The Tattooed Woman Pt. 22

THE TATTOOED WOMAN - Chapter 22

I hope folks are enjoying the story so far. Please leave comments, as criticism both positive and constructive is inherently useful. Plus, I like reading comments, so that's cool.

The Tattooed Woman Volume 2 - Chapter 8: Wizards, Warfare and Wyrms

In the House of Varro, there was a certain little-used staircase that led down to a particular corner of one of the deepest of the subterranean levels below the manse itself. The staircase and the passages it led to were illuminated by the flames of perpetually burning witchlamps that flickered and danced as if to some strange inhuman melody that only they could hear.

The servants who dusted that stairwell or were sent down to the levels below carried out their duties as hurriedly as possible, and with wide eyes that continually searched the shadows and corners fearfully, for this was the domain of Fiamma Vor, the ancient Magister of House Varro.

Fiamma was old, even among the Dökkálfar and in her time she had mastered the arts of Battle-Mage, Tempestarii, and Arcanus. There were none now living who remembered where she had come from, or in which House she originated. She had served House Varro for many long centuries, and all knew that demon and spirit alike made obeisance to her when she deigned to conjure them forth.

She had seen three Matriarchs rule House Varro since the tempestuous days of her first apprenticeship and all had come to respect her ability. Her peers, of which there were few, had learned to tread warily in her presence, while her enemies, of which there were fewer still, surviving that is, had learned to fear her name.

She was tall, and countless years had rendered her frame gaunt, and her hair was now more grey than silver. She dressed simply, favouring dark robes that seemed to merge with the shadows from which she would sometimes appear, oft when her name was spoken. Her vulpine features revealed no inkling as to the workings of her mind while her obsidian eyes, as cold and hard as chips of flint missed nothing. More than one rival Magus had contested with her over the years, but neither they nor their assassins had survived the experience. She seldom spoke and was not given to displays of temper, but the tapping of her iron rod upon the polished floor as she walked the passageways and corridors within the House never failed to instil fear in those who heard it.

And so, when she turned her unblinking cadaverous gaze upon the tall scrawny human who had been escorted into her presence by fidgeting and nervous household guards, she did not appear particularly impressed.

Her voice was dry and held a note of irritation that made the guards lick their lips and unconsciously edge backwards as she regarded them, "What's this? I am not planning to experiment on Humans this day, so why do you present me with this vagabond?"

The more senior guard swallowed. He was a veteran of the border wars and no coward, thus was able, just, to keep his voice from trembling, "Begging your pardon Magister, but the Matriarch instructed us to fetch him to you, for he is a... Wizard, or so I was told."

The woman grinned, it was not an encouraging sight, "A Human Wizard you say? My, my, whatever will the little scamps get up to next?"

She walked around the gangly youth and chuckled before waving a hand dismissively at the guards who all but fled in their eagerness to depart.

Fiamma rolled her eyes and sighed at their antics before turning her gaze back to the young man left in their wake. For his part, he seemed to be looking about the workshop keenly, not with a look of fear on his face, but rather one that appeared to be a mix of equal parts fascination, curiosity and delight.

She sighed, "What are you called Human?"

"Hmm? My name? Oh, um, t'is Quintus ma'am, Fabius... er Quintus Fabius that is."

"You do not sound certain Human; would you like me to come back later when you've had opportunity to consider your answer further?"

The young man blushed sheepishly, "I'm sorry, I was just distracted," he looked about and waved his hands at the various scrolls, books and instruments that festooned the workshop very much like a starved waif in a candy shop, "this is wonderful!"

Fiamma shook her head and released her breath in a long-suffering sigh of resigned amusement, "Humans..."

Turning to the gangly young man she sniffed, "I'm told you are a... wizard, of some kind. Would this be an apt description?"

Quintus was gazing hungrily at an ancient tome laid out upon an iron bookstand and his long fingers twitched with the unconscious desire to turn a few pages and thus his reply was almost absentminded, "Eh? Oh, um, yes. That's sort of correct, or it would be, had I not been expelled that is."

"Expelled you say? From where and for what reason? Did you dabble in some forbidden dark art, or summon a demon at an inappropriate moment perhaps?"

