How To Kill A Necromancer

Jase woke early to head out to school. He stopped in town and picked up some more food on his way to the school. He set the food down in his office and walked down the halls to his first class. He spotted Kieran waiting for him, leaning next to the door.

"Why's he so smug?" Zendron noted with contempt in his voice.

Jase approached and stopped before unlocking the classroom.

"Can I help you, Kieran?" Jase asked coldly.

"I didn't know you were into studying dark magic." Kieran said smugly,

"Shit. He's on to us."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jase said calmly. He opened the door and went in.

Kieran followed Jase, closing the door behind him, "I stopped by your house earlier. I thought I could catch you before you left for school, and what do I see through the window?" he gave a fake gasp of alarm, "A desk full of skeletons? I guess you hit a roadblock on your elixir of life and decided to switch to more nefarious magic, is that it?"

"That asshole. 'Stopped by your house', ‘saw through the window’, what a load of horseshit. I made sure Gadelynn knew to never open that window while we were gone. He was snooping on purpose!"

“You’re making assumptions,” Jase ignored both of them and started unpacking his lecture notes.

"You could get into a lot of trouble if someone were to find out about this.” Kieran continued, intent on holding Jase’s attention. “You could be suspended. You could even be fired.”

Jase stopped and studied Kieran. “What?”

“Once the dean finds out you’re dabbling in dark magic, he’d have to make the decision to let you go. You’ve been here for how long? What would you do without the academy?”

“Without the academy-?” Jase repeated, his heart beat faster. He glanced towards the door.

"Calm down, Jase. He's trying to make you afraid of him." Zendron said. “He only has the upper hand if we let him hold it over us."

Jase steadied himself, but his hands were still gripping the papers tightly. “I’m not practicing dark magic. It’s simply alchemy.”  

“I’m offended you think that lie would work on me. I know what I saw, that’s not alchemy.” Kieran faked concern, "In fact, from what I've seen, you might even be a danger to the students. They might consider arresting you- I hear the penalty for necromancy is pretty strict."

Zendron was losing his calm demeanor too now.

"You know I wouldn't hurt anyone," Jase said.  

“Not denying it anymore, hm? The guilt is written all over your face.” Kieran smiled as he let Jase’s worried expression sink in. “Hm, Well… amateur necromancer or not… maybe there's something that could keep my mouth shut." His smug attitude had returned.

"What do you mean?"

"Well… I hate to say it, but I've kind of hit a roadblock on my research too. Though maybe if you were to help me with your own work?" Kieran tilted his head, implying his true meaning, "Of course, my name would have to be the only one on the published papers, in case word got out of what you do in your free time." he added, "I don't want my reputation to be associated with you."

Jase was quiet, taking in the gravity of Kieran’s offer.

"Perhaps you need some time to think. But don't leave before giving me your answer,”

“He can't have us rushing home and destroying all the evidence, obviously."

"I never thought you would resort to blackmail, Kieran," Jase said despondently.

“I wouldn’t have if you had just stayed dead like you were supposed to. ”

Jase froze, the words caught in his throat.

“I had really hoped that would be the end of it too, but it seems like you're just too intent on living. I nearly had a heart attack when you came back to school the next morning. But I had to admit you had made more progress in your elixir than I ever would have expected. I really have to congratulate you on that." Kieran waved his hand in a mocking flourish.

“You- you killed me?” Jase finally stammered.

“No, but It cost me quite a bit to pay someone to try. Really, even I thought it was a bit extreme, killing you.”  Kieran shrugged. “Unfortunately, your research is just too similar to mine, and you kept outshining every one of my achievements. The academy recently requested that I keep up to match your performance. I’ll admit I’m bitter and petty, but I have to get rid of you somehow."

Jase stepped toward Kieran, and he jumped back a little, towards the door behind him.

"Spineless coward." Zendron scoffed.

"Wait! You can't kill me, I've already thought of that." Kieran said nervously, "I've already sent a message to the Skyguard requesting them to come to search your home before the evening is up. If you kill me today then by tomorrow morning everyone will know you're a murderer."

"I'm not going to kill you. I’m better than that." Jase said slowly, "I have a class to teach, and it’s about time to begin." He opened the door behind Kieran.

Kieran nervously regained composure, "Right." he managed a chuckle in an attempt to sound confident, "Well, just think about my offer." He left.

Jase went distractedly through the lecture, excusing the students early to rush back to his office.

"So we have until the end of today," Zendron stated when Jase closed the door.

Jase collapsed into a chair, "Mhm,"

"This is my fault."

Jase figured that was the closest Zendron would get to an apology. "Doesn't matter now," Jase told him.

"And I guess we can't kill him," Zendron asked, with a hopeful inclination for the opposite.

"I'm not going to murder anyone," Jase said firmly.

"Right. Well, what do we have that we can bring against him?"

"Other than our word? Nothing."

"We can't just go along with him."

"We can today. Just make him think we agreed." Jase said, "Then we come up with a plan later. I need time to think."

"It's not going to play out that slowly!" Zendron sighed, "Alright, you don't get it. Let me put this another way. Pretend I'm Keiran. It's not hard. We're both awful people."

"Okay?" Jase wasn't sure what Zendron meant.

"Now, you come up to me after the classes are out, and you say..." Zendron waited for him to continue.

"I accept your offer?"

"Right. And then right after you do that, I make a scene, alert the guards, and you have to do whatever I want or else be arrested."

"Wait- what?" Jase sat up.

"And then I offer you shelter in a place where only I know about, and force you to work for me or else I'll tell the guards where you're hiding."

"That's-" Jase tried to say.

"And I get to publish the research with my name on it and get all the fame and glory, while continuously putting all the work on you so I don't have to do anything. All the while, threatening you with exposure, neglect, or death."

"-awfully morbid."

"Damn, I'm actually getting jealous of this guy already," Zendron said, impressed at his own impersonation. “I mean, I still hate him, but he really was able to bounce back when his original assassination plan failed.”

Jase slumped back into the chair.

"On the other hand... we reject the offer and we can just kill him." Zendron offered.

"And be wanted as a murderer AND a necromancer" Jase added.

"Well... yes. But only if anyone finds out."

"That's not an option."

"I could do the murdering. I’ve done it before, it's not that hard with magic."

"Absolutely not."

"Hm... we can threaten him back?"

"Not going to work. If we make a scene here at the school its only supporting his claim that im a danger to the students." Jase pointed out.

"Right... of course. Hmph."

"I'm accepting his offer. It's the only thing I can do."

"... Okay. I'm with you whatever you do. Because I really can't leave."

"We will figure it out."

"Sure," Zendron said doubtfully.