It was time for Edward to raise his eyebrow in curiosity. It was nowhere near as impressive as Billy’s.
“That’s it? You need someone to cut out a root structure from some weird creature? Surely that won’t be too bad. I’m in.”
* * *
Edward walked with Billy outside to a boxy Volkswagen van. It was an older style, probably from the 80s and actually had curtains that were draped across some of the windows in the back. It was a dark brown with a few dents, and its fair share of paint scratches throughout, but otherwise fairly unremarkable from the outside. They were quiet during their walk from the Student Center until Edward spoke up.
“That’s an intriguing battle wagon you got going on there.”
“Don’t knock it. It’s pretty great for storing Comms equipment and keeping it relatively low profile if need be. The back seats fold down to make for good camping or whatever…” He said with a good-natured wink.
At about that time, Edward noticed that someone was sitting in the front passenger seat. He could not make out much about the person, because he could only see a pair of black combat boots sticking out of the window. Dusk was starting to fall on the town, and that made it even harder to tell who the owner of the boots was. Edward walked up the window and stuck his head around into it to see a woman with a raven black mohawk that was parted over to one side and pulled into multiple braids pulled into a tail. She was leaning against the armrest of the passenger seat with a casual nature-grace that kind of scared Edward, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on why. From how much of her legs dangled out of the van’s window, Edward presumed that she was very very tall, but it was hard to tell from this angle. When she saw him, she looked away from him and yelled, presumably to Billy.
“This the Mauer kid? This nerdy kid looks like he is still learning how to shave?”
Edward frowned down at the woman, who couldn’t have been much older than he was. She was maybe in her early twenties. Come to think of it, Billy probably was too. He didn’t look much older, but just carried himself very differently: most Hunters who’d been on more than a couple hunts did. Edward pursed his lips and replied before Billy could.
“Yeah. This is the Mauer kid, and he’s kinda sick of the third degree everyone’s been giving him.”
At the tone in his voice, the reclining woman sat up with a grin across her face that caused Edward to cock his head in confusion.
“Go on, you poor put upon thing.”
Edward wondered if her voice mocking or just intrigued?
“First it was that snobby handler, then Billy here, and now you’re referring to me as the Mauer kid. Yeah, I get it. I haven’t been on a bunch of hunts yet, but I’m here now and don’t you dare give my parents hell for retiring. They gave a lot to the Hunt before leaving that life behind, and I won’t have you talking down about them.” He had not realized until he had finished his tirade that he was jabbing a finger in the air at the woman in the car. Her smile kept getting wider as he had ranted. She had been looking at him until he stopped talking when she turned it aside again and yelled, again presumably to Billy.
“You were right, Billy. He does have some fire.”
“What do you mean he was right? We just met.” Edward said shaking his head.
Rolling her eyes in response.
“It’s his job to do research, and we had a bet on whether or not your parents kept you from hunting because you were a coward.”
Edward squinted down at her.
“And you thought that I was one...”
“I did indeed.” She replied with an even bigger smile. She didn’t seem even remotely contrite, or afraid to insult him to his face for that matter. “We needed to know your mettle. This isn’t a dangerous capture, per se, but I don’t want to face anything with a coward at my back. Especially not as my Lancer.”
Edward pursed his lips, but couldn’t fault her much for how it had gone down.
“I get it. But it looks like I passed your little test, so what’s the plan with this thing?”
“See, Sarah, I knew you’d like him,” Billy said as a clapped Edward on the back. “He takes a bit to ramp up, but turns out that he is his father’s son after all.”
Edward turned to him and raised an eyebrow in question.
“My father’s son, eh?”
“Guessin’ he doesn’t talk about the old days much, does he?”
“That he does not. Part of the whole not wanting me to ever do… this.” Edward replied gesturing to the three of them. “Now what’s the damned plan? If we aren’t going to do this thing, I’ve got stuff I could be doing.”
Billy laughed again, and it was deep and throaty. Edward found himself enjoying the man, despite the hell that he had been put through this evening.
“The plan is pretty much exactly what I told you inside. You and I cut the tendrils from the ground while Sarah, here… this is Sarah Williams, by the way, she’s our Striker and a better one you’re unlikely to ever meet. Well, Sarah is going to bag us the brooding slithen. We’ve done this catch enough times that it’s no big deal for us. You were the odd man out, and you now know what you need to do.”
