Black tattoo of two crossed axes inside a ring of runic lettering, Lettering style, on the inner forearm.

Crossed axes and runes in a circle on a forearm

Lettering · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A black tattoo of two crossed axes sits inside a circle of runic characters on the inner forearm. The axes and cross strokes are solid, bold black, while the runes are finer, thinner lines set around the ring. The ink is dark and even against pale skin, with a tiled floor and a printed card blurred in the background.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Wenna, the forge at Hallowmere has gone cold since the frost cracked the bellows, so I am writing this by the last of the tallow with the wind rattling the shutters. Master Oddric has finally agreed to let me strike a pair of felling axes for the Sealord's ships without him standing at my shoulder. You will laugh, but I have made the cross of them as he showed me, two blades locked at the haft like the crossed oars the old fishermen carved over their doors.

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The runes were the difficulty. The Sealord's clerk wanted the names of the twelve oarsmen cut round the rim, and when I asked what the marks said he only tapped his nose and told me they were a lawyer's business. So I copied them from the stone at the ferry landing, letter by letter, not knowing whether I was blessing the blades or cursing the men who would carry them. Oddric says that is how most charms are made.

When the axes were quenched they sang in the trough, one high note and then a low one, and the water turned the colour of wet slate. I worked the black finish into the steel with soot and oil until they shone like something just lifted from the sea. The clerk paid in silver and would not look at the rim again.

I kept one small offcut from the crossbar and stamped it with the first rune, the one that opens the ring. It is in my apron pocket now. Tell Mother the silver will come with the spring tide, and that I have not burnt my hands once this week, which I know you will not believe.

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