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(continued from The Viper)

Ctimene pushed forward and knelt down next to Helena.
    “You know,” she muttered, “if you had been more reasonable we could have done this the easy way.” She loosened Helena’s sandal and found a swollen bulge on her ankle. She took out her dagger again, and pressed it into the wound, reopening it.
    Wilamos watched blood drip from Helena’s ankle, once again twisting and separating. This time, in addition to the previous components, there was a sickly green strand; it bled out onto the ground with the others.
    “Such a waste,” Ctimene said quietly as she waited.
    Abruptly, the green strand disappeared, and Ctimene quickly pressed her robe to the wound. “She’s lost a lot of blood. We’ll have to stop here so I can watch over her.”
    “Can I help?” Wilamos asked.
    “Well, if you could give her blood,” Ctimene said, “but that’s rarely effective. Different bodies have different humors, often incompatible. Of course, her sister…”
    “Wait,” said Tauros. “Tonight.”
    “If she lasts that long,” said Ctimene.

—

Helena lasted, but barely. As the sun slipped away, she seemed to as well, growing paler and paler by the hour. At dusk, Tauros laid Selena down next to her sister.
    After a few minutes, Selena’s eyes snapped open. She sat up, looking around, but when she saw Ctimene kneeling over Helena, she jumped up. “Who are you? Get away from her!” she said.
    “Her doctor,” Ctimene said. “She needs your help. Your blood.”
    “Yes,” said Tauros. Wilamos nodded.
    Selena looked down. “Well, even though she wouldn’t do it for me… yes. Do what you have to. Please, save my sister.”
    “Your hand,” Ctimene said. Ctimene took Selena’s hand by the wrist and took out her dagger. Selena closed her eyes and looked away. Ctimene cut open Selena’s palm, then took Helena’s hand and made an identical incision. She placed the sisters’ palms together, hand in hand.
    For several seconds they waited. Soon, some color returned to Helena’s face, and Ctimene pulled their hands apart.
    “That should do,” Ctimene said. “Your sister thanks you.”

(continued in The Water-Bearer)

This post has been edited by Pallas Athene: 05 January 2017 - 12:19 AM

Lots of blood in this chapter ): Selena is a good sister. Ctimene's blood magic doesn't seem so dark right now, but still, it's blood magic. So it must be dark.

I guess it's in Ctimene's defense that she waited for Selena's permission to take her blood.

Is The Archer a reference to one of the twins?

iKaterei, on 03 January 2017 - 06:13 PM, said:

She also suggested stopping so she could make sure Helena would recover. That said, I'm still inclined to think that 453's assessment of her magic is not far off the mark.