The next energy blast plastered me against the logs, and I blacked out.
I came to facing the floor from about six inches in the air. There was a small pool of red directly beneath me. I blinked and realized that the red was blood, which streamed from my nose. I wiped at my nose with the back of my hand. My healing tat had already triggered. Loki’s amulet glowed hot against my skin and the flow of blood stopped almost immediately.
I turned my head and saw Joe standing in front of the fireplace, his back to me.
I rose to my feet, pissed off and ready to punch the old man in the head.
“You better have a damn good explanation for that, Joe,” I said, my fist clenched tight against my sides.
He didn’t turn around as he spoke, “Your shield is too weak to go against a strong mage. You won’t survive long enough to cast the tremblor spell.”
“You can’t be certain that this magic user is as strong as you,” I countered.
“Child, I didn’t hit you with half of my power. Anyone who can cast a circle that would hold Rafe could do at least that and probably more. Face the truth; you won’t have time to cast that spell.”
I mumbled, trying to gather my thoughts into a rebuttal, but within seconds, I knew Joe was telling the truth. In frustration, I kicked out, striking one of his chairs and sending it crashing across the room.
Joe turned, pointed a finger at the chair, said something that wasn’t English and the chair leapt back across the room to stand in front of me.
“Kick it again,” Joe said. “It won’t change the truth.”
I wanted to sit down and put my face in my hands and sob out my frustration. But that wouldn’t help Rafe.
“I can turn the spell into a tat,” I exclaimed with a flash of insight.
Joe studied me. “You know how to do that?”
“How to modify a spell into a tat was one of the first things Rafe taught me. I can do it and activate the spell instantly before anyone can breach my shield.”
Joe nodded, considering my words, and then he said, “That’s a complicated spell. From Rafe’s description, he doesn’t usually burn them in one sitting.”
“That’s right, he doesn’t. But he hasn’t been motivated properly. I can do it. I have to.”
Joe walked toward me, never taking his eyes off mine. When he was within reach, he raised his hands and placed them on my shoulders. “I believe you, Wanderer. How can I help?”
I choked back a sob. Damn it, you’d think it was that time. I forced a grin to my face. “Do you have a pen and paper?”
Joe nodded. “I’ll get them.”
While he fetched writing supplies, I shucked off my boots and peeled down my leather pants.
When Joe returned, I was sitting cross-legged on the floor before the fire. The grimoire was in my left hand, turned to the tremblor spell. With my right index finger, I traced the spell’s pattern in the air in front of my face.
Joe handed me the pen and paper and sat down in the chair beside me. He eyed my bare legs but didn’t comment.
I traced out the spell’s pattern on the first clear page of the notebook Joe had given me. When it was done, I added the runes that would allow a Wanderer to activate it as a tat. Done, I held up the two pages and compared them. I’d always been pretty good at drawing freehand, and I couldn’t tell the difference in the images, save for my additional runes.
I nodded to myself and handed Joe Rafe’s grimoire. Resting Joe’s notebook on my right knee, I studied the spot on my inner thigh where I was going to put it. My thigh there was smooth and unbroken. I traced the pattern once on my thigh with the tip of my index finger. My skin shivered and broke out in goose bumps. The flesh was very sensitive on my inner thigh, but the only other place that was large enough for the tat was my belly, and I didn’t want to have to sit staring at my navel for as long as I thought it would take.
I took a deep breath and let it out. Glancing at Joe, I said, “Well, this is going to hurt.”
Joe’s jaw twitched. “Wait, young one. Let me teach you the spell of remembrance first.”
“Rafe didn’t want me using that one,” I said, looking up at the old shaman.
“He also doesn’t want you playing around with the spells in that grimoire. I’ll think that if he’ll forgive you one transgression, he’ll forgive two.”
“Will it take long?”
Joe grinned. “You read it aloud once and then you’ll remember everything for the next minute. Read it a second time during that period and you will never forget it.”
“Cool, let’s have it.”
Joe went into his bedroom and returned shortly with an old leather bound book. He flipped it open to about the middle and held it out to me. I took the book from him and read the spell once to myself. It wasn’t too complicated. Then I read it aloud, twice.
When I finished, Joe took the book back and closed it.
Picking up the sheet of paper where I’d modified Rafe’s tremblor spell, I recited the remembrance spell, and then studied the tremblor spell for half a minute. Closing my eyes, I found that I could remember the spell in its entirety.
I set the sheet of paper aside and lowered my eyes to the bare skin of my thigh. Gathering my will power, I focused energy as Rafe had taught me and began.
The pain was nearly as bad as the explosion that had changed my life less than a month ago. I gritted my teeth and tightened my resolve. Gradually,
