Mantle of the Gods

He vanished before we could react.

“What do we do?” Aelin looked at me,

I started to answer when the gate behind us began to come to life.

We had moments to choose.

“We’re in no shape to chase after him.” I hated myself for even saying it. "We’ll have to hope that the Enforcers can make it to the floor boss before they can.”

“Are you serious?” Aelin looked surprised. "After all this? You’re going to abandon her?”

“It’s not abandoning her.” I looked at Ether and Justia for support. "I’m choosing the best people to rescue her.”

“She’s going to be okay.”Justia put her arm around Aelin. "It’s going to be okay.”

I let the tip of the sword fall to the ground. “Ether, could you help me get this put up?” I looked at the white-haired tank. "I don’t think it’ll be a good idea to have a weapon out when the Enforcers show up.”

The red-eyed woman picked up the sword and slid it into the snakehide sheath on my back. She hadn’t finished getting it put into place when six people in black armor with white trim walked through the gate. They were completely covered from head to toe and the armor was so generalized I couldn’t tell any features about them.

Ether pulled her hands away from the blade, letting it slide the rest of the way in place by itself. She raised her hands as she moved as behind me as she could.

One of them lifted their arm to scan us with their crystal band. My heart started racing as we were scanned. I didn’t know how much information the scan told them about me, but if it told them my stats, we might have a big problem.

“These are the students that we’re looking for.” The officer pointed at us. "Take them in.”

“Wait!” I tried to point out towards the desert. "Our friend is out there! She’s been…”

The Enforcer closest to me grabbed my arm and took me to the sand, cutting off the rest of my sentence.”

The other three members of my party were on the sand next to me before I could spit the sand out of my mouth.

The Enforcer that scanned us walked in front of us. “Where are your other two party members?”

“That’s what he was trying to tell you!” Aelin struggled against the Enforcer that was holding her down. "She’s been kidnapped! They’re taking her to the third floor!”

“That’s one other member.” They nodded at the one Enforcer that wasn’t holding someone down. That Enforcer took off really fast into the desert. “What about the sixth one?” They knelt down in front of Aelin and grabbed her chin. "Not the she, so Edward Rene?”

“He attacked us!” I didn’t even have the strength to struggle. "I disabled him and we left him by the river on the first floor!”

“You harmed one of your team members?” They let go of Aelin and moved over to me. I couldn’t see anything behind the visor, but I felt like their eyes were burning into my soul.

I opened my mouth to defend myself, but all I had was shame.

“Has someone contacted our teacher?” Ether tried to get the leader’s attention.

The person with the crystal band stayed in front of me. "What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I did what I thought was best for everyone. To get us all out safe.” I laid my head down on the sand, this was a nightmare that I just wanted to be over.

“You’re missing two members and the lot of you can barely stand?” They shook their head as they stood up and turned around. "You’re there? It is? Who were the last ones to go in? When?” They turned towards me. "The last people to go through that gate were the Yellow team four days ago.” They looked at everyone. "Can someone explain what’s going on?”

“They have her!” Aelin strained to move, which got her nowhere. "That Wrye guy told us that they had her just a little while ago and that they were going to have an accident in there once you got here!”

“Stay at the door and don’t let anyone in.” They knelt down. “The lot of you are already in trouble for this reckless prank, but if I find out that you’re trying to pin the blame on another team…”

LOOK AT ME!

A shiver ran down my spine as the Leader of the Enforcers slowly turned to look at Ether.

“WHERE. IS. OUR. TEACHER?” The red-eyed woman enunciated every word.

“Attacking an Enforcer?” They made a gesture and the rage and defiance on Ether’s face vanished as her eyes closed and her head fell against the sand.

“What did you do to her!” I didn’t have the strength to struggle, but I tried anyway.

“Take them to lockup until we get this sorted out.” The leader turned away.

That was the last thing I remembered when the world went dark.