Aleric jumped off the horse right into the knee-deep cold water. Now the zombie horse served as a cover from whoever was hiding near his scouting snake.
A second later, an arrow swished through the air where Aleric just was!
"An ambush! An ambush, master! The arrow came from these trees!" Spine Staff screeched with more panic than Aleric felt.
"Dark take him," Gedich cursed. The arrow was his, but he was too slow. "Fire, brothers!"
The templars aimed their bows. Although the horse protected Aleric's upper torso, and his legs were partially underwater, they were all experienced arches. They could hit open parts of Aleric's body even in these circumstances.
However, Aleric directed the three nearest zombie horses to run out of water to come between him and the templars! Even if they were too tall to fully block Aleric from sight, their moving legs made aiming hard.
The templars shot anyway. Four arrows flew. Three of them hit only the legs of moving horses. The fourth one cut through Aleric's pants, leaving a bleeding scratch on his leg.
He clenched his teeth and directed his moving cover out of the water.
Aleric's horses were going to charge the templars and prevent them from shooting, but Aleric had to survive until this point! His other zombies were out of reach right now.
Aleric couldn't even shoot some Pain spells at the archers—not only would it make him too vulnerable, he just couldn't see them properly through the bushes!
Meanwhile, the templars were nervous, too. Three zombie horses were running toward them on unsteady legs. Even these slow creatures would soon cross the short distance to templars and then…
"Captain, these horses—"
"Keep firing at the necromancer! Remember, we kill him—we can kill everything!" Gedich barked.
The templars quickly pulled out more arrows and drew their bows.
In this moment, the movement of charging horses gave them an opportunity. Aleric's legs became open again.
The templars shot all at once, aiming for Aleric's hips and legs. He was moving, but too slowly to dodge.
Gedich's eyes sparkled as the templar imagined the necromancer as a pincushion.
Then, Aleric's horse suddenly sat down. Five arrows hit its side, making it look like a hedgehog. But it was barely harmed by these relatively small projectiles.
And before the templars could shoot his head, Aleric ducked behind the zombie, using it as a barricade.
Gedich paled. He realized that now his group won't be able to shoot Aleric easily—and their time to do it was running out.
"Retreat, brothers! We will regroup and return—we just have to reach our horses!" he exclaimed, moving out of his cover. "Get the holy water ready!"
The zombie horses were nearly there. They charged through the grove, trampling bushes under their hooves. One hit a tree and fell with a crunch of broken bone, but then began to rise again. Three more horses swam out of the water by this point and began running toward the templars, too.
The templars moved deeper into the grove, exchanging bows for swords and vials of holy water. But on foot, they were still slower than zombie horses.
A zombie ran over the slowest templar, crushing him with its mass. A vial of holy water splashed over the horse's side, singing flesh and magic with a disgusting smell of burnt hair—but it wasn't enough to destroy it.
"Aaaaagh!" the templar screamed. Then a hoof broke through his skull with a wet crunch.
The other templars continued to retreat. Two more threw their holy water vials at the wounded horse, melting its entire head and finally bringing it down.
Then, a green bolt of magic struck one of the templars, wrenching a cry of agony out of his throat.
When he felt that the templars entered a melee, Aleric abandoned his cover and ran up to the grove so he could shoot them himself!
Another horse trampled down an escaping templar, and Aleric's spell killed one more.
Gedich realized that he was the only one still living. 'I had really underestimated the cunning of this necromancer…' he thought bitterly, clenching his vial of holy water in his hand.
Recognizing his approaching death, he pulled out the vial's cork and chugged its contents in three gulps.
Light-infused water spread over his body. It felt like liquid fire filling Gedich's veins and filling him with strength! But more importantly, it would make it much harder for any necromancer to use his corpse. Impossibly harder, Gedich hoped.
He raised his sword, planning to die fighting. But instead of trampling him on the spot, the zombie horses suddenly stopped near him—just close enough to not get hit!
By this point, Aleric ran up close enough to see Gedich drink the holy water, and he felt all the holy energy inside Gedich. It was unpleasant.
"Staff… You told me that Light energy in small amounts heals and strengthens most living beings, just as Dark harms them," Aleric said, slowing down to a stop. "This templar is going to be harder than usual to kill, right?"
"Yes, master. But even he understands that he has no chance right now!"
"That's not why I asked."
Aleric gestured with his free hand, and his zombie horses advanced on Gedich with the support of two fresh undead puppets. The horses had a new order—wound and trample the templar, but keep him alive!
Gedich realized that too late. In two blows, his sword arm was broken by a hoof, and he was brought down. But instead of finishing him, the horses moved away so that the undead puppets could pin and hold him.
The Light energy in his body wasn't enough to let him pull free. He realized with terror that the necromancer took him alive!
Dripping water, Aleric approached his helpless prisoner. Despite the squishing boots and the scratch on his leg, Aleric smiled.
That smile from a face with corpse-gray skin made Gedich even more terrified.
"Light will punish you, sorcerer!" he shouted. "No matter what you will do to me, it will punish you, piece of rotten shit!"
"The insult!" Spine Staff gasped. "Should I give you knowledge that will shut this worm's mouth, master?"