Vaela shouted and charged Kaverlna. She swung her stick while still outside of the curved dagger’s range. Kaverlna smoothly sidestepped the stick and Vaela followed her movement. Kaverlna’s weight shifted–a planned step to the right. Vaela swung into the path of Kaverlna’s movement and Kaverlna darted the other direction. Vaela’s stick cut through empty air as Kaverlna pivoted from her feint and closed the distance. The dagger darted forward, a glint arcing for the space between her bottom ribs. Vaela twisted and jerked her shield down. Sparks erupted from the collision and Kaverlna shifted once again, her hand already darting forward. Vaela tried to move away, but her balance was off from the desperate block. Kaverlna’s iron grip clamped onto Vaela’s arm just above her elbow and jerked her to the side. The dagger stabbed towards Vaela’s opposite shoulder. Vaela ripped free and stumbled away. She slashed her stick out, preventing Kaverlna from following her, as she reeled back.

Too fast. Despite Seeing what Kaverlna was going to do, her movements were just too precise. It was like she knew what Vaela would do before she did. Even the strikes that didn’t land were turned into ways to throw Vaela off balance. Metal slapped off flesh and Adyr cried out. Vaela fought the urge to glance back. She pivoted to the side and Kaverlna circled the opposite direction. Adyr and Timura appeared in her view. Adyr wavered on her feet and Timura snapped the staff forward. It slammed into Adyr’s hand and the knife flew from her grip. Timura thrust the tip of the staff at Adyr’s neck. Adyr batted it away with her forearm, stumbling back a step. She caught the staff as Timura struck again. She fell to one knee and Timura grunted, her arms almost giving way. They remained in a deadlock, vying for control of the staff. Blood ran down Timura’s arm and slid onto the staff. Timura shouted and stopped pulling the staff, allowing Adyr to jerk it. Adyr fell back and Timura stepped forward, her other foot catching Adyr in the stomach. Adyr gasped and doubled over as the staff slipped from her fingers. Timura raised the staff and brought it down towards Adyr’s head. Before it crunched into her skull, Adyr dove forward and tackled Timura.

Timura reeled from the attack, but kept her balance. She released the staff with one hand and jerked Adyr back by the hair. Timura pivoted and threw Adyr using the momentum. Adyr stumbled drunkenly, her feet unable to stabilize, and she fell.

Vaela took a step towards them and Kaverlna charged in low, forcing Vaela to face her. She stabbed her stick at Kaverlna and the woman parried it with the curved knife. Kaverlna’s eyes flicked to the side and Vaela pivoted slightly in response, raising her shield to ward off the coming blow. Kaverlna ducked in from the other direction, catching Vaela off guard. Vaela swung her stick and Kaverlna caught her wrist and stepped close. Kaverlna’s knee rammed into Vaela’s abdomen, bludgeoning the air from her lungs. Pain lanced through her as she struggled to take a breath, while her body failed to cooperate. Kaverlna’s other arm moved towards her and Vaela threw her shield up. Sparks erupted with the screech of metal against metal. Vaela twisted, trying to pivot away. Kaverlna’s knife whipped up from below and Vaela jerked back with a shout. The blade bit into her chest, just beside her right shoulder and slashed upwards, cutting all the way up to her collarbone. Blood spurted in a violent release and Vaela’s arms flew up towards her face. She jumped backwards, vision obstructed by her shield, pain burning through her shoulder. Black spots blinked in front of her eyes as her body still struggled to take a full breath. Her shield-arm dropped, revealing Kaverlna standing a few steps away, her knife dripping with Vaela’s blood. Vaela’s chest shuddered, drawing in a deep breath at last. The air brought a fresh burst of pain into her awareness.

On the other side, Timura darted towards Adyr. Adyr scrambled to her hands and knees, partially turning to face Timura. The staff whipped out and cracked against Adyr’s face. Adyr collapsed to the ground as Vaela shouted towards her. Adyr groaned and struggled to push upright.