“What about the Lancer that I’m subbing out? What’s his deal?”
“You don’t need to know about him right now. Look, Edward, you seem like you’ll be a good fit for the party tonight but don’t get the impression that you’re with us all permanent-like.” Sarah answered from her position in the car. “We needed to get this capture done and are happy to bring you along to give you the experience that you need or whatever, but we honestly just needed someone to be another hand with the tendrils. The job needed doing and couldn’t have waited much longer than it already had.”
Edward put his hands up in a conciliatory gesture. Something about Sarah remained standoffish, and he wasn’t going to get through that by pushing for more details right after meeting her. He pulled on the handle and slid the panel door back to get into the van. Inside, there were radios and what Edward presumed to be other comm equipment that Billy would use to help them out. Next to a folded table and rolled up thing that kind of looked like a semi-transparent piece of paper, there was a decently large container of dirt. It looked a bit like a terrarium if you wanted to capture the essence of it was like to have a buried pet on your desk at all times. There were also enough weapons that Edward really really hoped that they didn’t get pulled over.
“Ok then. Let’s do this thing.” He said as he sat in a rear-facing bucket seat right behind Sarah’s.
In response, Billy started the van and Edward was greeted by the driving bass and bellowing vocals from the title track of Sevendust’s Home album. The subwoofer thud that seemed to punch Edward in the chest helped him realize that Billy’s interest in comms equipment wasn’t limited to his time as a Hunter. He smiled to himself as they pulled out of the parking lot. Tonight was definitely going to be an adventure.
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A note from WT
This short story was really inspired by two different events in The Shaman States of America: The Mantle that, when I originally wrote them, felt separate. The more I thought about them, the more I liked the idea of both of those things stemming from this one Hunt. Or, at the very least, this Hunt informing them more clearly.
I also had a lot of fun with the concept of the Hunt depending into basically a wave-based shooter. Each time that Nathan and Sarah feel like they’ve got a wave of Goblins under control, another wave comes out and… oh crap, these guys are on fire now. Then, at the end of it all, there’s the boss Goblin AND the Ogre that shows up. And, of course, Nathan had to be that guy who ends up needing a revive right there as the final boss gets killed.
Priming the Mantle was a ton of fun to write, and I hope that you enjoyed it. I look forward to hearing what you have to say about both this and the re
st of The Mantle series as it comes out.
- W.T. Meadows May 2018
A note from Chrishaun
Hello All, Chrishaun here:
When I tell you that the Shaman States of America came together better than I could have ever imagined, I am not telling a fib. And if you want further proof, then look no further than how this series, The Mantle came together.
To be honest, most of the stories that involved me, W.T. (who we call Tom) and his wife are filled with “this is happening out of the Lord,” so it doesn’t surprise me.
But this story started simply enough. I was talking about SSoA and Tom, being a woodworker made me a cedar carving of the Shaman State of Texarcana. That was cool on its own, but about a day before, one of the original writers left the project due to being overloaded with work, leaving me a slot.
Purring over my new piece of art, I asked Tom if he would like to write in the Shaman States of America. He asked to think about it, I said sure, and we talked about other things.
As we were leaving the Starbucks, we had the convo that started it all:
Tom: “So the Spencer doctrine says that if a family has three children of the same gender, then all three siblings must Hunt.”
CKH: “yes.”
Tom: “And when does that end?”
CKH: (thinking about that as she never thought of that): “It doesn’t. If there are three siblings of the same gender, they all must Hunt. Natural childbirth, adoption, and gender alignment all apply.”
Tom (wheels turning): “So if a hunting couple has a child, then they grow up, and then the couple has more children of the same gender, they would all have to Hunt?”
CKH: nods
He then outlines a story that popped into his head - the story of Edward Mauer who went to college and found out his parents were going to have twins. And he wasn’t fully trained in the Hunt.
There is much more to this story, but that one idea has given birth with action, adventure, the ongoing sub vs. dub debate and D&D.
But at its core The Mantle a story about the family that we have and the family that we create and finding our way to and - if we’re lucky - back to them.
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TO THE HUNT!
ckh
Priming the Mantle Page 3
