Loch thought about how to answer that question.
Were they safe?
No one was truly safe anymore. Not that they had ever really been, not even Pre-Connection. But now it was worse. There was safety, but it was relative. The gaunts had shown that even the perceived safety of the Clanhold could be a danger at almost any time.
Long term, big picture, they weren’t safe.
Short term?
“For now,” Loch said. “Hopefully a long time.”
He sighed, rubbing his hand across his face, pulling it back and realizing how dirty it was. Stained dark. He hoped it wasn’t blood.
“Sorry,” he said. “No where is truly safe, not in this new world but for now? Yeah.”
“Thank you,” she said, reaching out a hand. “I don’t know how much longer we could have held out. Those things…”
“Lochlan Brady.”
He shook her hand. Her grip was stronger than he had expected.
“Stephanie Blake.”
“Where are you from?”
“Barnstead,” she replied, shifting so Loch could see the people behind her. She pointed at the twins. “Most of us anyways, picked up some in Pittsfield and Strafford. Those two came all the way from Alton.”
“That’s a long hike, especially now,” Loch said.
“We’d been walking awhile,” one of them said. “Lived in Pembroke. We’d been up at the Lake and on our way home when…,” he trailed off.
Loch nodded. When the Connection hit. The two had probably been at Weirs Beach on Winnipesaukee for the day. They looked about eighteen, maybe a little older. Could have been younger.
“We were going straight down 28 when we ran into Steph,” the other said. “Ran into some people coming north that said heading south was a bad idea cause of some guy named Ken. Real shithole from what we heard.”
“He was,” Josh said, stepping closer. “Me and some others were part of his group but took off because of how bad he was.”
“We cut across some backroads,” Stephanie picked up the story. “The ones that still existed at least. Took a while but figured it was better than running into some Mad Max wannabe tyrant. We got back on 107 and started heading toward Route 4, figuring we’d turn and head back to the Epsom Circle and get these boys to Pembroke but then…,” she waved at the monsters, at least the corpses that still remained. “Those things,” she pointed at a Bugbear corpse.
“Bugbear,” Harper supplied.
Stephanie gave her an odd look, mouthing the word, testing it out. Loch agreed with her. It was a strange name. He’d known of it from books and games, but had always thought it odd. They weren’t bugs and looked nothing like bears.
“Like in D&D?,” one of the twins asked, voice raising in excitement.
“Damn Brent, you’re such a freaking nerd,” the other one said, rolling his eyes, glancing at Harper to show that he wasn’t a nerd. She ignored him.
“Shut up Trent.”
The two turned, looking like they were getting ready to fight. Stephanie sighed. It seemed the twins arguing was a common thing. Loch smiled. Elora shifted, turning to look at the woods behind them. Something about the way her body tensed made Loch nervous.
“Lord Lochlan…,” she started but stopped, eyes wide in surprise.
Loch tensed, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up, feeling as if someone was watching him. He turned, a streak passing by him, feeling the air pressure of its passage. There was a grunt of pain but before he could turn, he saw another streak coming his way. Loch Activated Bulwark, raising the shield.
The arrow struck the energy shield, snapping in half, both pieces falling to the ground. Elora appeared in front of him, weapon raised, standing between him and the two forms that now appeared about a hundred feet away. He glanced around for Harper, but she was gone, already in the Shadow Realm. He couldn’t see Piper but hoped Brian or Jenny was with her. Loch had no idea who had gotten hurt.
The twins, Brent and Trent, stepped up next to him, their makeshift spears in hand.
The two forms down the hill didn’t move but didn’t retreat. They each held a bow, the string pulled back and arrows nocked. Loch recognized the armor. It was similar to what Elora wore. The way the two stood, with a lithe grace that no human could duplicate, along with their armor marked them as Elves. Loch couldn’t see the sigil etched into the leather, but he would bet the two belonged to the Silver Bark Clan. Elora had that Clan’s mark on her armor but she’d worked to scratch it off as much as possible.
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More Elves stepped out of the woods. Some wore leather like Elora and the two archers, others wore a strange looking segmented wood armor. They carried swords and spears, moving at a steady march. The leather armor wearing Elves spread out, moving quickly through the tall grass.
The wind had picked up, pushing against Loch’s back, bending the grasses. He could hear it howling through the trees, the tops of the thinner ones bending.
“Watch them,” Elora hissed, pointing at the spreading out Elves with her swords. “They will try to encircle us.”
“Josh,” Loch ordered, pointing with Onyx to his left. “Brian,” he said, pointing to the right. “Eyes sharp.”
Loch looked over his people. Wounded and some of Josh’s behind him. His hunters, some of his group and the rest of Josh’s team were scattered through the monster corpses, their looting paused as they warily watched the elves approaching. Loch wished they were all together and not spread out.
