Part 31

"I can't see!" David twisted his neck to catch a glimpse of what Thule was going, but obediently kept the rest of his body still.

"Shh!" Thule hissed. He began to mumble the strange words that he'd used earlier, weaving them into a barely audible, yet compellingly rhythmic chant. David caught the pattern...the rise and fall of Thule's voice, the repetition of certain chains of words. The Pilgrim traced that same rhythm across David's exposed skin... dipping the pointed stick into the ink at specific intervals, and tracing tiny curved lines with speeds and pressures that somehow matched the sounds.

If only he could see...

"But..." David didn't wait for Thule to tell him to shut up; he merely pouted and listened. And craned his neck further. Whatever the Pilgrim was drawing was small, but it had a lot of lines. Each one sent thick, icy shocks David's spine as it was drawn. Even the air around them felt cold, although Thule was sweating profusely.

The Pilgrim's lips kept moving, and David grew increasingly restless. His armpit felt frozen... everything other than the symbol itself was numb, and the numbness was spreading.

Thule dipped the stylus into the magical ink once more.

David felt him tap around the circumference of the symbol. These marks felt different... they were more forceful, and the words that accompanied them were sharp and guttural. It was like being stung by tiny bees. The symbol grew warmer with each sting, until it was hot... then burning...

"Ouch! Hey that hur-"

"Done," Thule announced. He stood and stepped back. There was no satisfied smile on his face, merely a slight lessening of his stern scowl.

David strained to examine the delicate tangle of lines drawn in black ink at the edge of his armpit. The design made no sense to him. It had no pattern or symmetry, save for the single thick line that encircled the mass of swirls.

"This is magic?" he asked. He probed the symbol with his fingertip. The ink was dry, and the skin around it had gone numb again. "It just looks like squiggles..."

"The runes are sacred characters. They are drawn on top of each other to form a prayer. This one is the Prayer of Unbinding. It will free you from your bonds. But only once."

"Wow..." David prodded the symbol on his skin again. "You put magic on me. How does it work?" David poked at the symbol yet again. And then once more.

"Faith and Will, as I said. But this way, the faith is mine... woven into the design as it was made. The will, unfortunately, must still be yours."

"I don't understand."

"You must concentrate on the rune... banish fear from your mind and breath the force of your thoughts into it. If your thoughts are strong enough, the prayer will read itself into your mind, carrying the strength of my faith with it. Then you will be free."

"Can I try it now?"

The Pilgrim sighed.

"...part of 'once' does he not understand..." he muttered. Then continued: "We must go, boy. Tell no one of my gift. You will not be taken as long as you are with me. But if we are separated, that rune will keep you from their sacrificial altar. If you have the strength to use it. Now follow me; we have tarried long enough."