Odin's Ravens (The Blackwell Pages)

by K. L. Armstrong

  Fen charged again, aiming for her front left leg. He collided with her, and she wavered on her feet. He leaned down and bit her leg, not hard enough to truly hurt her but enough to startle her. She went down, falling in an awkward move like she was kneeling.

  That moment of distraction was what he’d wanted. He kept moving, fleeing past her toward the hedge where the bags were hidden. It wasn’t a great plan, but he was half hoping that Hattie would get knocked out by one of the Berserkers. What he needed was to get back to Matt, to get him and Baldwin to safety, and to get Laurie out of the area.

  Fen tore through the fight, dodging wolves and Berserkers, darting under feet, leaping over fighters who were rolling on the ground trying to wound each other. He didn’t look back, but he heard Hattie growling as she pursued him.

  He dove under the hedge, bit the bags with his teeth—and realized that they were peculiarly light. Fen hoped that was because they were magic. He didn’t have time to check. Focus. He spun around and realized that he couldn’t get past Hattie. She was standing right there, feet planted and ready to attack.

  With a wash of disappointment at his failure, he dropped the bags and prepared to fight her. He had to defeat her in order to reach his friends because he couldn’t have her following him back to the cave-in. They stared at each other, both looking for the weakness that would enable a successful attack.

  Then she let out a high-pitched yip as she was suddenly propelled backward, away from Fen, by an invisible force.

  Thorsen? Fen thought, looking around for the red-haired boy. Maybe Laurie had found a rope and pulled him out. Fen’s jaw dropped open as he saw the mayor looking at him. It had been Thorsen’s Hammer thing, just not the Thorsen he’d expected. The mayor, the man who had only a short while ago tried to have Fen arrested for murder, had just attacked one of his own Raiders.

  “Save Matt,” Mayor Thorsen yelled.

  The mayor had been keeping them all away from where Matt was trapped. Fen was still confused why the same person who’d ordered Matt’s capture now wanted to save him, but Fen wasn’t going to waste any more time trying to figure it out. He grabbed the bags again with his teeth and raced back toward his trapped friends.

  It was a little easier getting through the fighting area this time. Fen wasn’t sure if that was because the Berserkers were winning or if it was because Hattie wasn’t pursuing him. Either way, he ran toward Laurie with the bags clenched tightly between his teeth. When he was almost at the edge of the giant hole, he slowed from a run to a lope to a cautious walk so he didn’t drop the bags—or careen into the cavern.

  He released his grip on the bags, and they tumbled to the ground beside Laurie. Almost absently, she patted his head, ruffling the fur on his neck like he was a pet. If anyone else had done that, he would’ve bitten them, but she was his best friend and cousin. Fen rarely expected her to follow the same rules as everyone else in the world.

  In the brief time it took for him to shift back into his human shape, Laurie had already opened her bag.

  “Aha!” she crowed. She reached into the bag and withdrew a length of sturdy rope. It looked new, looped up and wrapped as if it had just been measured out at a hardware store.

  “Thank you, Aunt Helen,” Laurie murmured. She looked pointedly at Fen.

  He grumbled, “Right. Thanks, Auntie H.”

  Laurie rolled her eyes at him, and at the same time, she began to unwind the rope and lower an end to Baldwin and Matt. She called, “We have it! Here. Grab this.”

  Now, Fen wasn’t ready to start another round of I-can-do-everything-you-can with Laurie, so he didn’t even bother taking it from her and pointing out that there was no way she could pull Baldwin and Matt up, especially since the truth was that he wasn’t sure he could pull Matt up, either. Thorsen wasn’t exactly a little guy. Fen could probably pull Baldwin out, and maybe together they could get Matt up.

  “Baldwin first,” Fen suggested, still trying to think of a good way to deal with her without fighting. “I’ll take the rope.”

  “Fen?”

  He thought she somehow knew that they were going to have an argument, but then he realized that she was looking behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a Raider running toward them. The boy was about Fen’s size, probably one of the younger wulfenkind.

  “I got it,” he said, but Laurie just handed him the rope.

