by Dante King
“I’m not sure I’m ready to be watched,” Amelia said. “At least not until I’ve had more practice.”
“Watch? Practice?” Veronica threw her hands into the air as both Amelia and I burst into laughter. “You two are insufferable at times, truly.”
“We’ve known each other barely a day,” I said. “That’s hardly enough time to draw any conclusions.”
Veronica just glared at me and looked away, but she looked back when I drew my foster-father’s finely pointed dagger.
“That’s an interesting item,” she said curiously. I held it out to her. She didn’t take it but peered at it closely. “It’s very old. Where did you get it?”
“It was a gift,” I said. “Amelia and I think it’s custom made for the creation of tattoos. It holds Beast Core ink in this hollow tip, like an ink well, and the fine point seems made for the task of drawing tattoos. Personally, I’m beginning to suspect that it might have come down to us from the days when Ink Mages were more common in the Kingdom.”
“Fascinating,” said Veronica, and keen interest glinted in her eyes. “You say it was a gift?”
“From my foster-father.”
“And where did he get it?”
I shrugged. “I’m afraid I have no idea. I asked him a few times, but he always dodged the question. He’s… he’s dead now, so I guess I’ll never get to find out.”
Veronica had shown us a tough front up until now, but at the sudden emotion in my voice her expression softened, and she reached out and placed a hand on my arm. There was genuine empathy in her voice when she spoke. “Sorry, William. I understand how it feels to lose someone.”
“Thanks, Veronica,” I said, meeting her eyes. “I understand your curiosity. The past of this dagger is a mystery I would very much like to know more about. For now, though, we just have to work out which runes will be best for our purposes. Amelia, let’s look in your book.”
Amelia sat cross legged with her book open in her lap. She had been watching my conversation with Veronica, but at my words she began leafing through the sections with the Cold and Fire runes.
“We still only have a small amount of ink,” she said as she turned the pages. “We have three small Cold Cores and one Fire Core, not counting the Lightning Core from the drake we killed. So you should be able to add some modifications to your existing tattoos, but you won’t really be able to add any completely new tattoos. There aren’t a lot of modification runes in my book, but there should be something useful in here.”
“Hard knowing what to choose,” I said.
“What sort of combat abilities do you want to acquire?” Amelia asked as she flicked through the book.
She was focusing on the Fire and Cold sections, since those were the affinities we had.
I looked out at Brightwater again. The houses were densely packed, the streets narrow and winding. I had a bad feeling about using anything too over-the-top with my Fire affinity. That could end pretty badly.
“What are we likely to face in the town?” I asked Veronica.
She frowned at me, but her eyes showed her curiosity. “Thieves, merchants who are a little too touchy-feely, maybe a drunk swordsman who thinks it’s a good idea for a midnight duel. The biggest threat will probably be other Mages. Brightwater is far away from the civilizing influence of Astros. People are more lawless here. It’s possible we might run into mercenaries or outlaw Mages looking to steal from us.”
“So, we’ll want to be ready to defend against magical attacks as well as physical ones,” I said. “I’ll want some kind of spell that’s contained and easily controlled.”
“There’s not much fitting that description,” said Amelia. “There aren’t a lot of small-scale spells in here. I can see runes for amplifying the heat of Fire spells, increasing their duration, or area of effect.”
“That wouldn’t do at all,” Veronica put in. “Governor Arnold wouldn’t be too pleased if you burned his town to the ground.”
“Thanks for the tip,” I said with a smile.
Amelia laughed. “The spells in this book are mostly aimed at aspiring Arcanists. I don’t think they are typically too worried about collateral damage. They usually have well-trained soldiers with them to take care of common enemies.”
“You could always learn to use your current spells better,” Veronica suggested. “Mages don’t often get item upgrades, so we have to make do with what we have. Better and more precise use of mana can quite easily increase a spell’s potency.”
