window, but Sophia pulled him back. ‘What are you doing?’
‘What do you think?’
‘Even if you manage to climb back up the arm, how are you going to get down to her?’
‘I’ll think of something!’ He tried again to pull himself through the window.
Sophia jammed her arm across the frame, blocking him. His mouth curled with cold anger. ‘If you don’t move, I’ll chuck you off this ledge.’
She knew he meant it, but held her place. ‘Eddie, the Covenant will be here any minute. They must have heard that noise. If they catch us, they’ll kill us all.’
‘I can’t leave her!’
‘You can’t reach her, either. Eddie, we’ve got to go!’
Furious, frustrated, he looked back at Nina. She had managed to sit upright, and was clutching her leg. ‘Nina!’ he called. ‘If you can—’
A noise from above: breaking glass. A man in snow camouflage was using his rifle butt to widen the hole in the window behind the statue.
He ducked through, looked round, saw Chase below—
Chase shoved Sophia away and darted sideways as the Covenant soldier fired, bullets pitting the ancient stonework and shattering the remains of the window. The gunfire stopped; Chase risked a look, seeing another man climbing on to the statue before being forced to jerk away from a second burst.
‘Eddie, come on!’ Sophia commanded, moving to the buttress. ‘If we don’t get out of here now, they’ll cut us off !’
‘Fuck!’ Chase roared, thumping a clenched fist against the wall. He knew she was right - but that was absolutely no comfort. And if he tried to shout to Nina, even to assure her that he would come back for her, the Covenant members would know she was there.
And kill her.
Anguished, he followed Sophia to the buttress as she lowered herself over the edge . . . and let herself drop.
The buttress was wide enough for her not to slip off the side, but she still couldn’t hold in a shriek as she hurtled downwards, boots grating on the frozen stone. The slope became shallower as it descended, but Sophia was still moving fast when she reached the bottom, shooting off the end and tumbling across the iron-hard ground. She came to a stop, unmoving for a moment - then gave Chase a dizzy wave.
With a last look back at the window, Chase plunged after her.
Jagged lumps of ice tore at his clothes as he hurtled down the buttress like a luge rider - sans luge. He tried to squeeze his feet against the edges to slow himself, but couldn’t find enough grip, still picking up speed as he neared the bottom . . .
Chase was airborne for a moment as he flew off the end - then hit the ground arse first, taking a painful kick to his spine. He bounced over the frozen earth in a spray of ice crystals, skidding along on his back before coming to a halt.
‘Are you all right?’ Sophia asked, hobbling stiffly to him.
‘Fine,’ he grunted as he stood. Muscles ached and knives jabbed at various parts of his anatomy, but nothing seemed permanently damaged. He saw the sled nearby. ‘Come on.’
‘What are you doing?’ Sophia demanded as he headed for it. ‘If you go back in there, they’ll shoot you before you get five feet across the room!’
‘I know. That’s why I’m not going back in - until I get a gun. If Nina keeps quiet, maybe they won’t see her and they’ll go.’ He reached the sled, taking hold of the tow rope. ‘Then I can climb up and get her.’
‘We won’t have time,’ she insisted. ‘And where are you going to get a gun, anyway?’
A shout reached them from the city, where another man in white had emerged from behind a building and seen them. ‘He’ll do.’
‘He still seems to be using it!’ Sophia warned as the man took aim. More men appeared behind him. Chase recognised Zamal’s bearded face amongst the group.
‘Okay, slight rethink!’ There was no decent cover nearby, and going back into the temple would bring them into the sights of the men already inside. Instead, Chase grabbed Sophia and dived with her on to the sled. ‘Hang on!’
He kicked at the ground - and sent the sledge racing downhill along the frozen road bisecting the ancient city.
Zamal’s men opened fire, bullets spitting chunks of ice into the air around Chase and Sophia. But flattened on the sledge they were a tricky target - made the more so as they rapidly picked up speed. ‘Get them! Get them!’ shrieked Zamal, opening up with his SCAR on full automatic as he tracked the fleeing pair downhill.
Sharp-edged ice fragments bit at Chase’s face as a line of bullet impacts snaked along the ground beside him, getting closer as the Arab refined his aim - one shot even exploded beneath him as it whipped between the body of the sled and its runner—
They hurtled through the arch and past the first buildings, cutting off Zamal’s line of fire. Chase looked ahead. The road led all the way down to the edge of the city - and the drainage shaft cut through the dam. Their escape route.
But that would mean abandoning Nina, and he wasn’t prepared to do that.
‘Eddie!’ Sophia yelled. Another group of Cove
nant troopers ahead. They must have come in through the original shaft, making their way up through the city to meet their comrades.
Either they had seen the approaching sled, or Zamal had radioed them. Whichever, they were lining up across the road, preparing to shoot . . .
Chase stuck one leg over the sledge’s side, jamming his boot against the road surface. The sled slewed round, almost tipping over. He lifted his foot and it straightened out - now aiming for one of the side roads.
More gunfire, more cracking impacts around them as the soldiers realised they were about to lose sight of their prey—
Something blew apart with a crunch of shattered plastic. Chase took a blow to his side as one of the pieces of equipment strapped to the sledge was hit. The laser rangefinder had stopped a bullet for him.
But he had no time to reflect on his luck. They reached the side road, a domed wall looming ahead. He jammed both feet down, trying to slow the sledge, then lifted one to steer them round the obstruction.
Too fast—
The speeding sled scraped against the base of the curved wall in a spray of ice shards as it turned, teetering perilously on one runner before crashing down again. The gas cylinder rattled against its restraints, hitting Chase’s leg.
Feet down, toes skittering over the ice. The sled slowed. Beyond the buildings ahead, he could see a roiling haze rising towards the ceiling - steam from the volcanic vent in the hypogeum.
He saw a route leading between the groups of houses and swung them into it. The path was tight, but it opened out ahead—
Over a drop.
‘Shit!’ gasped Chase, slamming both feet as hard as he could against the ice. Sophia did the same. The sledge juddered, slowing - but not enough. ‘Roll!’
He threw himself to the left, Sophia to the right as the sled fishtailed over the edge, crashing down on the frozen ground ten feet below. Chase hit a pile of broken wood, twisting round and bending his legs to absorb the impact. The wood shattered along with its prison of ice, pieces flying everywhere as he came to a stop at the very edge of the drop.
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