  “No,” she said. “You get Baldwin and Matt.”

  “What the—”

  “Bow,” she announced as she grabbed up her bag and opened it. In mere moments, she had her arrowless bow in her hand. She didn’t look at Fen as she added, “I’m not as strong as you.”

  He turned away, trying to force himself not to watch her, concentrating on swinging the rope to Baldwin.

  “Got it,” Baldwin said.

  Behind Fen, he heard a yip, and then Laurie muttered, “Got you.”

  He didn’t look back. He dug his heels into the ground, hoped it didn’t fall away under his feet like the house had, and tried to hold on tightly as Baldwin climbed up. He wasn’t sure he could’ve pulled him, but Baldwin was scaling the rope like a happy monkey.

  In a few quick minutes, Baldwin was standing beside Fen.

  “There are more,” Laurie said.

  He glanced at her and saw her draw back the bowstring again. Then, under the ground, he heard a rumble and felt the earth tremble. He half threw, half swung the rope to Matt, and together with Baldwin, they heaved Matt upward. Pulling him out was a bit more of a struggle. Unlike Baldwin, Matt wasn’t a great wall climber, but he was strong, and he was trying.

  As Matt started to ascend out of the hole, he glanced behind him a few times, and when Fen followed his gaze and saw what looked to be scales glistening in the darkness below, he understood why Matt looked so tense. Whatever monster writhed in the distance had to be immense. The shaking of the ground or house explosion or whatever must have disturbed its lair.

  “Faster,” Laurie urged. “The ground is shaking again.”

  Fen didn’t tell her what he saw; he just pulled harder on the rope. In what seemed like several minutes, but was probably much faster, Matt was crawling out of the pit and onto the ground beside them. He crawled a little farther from the edge before he stood.

  Fen glanced into the darkness below, and whatever monster he’d seen was gone. He didn’t mention it to Baldwin or Laurie, but he caught Matt’s eye and said, “It’s gone.”

  Matt nodded, and then he said, “Let’s get out of here.”

  “No argument from me.” Fen grabbed both his bag and Laurie’s and slung them over his shoulder.

  Baldwin grabbed his bag, too, and then told Matt, “I left yours somewhere safe because of the shield.”

  Laurie kept her bow in one hand, and she held out the other for her bag. “I can carry mine.”

  Fen handed it over, and together the four of them ran toward the woods on the far side of the fighting, where the Berserkers were holding a line of defense. The Berserkers seemed to be struggling a little as the Raiders surged as one toward them. While the Berserkers had style and creativity in their fighting, the wulfenkind had an all-out ferocity that gave them an edge when it came to charging.

  “We should help them,” Matt said.

  “Laurie, you and Matt can stay back here. You have weapons that can work from a distance,” Fen started.

  “I can come,” Laurie objected.

  “I need you to protect Matt,” Fen whispered. “He’s not looking too great right now.” Then he turned to Baldwin and said, “You take any that get past me.”

  Matt was uncharacteristically quiet, and Fen worried that maybe his plan was stupid. He didn’t want to dive into yet another fight, but he couldn’t do anything from a distance—and both Matt and Baldwin looked tired. Laurie, of course, wasn’t ever someone he wanted to send into battle.

  “Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr,” Matt suddenly said in a strained voice.

  “What?” Fen looke
d in the direction Matt was now pointing.

  The two biggest goats led the herd, their snow-white hair standing out in the darkness, and their heads angled so their huge yellow-brown horns could connect with the Raiders and wulfenkind.

  “When goats attack,” Baldwin said in awe. “Sweet!”

  No one spoke for a moment. Matt was staring at his goat army in shock, and Laurie was already firing arrows at the enemy. Baldwin was grinning like a madman at the sight of a raging herd of goats. It’s like a strange circus. The acrobatic fighting of the Berserkers and the angry charging of bleating goats were the weirdest things Fen had ever seen.

  “They actually came,” Matt said, sounding a little awed.

  Then one of the Berserkers motioned for them to keep moving. She called, “We have this. Start toward the camp.”

  The camp?