“I can tightly control a small amount of fire magic—I’ve done it when lighting campfires or burning my ropes to escape from the slavers. The problem is, when I hold a fireball in my hand, it goes through my Mana really quickly. And if I try to summon fire in its raw form, it’s also expensive, and difficult to control. If only there were a way for me to manipulate it on my fingers, like a potter molds clay.”
“How great is your control of the flames?” Veronica asked. “Can you manipulate them with finer control?”
I shrugged. “Let’s see, shall we?”
I got to my feet again and both my companions did the same. The eyes of both women were on me as I summoned my Mana and went through the usual procedure of pushing it into the Fire rune near my wrist. Then, instead of pushing it from there into either of the spear runes, I simply let the mana gather in the center of the base rune.
I pushed the Mana out onto my left hand. Warmth built up on my palm. Then flames burst into life on the edge of my fingers.
The flames were small and frail, like those of burnt out candles. I pushed more Mana into my arm, and the flames picked up. When I pushed a big burst outward, fire burst out in five jets, ten feet long. They were so long that they almost seemed like fiery polearms.
I felt my Mana start to drop quickly, so I eased back a bit.
“Good gods,” Veronica whispered. “You can pick up new skills so easily.”
Amelia’s mouth was agape. “That kind of control. . . it’s unheard of even with powerful vectors! I didn’t know such a thing was possible, even with the legendary Ink Mages.”
“What a rush!” I pulled back my Mana, and the flames withdrew.
“You did it,” Amelia said as she clasped her arms around me. “I knew you could.”
“Not bad,” Veronica said. The surprise she’d shown previously had vanished, but I could see from the awe in her eyes that she was trying to conceal how impressed she was. Possibly even a little envious.
I let the flames go out, having burned through most of my Mana there.
“Is it possible to only activate a couple of those flames?” Amelia asked.
“Good question,” I said. “I still have a bit of Mana left; I can try for a short burst.”
I repeated the procedure but attempted to send the mana from my tattoo to a single finger. A small flame sprang to life on my middle finger, but it died out quickly without much Mana left to feed it.
We all laughed, a mixture of surprise and elation.
“That could be very useful in future,” Amelia commented. “Imagine manipulating fire as easily as you draw a tattoo with your dagger. That would be remarkable.”
She was certainly right about that. More control was always a very useful thing to have. My foster-father had taught me that, always emphasizing technique over sheer strength in any task. We used to spar sometimes, and he had put me on my ass more times than I could count, even though I was twice as strong as him, and taller. That was the power of good technique.
“I know I could get more tattoos,” I said, “but I figure it might be worth trying to trace over the existing rune to see what happens.”
Amelia nodded. “It’s worth a shot.”
I opened the single fire Core and retraced over my tattoos on my left forearm. When I was done, I tested the fireball and the multiple projectile spells, and found that it used a lot less mana than the previous versions.
“It seems that any spare Cores we have won’t go to waste,” I said.
&n
bsp; “What do you mean?” Veronica asked me, clearly intrigued by the tattooing process despite her previous disgust.
“When I reinforce an existing tattoo with additional ink,” I replied, “casting the spell uses less mana. It means I can use my new trick without running out of Mana so quickly.”
“Amazing,” Amelia said.
“That’s not how it works when enchanters use the ink to craft weapons and items,” Veronica said. “They don’t retrace runes. They simply add augmentations.”
“Really?” I asked. “I suppose this is yet another benefit to being an Ink Mage, eh?”
Amelia grinned at me. “It sure is.”
“All right, your turn,” I said to Amelia. “What tattoo should I give you?”
Her eyes lit up with delight at the prospect. The power of the tattoos was intoxicating, and I was very pleased to be able to offer that power to Amelia. I picked up my ancient tattooing dagger, and Amelia reached for her book to choose a new tattoo.
Chapter Ten
It was time to give Amelia a new tattoo. She sat on the ground with the book on her lap and an excited expression on her face as she flipped to the Cold section. Her fingers traced the drawings of the runes as she looked for an appropriate one.