He turned to her and forced an embarrassed smile, "I was a pupil at the Scholomance, the hidden school where secret masters teach the arcane arts. I was... dismissed, for being overly friendly with another young man. My family are not rich and has little to no influence, thus I had no recourse but to accept the decision and leave. So, I sold what few skills I had mastered and joined an adventuring group."

Fiamma chuckled, "Secret Masters you say? My, my, it does sound a most prestigious and grand faculty," she idly pointed towards a door at the back of the room, "some rooms in yonder direction lies my bedchamber. Within you will find my laundry basket. If you searched through that basket, I'm sure you would have little trouble finding a pair of my knickers older than this ridiculous "Scholomance" of yours. And I think I hold my used underwear in greater esteem than I hold any of the bumbling "Secret Masters" you might care to mention."

She sniffed dismissively, "Now tell me, young man, would you care to learn how to work real magic or no?"

"You would teach me spells?"

"No."

"Rituals?"

She shook her head with a grin.

"How to summon demons and spirits?"

"Absolutely not."

He frowned, "Forgive me, I'm confused. What then would I learn from you?"

Fiamma smiled and Quintus found himself shivering as he wondered if the toothy creatures lurking in the darkest abyss at the bottom of the deepest of seas might have less unnerving grins, "I will teach you how to wield power of course, what else is there? Any idiot can learn rituals and spells by rote if need be, all that requires is the application of time and discipline. But power? Well, that is a different thing altogether. That requires will!"

She regarded him carefully, "Do you think you might have such will?"

The Human surprised her by raising his head to meet her gaze squarely, and his voice was steady enough as he answered, "Yes."

The Dark Elf smirked, "Hmm, a bold reply," she seemed to ponder a moment before making her decision, "very well then, I shall offer you a chance to prove if there is more to your words than mere bravado or an idle boast. Impress me, and I shall further your... education."

Quintus swallowed, "And if I don't?"

The sorceress shrugged dismissively, "Fail, and you die, of course..."

Crooking her finger she led Quintus towards a blank stone wall and the man stared goggle-eyed as she conjured a tall, ornate door with the simplest of gestures. The door looked to be made from iron and a touch of her hands ignited the many warding runes that covered its surface and caused the thing to swing silently open.

The chamber beyond was huge and domed. The floors and walls were engraved with an innumerable series of magical circles, all lined with arcane symbols of bewildering complexity and power. The circles connected in a non-Euclidean pattern that seemed somehow to shift and writhe of their own accord even as it drew the eyes and bewitched the mind, and it was with some considerable effort that he was finally able to pull his gaze away from the hypnotic effect, only to find Fiamma studying him carefully.

She gestured around her, "The pattern can have an unnerving effect upon an undisciplined mind, no? One can easily become quite lost if one were to allow themselves to be drawn into following the many lines and symbols," she fetched the Human a most disturbing grin, "I imagine one might easily be driven quite mad in attempting to decipher the arcane geometry, but of course, our wills are too strong to allow us to be so discommoded, yes?"

Quintus swallowed nervously, for her smile and the cold pitiless darkness of her eyes did not promise much in the way of comfort and reassurance.

The woman drew a breath, "I was told that you destroyed three Barghests, but the effort caused you to crumble. Why did you capitulate to such deplorable weakness?"

The Human wizard frowned, "The creatures were strong, I was bereft of magical apparatus or time to prepare and so the spells drained me significantly."

"Hmm, and?"

"What?"

She frowned, "Are you hard of hearing? I asked why you allowed such trivial matters to cause you to falter so?"

He stammered, "B-but I did not have the strength to..."

"Pathetic. A wizard, sorceress, warlock, or whatever label you wish to append to the calling is, above all, a creature of WILL! And it is by will alone that you set the magic coursing through your veins, that you take the very fabric of what the ungifted so ignorantly refer to as reality, and you tear it asunder or mold it as you see fit! If you do not have the will to push beyond such base weaknesses that caused your collapse, then you are wasting your life and my time. The former I care little enough about, but as I run out of the latter, it becomes increasingly precious to me. So, let us see if you are a creature of will, or simply a victim of hubris."

She pointed at the far wall and spoke softly. At her invocation, one of the great magical circles flared to life and the area of wall within its circumference turned from obdurate stone to thick swirling mist. With a curt gesture of impatience, the mists parted to reveal a scene beyond, as if the circle had become a huge window... or a door.

