Mantle of the Gods

The sun was still up.

Panic began to eat at me as I realized I had been too tired to stay awake. I started to lift up my head but felt fingers in my hair.

“You’re okay.” Ether purred as she squeezed me closer to her.

We were lying on the bank where we had been sitting. My head was against her chest and my right arm was draped over her.

“I’m so sorry.” I shifted so that I could look up at her. "You were talking about some heavy stuff, and I…” I swallowed

“You’ve barely slept.” She teased my hair. "I preferred laying here with you anyway.”

“Still, I should have stayed awake.”

“It’s fine.” She rubbed my back. "Honestly, I’m surprised you’ve managed to stay awake as long as you have.”

My muscles were still sore and I felt like I could still sleep for a few more hours, but we hadn’t hit our quota yet, and for Rix’s sake, we didn’t need to get behind.

“How long was I out?”

She shrugged. "I don’t know, but Justia hasn’t come looking for us, so not long enough.”

“That’s probably because she thinks we’re doing something else.”

“Other than sleeping together?” Ether giggled as she tousled my hair.

“That’s… probably exactly what she thinks we’re doing.” I lifted myself up on one arm. “As much as I’d love to stay here and sleep with you some more.” I couldn’t hold back the smirk as she giggled again. "We need to get back to killing snakes.”

She made a face but got up with me.

I started to walk towards the trail, but noticed she hadn’t moved. "You okay?”

“Do you think they’ll let her go?”

“I don’t know.” I realized that wasn’t the answer she had hoped that I’d give her. “But how would you feel if we don’t try and they make her fight the boss by herself?”

“That’s what I don’t understand.” Ether looked puzzled. "How are they planning on getting away with that?”

I thought for a moment. "I have no idea. But it didn’t feel like an idle threat. Who knows? Maybe they’ll be waiting for us on the other side, but at least if we’re level two, at least we might have some skills to help us if they were planning on killing us from the start.”

She kicked a rock. "Do you think we can really pull this off in time?”

I looked up at the sky. It was about three in the afternoon, and by the time we got back to the farming area, it’d be past four, which would give us about four hours to farm. At ten an hour, that would only get us forty more, which would bring our total experience for the day to just over seventeen. It was a lot that was a lot less than the twenty-plus that we needed each day, but we’d started late and had to pick up our camp. I had an idea about how to increase our experience, but I wasn’t sure that the women were going to like it. I’d have to talk to them about it after our farming session for today was over.

“It’s certainly possible, but we can’t be lying around like this.” I nodded up towards the road. "Let’s head back and see how much they’ve got set up.” I held out my hand to her.

She nodded and took my hand.

It didn’t take us long to reach the camp. The fence was up on either side of the trail, but it wasn’t tied together. That was decent enough because any of us could work on tying the stakes together tonight while we were on watch. There was what looked like a crate that the fruit had been emptied into. My blue jumpsuit was hanging over the side of it.

I thought about putting it on, but for now, I was able to run better in just my shorts. If I started tangling with the snakes too much, then I’d have to rethink wearing it for some protection, but for now, I’d leave it there.

“Took you long enough.” Aelin smirked. "I didn’t think you’d have any energy to go that long.”

“I didn’t.” I looked at the other three members of our team. "Sorry, I fell asleep.”

The blonde Buffer looked between the two of us as if she was searching for any extra information.

“Well, that’s boring.” She walked over to the crate and picked up an apple. "Are you hungry?”

I shook my head. "No, but thanks.” I looked at Justia. "Are we good to go?”

The brown-haired Healer nodded as she picked up the ax. "We’re just waiting on you.”

“You could have taken a little longer." Edward grumbled from his seat against the fence. "I just sat down.”

“What was that?” Aelin smiled and looked at Justia. "Justia! I think Edward is volunteering to carry all the supplies for us!”

“I DID N-…” the blonde Noble stopped. "Whatever, you’re going to make me do it anyway.”

“What do we have to carry?” I looked around. "We don’t really need anything other than our weapons.”

Hope covered the other man’s face as he looked at Justia.

“You get a break.” Justia agreed. "Let’s head out.”

Aelin was skipping down the trail towards our snake farming area with Edward not too far behind her. Justia hung back so she could walk with Ether and me.

“Is everything good?” The green-skinned Healer lowered her voice.

I looked at Ether, who nodded.

“We’re good." The snow white-skinned Tank affirmed. "Atlas explained the situation.” She nodded up the road. "Do you think either of them suspect anything?”

“I can’t see Edward thinking anyone but himself is special.” I looked at the other blonde. "I’m not sure how to read Aelin.”

“She’ll figure it out eventually.” Justia shook her head. "But I think we can trust her.”

“What if she tries to impress her Noble father?” Ether’s question brought the two of us to a halt. The red-eyed woman turned as she walked past us. "It’s a possibility.”

I could see Justia trying to come up with a defense, but nothing was holding water. While I knew we wanted to trust our Buffer, we didn’t know just how far Aelin might go to endear herself to the Father she’d never known.

“Let’s hold off on cueing her in.” I looked at Justia. "Try to stay close to her. As soon as we can trust her, then we’ll bring her in.”

“And if we can’t?” Ether voiced the question that we hadn’t wanted to speak.

“I don’t know.” I looked at Justia. "I assume that ArchBishop Mavery or Trent will have a way to keep it contained.”

I didn’t want to say what containing it might entail, but considering we’d been locked in the dungeon, I had no doubt that they had ways to isolate any of us from outside communication.

“You’re falling behind!” Aelin yelled from down the trail. "Hurry up!”

“That’s an issue for the tomorrow us.” I started walking again. "The today us have snakes to kill.”