Two-thirds of the Einherjer raised their weapons at the crowd. Tyr and the men following his lead turned to point theirs at their own comrades on the line. Tyr was shaking his head and pleading with them, “Brothers, do not listen to her, she has bewitched you! Fight it!”
A couple dozen men turned to look at the Captain of the Einherjer, First Protector of the Gate, Tyr Hand of Justice, then down to their weapons then dropped them like they were on fire. I looked at Tyr with pride, the respect he commanded among his men was stronger than Rhea's hold on them.
Rhea growled and said, “One!”
She locked eyes with me, damn her red eyes were pretty, I wanted to... I shook my own head, in this enclosed space, her pheromones were getting more concentrated and I was starting to get aroused even through my nanite increased metabolism. She recognized the battle within me then smiled sweetly and said almost seductively, “Two.”
The affected Einherjer took aim. I knew she wasn't bluffing, she had demonstrated that killing for her was just as easy as breathing. I lifted my hand in the air and spread my fingers and the primary shield dropped. The Titan grinned at me. “See? Now that wasn't too bad was it? It is so delicious that I can command you like my pets without having control of you. And your race has no sexual preference or boundaries. I've never had female pets before.” She put her elbows out and two Asgard women stepped past the Einherjer to eagerly take her arms and they walked out of the citadel with her other thralls and over half of the Einherjer.”
She looked at the Einherjer and got a cruel smile on her face. “No, not you loves, I need you to kill the Archer. I'm done playing with her now.”
I could hear her laughter echoing as the torrent of energy of a Frost Giant transport beam engulfed her and most of the innocents she had in tow. The ones who were too far away were vaporized, torn apart, or thrown away from the fury of energy like rag-dolls.
Though the loss of life so violently and indiscriminately was almost enough for me to start retching on the ground, my immediate concern were the Einherjer turning their weapons on Artemis. Her cloak could absorb a shot or two but not dozens! She was already on the move back to the secondary shield as they opened fire. Tyr and the others were trying to wrest the weapons from their grasp.
A random blast hit Artemis in the left shoulder, the fabric of her cloak shimmered as she was spun violently and landed on the ground. Kat, Inatra and I leaped and landed between the Einherjer and our friend. Our nano-lattice flared as we absorbed all of the energy weapons fire quickly. They dropped their sidearms and rushed us, trying to get to the Olympian, who was back on her feet behind us.
I glanced at the secondary shield, there must have been a couple thousand people now, prominently Ragnarok, pounding on the shield. I hissed, “Kroth!” I didn't want to commit violence on my own people! That is not what the Valkyrie do!
I had no other choice, I couldn't let the men of the line kill Artemis. I dropped my head in shame as two blades of blue crackling energy slowly extended from my arms as the men charged us. Just as they were about to clash, I heard a crackling at the secondary shield then the familiar feel of Arina's personal shield bubble engulf me and the other women. It left the Einherjer pounding on her shield to no effect.
I looked up at her and then laid the back of my hand on her cheek. “I have never been happier to see you in my entire life Little One!” The other women followed suit. I looked back at the line then opened my hand and the primary shield snapped back to life. I asked my Verr to please speak with the shield, they did and I yelled, “Tyr, take your unaffected men out the gates, we will isolate the other Einherjer until the effects wear off. See to the injured innocents out there, we will send healers.”
He nodded and ordered his men to pull back, they exited the citadel and a couple of the men trying to get at Artemis attempted to leave too but the shield wouldn't let them pass. I looked through the secondary shield. Ok, that just left the love starved throng still trying to get out the gates to join Rhea. They were harmless enough, jut trying to follow their lust. I looked at the daughters of Odin and Artemis.
I pulled Artemis into a hug. Something I rarely ever do, showing a shameless public display of affection like this. I blame the Human and Vanger influence on our society these past few eons. Then I whispered in her ear, “You were right and we were fools not to listen to you. I am sorry sister.”