Kaverlna chuckled and raised the knife up. Blood slickened the blade and Vaela’s shoulder twinged. Kaverlna licked Vaela’s blood from the flat of the blade and tilted her head, as if tasting a fine wine. She swallowed, allowing her eyes to close for a moment. “Mm, yes. Excellent quality. Raw Power, but untamed. Poor control–over your Power and others.” Her eyes opened and she lowered the knife back to her side. “I could teach you. There is no stronger Forger in this world than I. Join me and I will show you Power you could never imagine.”

Adyr wheezed and pushed to her hands and knees. Timura kicked her arm out from underneath her and Adyr collapsed back to the ground. A dark bruise already discolored Adyr’s cheek where she’d been struck. She slid a hand over the ground, reaching for Vaela. “Don’t...”

Bile burned the back of Vaela’s throat. Too weak. Kaverlna was right. She had poor control over herself–and unable to really use Alnea’s or Hermit’s Power. But she couldn’t give in. She circled away from Kaverlna and the priestess merely pivoted to face her. Vaela slid back towards Adyr and Timura.

Kaverlna waved the knife at Timura. “Leave the wayward blood. She doesn’t pose a threat now.” She pointed the knife at Vaela. “Subdue her.”

Vaela twisted, but Timura closed the distance in two bounds. Her staff bit through the air and slammed into Vaela’s ribs. Vaela doubled over and Timura danced around her, wrapping an arm around her neck. Vaela caught a glance of Adyr–her hand clawing through the air towards her. Timura’s arm tightened around Vaela’s neck and they stumbled towards where the post jutted from the ground. Timura’s weight overcame her and Vaela fell to her knees. Timura wrestled Vaela’s shield off and pinned her head down. She bent down low, her voice a husky whisper. “Don’t move. Submit and I might still be able to get you out.”

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Kaverlna walked over and stood over Vaela. “You needn’t worry, I won’t kill you… To kill an adversary before the Approximation would be cowardly.” She rotated the knife until the edge faced Vaela. “Your first lesson. I’m excellent at keeping people alive. Centuries of being honored with Sacrifice. Take enough blood to weaken a person, but not kill them. It is a delicate, painful balance–but one I am quite skilled at keeping.”

The pressure of Timura’s arms against Vaela lightened. “Lord Incus, please–”

“Take me.” Adyr pressed up from the ground, her voice hoarse, but firm. She crawled, arms shaking with every step, towards Kaverlna.

Vaela shoved up, pressing against Timura. “No!” Beside her, Adyr’s bloodsoaked sleeve was within arm’s grasp–a testament to her Sacrifice. Every drop, already too much. No more. She couldn’t give any more.

Kaverlna chuckled and turned away from Vaela, looking down at Adyr. “You? And what worth do you have to me?”

Adyr laid herself prostrate at Kaverlna’s feet. “The Power of blood before death is the strongest, isn’t it? Then take my blood—all of it. And let her go.”

Vaela struggled against Timura’s grasp. “No! She’s just going to kill me anyway.”

Shouts erupted from outside the camp, weapons clashing against each other. Hermit, Jace, and Alnea–they’d arrived. Too late.

Adyr pushed up to sitting on her knees and tilted her head back, exposing her neck. “Take my blood. I give it–and all my Power–willingly.”

Tears burned down Vaela’s face and she thrashed, but Timura kept her pinned. Kaverlna’s laughter cut through Vaela’s fury like a knife through flesh. Kaverlna bent down until she looked Vaela in the eyes. “This woman, you came all the way back to save her.” Vaela stared at her with a hatred she’d never felt. Clenched in her chest, her throat–pounding through her with every beat of her heart. Kaverlna nodded and faced Adyr. “That fool Hermit and the others will be here soon. No matter. I always have time for Sacrifice from one of my faithful.”

The tent blurred around Vaela, her eyes burning with useless tears. Sight slipped from her grasp, leaving only the pain-obscured world around her. And in the haze, she saw. Adyr–still trying to keep her promise. Her blood, her life–Sacrificed with the desperate hope to save Vaela. That, maybe, if she let Kaverlna carve into her, the others would have time to reach her. But didn’t she know? Didn’t she understand? If, by some miracle, Hermit, Alnea, and Jace arrived in time, but Adyr was already gone–it would be too late. Far, far too late.

