Mantle of the Gods

Aelin had thrown a rock.

It was the size of a baseball and even with an okay recovery stat, he was going to be out for a while.

“He’s breathing!” I turned around and saw her down on one knee.

Justia was on the ground, leaning up against a tree with Ether supporting her. The brunette healer looked like she had taken a beating. While Aelin just had a nice fist sized bruise on the side of her face.

I collected the dagger, then grabbed Edward by the arm and dragged him over to where the women were.

“Are you sure he’s not dead?” Aelin shook as she got up and came over to see for herself.

“He’s still breathing.” I eyed her. "Unless that wasn’t the plan?”

“I didn’t want to kill him!” The blonde glared at me. "Okay, maybe a little. Do you see what he did to Justia!”

I looked at our Healer. She looked roughed up, but with her recovery stat, most of it would be gone by the next morning.

“Anything else hurt?” I turned from Justia to Aelin.

“Just my face.” Aelin rubbed her face, then dropped to her knees to hug Justia. "Are you going to be okay?”

“Not if you keep squeezing me like that.” Justia tried to smile, but her split lip made the movement look very strange.

“Sorry!” Aelin pulled away. "I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

“It’s okay.” Justia put her right hand on Aelin’s shoulder. "I liked the hug, just maybe not so hard.”

“Okay!” Aelin hugged Justia again.

I could tell by the wince that it hurt, but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell her to stop.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay? You’re not hurt anywhere else?” I looked at Ether for confirmation.

“I’ll be fine.” Justia brought her arm up so that she could rub Aelin’s back.

Ether nodded her agreement.

“I’m glad you’ll be fine, but that means we have another, very serious topic.” I pointed at the blonde Noble. "What are we going to do with him? We can’t tie him up and if we leave him alone, he’s going to keep coming after us.”

“He won’t be able to reach us in a few hours.” Ether pointed out. "He won’t be able to beat the boss by himself and we’ll be on level two.”

I liked her optimism, but I wasn’t sure how long the vines had held him. "What if he gets out before we level up? This fight has already delayed us by an hour and We’re not going to be able to move as quickly through the woods.” I eyed them. "I don’t think we can afford another delay.”

Aelin looked up. "You can’t kill him!” She looked at each of us. "We’re not like that. We don’t do that. Do we?”

I took a deep breath and sighed. "Killing him would be simpler, but I don’t want to do that either unless it is absolutely necessary.” I looked at the women. "Any other ideas?”

There was silence for way too long. I could tell by the look on Ether’s face that she had an idea, but by her hesitation, I felt like it was one I wasn’t going to like.

“Ether, do you have an idea?”

She closed her eyes. "Break his legs.”

“WHAT?!?” Aelin looked from Ether to me, then to Justia. "We can do that! If we do that then…” Her voice trailed off.

“His recovery stat is high enough that he’ll be able to walk in a few weeks. With a healer, that’s a few just a few minutes.” Ether opened her eyes. "It’s brutal, but it ensures that he won’t be able to follow us and he can fight off any Skelies that might find him.”

“It’s only going to make him madder, but…” Justia shook her head. "But when we’re talking about Rix’s life..?”

I hefted the ax that was still in my hands. I’d been prepared to do it while fighting him, but now it felt dirty, almost vile. The thing was, if I didn’t do it, then one of my team members was going to have to. I had no doubt that Justia would, and the low Power stat was the only reason why Ether wouldn’t do it, but I didn’t want either of them to have to shoulder this. I took a deep breath. "I’ll do it.”