She nodded with a tear rolling down her cheek. Then we all walked with Arina, her shield bubble easily moving through the locked out secondary shield and pushing the love-struck crowd aside as we headed back toward a wind rider and the Central Spire. We needed to get to father's workshop to determine what to do and how to get our people back. Kroth! I do not know how to fight this and it just frustrates me!
Chapter 4 – Nano Phage
We saw medical wind riders flying toward the main gates to assist the wounded and dying outside the gates and to transport them. The Einherjer stuck outside the gates had their emergency transponders which would allow them through the shields I had on lock-down, isolating the Einherjer that were under Rhea's influence.
The four of us Valkyrie gasped in unison as a momentary burning shock went through our nervous system. I blinked and a message from my Verr scrolled across my vision. “Invaders have been purged.” Invaders? They had no more information for me when I inquired. Their ability to explain concepts to us is very limited. I just took it in stride, my nanites are my friends and wouldn't do anything they didn't believe was necessary. They saw me as their charge, and their single-minded purpose was to protect me.
I opened my mouth to convey this to the others, but they all had that smug look on their faces that let me know that they were aware of the conversation I had with my tiny protectors. They always tease me about how my thoughts and emotions are too loud and often bleed through the link we share.
Artemis was just looking between us and made a frustrated sound. “None of that silent communication stuff. You Valkyrie can be frustrating at times.”
I grinned at Kat. Ha! I can share with someone at least! I replied, “The Verr gave us a little shock and informed me that the 'invaders' had been purged. Whatever that is supposed to krothing mean.”
She regarded us for a minute then turned to the door as we landed. We went sprinting into father's workshop. He was already there with the central holo-display active and no less then thirty virtual consoles in front of him. He was monitoring everything. I looked at the Star Killer on the screen, it still hadn't moved from its location just outside of the spacial distortion.
I turned to father and croaked out with pain evident in my voice, “How many?”
He took a deep breath and flicked his finger and one of the virtual consoles swung around the holographic display and settled in front of me. I paled. Rhea had taken seven Asgard men and three Asgard women. Twenty-three Vanger men, two human males, and almost two hundred Ragnarok men. The Ragnarok seemed the most susceptible to the Titan's pheromones. That was a sobering thought knowing how deadly the Ragnarok were.
But what made a vice tighten on my heart and ice start flowing through my veins were the casualty reports. Thirty-seven Ragnarok dead, five injured, one human dead, seven Vanger dead with one wounded, one Asgard woman dead and one male who lost his legs but will survive. All of that violence and death was just incidental damage wrought by the transport beam, and I knew that Rhea didn't even give it a second thought.
I saw green icons spreading out into the system forming a flanking pattern between the planet and the Titan vessel. Kitty was forming a net, she'd be in optimum position outside of the Star Killer's weapons envelope just outside of an hour now. Two Hornets stayed near the planet by the quantum entanglement tunnel.
Then I looked up, everyone was looking at data most relevant to them on their own virtual consoles. I took a deep breath and turned to father. “How did she do it? I mean, I know her pheromones were strong, but to affect such a large number of people throughout the populace? She
was in a limited number of spaces.”
He was nodding grimly. “It seems her pheromones somehow spread out to blanket the area, too great of an area unless they were somehow self-replicating. He flicked his hand and the main screen split in half and a hologram of the citadel bloomed. There was an irregular cross section of the city highlighted in red and it seemed to be shrinking as I watched.
He continued, “It is acting almost like a contagion, but we have isolated it now and the city's atmospheric processors are now filtering it out.”
I didn't like that at all. If we hadn't contained it, would it have spread through the entire citadel? I glanced over at Artemis. Her people had fallen prey to the same, and for the most part except for some Asgard women, it only seemed to affect males. On top of that, it seemed to affect the Ragnarok the most and the humans the least. I looked up at Kate, who was busy at a tactical station plotting orbital paths. Was that why Rhea seemed the least pleased by Kat earlier? Humans continue to surprise me.
