The Tattooed Duchess by Victor Gischler

Author:Victor Gischler [Gischler, Victor]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2015-07-07T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

“There are instructions and likely a stencil for a tattoo in the Great Library of Tul-Agnon.” Talbun gestured at the book on the table in front of her. “If Weylan is to be believed.”

“What?” Rina rapidly circled the table to read the book over the wizard’s shoulder. She squinted at the pages. They were unreadable, at least to her. At first she thought simply that Weylan’s penmanship was unreadable, but she looked again and saw the entries were written in some unfamiliar foreign tongue.

“It’s ancient Fyrian,” Talbun explained.

“And of course you’re fluent in ancient Fyrian,” Rina said.

“Of course,” Talbun said with no hint of irony. “The mystic arts are said to have originated in Fyria. All wizards read and write it, so we can communicate with one another.”

“You talk shop in ancient Fyrian.”

“That’s a tad glib,” Talbun said, “but yes.”

“What does it say?”

“It’s a little hard to follow,” Talbun said. “These are obviously notes to himself. It’s not a book meant to be read by others. Studying the tattoos was obviously his passion for many years. He’d been collecting rumors and stories and legends, anything that might lead to another tattoo or hint at its location. It makes sense, really.”

“Why would he be so obsessed?”

“Because Weylan could ink the Prime,” Talbun said. “There are other wizards like me who have power tattoos. Or your gypsy friend who put those feathers at the corners of your eyes. These tattoos are rare enough, but they mean nothing without the Prime, and Weylan might have been the last wizard alive who knew the secret.” She cast her eyes over the pile of books. “I’ve only just started going through his possessions. I was hoping to find something about inking the Prime. No luck so far, and I have to go slowly. A number of the books are spell-trapped.”

“Yeah,” Rina said flatly. “I’ve unfortunately had some experience with that.”

“I’m pretty sure if we studied Weylan’s books carefully, we could locate a half dozen power tattoos.”

Rina’s heart skipped with excitement, and that excitement worried her. She didn’t want to want more tattoos.

But she did.

Weylan warned me. He said the power was seductive.

“Not that we have the time to chase them to the four corners of the world,” Talbun continued. “But this tattoo is different.” She tapped a word in the middle of a page.

Rina squinted at it. Kataar.

The word meant nothing to her.

“You’ll have to translate that for me.”

“I can’t,” Talbun said. “It’s not Fyrian, and I’ve never seen the word before. But it’s what Weylan calls one of the tattoos.”

“What’s so special about it?” Rina asked. “Would it let me fly or something?”

“It’s not that it grants some specific power. That’s not what caught my attention,” Talbun said. “It’s more that it seems very relevant to our current problem.”

There’s a tattoo that keeps the king from wanting me to marry his grandnephew?

No. Obviously not. Wait, did she mean . . . ?

“I had a dream last night,” Rina said. “More of a visitation, really.

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