“Was that wise,” Ed Turner asked.
“Probably not,” Loch admitted. “But it needed to be done.”
“Why?,” Ed asked, fingers tapping repeatedly on the table, looking nervous as he glanced around at the others, looking for support but not really finding any.
Some of the Councilors, and others that had been invited to the meeting, didn’t look fully confident, where some looked ready to fight the Silver Bark then and there. What Ed didn’t see was anyone willing to argue with Loch. He realized it wasn’t because they were afraid of Loch, but that even if they weren’t completely sure of the idea, they trusted in Loch.
“Do we really want to provoke a force that is stronger than we are?”
“It was the only choice in that situation,” Elora said.
She was not normally invited to Council meetings, but as the expert on her former Clan, her knowledge was vital.
“The Connected System values strength above all else and many of the Connected Clans share the same value. The Silver Bark is one of those. They did not have to kill your scavengers. There are other Resource Dungeons. By showing their interest in one so close to your Clanhold and by killing your..,” she paused, tilting her head in thought for a second before continuing. Loch noticed something changed in her. The guarded stance she always held around other people seemed to melt away. She had continued to hold herself apart from the others, even though she was fully a member of the Clan. Loch wondered why that seemed to lift. “By killing our people and leaving them the way they did, it is the Silver Bark sending a message. They are asserting their strength and dominance. By responding as he did, Loch is asserting our strength and dominance. He told the Silver Bark that we are not afraid of them. If he had not responded, or we had just left, it would have shown Hoskia Silver Bark that we were afraid.”
“I get that,” Ed said. “I really do, but you’ve said the Silver Bark are stronger than us.”
“In the short term,” Elora replied. “Clan Brady will only grow stronger while the Silver Bark will not grow. That is why Hoskia is trying to intimidate us. He cannot devote his full force to dealing with us.”
“Why is that?,” Thomas Mooney asked. “Don’t they have a portal?”
“One that is too costly to use right now,” Elora answered. “Hoskia was given enough forces to establish a camp in the area and claim Resources so they could start saving those Resources to fuel the portal at a future date. The Connected System wants conflict between the natives of a new world and the invading Connected, but it knows that newly Connected are weaker and need time to grow and gain experience to provide the invaders a good challenge. It does the Connection no good for an invading force to just wipe out the natives. So it gives the native forces some small advantage by controlling the number of the invaders. The Silver Bark believe that if a raid leader cannot claim and hold enough territory and Resources to power a portal, that raid leader is not worthy and a waste of Resources. Hoskia must use what he has.”
“He won’t come after the Clanhold,” Darren reasoned.
“No,” Elora answered. She had been leaning against the wall behind where Loch sat. She stood up, moving closer, eyes moving from person to person, making sure they were all paying attention. “Chances are good that if Hoskia Silver Bark led his entire force against the Clanhold, we would lose.” She paused, making sure everyone there understood. “But he would not because though he might win, he would lose in the long term.”
“He’d lose a lot of his people,” Loch said. “He could potentially lose enough that it would jeopardize his ability to claim new territory and Dungeons or even to survive if we killed enough.”
“Correct. And the more he loses, the more standing he loses in the Clan and to his remaining people. If he loses enough, one of his subordinates will eliminate him and return to Tirna.”
“But they’d come back with more?”
Elora didn’t answer Ed right away, tilting her head in thought. After a minute she looked at Ed, shaking her head.
“Possibly but unlikely. The cost to send more would be high and the Silver Bark Clan Elders might think Earth not worth the expenditure in Connected and Resources,” she pushed off from the wall, moving over to the table, squeezing in between Darren and Jeff Johnson. Leaning forward, Elora pointed at the map. It was an old one of the town, not adjusted for the increased size, but still useful. They had marked the Silver Bark camp on the shores of Bow Lake in red. She pointed at it. “The Connected System wants conflict but even it cannot tell when a group of survivors will form a Clan or how strong that Clan will grow. It typically will send the Connected Invaders out somewhere further from the groups of survivors, in the hopes that both will adapt and grow and thrive, becoming stronger.”
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“And setting both up for a longer war,” Loch muttered.
“Indeed,” Elora said, standing up. She moved back to the wall, taking up the same position.
Cerie, who had been sitting on the table, Piper just outside in the hallway with her sketchpad, floated up into the air. She flew over the map, looking down at the areas that had been marked off. Dungeons, both Resource and combat, the Silver Bark camp, where the gaunt’s portal had been and various other marks. Her eyes flashed green.
