They left under the cover of darkness. Jace disappeared for an hour while Hermit and Alnea led them to the East Gate. By the time they arrived, Jace was waiting with horses, each packed with saddlebags that bulged with food. As the horses shifted, some of the bags clinked tantalizingly with what sounded like coins.

They rode through the night, letting the horses trot at a brisk pace. The city disappeared on the horizon behind them and after several hours, they pulled off to the side under the cover of some trees.

The entire day, Adyr had ridden in sullen silence. Nothing Vaela said elicited more than a word or two in response. Vaela fiddled with her stick. Adyr had to know this wasn't her fault.

Right?

Hermit waved his hands and gathered the group around him. “You all get some sleep now. I'll take the first shift, then wake the next person.” He nodded to Jace. “You next, then Alnea.”

Everyone spread out their bedrolls and laid on the ground. Timura tried to flag Vaela's attention, but she shot her a tired smile and settled down. It was better that they all rest.

Things would be better in the morning.

They fell into a routine over the next two days and Vaela’s body once again adapted to lying on the hard ground. Adyr’s solemn mood–dark since they’d left–lifted the further away from the city they got. Hermit and Jace knew some alternative ways to the next city. Their route crisscrossed the main road, sometimes leaving it completely to travel through parts of forest. Despite the complicated route, Vaela could tell that they were moving closer and closer towards the coast. A shift in the trees and plants, a salty quality in the air.

On the third day, they rode up to the top of the hill. Alnea spun her horse and peered behind them into the distance. She hissed and signaled to Jace and Hermit. “They’re following us.”

Vaela squinted at the horizon. At the limits of her vision, she made out a couple of dots.

Hermit rode up next to Alnea. “How many are there?” Vaela snorted, her eyes watering from the strain. She blinked a few times and lost track of the dots. It was impressive enough that Alnea had even spotted them, but her Vision truly had to be incredible to count them.

Alnea drummed her fingers on the pommel of the saddle. “Seven at the front so far.” She frowned and shook her head. “Church of Blood members.”

Vaela’s eyebrows shot up. She could See what they were wearing? Just how good was her Vision? Vaela tapped one of her empty vials. Sight–how would it do in combat? Alnea was a fantastic fighter so it must be useful. They hadn’t had much time for training, but she was eager to resume. She’d finally made progress with Jace as her teacher. With Alnea to guide her, surely she'd improve even faster.

Adyr turned her horse to the horizon, raising her staff as if to ward off an attack. “The Church? How did they find us?”

Vaela waved her stick and rode up beside Adyr. “Never mind them. Once we make it to the coast and set sail, we’ll leave them behind us.” She grabbed the reins of Adyr’s horse and led them both up to the front. Best to keep moving. No need to discuss the obvious implication: the Church was following them because of Adyr.

Hermit took the lead again and led them down the hill. He raised his staff and kicked his horse into a gallop. They raced away, weaving through the landscape and avoiding the main road. Despite that, Vaela had the feeling the Church would continue to find them.

By the time they broke camp that evening, everyone was exhausted. Vaela sank down from her horse, ready to eat and sleep finally.

Adyr volunteered to take the first shift. There was a restless energy about her. She twitched at every sound that came from the surrounding landscape and she paced at the perimeter of their camp, not stopping to eat.

As everyone else settled down to sleep, Vaela walked up to Adyr and guided her by her hand a small distance from the group. Vaela sat and Adyr sank down to the ground next to her. Vaela rested her stick across her knees and rolled it along her legs. “Back at the brothel, Alnea mentioned a Blood Debt. What does that mean?”

Adyr squeezed her palms together and brought her fingers against each other. She let out a shaky breath and stared at the ground. “I don't remember much before the Church. But I do remember being hungry.” Her left hand slid along her right arm, cresting up the scars. “My mother, she did everything she could. But it was never enough. Food was always uncertain, a roof wasn't always over our heads. We were cold and hungry. And that was life.” She jerked her fingers away from her arm and pressed her palms together in front of her face. Ice Frosted her fingertips, sealing her hands together in a thin layer of Ice. “And then the Church found us. Took us in. And it was like… It was like a miracle. No more hunger. No more cold.” She twisted her hands, cracking the Ice. “They fed us, gave us a place to stay, and all we had to do was participate. My mother took to it, did everything she could. And things were good. For a little while, things were good.”

Adyr sighed and ran her palms over her legs. “The Church started asking for small favors. ‘Act of Service’. Clean the floors, wash the dishes–nothing much. Then they started asking for more.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Chills ran down Vaela's spine and she hugged her arms around herself. “Blood.”

Adyr squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. “Just a little bit at first. More symbolic than anything. My mother wasn't strong. She didn’t have much Power. But that wasn't the point.” Her eyes bolted open, full of hurt. “Sacrifice.”

Vaela flinched at the word, her heart twisting in her chest. Such anger, pent up in one word–such hurt. Sacrifice. The central component of Forging.

The central component of Charming.

“You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to…”

Adyr's voice dwindled away, her eyes unfocused. Had she heard her?

“I was fourteen when my Power manifested. It had been so long since I felt cold. I thought I'd left it all behind me. But then it was back. And this time, I controlled it.” Her hands clenched into fists. “Every day. Every day I trained. Grew stronger. And the Church noticed. They approved.” Her left hand drifted once again to her right arm.

Vaela's arm twinged with sympathy pain. How had it felt? For a young girl–sheltered from the cold and hunger–to feel that knife? Over and over again.