I was about to ask a question along those lines when a com beeped and father slashed a hand then motioned with his finger and a console was replaced by Loki's face. She was frowning. She nodded toward him. “Well met Uncle.”
Father inclined his head. “Well met Loki. What word do you bring us?”
She flicked a holographic finger toward the center of our room and the citadel map was replaced by a chemical framework with many data streams flowing beneath it. She was calmer than normal so her thoughts seemed more focused, keeping her erratic manner in check. She blinked a couple times then realized we were all looking at her, she smiled and said, “I beg your indulgence. I received a full dose to obtain a sample and am still a little distracted.”
I noticed how flushed she looked and realized that she was still aroused by her kiss with Rhea. But she was somehow able to keep her wits about her. Or maybe it is that she cannot keep her wits about her in her half mad mind that is what insulated her from Rhea's influence.
She started in, her tone that reminded me so much of a teacher imparting knowledge on young ones. “It is a nano-phage that we were all exposed to, biological machines not dissimilar to our nanites that target the pleasure and baser urge centers of the brain. It opens up pathways in the brain that make those affected more susceptible to the one who's bio-signature matches the phages. In this case Rhea. She, in effect, creates an almost animalistic love and lust response in her victims. Stoking their base desires, then crafts her will around that.”
Then she smiled and took a deep breath like she was enjoying something. Then shook it off and said in a flat tone, “I am working with our bio-engineers here in Saellifor, I should have a solution to negating it in a few hours. I would do it faster, only I'm a little... distracted.”
I nodded, that was good news, then asked, “Why does it seem to affect some races more than others?”
She tilted her head and smiled at me like I should know. “A couple simple reasons really. First, some of the areas of the brain affected by the nano-phage that govern the baser instincts are lesser developed in some, like the Ragnarok. Then in others like the humans who live in the dirtiest environment with a diverse array of pathogens that they need to combat have developed almost supercharged immune systems that help to fight the phage. Then she looked at Kat and chuckled, “Dirty little humans”, and stuck her tongue out cutely at her. Kat crinkled her nose up and gave a playful smile back.
That answered the two questions I had and father said, “Thank you Loki.” He glanced at a chrono then added, “We will see you on the morrow.” Then Loki cut the transmission.
Then Odin turned to us. “Now that that is handled the more pressing matter is...” His eyes narrowed dangerously. “...how do we get our people back? Rhea is not answering any of our hails.”
Chapter 5 – A Warning
We had strategized into the early morning hours before we retired to get some sleep. We wouldn't do anyone any good if we were sleep deprived. I slept restlessly. I felt like I had failed my people. It is the job of the Valkyrie to protect our innocents and ensure things like this didn't happen. I am just a tool of violence, and in this case, my huge capacity for violence did us no good.
When we woke and donned our armor, we heard Arina's entry chime in the great room of our quarters. I grinned, even after all these eons she still acts like Kate's Second and prepared breakfast for us each day. I loved the Little One with all my heart.
Inatra was with her and Artemis came out of her room and we all ate solemnly. She shared with us at long last, the details of the first and only meeting between the Olympians and the Titans. Then she finished with, “Then when the Frost Giants returned and confronted us on our failure to fight the Titan's, they attempted to kill us all. The beasts said that we were a failed experiment that needed to be terminated and reset. We lost most of the Olympians who remained after Rhea had used her siren's song to lure our men away, and most of the population we had restored. We were able to escape with fewer than one hundred. We continued to evade and hide from the Jotunn until we found Olympus, the prefect hiding spot... in plain sight.”
I laid a consoling hand on Artemis'. She said, “We have never known the fate of the others of our race who were enslaved by the Titans. Except for glimpses of their offspring, the Halflings that the Titans send out to hunt for us.” Then she took a deep breath. “As our numbers grew slowly over the eons, having only twelve men in the genetic pool, we stopped procreating when we numbered five hundred. Our genetic diversity wouldn't sustain much more inbreeding.”
