How To Kill A Necromancer

Zendron felt a wet cloth being rubbed against his face. He batted it away and opened his eyes.

"Ugh, Gadelynn, what are you doing-" he wiped his hand across his face and it came down bloody, "Oh."

"Goodness..." Jase gasped.

"I'm trying to keep you from bleeding out," Gadelynn said. She pressed the cloth back to his forehead.

Juniper and Rootbeer were standing behind Gadelynn, looking worried.

"That wound on your head is pretty deep, it's been bleeding a lot while you’re unconscious," explained Juniper.

"Are you sure you're not dead?" Rootbeer asked.

"I am dead."

Rootbeer whinnied and shook her head. "Juniper, I told you! What are you then?"

"I'm a necromancer."

"Did you bring back Gadelynn? How very kind of you," Juniper said.

"Kind?" Zendron raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"It's always so sad when a being of nature dies. You were very thoughtful to bring her back."

"That's not why I-"

"Zendron, just say 'Thank you,'"

"... Thanks."

"Gadelynn must like you very much," Juniper continued, "She wouldn't let me touch you, and wanted to do it all on her own. So I showed her how to do the bandages."

"Oh great. Another jealous thrall." Zendron muttered to himself.

"Is that common in resurrected creatures?" Jase chuckled.

"How can you be laughing right now?"

"Why not? We are safe and well looked after, what more could you want? You need to relax if we are going to recover."

Zendron didn't respond. He pulled out the medallion and rubbed it more to shine it.

"We'll figure something out," Jase said sympathetically. Zendron stayed silent. "You're hungry, why don't we eat something?" Jase offered.

"Don't want to."

Jase sighed.

"You eat if you want to," Zendron said as he passed the control to Jase.

Jase tucked the medallion away again and tested standing up and swaying on his feet. Juniper reached forward but Gadelynn stepped in front of her to help instead.

"I'm okay, just still a little disoriented." Jase said to both of them, "Is there still anything left to eat?" he asked Juniper.

Juniper nodded and filled up a plate, handing it to Jase. It had a few boiled vegetables, oats, and some grilled mushrooms. Jase dug in gratefully.

"You must be starving." Rootbeer noted, “It has been three days since you’ve eaten.”

"I don't even want to think about the last time I ate," Jase laughed, "This is much too good." It didn't take him long before he finished off the plate.

"There's more if you'd like! You eat as much as Rootbeer does." Juniper offered.

Rootbeer grinned, "Well it's not hard when you make such amazing food."

Juniper filled up the plate with another generous helping. After the second plate, Jase was feeling much better.

"Thank you both so much. I don't know what I could do to repay you two."

"Oh don't worry about it! It's been our pleasure to help someone who shares a magical background. You've been nicer than most humans we've met." Juniper said.

"Seems like Vinhelm hasn't changed much in fifty years" said Zendron. “Hunting down magical creatures and killing off the others."

"Relax," Jase reminded him cautiously. He didn't want to have Zendron get worked up again. He turned back to Juniper, "I don't want to take advantage of your hospitality, I believe Zendron and I will be well enough that we can be going soon."

"Where are you going?" Rootbeer asked, "If it's not far I can help you with travelling some of the distance."

"I'd be grateful for that, though I'm not sure where we are going next. Zendron?"

Zendron gave no reply.

"Well, I would like to head home. Perhaps we can find something new there." Jase decided, "I need to find out how to get back over the mountain range, to the western side." he told Rootbeer.

"Is that where you came from?" Juniper asked, "That's very far."

"Yes. We took a different route to get over here, but that's not available anymore." Jase looked at Gadelynn, "We need to avoid villages and people in general too. Do you know of anything that could help?" he added.

"I can carry you part of the way, I do know a pass through the mountains further south of here." Rootbeer offered, "And... I guess I could carry Gadelynn too." she added.

"I won't be able to come," Juniper said apologetically, "It's too far from my tree."

"I understand," Jase nodded. "When could be the best time to head out?"

"We can go as soon as you are strong enough to walk," Rootbeer reassured him, "There are a couple of things I need to prepare and then we can go."

She left the cottage and Juniper cleared Jase's plate. Juniper handed Jase a jar of tea leaves.

"Here, take this. It may help if you start to feel dizzy again," She said.

"Thank you," Jase said.

"You are not drinking that."

"I've been wondering if there are more magical creatures on the east side of the mountains than the west? And why that might be?" Jase asked,

"I wouldn't know, I don't get to travel very far like RootBeer does.." Juniper said. She looked thoughtful, “Trees live a long time. I remember before the war, there were many creatures in this forest. I hid inside my tree, and Rootbeer she…” Juniper trailed off, “I don't want to discuss it, sorry."

