Hammered

down carefully and then lying on my right side so that the maximum surface area of my tattoos could touch the earth.
    Leif watched me in silence for a full minute to make sure that lying down wasn’t a prelude to performing something tactically brilliant. Then he said, » You’re just going to lie there until he comes back? «
    » Hey, you’re pretty smart for a dead guy. What happened up there? I got you your shot and you blew it. «
    Leif grimaced. » No denying that. I shattered his shield, but he knocked me away with a hammer blow before I could take another swing. «
    » That must have given you an ouchie. «
    » He crushed my ribs, « he replied, grinning. » But that Valkyrie healed me up nicely. Their blood is powerful. First full meal I’ve had in days. «
    » Good. You’re going to need it. « I sighed. » Our surprises are all spent now, Leif. Nothing will be easy when Thor returns, and our best chance to get out of here unscathed is gone. « Leif nodded but said nothing.
    Gunnar joined us, barked once by way of greeting, and lay down against my back. He was trying to keep me warm, and it made me smile. Though he’d never admit it, Gunnar was treating me like a surrogate pack member. I could tell he missed them. I hoped he’d make it back. He would if we left now; we all would.
    » Leif. «
    » Hmm? « He kept his eyes on the skies for Thor’s return.
    » I need to tell you something. Complete candor. «
    He looked down at me, interested. » What is it? «
    » I’ve been visited by two different gods. You saw the Morrigan, and the other one was Jesus. They tend to be pretty fucking good at seeing the future. «
    » Yes? «
    » They both said killing Thor would be an extraordinarily bad idea. «
    The vampire’s expression hardened. » So? «
    » So let’s get the hell out of here and call it a victory. «
    » Victory? We have won nothing! «
    » Heimdall is dead, plus twelve Valkyries. That’s the blood price of your family times four. You’ve made your point and we’re all still alive. Let’s quit while we’re ahead. «
    » We are not ahead. You do not keep score properly. The only death that counts is Thor’s. «
    » What about my death? Or Gunnar’s, or the rest of us? Will those count? Because the odds of us dying are pretty high if we wait for Thor to come back with the rest of the Æsir. «
    » Go, then, if you want, but leave me here. «
    » You know I won’t do that. « Hal would never speak to me again if I left Leif behind. » We all need to go. «
    Leif knelt next to me in the snow and said in low, intense tones, » A thousand years, Atticus. I have been waiting for this, needing it and wanting it, for a thousand years of sunless existence. Against that you put the ten years I have known you. Friend that you are to me, there is no argument you can make that will swerve me from my course. And I doubt seriously that you could sway any of the others with this talk of the future. If they have a fraction of the feeling I have, then the only future they care about is the one where Thor is dead. Nothing else matters. «
    Gunnar whuffed a small breath of agreement and nodded his head. I sighed, defeated. Revenge and rational thought never sleep together.
    » Surviving matters, « I said, my last salvo in a lost battle.
    » Right, « Leif said, happy to agree to anything that did not involve leaving. » So use that head of yours and help us out with that. Ought we to do anything while we wait? What if he does not come back at all? «
    » Oh, he’ll come. The frost giants can send ice storms toward Fólkvangr as we planned. And Perun can do his thing too if he wants. Maybe draw straws to see who’s going to take on Týr, because he’ll show up for sure. « The Norse god of single combat might have only one hand (the great wolf Fenris having chewed the other off ages ago), but he could still wreak plenty of ruin with it. » And have Väinämöinen put us under a seeming again. We don’t want Hugin and Munin to scout things out and give Odin a chance to war-game us. Let him deal only with Thor’s verbal report. «
    I got almost a full hour of healing in before a cry went up that the Æsir approached. The collarbone was still fragile, but the shoulder joint worked fine and the muscles around it were solid, if a bit bruised and stiff. When I rose to my feet, the stars were gone from the western sky, blotted out by thunderheads that roiled with the barely contained fury of Thor. Gunnar