The Valkyrie Chronicles: Titans (8 page)

Artemis poked her head out her door as we trudged through the main room scooping up our Valkyrie armor and gearing up.  She didn't say a word, she just disappeared back into her room to appear a moment later back in her cloak.  She smirked as she grabbed her weapons and slung them back over her back.

I smiled at her, she always wanted to be where we were, always having our back.  I said, “You should sleep sister.  We don't even know what is happening yet.”

She shrugged. “Would you.”

I lied. “Of course.”  Which only got a surprised burst of laughter from Kate.  My lips twitched into a smile. “Fine, you wouldn't be able to keep me away.”

The archer grinned in triumph and said, “There you have it then.  After you sisters.”

A minute later we arrived in father's workshop.  A tired looking Tyr at his side at the tactical console in his green Einherjergeir armor as always.  I wondered how many others father contacted about this mystery transmission.

He motioned to the ceiling and the main holo-display bloomed to life and I yawned then cracked my neck, waking myself up entirely.  I could feel my Verr causing a small amount of adrenaline to enter my system to make me fully awake and sharp.  I silently thanked them.  They sent an image of a smile through my head in response.

Then I took a deep breath and exhaled then made a beckoning motion with my finger and accepted the transmission.  It was the same Halfling from before, and we could see Eros at his station beside the man.  I said, “This is Kara, the Wild One.”

The man said, “You have audacity making our Queen wait.  She requires you to exit your little village for transport to the Elivagar.”

The man was serious.  I laughed at the fact he appeared to believe I would just do it.  Like it never occurred to him that anyone would deny an order from his queen.  What a messed up society the Jotunn and Titans had.  I chuckled and said firmly, “I would have to say no to that.  But thank your queen for her hospitality.”  I made a slashing motion and cut the transmission.

Tyr looked at me.  “Was that wise?”

Father looked to be in thought then a smile bloomed on his face when he realized what I was up to.  He looked at Tyr. “No old friend, she is like the Terran fox.”

I nodded. “We will get nowhere speaking with a lackey.  We won't know what Rhea is up to until we speak with her ourselves.”

We were being hailed again, I accepted it and it was the Halfling again.  He started saying, “You dare defy...”  I cut him off. “Yes I do.”  I cut the transmission again.

Kate looked positively pleased with my actions, I was acting like a human here, manipulating the situation.  A long minute later we were being hailed again.  This time we listened to the chime for a good two minutes, Artemis was now rolling her eyes in humor and I winked at her then put on a bored look on my face and accepted the transmission.

This time, Rhea's long armored mask appeared on the screen.  I cocked an eyebrow and feigned innocence. “Rhea?”  A hand reached up to grasp the mask and there was a clicking sound and she removed the mask, revealing her feminine features.  I gave a slight nod of acknowledgment and then said as sweetly as I could manage without bile forming in my throat, “Well met Rhea.  What could I do for you this spectacular evening?”

To her credit, I couldn't hear any of the annoyance in her voice that I could see burning in her eyes.  “Salutations Kara.  I require you on my vessel, I didn't believe the impossible stories your people were telling me about you.  Then I saw the Ragnarok records of you in battle, it was beautiful to watch.  I believe you are the instrument of the Frost Giant's defeat.  At long last, we can be rid of their arrogance.”

I smiled cruelly at her. “I think I will decline your offer, but I give you thanks for the offer.”

Her eyes suddenly got hard as a slight smile crossed her lips.  “You believe that was a request?  You will soon learn to follow my orders Asgard.”

She made a motion with her eyes and a Ragnarok man stepped up to her, looking up at her adoringly.  She smiled down at him and reached out and caressed his cheek and handed him a knife as she said, “My sweet pet, please be a dear and slit your throat for me.”

I was screaming out a “NO!” as the man just instantly, with no hesitation, ended his own life in front of us.  I stared at the screen in shock and she beckoned with her hand and an Asgard man stepped up before I could say anything she handed the bloody knife to him with a sweet smile and he did the same.

