by Dante King
I added more sticks, and the flame quickly caught, crackling greedily up the dry wood.
The glow almost blinded us for a moment as the flames curled and danced in the relative darkness of the deep dusk. Carefully, I added a few bigger pieces. The sappy wood spat and crackled as it caught, letting forth a pleasant, resinous scent.
“Oh, that’s better,” said Amelia. The glow of the firelight played over the shapely contours of her pretty face and danced on her pale skin.
“How far do you think the wagons are from here?” she asked.
“I can’t hear the oxen lowing, so it must still be a bit of a walk, but I recognized the area we were walking through. It can’t be too far. Do you need to eat now? Do you want to find the wagons before trying any more magic?”
“Not at all,” Amelia replied hastily. “I’m too excited to see if you can cast Cold spells. But it will be good to go and get some food soon.”
“There’s plenty of food in the wagons.” I sat down beside her. “We can eat as soon as we find them.”
Amelia nodded, looking pleased, and sat near the fire, flicking through the pages of the Cold spells section until she found what she was looking for. “Here it is,” she said, pointing at the page. “The most basic Cold spell.”
“It’s very similar to the fireball spell,” I noted as I looked at the page. “A snowflake with a spear running through it. I’m guessing that allows me to summon ice and throw it.”
“You’re picking this up fast,” Amelia said. “Although I’m not sure what form the spell takes. It may not be a ball this time.”
“Only one way to find out,” I said as I picked up my dagger, ready to draw once more. “I’ll do it on my right arm this time. I want to leave room on the left for more supporting runes for fire.”
I built the fire up and made sure there was more wood ready to hand. Then, we found the weak spot in the blue Cold Core and, as before, carefully punctured the membranous underlayer and allowed the ink to flow up into the dagger’s hollow tip. The blue fluid glowed faintly, lighting up Amelia’s hand as she sat close, holding the Core upright.
As the ink flowed into the dagger, I felt the familiar tugging sensation in my Mana pool. It was weaker than it had been before. Certainly present, but weaker. That made me feel a little uneasy—did it mean that I wouldn’t be able to use Cold spells after all?
“Well, I’ve opened the Core now,” I muttered, “so I’ll finish what I’ve started.”
Settling myself and focusing on the task, I set to work copying the snowflake and spear design onto my right arm. It wasn’t quite as easy using my left hand to draw the design, but fortunately I was almost ambidextrous. I’d always made an effort to use my left hand for complex tasks when I was working on the farm as a child. You never knew when you might need that ability. I was pretty glad about it now.
It wasn’t only using my left hand which made drawing the tattoo difficult; the snowflake was also a tricky design to follow. There were some intricate corners to draw. So, I took my time, drawing each corner and angle with care. As had happened when I had been working on the orange Fire tattoo, a subtle feeling of calm settled over me as I watched each blue dot of ink take its proper place under my skin. It would be wrong to say the design made itself—it didn’t—but as I worked, I became aware that the dagger, the Beast Core ink, and my Mana were wall combining to lead me as I pricked the design into my skin.
I took my time, confident in my new ability, focused on the task at hand, dipping the dagger in the Core every now and again to replenish the tattooing dagger’s inkwell. The light of the fire flickered over my arm as I worked. Occasionally a knot on the wood would catch alight, bursting with a crackle and a hiss and throwing sparks into the night air. There was no other sound.
I paused when I was almost halfway through drawing the tattoo, sitting up straight and blinking a few times as I looked around.
The light from our fire illuminated the tops of the trees, showing the bright gleam of eyes watching us, probably owls waiting to see mice on the forest floor. Although I did wonder whether there might be more Beasts in the forest, I didn’t feel any suggestion of the tugging sensation I had experienced previously when Beasts were near.
“You’re finished?” Amelia asked me, peering at the design.
“Not yet. How much ink is left?”
Amelia peered into the core. “Perhaps half?”
