The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith (16 page)

“
Oh, you are
definitely crazy. It just happens to be a delusion I share.”
She nodded sagely again, and we both laughed. “Alright, let’s
go get a horse, before we get sidetracked again.”

The wicked look in her
eyes told me what she meant by sidetracked, and I laughed, standing
up. “Yeah, we better get a move on. I also learned a few spells
from that nasty book I want to try out once we’re outside the
city again.”

“
Oh? You mean that
book didn’t get a
complete
victory after all? You still managed to win some spells from it?”
Denise was obviously enjoying the fact that I got knocked out by a
book, and would likely continue this for some time. Still, I made her
worry about me, so I’ll let her.

“
Yeah, yeah. You try
looking around the college library and stay awake.” I grinned
playfully to her as we made our way down the road towards the
stables. “Oh, by the way, one of the new abilities I got is
actually pretty handy. Though, so far it only works in towns.”

“
Oh? What is it?”
She was back in her curious mode, eager to learn what else I had
hidden up my sleeve.

“
Apparently, I now
have a map in my head of the city. If I focus hard enough, I can even
tell where you are on it.”

“
Really? Well,
that’ll come in handy when we reach Coatin. I’ve never
visited there before, so I’ll get lost pretty easily.”
She smiled to me, linking her arm in mine.

“
Yeah. Maybe
eventually it’ll work outside of cities too. Wouldn’t
that be nice?” We could hear the neighing of horses, so we
knew we were approaching the stable. “Hmm.. my mental map is
telling me that our target is that way!” I grinned to Denise,
who slapped my arm lightly.

“
I could tell you
that without all the flash.” She shook her head with a smile.

When we got to the stable,
the first thing that hit me was the smell. I know people say ‘well
that smells like shit’. Well trust me,
this
smells like shit. Great, steaming piles of it.

“
Warning, not for
the faint of nose.” I grimaced a bit as we walked up to the
person who seemed in charge. “Good day, sir. We’d like to
purchase a horse for our travels.”

The man looked at us, most
of his expression hidden behind his dirty face. “Oh, you too
huh? Well too bad! I just sold the last rideable steed. Now I gotta
either go find some more stock, or pack up and get a new job.”

I winced upon hearing
this. “So… there are no more horses?”

“
What, are you deaf?
I said there were no more that could be ridden.” There was a
loud neigh coming from the back again. “That’s Midnight.
He’s actually my last horse, but I can’t sell the damned
guy.”

“
Sentimental
reason?” I asked curiously.

“
Oh, hell no! I’d
unload him on anyone that could take him! But he won’t let
anyone near him, so I’ve had to give up on him.”

I glanced over to Denise,
who looked back at me. “You’re not thinking… oh
no.. I couldn’t..”

“
Sure you could.
I’ll be here to make sure nothing goes wrong, but remember what
we talked about. You can do this.” I assured her, patting her
back.

“
But.. how?”

“
Just trust in
yourself, and maybe give him a carrot?” I offered up a smile,
and the stable master raised his eyebrows.

“
You want to give a
shot at calming him down? If you can do it, he’s yours. Hell,
I’ll toss in the saddle and feed for free.”

I nodded again to Denise,
and she sighed in resignation. “Okay… I’ll do it.
But you better make sure nothing happens, Jin. Please?” She
looked to me with pleading eyes, and I nodded, assuring her it would
be fine.

Denise pulled a carrot
from her bag and we all walked back to the fenced area where the
pitch black horse was circling. When he saw us, he moved back to the
far side of the area, looking as if he might charge. Denise gave one
last look to me, like she was making sure I was still here, and then
had the stable master open the gate for the fence, essentially
walking into the lion’s den alone.

All I could do was pray
and have a spell ready at the back of my mind, ready to use Reinforce
on Denise at a moment’s notice. But the horse wasn’t
responding yet, simply glaring at Denise as she slowly, cautiously
approached. When she was within ten feet, Midnight let out a warning
neigh, and Denise startled. She stopped at that distance, and held
out the carrot in one open hand.
Moment of
truth..

“
Come here, boy.
I’ve got a yummy treat for you..” Denise smiled to the
horse, waving him forward with one hand. The horse shook its head
with a whinny, taking a couple small steps forward. “There,
that’s not so bad. Just a little more. Trust me, I’m more
scared of you than you could ever be of me.” I smiled a bit at
that comment, but stayed ready to support her with my magic if I
needed to.

The horse took that last
step, and slowly lowered its mouth to nibble on the carrot. “There,
you’re not such a mean boy, are you? Just a little flustered,
is all.” She gently brought up her spare hand and stroked the
top of Midnight’s face, down along its snout. “You just
want to get out of here like the rest of us, right? Well, tell you
what. Why not come with us?”

“
I can’t
believe it. She really did it..” The stable master was
dumbstruck, but was pleased by the whole event. “A deal’s
a deal. You got him to calm down, so he’s your’s. I’ll
go get the gear and then you can get the nightmare out of here.”

How bad must he have
been before for this guy to call him a nightmare?
“You did good, Denise. You did very good.” I smiled to
her, and she slowly led Midnight over. He glared at me, as if to say
‘this is my human, back off’, but Denise lightly swatted
his side.

“
Enough of that. Jin
is good.” She smiled to me, and it left me with a question.