The scene was of some dark oppressive woodland, filled with the naked boughs of dead trees and wreathed in shadow. As Quintus stared in dawning horror four patches of darkness flowed together to form a quartet of the black-furred hounds that still haunted his nightmares. The Barghests stalked about and sniffed the air before slowly turning their ravenous blood-red eyes as one towards the magical portal. The hackles on their fur rose, drool and foam fell from slavering jaws, and they released the vile howls that clawed at his ears and seemed to tear at his very soul.

He looked back at Fiamma in dumbstruck horror, but she paid no heed to his terror and simply tapped the floor with her iron rod. A protective magical circle ignited instantly around her. Looking up at Quintus she smiled and casually gestured at the bloodcurdling spectacle before him.

"I would do something about that if I were you."

...

Dana spun around and her hand dropped instinctively to the empty space on her belt where she would once have found her sword.

The Dark Elf before her nodded appreciatively, "Good reflexes, but I mean you no harm," she grinned mischievously, "besides, you're somewhat underdressed for a skirmish are you not?"

Lashelle laughed merrily, "Forgive her Dana, she does it to me all the time. I think she gets some perverse joy from skulking up behind poor unsuspecting folk and scaring the Hell out of them. T'is a petty and childish habit to be sure, but no amount of scolding on my part seems to deter her."

Dana gave the newcomer a bewildered look, "You bought me?! Why?"

Azure slid closer and gave the woman a lascivious smile as she raised a hand to idly push aside a stray lock of hair from Dana's face, "Well, perhaps I wanted a pretty Half-Elf girl all of mine own, hmm?"

"I am not going to be a Dark Elf's sexual plaything damn you!"

Azure frowned, "I swear, you always say the meanest things to me, Dana. Did I wrong you in a previous life or something?"

"Wha...?"

The Dark Elf chuckled, "Oh relax! I'm jesting with you girl, your virtue is safe enough for now I promise," she smiled mischievously and gestured casually at Lashelle, "besides, I already have a sexual plaything who's more than happy to cater to all my earthly desires."

She had timed her remark as Lashelle was sipping from her cup and the younger Dark Elf almost choked as she sputtered, "Hey! That's not nice."

With an evil smile Azure turned to the woman, "Are you now saying it's not nice being my sexual plaything?"

Blushing Lashelle wiped her chin and wagged a finger at her lover, "You know damned well that's not what I'm saying at all, so don't play coy you spooky bitch!"

Dana shook her head as she watched the byplay, "If you two madwomen could cease your flirting for a moment perhaps one of you might tell me why I'm here... please?"

Azure grinned as she fetched a freshly poured cup from the tray and passed it to the Half-Elven scout, "Well, funnily enough, it's more happenstance and coincidence than design, but hopefully fortuitous for all that."

"How so?"

With a graceful catlike movement, Azure neatly perched on the arm of Lashelle's chair and accepted a cup for herself with a warm smile of thanks as she gestured to her surroundings, "This is Lashelle's cottage. My own home is well outside the city, off near the border with the Veil, where my family have owned lands for many generations. Until recently, I lived there alone for I am not overly fond of crowds, or indeed, of people in general for the most part."

She sniffed, "I enjoy solitude, but even so, in time I eventually became somewhat bored with my own company, or perhaps lonely I suppose, after a fashion, and I sought a companion, particularly one I could teach my craft to, for the idea of having a pupil interested me. Now I did not wish to adopt another of my kin from some Dark Elven House, for I could not put up with all the insufferably prideful nonsense that would inevitably go with such an arrangement. So, I thought to obtain someone from the slave market who might be suitably useful, and perhaps willing enough to abide with me for a spell, until I eventually freed them to come or go as was their want.

"I'd done some bounty hunting for the Overseer in the past and thus we came to an arrangement whereby if a fitting candidate appeared she would quietly send me word so I might offer to purchase them prior to their appearance upon the auction block."

She smiled again at the woman seated next to her, "But then on the last raid well, let's just say I became involved with another, but like some love-struck idiot, I of course forgot to send word to Falsara-Kur that I was no longer searching for an apprentice.

"True to her word, when you were given over to her supervision the Overseer made me aware of your availability, whereupon I made a bid and purchased you."