The newcomers joined the two archers, who started walking forward still with bows drawn. One of the Elves stood out, standing in the center, slightly back from the others. He wore wood armor, but his seemed to almost shine. It had been heavily polished, reflecting the sunlight off its light brown plates. His sword was sheathed at his hip, no bow or quiver over his shoulder. The two in front kept pace, always five feet ahead, not veering to the sides, leaving only a couple feet between them. Enough to see the Elf, obviously the leader of the band.
He didn’t give a command. No one did. It was all silent, but on cue, as one, the Elves stopped advancing, stopping about fifty feet from Loch and his people. Except for the two archers, still with bows drawn, none of them reached for weapons. They stood calmly, almost relaxed.
Loch wasn’t fooled. He’d seen the speed of Elves. He had no doubt that these could react far faster than any of his own people. In front of him, Elora stiffened. It wasn’t noticeable to anyone but him, or maybe Harper, the two having spent the most time with the Clan Brady sworn elf. Loch couldn’t tell if it was nervous, regret, disdain or any other emotion. Her sword didn’t waver and she didn’t look anywhere but the lead Elf.
He had long braided light blue hair. There were jewels and beads woven into the braids, some hung over his chest, others over his back. He wore nothing on his head, hair moved to expose the tips of his ears. Along the edges of his armor plates were etchings, Loch had no doubt they were enchanted. The elf’s eyes moved around the group of humans. They stopped on Elora, flashing in contempt, but only momentarily, before stopping on Loch.
“You are trespassing,” he said.
Like Elora’s, there was a musical quality to his voice. It was like the wind flowing through the trees. But there was something just underneath. Arrogance.
The words angered Loch. He knew the area they were in was unclaimed territory, or it belonged to the Northwood Territory. His territory. From talking with Cerie, he knew how the Connected System controlled boundaries between Clans.
Each got a radius of land around the Clanhold that they controlled. It could be other holdings or patrols, but it was land that members of the Clan actively fought in and that Clan’s power kept others at bay. Between territories were open lands, which could be taken over by expanding Clans. When one Clan’s borders touched another, the Connection gave a notification. That could lead to negotiation and trade deals between the Clans but more often it led to war.
When a Clanmember entered another Clan’s territory, they received a notification. Loch had gotten none. Loch wasn’t sure if it was his territory or not but the Silver Bark had no control over the field or any of the surrounding lands.
It wasn’t just that which angered Loch.
How dare this Elf, not from this world, claim any land on Earth as belonging to them. They were invaders. Earth belonged to the humans born on it, not Elves or anyone else coming through portals.
Loch took a deep breath, calming himself down. His group was not outnumbered, they were about equal to the elf force, but he had no doubt the elves were far more experienced and most were probably higher Level. He wanted to avoid a fight if possible, using Evaluate to get an idea of the Silver Bark’s strength.
SILVER BARK MIDWARDEN
The Elf leader felt equal to Harper’s Level, maybe a little higher. Not at Loch’s own Level. Elora had explained a bit about how the different Classes and Rankings in the Silver Bark Clan worked. Being a Midwarden, it meant the Elf was equivalent to an Army Lieutenant. Elora couldn’t explain how the Silver Bark got the rank title added to the Class, she or her family had not been high enough in the Clan to learn that knowledge. Cerie knew, but it was one of the things she could not talk about, much like the oath that somewhat still bound Elora.
Loch wished that both had been able to talk fully about the inner workings of the Silver Bark Clan. It would have helped him now.
“This is not your territory,” Loch said.
The elf sneered.
“The entirety of this pathetic world belongs to the Silver Bark.”
Loch almost laughed. It was a ridiculously arrogant statement. The Silver Bark didn’t even control what had once been Northwood, let alone New Hampshire or the United States. The Clan did control entire worlds and there was no doubt that their intention was to control all of the greatly increased in size Earth, but it would be years, centuries most likely, before they ever reached that goal. If they ever reached that goal.
Loch didn’t intend to let them or any other alien Clans ever control Earth.
“No,” he said, hands tightening on Onyx’s shaft. He wanted to look at his people, make sure they were ready. He wanted to track the movement of the elves to the sides, but knew he couldn’t take his eyes off the leader. “This world belongs to us humans.”
The Elf laughed. It was a cruel sound, full of arrogance.
“You are weak,” he spat. “Pathetic. If you are the strongest of all the humans, your race will be extinct soon enough.” He took a step back, looking up and down the line of his elven warriors. “You are the Lord of the local human Clan. Lord Hoskia will reward me when we bring him your head.” He raised a hand, pointing at Loch. “Kill…”
He never got to finish the sentence. The tip of a blade burst out his neck, another through his chest. The elf’s arm dropped, eyes looking down at the weapons through his body, blood flooding onto the ground. The blades were pulled out, the body dropping.
Harper stood behind the dead elf, bloody tonfas in hand.