Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

In the evening I met with my friends for dinner in the mess hall. A lot of students stared at me. So far, Archibald had held his distance. Even in the classes we shared he had ignored me. I wondered how long that would last.

I got some grilled chicken with baked potatoes as a side and looked for a table. I spotted an empty one and sat down. My friends joined me shortly afterwards.

“The ball really reminded me how great the food of a real chef is.” Helena said.

“I don’t know, it was tasty, sure. But I am fine with this.” I said, pointing at my chicken.

“The stew is decent. The bread is fresh.” Skaadi said, clearly happy with her selection.

“We need to go to the beer garden again. Now that is great food! And drink…” Cassie added.

“True.” Helena agreed. “Have you made any progress with your self-cooling drinks?” She asked.

“I did not have enough time yet but I have a plan.” Cassie replied.

“Speaking of plans. I had advanced death magic today and asked about the zombies. Sadly it won’t be easy to turn them into skeletons. But it is possible.” I said.

“You should try it. Those zombies stink.” Skadi said.

“Could you turn them into draugrs?” Helena asked.

“That is even harder. Gronir said it’s not impossible but it likely is beyond my current skill.” I admitted.

“Even though we had a novel way of raising one? Can’t we replicate that somehow? Throw them into a water bath and push it inside them?” Helena asked.

“A water bath is a great idea anyway.” Skadi added. “It will help with the smell.”

“I could burn all their flesh off.” Cassie offered.

“No, that would simply damage them.” I explained.

“So we are going to do some experimenting next Solday?” Helena asked.

“I think so. We do have enough Iron Beaks for now. And with the increased attention it might be weird if we are seen with a lot of chicken bones…” I said.

“There is the mid-year exam in a few weeks. Then we can finally use them!” Cassie said.

“An exam?” I asked.

“You still did not read the syllabus.” Skadi stated.

“Um…” I blushed.

“Don’t worry, Cassie did not read it either.” Skadi added. “Because it’s not a real combat exam. You will need to demonstrate some spells and spar with a teacher.”

“We could explode a teacher, surely they would survive…” Cassie mumbled.

“The mid-year exam is no big deal. If you fail you get extra classes, or homework, to catch up.” Helena said.

“I see.” I was doing pretty well with my magic. Weapons were trickier but I was doing ok. Maybe I could even use my undead.

“When can we explode some monsters again?” Cassie asked.

“Well, we should start learning more about monsters soon. There will be a hunt in the second half of the first year.” Skadi said.

“I guess we should train hard for now, if there is an exam. Should we delay the experimentation?” I asked.

“What? No!” Cassie said. “We are already training more than most students!”

Skadi patted her on the shoulder. “And it’s helping. Your combat skills have increased since the field exercise. So have Koyuki’s.”

“I think experimenting next Solday is fine.” Helena said. “There are still a few weeks till the exam.”

I had to admit I was looking forward to that. The remaining week was uneventful. A few students asked me about necromancy but that was it. Archibald returned to his sneering self but did not pick a fight.

On Solday we carried a big tub into the lab. I brought one of the zombies. By now the guards had inspected them all and made sketches. They were no longer considered evidence so we did not have to worry about destroying them.

“What are we going to try first?” Helena asked.

“I wanna try a potion on them! But I will have to brew it first.” Cassie announced.

“Let’s throw the first one into a tub and infuse the water with magic.” Skadi suggested.

“I have read about condensing the spell. Should I just try that?” I asked.

“What if you do it in infused water?” Helena asked.

“It’s not like water can enter an existing spell.” I said. “The magic water we used for the draugr is part of him. It’s part of the magic animating him.”

“What about a second spell? Could you enchant the bones?” Skadi asked.

“I have no idea how enchanting works.” I admitted. “But generally you want to do any modifications to the corpse before you raise it.”

“Hehehehe.”

We looked at the source of the laughter, Cassie, who was busy at a cauldron. She did not pay us any attention as she brewed something.

“Should we be worried?” I asked.

“It’s probably going to explode.” Skadi said.

“We already have exploding chickens. Why would she want to explode zombies?” I asked.

“I am not saying that this is her plan. I am just saying whatever she does will end in some form of explosion.” Skadi clarified.

“Anyway, how about we add some mana to the water and push it into the zombie. Koyuki, see if you feel anything.” Helena said.

I shrugged. “Sure.”

I tried to focus on the connection to the zombie while Helena and Skadi worked. I did not get a lot of information over it. But I started to feel something.

“Hm. Clearly there is…” Then the link disappeared. I looked at my friends.

“Um. I think we broke it.” Helena admitted.

I looked at the tub. Parts of the undead flesh were floating within.

“I think we sort of sliced it apart with water.” Skadi explained.

“I will get more zombies.” I said.