Kaverlna walked to the post and indicated the ground beside it. Adyr obediently crawled over and laid on her back, hands fanned out to the side, palms upward.

Vaela craned her head up as she felt the hollow of Alnea’s Power in her. She had promised to See Adyr–and she would. Vaela blinked the tears away, her eyes empty of Sight, and looked at Adyr. Kaverlna knelt beside Adyr and raised the knife. She pulled Adyr’s tunic away from her body and sliced through the fabric, flaying it away to reveal Adyr’s chest. Vaela breathed in deeply, the bitter scent of Adyr’s already spilled blood burning her nostrils. Is this what Adyr wanted?

No, she knew what Adyr wanted. For her to be angry. Vaela’s hands clenched into fists.

Then she would be.

Fury, hatred, and hot, hot love pumped through Vaela. She tensed her body for one last movement. Timura shifted, bracing against Vaela, and leaned away from Adyr and Kaverlna. Kaverlna raised the knife with one hand, and with the other, she rested two fingers on Adyr’s neck, feeling the pulse. Vaela braced all the strength she could muster into the ground. She bucked upward into Timura, who jerked her back by her neck. Vaela twisted and lunged–away from Adyr and instead, to her discarded sleeve. Timura slammed her back to the ground, one hand on her head, forcing her cheek against the bloodsoaked fabric.

The smell of Adyr’s blood almost overwhelmed her senses. Vaela clamped her mouth onto the sleeve, full of freely Sacrificed blood. Kaverlna lowered the knife to Adyr’s chest and slit a long, shallow cut between her breasts. Blood seeped out, trickling down the sides of her chest. Vaela’s saliva mixed with the dried blood of the sleeve. Her mouth filled with the bitter taste of blood, spilled while Adyr was tied to the post. The taste was unfamiliar, but the essence…

Yes. This blood was hers. Vaela swallowed and Adyr’s Power flowed into her. It filled her body, sliced down her throat, hardened in her stomach. Cold–and so much more. It swirled through Vaela, dissolved into her body. Different than Hermit’s or Alnea’s power. Those were foreign entities, beasts to be tamed. But Adyr’s blood…

This was already hers.

Cold filled her–numbing her pain, soothing her fear. They were nothing. Power flowed down her arm, hardening her senses. Vaela jerked, wrenching her own shoulder out. Something that once was pain swirled through her awareness from the area. She punched her other hand into the ground and levered against it. Timura’s weight shifted on her, a subtle change, but now so clear. Vaela slammed against Timura’s center of balance and rolled out from underneath her. Her shoulder collided with the ground, popping back into socket, and Vaela jumped to her feet. Timura rose up, grabbing her staff.

One last test. Whose Power was strongest? Who would break the other?

Cold flowed down Vaela’s arm, coalescing around her fist. Timura spun and used the momentum to swing the staff into Vaela. It whipped towards her and she intercepted it with her forearm. The metal cracked into Vaela’s flesh and a snap rang out through the tent. Pain clawed against her numbed senses, like an animal trapped beneath the ice. Vaela swung her other arm–an Ice Blade formed at the tip of her knuckles–and drove it into Timura’s side. The Ice cut into her body and Timura gasped, eyes widening in shock and pain. The Blade dug into her abdomen, shy of her vital organs, and her legs gave way. Vaela ripped the Blade free and slammed the hardened back of her fist into Timura’s temple. Timura collapsed to the ground, unconscious and bleeding.

Vaela stepped over her body. The arm she’d blocked with hung broken at her side. She raised her fist with the Ice Blade, freshly anointed in Timura’s blood.

Kaverlna turned from Adyr’s bleeding body and rose to her feet. Her blade dripped with Adyr’s blood, just as Vaela’s dripped with Timura’s.

Vaela pointed her Ice-encased fist at Kaverlna and limped forward. “You can wait for the Approximation, but I’m not that patient.” She whipped her fist down, flicking Timura’s blood to the ground. “I’ll kill you right here.”