"But, why?"

Azure looked up from her cup, "Truthfully, I didn't want to see you enslaved to another."

"What?"

The Dark Elf shrugged, "You impressed me, Dana, I had you at swordpoint yet you wouldn't sell out your companion even to save yourself and that took guts and loyalty. These are both qualities I admire, further, you are not unskilled as a scout, and I'll even allow that you are rather pleasing on the eye. In fact, were I not now otherwise predisposed you would have been an ideal prospect as an apprentice," she gave the woman a wicked smile, "well, that is of course if not for your low opinion of me."

Dana flustered, "But, wait, that's not..."

Lashelle giggled as she wagged an admonishing finger at her companion, "Now, now, Azure, stop teasing the girl."

"You two are insane."

Azure smiled brightly, "It's surprising how often I hear that."

From her seat, Lashelle muttered, "Not that surprising."

The Half-Elf's brow furrowed in thought, "But if you are, as you say, now no longer seeking a companion, then I still do not understand your purpose in purchasing me, not that I'm ungrateful mind."

Azure sighed, "If things were normal, I would have taken you on as an apprentice. We would have done a little bounty hunting to recover the coin I spent on you and afterwards you would have been freed to come or go as you pleased, though I would have hoped we might have been on better, even friendly, terms by then and you might have considered staying. But this is all by the by now."

"How so?"

"Now my Captain calls us back and Lashelle and I must fulfil our oaths of service, for the banners have been summoned and our company is to go campaigning in the north," she sipped her tea, "if it were to be going on some simple raid then one scout would suffice, but for a campaign of this sort we need two at least, for I cannot rove ahead and leave our rear exposed."

"Is Lashelle not also a scout?"

The younger Dark Elf looked up from fiddling with the cups, "No lass, I am a swordmaiden, but also our company cook, and if need be, our surgeon, though I had perhaps less skill than the two sisters we... appropriated on our last expedition."

Azure grinned, "She also dabbles in dentistry and pulls teeth a lot more gently than Nyx, but alas she's no scout. But you on the other hand..."

"Me?"

The Dark Elf nodded, "Yes, you have a certain level of skill. Not as much aptitude as I would like given our likely prey, but better than nought."

Dana rolled her eyes and replied dryly, "Well, thanks. That's damning with faint praise if ever I heard it."

Azure pursed her lips and her brow furrowed, "Dana, we are going after Drow, and they are not unskilled, quite the opposite in fact, and if they catch you, they will likely abuse you horribly for their sport and torture you in unspeakable ways before leaving you alive but hopelessly crippled. Would you like to know why they would leave you alive?"

Dana swallowed nervously before nodding.

"In order to either force your companions to kill you, thus damaging their will and morale, or inducing them to carry you, thus slowing and weakening their fighting capability further. The Drow are vicious, evil, and sadly both competent and cunning as fuck. And we are going to fight them. Oh, and just so you know, as scouts, if we come across any of our own who have fallen victim to these Drow, or who have been left in our path by them as bait or whatnot then it is our task to dispose of the poor sods quietly and hide the bodies so as not to trouble the common footsoldiers in our wake. It is a very dirty and deadly business, and I was hoping to enlist you."

"You want me to fight for you?"

"Yes."

As your slave?"

Azure shrugged, "Dana, I cannot free you. If I did and you have not served and thus tholed your assize, or received patronage or offer of indenture or adoption by one of the Houses or guilds then you will quite frankly be shown the door and removed from our lands, for the Dark Elves do not tolerate unknown masterless foreigners wandering free. I suspect that may change if the war goes against us, but for now, it is what it is."

The Half-Elf pondered, "It sounds a dangerous undertaking so I would be foolish not to ask, what do I get out of it?"

"What do you want?"

"My freedom?"

Azure smiled, "Is that all?"

Dana frowned, "What else is there?"

Lashelle looked at the girl, "What would you do with this 'freedom' Dana? Is your life among the Humans so fair that you would rush back to it?"

The Half-Elf looked at the floor and shrugged, "As you say, it is what it is, and I still have a brother out there somewhere."

Azure rose and laid a hand gently on the woman's shoulder, "I saw him, he looks Human, and while I agree that kin is important, he will be better protected by your absence these days I think, harsh a thing as that is to say."