I fell to my knees and couldn't catch my breath as she said,  “I will have one of my little pets do the same every five of your minutes until you agree to obey my orders.”  She chuckled and added, “Oh I do so love this little game!”  Then she cut the transmission.  Artemis and Kate pulled me to my feet as I stared at the blank screen, tears running down my face.

I whispered, “She just... she just made them kill themselves.”

I looked around, everyone's faces looked to be sick and carved from stone.  I started to reach into the air to my virtual console and Kate put her hand on mine, stopping me. “You can't.”

Through tears I said, “I'll not have the blood of the innocents on my hands.  She's going to kill them all.”

Father shook his head. “Daughter, we will find a way.”

I almost glared at him as I looked at the chronograph Tyr had floated into the display with the countdown.  “In four minutes father?”  I was angry, frustrated, and terrified, I didn't know how to win this fight when the enemy would not stand in front of me.  I shook my head and opened a channel to the Elivagar.

It was the Halfling communications officer again.  I said quickly, “Tell Rhea I will come.  Just no more deaths.  I need fifteen minutes to exit the citadel for transport.”

He had a cruel grin on his face, I was doing his queen's bidding like he thought it should be.  He muted the transmission then conversed with someone then got back on with me, his smile doubled as he said with pleasure in his voice, “My Queen gives you ten minutes.  And she had two more slaves end their lives for you presuming to dictate the terms.”  Then he cut the transmission as my heart stopped and I forced the bile in my throat down. I screamed, “ Kroth!”  I slammed my fist down on a work table, shattering it's surface and sending shrapnel around the room as it crumbled.

I spun around and looked at everyone wildly. “We have ten minutes to come up with a plan to save the remaining hostages.”  I tried to think like Rhea, what did she expect of me, what was her weakness?  My eyes snapped wide as I realized she had two, the same two the Ragnarok of old had when fighting us Valkyrie.  Lack of information about our technology and most importantly, hubris!  Pride would be her downfall.

I started sprinting out of the workshop with Kate and Artemis calling after me as we raced along.  What I needed was in Samantha's room in my quarters.

Nine minutes later I walked out of the main gates, the assembled Einherjer and Valkyrie made a hole for me on the line and, staring straight ahead, all gave the salute to heroes and a resounding “Raugh!”  echoed around the gates.  I didn't hesitate as I strode out of the main shield and walked into the clearing, holding my ace in the hole.

A moment later my entire being felt as if it were simultaneously frozen, boiled, and torn apart.  Then I was standing in a huge chamber that loosely resembled the throne rooms I remembered from medieval times on Earth.  Only this one was all shining alloys and gossamer wall hangings.

There were hundreds of men pointing weapons at me.  Most were Halflings, but in the mix were Ragnarok, Asgard, Olympian, and Vanger men, and an Asgard woman.

The communications Halfling stepped up to me, he was indeed much smaller than a Jotunn or Titan, but was still a large man, about the size of an average Ragnarok, at almost seven feet tall.  He growled out to me, “I am Demeter, surrender your weapons and that device, your Queen would see you.”

I looked at him and smiled cruelly as I moved the colorfully painted box to my chest with one arm, cradling it as carefully as I could.  I shrugged at the man. “No.”

He took a long stride up to me, loomed above me in a menacing fashion, and raised a hand to strike me.  He didn't even know he was dead when his body crumpled to the ground and I retracted my Odin Spear from his chest.  I spoke down to his corpse calmly, “I cannot surrender my weapons fool, I am the weapon... and you should have worn armor to face me.”

There was squealing laughter and excited clapping from the side. I glanced over and looming over everyone in the room, Rhea was walking toward the throne with an Olympian on one arm and an Asgard woman on the other.  “I have never been so entertained in eons.  You are a true delight Kara.”

She shooed the Olympian away and sat on a chair that I could only call a throne and had the Asgard woman sit with her.  She whispered something and the woman removed theTitan's armor mask.  Rhea gave her a smile and said, “Thank you, my pet.”

