Ink Mage 1

by Dante King

  “I had no idea I could control ink like this,” I said. “This will allow me to draw far more intricate tattoos, and more quickly.”

  The blade of the rune was a sharp point with a simple straight handle and no hilt, obviously meant just for throwing. I pricked some ink under Amelia’s skin with the dagger, then used my Mana to draw the ink through to the last point in the design. As it was completed, the whole tattoo flickered, then flashed bright blue.

  Veronica gasped, and I looked up at her.

  “You liked that?” I asked.

  “Uh, well, it was well crafted,” Veronica stammered.

  I smiled in satisfaction. The flash of blue when a tattoo was completed was impressive, and I hoped it might have some influence on Veronica’s opinion of the process.

  I released the Mana which I’d been using to manipulate the ink, and it all flowed back into my pool.

  Amelia sat staring at her new tattoo. “It’s beautiful.”

  “As far as tattoos go, it’s quite well done,” Veronica agreed.

  “You sure you don’t want one?” I smiled at her. “While I have my knife out?”

  Veronica gave a curt shake of her head.

  “Well, go on, try out your new power!” I said to Amelia.

  Amelia took the book from Veronica and laid it back on top of my pack. We all got to our feet.

  “Stand back a bit,” I said to Veronica. “Never hurts to give some distance when testing a new rune.”

  “I was always taught the same principle during my training,” she said as she shuffled back.

  “Make sure you don’t activate the spear in the middle of your Cold rune,” I said to Amelia. “Just move the Mana through the central tattoo and straight into the blade augmentation.”

  Amelia nodded. “How exactly should I activate the Cold rune?”

  “Like you did before, when you helped me freeze that stream.”

  “You froze a stream?” Veronica asked.

  “Well, not a whole stream,” I said. “We just coated part of the surface with ice.”

  “Still, that’s remarkable power,” Veronica whispered.

  Amelia straightened her shoulders and extended her left arm. She still had a little bit less practice manipulating her Mana than I did, but she was learning quickly.

  The first time she pushed the Mana into her hand prematurely. She simply formed a lump of wet ice. She tipped her hand, and the lump landed on the ground with a slosh.

  She furrowed her brow and tried again. I could see the snowflake tattoo light up, then the blade tattoo.

  “That’s it!” I said encouragingly to Amelia.

  Veronica drew in a sharp breath. She was leaning forward, her eyes intently focused on Amelia.

  I heard the crackling of ice starting to form. A smooth handle appeared in Amelia’s hand, and she closed her fingers to grip it. As the ice crystals grew, they formed a thin, sharp blade.

  “Unbelievable,” Veronica whispered. I could have sworn she looked jealous. I said nothing. I didn’t want to spoil the moment by asking her yet again if she’d like a tattoo.

  Amelia held up the blade for a moment, and the last rays of the setting sun glittered on the glass-like surface.

  “I want to see if I can cast it as a projectile as well,” Amelia said. “How do I get rid of this blade?”

  “You can’t just drop it?” I asked.

  “It’s stuck to my hand.” She opened and closed her hand, but the knife remained stuck to her palm.

  “Useful in combat,” Veronica said. “It would prevent you from being disarmed.”

  “I’m not in combat right now,” Amelia said, “and I’d much prefer not having to wait until the thing melts.”

  “Try just withdrawing your Mana from the spell,” I suggested. “That’s what I do when I want to stop a flame on my hand.”

  “Withdrawing the Mana from the spell,” Amelia repeated. She had not done this before, and I saw her concentrate hard for a moment. Then, as smoothly as it had appeared, the blade seemed to melt back into the skin of her hand. The tattoo flickered again for a moment, then went dark.

  “Now to try it as a projectile,” Amelia said, and concentrated again, summoning Mana into her tattoos. The runes on her right arm lit up blue again, and the ice blade started to form on her palm. As she pushed Mana into the blade rune, the ice knife took shape once more.

