Mantle of the Gods

Justia and I took first watch.

The night was fairly uneventful, I was glad that the only thing we had to fight were the Bramble Skeletons that wandered into camp.

We drove the broken stakes into the ground around our small part of the river bank, using two of them to make an X, then laying a longer stick over the top of the X to make a fence that was as high as about halfway to my knee.

The knee high monsters were able to fall over it, but it took them a moment to do so. Which worked in our favor since we were able to spot them before they reached the fence. All we had to do was wait for them to fall over and we could make quick work of the prone monster.

After we finished off the fourth skellie, we woke up Ether and Aelin and tried to sleep ourselves. I found myself waking up at least every hour when camp got attacked, but the two women were capable of handling the thorny monsters.

I was still exhausted when the sun started coming up, but I sat up anyway when the third monster attacked. We needed to start the day and I wasn’t going to get much sleep anyway.

“How’d you sleep?” Ether came over to sit beside me as Aelin put the crystal in the bag.

“Okay." I lied. "How was it last night?”

“Pretty normal." The white-haired Tank watched as Aelin woke up Justia. "How are you feeling?”

I stretched. I was sore, tired, and cold. But none of that was going to change by complaining about it. “I’m ready to start running.” I stood up and started stretching.

“First breakfast!” Aelin smiled.

I was glad that she was at least looking like she was her normal self. As much as we’d been through the last few days, I’d worried that it might be too much and break her spirit. I was glad that it hadn’t, because her smiling made it easier for me to find something positive to focus on.

“Are you okay to start?” Justia came over and put her hand on my shoulder so she could look at me.

The gesture startled me. It was the first time that we’d had unnecessary contact. It wasn’t unwelcome, it was just unexpected. She must have realized my surprise, because she pulled her hand away almost immediately.

“Sorry.” She looked down at her feet.

“No, it’s not a problem.” I touched her chin so she’d look at me. "It just surprised me, that's all.” I smiled. "I’m glad that you’re starting to feel safe around me.”

“Safe?” Aelin eyed the two of us. "What’d you do to her?”

“Nothing!” I waved my hands as I backed up.

“Nothing?” Aelin eyed us. Justia looked embarrassed and that wasn’t helping my case.

“When we first got here, Justia caught me in a…” I searched for the right words. "Compromising position.”

Aelin raised her eyebrows and looked at Ether.

“Not with me.” The white-haired woman folded her arms in front of her.

“I mean there was that one time…” I realized that I was starting to ramble.

“That wasn’t when you first got here!” Ether cut me off. "Besides, I don’t remember you being the one in a compromising position at the time.”

Aelin grinned and pointed at me. "You’re a player!”

“No!” My heart was beating faster. "The first time wasn’t my fault! I didn’t do anything!”

“So you just stood there and let some random woman have her way with you?” The blonde woman raised an eyebrow.

“Exactly!”

“And Justia caught you..?” Aelin looked at our Healer.

“With his pants about to be around his ankles.” Justia finished.

Aelin doubled over laughing.

My face was red and I could feel my ears burning while my heart was trying to burst out of my chest so it could run away.

“It’s okay.” Ether patted me on the shoulder. "Everyone has their moments.” She eyed Aelin. "It’ll just make it that much more fun to tease her when it’s her turn to be embarrassed.”

“Nope, not going to happen.” Aelin shook her head. "Anywhere that I’d be doing something like that, will be somewhere that you’ll never be able to get into.”

“So you have plans to do something like that?” Ether teased.

My own embarrassment began to subside as Aelin and Justia’s faces both turned red.

“I-uh…” Aelin looked away. "Just meant I’m not a horn dog like some people.”

“Ri-i-ight.” Ether started walking into the woods. "Then let’s get this horn dog running before he gets any ideas that might embarrass you.”

The other two women hurried after her without a word. I groaned as I brought up the rear. If the dungeon didn’t kill me, this party might just embarrass me to death.