The Odin Inheritance (The Pessarine Chronicles Book 1)

by Victoria L. Scott

  Needle, Griff, and Lizzie scrambled for the stairs that led down into the body of the ship, their movements silent and efficient.

  “We have to—“ Mother started, but Max cut her off.

  “I want Ari to be safe as much as you do,” he hissed, reaching down to tighten the parachute straps around her body, “and God knows I don’t want to lose the Bosch, but we can’t catch that dragon and I’m willing to bet Sato’s risking a lot to allow this Mammetun lass take her over like that. She says we go, we go.”

  “But—“ Mother spluttered.

  “You may not pursue the girl,” Mammetun intoned, her voice striking the air with the sound of a church bell.

  Mother tore herself away from Max and stormed over to Sato, fury on her face. I watched, amazed. Clearly I’d come by my ‘defiance in the face of pagan gods’ honestly. I’d never seen my mother so emotional before – I wanted to tell her I was all right, that she should get off the ship… but I was a spectre watching a memory. She wouldn’t hear me.

  “I don’t know what the Hell you think you are,” Mother bit out, “but my daughter’s in danger and I’ll not stand by and do nothing, no matter what you say! I’ll fly this bloody ship all by myself if I have to, by God!”

  “Nay,” Mammetun said, implacable. “You leave or die.”

  “I don’t care!” Mother snarled.

  Max put up a hand. “I do care, Your Grace,” he said, his voice calm but firm. “I’ll not be the one to tell Ari of your death when she gets back. I’m the captain of this ship.” He pointed in the direction Laufeson had taken Andrew and me. “We’re not going after that devil and his minions. Even if we caught them, that damned creature would overcome our thoughts again and we’d be helpless. Duchess or not, I’m ordering you to come with us. If you don’t, I dare say I’ll grab you bodily and throw you over the side myself!”

  I was in complete agreement with Max. Chasing Laufeson was a suicide mission. I flowed over to stand by my mother. “Listen to him,” I urged though I knew she couldn’t hear me. “He’s right. Get off the Bosch!”

  “Not acceptable,” Mother said, her face taut with fear. “We can’t just let her be taken like this.” Mother angrily pointed a finger at Sato’s face. “I’ve no idea who you are, what you’ve done with Sato or what the Hell is going on, but I swear I’ll not see my daughter harmed. If I can’t go after her and you’ve got magic powers, you use them to help Ariana, damn you!”

  Sato’s face took on a mournful cast and she tilted her head slightly to one side. “Nay,” Mammetun said, “From this, as before, you cannot save her. Forces are in play beyond your mortal scope.” The god’s voice softened. “You I may save. She must save herself.”

  Mother stepped back like she’d been struck, dropping the finger she’d been pointing. “You’re saying this is related to the kidnapping,” she growled, “when that bastard nearly killed Ariana.”

  So Aunt Miranda hadn’t altered Mother’s memory of my being taken as a child. Had she known the magical nature of what had been done to me? I wondered.

  Max looked from Sato to Mother and back. “Kidnapping? It’s happened before?”

  Mammetun, relentless as a granite wall, nodded. “Aye. That was the opening gambit. This is the endgame.”

  “We need to get to Lady Brentwood,” Max said, “and with due speed. She’ll know what to do.”

  Mother just stared at Sato a long moment, swallowed with an effort and hugged herself, looking away. “As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods,” Mother whispered. “They kill us for their sport.”

  “They also serve who only stand and wait,” the god said, unmoved. “That time, for all of us, is now.”

  Needle, Griff, and Lizzie arrived back on deck, parachutes fastened to their backs, carrying two extras: one for Max and one for Sato.

  Max reached over and took a parachute for himself. “Lizzie,” he ordered as he pulled the chute on and started to buckle himself up, “strap Lady… er… Mammetun… into a parachute, if you would.“

  “On it,” Lizzie said, moving quickly to apply a parachute to Sato’s statue-like form. Mammetun allowed it but kept her arms up holding time at bay, leaving Lizzie to tighten the straps and place the loop of the pull cord in Sato’s hand.

  Max completed putting on his own parachute and went over to my mother. He looked over the parachute she wore one more time and leaned down to finish tightening straps. He looked up at Mother’s tear-streaked face.

  “Ari’s a resourceful woman, Your Grace,” he said gently as he put the loop for the pull cord in Mother’s right hand. “You’ll see her again – we all will.”

  Needle stepped up behind Mother. “Too right we will. Stubborn as Ari is, that Laufeson bloke’s no idea what he’s in for, taking her with him. She’ll out-think the blighter and be back with us before you know it.”

