~BBeast and Cavalier~

Calvartem's hoard of undead cattle had been growing nicely until a fiery explosion erupted from a bull which had wandered away from the group. He turned and saw that a man with spiked red hair in a red robe, like those of the priests he had encountered last time, armed with a brilliant bow of fire standing over the charred remains. The pyromancer led attacks against the Walkers, burning the corpses and rendering them useless. This man would ruin Calvartem's plans, so he would have to be stopped.

From the back of Shadowmane, the Necromancer waved his staff over at three human Walkers, made from farmers foolish enough to try and stop his hoard without proper preparation, and they collapsed to the ground. At another wave, their flesh rippled and twisted, transferring muscle mass from the chest to the limbs and growing sharp claws and teeth. The Gremlins stood, and Calvartem ushered them away quietly. They would flank the town and attack from behind once they made it around, killing people cowering in their homes and giving Calvartem another pathway for victory. But for now, he would deal with the pyromancer personally.

He rallied up his undead cattle and set them in a charge on the resistance the pyromancer was leading. He could see that this man could easily take down his undead individually, he doubted that he would be quiet as successful in dealing with a full charge of 30 cattle. However, he did not leave things to chance. Calvartem pointed his staff at the ground and unleashed a surge of shadowy fire at it. The magical pulse buried itself into the ground and made its way under the charging cattle and towards the pyromancer at speed. Once the pulse reached where the man stood, it erupted out of the ground in an explosion comparable to a landmine, throwing stones and clods of dirt into the air as well as striking out with a rending blast that would easily incapacitate any normal man.

When the nebulous explosion tossed the singed and dazed but otherwise barely harmed fire priest into the air, however, in one piece rather than several, it became apparent that this being was more than human. The huddle of farmers that had been following him lay on the earth or against the nearest building or fence, stunned and useless. From their midst the pyromancer pushed himself to his feet, hastened by the incoming undead charge. "Finally, an enemy worth fighting!" he growled as he sighted Calvartem a few hundred feet away, majestic and terrifying atop his fiendish steed. He hadn't long to spectate, though, as in a few seconds the incoming wall of resurrected cattle would tear him limb from limb.

The necromancer's attack gave him an idea of his own. The fire priest knelt down swiftly, arms ablaze with magical energy, and began to channel his power through the ground as well. Cracks raced across its surface like jagged bolts of lightening, filled with fierce orange light. They met the stampede roughly fifteen feet from the fire priest's position and lit up as bony hooves trampled across them, releasing pillars of flame that further cracked and seared the earth while badly damaging Walkers that attempted to pass through it. Effectively, the pyromancer had created a protective wall of fire jets, spurting from the ground like miniature volcanoes. While not as directed or powerful as his bound arrows, the wall ensured that any Walkers blindly rushing his position would be damaged and slowed enough by the barrier so that the fire priest could take them down with his bow. Of course, the Walkers could ultimately just walk around the burning barrier, but that would slow them down and split them up further.

Dealing with such low enemies was something the fire priest both appreciated and scorned. While any battle in which he was able to exercise his might was enjoyable, there was not much satisfaction and no challenge in reducing these mindless corpses to cinders. The mounted necromancer, though--a being of intelligence and magical mastery, most like. With a head like that directing a dead army, they would surely find ways around his defences. As such, even though his current position was good, the fire priest began to back off into the relative safety of the buildings, firing as he went. He anticipated a change of tactics.

The Walkers which made it through the flames were burning but otherwise not fazed, and continued their advance towards the fire priest, where they were being shot down one by one by exploding spikes of white-hot fire. Calvartem directed the rest of the herd around the fire wall, for he needed them intact, and by that time his opponent had backed away into the village. Calvartem sent most of the remaining Walkers into another charge, to overrun the village and perhaps that pesky pyromancer too, but a few remained to bite and gore the stunned farmers before making their own ways towards the town. Calvartem galloped closer to the fresh corpses, with Shadowmane easily bounding over the wall of fire jets, and he cast tendrils of black fire from his staff which wormed their way into the corpses. A few seconds later the corpses had been transmuted into Gremlins, and he sent those out to flank the town too. Just so the pyromancer would not be able to get comfortable shooting down his undead cattle, Calvartem started firing bolts of his own dark magic at the man, if he even was a man.