Jase nodded respectfully, "I understand. It was a pleasure to meet you two, I hope I get more chances like this in the future."

"That's very nice of you," Juniper smiled.

Rootbeer returned with a small drawstring bag, "You ready?"

"Yes." Jase waved to Juniper and followed Rootbeer outside.

"Okay, climb on," Rootbeer said.

Jase awkwardly followed Rootbeer's instructions, managing to fit both him and Gadelynn on. Rootbeer insisted Gadelynn sit behind Jase, so Jase found himself right behind Rootbeer's petite torso. He made a mental note to not grab onto her long hair if he slipped.

Rootbeer pulled open the bag and tossed some of its contents up in the air, before scattering the rest around her and stomping her hooves. It seemed to be filled with light earth or dust. She tucked the rest away and started to trot.

The ride was a lot smoother than Jase expected, and the forest seemed to pass by faster than they should have been moving.

"What sort of transportation spell was that?" Zendron asked. "I never knew that was something centaurs could do."

"Rootbeer, what spell was that?"

"It wasn't so much a spell, as an earth blessing," Rootbeer explained. "It's always a good idea to take precautions when I plan to travel this quickly"

"So, you can move this fast naturally?" Jase asked as the world around them seemed to start moving even faster. "Is that normal for centaurs? I haven't heard of it before. Neither has Zendron." He watched as the green and brown blur around them turned to grey and white.

"Probably because no one bothers about earth centaurs." Rootbeer snorted and tossed her head, "All humans care about is the sky centaurs, because they can predict the future and read the skies for prophecies. Greedy creatures, humans are."

"That's true," Zendron admitted.

"So you're an earth centaur?" Jase asked. "What do they tend to do?"

"Most wild ones are nomads or herders. I'm a farmer because I'm domesticated." Rootbeer explained. "I grow my food, and Juniper helps me."

"That's rather nice," Jase noted. He felt a sudden shift as they slowed again, and tried not to be nauseous.

"Juniper gave you some tea, right?" Rootbeer said. She trotted along at a normal, non-magical pace.

"Yes. I'll be fine though." Jase said, looking around. "Wow, we are already over?"

Rootbeer nodded. "I don't know this side of the mountains very well. Can you get home from here?" she asked.

Jase took another look around at the rolling hills, "This is fine. I can walk the rest of the way." He said, getting off. "Will you be heading back now?" he asked as Gadelynn got down too.

"Probably. I don't want to leave Juniper all alone for too long." Rootbeer turned and gave him a wave.

Jase watched her bound back up the mountain. He studied the sky.

"Hm, it seems a few hours have passed too." He noticed. "That's a very handy skill to have."

"If you want to deal with the hassle of having hooves" Zendron added. "Are we seriously  walking all the way to town?"

"Rootbeer was kind enough to make most of the trip for us," Jase pointed out, "The least we could do is let her get home early. And..." Jase looked over at Gadelynn, "I'd rather arrive a little after dark if I can help it."

Jase headed north, avoiding the main road. The sun slowly set as they walked. They reached town at nightfall and Jase made sure that Gadelynn would not be seen by passersby as they navigated to his house. Jase unlocked the door and stepped in, taking a deep sigh. He was relieved to be home at last, despite the mess that he had returned to.

Thoravone raised his head from one of the chairs and studied Jase and Gadelynn.

"Thoravone, tell my students that classes resume tomorrow morning."

"Really?" Zendron asked disdainfully, "You’re just giving up now?"

"I want to get back to my life again." Jase picked up a book off the floor and set it back in its place on the shelf. "Zendron, we tried everything we could think of and I'm tired."

“You can't just ignore me and pretend I’m not here anymore. I can still possess you anytime I want."

Jase sighed, "I still want to help, I do, but we tried to find your body and we nearly died more than once trying to find it. I have a job that I enjoy and a routine I want to get back to. Is that too much to ask?"

There was a long silence.

"I am going to do everything I can for you in my off time, when we figure out what to do next. And our agreement still stands, you can be yourself while we are here at home, if you will let me be myself when we are at the academy."

"Okay. Fine." Zendron sounded defeated.

"We'll figure it out eventually."

"Sure."

Jase waited to see if Zendron would take over. After he didn't, Jase continued to tidy up, scrubbing his desk down with a wet cloth until it's dark wood shown through again. He felt bad for Zendron, but he couldn't help but smile a little as he slowly put his room back in order. After all that had happened, he was home again.