The Final Strife

“What rune is that?”

“It’s a supplementary rune we call inspect. It matches with the supplementary rune on the other side of the door, triggering Ba.”

When Anoor finished, she looked miserably at the wall.

“Oh, I must have done something wrong,” Anoor said quietly after nothing happened for a few minutes. She wiped off the blood and tried again.

“That’s odd, they must have changed the rune sequence. Maybe it isn’t triggered by blood,” Anoor concluded for Sylah’s benefit.

“Can I try?” Sylah was shifting her feet impatiently. “You know, good practice, as I haven’t seen that rune before.”

Anoor shrugged her shoulders. They would be missing their bloodwerk training this evening, after all. Anoor coached Sylah through the sequence. No matter how many times she tried, the door didn’t budge. Wouldn’t budge.

“Are you getting light-headed? We should stop, you’re losing too much blood.” Anoor patted her arm. “Come on, let’s go before the tidewind stops.”

Sylah was looking at the door, a strange expression on her face.

“That’s right, isn’t it?” she said to Anoor, who inspected her latest attempt.

“That looks pretty good.” It was close to perfect.

“One more try.” As Sylah said it, she wobbled.

“No, you’ve lost too much blood. Pull out your stylus and put pressure on the inkwell, we can’t wait for the skin to scab.” Anoor was sterner than she’d ever been with Sylah. The shock of it seemed to push her into action.

Anoor had been watching Sylah cope with the withdrawal symptoms silently over the last few weeks. She felt helpless, so she did what she could, ordering in verd leaf tea for the kitchens and stocking her bathroom with eucalyptus oils so she could soak her muscles and ease the tremors.

But now as Sylah leaned on Anoor with an ailment she knew how to fix, she felt that she had finally earned the smallest amount of trust. Anoor led them back through the tunnels to their chambers.

—

Sylah didn’t sleep that night. Anoor kept feeding her mashed-up grains and lentils “to increase your iron levels” and sugared water “to keep up your energy.” The dizziness began to fade, but the frustration at her poor bloodwerk skills remained. Why couldn’t she get it right? She’d have to work twice as hard to make sure Jond won the bloodwerk trial.

Her thoughts turned to the snippets of conversation she’d heard. The tidewind. It was getting worse, and the wardens were worried.

But that wasn’t Sylah’s problem; her problem was figuring out how to get into the warden library. Hassa was the only option, but the girl was so elusive. Sylah would try to track her down in the Dredge the next day.

At some point in the early morning Sylah’s eyes drooped, only to open a moment later. Anoor must have thought she was asleep, as Sylah watched in her peripheral vision as she removed a red leather-bound book from her bedside drawer. Sylah wasn’t sure what it was, but she tucked the piece of information in her mind for later.