Mantle of the Gods

They deserved to suffer.

The way that Savyn and Andes had treated Aelin and then none of the other three had stopped them once Gileon had joined their merry band of torture. The whole team deserved to suffer in my opinion, but even if I wanted them to hurt more for how they’d treated my friend, they were still allies and there was a difference between suffering and death.

The blonde woman that had scowled at us earlier was draped half out the window of the burning bar. Her neck was broken and I wondered how many others were going to wind up dead before the night was over.

I opened the door and Gesai hit the wall right beside me.

“Are you okay?” I looked to see who she was fighting.

“You shouldn’t have meddled.” Arune Minti began gesturing at the flames licking at the building. He smiled as he looked at me, “Ah! Another sacrifice has come to offer itself for Wurns revival!”

“What are you doing here?!” Gesai got up and moved in between us.

“Why don’t you just stop?” The black-haired man began collecting the flames onto the stove. I marveled at his control. “You’re only a Tier Four and I’d rather not kill you…” He clicked his tongue, “The sacrifices didn’t have enough time to cook…” HIs brown eyes locked into mine. “But we’ll have enough with the two of you.”

“Get out of here.” Gesai gripped her sword. Her white lace gloves were almost completely destroyed and there were holes burned into her green leather armor. “Get the others and GET OUT OF HERE!” She charged the older man, who was laughing at her effort. I wanted to run, but I heard screaming coming from the kitchen. As much as my body screamed at me to get out of there, I couldn’t leave the Black team like that.

“WAVES!!!” I waved my hands in front of me as water drenched the building. I knew I wouldn’t be able to directly damage him, but I could put out the fire and make the terrain a little harder to move on.

I ran outside. There was no way that I was going to get around him, but I could get around the back.

Ice erupted out of the door behind me and I heard what sounded like a wall being knocked down. Their fight was intensifying and if the Black team was still inside when the building went down. I shook the thoughts out of my head as I made it around the back.

I spied a hole in one of the boards and looked in. All six members of the Black team as well as three other people were in what looked like a storage room.

“Hey!” I got close to the building, “Get away from the wall! I’m going to try to cut it down!”

“HELP US!” Savyn got right up next to the hole, “PLEASE! GET ME OUT OF HERE!”

“Get back so I can!” I was starting to regret this already.

My CB beeped and I looked down at the message. Before I read it I noticed that there wasn’t global signal. Somehow the signal was being jammed, keeping our CBs to only be able to communicate within a few thousand feet.

Everyone was here except Gesai and Rix. Chasers inside. Do you need help?

I put my sword down so I could respond.

Found Gesai and the Black team. Trying to get them out now. Tell everyone to stay put.

I picked my sword back up, “Get back!” I saw the black-haired woman backing away from the wall. The boards had been burned a little, so I tried to aim for a place that didn’t look like it was supporting the roof.

The vibration that ran through my hands as my sword bounced off of the wall made it feel like it would have hurt less if I would have just punched it. The wood had to be at least Tier Two. If it was Tier Zero, I would have cut through it without a problem. Tier One I would have at least cut it. For my sword to bounce like that, Tier Two was probably even too low of an assessment.

“What’s happening?” Savyn was back next to the wall, “Why aren’t you getting us out of here?!”

“The wall is too strong! I’ll…” I heard someone behind me. I turned around and saw a figure that froze my spine so fast that I wet myself a little.

The blonde man that I’d hoped I’d never see again was looking down at me with his red eyes.

My throat was so dry that I couldn’t swallow.

The third most dangerous criminal in the world raised his sword over me. I closed my eyes and didn’t even try to defend myself. Whisper Err was Tier Five. There was nothing I could do to budge him at my level. I hung my head and waited for darkness to claim me.