A momentary look of annoyance crossed the fire priest's rough features as he realized that his burning barrier wasn't hurting the Walkers as much as he initially thought. He instantly felt gratified his decision to make an aggressive retreat, as the flaming corpses were rapidly being rejoined by others that had heeded their master's command and simply gone around the firewall. He was about to round the corner of a house and lose his line of sight to the failed barrier when the enemy commander, astride his dead horse, leaped it and began raising nearby corpses. The pyromancer took a risk and stopped moving for a moment to examine the necromancer and watch it work. This analysis was interrupted, however, as Calvartem looked his way and turned the black firebolts on him instead. After loosing a parting shot from his bound bow, the fire priest dodged around the corner and down a dirt street perpendicular to the one occupied by the necromancer. The dark magic blasted the spot he had been moments ago, throwing up ash and clods of dirt, and through the dust charged the undead. With only a dozen feet separating man and monster now, worry began to gnaw at the corners of his consciousness. A new idea crossed his mind, and he mentally banked it for potential usage later.

Calvartem was in the middle of casting his own attack when the fire priest released a counter attack, a fast fire arrow. With no time to raise a shield he could only try and lean out of the way, but that was met with only limited success as the arrow pierced through his right ribs. The bolt blasted a number of his ribs off, sending the charred, shattered bones flying across the street, and burned a large hole in his ancient robe. Fortunately the bolt passed through him before exploding, but the damage which had been dealt still angered Calvartem.

Banishing any trace of fear, the fire priest swiftly loosed two shafts. One downed the lead Walker, turning it into an inanimate, flaming wreck that partially obstructed the street and bought him a little time. The second fire spike stuck into the wooden building to his left, only a few feet away from him, and exploded. The resulting detonation flung burning lengths of lumber across the path, which would temporarily keep the skeletal herd from advancing down this street. However, it also badly burned the fire priest, melting away the skin on the left side of his face and knocking him down. A villager nearby, so far unmolested by any Walkers or Gremlins, despairingly rushed to see if his protector was dead. Grabbing the singed red robes, he pulled the fire priest onto his back, and recoiled in shock. Beneath the skin of the pyromancer's face, there was only obsidian, and his left eye socket was empty save for an intense, burning spark. Ignoring the gaping villager, he tried to move only to find himself unable. Perhaps his explosive gambit hadn't been a good plan after all. He swore loudly and colourfully and lay there, vulnerable.

When Calvartem heard the explosion he steered Shadowmane towards the source. He approached the alleyway where the pyromancer had gone before and saw the barricade of flaming wood. The Walkers which had been going after him had given up when their path had been blocked and instead went off after other, easier targets. While such behaviour would not be tolerated by other Keepers, this did not worry the Necromancer, partly because he knew they would be better suited to killing this town's inhabitants rather than a powerful mage but mostly because through the flames he could see the fire priest on the ground, clearly injured.

Calvartem raised his staff as if it were a signal, then he spoke to the fire priest. The voice was strange, hollow, as there were no lungs or flesh to produce the sound, and to watch him talk may be unusual as his face had no flesh to form expressions. "You may be strong, but I will crush you and your kind and whatever other resistance you humans will gather." As he spoke, the burnt ribs from the cow which had been shot rose out of the ashes and moulded into Calvartem's own ribcage, repairing the damage which had been made, although not the robe yet.

Then five Gremlins jumped down from the roofs of the neighbouring houses and landed around the fallen pyromancer. They swiftly killed the startled villager, claws catching and tearing so teeth may bite and kill. Then they turned their attention to the red-robed figure, with intent to kill him also.