Mantle of the Gods

All four were ready before all of us reached the parking lot.

“Who’s driving?” Ether Klix looked at the rest of the group, “Aelin?”

The usually bubbly blonde was staring at the sky, “What?”

“I asked if you wanted to drive.” The white-haired, red-eyed woman repeated herself.

“Oh, sure.” Aelin Zeb held out her hand.

“Starters are in the vehicles.” Trent got in shotgun of the one the farthest to our right.

“Oh.” Aelin got in the next one over. Justia Publian followed after her.

“Can I drive?” Ren Zavel raised her hand.

“Doesn’t look like anyone else is volunteering.” Ether nodded to the next Chaser, “I’ll take the last one, so…” She looked at the group, “Who’s driving Mister Vowler?”

“I’ll do it.” Jovena Bothua volunteered.

“That gives us all our drivers.” Ether nodded at the other white-haired woman. “The rest of you can find where you want to ride.”

I walked over to the last Chaser and climbed in the front while Ether got behind the wheel.

Mitchel Zorboe got in the first Chaser, Jenne Vilou and Gesai Alard got in the second, Oz Mite and Rix Zeb got in the third one, and Fray got in behind me in the last one.

With all of us in vehicles, the lead one started down the road..

“How far is it to the Desolation?” Fray leaned in between the two seats as she tried to keep her brown hair out of her face.

I looked at the map I’d saved in the display of my crystal band, “This says four hours.”

“So we’ll be there…” She did the math in her head, “At about three?” She looked at me, “Do you think Gesai will want to take us into the dungeon?”

“No clue.” I looked out at the dead trees in swamp water that surrounded both sides of the road. It was definitely different from the last Desolation I'd been to.

“What was it like?” Ether seemed to know where my mind was, “The Desolation?”

“It was a wasteland.” I looked around, “Actually kind of like this, just not any water or trees.”

“So like this without all the scenery?” Fray snickered, “How is that the same?”

“It’s the lifeless part.” I waved my hand around. “It feels so… empty.”

“Oh, okay. That makes sense.”

I shifted in my seat so I could look at her, “So what happened yesterday with Trent?”

She shrank back into her seat, "That.”

“Yes.” I looked at Ether out of the corner of my eye, “You were beyond consolable in the dungeon. Then Gesai put you to sleep and…” I shrugged, “Now you seem fine, but I know Trent did something or said something. I’d like to know what.”

Fray looked nervously at Ether and swallowed, “He…” She began undoing buttons on her shirt, then peeled it back to reveal a tattoo over her heart almost exactly like the one that was sealing my class from prying eyes. “He gave me this. It means that we’ll always be a team.”

I eyed her, “He sealed your class?”

She touched the marking on it. “The staff and the dagger… You and Rix.” She traced her finger over the sword in the middle, which was the thing that mine didn’t have. “Now I’m part of it too.”

I understood a little of why she was more calm. And I knew why he’d done it. The more of us with the tattoo, the less likely that a God would zero in on it being something that was hiding our class. But there was something that I didn’t understand.

“Why was Justia there?”

“She healed me.” Fray began buttoning her shirt back up.

“Couldn’t Gesai have done that?” She was a stronger Healer.

Fray looked away and took a deep breath, “She got one too.”

I was going to have to have a talk with Trent, though I had a feeling I already knew how it was going to go. I’d gotten in the way before he could explain what he was doing and if I would have just trusted him, then I would have been in the loop about this.

“Are you mad?” She read my silence as anger rather than me thinking.

“No, this is a good thing.” I took her hands, “I just should have trusted Trent, then he wouldn’t have had me knocked out so I wouldn’t get in the way.” I kissed the back of her hands, “I’m not going to replace you. You’re part of this team.”

Her eyes sparkled as she hugged me.

Ether patted me on the back.

Maybe this detour wouldn’t be so bad.