Instructor Falaise blew my mind. Thinking of the snowball as a triggerable event completely changed the way I regarded the spell.

Having blown all my memorized spells, except a single Summon Lesser Beasts I kept for emergencies, I was heading to independent study. My instructor stayed with the Armsmaster to work with the other dwarves on the crossbow.

I’d come back in the main gate completely lost in thought when I heard Jackson yell to me. I looked up; he was waving at me from right beside the curtain wall. I jogged over. Instructor Goldo was walking by, talking to a handful of castle guard. He nodded to me as I gave him the greeting of the day.

“Oh, brother!” Jackson crowed, hugging me. “My new kit abilities are awesome!”

“That’s great man. I’m glad for you.” I told him. Sure, I was a little jealous, but not really. Jackson was a good dude and I would have completed my initial priority if I’d gone straight through. I chose a different road. “Did you call me over to bragg?”

“Naw,” He grinned. “The instructor told me I needed a magical character to test one of my abilities on. So, would you go back there and cast a spell or something on me?”

“You want me to cast on you?” I raised my eyebrows. “Jackson, the only spell I have left is Summon Lesser Beasts. It brings one of those horned bunnies.”

“That’s fine. Just go stand over there.” He pointed to the center of the parade ground about fifty feet away. “And when I say go, you start casting.”

“Alright man, I’ll try to keep the mean bunny from hurting you.” I shook my head and walked to the center of the cobbled field. “Here?” I called and got a thumb’s up.

Several palace guards were directed into place by Instructor Goldo. They were put into lines, starting at ten feet away, then twenty-five and then forty. Most of the guards were spaced out pretty well, but some were directly between me and Jackson. The guards and I were arrayed in a group of half circles, each of them ending against the wall.

The warrior backed up and stood with his shield in front of him. Instructor Goldo walked up to me and replaced my axe with a training weapon that was blunted. I furrowed my brows at him. The gold dwarf smile and told me, “Just do what feels natural.”

That’s terribly suspicious. I looked around but couldn’t figure out how I was being pranked. Hmm, I got out my shield and put the horned rabbit’s spire in my right hand. As soon as he called out to start, I’d be ready.

“Begin!” Jackson yelled. The guards all put their shields up and got behind them. My fingers started writhing through the runic gestures and I chanted the words. The horn twirled from one hand to the other as each one was used to make a new runic shape.

Jackson banged his shield down on the cobbled marching surface. The noise it made seemed too bass heavy for a simple hide shield. “Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!”

Everything went red. My heart beat pulsed in my vision. “What did…” I stopped chanting the words. “You say…” My writhing fingers stopped moving. “About my…” my right hand gripped the horn like it was a dagger. My left grabbed the leather strap on the back of the shield. “Momma?”

Resistance (Mind) failed.

I tried to deny the hurtful words. Made every attempt to defend my father, who smelled like old leather and pipe tobacco. My artful words would explain how my parents had been tough but fair to a kid growing up in the 1960s. Dad and I had worked on the hot rod every Saturday. Mom always had dinner ready when I got home.

What came out of my mouth wasn’t a point-by-point takedown of Jackson’s awful insult. It was a wordless howl. I brandished the rabbit horn and charged.

“Bleaurghuridina!” I screamed. There was no thought given to a careful advance, using cover or anything else. The terrible words had to be answered and they must be answered in blood. Jackson’s blood. It was all that would do, and I had NO thought for anything else.

Several of the castle guard stood still, leaning on their shields. The ones ahead of me had also gone to spill his guts. I just hoped there was enough left by the time I reached him. Why didn’t the guards who stood off to the side feel the need to answer his horrendous words?

Brawny arms encircled me. I batted them away, but the alabaster pale skin with red veins of a gold dwarf told me it was Instructor Goldo. “Settle down lad! Jackson, turn it off!”

I meant to tell the combat teacher to let go of me. I felt an urgent need to explain my position. What I said was, “Yegharflurtilan!” and fought to get free of him. The hated human was right ahead and HE WOULD DIE!

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Then it was over. I reeled, but Instructor Goldo held me up. Jackson, my roommate and friend, leaned against the castle wall. Why had I gotten upset with him calling my mother a hamster? My dad didn’t smell like elderberries. Both my parents were years in the ground, and man, did I miss them terribly, but I didn’t understand my reaction.

“What happened?” I asked. The rabbit horn clattered to the ground out of suddenly nerveless fingers.

“Are you okay?” Goldo asked. “Are you thinking clear?”

“Yeah, what came over me?” The gold beard dwarf leg me go and I leaned over, right hand on my temple. “What was that?”

Jackson walked over and put a hand on my back. “You okay brother? I was just testing out my new taunt ability. We needed someone magical of about my level.”

“Taunt?” I shook my head. “It works, dude. All I could think of was tearing you apart.”

The human grinned. “Yeah, might have overshot a bit.”

I looked around. The castle guard in a cone shape had attacked Jackson. The rest stood where they had been before the experiment started. “A cone effect?”