We had three small Cold Cores left. I was hoping to add another rune to enhance my own Cold tattoo, but I wanted to give Amelia something first. These Cores were a little small, so I wanted to ensure she would receive a complete tattoo or augmentation. She’d been fighting so bravely with me, and she deserved a reward.
“What do you think you might like?” I asked.
“Well, I’ve got my ability to create a throwing spear already, so I think I’d like something that could be used at close quarters. Like you, I want something that doesn’t have a large area of effect; something for enclosed spaces where there’s a risk of hurting bystanders. It’s not as easy you might think.”
She continued to flick through pages of spells for shattering opponents, slicing them clean through with a big blast of ice, skewering them with a hail of ice blades.
I had an idea. “What about the ice blades?”
Amelia looked up at me. “Uh, that’s a pretty big area-of-effect spell. Doesn’t sound like the kind of thing I’m really looking for.”
“But it could be,” I said. “Look how this rune has several blades connected to a projectile rune, allowing you to throw blades at your enemies.”
“That might work,” Amelia said. “Then I could simply summon one blade and hold it.”
“I like the sound of that,” Veronica said. “Then you can summon an ice blade whenever you need it. It would be particularly effective against Fire monsters or Fire Mages.”
“Could be great for a brawl when you need to get close to someone without them seeing your weapon,” I added.
Veronica shook her head. “This is all so tedious. Wouldn’t it be easier just to use a vector? Sure, they’re expensive, but at least you don’t have to jump through all these theoretical hoops.”
“What we can do is pretty amazing though,” I said. “You have to admit that.”
“Maybe,” she said. “But it’s a high price to pay. My sword, ring, and leather skirt are more than sufficient for me.”
“It might look like it now,” I said. “But if you lose those items, you’d be completely powerless. If someone wants to make me powerless, they’d have to cut off my arms.”
Veronica glared at me, and I could see her mind working to try to come up with an appropriate response. She walked away, still thinking about my answer.
I sat beside Amelia. “I think she’s got a sore spot about my magic.”
Amelia nodded. “She would have studied for years to become a Mage. Her sword, ring, and skirt would have cost more than the entire wealth of smaller noble houses. To see you be able to create tattoos and use them as if they were vectors, it can’t be easy for her.”
I shrugged. “Well, she could stop being so stuffy and simply let me draw a Lightning tattoo on her body. Then she might not need her vectors anymore.”
Amelia placed her hand on my leg. “You weren’t raised a noble. I’m not suggesting that our lives as nobles were worse than your life as a slave—how could they be?—but there are certain things that are perhaps more difficult. Like breaking free of our molds, for instance. We have been taught that the ways of the world are fixed. A peasant, no matter how hard he tries, cannot be made into someone of noble blood. In the same way, magic is fixed. Magic can only be performed through objects outside of the body. Legends of Ink Mages were always just that—legends.”
“You were taught the same thing about tattoos as she was,” I said as I held Amelia’s face in my hands. ”But you came around, didn’t you?”
“That’s because I’m special, William.” She planted a kiss on my lips. My hand reached up to slip inside her cloak and palm her breast. She let out a moan as I took her nipple between my two fingers.
I heard a cough and stopped kissing Amelia, but my hand was still firmly pressed against her breast. I turned my head to see Veronica standing a few feet away, getting an eyeful of our moment of pleasure.
Amelia quickly pushed my hand away and rubbed down her cloak to compose herself. “Veronica,” she said. “I didn’t see you there. Were you there long?”
“I heard everything,” she said as she came to stand over us. “What you said about me—being a noble, and all—it’s true. As hard as I’ve worked, it’s all meaningless if there’s someone out there who can cast spells without the use of vectors.”
“It’s not meaningless,” I said.
She looked away, as though fighting the truth of my words. “It breaks my entire view of the world. These things are fixed. They shouldn’t change.”