  “New plan, then,” Baldwin said. He took the lead, so obviously at least one of them knew where they were headed.

  With one last look at the wolves who were being defeated by the increasingly large group of goats, Fen followed the boy who used to be dead, his cousin with her invisible arrows, and their leader—whose grandfather led the enemies. Nothing strange here, Fen thought.

  Yeah, right.

  FIFTEEN

  LAURIE

  “FIGHTING EVERYONE”

  Laurie could see the wolves and kids fighting, wolves and goats fighting, but she also saw kids fighting kids. Seeing kids fighting kids seemed somehow different, worse than most fights. Maybe it was because they’d become used to fighting monsters. These weren’t monsters; they were simply kids who seemed to believe the end of the world was a good idea—or maybe they didn’t know that the descendants of the North were trying to stop Ragnarök. That thought gave her hope.

  Of course, it didn’t change how awful today had been. Fen had almost been arrested, Matt had been shot, and there was a horrible moment when she thought they would all die as the cabin started crumbling around and under them. She almost preferred fighting trolls. At least there, the good guys and bad guys were a little clearer.

  The Berserkers surged and moved through the trees and around one another like acrobats in a routine. The mayor was using his Thor’s Hammer against them, but the Berserkers used the energy shoves as if they were discovering invisible trampolines in the air. They were pushing off of trees, wolves, and other Berserkers when they could, and landing in fluid rolls and flips when they were unable to find surfaces in the air for leverage. In the midst of the fight—turning the tide—were the goats. The sharp horns rammed into wolf after wolf. With the goats’ arrival, the heroes outnumbered their enemies.

  Laurie shook her head at the joy the Berserkers seemed to be taking in the chaos of the fight, and all the while, she kept her bow at the ready. She had Baldwin, Fen, and Matt—three of the heroes necessary for the big final fight—and she wasn’t going to let anyone or anything take the boys away.

  Since the Berserkers and goats were keeping the Raiders occupied, their small group was getting through the fight zone relatively easily. Matt looked rattled, but she didn’t know if it was because of his grandfather or the tranquilizer or maybe even the cabin collapsing. Baldwin was… Baldwin. He smiled and walked along, looking willing to jump into the fight but also happy to be with his friends. Fen kept darting glances in every direction, and in his typical way, hovering very close to her.

  She knew he had to be shaken up by his near-arrest. He’d looked positively humiliated when he’d been cuffed, and while she wasn’t going to tell him that she’d noticed, she had heard the fear in his voice. Baldwin’s death had been hard on them—as had his rescue from Hel—but Fen felt guilty for not saving Baldwin, and he’d been accused of murdering the boy once already by Astrid.

  “Astrid,” Laurie blurted.

  Matt tensed and looked around. “Where?”

  “No. I mean she’s the only one who could’ve been a witness to Baldwin’s murder,” Laurie clarified.

  The boys were quiet for a moment as they moved farther into the woods, leaving the fighting behind finally. Then a crashing sound behind them made all three boys tense up even more. Instinctively, all four of them arranged themselves back to back so they were in a small circle, each looking out in a different direction. In a blur of legs and arms, two Berserkers somersaulted into the path.

  “That was more fun than I expected,” one announced.

  “Odin should be waiting,” the other added with a grin. “Let’s go.”

  Now that there were strangers among them, the descendants stopped talking about their potential enemies. The Berserkers might be Owen’s private fighting force, but they weren’t descendants of the North.

  When they reached the campsite a little while later, Laurie was glad that this was a well-maintained campground surrounded by a small wooded area. She was sick of making camp. The campground was perfect: it had running water, and it appeared to be mostly deserted. No RVs or tents were in sight. The only people there were a few Berserkers and one familiar boy with blue hair and an eye patch.

  Laurie felt an odd sort of happiness at seeing Owen waiting there. He smiled and walked toward her. She would’ve gone to him, but Fen stepped in front of her.

  “That’s Owen,” she said from behind her cousin.

  Owen continued walking as if Fen weren’t standing between them.

  “Thanks for lending me your Berserkers.” Baldwin walked right up to Owen as if he’d known him forever and held out a hand. That was Baldwin, though. He would probably walk right up to the Raiders if no one was throwing punches… or maybe even if they were.

