Pillar

Chapter Five

Vivian left Bleak’s shop with a much heavier satchel, half of her Leeching Willow leaves now gone in exchange for jars of ink and a small box of golden nibs fitted to her favorite quill. She’d even wheedled away an additional six silver coins from Bleak in exchange from one of the Ember Crab shells, something she’d happily parted with due to the size and weight of the bulky carapace.

Ukah was still annoyed at how the older wizard had ignored him the rest of the time within the shop, but was slowly cheering up as the sun clawed its way across the sky towards the western horizon. Already the Selene and Wulf could be seen in the cloudless sky, the two moons hanging low enough to be plucked like ripe fruit. Wulf’s slight blue tinge matched the color of the sky, almost rendering the orbiting child of Pillar invisible. Selene, the larger of the two moons, held a violet tint to it, and was already basking the River-Valleys in the faint radiance of the Astral energy raining down from the lunar object.

“C’mon, I bet Tobias and Lillian have gotten out of training, and they’ll be ready for a drink or three,” Vivian said, looping an arm through Ukah’s muscled one. “I know I could go a for a nice dry wine right now.”

“How you drink Bitterleaf is beyond me,” Ukah laughed, earning a few glances from passing villagers, all smiling at the antics of the teenagers. “But so long as you provide the Nortur Lager, I won’t point out your poor taste in drinks.”

“Careful now, I’m paying out of my good graces here,” Vivian said. “How was practice with Tobias today? I’ve been rude just dragging you around like this …”

“No, it’s been nice,” Ukah replied. “And our training was… productive, I suppose? He used his crossbow, with blunted bolts, mind you, and used me as target practice.”

“Oh no! Are you okay?” Vivian asked, stopping them in the narrow street to look him over. His tanned skin hid any bruises well enough, though upon closer inspection Vivian could make out a half dozen on Ukah’s broad chest, with a few more on his arms. “I can’t believe you’d do something so reckless! Do you need healing?”

Ukah shrugged. “I need the practice dodging and blocking. If I ever want to leave this town as a bodyguard, I need to showcase my skills to prospective clients.”

“I guess I can understand that… I just don’t enjoy seeing you hurt.” Vivian pouted.

Ukah cuffed her on the shoulder. “Hey, I’m tough. I can handle myself when the need calls for it. Tobias took some bruises too when we had weapons drills.”

“You still disarming him like he was a toddler?” Vivian smiled.

“Drives him mad,” Ukah nodded, earning a laugh from Vivian.

“I imagine,” Vivian replied, “c’mon, let’s hit the Sound of War.”

Turning off Blinking Eye and walking under the bridge leading across town to the upper-class homes, they wove their way through the evening crowds towards the River District where the tavern lived. The crowd slowly became more and more composed of the rough and tumble sort of sailors and fisherman coming home from work or week-long trips out on the Vreba River. Some nodded to Vivian, recognizing her from some work she’d done with them, while others merely looked her over with a lecherous smile that Ukah returned with a glare.

The vendors on this street closed fish mongers that were cleaning their stalls and weapon merchants polishing their blades from further up the river. A tattoo parlor known as the “Gnarled Root,” an open-air vendor with a simple cloth overhang providing shade, had multiple tattooists inking: four men and a woman. The various workers were smoking long pipes with orange smoke drifting along the wind, the bittersweet scent of the Bearberries filling the air.

The man sitting at the curved wooden table serving as the front of the structure and open counter looked over at them. He was a Tyrik, with a pipe clenched between his teeth, older with gray streaks in his spiky hair and goatee. He waved Vivian over when he saw her. Surprised, she walked closer with Ukah trailing close behind, both curious to see what the strange man wanted. He was sitting on a stool with his boots kicked up on a counter where an iron-rimmed chest sat.

“Either of you interested in being inked?” He asked, his bullfrog voice accompanied by a cloud of smoke pluming from his nostrils. He bore his Clan’s mark, and a sleeve of naval tattoos depicting battles with trolls and serpents rising from curled waves, a longboat loaded with men and women bearing spears.

“Ooh, I’ve always thought about it!” Vivian said, letting go of Ukah’s arm to walk over to the stall. “I know something I’ve been thinking of for quite some time…”

“I see you pass by here every day, and I say to myself, ‘Jack, that little beauty would look great with something gracing her hand.’ And I ain’t talking about no ring, seeing as your boyfriend already made his claim to you.” Jack said, pointing with his pipe at her hand where her silver band rested on her ring finger.

“Oh, he’s not my boyfriend,” Vivian said, Ukah nodding.

“Oho, single, are we?” Jack said, smiling with a wink. “Why not let Jack have a c***k at wooing you while I mark that pretty little hand with a flower suited for your beauty?”

“Listen buddy, I don’t think you need to-” Ukah started.

“How much would it cost to make a mark on me, but using some of my materials?” Vivian interrupted.

Jack dropped his jaw, quickly closing it around his pipe to take a pull as he seemed to contemplate the offer. “You have the pigments?”

“I have the minerals that can be made into pigments,” Vivian said. She rolled up her right sleeve to show her forearm. “How good are you?”

“Girl, I’m the best artist this backwater burg offers,” Jack laughed, waving his pipe at the other tattooists. “Ask away, none will argue!”

“He’s the one teaching us,” one tattooist, a shirtless man with a mandala in the center of his chest spreading out over his broad body. “He also did my work here, look!”

Vivian walked into the stall, a hand brought up to her face as she gazed over the colorful design radiating out from his sternum. The man he was working on grunted as Vivian placed a hand on his back, but stayed silent when Ukah glared at him. The tattooist flexed, showing how the ink moved along his skin. The artist’s long hair was flipped over his shoulder, showing how the work curled up and crept along his neck, where a long and angry red scar welted up beneath the tattoo. Vivian stood on her tiptoes and ran a finger along the skin, studying the intricate work. She avoided the scar, as she felt him tense up when her fingers grew close and knew he must be sensitive about it. She turned to Jack, who’d leaned back against one of the canopy’s posts, smoking peacefully with a content smile on his face.