“It doesn’t have to be a negative thing,” I said. “You wouldn’t need to stop using your vectors. You could use them while also having a tattoo. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.”
“Possibly,” she said. For a moment, she seemed almost convinced, but then she shook her head. “But I’m not willing to do so just yet. Perhaps never. But I want to watch you more closely, see what you do. I might not be a scholar like Amelia, but I’m still curious about this Ink Mage business. Hopefully I haven’t offended you too much. Would you still be willing to let me watch you?”
“Of course,” I said. “I’m not offended in the slightest. You’re a noble—you can’t help yourself if you’re a little haughty at times.”
Veronica’s eyebrows stitched together, and her face dropped into a scowl.
“I’m only joking,” I said with a laugh. Amelia laughed along with me, and it was only a moment before Veronica joined us.
“Now,” I said, “Veronica, you hold the book open while I draw a new tattoo for Amelia. That way you’ll be helping us out and getting a good look at the process. You’ll see it’s not that bad.”
Veronica took the book in her hands, and Amelia stretched out her arm.
I held my dagger in my right hand, holding it in the air in front of me. I pushed Mana into my Fire rune and sent a small jet of flame spouting from my left forefinger, which I used to heat the blade of the knife. It had just been in my skin, so it was important to clean it again before using it to tattoo Amelia’s arm. Using fire to clean the blade was so much easier with this new rune and used so much less Mana.
I eased my knife into the Beast Core and drew out some ink, then gently pressed the dagger tip onto Amelia’s skin before I applied a little more pressure to break the surface. Her arm twitched slightly as a droplet of blood seeped out from the shallow wound.
“Take a couple of deep breaths,” I said. “I need you to be totally steady.”
“I’m fine.” Amelia looked into my eyes. Her ice-blue eyes were calm. “It was just a reflex. I know this is safe. Besides, the pain is worth it.”
I smiled. “It certainly is.”
I held the dagger up and made the next pin prick. I referred to the giant leather
book sitting in Veronica’s lap. She had it sitting on an angle, the tops of her breasts poking out just over the top. That was a little distracting, but I managed to keep going.
I felt my mind easing into the relaxing trance state as I made the tiny pin pricks with the point of the knife until the design was fully marked out.
“How does that feel to you, Amelia?” I asked, just before I finished the design. “Do you feel any Mana flowing in your arm?”
“No, I don’t feel a thing,” Amelia replied.
“Strange,” I said. “I always feel my Mana flowing out to the pattern to accept the ink toward the end. It helps with spreading it. Let me try something.”
I had never done this before, but I had a feeling it might work. I pulled some Mana from the pool near my mind and pushed it into my left arm. This time I didn’t push it into one of the tattoos; I just held it in my left hand in its pure form. Then I held the tip of the dagger above the surface of Amelia’s skin.
A drop of the thick Beast Core ink hung at the sharp tip of the dagger. I moved my Mana-filled left hand toward it.
The result was impressive; the ink from the dagger was visibly drawn toward my Mana-soaked hand. It came like a tendril of ink moving through water, curling thickly toward my hand. I concentrated on it, and it stopped flowing, hanging in the air between the dagger and my hand.
“There it is,” I said. “I can control it with my Mana!”
I leaned forward again and made a few more inky pin pricks in her skin, but instead of trying to finish the design in this way, I pushed the tiniest bit of Mana into my fingertip and placed it against Amelia’s skin, near the ink.
Her skin was warm to the touch. The ink started to flow toward my finger. I drew my finger back along the tattoo outline, pulling the ink behind me. It soaked under the skin, filling out the design until it was nearly complete.
Amelia gasped. “That’s incredible! That must be how you manage to make such neat tattoos so quickly—you’re controlling the ink directly with your Mana! That’s what makes you a true Ink Mage!”
Veronica was leaning forward too, her eyes wide. She didn’t even seem to remember that she was meant to be turned off by seeing a tattoo.