Mantle of the Gods

They let us sleep for the whole trip.

I was a little surprised that they hadn’t bothered either of us until we got to the city gates.

“Atlas come on, we have to get up.” Ether smacked me on the chest and started putting her shoes on. "We have to get off so they can do an inspection.”

I yawned and slid out of the booth behind her.

The outer wall of Tres wasn’t what I was expecting. With the Cathedral, Zeb, and Harror, they were all simply walled cities, but with Tres, the walls were between two very tall mountains. I could smell the salt of the ocean I knew was on the other side of Tres. There was another difference in Tres. The other three cities had a single security guard who had called one other person to inspect the vehicle. When I got out, I was surprised to find six guards all wearing yellow armor surrounding the RV.

“Stop!” One of the masked guards stepped forward. "Present yourself for inspection.”

I looked at the others for guidance, but Trent was arguing with a security guard, and didn’t notice my silent plea for guidance.

“Hold out your hand!” Gesai cupped her hands around her mouth so that her voice would carry better.

I held out my left hand and the guard touched the crystal band over their wrist into the palm of my hand. I felt my hand get warm, and then they pulled their arms away from mine and looked at information that I couldn’t see.

“He’s good. You’re next.” They pointed at Ether.

I walked over to where the rest of them were standing. "What’s going on?”

Justia looked nervous as she and Aelin moved around so that they were between myself and the city guards.

“We don’t know. There is something wrong with the inspection and we’re supposed to wait here until an inspector arrives.” Justia looked nervously at the guards. "I have a bad feeling about this.”

“I’m sure Trent will handle it.” I looked around. "Where is Rix?”

“Being Rix…” Gesai whispered from behind me. "We should probably get you out of their sight as well.”

“Are we going to get arrested?” Fray’s voice was shaking.

I put my arm around her shoulders. "Don’t worry, it’ll all turn out okay.” The homely brunette flinched but didn’t pull away. I patted her arm. "Trust me, we’ll be fine.”

I didn’t really feel the surety that I tried to put in my words, but I knew that sharing my doubts would only make her feel worse and wouldn’t do anything positive for our current situation.

There wasn’t anywhere to hide or take cover if things did go wrong. The landscape around us was mountains starting in front of us and dry ankle-high sporadic grass on the side of the road behind us.

This meant the RV that we had been herded away from was the only thing we could hide behind if we needed to.

The large metal gates began to open and two more guards came walking down the middle of the road. Unlike the other guards that had simple yellow armor, these two had gold accents decorating their arms and chest. They also had their weapons out and in their hands. It looked like an ax with a curved head that looked almost like an achor. There was a wire stretched from the tip of each blade. The handle was silver and engraved with an inscription in a language that I didn’t recognize.

“TRENT VOWLER!” The strawberry blonde blue-eyed man behind them had a voice that seemed to rattle the entire area between them.

I had seen him before, but I couldn’t remember where.

Trent sighed and shook his head. "You really shouldn’t have come out here like this.”

“And you shouldn’t have tried to sneak into my city.” The man clicked his tongue. "It’s been almost fifty years since you graced my gates.” He looked in our direction. "You brought…” His eyes locked on to me and he turned to his guards. "GET THEM BACK IN THEIR CAR!” He pointed at me. "YOU!” He turned to an empty spot on his right. "AND you…” His voice lowered to a growl as Rix’s throat materialized in his hand as the rest of her came into view. “Are coming with me.”

I swallowed as I realized where I’d seen him before…

It was Tres. The Tres.

I’d just run into a God.