CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Magic finners

  “Carry on, o’ errant knight,” Bram sang, “fighting evil with righteous might!”

  It was a loud, raucous tune he sang; o to stir the blood of those who heard it.

  The prince who’d once again donned his bard’s disguise strummed his lute with practiced hands. “Don’t you y your sword to rest…”

  Bram hoped his song would inspire Hajime, though, from the sound of his panion’s cries for help, he guessed his tune wasn’t as effective a morale booster as it could’ve been if it were weaved with magic.

  The prince shook his head.

  There was no point wishing for the impossible. Even with the system’s help, he didn’t have enough magic within him to bee a proper bard. At least not the kind adored by the Imperium’s grand theaters.

  “Fight until you’re—”

  “—Bram!” Hajime yelled desperately, f Bram to pause his singing.

  From his perch atop a thick tree branch, the prince gazed down just in time to notice that the otherworlder had rolled to the ground after stumbling over an exposed tree root. Unfortunately, he couldn’t dodge the shaggy, bck beast charging him with btlers that smoldered like burning coals.

  “I-I’m going to die!” Hajime screamed.

  “Dying once could help us study the effects of a death on Aarde,” Bram whispered in a curious tone. “Maybe I should let—”

  “—Bram!” Hajime yelled again. “Help!”

  The prince caught sight of the otherworlder’s face—the fear apparent in Hajime’s expression—and he recalled his own sense of crippling fear whenever he faced that sleek blue mohat often ended his dreaming in such a violent fashion.

  Bram sighed.

  Then he whistled.

  A moment ter, he heard a friendly bellow responding to his whistle. It came just in time because the shaggy, bck beast hellbent on skewering Hajime with its antlers was nearly upon him.

  It lit-sed save; Renfri smmed into the bckheart stag’s side right before it reached Hajime.

  “Good boy,” Bram whispered.

  Renfri’s ivory antlers pierced into the bckheart stag’s hide, causing dark ichor to spsh out of wounds dealt to it by the young hart. Unfortunately, Renfri’s attack wasn’t enough to sy a beast that was at least four hundred pounds and nearly eight feet long. However, there had been enough impact to send the shaggy beast reeling away from Hajime.

  The bckheart stag roared indignantly, and its bellow shook the branches of nearby oaks.

  “Phoebus’ cock…we’ve attracted a feisty one.”

  This fel beast was nrizzly, but even Atn’s seventh prince couldn’t shake off the tingling in his spine as he observed the creature preparing to charge again. Its beady bck eyes weren’t turned on Bram, but on Hajime who’d just regained his footing.

  “It reizes who the weaker prey is,” Bram deduced.

  Hajime noticed this too.

  “Bram… I tag you in?”

  “You don’t need me… You do this.”

  These were the same words of affirmation the prince used to tell himself whenever he had to try something unfortable. Sadly, things never worked out for a young Bram. But Hajime was made of different stock. He had talent. He was the Loom’s first are novice after all.

  Hajime still looked unsure, but he nodded all the same.

  “I do this.” He spoke so quietly that Bram’s ears straio hear him. “I do this.”

  Hajime raised his new wand forward, its tip shaking as he held it aloft.

  He took a breath, then, “Hi-ya!”

  Nothing.

  Bram ughed out loud. He couldn’t help it.

  Although he wao help Hajime learn sorcery too, the prince also couldn’t help feeling relieved to learn even a potential dream walker was having a hard time learning to wield basic magic.

  “Why isn't it w?!” Frustration filled Hajime’s face.

  It was an expression quick to vanish though, repced by the sudden fear of impending doom because the bckheart stag was rushing fain.

  “It’s not w”—Hajime stumbled backward—“Bram!”

  Since he’d been Hajime’s fight with a deft eye, Bram deduced that the are novice’s failure to wield sorcery had nothing to do with his talent. Indeed, with Hajime’s passive abilities infting his magic power well beyond the reserves of an average begihe are novice shouldn’t have such a hard time sensing his inner magic…but he did.

  He’s only felt the signature of Rowan’s magic. He’s yet to feel his own.

  Atn’s seventh prince may have no talent for sorcery, but he’d studied the sorcerous arts so thhly that one might call him an expert at notig the quirks and fws of others when it came to harnessing their magic power.

  “Focus!” he instructed.

  “’t!” Hajime yelled back.

  The otherworlder had just jumped out of the way of the bckheart stag that nearly ran him over.

  “Why’s it chasing only me?!”

  Hajime donkey-rolled to the side just in time to avoid the sm ahat skewered the ground he’d vacated.

