One of the long spears lay near the dead giant, but he went for something smaller. Gold gleamed in the crystals’ glow. The trikan.

He snatched up the ancient weapon. It was larger and heavier than the Atlantean version, but the basic design was the same – something to be hurled at enemies.

Which he did.

Braun climbed down through the outer ring of coffins, leaning around one to find his prey – and took the heavy, bladed discus hard in his face. Teeth broke, a thumb-sized chunk of flesh flayed from his upper lip and cheek. He screamed, stumbling and falling onto another sarcophagus—

The one Eddie had hit.

Its weakened base sheared apart. Man and coffin both bowled towards the bottom of the mausoleum. Eddie’s eyes widened as the golden wrecking ball plunged at him. He flung himself clear, the falling container smashing down where he had been standing.

Braun tumbled off it into the broken debris. But even winded, blood streaming from his mauled face, he still twisted to aim his gun at Eddie—

Yellow gas gushed from a crack in the sarcophagus.

The toxic cloud caught the mercenary. He collapsed with a choked scream, flailing and twitching.

‘Shit!’ gasped Eddie, frantically clambering higher. Not only was the deadly gas welling below him, but there was another jet higher up where the sarcophagus had ripped away. He took in deep breaths, then held the air in his lungs as he angled as far away from the coffin as he could.

He passed the gap where the king’s sarcophagus had stood and kept climbing. The gas was slightly heavier than air, slowly roiling downwards. Once he was above it, he should be safe. Just a couple more metres—

The room shook again.

He grabbed a sarcophagus as the ship – the whole iceberg – rolled. It went further than before, the chamber pitching several degrees towards the horizontal, then tipping sickeningly back. Cracks lanced through the glowing crystal walls with the noise of shotgun blasts. The whole place was tearing itself apart—

Another coffin broke loose above him.

He swung underneath the sarcophagus he was holding as the golden torpedo tumbled past. It hit another below, pounding it from its base. Both crashed onwards in a destructive chain reaction.

More gas escaped above. Eddie regained his hold, then scrabbled higher. Whichever way he went, he would have to pass through one of the streams to reach the stairs.

He readied himself – then closed his eyes and made a flying leap.

Even with his eyelids squeezed shut, the hissing gas still stung, but there was no time to think about it as he made a hard landing on the topmost coffin. He clawed at it, hauling himself upwards and groping blindly for the stairs. He couldn’t risk opening his eyes until he was clear; some poisonous gases could destroy sight on contact.