“It looks like it.” Goldo straightened me up. “You might be particularly susceptible since you don’t really have any resistances yet.”

“I’ll say. That wasn’t a taunt, that was a berserk.” I told them.

“Yeah brother. You flipped out and came for me.” The human gave me his easy smile. “The castle guards attacked me, but I think you were out for blood.”

“All I could think of was answering your insult.” I rubbed my temple again. “Was that from Monty Python?”

“It was!” Jackson grinned. “My gaming group used to quote Python all the time. Seemed appropriate.”

“I don’t like people using mind control on me.” I flexed my jaw. “That’s… uncomfortable.”

“But they will use it on you, so you need to know how to identify it and mitigate it.” Goldo told me.

Jackson and I said, “Yes sir.” In unison.

“What did that feel like, man?” Jackson asked.

“I couldn’t get your insult out of my head. There were all these counter arguments and defenses I was imagining, but I was so enraged I couldn’t talk.” I shook my head again. “Hard to describe. Everything went red.”

“That’s wild.” Jackson sucked his bottom lip in thought. “When we were playing the game, I never really thought about a taunt ability as mind control.”

“I never imagined myself falling victim to it. That… wasn’t fun.” I told him.

“It did look pretty funny, though.” Jackson smiled. “You turned all red and kept screaming.”

I snorted, “Oh yeah, good times at the homicidal anger party.”

“Would you really have hurt me?” The human asked.

“I’d have torn you limb from limb.” I confessed. “It was all I could think of.”

“Knowing it was me? Your old buddy Jax?” He asked. Instructor Goldo clapped me on the shoulder and walked off to talk to the castle guard.

“Oh yeah. I couldn’t let those insults stand.” I told him with a wry smile.

“Was it the bit about your mother being a hamster of the part where your father smelled of elderberries?” He asked with a chuckle.

“I’m honestly not sure. There just wasn’t a time when I’d been as offended in my life.” I grinned ruefully.

“Well, you shouldn’t have to worry too much about it anymore. I’ll just use it against them.” Jackson said in a low voice and waved, indicating the castle and area outside it.

“Not quite sure any of them deserve to be mind controlled either.” I shuddered. “That was rough.”

“Ah, but they’re only NPCs.” The human shrugged.

“You keep saying that.” I leaned over close to Jackson. “I don’t think its true and I doubt you do either.” There was a long pause. “I can’t get Caltrim out of my head. He didn’t behave like an NPC. Falaise doesn’t, the rest of the instructors don’t. How can you just write ‘em off? Because they’re natives of this planet, they’re somehow less than us?”

“They’re our kidnappers.” The human said in a low, even voice. “They tied us down and whipped us. I’ve gotta do what they tell at the moment, but the minute I don’t, there will be hell to pay for that.” His jaw worked. “I’m the tank. I’m supposed to take the hits. They tied little Izzy up to that pole and whipped her. They whipped me and they whipped you.” His finger pointed at my chest.

There was a long pause. “So yeah, I’ll write ‘em all off. I don’t care a bit about a single one of the kidnapping murderers. Not one of us volunteered to be here. I got family back home that are probably wondering where I’ve got to. They come in and everything in my room is all busted up and I’m missing.”

Jackson started pacing. “They’ve probably already had the funeral. I was engaged man, to the best girl in the world. Do you think she cried when she went to my visitation? Do you think her friends and family are telling her she needs to move on? Any idea how long we’ve been here, ‘cause I sure don’t.”

His jaw worked. “So don’t you tell me to give a damn about them. Not one of ‘em cared about me, or my Janey girl. Oh God.” The big man covered his face in his hands.

I patted his shoulder, not really knowing what to do. “I’m sorry, man.” Leaning against him, I said, “I just don’t think it helps us retain what sanity we have if we dehumanize everyone else.”

“Dehumanize?” Jackson let out a surprisingly high-pitched laugh. “You’re a dwarf. Them guards over there, they are lizard men.”

“You know what I mean.” I crossed my arms.

“I understand what you’re trying to say. I just think you might need to rethink who is saying it. You aren’t human, Izzy ain’t human, neither is Niobe. Putting behavioral expectations on any of us based on where we came from might just be a fool’s errand.” He leaned over to look me in the eyes.

“We can’t lose who we are.” I shook my head.

“We have lost who we were.” Jackson spread his Mr. Olympia arms and flexed. “You see this? I look like a hero in some sword and sorcery movie.” He leaned back over to me as if telling a confidence, “Did you know I was asthmatic back in the world? I met my Janey at lung therapy.”

“She was another patient?” I asked.

“She’s the doctor. An intern, really. I was just about her first real patient. She was so nervous she dropped the stethoscope when she was listening to my chest.” He smiled faintly, eyes focused on nothing. “They took that away from me. They took ME away from me. I’ll learn what they have to teach, but you believe if I get a chance I’ll burn the whole place to the ground!”