  “Despite the threat, you must focus. Breathe—”

  The bckheart stag’s front hoof nearly nded on Hajime’s chest. Fortunately for him, Renfri came to his rescue once more. The hart bounded forward, and like a graceful ballerina, he twirled his body around and then kicked out at the bckheart stag’s rump with his hindquarters.

  The shaggy beast ushed aside, allowing Hajime time to escape from u.

  It turned, its beady bck eyes now fixed on Renfri, while its teeth gogether in anger.

  Worried for his hart, Bram yelled, “Renfri, brighten the night!”

  Ser Anthony had once suggested to Bram that his new mount might have been born a hybrid. Ihere were several simirities between the young hart and the monstrous bckheart stag it faced. They both had fur as dark as raven’s feathers, though Renfri’s fur was trimmed and glossy while the bckheart stag’s mane looked mangy by parison. They were nearly the same size too, though Renfri’s neck was living him a more elegant appearahere was one obvious differeween them; while the bckheart stag’s antlers were thid bck like sm coals, Renfri’s ivory antlers—shaped like the outline of a heart—shoh an inner light that all harts possessed. And, at the prince’s behest, these antlers began brightening.

  “Shut your eyes, Hajime!”

  Bram followed his own advice, closing his eyes just as the glow of the young hart’s antlers brightened into a fsh of light sht that it lit up the night.

  The bckheart stag neighed in anger—proof it had been struck by Renfri’s ‘Antler Light’, a power all harts shared, which was why they were the preferred mount of nobility and oners alike. Of course, the truly affluent could afford a wyvern mount, but such creatures were hard to tame and required lots of upkeep. A rioble would be better off buying an aute, though its maintenance costs were also high, making harts a much better and more affordable option.

  “Breathe, Hajime.”

  With his eyes still shut, Bram tinued his instru.

  “And with each breath you take, imagihe magic flowing inside you.”

  In his mind’s eye, the prince recalled wheasted Rowan’s power flowing through him and how he’d used that power to sy his former an and Baer’s colborators.

  “Feel the magic rippling through your veins like a great wave crashing into every bit of you…” Bram longed for that taste of power himself, though he k wasn’t the time for ‘Status Emution’ and its limited usage. “el that wave of magito the tips of your fingers, your wand, and to the moment you choose to strike!”

  He peeked through half-closed eyelids.

  Renfri’s antlers had dimmed to a low glow, allowing him to observe the se below.

  Hajime’s eyes were still closed, though his breathing seemed steady while he aimed his wand forward.

  Good…he might ma this time.

  Meanwhile, the bckheart stag’s vision had yet to fully return, though its wildness was barely diminished by its loss of sight. The beast might have rushed blindly at Hajime again if not for Renfri choosing to take the initiative once more.

  The young hart smmed its head against the wary beast, causing their ao lock together. They pushed and pulled at each other, and though Renfri was slowly losing this test of strength, he was managing to keep the bckheart stag taio one spot.

  Watg Renfri show such a stro caused Bram’s chest to fill with pride. They hadn’t been together long, but Renfri was quick to a his is with barely any instru given. It made the prince wish he’d had magiough to learn a beast tamer’s spell. Surely, Renfri would make the perfect friend for Bram to teach magic tricks to.

  I want far too many things…

  A fsh of green caught Bram’s attention.

  It was oip of Hajime’s wand; the sparks of emerald light that were the telltale sign of magic at work.

  “You’re doing it, Hajime,” Bram whispered excitedly.

  Hajime didn’t cast a spell. He hadn’t learned o. Instead, he’d harnessed his inner magipower the elemental entment grafted onto the Young Griffin’s Wand so that he might use the power of the wind to hurt his foe.

  “Bloody hell, you’re doing it…”

  A bead of emerald light formed on the wand’s tip, with strips of air gathering around it like a bundle of yarn.

  Hajime took a deep breath, opened his eyes—his irises gleaming with ethereal light—and aiming his wand, expelled his breath in a roar, “Hi-ya!”

  ‘Bang!’

  That bundle of air shot forward like an arrow in flight—and struck the bckheart stag in its neck. It was a blow that tore into the beast’s hide, drawing ichor and causing its head to rear ba surprise.

  “Yosh!”

  Hajime pumped his fist into the air.

  “Don’t lose your foow!” Bram warned. “Again!”

  “Yes!” Hajime replied, lookied.

  The are novice twirled his wand with a flourish, and, though Bram thought he looked ridiculous doing this, the twirling seemed to help Hajime el his magito his wand so that he fired a sed, third, and fourth projectile of wind magic at the bckheart stag. This kind of magical attack was the basics of an ented wand or staff and was a lifeline for sorcerers who’d depleted their magic reserves.