Then she looked at me with humor in her eyes.  “I've never had a female to toy with like this before.  Your race is full of interesting quirks.”  She leaned down and kissed the Asgard on the lips, the woman looked to be almost in the throes of ecstasy.  Then she asked her, “My sweet little pet, if I told you it would please me, would you kill yourself?”  The woman nodded eagerly and my blood ran cold.

I tilted my head back and laughed.  This seemed to cause Rhea some pause and she looked at me.  I chuckled. “You think that securing my obedience by killing these innocents was really going to work?”  There was ice-water flowing through my veins as I bluffed.

She nodded. “Yes I do.  Your people have been so kind as to explain to me your race's abhorrence of violence, and the purpose of the Valkyrie.  You exist only to protect the innocents.”

I held up the box in both hands. “Do you also know the story of what happens when the Asgard are pushed too far?  When we have no choice than to sacrifice some innocents so that our race could survive?  Did theses Ragnarok you have enslaved not share with you the fate of their old capital and the Hammer of Thor?”

Her eyes snapped wide at the mention of the Hammer of Thor.  I motioned at the box with my eyes.  I sneered at her. “Yes.  You have I see.  So this is how this is going to work.  You are safe as long as this device is in my hands, the moment I release it, it is the end of your existence.  I guess that is hard for you to grasp since you have been around since before recorded history.  I would sacrifice these innocents so others would not suffer.”

She hissed out, “You wouldn't!”

I snapped back in anger, “ Oh wouldn't I?  The Ragnarok know better, they call me the Demon of Vengeance for a reason.”  I glared at her then said, “You will release all the innocents you have enslaved, including the Olympians.  You will transport them to the planet below.  Then I will disarm the device and give it to you.  But if you kill one more innocent, I release the device.”

She stared at me in horror for a few moments then a smile bloomed on her lips.  “You are truly a prize worth possessing.  I didn't believe the stories of you standing against entire armies, of you taking down the Ginnungagap in space.  Until I watched the Ragnarok records of you in battle.  Now here, you stand in defiance of your own Queen.  This is exciting to watch you in action!  You truly have no fear.”

She locked eyes with me trying to read me.  The corner of her mouth quirked up in a twitching smile as she slowly withdrew another one of her accursed knives from her armor and slowly handed it to the Asgard woman.  She started to say, “Sweet love, please...”  I took one hand off the box and made a show of almost dropping it.  Her mouth snapped shut and she held a hand up to stop me.

She tilted her head in amazement. “Ymir's horn!  You would really do it wouldn't you Kara?  Such a contradiction to your nature.  You act almost like the two humans I had dissected earlier, they held a certain amount of resistance to my charms, they fought it even though they belonged to me.”  I fought down the bile in my throat yet again, knowing the humans she took with her were dead.

Then she said, “I shall play your game because you are the prize that shall tip the scales in our favor against the Jotunn and end our feud for eternity.”

She hit a stud on her throne and a door opened behind the seat to the left. Another armored Titan walked in, she didn't have the face mask that Rhea used, instead she had the photon shield helmet of the Jotunn.

Rhea spoke to the woman, “Transport all of our pets to Kara's village on the planet, even the Katra, the old Olympians.  None of them are to be harmed.”  The woman looked confused and Rhea almost yelled, “Do it!”  The other Titan bowed and said, “Yes Rhea.  Right away.”

The woman turned and pushed a Halfling violently toward the center of the room.  “You heard your Queen!  Do it now!”  The man bowed deeply. “Yes matron!”

They went about rounding up the men in the room while the other Titan used her wrist console and announced the order over the ship's intercom.  Then Rhea stood and the Asgard woman looked up at her.  Rhea bent down and kissed her deeply and then said, “You too my little pet.  Remember, it is Kara that is taking your pleasure from you.”  The woman nodded at her then left with the others, giving me a hateful glare.

In moments, only the two Titans, and the Halflings were in the room.  Rhea looked around and snapped, “Leave us!”  The Halflings bowed and backed out of the chambers.  Leaving the Titans and the body of Demeter.

