He hadn't been sure with the peddler-turned-mule, but looking into the new horse's eyes, Mika could tell that the confusion was not just that of a horse. The nobleman was still in there. Curious, Mika took a step closer--and then sprang back in alarm as the confusion seemed to change to a look of rage, totally out of place on a horse's face, and the newly-made stallion reared up and tried to lash out at him with its hooves. Fortunately, the nobleman must not have been used to his new body yet because he was quite clumsy and Mika was able to get away, but then he whinnied, reared again, and lunged again. Lifting his arms protectively and scrambling away again, Mika realized that the nobleman-turned-horse was so big and the stable was so small that he wouldn't be able to get away forever, and that he would just keep on attacking his transformer until the stableboy was just a puddle of bloody goo. Mika had no intention of letting that happen. He decided to take a chance, concentrated on his attacker's massive form, and cast a spell.
*****
Henric was confused, disoriented, afraid. Everything was wrong. He felt huge, strong, powerful, but everything in his body felt like it was in the wrong place. He could smell and hear intensely but his vision was distorted and colorless. What was happening to him? Had that stableboy turned him into a horse? Then, he asked the same question again in his mind, but it took on a different form: Had that STABLEBOY turned HIM into a HORSE?! Him?! The son of the Duke of Brant, reduced to a farm animal?! How dare that peasant attack his betters! How dare that dumb urchin change HIS magnificent form and degrade him so! Henric was filled with rage, an emotion not uncommon for him. He quickly came to the conclusion that the lowly peasant had to die for his slights, and tried to coordinate his unfamiliar horse's body to make it happen. He crashed and thrashed, and tried to swear but instead whinnied, all of which just made him even madder. Then again, and again. The damned boy was muttering something at him now, but he didn't care, he was so angry--
Then a fog descended on Henric's mind. Angry about what? He tried to think, but thinking was suddenly much harder. Was something wrong? He felt the same as he always did--big, strong, content. No, wait, he had been different! He was a human! He tried to struggle against the spell, to resist the horse's mindset that was taking the place of his own, but it was no use. Thoughts were getting thicker and instincts replaced memories as human life slipped beyond his comprehension. Words were going, emotions other than contentment were fading. He couldn't think. couldn't fight the dull contentment that was dissolving his human mind. No, he was Henric of Brant, his name was Henric, his name was... What was his name? ...What was a name? No! He was a human, not a horse, he was a horse, he was.... A human? There was a human in front of him. The big stallion snuffled at the young human with dim concern and recognized him as the one who groomed him sometimes. He lipped at him with affection, felt a little hungry, and waited, content.
*****
Mika had seen the change happen in the horse's eyes as the whites faded and the light of intelligence seemed to go out as they dulled into the brown orbs of any born horse. And if there had been any doubt that the mental change was complete, the transformed nobleman that had been trying to crush him into a pulp just moments before was now lipping at him like any friendly horse. Mika wasn't sure about the peddler, but he was sure now: the nobleman was gone. There was nothing behind those eyes. The Clydesdale stallion was nothing more than an animal.
Mika was suddenly concerned, not for the nobleman but for himself. Robin wanted him because transformed animals were smarter than normal ones. He had never used the Spell of Animal Mentality before so he wasn't certain, but he was fairly sure that the nobleman was a normal animal now, and that he wouldn't be smarter at all. Would Robin get mad at him for disobeying orders again? Would he transform him again? Or would he realize that Mika had acted in self-defense? Would he even notice or care? All these questions were giving him a headache...