Kostick - Edda

Table of Contents

VIKING

Published by Penguin Group
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First published in Ireland by The OBrien Press Ltd., Dublin, 2011
Published in agreement with The OBrien Press Ltd.

First published in the United States of America in 2011 by Viking,
a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Copyright Conor Kostick, 2011

All rights reserved

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Kostick, Conor, date
Edda / Conor Kostick.

p. cm.

Sequel to: Saga.

Summary: In the virtual world of Edda, ruler Scanthax decides he wants to invade another virtual world, embroiling the universes of Edda, Saga, and Epic in war, with only three teenagers to try to restore peace.

eISBN : 978-1-101-52933-1

[1. Fantasy gamesFiction. 2. Role playingFiction. 3. Video gamesFiction. 4. WarFiction. 5. Science fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.K85298Ed 2011

[Fic]dc22

2011003000

S.A. Set in Electra

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Lord Scanthaxs map of the known worlds:

Chapter 1

HOW TO MOTIVATE A PRINCESS

When the humans abandoned us, there were almost a thousand lords and ladies who were determined to win control of Edda. One of the least noted of them, residing in an obscure mountain-covered domain, was Lord Scanthax.

Ambassador and Princess were alone in the darkened viewing room, looking at a large screen on which a broadcast was playing. The screen was currently showing an illustration: a physical map of the world of Edda, rather poorly drawn by modern standards. And as the slightly patronizing voice continued its history, the image zoomed in on the peninsula under discussion. Having seen the film hundreds of times, Ambassador looked tiredly at the girl beside him and was about to speak, but she anticipated this with a slight frown and shake of her head, concentrating on the story.

Boredom was a sensation that Ambassador could tolerate, but for the last hour he had also been experiencing a disturbing upsurge of an even more unpalatable emotion. The particular combination of guilt and sadness that troubled him was so unfamiliar that it took Ambassador a while to name the feeling. It was pity. He pitied Penelope, the poor human girl whose avatar, Princess, sat beside him. Pity was not an emotion that served any practical purpose and Ambassador hoped that it would soon subside.

Theoretically, all lordships were of equal value. What Lord Scanthax lost in good agricultural lands he gained in minerals and a strong defensive position. But in the wild scramble for survival that followed the departure of the humans, Lord Scanthax would certainly have been overwhelmed but for the assistance of a brave and clever little human girl. Penelope was his secret and he deserved to have her. For, alone of all the lords, Scanthax had devoted precious time and energy to the human world. There he discovered a little baby had been left behind at the time of the exodus.

The film cut away from the map of Lord Scanthaxs domain to a black-and-white recording taken from the perspective of a robot in the human world. It was leaning over a small cot in which a baby was crying. A moment later, however, when the robot produced a bottle of milk, the babys shrieks were replaced by a gentle sucking sound. At this point Penelope paused the film.

This is supposed to be the moment I was found? There was a skeptical note in the girls voice and Ambassador was hesitant.

You doubt it? he asked her in return.

Well, its bloody convenient that the robot had a bottle of milk on it, dont you think?

Yes, indeed.

The princess avatar was looking up at him through a fringe of long, wavy purple hair, clearly waiting for a more satisfactory response. She was becoming very difficult to deal with. A fifteen-year-old human caused no end of trouble in comparison with a hundred-year-old enemy diplomat.

Well. This film was made a long time ago, to teach you the history of Lord Scanthax in a way that made sense when you were nine.

It doesnt make sense now.

I suspect that scene was a reconstruction.

Exactly. Which raises the question, what did the original footage look like?

Perhaps there was none.

Dont you know? She was skeptical again; it was a tone of voice Ambassador was becoming more and more familiar with. The mistrust it expressed was most troubling.

Would you like me to check?

Yes. Find the earliest true footage of me as a baby, please. Penelope signaled for the film to resume.

Princess?

Hush.

But you must have watched this so often that it cannot possibly interest you now. There was something unhealthy about Penelopes renewed perusal of the documentary, and in any case, Ambassador was eager to divert her energies to the new and urgent project that Lord Scanthax had assigned her.

The first few years were the most anxious for Lord Scanthax. He sought peace with his neighborsin the main by giving them favorable trading agreementsand devoted all his resources to building wooden defenses across the mountain passes, along with the soldiers to occupy them. This chain of forts would have been no deterrent to a serious invasion by lords whose fruitful lands and early income had allowed for the creation of strong armies in the first few years. But, aided by the construction of dedicated diplomatic units, Lord Scanthax managed to avert such a disaster by offering timely gifts and by stirring up conflict among his rivals.

This part of the film was mildly interesting to Ambassador, for it showed some of the early diplomatic units: crude male and female humanoids whose gowns and capes identified them as having a non-military function. His sense of being had evolved from one of these early diplomats, and Ambassador still had fragmentary recollections of early missions from that era.