“Should be enough,” I said. “We don’t want to open the second Core if we’re not going to use all its ink.”
I refilled the dagger with ink again and began working on the design again. As I began to approach the final details, I spoke out loud what had been troubling me the whole time.
“I can’t feel my Mana moving. I’m not sure what’s wrong. By this point in the drawing of the Fire tattoo, I could feel my Mana being drawn toward it.”
“Maybe that means you don’t have a Cold affinity?” Amelia suggested.
My stomach sank a bit at that thought. “I hope that’s not it. I’ll keep going with this tattoo until it’s finished and see if I can cast it. Besides, it would look pretty silly if I left it unfinished.”
I kept going until I had finished the full snowflake and the spear going through it, driving the bright blue ink under my skin until every detail was complete.
Nothing happened.
I was expecting a flash, a bright light, and the sense of power which had come with finishing the Fire tattoo, but there was nothing.
“Is that it?” I asked Amelia. “Have I missed something? Why is it not glowing?”
“It’s not healing either,” she commented.
She was right. The tattoo stung and blood seeped from the design.
I felt sure casting the spell would not work, but I was determined to try. I stood up and moved away from the fire. I didn’t want to put the fire out with a blast of ice, if the spell did work. Amelia didn’t say a word.
I drew on my Mana pool and brought it down into my right arm. Then, just as I’d done with my Fire runes, I fed this Mana into the snowflake.
Nothing happened.
The skin didn’t light up, I didn’t feel any of my Mana being consumed, and I certainly didn’t get any ice forming on my hand.
“It’s not working,” I said. “I don’t have the affinity, so I can’t cast the spell.”
I dropped my arm and turned back to Amelia. “I guess I’d better bind up this tattoo and keep it clean. It’ll take a while to heal for itself.”
Amelia seemed very disappointed. She struck her book with a closed fist in frustration.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “I encouraged you to do it, and I was really hoping that would work. Now you’ve a useless tattoo and we’ve wasted a Beast Core. The legends suggested that Ink Mages could cast with more than one element, which other Mages can’t do.”
She seemed even more affected by the failure than I was. It was disappointing, but it wasn’t all that bad. In the light of the fire, I thought I saw a tear at the corner of her eye.
“Hey, come on, Amelia, it’s not as bad as all that,” I said, trying to sound cheerful. “At least it looks cool. Maybe I can gain a Cold affinity at some point in the future?”
“Gain an affinity? I’ve never heard of that happening before.”
“Well, maybe I’ll get lucky.” I grinned at her in the firelight, and I saw her smile.
“I’m glad you’re not too upset.” She sounded relieved.
I pulled my shirt off and set about cutting strips from it to bind up my tattoo. It was a long garment, falling almost to my knees, as was the style for farmer’s clothes in Aranor. I could take some fabric off the bottom to use as a binding without ruining it.
When I glanced up, Amelia was staring wide-eyed at me. She seemed a little out of breath, and I was suddenly aware of how the firelight played across my broad chest and flat belly. I restrained my desire to grin at her flustered reaction and pretended I hadn’t noticed how hot she was getti
ng at the sight of my body.
“It is a pity,” I admitted as I bound the strips of cloth firmly around the fresh tattoo, “but it’s not too big a deal.”
I finished binding up my arm and pulled my shirt on again. That was when the last cold Beast Core, sitting beside Amelia’s book, caught my eye, and a new thought struck me.
“Hey,” I suggested, “why don’t I try giving you a tattoo with the ink from the other cold Core?”
“Me?” Amelia sounded shocked.
“Yeah, why not? Do you have any affinities that you know of?”
“Not that I know of. I was never tested. I’ve always been classed as Sensitive to the elements, which helped in my work as a scholar, but I’ve never tried to cast anything.”
I remembered something.
“Wait a minute,” I said, “remember when the boar came near us?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, you felt it first, didn’t you?”
“I guess so,” she looked unsure, thinking back. “Yeah, you’re right, I did feel it first.”