“Elora is right. This is unusual. In all the other newly Connected worlds the Silver Bark have raided, there have not been any like this. They have time to establish themselves, find their own Resources and then start expanding out into the world.” She started a slow turn, making sure that everyone was looking at her. “Hoskia will not want to fight battles of attrition. He will also not retreat. If he does, that is as good as dying. If he retreats in shame, his immediate family will suffer. If he dies in battle, his family’s status will not change. If he gains territory, his family will prosper. For Hoskia himself, the only thing he can do is fight and gain territory.”
“A cornered enemy,” Darren said. “That’s a dangerous one.”
“A fight with the Silver Bark is inevitable,” Loch said. “We could work to gain our strength. Gain in Levels and numbers, until the Silver Bark are not a threat as their numbers will not grow, but I do not think we can reach that point. Hoskia won’t risk a direct fight, he could win but still lose. He wants to intimidate us. Maybe make us leave the area. He will continue to pick away at the edges, killing us when the opportunity arises. We would have to live always watching our backs.”
“The Silver Bark are adapt at those tactics,” Elora said. “You are constantly under watch. Even now there will be Clanmembers watching you.”
“What should we do?,” Ed asked.
“The same thing they will do,” Loch said. “First we protect our people. No scavenger or resource team is to go out without an escort of either guards or adventurers, preferably adventurers. We also send out teams to harass the Silver Bark, whittle down their numbers.” Loch leaned forward, looking at the people gathered around him. “We cannot let them just hit us when they want. This is not their home. It is ours and we will not let them have it.”
***
“We’re not babysitters,” Roger growled.
He had a couple inches on Loch and was trying to use them, getting as close as he dared and glaring down. Roger had grown strong in the last few weeks, he and his team Leveling quickly. They were catching up to Piper. Loch wasn’t happy about that, as much as he didn’t want Piper fighting, there was a big benefit to her being one of the strongest in the Clan. It benefited the Clan as a whole to have Roger and his team grow stronger. Loch just didn’t like that it was Roger and his team.
He didn’t fully trust them. Aside from Roger’s attitude, they hadn’t given any indication they couldn’t be trusted but it was just a gut feeling. The healer and archer, Malcolm and Eric, didn’t set off any alarm bells but the other three did.
Roger was still a lot of Levels from catching up to Loch, but the man knew he was growing more popular in the Clan, gaining respect. It was his strength doing that, not his personality. Not many people like Roger Lewis, Loch included.
“It’s not babysitting,” Loch said, staying calm, not intimidated by the older man. “They need protection and you will provide that.”
His tone left no room for argument. Roger looked like he wanted to but was stopped.
“Of course we’ll help protect our fellow Clanmembers,” Theodore said, from where he stood just behind Roger and to the side.
He stood there, hands clasped behind his back, wearing robes he’d gotten as a reward from the Challenge Dungeon. His team had just returned when Loch had informed them of the changes for the Adventuring teams. The robes were purple and black, or maybe just two shades of purple and one of them really deep. It was hard to tell, the robe looking like it was in shadows all the time. There was a hood, currently pulled back. Runes and other symbols were stitched into the sleeves and hem, along the edge of the hood. More runes run up the sleeves and across the shoulders, joining a line down the front. Loch had no idea what Abilities it granted or augmented, but it felt powerful.
“It will just slow down our Leveling,” Theodore continued.
Surprisingly Mike Turner was silent, standing on Roger’s other side, with the last two members off to the side, looking nervous and like they wanted to be anywhere but there. Loch didn’t fail to notice how they kept themselves separate. From all he’d heard, the five worked well together, but it was obvious they weren’t all friends.
“Yes,” Loch said. “But it’s necessary.”
He stared at Roger until the man took a step back. He visibly calmed down, one hand reaching up to rub at his temple.
“You’ll be put into a rotation, just not Dungeons. A shift as guards for the scavengers or harvesters,” Loch continued, using the new name. Drew’s team had just escorted the herbalists into the new Dungeon, clearing and fully claiming it for the Clan. With miners and now herbalists, the harvesting group was formed.
“We’ll be guarding and then off duty?,” Mike asked.
“No,” Loch said, focusing on Roger. “You’ll like this part. You’ll guard our people, have some time off but the rest of the time you’ll be out there hunting Silver Bark.”
Roger smiled.
“Now that sounds fun,” he said.