“You really did this?” Vivian asked. “This is a spiritual design that the practitioners of the water spirit’s ways. How did you even come across it, they’re communities are so rare!”

“I know of a tribe that worship the Aqua Lord hidden here in the River Valleys, trade with them occasionally when I take my trawler downstream,” Jack said. “They’re where I get my supply of pigments, actually. You want to see beautiful tattoos, you need to visit them!”

“I think I might…” Vivian said, turning to look over the tattooist once more, who’d returned to his task of marking his client’s chest with black-and-white concentric circles. “How much and how long would it take to give me a marking from a book I have?”

“Let me see the picture, the minerals, and I’ll tell you,” Jack said, tapping his pipe on the bottom of his boot to rid it of ashes. Setting aside his pipe along the enormous chest, he cleared off the table and motioned for her to lie out her goods.

She pulled her journal from her satchel, and her handful of Anam crystals. Laying out the multi-faceted gems, she flipped through the pages looking for a set of magical equations. Jack picked up one of the slightly luminescent gems, holding one up to the dying light of the sun.

“Where have I seen these before? They’re not diamonds, as you wouldn’t have them and look like a traveler. They can’t be anything from around here, because I would know of it.” Jack said. He raised an eyebrow. “This stuff legal?”

“Yes,” Vivian replied primly, flipping through the pages. “They’re Anam crystals. Concentrated Astral found in naturally magical regions, usually hoarded by drakes.”

“Oh,” Jack said, setting the gem down as if it could explode. “So, what design am I making with these gems?”

“This!” Vivian said, flipping her book around to lie on the table. An intricate set of runes were aligned along a straight line over another set of curved symbols. “I want this made along my inner forearm, laid in one side and mirrored again to fill my inner arm. I want the ink to be made from the crystals, mixed with the ashes from Leeching Willow branches that have fallen from the tree. That’s very important, they can’t be taken or cut down. The tree can’t be harmed or bothered in any way when harvesting the wood.”

“That… is odd. So, you want this tattoo to be a solid color? Leeching Willow isn’t really something I use because it’s poisonous and all. Are you sure you want those materials? I don’t want to be held liable for you getting sick from some of my work…” Jack asked, drumming his fingers on the table.

“Oh, don’t worry, I won’t get sick from it…” Vivian smiled with a slightly devilish smirk. “Someone else will …”

Jack frowned. “I don’t like the sound of that …”

“You don’t have to worry,” Vivian said with a smile. “This is just an experiment of mine, that if it fails, I have your beautiful work to savor. If it works, then I should be able to do things that other wizards would find envious!”

“So, you’re a wizard, eh?” Jack said, picking up his long-stemmed pipe. He pointed it in her face, forcing her to back up. “I’m not comfortable doing work with a spell-slinger, so you might as well just make an offer so I can shoot you down and save us some time.”

“You don’t like wizards?” Vivian asked, her eyebrow arched. “Well, I’m sorry to hear that. I could enchant a few things for you if it would make you feel better, maybe for your work?”

“Like what?” Jack snapped.

Vivian shrugged. “I know the runes for cleaning, sharpening, and sleep. I could enchant several sets of needles to be self-cleaning, to stay continually sharp, and to numb the area being worked on so you have happier customers. I’d be willing to do this to a set of needles for each of your workers and yourself in exchange for the work I want done.”

“Hm… that sounds promising. I’ve heard of a dark-skinned wizard wandering the market, buying up everyone’s junk and selling goods from the forest and river. I’d assumed you’d never come to see the likes of me.” Jack said, pulling some crushed Bearberry sludge from a pouch on his belt, packing it into the hollow of his pipe. “I’m just as humble artist plying his trade, teaching others how to create. You’ve come to me speaking of experiments, asking me to use some strange minerals along with poisonous plant matter that you claim must be gathered in a specific matter. See it from my point of view when you claim you’ll enchant my tools to pay for such a risky endeavor.”

“How about, as a down payment, I merely enchant your needles to do the work on me? That way you find out if my work will prove useful to your trade? If it does, then I enchant the rest to pay off my tattoo, and if it doesn’t, I pay you for the tattoo with silver?” Vivian offered.

“You don’t even know how much one of my personal works cost, girly!” Jack said with a slight growl.

“How much then? And offer me a price as if I was a normal person, not a wizard.” Vivian asked, c*****g her hip to the side, crossing her arms.

Jack licked his lips, eyes darting to Ukah, who was openly glaring at the smaller man. “Two silvers and a Blue Trout Stout at the Sound of War.”

Vivian mulled it over in her head. “You send someone to gather the wood, grind the Anam crystals yourself, and let me enchant your needles tomorrow and I’ll pay three silvers for the tattoo, plus a shot of Firebar Fyr.”

Jack licked his lips. “You offer a tempting bargain girl, and throwing around Fyr isn’t something to be doing lightly. You know Tyrik drink that together; you trying to claim you’re a Tyrik?”

“No, but I am accepting the offer of a night out, assuming you still want to woo me like you said earlier.”

Jack blinked. “Didn’t think you’d go for an old salt like me… what the hell, let’s do it! When can you enchant the needles?”

Vivian smiled, turning to Ukah, pressing her money pouch into his hands. “Go get the guys and buy a barrel of Stout. We’re drinking here tonight!”

The tattooists all cheered at that, earning strange looks from the other vendors on the street. But none of them cared; tonight, drinks would be on the house!