  Bemused, Owen shook his hand. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

  Fen still didn’t move.

  Owen folded his arms over his chest and stared at them. “Hello, Fenrir.”

  Silently, Fen stared at Owen. After a moment, Owen shrugged and said, “I think you should know that I won’t hurt Laurie… not like you will.”

  Before Laurie could react, Fen threw himself bodily at Owen. He landed only one punch before Baldwin and Matt grabbed him and pulled him back. “Stay away from my cousin,” Fen snarled.

  Oddly, Owen was smiling at Fen, as if he approved of his actions. “Good. Perhaps now that we have our fight out of the way, things will be better in the future.” Owen nodded once, and then he looked over at Matt. “I’m sorry about your grandfather. It’s hard when family disappoints you.” His gaze slipped to Laurie as he said the last bit. He smiled sadly at her and then turned his attention to Baldwin. “It is good that you’re not dead anymore. If you’d stayed dead, we’d have had fewer options for rescuing Matt.” He frowned. “And Fenrir would have been unhappy in jail. I think he’s avoided jail entirely now. I see no option where that changes.”

  “My name is Fen, not Fenrir.” Her cousin growled and shrugged out of Matt’s and Baldwin’s grips. “Just Fen.”

  “You are not just anything, Fen. None of us are.” Owen shook his head.

  Two ravens swooped down and landed on his shoulders. They were enormous black birds, but Owen didn’t seem to even notice them.

  “I have seen them before.” Laurie stared at the ravens and then leveled a glare at Owen. “I thought you said you didn’t have ravens like Odin did.”

  “I didn’t until recently,” Owen said. He looked guilty, though, and she wondered how recently they had been with him. As nervous as he suddenly looked, she was fairly certain that they were with him before their conversation the night with her bow.

  “I saw them in Hel,” Matt said. “When we were with Garm.”

  “And with the zombies,” Baldwin added. “Remember, Fen?”

  “Yeah, I remember.” Fen stalked up to stand beside Laurie, not quite in front of her but nearly so. “Why are your birds following us? If you want to watch us, why don’t you travel with us?”

  Owen glanced at him with genuine approval. “Memory and Thought go where I can’t… or when I can’t. I couldn’t go to Hel. I had to stay here
and lose my eye.” He flipped up the eye patch so they could all see his injury.

  Fen’s anger seemed to fade as he stared at the red skin where Owen had been injured. He opened his mouth but said nothing. He stayed beside Laurie, though. She wasn’t sure what to say. She’d already told him how sorry she was when he showed her how to hold her bow.

  “That bites, man. The eye thing,” Baldwin interjected into the silence.

  Owen’s lips twitched in a cross between a laugh and a smile, but all he said was, “It does.”

  The birds began making horrible noises, sounding like neither ravens nor people but some unnatural combination of the two. Their sharp beaks were so close to Owen’s face that Laurie was worried for him. She knew that the birds were his—extensions of him, according to the fragments of myth she’d managed to remember—but they were still scary creatures with talons and beaks that could cut like knives.

  “I need to leave now,” Owen announced. “I’d hoped that if Fenr—if Fen hit me sooner, it would be enough of a difference in what comes next. I couldn’t change the larger details, but I’d hoped this would be enough…. I wanted to stay.” He stepped forward to move around Fen and get closer to Laurie.

  Fen growled.

  As one, the ravens swiveled their heads to glare at Fen.

  “Stop it,” Laurie snapped at her cousin as she pushed him to the side. “I’m not in danger.”

  “The ravens won’t hurt either of you,” Owen assured her with a small smile. “There is a time that they startle you, but that will only happen if I live through Ragnarök.”

  The birds were still watching Fen, but Owen wasn’t doing anything other than watching her. It all felt far tenser than she would like.

  “Can I talk to you? Alone?” Owen asked.

  “No,” Fen snapped.

  “Okay,” Laurie said at the same time. She put a hand on Fen’s arm and squeezed. “I’m safe with him. Trust me?”