Valkyria (23 page)

“
Farewell, my dear Selina,”
he said as she passed over her body and moved to the throne, which
appeared unscathed. His skeletal hand brushed over the gold and
brass of the chair, finding the release button in the arm rest. He
pushed it.

The sound of churning motors erupted
from beneath the chair, and Aeon smiled.

“
So, the elevator is still
functional,” he said as the chair rolled itself backwards,
revealing a square hold beneath it. A steel and iron platform rose
up, with railings around three sides of it. Aeon stepped onto it,
and pulled the lever on the side of the railings. The platform
jolted briefly before descending.

Beneath the fortress the air was still,
unaffected by the events that had befallen the world
above.

For minutes he descended, past rock and
earth, until finally the small elevator shaft opened up to reveal
the main hangar bay for the factory.

It had been built in a large cave they
had discovered when the Inquisition first took control of the
Ringlands, and was large enough to fit three Tempest class
battleships, or just one of his new flagship; the
Dreadnaught.

As the elevator reached the end of its
journey, Aeon gazed upon his masterpiece. Three times the size of a
battleship, able to carry over one hundred fighter-class airships,
and carrying the artifact he needed to make his dreams come true.
He flicked his cloak behind his legs and stepped forward, head up
high.

“
Everything is going just
as she predicted,” he said as he stepped aboard the
Dreadnaught.

A member of the Dreadnaught’s crew
approached him and saluted. Aeon waved a hand and the crew member
relaxed his stance before speaking.

“
Lord Aeon, the Dragoon’s
remains have been secured and are awaiting you in the laboratory as
instructed.

“
I am glad to hear that.
She will be pleased. You may return to your duties,
soldier.”

The soldier gave another salute before
turning around and marching down the corridor. Aeon nodded to
himself and smiled.

“
Soon, my dear Haze.
Soon.”

*~*~*

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gareth was born in Luton, a
small multi-cultural city in the middle of England, but was raised
in a small village an hour away from Cambridge. As an adult, he
moved around Europe, living in Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Ireland
and Turkey, before settling back in England with his wife, within
the historic market town of Bourne.

Gareth has always been fascinated with
science fiction and fantasy, reading the greats such as Lord of the
Rings and Neuromancer as a child. In his teen years, he became
infatuated with cyberpunk and steampunk, in part because of Ghost
on the Shell and Last Exile. From that point, his imagination
expanded constantly, and he researched various books, television
shows and movies on the subjects.

On top of that, he has a long lasting
love of the post-apocalyptic genre and the survivalist mentality
shown within that genre.

As well as writing, Gareth Torrance is
also an avid gamer with a passion for roleplaying games (both
western and Japanese style), action and horror games.

*~*~*

SNEAK PREVIEW

Read the first chapter of the second
book in the War of the Valkyries series, which continues the story
of the Valkyria and her crew as they attempt to track down the
mysterious Aeon.

However, a declaration of war between
the Inquisition and the Alexandria Empire sends the world into
turmoil. Now, as the world descends into Chaos, Aeon puts his
master plan into action, with Haze as the center piece to it
all.

*~*~*

1

NATE

“
Come on!"

Nate gripped the line of rope as hard
as he could in the torrential rain. Water dripped down his face and
into his eyes, but he refused to blink. Crewman Kyle was hanging
from the side of the Valkyria, dangling in the open air and holding
the rope for his life.

The foolish young man was the latest
recruit on the airship, and had been assigned to Nate as an
engineering student, but had wanted to prove he did not need a
teacher. The task for the day was a simple one, compared to the
other duties about the ship; meld a new sheet of steel over a
rusted section of an external girder. However, it was a task for
two people, as any fully fledged engineer on the Valkyria knew. Yet
Kyle had insisted on doing it himself, and climbed out onto the
girder when Nate's attention had been drawn away. Admittedly, he
should not have let himself be distracted, but Anastasia had walked
by and smiled at him and that was enough to catch his full
attention.

Now the foolish crewman hung in the
air, with only a piece of rope and Nate's grip keeping him from
falling to the ground below. The rain made the rope slippery and
Nate could not keep a strong grip, so he wrapped the rope around
his arms.

"Somebody help," he shouted back
through the hatch, into the corridor of the Valkyria. Footsteps
came pounding toward him as he pulled on the rope with all his
strength. He glanced behind him to see Einar bracing himself
against the rain and stepping out on to the external balcony. The
wind was battering them both, and Kyle began to sway from left to
right with increased speed. Einar grasped the piece of rope behind
Nate and began to pull, both of them taking slow steps backward
toward the hatch, being careful not to slip on the wet
floor.

