"Seeing so many bodies makes me wish I let more of the soldiers inside the fortress before they ran away," Aleric spoke as he walked down the wall. "Spine Staff, are you here? I will need your help soon."
"Yes, master. I was merely silent to not distract you during a crucial moment."
Aleric let out a sigh of relief.
"That's great to hear. I was almost worried that the sword of the templar leader harmed you."
"Aha-ha-ha! A crude artifact like that can't even scratch me. It was an honor to protect you with my body, master, and to be wielded into battle!"
"I will try to avoid it in the future. You are too inconveniently shaped, anyway…" Aleric looked at the Spine Staff's long handle.
Three interwoven spines were poking in all directions with their vertebrae. There were only two places where they were smoothened to form a handle. Taking the staff anywhere else simply hurted.
"Anyway, although I won today, the enemies will regroup and strike again. In larger numbers than before, if they have any wits left in their heads. But we will see who will have more soldiers at our next battle… Staff, you will help me count."
"Of course, master!"
As they spoke, Aleric gathered his active zombies off the wall and made them pick up the bodies of the destroyed ones.
Soon, they were laid out in the courtyard, where wights were already sorting other dead. There were so many bodies and bones that Aleric had to carefully watch to avoid stepping on something.
It took half of the day just to sort the bodies, clean up a little, and count the gains and losses, even after Aleric had reanimated some of his destroyed undead slaves.
In total, Aleric gathered a whopping 142 fresh bodies! Some of them were missing limbs, but most were in a great state for reanimation, and many of them were former soldiers or templars. Besides that, the running soldiers abandoned some of their supplies, including an entire wagon full of provisions.
Aleric would've preferred weapons, but a wagon was a useful thing on its own.
"It would be much better to sleep in it than on the ground. Especially if I steal another mattress," he said to himself after examining it. "And I have horses to spare."
Of course, Aleric had losses, too. Most of them came from the templars, especially the justicar. They have crushed dozens of wights into dust and mangled several zombie horses during the fight.
Besides that, some of Aleric's zombies now had arrows sticking out of them, but those were just a decoration.
After Aleric sorted out those who could still be re-reanimated, the Staff counted that he lost 41 wight, 3 horses, 13 zombies, and all the remaining undead slave skeletons.
Now, Aleric wandered down the rows of corpses laid out in the courtyard toward the one that held the most interest for him.
The justicar's corpse was carefully put aside from all the others. Its cuirass was bent in several places, as was his helmet. A rusted spear was stuck in his hip. The white templar uniform was now gray and brown from dirt and blood.
But despite everything, there was some Light remaining in the body, and even in death, the justicar was holding his blessed sword.
"With this armor, this man would make an invincible zombie. But…" Aleric raised a clenched fist. "It would be such a waste to let his skills rot as well. Especially after what you've taught me, Spine Staff."
The staff's eyes flashed.
"You mean, the Raise Undead Servant spell, master? A second rank spell that would summon and enslave this man's soul to create an undead slave that will keep almost all the knowledge and skills he had in life, while being unflinchingly loyal to you?"
"Exactly, staff. You didn't have to spell it all out."
"Master… Even with your talent, it will be nearly impossible! With someone else, surely—but this person was a mage of Light, and full of hatred toward you. He will resist you and might even harm you while you are trying to reanimate him! Is it truly worth the risk? You can make undead servants out of so many other dead people here!"
"And I will," Aleric said. "I need more hands that can hold repair kits and fix all my undead slaves; I also need someone to keep an eye on them and command them. But you said that for the Raise Undead Servant spell, timing is very important."
"Well… Yes. The more time passed after death, the harder it is to summon a soul into the body and keep it there."
"So if I try raising other corpses first, my already low chances will become even lower."
"That's absolutely right. And… Your boldness is incredible! I apologize for doubting you for even a moment—you will definitely succeed. Especially in his place, which is full of Dark energy and death emanations. My full faith and assistance are with you, master!"
Aleric chuckled.
"Then let's get going."
First of all, he took the templar's blessed sword and threw it far away from the body. Now it wouldn't interfere with the spell.
Next, Aleric drew a heptagram—a seven-pointed pentagram—around the justicar's body. Each element of magic had its own number; for necromancy, it was seven.
In each of the points of the heptagram, Aleric put a drop of his blood.
"With time, you won't need all these rituals to cast this spell, master." Spine Staff commented. "In time, you will be able to cast it and other spells without reading incantations aloud at all. But right now, both will help."
The staff went silent when Aleric gathered his mana and summoned forth Dark energy. It took a lot—over half of his just-restored reserve poured as easily as water.
Green glow went through his fingers to the Spine Staff and from there to the heptagram, as Aleric read the spell incantation. With each word, he felt more and more as if air itself was protesting him.
The soul didn't want to return. But Aleric wouldn't be deterred.
"Herra… Patsluukuu… Tuo… Takaisin!"
On the last word, the heptagram flared, and the air shook. Aleric felt the templar's soul being caught in his spell.
But now a second, much more dangerous battle began. A battle of souls!