[HoneyBadger]

Blinking away from assassins might just actually be a somewhat valuable use of that particular spell...
When Immortal Pretenders are killed-if I remember right?-you don't lose any of their Paths. Too bad there's no artifact that confers immortality, although the Elixer of Life is another decent idea.

Among the best choices for bodyguards against Horrors:
Watchers-big, immobile, hard to destroy, lightning attack. Great for immobile or seldom-moved Pretenders, less great for ones you're going to move a lot. The patrol bonus is an added plus, though. No resistance needed.
The aforementioned Spring Hawks-etherial, flying, area shock attack. You'll probably want shock resistance with these guys.
Longdead archers-Banefire bow-use a ring of warning and 10 of them, if you can, with these guys, since they're not the toughest dudes, at 5 hp each. No resistance needed.
Frost fiends-frost blast, cold effect. Much better than Devils, especially against major Horrors, but you'll need cold resistance.
Storm Demons-flying, 2 attacks, shock damage. Probably the best choice among blood-summons.
Fire Snake-fire flare plus venemous fangs makes these guys a good all-purpose bodyguard choice. Not the best, but certainly not the worst. Great in combination with storm and ice damage units. Resistance to fire is recommended.
Scorpion Man-enchanted bow, enchanted sword, multiple attacks. 10 of these, with a really powerful Pretender, just might be able to survive a Doom Horror-or not?

Amphiptere: Flying, plus venomous fangs, plus poison spray-Note: the only pure poisoner I'll bother to list, since poison spray puts it above other flying poison weapon units-for my reasoning on poison, see below. An amazing bodyguard choice if you're "just" facing Horrors, but I would still prefer to put 1 or 2 Amphiptere in combination with other bodyguard types, to protect against normal assassins. Poison resistance is probably a good idea, but it's good for anyone you're worried about being a target for assassins.

If you can't get any of these, investing in some fire or cold drakes as bodyguards for a badly horrormarked Pretender is an ok choice, since they don't project heat or cold auras-thus, you can recruit them alongside each other, and you don't necessarily have to wear resistance items, just to survive your bodyguards-plus they have elemental breath weapons. Relatively expensive, but 40 (or even 80) gems is probably less than your Pretender's life is worth.

They also work together well with the other bodyguard suggestions I've mentioned, since they won't put them at risk, either, and drakes are tough enough to be able to survive most friendly fire.

Note: I don't like using units that *just* do magical, or poisonous (or just those two) types of damage, because a lot of assassins are going to be poison resistant, and horrors are often *very* resistant to magical weapons. Multiple attacks are ok, but you need more than just that on a good bodyguard, since a dozen normal attacks per round might still not get through true etherialness.

Big guards are ok, if they don't move, but flying or shooting guards are better, since they can strike the would-be assassin anywhere on the battlefield.

The reason for this is that I've lost more commanders to being "faked out" by assassins, who get past my guards without killing them, than I've ever lost commanders to assassins/horrors, after they've killed the bodyguards.