Nate’s foot lost its grip and his legs
slipped out from under him. He hit the floor hard, his head
crashing into the metal and sending sharp pains throughout his
body.

“
Hey,” shouted Einar, back
into the Valkyria. “We need some more people out here! We have a
Green overboard!”

More footsteps thundered toward the
hatch, with various crewmen all grasping hold of the rope. Slowly
but surely Nate managed to work his way back to his feet, despite
the chill wind tearing at his face.

“
Heave,” said one of the
crewmen, and everyone pulled at the same time. “Heave,” he
continued. Over and over the group yanked on the rope, pulling Kyle
up inch by inch. The next few seconds seemed like a lifetime as
they continued to wrench the rope backwards until Kyle finally
managed to place his hands on the girder once again.

“
Secure that line,” shouted
Nate to the crewmen behind him. They tied it around on the steam
pipes in the corridor, making sure there was no slack between the
pipe and Kyle. Nate knelt down and grabbed the young man, hoisting
his back onto the airship.

“
Now, kid,” he said. “Do
you see why you need to listen to what I am saying?”

Kyle nodded, although Nate could see
the anguish in his face. The crewman was only just seventeen, and
as such, he obviously wanted to prove his worth as a man. Nate
placed a hand on Kyle’s shoulder.

“
Hey kid,” he said, “relax.
We all do foolish stuff sometimes. Learn from those mistakes and I
am sure you will make a great crewman. Especially the bravery you
showed when you climbed out there by yourself!”

“
Or was it stupidity,” said
Einar, chuckling as he stepped over to Kyle. “Come on, crewman.
Let’s get you inside. I will help Nate with this one. You need to
rest.”

Kyle agreed and walked back through the
hatch, into the safety of the Valkyria’s innards, accompanied by a
myriad of other crew members.

“
That kid is going to be
difficult,” Einar said to Nate.

“
He seems very high
strung.”

“
He is,” replied Nate. “But
then, so were you and I.”

“
Good point.” Einar tied
the robe around his waist before passing it to Nate. “Shall we get
this over with?”

Nate laughed. Einar was wincing at the
girder. He had yet to truly become accustomed to the life of an
airship crewman, although he always tried to hide it. His fear of
tumbling from the ship had been the reason he was assigned to
interior engineering only.

“
How is Alexia
doing?”

“
Well,” said Einar. “She is
a lot calmer these days. She has not tried to attack anyone for at
least a month now, so I guess that is progress.”

“
What about her
memories?”

“
She still does not
remember me,” said Einar, his voice so quiet it was almost lost to
the wind. “She remembers some things of her life, but only in
fragments.”

“
What about that man? Did
she remember anything about him yet?”

Roughly four months ago Alexia had
recalled parts of her time with the Inquisition. She had been in
the company of a wrinkled man in a cloak who was apparently a lord
within the Inquisition. But she had been unable to remember any
other details.

“
Nothing new,” said Einar.
“She keeps having nightmares about him though.”

Nate tied his end of the rope around
himself and began to move toward the girder.

“
Well,” he said, “the crew
in the infirmary said to give it time. Hopefully she will remember
more soon.”

“
I hope so,” said Einar.
“But how can someone just destroy your mind like that?”

Nate shuddered at the thought of
someone cleansing him memories. The idea of forgetting people like
Charles and the effect those people had on one’s life was
terrifying. He could not even begin to imaging how Alexia would be
feeling.

For the first few months she had not
even been able to remember her own name. To this day she could not
remember her parents, her home town or her brother, even when he
stood in front of her. The idea of looking at someone that was
telling you they are your brother, and not recognizing their face
was an idea of pure horror.

“
I do not know,” said Nate.
“For now, all we can do is be there for her as much as
possible.”

Einar nodded and picked up the welder,
its gas hose extending into a cavity in the exterior wall that
acted as the tools housing. He wound the hose out from the wall and
passed the welder and the sheet of metal to Nate before gripping
onto the support handles next to the hatch.

As Einar held their weight onto the
Valkyria, Nate slowly stepped out onto the girder and back into the
icy wind. The storm had become so strong that the rain drops felt
like daggers as he moved along the metal beams. The further he
moved away from the ship, the stronger the wind became, so he
carefully got down onto his hands and knees, crawling along the
girder slowly.

“
Well,” he said. “What a
great way to spend a Saturday evening…”