  Amelia shook her head. “It’s too late now. I forgot to put Mana into the projectile rune first. Let me try that again.”

  This time, the snowflake rune lit up again, then the blade rune, then the spear rune. We waited a moment, Veronica and I both watching Amelia in silence. Then, faster than we could see, the ice blade swelled into shape on Amelia’s hand and shot forward. With a whoosh, it flew past us and smashed into a tree nearby. The shards exploded against the trunk of the tree. All that was left was some ice crystals and some scratches in the bark.

  Veronica gasped. “I thought the new tattoos were meant to be good in close quarters?”

  “I don’t have to throw them,” Amelia countered.

  “Wow,” I said. “That was impressive. It looks like it does much less damage than your ice spear attack, but they fly a lot faster. Helpful to think about. You’ll have to use the different spells for different occasions.”

  “It took a while to cast,” Amelia said. “The same thing happened when I summoned the blade on its own.”

  “That’s just because you need more practice controlling your Mana,” I said. “While we walk you can practice that. You’ll need to get quick summoning that blade so that you can do it in combat. I would practice just summoning the blade without a projectile too, that way you’ll use less Mana.”

  “We still have two cold Beast Cores left over, William,” Amelia said. “Anything else you want to try out before we head to town?”

  “Beast Cores fetch a high price, right?” I asked.

  “That’s right. Enough to pay for a room in the town’s inn for a while, as well as some food.”

  “We might need to purchase some new clothes, too,” I said. “I certainly will.”

  “You’ll have earned more than enough for that with just one Cold Core,” Veronica said.

  “Then we’ll only need to keep one,” Amelia said. “We can use the other Core now, before we enter Brightwater.”

  I nodded. “We need to be as prepared as possible for any danger we might face there. There’s no sense in hanging onto Cores unused if we don’t need the money they fetch. And besides, if I have more abilities, we can kill monsters more quickly and collect more Beast Cores.”

  “You’re definitely right about that,” Veronica said. “I always like to turn in my Beast Cores as soon as possible and upgrade my equipment. I’m always investing back into the business, so to speak.”

  “I like the way you think,” I said.

  “But William, what about the Lightning Core?” asked Veronica. “You will be able to sell that, too, won’t you? They’re very valuable.”

  I looked her in the eye. “To be honest, Veronica, I’m hoping that we’ll find a different use for that in time.”

  Instead of being repulsed, Veronica actually smiled. Amelia and I shared a look. We were both becoming sure Veronica would come around to getting a tattoo in the end.

  “But in the meantime,” I said, “I think I’ll use one of the Cold Cores to retrace my existing tattoo. It did wonders for my Fire tattoo, so I imagine it’ll do the same. And I’d much rather enter Brightwater with spells I’ve used before rather than having to learn how to cast a new one.”

  “Good idea,” Amelia said.

  I went to work retracing my existing Cold tattoo. The outline flashed blue as I finished it. I wanted to test out the new rune, so I got up and walked down the hill toward the lake from which Brightwater got its name.

  “You’re not going to try to freeze the whole stream, are you?” Amelia called out behind me.

  “Maybe,” I yelled back over my sh
oulder.

  She came running after me and tugged on my arm. “You can’t do that! You might use up too much Mana. You might pass out! Veronica and I will be forced to carry you to Brightwater.”

  “I was only joking,” I said.

  Amelia slapped me playfully on the chest. “Don’t scare me like that. Now, what exactly are you intending to do here?”

  “I want to compare the results with what we did this morning. I promise I won’t try and freeze the whole lake.”

  “As long as you’re careful,” she said.

  “Are you going to try this new tattoo or not?” Veronica asked as she made her way down the hill.

  “Look who’s interested in tattoos now,” Amelia joked.

  Veronica shrugged. “It would be difficult not to be at least a little interested; you two have been talking about them for almost an hour now. I’m almost wondering if we’ll ever enter Brightwater.”