  Mother nodded somberly.

  “Sato? You ready to go?” Max asked as Griff and Lizzie joined him, Needle and my mother at the port side rail.

  “Aye, Mortal,” Mammetun rumbled, walking toward the group. Time returned to its normal speed. “We depart.”

  The ship started its barrel roll again, the wind picking up. As a spectre I didn’t feel the effects myself but witnessed them, along with the flinches of my friends and mother when the cold wind hit them hard.

  Mother finally seemed to realize what she was about to do. She put up a hand to shield her face from the cold gusts flowing along the deck. “I don’t know how this works,” she said over the wind, squinting first at the parachute, then at the pull cord in her hand and then at my friends.

  “Gravity does most of the work,” Max shouted back with a wink. “Count to three and pull the cord. Scream if you like and try to avoid trees!”

  With that, the group clambered over the port rail and dropped into darkness. Seconds passed. I heard a hissing sound above me and looked up in time to see three burning red flares strike the Bosch’s outer balloon, piercing it and plowing right into the hydrogen-filled ballonettes. They exploded with a deafening boom and a blinding blaze of light, sending metal, wood and fabric shrapnel flying in all directions, including through my ghostly form. I covered my head and ears, crouching instinctively to protect my softer bits against the blast.

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  I found myself back in the library with Odin. He sat on the couch, while I huddled in a fetal position on the floor opposite him, near the couch I’d been sitting on, covering my head and ears with my arMs.

  “They dropped into the countryside with no injuries, Little One,” Odin said as I unfolded myself. “They’re safe, well and waiting for you at Brentwood Close.” He rubbed a finger under his nose. “The Bosch is lost, I’m afraid, but your friends are drawing up plans for their next airship. I’m sure you could get in on their newest enterprise if you expressed an interest.”

  I closed my eyes and felt tears start again. I put my hand over my mouth to muffle my sob of relief as I lowered my head onto my knees. I couldn’t get all lacrimonious in front of Odin. Thank God for Lady Sato, Mammetun and Max, I thought, and used that as a starting place to steady my nerves. Everyone was alive and well. Laufeson had destroyed the Bosch, but not the people I cared about.

  Odin moved to sit on the couch beside me, handing me down a handkerchief. “Better than the dress, I think,” he murmured.

  I nodded and wiped my face with it, strenuously pulling my feelings back into line. I had to think clearly and not let my emotions cloud my judgment.

  “Right,” I said, clutching the handkerchief. I cleared my throat, stood up, smoothed my very wrinkled dress and put myself back on the couch beside Odin. Best if I change the subject, I thought. “If I become a Facti, what does that mean?”

  “You become First of the Valkyries, replace your aunt as the Seneschal of the Pessarines and serve as my heir on Earth.”

  “Does my aunt need to be replaced?” I asked, wary. “She seems in fine fettle to me.”

  “Mira
nda continues to be a force of nature, as you know first-hand. That being said, she, like me, possesses knowledge of the world that’s far less up to date than yours. For the future, the Pessarines and the Facti need a more modern take on the world. She’s been my… employee, I suppose you’d say, for decades. She’d like to retire from active duty and act in an advisory capacity to her replacement.”

  I furrowed my brow. “I see. What difference does it make if I’m the ‘first’ Valkyrie?”

  Odin settled back on the couch. “That varies from person to person. Much of what will determine your role as my First Daughter will come from on the job training, you might say.”

  I frowned. I knew an evasion when I heard one. “You don’t want to tell me, do you?”

  Odin grinned. “You are a new sort of being, Ariana,” he said. “No other Valkyrie has been offered in sacrifice as you were. I adopted you – which is itself a sign of great favor and power. If you choose to take the position as First Valkyrie, you’ll inherit my artifacts directly from a female blood relative, which also confers power. What shape those magical abilities will take other than your connection to and manipulation of machinery and technology are unknown at this point. It isn’t that I don’t want to tell you. You’ll just have to figure things out for yourself.”

  “You can’t put the spells and how to use the magic into my mind like you did the ‘choosing’ spell?”

  “No,” he said, putting out his hands in a sort of shrugging ‘I can’t help it’ gesture. “I’ll no longer inhabit part of your mind as I did as you grew up. Some of the abilities you had that came from me will remain, like the accuracy with darts and knives you grew up with, but everything else you’ll have to learn how to do.”

  “Such as?”

  “Control and use of your magical abilities, obviously, but you’ll also need to learn to fight with a sword and an axe. Some instruction on strategy and diplomacy will be required, as will learning what’s required to lead the Pessarines.”

  I frowned. “Is that all?”

