“Put it in my tent.”
The Raider did as he was told. When he’d disappeared into the tent, Skull strolled toward Matt.
“There’s someone you need to meet,” he said. “But first I think you need a lesson about stealing.”
Skull’s gaze dropped to Matt’s stomach, and Matt knew what was coming. A blow to the solar plexus against a defenseless target. Except Matt wasn’t defenseless. He readied his Hammer as he watched Skull, ready to launch it as soon as he pulled back for—
Someone hit Matt from behind. A hard, fast hit to the kidney that sent pain jolting through him. He twisted to see the girl—Hattie—grinning. Then another blow, this one from the front, the hit he’d been waiting for. Straight to the solar plexus. The air flew from Matt’s lungs, and he doubled over, wheezing and hacking.
“Hey, Skull!” Baldwin shouted, struggling against the Raiders holding him. “What kind of name is that, anyway. Do you think it makes you seem tough? It better work with these guys, because you need all the help you can get, loser.”
Skull slowly turned on Baldwin.
“Yeah, I’m talking to you!” Baldwin shouted. “The loser who won’t even take a swing at Thor’s kid unless four guys are holding him down. You call yourself a Viking Raider? The Vikings wouldn’t have let you clean their toilets. You won’t even fight Matt without help from your girlfriend there. I can see where she comes in handy, though. One look from that ugly face and guys probably run before you needto hit them, right?”
Hattie advanced on Baldwin.
“I said to ignore him,” Skull said. “You can’t hurt him.”
Hattie punched Baldwin in the stomach, making him cough. “Maybe not, but it makes me feel better.”
“Truth hurts, doesn’t it?” Baldwin said as he caught his breath and bounced back, grinning. “Do you turn into a wolf, too? I bet you don’t. You don’t need to. You’re already a dog.”
Hattie hit him. Matt winced and wanted to tell Baldwin to stop, but reminded himself that Baldwin couldn’t feel it, couldn’t be hurt. If Baldwin could draw off Hattie and Skull with insults…
“Enough!” Skull roared. “You want to hit someone? Get back here and hit Thorsen. I bet blondie will feel that.”
Skull advanced on Matt again. When he pulled back his fist, Matt launched his Hammer. It knocked Skull to the ground, flat on his back. He scrambled up, face twisted in rage.
“You little brat,” he said, charging Matt. “I’ll teach you not to—”
Fog swirled between them, so thick Matt couldn’t see Skull, could only hear him cursing as he fought his way through it. Matt stared at the fog. Had he done that? He did get a few wisps with his Hammer, but this was like smoke from a raging bonfire, spreading over the camp so fast—
Don’t just stare at it. Use it!
Matt realized the holds on his arms had slackened, and when he looked over, he saw that the Raiders holding them were gaping into the fog themselves. He yanked one arm free easily, then swung and plowed his fist into the jaw of one guy holding the other. The guy flew back and knocked over the Raider next to him, the two falling like bowling pins.
Matt dove into the fog, the gray wrapping around him, everything else disappearing. He heard a grunt to his left and turned to see a Raider girl charging him, knife raised. Something hit her from behind, and she fell face-first, Fen on her back. Fen plucked the switchblade from her hand, folded it into his pocket, and leaped up.
“Come on, Thorsen,” Fen said.
Matt didn’t move.
“I’m rescuing you,” Fen said. “Again. Don’t make me regret it. Come on.”
Matt backed away.
“What the—?” Fen began.
A Raider leaped through the fog. Just a kid. Matt took him down. Then Fen grabbed his sleeve.
“We need to go,” Fen urged. “The twins can’t hold the fog forever.”
Matt paused. “That’s them?”
“No, it’s natural. Just does that out here.” Fen sighed in that annoying way of his before adding, “Yeah, it’s them.”
Matt hesitated. His brain said he shouldn’t trust Fen, but he did. He just did.
He took a deep breath. “Okay. Is Laurie safe?”
Fen’s face darkened, and Matt felt a stab of annoyance. Fen seemed to hate it when Matt worried about her. Did he think Matt had a thing for Laurie? He’d set him straight on that later. Maybe Fen’s world was different, but in Matt’s, you could have a girl as a friend without thinking of her as a girlfriend.
“ ’Course she’s okay,” Fen snapped. “I take care of her.”
And so do I, Matt wanted to say. But he knew better.
“Okay, we need to get Baldwin and—”
“Got him,” said a voice. Laurie appeared with Baldwin beside her.
Fen scowled. “I thought I told you to stay—”
“Yeah.” Laurie rolled her eyes. “And someday you’ll learn that I don’t always—”
Two Raiders lunged from the fog. Matt took out one. Baldwin and Fen nearly knocked heads going for the other. A right hook from Fen sent the Raider back into the fog with Matt’s.
A growl sounded somewhere in the fog, another joining it.
“I need to get the shield,” Matt said.
“What?” Fen said. “All this and you don’t have it?”
“They took it back,” Baldwin said.
“I’ll grab it,” Matt said. “Laurie, open a door. Take the others through. I’ll follow.”
Laurie said nothing, and Matt peered through the thin curtain of fog between them. “Laurie?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to do,” she said. “Open a door. I can’t.”
“Okay.” Matt took a deep breath. “Um, I’ll get the shield. You guys just… go back to where you were hiding before.”
“Can I go with you?” Baldwin asked Matt.
“Fen?” Laurie said. “I want you to go with Matt.”
“No. I’m making sure you get back—”
“Go with Matt. Please.If they’re changing to wolves, you need to do that and stay with Matt.” She stared directly at her cousin. “I’m going to catch my breath and open a door for us. Baldwin will be with me.”
Fen seemed to realize there wasn’t time for arguing. He nodded and gruffly told Baldwin to watch out for Laurie. Baldwin promised he would, and they slipped off into the fog. Fen went away, too, leaving Matt to fend off a Raider before returning in wolf form and quickly dispatching another.
They made their way to Skull’s tent. Matt had no idea where to even find it in the fog, but Fen must have been able to smell it. Matt wondered if the Raider would have put the shield somewhere else, but as he followed Fen, he could feel his amulet’s tingle, telling him they weren’t quite that bright. The shield was still in Skull’s tent.
Matt emerged from the gray to see the tent… and two hulking Raiders standing guard.
The bigger one grinned. “Skull said you wouldn’t leave without getting what you came for.” He raised his voice. “Hey, Sk—”
Before he finished the word, Matt hit him with the same blow Skull had used on him—straight to the solar plexus. Never anything he’d use in a fair fight, but this wasn’t fair. And it shut the guy up fast. Before the second one could raise the alarm, Fen burst from the fog and took him down. Then he snapped at Matt, and Matt didn’t need a canine translator to tell him what Fen had said. Get your butt in that tent and grab the shield.
Matt found the shield right where it had been the last time—under the blankets. He didn’t heft it over his shoulder; he held it the way it should be held, protecting his body as he stepped out. He was just letting the flap fall behind him when a small Raider came charging from the fog. As if instinctively, Matt raised the shield… and the kid plowed into it headfirst and staggered back, dazed.
Matt motioned for Fen to follow him into the fog, but Fen motioned back, jerking his muzzle from the shield to the kid. Telling Matt to bash the guy again. Matt looked at the kid—maybe eleven—holding his head and blinking hard, and when he thought of hitting him again, he felt a little sick. He might have come a long way in a few days—he had no problem hitting a little kid or a girl if he had to—but that was too much.