  We all walked down the hill and stopped at the edge of the vast lake. The last time I’d attempted this magic, the ice had slowly spread out from the edge, forming a thin, flat sheet, with water still flowing underneath.

  This time would be different. I could feel it.

  I pushed Mana into my right arm, feeding it into the snowflake rune, then into the freezing droplet I’d just drawn. I stuck my hand into the water. It was reasonably warm and flowing swiftly.

  I increase the flow of Mana through the droplet augmentation rune and out into my hand. Immediately, I felt a strong sensation of cold, as the magic passed from my hand to the water.

  I heard a gasp from both my companions as the water immediately solidified around my hand. There was a crackling sound, and a chunk of ice the size of my clenched fist formed in the water. The ice quickly grew, and I could barely feel my Mana depleting. Before long, the ice had expanded 30 feet away from my hand. If I kept it up for much longer, it might reach the other side of the lake, so I removed my hand and pulled back my Mana.

  “Well done!” Veronica said.

  I considered pointing out her obvious approval at the effects of my tattoo but held my tongue. Better to let her conclude that tattoos were ok in her own time.

  “Thank you,” I replied, standing up and drying my hand on my trousers. “I don’t think we’ll be needing to wade through any streams anymore.”

  “What else will that be useful for?” Veronica asked.

  “I can think of several things. It could allow me to trap people. I can throw water on the ground and snap freeze it. Their footing will become unstable, and they might even slip. Either way, it’s going to be much harder for them to maintain their balance. Hells, maybe I could even freeze their boots to the floor if the water is deep enough. And if there’s lots of moisture in the air, I might be able to create fog.”

  “You’ll even be able to do what we practiced today,” Amelia said. “You can form some ice on the ground and then hit it with fire and create steam to blind enemies.”

  “That’s an excellent point,” I said. “I think we’re quite well equipped in case of a fight in Brightwater now.”

  “Good,” Veronica said. “I was worried I’d have to help you out if you got into any trouble. But we should get going. The Sticks and Stones Tavern is likely to be full if we don’t get there soon, and if we don’t get a table, we won’t get to eat. You’re going to want to taste their food—it’s delicious.”

  “I can hardly wait for a proper meal,” I said.

  “Me too!” Amelia licked her lips.

  “There’s one thing, though,” Veronica said, her face serious. “Whatever you do, do not get suckered into a game of cards with a fellow who calls himself the Rogue of Aranor.”

  My stomach suddenly clenched.

  “The Rogue of Aranor?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Veronica said. “That’s what he calls himself. His real name is Jacques.”

  My eyes widened, and I suddenly choked with laughter. What the fuck was Jacques doing out here? I would have asked the question, but I was too busy fighting off my laughter. To think that he’d made it all the way out here, and that I would see him again was almost too much to bear.

  “Jacques?” Amelia asked me. “The same man you told me about?”

  “It must be,” I said. “But I don’t know what he’s doing out here. I haven’t seen him for a few years now.”

  “He’s been in Brightwater for a couple of months,” Veronica said. “He almost caused a riot last week. The man is a burning wick if I’ve ever met one. If the Governor hadn’t taken a liking to him, he’d have been cast out of the town the first week he arrived.”

  I smiled. “Sounds like Jacques; he’s always managing to convince the right people to like him. But like you said, he also has a habit of getting on the wrong side of the wrong people.”

  Amelia frowned. “If Jacqaues is everything you described to me, William, that can only mean trouble.”

  “I’m sure he’s not up to anything worse than usual,” I chuckled.

  “That’s what I’m worried about,” Amelia said.

  “Well, you will both have a chance to work that out for yourselves,” Veronica said.

  Somewhere in that town was my friend. Wherever he was, the fact that he’d managed to live here for months without being sent on his way was testament to one of two things. Either he was a changed man, or he’d gotten a lot better at remaining inconspicuous since I’d last seen him.