“
Did the horse just
talk to you?”

“
Huh… I guess
he did? I thought it was like you with your summoned animals. Maybe I
can talk to things I tame?” She shrugged, like when she did it
it was no big deal. I shook my head and grinned.

“
Well, if it’s
alright with you and Midnight, I can put a binding on him. Then, we
can
both
talk to him.”
I said that, while looking at the horse in question. Denise relayed
my question, and we got a head shake and a whinny in reply.

“
He said sure, but
if you use him as a shield, bad things will happen.” She then
looked at the horse as it glanced to her, “No, I’m not
going to tell him the full thing. And neither will you, okay? Please
be nice, Midnight.” I swear, I had never seen a horse pout
before now, but apparently it’s possible.

Bringing my hand up to
Midnight as if I were going to pat him, I nodded. “Binding.”

There, happy now,
human?

“
Why, yes I am. I do
hope we can get along. Denise and I are kind of a package deal.”
I was talking to a horse… and he was being stubborn. Why did I
have a straight face?

Get along or not, you
guys are getting me out of this dump, so I can put up with you.

“
I guess that works
for now. Deal.”

But if I hear one horse
pun out of you…

Well, I decided not to
look this gift horse in the mouth. “Yeah, I figured. I will
restrain myself.”

Midnight whinnied and
shook his head again, and a few minutes later we had him loaded up
with his saddle and feed. “Now, how about we get you out of
here?” I smiled to Midnight and Denise as we all walked towards
the city gates together. “Even with all the detours, we’ll
definitely get to Coatin faster now.”

“
Agreed. But you
said you wanted to test some new spells..?”

“
Oh! Right. You mind
waiting for a few more minutes?”

“
Treat me to an
interesting show, and sure.” She grinned to me, and I laughed.
I wasn’t quite sure how this would turn out.

“
Okay.. first..”
I opened my grimoire to have the spells I needed listed out for me.
Even if it was just for the feel of it, I liked reading the chants
like a real mage. “Armies of empires past, ghosts of fallen
kings, imbue these beings with your power. Fusion summon!”

Given that I only had two
current summon contracts--aside from Midnight-- the targets of the
spell were the Forest Ape and Angry Wolf. What came out… is
not what I expected. The normal blue circle of light appeared like
always when I perform a summon, but just outside of that was a green
circle that quickly formed, and a red one beyond that. The red one
rose to about waist height, while the green one rose above my head.
Inside the circle was filled with a convulsing light, and then a
great bestial roar was emitted from within. When the light faded, I
had only one thought..

That’s a fucking
werewolf!
I just created a goddamned wolfman!
Nearly seven feet tall, hunched over with bulging muscles, furred,
with clawed hands and a wolf head.

“
Uhm… Jin…
I hate to mention this… but I don’t think we ever fought
that…”

“
No… I think
we’d remember fighting a wolfman. This is a fusion of the ape
and wolf I caught.”

Midnight suddenly turned
to glare at me.
Don’t you dare do
anything like that to me!

“
Don’t worry…
wasn’t planning on it. Okay.. next spell.. well, this’ll
be a doozy. Forgotten gods, nameless tales, show me the wisdom of
another. Merge!” My mana plummeted, and my eyes unfocused as I
felt my body flung towards the werewolf. The last thing I heard was
Denise’s startled gasp, and then everything became black and
white.
Looks like it kept the wolf eyes.

Looking down at myself, I
first noticed that I was now naked. Of course, I was covered in fur
and looked like a horror movie werewolf, so nudity wasn’t at
the top of the concern list. When I spoke, my voice came out grating,
this form making it difficult to speak. “So… is this…
enough.. of a.. show?”

“
Jin... ? Is that
you?” Denise took a careful step forward.

“
Yes.. feels weird..
ending now.” As soon as I cancelled the spell, and the summon
to go with it, I fell to the ground in my own body, and Denise was
beside me before I even noticed she moved.
Huh…
guess she can use her speed after all.
“Okay…
let’s reserve that one for when we need to hit something big.
Deal?”

Denise choked out a laugh,
“Deal. You worried me, you know?”

“
I worried me too,
Denise. I worried me, too. Just one spell left, and then we can get
going. This one I actually think will be pretty useful..”

I slowly stood up, with
Denise’s help, and noticed that my mana was still entirely
tapped out. I guess that possessing something that powerful requires
a lot of energy, so I just waited a few minutes for it to catch up
with me.

“
Okay.. here it
goes… I really hope I don’t grow a tail from this. Eyes
of the eagle, soul of the wolf, grant me the strength I need. Summon
Aspect.” I closed my eyes, focusing on the wolf, more
specifically on its eyes.

When I opened my eyes, I
noticed that everything looked the same as when I was possessing the
werewolf. Instinctively, I looked down to make sure I was still
wearing clothes.
Thank the lord for small
mercies..
I was indeed still in my normal
form… but with wolf eyes.

“
Okay, this feels
weird. I’ma stop now.” I cancelled the spell, and almost
collapsed against Denise.

Exhausted… no
shit.
I was panting a bit just to move, and
Denise helped me up onto Midnight, who even seemed worried. “I’ll
be okay. But next time I try to cast a spell when I look that bad…
Smack me. Please. I’ll thank you.”