  ‘Bang!’

  ‘Bang!’

  ‘Bang!’

  Uo escape the distra of Renfri’s charge, the bckheart stag was struck by Hajime’s elemental attack. The wind bsted its neck full of holes, causing the beast to stagger back.

  It released a painful neigh.

  “It’s like firing daggers right in its gullet,” Bram noted, and, with a grin, added, “You’re brilliant, Hajime!”

  The are novice might have blushed properly if he’d heard the prince’s praise. Sadly, he looked too weary for his gaze to leave the ground. Hajime was out of breath, his shoulders sagging, his face paling as if he’d run a marathon at a sprint. Hajime’s dition was expected though, because Bram knew better than most how hard it was flexing muscles one had never used before.

  The prince drew his sword from its sheath. “I guess the finishing blow’s mio take.”

  He didn’t mean to steal Hajime’s kill, but they were on a tight schedule, and this stag was but the first beast they entered on the secret trail down from the cursed cave. Fortunately, Hajime’s and Renfri’s bitacks had forced the bckheart stag underh Bram’s tree, making it vulnerable to an attack from above.

  “One swift bde to the back of its head should do the trick.”

  In his mind, Bram recalled the number of times he’d been forced to jump out a two-story window or the rafters of a high ceiling to attack the straw targets he’d been instructed to murder. It had been grueling traini to give him an advantage against sorcerers who cked talent in spatial perception. It was also training that ofteo bruised knees or sprained ankles, but eventually, Bram’s teachers in the Delighted Troupe grew satisfied with his skill t sileh from above.

  Tonight was a little different. He wasn’t allowed to sy the beast. Not yet.

  Here I go.

  The prince jumped off his tree brand the bckheart stag was so distracted by Renfri drawihat it failed to notice Bram falling on top of it.

  His teachers would’ve preferred him to be more subtle, but Bram—who’d been suppressed by the Sn’s court for so long—liked to cut loose and use his ogrish strength whenever possible. So, with gravity supplementing his attack, a single prodigious swing of the ft of his sword’s bde smacked hard against the bckheart stag’s head, causing the beast to topple over in unsciousness.

  “And that’s how it’s done.”

  Renfri drew close to pce his snout against Bram’s cheek.

  “You did well too, my friend.”

  With one hand, he patted the hart’s neck. With the other, he pulled out a clump of elderberries from his red jacket’s pockets and offered them to Renfri’s mouth.

  The hart was eating the prince’s when Hajime arrived. He was still short of breath, pale like he was dying, but his face showed excitement too.

  “eamwork!” Hajime said.

  The otherworlder raised his hand to the prince, palm forward, and Bram, havihis very pose on his visions, kly how to react; he smacked his fist against the otherworlder’s palm.

  Hajime ughed. Coughed—coughed some more, and theook a mueeded breath.

  Realizing he’d made a mistake, Bram asked, “Was that not how you do it?”

  “No,” Hajime smiled sheepishly, “we’ll work on it.”

  They tried again, and this time Bram managed a prh-five, which, unbeknownst to Hajime, sent a thrill up his spine.

  Truthfully, the prinever had ao high-five with, because he’d never had a friend his age to fool around with. Not really. Even the children of the capital’s slums avoided him ohey’d learned Bram’s identity.

  Not that Bram sidered Hajime a friend.

  Though he missed out on proper friendship when he was young, the prince was educated iuals that led to it; rituals such as sharing jokes or pranking old men or falling for the same ely maiden.

  So, no, they weren’t friends. Not yet.

  But at the very least, the prince imagined he’d finally met someone he could get to know without w about his ill-fated reputation.

  It was a silly thought, but as Bram watched Hajime try to tie up the unscious bckheart stag’s front hooves together, and failing miserably at it, he couldn’t help feeling a little hopeful.

  “I’ll take care of it.”

  Bram took Hajime’s pce, expertly tying the stag’s front hooves together to keep it from running away should it awaken before they returo the cursed cave. Once he moved on to its hindquarters, they heard an angry bellow from just beyond their sight.

  “This one must have a mate, which saves us the job of searg for a sed sacrifice.” Bram gnced over his shoulder. “You ha. Defeat the beast like you defeated this one.”

  “Eh?” fusion fshed on Hajime’s face. “W-What about teamwork?”

  “We’ve tried teamwork.” Bram’s gaze returo the unscious stag so Hajime wouldn’t see his grin. “Now it’s time for you to fly solo.”

  “But what if my magic fails again…?” Hajime asked.

  “We have a saying in the Imperium,” Bram resumed tying the stag’s hooves together, “repetition is the mother of learning.”

  GD_Cruz