Multi-colored sparks drifted up from the body of Hoskia Silver Bark, flowing into Loch. He felt his Spirit experience increase, the mental bar pushing past the end and a good way into the next Level. Notifications filled his vision, but he ignored them for now. Smaller amounts of sparks drifted away, floating into Kelly, Piper, Elora and even Jarl. The big horse tossing his mane in victory.
“Dad!,” Piper yelled, running over.
Loch grabbed her in a hug, kissing the top of her head. He looked around the battlefield, trying to find every member of Clan Brady. They were all there. Brian and one of the twins were hurt, sitting on the ground leaning against the bones of the triceratops, with Julia tending them. But everyone was alive. He let out a sigh of relief, extending an arm as Kelly came closer. He wrapped her up, kissing her.
“It worked,” she said.
“Yeah,” Loch smiled. “Somehow it did.”
Elora stood over the corpse of Hoskia.
“Are you okay?,” Loch asked.
She nodded, not turning from looking at the body.
“Thank you,” Kelly said, making Elora turn. “It was your advice that won this fight. He reacted exactly as you said.”
“I did not know him,” Elora said, crouching down, running her fingers over the etchings in Hoskia’s armor. “But I knew the Silver Bark.” She laughed, a bitter sound. “For all his talk about the individual and the individual’s power and strength, he acted just like them all. Just one of many. In the end, they are all the same.” She stood up, turning to look at the prisoners. Most of them were staring at her, others staring at Loch. None looked at Hoskia’s body. “All the Silver Bark, maybe all of the elves, are the same.”
“That’s not true,” Loch said, letting Kelly and Piper go. He walked over to Elora, gripping her shoulder, making her turn to look at him. “You weren’t. Maybe some of them won’t be either.”
She nodded, giving a small smile.
“That would be good.”
***
Loch leaned against the bones. Piper sat on a pile of cloaks next to him, drawing in her sketchbook. She’d used up a lot of her summons in the battle. He’d been amazed at how many she’d managed to summon. Kelly was leaning against another bone, a foot or two away. Her eyes were vacant as she looked at notifications.
Brian and the twins were on watch, everyone else collecting the loot. There was a lot of it. The surviving Silver Bark, only a half dozen, had been stripped of their weapons and armor. They had been the ones to surrender. Loch recognized a few as the ones that had been hesitant when Elora had first spoken to the Silver Bark. She was with them now, talking to them, telling them what to expect and how as prisoners of Clan Brady they would be treated differently from what prisoners of the Silver Bark or other Connected races would be. Some looked hopeful, others disbelieving. She was also taking the prisoner’s oaths. They were swearing to the Connected System, not to join Clan Brady or renounce the Silver Bark, but to go along peacefully as prisoners of war. Cerie was with her, making sure the oaths were true.
He really hadn’t planned on their being prisoners. They had hoped some Silver Bark could be persuaded to renounce the Clan like Elora had, or at least not to fight. These ones had surrendered, something no one had expected. Not even Elora or Cerie. But both Elora and Cerie said that the oaths they were taking now could be trusted. As prisoners of war, they would behave.
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And as they had surrendered, they couldn’t go back to the Silver Bark. Clan Brady was their only choice.
With the dead, the bodies dragged and thrown into a pile, and the living’s equipment there was a lot of armor and weapons. The pile off to the side was growing. They hadn’t gotten to the Crone, Loric Greenspire or Hoskia Silver Bark yet. Loch was interested in the swords Hoskia had wielded. At least one of them had been enchanted.
They couldn’t rest long. There were prisoners to deal with and the next part of the plan, but for now Loch could look through his Notifications.
YOU HAVE GAINED ENOUGH SPIRIT TO LEVEL YOUR CLASS. WARBREAKER IS NOW LEVEL TWENTY-SEVEN. YOU HAVE GAINED +1 STRENGTH AND +1 ENDURANCE AND HAVE 6 FREE POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE.
YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE ACHIEVEMENT: WAR LEADER RANK 2
YOU HAVE LED YOUR OUTNUMBERED PEOPLE TO VICTORY IN BATTLE AGAINST STRONGER FOES TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE FOES WEAKNESSES BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY YOUR PEOPLE’S STRENGTHS. YOU HAVE EARNED +3% TO INTELLIGENCE AND +3% TO WISDOM.
YOUR SOUL WEAPON HAS REACHED LEVEL TWELVE. WEAPON SKILL LIGHTNING STRIKE HAS REACHED RANK TWO.
LIGHTNING STRIKE RANK TWO: 25 SPIRIT ACTIVATION, +5 SPIRIT ACTIVATION EVERY 5 WEAPON LEVELS. +13% CRITICAL HIT CHANCE, +2% EVERY FIVE WEAPON LEVELS. DEALS SLASHING DAMAGE. DEALS LIGHTNING ELEMENTAL DAMAGE CAUSING +13% ADDITIONAL DAMAGE +2% EVERY FIVE WEAPON LEVELS. 30% CHANCE OF STUN LASTING 10 SECONDS, +2 SECOND PER EVERY FIVE WEAPON LEVELS. FREQUENCY: TWO MINUTES, -3 SECONDS EVERY FIVE WEAPON LEVELS.
Assigning his new attribute points, Loch stood up. He dismissed the notifications.
It was time to go.
Reaching down, he took Kelly’s hand, helping her to stand. It felt good to hold her hand again. Fighting alongside her had been interesting. He hadn’t gotten a chance to really watch her in action, but what he had seen had been impressive. She’d always impressed him in anything she did, and that had been no different.
Still holding his hand, Kelly looked over the pond, in the direction of the Silver Bark camp.
“Think it’s started?”
“Hopefully,” Loch replied, tapping Piper with his foot. She had been lost in her sketching. “Pipes, time to go.”
Finishing up a couple of lines, Piper put the sketchbook and pen away in her bag. Without a word, she walked over to the piles of loot and started filling the spatial bag. Loch and Kelly helped her, making short work. The last bit of gear taken from Hoskia and Loric was piled up as the Bradys filled the bag. Loch stood up, letting Kelly and Piper deal with the last bits of loot, as Brian and Elora walked over.
“They have all taken the oath,” the elf said.
“Are we sure they can be trusted?,” Brian asked, huge club resting against his shoulder.
Loch looked to Elora, who nodded. That was good enough for him. Brian saw the nod and grunted, accepting the answer.
“They do present a bit of a problem,” Loch said, looking up at Brian. “Someone has to take them back to the school.”
Brian grunted.
“I guess that means I’m taking the twins,” he grumbled.
Loch smiled, glad the man hadn’t argued. Elora looked like she was about to but Loch held up a hand.
“You’re still coming with us. Pick a horse,” he added, pointing to the animals that were contentedly chewing on the grass. “The rest of the Clan is heading back home. We’re heading to the Silver Bark Camp.”
“Hopefully Harper will have done her part,” Elora said.
Loch smiled, looking out over the pond at the distant camp.
“She will.”