Then she chuckled. “That's why none has ever won me over to their bed here in Valhalla... it is almost instinct for us Olympians to not breed. It is a mental block I need to get over. You have such great genetic diversity here. I have almost forgotten what it is like to be intimate anymore.”
I nodded slowly at that, I could not imagine what her race had gone through, they were an endangered species. Even the Ragnarok, who were virtually annihilated by the Frost Giants so very long ago, had almost a half million people sprinkled across the galaxy to rebuild their race. They now number twenty-three million. A far cry from the twenty billion that used to live on this very planet, but an insurmountable number for a race that was thinned to just twelve males and eighty-eight females.
Odin's beard, they had to breed from necessity, to restore their race. Artemis was there! Had she had been one of the ones to breed? She never speaks about family or children. Though we have been her friends for so many centuries, there is still much we don't know about our secretive Olympian. Most of her long life she has had to think about what her race has been pressed to do to endure. I can't imagine the things that may have bent their own morals to ensure the survival of their people.
Olympians have an almost perfect genetic makeup, with such a dense chromosomal and DNA structure that their cells can regenerate almost infinitely. We Asgard use nanites to accomplish the same, but to them, it is a natural ability. They can heal almost any damage in days, their variable metabolism sees to that. In all physical ways, they are a superior race to the Asgard, we only surpass them with our technology. This seeming immortality must be like a silent torture to a race that has seen themselves brought to the brink of extinction but can not ever bring their numbers beyond five hundred for fear of degrading the genetic pool due to inbreeding.
We finished our meal and made our way to Father's workshop. He was, of course, already there. I know that mother had stayed on Earth last night to assist Loki and to slap some sense into the artificially lovestruck Mist. I shuddered to think what would have happened if she has followed Rhea as her thrall. Mist, my Second, my sister, was the most dangerous non-evolved Valkyrie with a fury like my own.
I believe that whenever mother does not share father's bed, he never sleeps. Instead, he just putters about in his workshop. There is no man that loves his wife like Odin does, their love has inspired more songs that any other and is the stuff of legends. Arina liked to always remind Ka
t and I that the songs of our romance number almost as many, much to my chagrin. The ballad of the human Valkyrie, who tamed the Wild One has been my eternal embarrassment on multiple planets. I snuck a glance and a smile at my Kat. Kroth do I love that woman!
I heard her sweet raspy voice in my head across our nanite link, “Love you too troublemaker.” Then she bumped hips with me. Arina was smiling cutely suddenly.
I gruffed out, “Is my link always broadcasting? Or am I that easy to read?”
In unison, all of the evil women including Artemis, who does not share our link said, “Yes.”
I growled in confusion and shook my head as I stepped up to father and laid the back of my hand on his cheek and stole one his lines, “Well met father. I swear that the women of my family will be the death of me.”
He chuckled heartily. “God morrow daughter. How do the humans say it? Welcome to the club.” We exchanged cheesy grins and then everyone greeted father, Kate kissing his hand like she always did. This always put a smile on father's face and made him forget about the pressures of his position for a moment.
We started the ritual of pulling up our virtual consoles. He mentioned, “Samantha has asked when she can come back to Valhalla from Folkvangr. I told her that you would probably prefer that she stay at Brunie's until this Titan matter is resolved.” Kate nodded thanks to him for that.
I glanced back at the empty tactical station and asked, “Tyr?” The big man was always on station when we needed to make plans.
Father shook his head. “He is still not fully recovered from the heavy concentration of pheromones he was exposed to. But he is functional and is overseeing his men still stuck between the shields, making sure they have food and supplies until their compulsion wears off. Many still want nothing but to kill Artemis for Rhea to please her.”
Then he got a little quiet. “I also believe he is shamed and does not wish to face you Valkyrie yet.”
Valkyrie Chronicles 4 & 5 Bundle Page 21
