Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

After raising Kyan we spent the remaining day showing him around and letting him relax. The little snake seemed rather content napping and even snacked on the bones I carried for Nyx as treats. However, I still had to figure out what he really liked to devour.

The next day we decided to test his bite on a rat. There were always some around near the stables, except for Thorn's stall. Somehow the rats had learned to avoid the vampiric horse.

Seing Kyan hunt was interesting, since it involved quite a bit of patience. My friends were doing other things while I sat on the floor with Rose, watching the snake bury itself in the dirt near a stack of hay. After a while an unsuspecting rat walked too close and he struck.

He was fast, really fast and the rat didn't have any time to react. His fangs sank into his prey and his ribbon became partially untied and held onto the rat.

"Is it, uh, is the rat being petrified?" I asked.

"Hm, I don't think it's true petrification but it's changing." Rose said.

We watched as the rat slowly turned into sand and was inhaled by the snake. Soon nothing remained and Kyan slithered towards us. "That was curious, I feel like I prefer that to the bones you offer."

"Maybe you would like bone dust? Is it about the texture?" Rose wondered.

"You could try biting a bone and see if your power works on it. Actually, maybe we could feed you other things, like meat. Undead eat mana and while there isn't much in a piece of chicken everything living has at least a tiny amount of it." I said.

"While we do eat mana we can absorb some forms easier, like blood for a vampire. I can't do much with bones honestly. Although, Kaito can devour entire bodies with frostfire and the cats just eat everything…" Rose mused.

"Have you tried devouring bones by biting them, Rose? Hatsumi has declined so far, so we have never answered the question if you could absorb the mana from them." I asked.

"Uh, I would like to decline as well. Bones are just not very appealing." Rose answered.

Meanwhile Kyan looked at me while his tongue flicked out occasionally. I grabbed a small bone and offered it to him. He bit into it and it turned to sand, which he consumed. "Hm, better but not as ideal as fresh prey."

"Ok, with that cleared up let's talk about your attack: Do you think it would work on something bigger? Turning a creature into dust is kind of powerful."

"The final transssformation happened after the rat died. Before that it might have been temporary and a larger creature will be harder to kill." Kyan replied.

"Is that the only venom you can inject?" Rose asked.

"Hmmmm. Perhapsss not. I need to train this bite and see what I can do." He replied.

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I nodded. "We are leaving tomorrow and at the academy we have Gronir to help us figure this out."

"Or we get attacked on the way and he learns during combat." Rose suggested.

I sighed. "Surely the amount of goblin zombies we have will deter any attack, right?"

"They might try to be sneaky instead of a real attack. I will be watching." Kyan assured me.

"There is something else, your ribbon, you used it to grab the rat. How much can you control it?" I said.

"Hm, it was instinct but not necessary. The rat was too weak to fight but it felt right to hold it." Kyan said.

"Another thing we need to test more then." I said.

We had gained some information and a lot more questions but it would have to do for now.

The next day we said our goodbyes and left for the academy. Since we would arrive back earlier than needed for the next school year, Valera decided to stay with her family a bit longer and did not join us. Meanwhile Cassie was eager to use the remaining time of our break to get her brewery started properly and I still had a pile of corpses to raise.

Overall our vacation had been a great success, Cathleen had loaned us with a few wagons so I could bring my goblins and my corpses back more easily. Further, I made a deal for wood to create spears and shields for my undead and Cassie had a deal for barley to supply her brewing business.

We looked like a caravan on our way home, having five larger wagons which could seat about 24 goblins in the back. Cathleen had even provided us with drivers, free of charge. Additionally we had our own two wagons which transported the corpses. Coffee was pulling one of them while Thorn was pulling the other.

During our first night we camped on a stretch of grass next to the Korrah Forest. I was busy setting up my tent with Helena when we heard a scream from one of the drivers.

I immediately dropped the tent I had been holding and began to prepare a shield, while running towards the screaming man. I could feel Kyan moving on my arm as his head poked out of my sleeve.

"What happened?" Helena, who was running beside me, shouted.

"A root attacked us and the horse ate it!" The driver shouted.

I slowed. "What?"

"We were letting the horses graze near the forest, cause there is some grass despite the cold, but a root tried to stab me! It must be one of those vampiric nightshades!" The man said.

"I thought they got rid of those bloody things near the roads!" Another driver shouted.

I looked towards the horses, who had retreated from the questionable grass, except for Coffee. Coffee was eating grass while Thorn, who stood next to him, chewed the attacking root.

"I guess it can only reach this one piece of grass and not with too many roots. There has been no additional attack." I mused.

"Thorn is such a good horse!" Rose said.

"I could burn the plant." Cassie suggested, while holding a bottle.

"Don't you want the seeds?" Skadi asked.

Cassie pouted. "I guess I do want them…"

Meanwhile, I could feel Kyan move once more, he slithered down my leg and dug into the earth. Soon his head reemerged. "I can feel the earth, I can feel the rootssss. I shall be back."

"What is he doing?" Helena asked.

"He is an undead without blood so the nightshade should ignore him, I guess he is approaching the plant from underground and he will bite it." I said.

"The plant is stationary, we are in no danger here so I will just start to cook." Hatsumi said.

"I will go pet Thorn." Rose announced.

"Meow." Nyx yawned.

"I shall stand guard near Koyuki." Kaito said, while Goro sat beside him.

The drivers were a bit shaken but they had regained control of the horses and fed them some hay, away from the forest.

It took a while but suddenly some of the bushes near the forest turned grey, then brown, then into dust. After a bit longer a tiny head popped out of the ground near me. "It isss done."

I nodded and offered him my hand. Kyan slither back underneath my shirt and curled around my arm. "Good job." I praised him.

"Ssss," was the sleepy reply.

"He is a powerful addition to the team." Kaito said.

"Oh yeah, I can't wait to see the surprised face of the next person who will try to stab Koyuki!" Helena said. "Oh, maybe Kyan can learn to truly turn someone into stone, then we could display the surprised face of an attacker as a deterrent!"

"I believe we should hang their skull from Koyuki's wagon, it would be more fitting." Kaito said.

"Just have the cats eat them." Garm commented.

I smiled, listening to the antics from my friends. With the nightshade taken care of it turned into a pleasant evening.