“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