Rhea stalked round me with a genuine smile. “You are truly fascinating.  To think the instrument of the Frost Giant's downfall will be a weapon of their own making.  And in the form of a tiny woman.  You are fierce.”

I just stood there motionless holding the box until I heard Kat's voice in my head over our nanite link.  Normal coms wouldn't have worked so deep in the Jotunn vessel.  “They are arriving now love.  How did you do it?”

I smiled inwardly. “I just took a page from that old Earth card game, poker.  Let me know when transport is complete.”

Her voice now sounded strained. “We will find a way to free you Kara.  I love you.”

I did smile at that and said, “Don't count me out yet.  I love you to Kat.  More than you know.”

A minute later Rhea stopped pacing around me, some light flickering in her eyes. “It is done pet.”

I waited for Kate's confirmation then I looked up at Rhea with hate in my eyes and snapped, “I'm not your pet!”  As I threw the brightly painted box at her feet.

The squeal of terror that came from her as she tried to catch it was priceless.  The box hit the ground by her feet and the clown popped out of the Jack In The Box toy that Samantha had kept from her childhood.

I was laughing almost hysterically when suddenly white hot pain bloomed from my chest and I was flying through the cavernous chamber and smashing into the wall, from Rhea's attack.  I was seeing bright motes swimming in my vision and Rhea's voice echoing as she said, “That was for deigning to make demands upon your Queen.”

Before I could shake it off, she kicked me. I heard bones crack as more pain joined the first, and I was again flying through the air and colliding with another wall and landing on the floor gasping.  I looked up at her as she said, “And that was for the deception.”

Other Titans were walking into the chambers as she stepped up to me.  She wouldn't catch me off guard again, but there looked to be all ten Titans of the ship standing around in a half circle around me.  I could take one, possibly two of them but not ten.  I would just have to take whatever she threw at me and pick my time to act.  She wouldn't kill me, she needed me as she had said, but she was going to make sure I hurt.

She reached down and grabbed my hair and picked me up off the ground by it, my feet dangling a few feet off the ground.  She turned my head toward the body of Demeter as she raised her other armor clad fist, and she said with a touch of sorrow in her voice, “ And this is for killing my son.” Then she struck me in the face.

Pain like no other swept over me as my nose shattered and the orbital socket of my left eye. Hair tore from my head as well as some of the flesh of my scalp as I hit the floor, my right leg cracked, fracturing but not breaking, after Folkvangr, it would take more than that to break it.  Kroth!  I could feel my Verr attacking the damage and stemming the flow of blood from the wounds.

I tried to focus. I had to close one eye to look up as Rhea threw the handful of hair on the floor as she just sat down on the floor beside me and pulled me into her lap.  Then she leaned down and kissed me almost gently on the lips and said almost warmly, “And that, is for killing Ymir.”

She reached behind her as I blocked the pain out of my mind, and produced some sort of hoop from somewhere.  She pulled it apart at a joint I couldn't see and reached over and clipped it around my neck and it crackled with energy and I felt weaker and the pain from my wounds tripled.  I bit my tongue to stifle a scream.  I wouldn't give her the satisfaction.

She explained as she stood and pulled me to my feet. “That collar is an energy siphon. It will stop you from using your Valkyrie abilities, though there is so much we don't know, it would be a shame to kill you before we knew how that baffling energy you use works.  I can't have you wandering around loose until I have properly broken you.  Oh, this game will be just as fun as the last!”  She seemed happy about that.

She said, “Come along pet, we have so much to talk about.” Then she started walking away and some sort of energy tether sprung to life between her armor's power pack on her hip and the collar she placed on my neck.  I was yanked toward her and pain flowed through me at the collar and from my wounds that were just barely healing.  My Verr couldn't get enough power to maintain my link with Kate. They started to probe the collar, I thought to them, “Not yet my brave protectors, I will let you know when it is time.”

I stumbled and limped along on one good leg after Rhea.  I was seething inside.  The Krothing bitch had put me on a leash.  I will pick my moment, and she will pay for this, I swear to the Tree of Ages.