  Chapter Eleven

  It was evening as we crossed the bridge that led over the lake and to the town gates. With the two women at my side, and the new abilities we had achieved, I felt confident that we could handle whatever the town threw at us, and meet up with Jacques, my old friend from Aranor.

  As we approached, I observed Brightwater’s surrounding walls more closely. I’d seen villages and towns defended by palisades before. These tall fences were generally made from sharpened tree trunks. The palisade wall of Brightwater looked different from any I’d ever seen before. Instead of trimmed, straight tree trunks, all neatly lined up, Brightwater’s wall was made of what looked like curving trunks. This formed an impressive overhang, with each trunk coming to a sharp point. Every trunk was irregular, and here and there single spikes stuck out at crazy angles from the wall’s surface. On closer inspection, the whole wall began to look like it was constructed entirely out of gigantic teeth.

  I turned to ask Veronica about it. “That wall isn’t made of wood. What in seven hells is it?”

  “Monster bones,” she answered shortly.

  “Whoa,” Amelia whispered.

  “How did they get so many bones?” I asked.

  “This region is full of monsters,” Veronica said, “And the mines are close. Monsters are hunted in the mines for their Cores, but after the Cores have been harvested, the rest of the monster’s corpse can be put to good use. There is an ample supply of by-products from the mines and the regions; bones, skins, and other parts. You’ll find that a lot of things which might be made from wood or stone in other places are made from monster parts in the north.”

  “Why bones?” I asked.

  “Well, the Elemental properties of the monsters are present in their bones more than any other part. It means that in this wall, each part has a different magical defense. It’s done almost entirely at random. Some parts of the wall are immune to attacks from fire, others from lightning, others from cold, you get the idea.”

  “Fascinating,” I said. “It must have taken a long time to collect that many bones.”

  “I suspect they originally built much of the town from wood, and then replaced it over time with bones.”

  As I looked up at the towering bone walls, it made me realize that I really was in a foreign place, very different from home. This really was the border between civilization and the wildlands.

  A gate stood open in the palisade, with a small fortification built over it that would allow soldiers to stand on top and defend the gate.

  In the opening, a guard was
leaning on his spear. Unlike the guards I’d seen in Aranor, this man wore no sort of uniform, just a fairly common-looking brown tunic. The cloak clasped around his shoulders was made of thick fur. I wondered what sort of weather was normal here, as this evening was not especially cold. Fur wasn’t commonplace in my homeland; only the nobles wore it, and it was more a show of wealth than for the cold. He stood up a bit straighter as we approached.

  “What’s your business in Brightwater?” he asked when we were about twenty yards away.

  Veronica placed her hands on her hips. “You honestly don’t remember me?”

  “Can’t say I do, miss,” the guard replied. “State your business.”

  Veronica sighed. “We’re here to trade loot and find a place to stay for the night.”

  The guard nodded sagely and stood aside of the entranceway, but he gave me a suspicious look as we stepped forward. “Come through, and bring your companions,” he said to Veronica, then he glared hard at me. “Just remember that we tolerate no thieving in this town.”

  I bristled, and nearly talked back to the guard, but Veronica nudged me sharply.

  “Your clothes,” she hissed. I glanced down at myself. Ah. That was why the guard had looked askance at me. My farmer’s tunic and trousers were much the worse for wear. If I’d approached on my own, I probably wouldn’t have got in at all, but Amelia and Veronica were both dressed well, and I was clearly with them. I chuckled to myself as I realized the guard probably thought I was their servant or even their slave!

  That would give Jacques a laugh if we managed to find him. The thought of my old friend made me smile to myself, and my frustration at the guard vanished.

  As we passed under the entrance, I looked up at the bones sticking down like sharp teeth. The giant skull of something that looked like a gigantic buck hung from the wall, its antlers filling the blank area above the gates. I shuddered slightly.

  “How have they managed to kill so many monsters?” I asked as we passed out of hearing of the guard.

  “This area has relied on the trade in Beast Cores and monster parts for many years. What you’re seeing here is the result of generations of work.”