Mantle of the Gods

We ran across three bramble skeletons on the way there.

Edward hung back during all the fights which put more emphasis on Justia. She was more than capable of destroying the plant monsters with her ax. When we reached the creek, everyone knelt down and started drinking from it. The one thing we hadn't brought with us was water. I made a mental note that we were going to need to find a way to bring water with us the next time we came into the dungeon.

“Can I have my ration bar? Ether asked

I started to reach for the bag on my back and stopped. It was the last food that we had and while we were all tired and hungry. We weren't at the point where hunger was going to make us too weak.

I looked at Rix. “Have you seen anything that we could eat?” I plucked a piece of grass and casually tasted it then spit it out. It was bitter but I had a feeling that we were going to wind up eating some less than tasty things during our week locked in here.

She pointed upcreek. “There's berries up there.” She pointed in the direction that we hadn't explored, “The trees change that way, there might be something.”

It had gone from getting dark to too dark to travel safely. The light overhead looked like we had a moon, which provided us with enough light to see but I didn't trust anyone but Rix to be able to navigate around without getting lost.

“Can anyone make a fire?” I looked around, but no one gave any indication that they did.

Rix went up the bank towards the woods. I saw her sit down in the low light. There was scraping and some sparks. Before I could ask what she was doing, a small fire that illuminated the area bloomed.

Rix began building the fire until she had a nice little campfire going. She started putting rocks around the base of the burning sticks.

“How did you know how to do that?” Aelin scurried over and began warming her hands.

Rix shrugged for an answer.

The bubbly blonde looked back at me when she didn't get an answer from our Shooter.

“Can I have my ration now? I'm hungry?”

I paused and the others were also looking at me and I could tell that they also wanted to eat. I knew we should probably save them but we also needed to keep our spirits up. I opened the bag, took out five ration bars and tossed them to everyone. I left mine in the bag. I wasn’t really hungry and it wouldn’t hurt to have a little food in reserve.

Rix tucked hers into the pocket of her jumpsuit while the other four tore into their meal.

I walked over to the Shooter, “You're not going to eat it?”

She shrugged, “You're not eating yours.”

“I might really be hungry later.” I looked at the fire and then back at her.

“Have you been in the dungeon?”

She shook her head.

“How do you know how to do this?”

“I just do.” She got up and walked into the darkness. I knew that there was more to the answer but also that she wasn't going to give it.

Suddenly there was a bramble skeleton in the clearing and Rix was behind it with a stick. The monster turned to focus on her, but she dodged out of the way using the broken sword to deflect it. She used the long stick to bat it into the fire. It screamed as it burned until it burst into a cloud of smoke.

Aelin’s eyes were wide and the other three hadn’t been able to move any more than I had.

“That’s one way to beat them.” I looked at Rix, “You okay?”

She shrugged as Justia and Ether came over to the fire. Edward seemed perfectly happy to stay near the water.

“We need a perimeter.” She looked at Justia. “I need you and your ax.”

Justia looked at me and I nodded for her to help. I picked up a stick from the fire, “We'll be fine without the weapons.” I twirled it in front of me, “If another of those things attacks, we can burn it.”

Justia nodded and followed Rix into the darkness. I heard the sound of the ax chopping at wood, but couldn't see what they were doing.

“I'm not going to be able to sleep am I?” Edward called from the bank.

I looked at Aelin and Ether, “We’ll take turns on watch. Who wants to be on first watch with me?”

Aelin yawned and laid down next to the fire. She picked up the crystal and threw it to me. “I’m going to sleep. You can get me when it’s my turn.” She turned away from me after she closed her eyes.

Edward cautiously moved up towards the fire, but stayed closer to the water and sat down while looking at the ground. He made no indication that he was going to join the conversation, but that was okay, I hadn’t expected him to participate on watch. The blonde Noble was looking at the ground with disgust. He started to say something, but he stopped himself. I saw resentment on his face but he laid down on the ground and covered his eyes with his arm. I walked away from the fire and Ether followed after me.

“Are you really going to let him take watch?” She whispered

I shook my head, “I think the best thing to do is to rotate one of us out and let him sleep.” I shrugged, “Maybe he'll be in a better mood once he's rested.”

“I doubt it.” Ether took my arm and pulled me next to her. I tried to remind myself that I was supposed to be looking for monsters, but I knew that the softness squeezing against my arm had the bulk of my attention.