Adyr's fingers furrowed her sleeve, nails digging into her arm. “I started getting weaker, getting sick more often. And then one day, they stopped. No one asked me to Sacrifice that day. Or the next or the next. I thought I'd proven my loyalty, my worth to them. And I could train again–at full strength. I never noticed my mother getting slower. Taking longer to do her chores.” Adyr’s breath hitched and she bowed her head. “It wasn’t until she couldn’t get out of bed that I realized what was happening.”

Vaela clenched her stick so hard, her knuckles blanched white. She leaned towards Adyr, her heart pounding. “Could you leave?”

“Maybe. Maybe we could. But by that point, my mother, she was too weak. Months of Sacrifice.” Her hand shook, her fingers clawed into her arm. “I did everything I could, all the work assigned to both of us. But it didn’t help. Not when her life was dripping away.”

Vaela’s blood ran cold. “She was still Sacrificing?”

Adyr nodded. “I was so angry. Why didn’t she stop? Tell them ‘no’? But she wouldn’t. So I started begging.” She closed her eyes, head tipped back towards the sky. “I begged them to take my blood again. Prayed to Incus that my Sacrifice would be good enough for them. The thing that I'd wished away so hard, now, I wanted more than anything.”

“They wouldn't take it?”

Adyr’s shoulders rose and fell in tight breaths. She lowered her head back down. “They knew the same thing all Forgers know. The closer to death someone is, the more powerful their blood. I was strong and healthy. My blood–me–worthless. But my mom…” A tear leaked out of the corner of Adyr's eye. “By then, her blood was very valuable.”

Vaela’s pulse pounded through her temples, her stomach twisted in knots. That young girl, her mother dying and powerless to help her. And the currency of her life flowing through Adyr’s veins, but undesired. Is that how she felt? How she’d felt ever since? That her blood, her life, was worthless?

Adyr’s chest shuddered and she wiped her face with her right hand, the left still clinging tightly to her arm. “My mother knew she was close to death. I still didn't believe it. If there were only some way I could get them to take my blood, she would get better. But she knew she was too far gone at that point.” Another tear ran down Adyr’s cheek and hung from her jaw before dropping to her sleeve. “She was so proud I’d never be cold again. That I was Cold. But she didn’t want me to go hungry.” Adyr released her arm. “So she made a deal with Kalverna. Used the one thing that she had left to give.”

Vaela’s eyes filled with tears. She reached out to Adyr, but stopped before touching her. “She gave…?”

Adyr shuddered in a breath. “Her life. Her life for my future.”

Vaela’s heart throbbed and she clenched her fist. Those monsters. She shook her head, whipping tears to the side. “But then there should be no Debt.”

Adyr looked up at the sky. “Maybe I don't owe the Church anything. But my mother…” She looked back down at Vaela. “I can't turn away the Church’s call. Not after everything she gave for their protection.”

Vaela crawled in front of Adyr and knelt. “But she wouldn't want you in danger.”

Adyr swiped a sleeve over her face. “I already owe one person my life. And now, they're after me which puts you in danger. Everything here is so much more important than me. All of this is worth more than me. It’s worth something.”

“No, that's not true. You’re worth just as much as everyone here.”

Vaela grabbed Adyr’s hands and clutched them to her chest. To her. To her, she was worth something.

Adyr pulled her hands back and fiddled with the hem of her tunic. “Have you ever…?” She took a deep breath, chest shuddering, and blew it out slowly before peering into Vaela's eyes. “Have you ever felt connected to someone whose blood you've taken?”

Vaela frowned and grabbed her stick, drumming on it. “Connected? Well, I guess there's a certain amount of intimacy to the whole thing. In a twisted kind of way.”

Adyr shook her head. “That's not what I mean.” She looked back down, her fingers clenched tightly together. “Did you ever sense them? Afterwards.”

Where was she going with this? “No, once the blood was gone I never sensed them.”

Adyr's voice lowered, her shoulders hunched over as if to make herself smaller. “Maybe you could, if you took a lot of their blood. If you took so much of their essence that even when it was gone you could sense them. Or maybe if you still had some of their blood that you'd never used. You don't think…?” Adyr swallowed hard and met Vaela's eyes. “You could use that to follow that person? Wherever they went. Blood calling to blood.”

Vaela dropped her stick onto her lap and grabbed Adyr's hands. “No! That's not something Forgers can do.” At least it wasn't something she thought they could do. But she was new to all this. She'd only just learned about using someone else's Power.

But no, that was impossible.

Cold leaked out of Adyr's hands and she shivered, though not from the chill. “But how do they keep finding us? We've escaped them several times, hid in the city, and they find us every time.”

Vaela pulled Adyr's hands to her chest. “You heard Hermit. They've got a network of spies. Everywhere there are churches, they might have people relaying information back to them.”

Adyr pulled her hands free, clenching them on her lap. “But every time they found us, it's been me. I don't think they're finding us.” She hugged her arms around her body. “I think they're finding me.” She wiped away the rest of her tears. “I’m sorry, you really need to get some rest. Sleep. I’ll wake up Surah next.”

“I can stay up. Talk.”

Adyr shook her head. “Thank you, but I think I want to be alone for a little bit.”

Vaela nodded and hugged Adyr. Back on her bedroll, Vaela’s mind played through the images of Adyr forced to Sacrifice over and over. Blood dripped down her arm in a steady drip, then a patter. All around her, blood showered down.

Vaela jolted awake and sat up. Rain tapped off of leaves overhead and the ground outside their cover. She looked around at the rest of the group. Hermit, Jace, Alnea, Surah, Timura.

No one was standing watch.

Adyr was gone.