  “To facilitate ease of communication with those here in Asgard and enable you to use the old spells properly, you’ll also need to learn Old Norse.”

  Old Norse? “Damn and blast,” I said, “How in the world will I do that? I’m horrible at languages – always have been.”

  “Ah,” Odin said, enjoying some joke I’d not understood. “Who, precisely, is the benefactress of Towson House?”

  “Lady Sato,” I said automatically. “I find it hard to believe she’ll be able to teach me all of those skills.”

  “Indeed. Who are your friends at Towson House?”

  I couldn’t believe I’d not seen it before. Excitement and surprise rose within me. “Mellie, who’s studying Norse mythology and languages,” I said, “and Cora, who’s studied battle tactics and strategy of all different cultures as part of her studies.” I thought for a moment. “Gertrude is a biologist, but I’m sure I could learn something from her as well.”

  Odin nodded. “Lady Sato anticipated your needs if you chose to become a Facti and tailored the residents she admitted to Towson House accordingly. Your friends already possess many of the skills you need.”

  My mind boggled. “You’re saying she set up Towson House specifically for me? Good Lord.”

  Odin inclined his head. “There are advantages to seeing the possible futures. It’s one of the reasons she’s very valuable as a Pessarine.”

  “I should say so,” I agreed.

  “For diplomacy,” Odin continued, “and the day-to-day operations of the Pessarines, your Aunt Miranda can advise you. There are several people on Earth and in Asgard who can teach you to fight with swords, axes and any other weapons you wish. Who you choose as your instructors for those lessons is up to you.” The All-Father indicated the coiled chain and raven pendant on the table. “Pick up the artifact and you’ll become Valkyrie. Leave it behind and you’ll have a normal life, free of magic.”

  He stood up. “I’ll leave you to think,” he said and disappeared.

  Chapter Sixty

  I stared at the coil of gold for a long time. I pondered the past few days, amazed at how my life had changed. If I left the artifact behind, I’d return to the world I knew: the one where magic didn’t exist. I’d be able to finish at Cambridge without fear of being attacked and start my aeronaut business. I could live the life I wanted – the one I’d chosen for myself – and not have to worry about the fate of the world.

  But… there were four hundred ninety eight mini-Diabolical mechanisms I’d been forced to create that’d gone missing, according to Odin. It was possible they’d become inert when I’d confined Laufeson to Hell for eternity. If that was the case, then the devices were harmless. If that wasn’t the case, someone could use the devices to turn people into mechanized monsters. Great Aunt Miranda had her hands full dealing with the Enhanced the Son of Loki had already created and released on England. How would she and the other Facti deal with more? What if they had to kill the newly Enhanced? Could I live with that, knowing my unwilling but definitive part in their deaths?

  I reached over and grabbed the golden coil off the table in my fist, my hand shaking a little as I did so. I looked up at the ceiling of the replica of the library I sat in and addressed Odin.

  “All right, All-Father,” I said, determination in my voice, “I choose to become your First Valkyrie.”

  Victoria L. Scott

  Victoria L. Scott teaches Social Studies, Latin, Steampunk Studies and Quilting to middle schoolers at a private school in Southeastern Michigan. She has studied Shakespeare in England and at the Folger Shakespeare Library; communicated extensively in spoken Latin at Latin Language immersion camps in Kentucky, Michigan and Massachusetts; and studied Roman History and Archaeology in Rome and environs as a student of the American Academy in Rome. She is an avid quilter and Steampunker who enjoys Doctor Who, walking her dog Red ‘the Wonder Husky’, and writing.

  Coming Soon...

  More from The Pessarine Chronicles...

  Book Two:

  The Odin Apprentice

  Ariana begins to learn the ropes of her new life, looking forward to her duties as a Valkyrie and setting up her aeronaut supply business. The threat of the Diabolically Enhanced seems to be waning, until something sinister starts happening in London. To Ariana’s mother’s great delight, Ariana has to enter high society and play the role of the ‘proper duke’s daughter’ to find the source of the evil that plagues the social scene. Can Ariana stop the menace before it spreads to the highest echelons of the Empire?

  Coming Soon...

  More from The Pessarine Chronicles...

  Book Three:

  The Odin Expedition

  Ariana receives a troubling message from her friend Cora Allerton, now working at the ancient city of Carthage on an archaeological dig. The archaeologists dug up a tomb Ariana urgently needs to investigate involving someone named ‘Ba’al’. Ariana rushes to the dig site only to find Cora gone under mysterious circumstances. While she tries to track down her friend, small children start dying in Tunis. Ariana has to find Cora and solve the mystery of Ba’al before another child dies and an ancient evil rises again.