Having a plan did not make us any less busy. We still had extra classes and a group project to prepare for. Of course I could send Nyx to the city, alone, to hunt rats. But I was concerned. Partly for her, partly because she might cause mischief. And she was my best defence as well. I wanted her close.

Over a week later, on Frigday, we found some time to go hunting. The idea was simple: Go to the warehouses near the docks and look for rats. We brought Frank, Chariot, Nyx and even my magical skeleton, who did not have a name. Cassie wanted some Iron Beaks too, but we pointed out that explosions did not leave a usable corpse.

“Maybe we will get mugged. We could get some bigger corpses that way.” Skadi mused as we walked down the street.

“Mugged? We are wearing the academy uniform, we have arming swords, a skeleton is clearly following us, and even if Frank is not an obvious undead from further away, he looks like a fighter.” I pointed out.

“Nobody messes with the Dread Claws of Nyx.” Helena said.

It did make us sound like a street gang.

“Meow.”

Well, Nyx seemed to approve.

“There could always be an assassin!” Cassie said, sounding excited.

“That is why all of us are here. We might only be students but taking us down should not be easy.” I replied.

“I bet Ilestria has mages who could easily take us out.” Skadi mused.

“True. But sneaking them into the country might be hard. I am sure our spies know most of their powerful mages. And if they started trouble in the city they would have a hard time escaping.” Helena pointed out.

Plenty of people watched our group as we passed them but nobody tried anything. Eventually we reached our destination. The docks were not the nicest area, there were some taverns for the workers and a lot of food was stored in warehouses. It should be an ideal place to find rats. Of course, there were cats around to deal with the problem. But I expected Nyx to be a much better hunter.

“Ok, here looks like a decent spot to start.” I pointed at an empty street corner next to a warehouse.

The idea was that Nyx and Chariot would hunt. Meanwhile, we would wait for them and only intervene if something went wrong. Frank was carrying a chest to store the corpses. We even put ice in there. Although, it was cold enough that I was unsure if it was needed.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

Nyx stretched, then she walked off. Chariot followed her.

Skadi opened the ice box and I blinked. “You put beer in there?”

“Yes.” She grinned.

“Nice, gimme one.” Helena said.

“We should have done this during summer.” Cassie remarked but still motioned for Skadi to give her a beer.

Skadi handed out beers as we waited. Cassie held the beer in one hand and summoned a small flame in the other, to keep herself warm. Our uniform did include a winter jacket but Cassie was still sensitive to the cold.

“Where did you get that?” I wondered as she handed me a drink. Bottled beer was not that common.

“This is from Thorus. Recently my parents have started trading with beer. It sells rather well. This is from one of their caravans.” Skadi replied.

“Your parents were here?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No, just a caravan that belongs to them. I haven’t seen my parents since the academy started. I am gonna visit them during the break.”

“This is really nice.” Helena commented.

Skadi looked smug. “We dwarves know our spirits.”

“Good evening, ladies.” We heard a voice. A group of guards was approaching us.

“Good evening.” I responded.

“What brings a group like yours to the docks, at such a late time?” The lead guard inquired.

“We are hunting rats.” Cassie explained.

“Rats?” The guard asked.

“For necromancy.” I clarified.

The guards eyed my magical skeleton, then our uniform. “I see. You are from the academy?”

“Yes, we are the Dread Caws of Nyx!” Helena announced.

“Never heard that name.” The guard responded, while shaking his head.

“We are Koyuki, Helena Frost, Cassie Ashburn and Skadi Helgurd.” I introduced ourselves. Then I handed him my necromancy permit.

He took it and studied the card. “Permit for a tier three undead? Oh, I heard about you! Well, everything seems to be in order, have a pleasant evening. And good luck with your… rats.”

He handed me the card and the guards left.

“I don’t think he understood that we are hunting actual rats.” I mused.

“Yeah! He probably thinks we are conducting a secret operation, awesome!” Cassie said.

“Well, we are taking the first step to establish our spy network.” Skadi commented.

A short time later Nyx and Chariot returned. The box on the back of the armadillo had grown and contained corpses.

“Cats? You brought dead cats?” I wondered. There were two bodies in there. Cassie examined them.

“They have no external wounds.” She said. “They might have been poisoned.”

“Who poisons cats?” Helena asked.

“Sometimes people use poison against rats. If a cat eats a poisoned rat…” Skadi explained.

“Oh. So you think one group of merchants uses poison to protect their wares and another uses cats?” It did make sense, I suppose.

“Yes. That, or someone transported poison.” Skadi added.

“Well, we will make them into fierce undead warriors!” I declared. Nyx nodded approvingly.

“Hey, there is blood left in those bodies. We could try to make them vampiric undead.” Skadi said.

“Let’s freeze the corpses and see what we can do. We can combine the blood and make one vampiric and one draugr.” I suggested.

“Fresh corpses are better, so we are doing this tonight?” Helena asked.

“The vampiric, yes. I think we can do the draugr tomorrow. We will see. Maybe we should go back and look for rats another time.” I concluded.