“But when the fire Beast attacked us later, it was me who felt it, not you.”
“What are you saying?”
“I think that our Elemental Sensitivities are strongest toward the elements which we may have affinities for. We’ve seen that I have the fire affinity, and I sensed the fire Beast much more strongly than you, but you sense the Cold Cores in Beasts much more strongly than I do. I think that suggests that you do have a Cold affinity, which you’ve just not discovered yet!”
“You mean you don’t feel a strong attraction to this Core?” she reached out and picked the Cold Core up from where it lay beside the book.
“I can sense it, but not strongly.”
“For me, it’s like an almost irresistible pull… You really think this means I might have a Cold affinity? That I could do spells if I had a tattoo as well?” she was beginning to sound excited.
“There’s only one way to find out,” I said. “I’m supposed to be able to give tattoos, since I’m an Ink Mage. I think we should try it. At the very least, it would look great on your arm. I think it would suit you.”
“Do you think so?” Amelia blushed slightly. “But the Cores are worth so much; we can’t just waste one on giving me a tattoo for looks. Not that I don’t like the look of them, mind you. Your tattoo makes you look very... dashing.” She reddened even more at that before she blurted out, “I don’t want to waste so precious a resource.”
I laughed lightly at her embarrassment. “Don’t worry; if it works and you can cast a spell, we’ll be able to collect the Cores again quickly enough. Come on, I want to see if this works. You saved my skin a couple of times today, and I want to give you something in return.”
“If you insist,” Amelia said. Her expression was tentative as she sat down at the fire, but her eyes were shining with eagerness. She’d always studied magic, but never been able to cast it herself. I hoped I could change that for her.
“Give me your arm,” I said, picking up the knife again. “This will sting a bit. Let me know if it’s too much.” I did my best to infuse my voice with confidence. I’d given Katlyn a tattoo before, but I wouldn’t say I was hugely experienced. But after seeing Amelia’s eagerness about receiving a tattoo, I couldn’t let her down.
We opened the second cold Core, and Amelia gasped with her Elemental Sensitivity as the ink flowed up into the dagger, ready to begin the tattoo.
I laid Amelia’s right arm against my knee and held the dagger tip over the pale white skin. I could see blue veins underneath. Evidently, she spent a lot of time in the library. I could feel her arm quivering as I pressed the point of the knife against the skin. I pushed the knife a bit harder. A drop of bright red blood welled up on the skin, and the blue ink slipped into place, spreading and glowing slightly with its own uncanny light. Amelia sucked in her breath.
“Does that hurt?” I asked, looking up at her face.
Amelia shook her head. “A little. I’ll be fine. Please, keep going.”
The fire flickered, casting shadows over us as I worked. I had to pause a couple of times to throw a bit more wood on the fire.
I continued drawing the tattoo, pricking the basic snowflake and spear design into the skin, and regularly dipping the dagger tip into the last Beast Core to replenish my supply of sticky ink. Occasionally, I heard my stomach rumble. It was an odd way to spend the evening when we were both so hungry, but we were both keen to see if this would work. It wouldn’t be long before we got back to the caravan and could eat the slavers’ food.
I was able to draw the snowflake a bit faster this time, having done it once before. Again, I felt the now-familiar calm of the trance-like state which seemed to overtake me while I was tattooing. My Mana responded to the process, too, and I felt that I was again being guided by something bigger than myself. I drew the spear going through the snowflake, which was the simplest part, as most of the lines were straight. I carefully wiped up the blood which seeped from the tattoo as I went.
“This is the last little bit,” I murmured, as much to myself as to Amelia. I slid the point of the dagger across her skin, quickly pricking the last detail into her skin: the very tip of the spear.
As the blue lines met at the point, the whole tattoo flashed bright blue, lighting up our faces with a cold, unnatural radiance. Amelia made a breathless little sound as the skin knitted itself back together before our very eyes. The swelling died down, and the skin was whole and smooth again as the light faded.
