Mantle of the Gods

We left him at camp.

Ether tied Edward to a post and then left him. He might be able to uproot the fencepost, but if he did, then he’d uproot the whole fence. Then he’d have nothing to protect him from the Bramble Skeletons. I hoped that he’d at least see the reason in that, but if he didn’t, I wasn’t going to feel sorry for him.

“Are you ready?” I looked at Aelin. The blonde woman was obviously shaken, but she was putting on a brave face.

“I can do it.” Her usual enthusiasm wasn’t there.

I felt bad that she was getting so bent out of shape over a selfish prick, but that was kind of her personality, and I wouldn’t want her to change it.

“It’ll be okay.” I gave her a thumbs up. "Edward probably just panicked about being locked in the dungeon and it wore his nerves down.” I smiled. "He’ll calm down and maybe Trent will find him a different team that is better suited for him.”

“One with only stuck up Nobles like him?” Aelin grinned.

“Exactly!” It was nice to see her smile. “You ready?”

She nodded.

“Let’s do this!” I shouted as I started running.

We farmed for four hours. I could tell that she was trying her best, but she really just wasn’t suited for this task. By the time the sun was starting to set, I had even more bruises and scratches, but we were making progress.

We went over to the edge of the woods and walked in. It didn’t take long for us to find Justia and Ether. The four of us walked through the woods to the fruit tree.

“I think this one is easier to get to than the other one we found.” I sat down against the tree. “I’ll help pick once I breathe for a minute.”

“It’s okay.” Aelin threw me the bag. "You can count how many snakes we did.”

“We got sixteen Bramble Skeletons." Ether dug the crystals out of her pockets and handed them to me.

“How are you doing?” I caught her hand.

“I’m tired, and a little sore, but okay.” She smiled. "How are you doing?”

“I meant about the Edward situation.”

“Oh.” the red-eyed woman thought for a moment. "I’m surprised he lasted this long. We’ve been locked up in here for four days and he’s spent half of that brooding about how bad it is.” She shrugged. "With his view on Mundane, he was going to snap at some point.”

I sighed. "I’d really hoped he would have been a team player.”

Ether laughed. "Nobles aren’t team players.”

I nodded at Justia. "What about her?”

The white-haired woman looked at our Healer. “She’s different. Probably one of the few exceptions to the rule.”

“Nice to know someone thinks I’m exceptional.” Justia laughed.

“You’re welcome." Ether grinned. "Would you like me to draw you a warm bath? I could fluff your pillow before you turn in.”

The three women shared a laugh. It was nice seeing the team get along. I just wished that Rix was here with us.

“How many are there?” Aelin tossed a peach at me.

I caught the fruit and bit into it. I finished counting while I ate.

“Twenty.” It was a lot lower than I’d hoped. With Edward killing them, we’d have downed twice as many, but that wasn’t an option now.

“Where does that put us?” Aelin looked scared of what I might say.

When I didn’t answer right away, Ether cut in. "Sixty-three for you and Atlas, sixty-six for Justia and me.”

“Is that enough?” The blonde woman bit at the tip of her thumb.

“If we can hit one sixty tomorrow, then we’ll be good.” I looked at the women. "The way things are looking, though…” I didn’t want to say it, but they needed to be prepared. I had a feeling that Ether already knew, but I was going to say it anyway.

“The way we’re going, we’ll make it to level two before the deadline.” I shook my head. "But it’ll be the evening.” I motioned at us. "Like tonight.”

“We’re not going to have enough time to test out the new abilities and we’re going to have to fight tired.” Ether summarized,

“Exactly.” I took a deep breath as I stood up and grabbed a low-hanging fruit. “We might want to try to spend as much time tomorrow as we can down here.” I started doing some calculations. "We’ve got fourteen hours of daylight, if we can farm for twelve of those, then you will get forty-eight skellies, and Aelin and I can do…” I looked at her. "Maybe seventy-two snakes.” I shook my head. "That’s still not enough.”

“But it gets us close.” Ether held up one finger. "We still have the Skelies from tonight to factor in.” She closed her eyes for a moment. "That brings us to ninety-eight and ninety-five.” She looked at Justia. "You and I would level overnight if we got that.”

“So more doable.” I looked at the women. "Is that what we want to do? Hit it hard tomorrow, level the next morning and try out our new abilities, then challenge the boss after lunch?”

They looked at each other, and then Aelin noticed that the other two women were staring at her.

“I can handle it!” Aelin waved her hand. "I can completely handle it.”

“So can I.” Ether stuffed the last fruit into the filled jumpsuit.

“Me too.” Justia piped.

“Then let’s do this.” I picked up my jumpsuit full of fruit and slung it on my back. “How do you think camp is?”