The knights crept out of the forest. The paladin stopped them about ten yards ahead of us. He seemed to be thinking about the next move they should make. He ordered two knights to cover the left flank and two more to cover the right. Then they began their March forward.

Garrett and I found two bows along with some arrows in the watch tower. We lit the arrows on fire and pulled the string back. We held onto the arrows and waited for the knights to get a little closer. They were only five yards away now and we let the arrows fly. Hitting two knights who dropped the the ground trying to put the fire out while pulling on the arrows.

The next arrows we shot weren't on fire. The arrows hit a single knight who fell to the floor dead. That was already three knights down but the holy knights had reached our death knights. The four flanking knights wrapped around the back of our knights and began their assault. The paladin jumped over the battle and landed in front of us.

He was holding a tower shield that was painted gold and had a long sword in his other hand. The pressure he gave off was powerful, this man had clearly seen many battles. He raised his shield and marched forward towards us.

He charged at us with his shield held high. The paladin crashed into Garrett who's feet dug into the ground. I charged at him with my sword in hand. Before my sword hit him his sword arm shot out and clashed onto my blade. His movements were fast, faster than Garretts. Garrett was starting to form beads of sweat on his forehead, he was starting to tire. The strength this paladin was putting into his charge against Garrett was unprecedented.

“Garrett fall back I will hold him off take a breather!” I shouted and leaped toward the paladin.

Garrett jumped back and started panting heavily. As an undead I didn't tire so I could hold him for as long as I needed. My sword crashed into the paladins heavy shield causing his arm to vibrate, which seemed to make him loosen his grip for a moment. This gave me an idea.

“Garrett when I say so hit the side of his shield!” I yelled while getting ready to jump again.

I jumped away from the paladin and gripped my sword tight. Leaping toward him my sword crashed against his shield again this time causing his grip to drop the handle of his shield.

“Now!” I yelled and Garrett lept and knocked the shield out of the paladin's hand.

The paladin looked stunned for a moment but quickly came back to his senses. He gripped his sword with both hands and made a stab for my gut but I parried him knocking his sword to the side leaving his front wide open. Garrett took this chance and lunged at the paladin and stabbed him clean through. The paladin fell to his knees gripping his stomach.

“Well played lich, well played.” He said coughing up blood.

“Did you send a message to the church?” I asked with my sword pointed at his neck.

Stolen story; please report.

“No, but they will soon notice something is wrong when I do not report in.” His voice was becoming weak.

If what he says is true then I must think of something fast. We wouldn't be able to withstand an army from the holy church and I doubt they would send another small squad to check. Trying to break his will would cost to much mana considering his strength so forcing him to send a letter reporting in is impossible.

“If you let my subordinates live I will send a letter reporting that everything is okay. Then you do may with me as you will.” The paladin said .

The holy knights who were fighting the death knights only had five left alive. I called off the death knights and the holy knights fell to the ground from exhaustion.

“Very well they will be our prisoners, write the letter and let me read it before you send it.” I said.

Though this man was from the holy church he seemed to be a well intentioned person if he survives long enough for me to learn healing he could make a fine addition to the army if I can break him. Garrett and I guided the soldiers to the barracks prison stripped them of their armor and threw them in the cells. The paladin was in the warden's office wheezing heavily and writing the letter.

Once he was finished he handed me the letter.

It read “The mission was a complete success your grace, though we lost a few soldiers to the necromancer we managed to kill him, we will be staying at the village for awhile in order to attend to the village people. Signed Alistair”

This paladins name was Alistair it seems. Alistair was looking very pale, he would not last much longer. Though I did not know how to mend wounds with magic I needed to try something to heal him. If I was going to be lord of this village I would need subjects. I did not entirely hate the human race only the holy church and people who betray friends. Originally I had no intention of becoming a lord but this taste of power made me want more.

I laid Alistair out on a table and placed my hands on his stomach channeling mana through my fingers and imagined a thread sewing pieces of flash together. His flesh began to reconnect but he was still pale. I couldn't do anything about the blood loss he will just have to wait for his body to produce more. The soldiers in the jail cell seemed to be relieved their leader will make it.

I laid Alistair down inside the cell on a bench. The soldiers didn't move a muscle as if they thought I would kill them if they did. I had to think of a way for them to be of use if I didn't they would just be taking up space but I would need a way to enslave them to work for me that doesn't cost much mana.

Garrett was busy piling the corpses so I couldn't has him if he knows of a way to enslave them. I noticed Joshua cleaning up the few remaining husks. He was in the holy church who is known to be shifty maybe he knows a way.

“Joshua come here a moment.” I said waving him over.

He dropped A husk he was moving that burst into Ash as it hit the floor.

“Yes sir?” He asked wiping his hands on his pants.

“Did the holy church have anyways to force someone to work for them?”

“They had slave collars, but I don't know how to make them. I know the big cities sell slaves you could ask there, but you might want to do something about your looks first.” He said point to my face.

“What's wrong with the way I look?” I asked poking at it as if my skin might fall off.

Joshua rummaged around in a box he had found and grabbed a mirror. My face was the same shape as when I was alive but that's where the similarities had stopped, my hair was pitch black like Garrett's but my eyes were a dark green color. No wonder everyone knew I was a lich when they saw me.

“Is there anyway I can fix this” I asked.

“Maybe, there is probably an alchemist store around here that has a potion that can change looks.” He said shrugging his shoulders.

There was an alchemist in the village but if my memory is correct he wasn't a very good one. The alchemist didn't have a store he worked from home mainly selling herbs and minor medicines. The inside of his house was cluttered, empty potion bottles thrown all over the place. I wish I had more minions at this point. I search for hours finding a few useful potions but only two potions to change appearances.

One for me and one for Garrett. I found Garrett in the center of town with a row of bodies next to him. There looked to be thirteen bodies a good number it increases our strength to eighteen death knights. I brought the five we already had to the center. Their armors were still matching the holy knights uniform. I burnt all their armors to give them a worn look. The armor was still strong but now we could tell the difference. I did the same to Garrett's armor and mine, now we looked evil befitting for a lich. I rose the thirteen new death knights and left three behind to watch the prisoners. The rest followed Garrett and I out of the village. We began our trip to the next village after taking the appearance change potion.