We both laughed out loud in our amazement and delight.
“You did it!” Amelia was almost crying. She reached out and hugged me fiercely. “You’ve shown me that I have an affinity! I can be a Mage as well!”
I hugged her back. Despite the journey, the fighting, and the days she’d spent in the slavers’ wagon, she still smelled wonderful.
“This is incredible,” I said. “I can give other people tattoos too!”
“You really are an Ink Mage,” Amelia said as she stared in wonder at her new tattoo. “It seemed too incredible to be true, but this proves it beyond a doubt.”
“I’m just glad I didn’t mess up your rune. You were shaking like a leaf there.”
She suddenly scrutinized the tattoo, as though I might have made a mistake while drawing it.
“There aren’t any mistakes,” I said to assuage her concerns.
“No, you’re right. There aren’t.” She beamed at me. “You know what this means, don’t you? I can cast spells! Although I’m not sure if the Librarians would understand if I returned to them with this marking.”
“I don’t think you’ll be heading back to them anytime soon. Until then, at least that tattoo looks mighty fine on your arm, if I do say so myself.”
Amelia laughed. “You think it looks good on me?”
“I think it makes you look even more beautiful.”
She stared at her feet and hid her face. Her reaction made me wonder if she’d ever received a compliment before.
“Well, go on,” I said, “I want to see what you can do.”
“All right,” she replied. She looked both scared and excited at the same time.
Amelia got to her feet and stepped away from the fire. I rose to my feet to watch. She stood on my left, facing sideways so that we could both see what she did with her right hand in the light of the fire.
“I’ve never accessed Mana before,” she said. “How do I do it?”
“I’m not quite sure,” I said. “I sort of worked it out just today be instinct. Can you feel a pool of it, near the back of your mind?”
Amelia pressed her fingers to her temples, concentrating. Then her eyes opened wide. “I can feel it! I’ve never felt anything there before. It’s like… I don’t know how to describe it. It’s like the first flush of buds on a tree in the spring, or… or the feeling of cool water on your body after a day’s walking down a dusty road. It feels like it completes me. Is this new?”
; “Maybe you just acquired Mana when I gave you the tattoo? I know as much as you about this right now. See if you can access it. Bend your willpower on it, move it as if you were moving a limb, or visualizing an image in your mind. I think the Mana is as much a part of us as our arms and legs. I believe it can be controlled in the same way.”
Amelia concentrated again. “I think I can feel it moving. What do I do with it now?”
“Hold out your hand and think about forcing the Mana into your arm.”
“It’s not working,” Amelia said. “My willpower slips off it. It’s as if I’m trying to grip a soap bubble or catch a lizard—every time I get my hand upon it, it slips from my grasp. How do you control it?”
“I can’t really explain it,” I said. “It’s not like anything I’ve done with my body before. It’s a bit like breathing; you can’t really tell anyone how to do it. Just try slowing down and concentrating. There’s no pressure on you right now.”
Amelia took a couple of deep breaths and closed her eyes. After a moment, she spoke again. Her voice was quiet, the edges of the words blurred, as if she was speaking in her sleep.
“I’ve got it. I’ve got it now. It’s… I had to stop trying to grasp it. It doesn’t work like that, any more than it would work if I tried to pick my own legs to walk. It’s a part of me. You’re right. I control it like a limb. Ok, what do I do with it, now that I’ve got control over it?”
“Now you feed it into the tattoo.”
After another moment of concentration, Amelia raised her arm, pointing straight out, palm upward. The tattoo started to glow faintly. The glow got brighter and brighter. In the darkness of the clearing, away from the fire, the bright blue light lit up the treetops in the darkness. She opened her eyes and looked at me.
“It’s working!” she said in amazement.
“Now you should be ready to cast a spell,” I said. “Feed the Mana that’s in your tattoo carefully down into your hand.”
