An Owl's Rise

With her opponent good and dead, Evelyn let out a sigh of relief.

There was no doubt that the osprey matriarch was the strongest enemy she had fought except for the empress dryad and for a bit the battle had not been in her favor.

'Still as much as I want to rest, I need to help where I can.' Evelyn thought as she cast her gaze towards the ongoing battles.

Otis and the two mid-tier awakened rank burrowing owls were still fighting the other osprey leader and it seemed that they were on the back foot despite the fight being three on one.

Thankfully the main battle between the bulk of the burrowing owl and osprey forces was going in their favor.

Their superior numbers had given them quite the advantage and only half the ospreys were still alive with only two burrowing owls having fallen.

'Oh, looks like some of the fiend beast rank ospreys tried to join in, but their fate was pretty obvious.'

Unlike Evelyn, these fiend beast rank ospreys were not a cut above the rest and lacked the power to stand up to awakened rank beasts.

They had not lasted very long, and their broken bodies littered the floor. Though it was likely that their sacrifice had prolonged the battle.

'I would like to help Otis, but I am pretty exhausted and low on magical energy. My assistance will be best finishing off the rest of the weaker ospreys and then joining in with the bulk of the burrowing owls to overwhelm the osprey patriarch with numbers.'

Enacting her plan, Evelyn jumped into the fray, and with her help the remains of the ospreys' main force fell within a couple of minutes.

Now free from their battle all of the burrowing owls swarmed the osprey patriarch and even as powerful as he was the numbers were too great of a difference to overcome.

'I was a bit slow though.' Evelyn thought once the battle was over.

One of the mid-tier burrowing owls fighting with Otis had perished while she was cleaning up the remains of the ospreys.

Nevertheless, the battle was won and only a few of the burrowing owls had died.

'But there is still clean up to do.'

Looking towards the back of the chamber Evelyn could see that the remaining lower ranked ospreys were panicking.

Certainly, none of them possessed human level intelligence like awakened rank beasts, but their instincts were telling them that they were going to die if they stuck around now that their leaders were gone.

Unfortunately for them, Evelyn was not so kind as to allow future enemies to escape and grow stronger, and with the help of the burrowing owls they eliminated every osprey within the burrowing owls' home.

Once it was done Otis let out a loud victory hoot and the other burrowing owls followed him.

The home that they had lost when they were at their weakest was now theirs again and it was enough to raise their previously broken spirits.

Of course, they were far from as powerful as before the ospreys' attack and it would take them a long time to get back to where they had been at their height, but they now had the means to do so by reclaiming their home.

"Lady Evelyn, on behalf of all of us, I give you our upmost thanks and can now offer the hospitality of our home. To that end, we have decided that when the magic spring becomes active tomorrow you may be the sole recipient of its power." Otis said with a bowed head.

Swiftly all of the burrowing owls imitated him and bowed their heads to Evelyn and gave out their heartfelt thanks to her.

However, despite how heartwarming this scene was, it did not move Evelyn in the least.

She had only helped the burrowing owls for her own gain and was actually contemplating disposing of all of them now that the ospreys had been defeated.

'No, if I kill them, I will not have any means to hold this place, and as soon as it is discovered another group for beasts will move in. I could ask for Melisandre's assistance, but she would likely bring this place to the Roost's attention in order to get personnel to protect it. In that case, I will lose my ready access to the place. I suppose it is best for me to simply leave the burrowing owls here since they are already so indebted to me.' Evelyn thought while receiving the burrowing owls' praise.

Things soon began to settle down and new roles were assigned to the burrowing owls that had survived the raid.

The first thing that needed to be done was cleaning the place up.

The bodies of several ospreys and a few burrowing owls littered the area, and they would be unable to live in the place as it currently was.

Then once that was finished a group of the burrowing owls headed back to their temporary base where they had left their lower ranked members.

It was imperative that they safely bring the future generation back with them as with the magic spring restored to them, they could rapidly advance therians of their weaker members and regain the missing power the war with the ospreys had caused.

"I will make sure to stick with all of you until next month to make sure no other group takes your home from you again. It would be a waste of all of my efforts for all of you to die after I worked so hard to win you back your home." Evelyn said.

This elicited her even more cheers and thanks as her continuing help despite it only being in self-interest was a great boon for the burrowing owls.

With everything she needed to do finished, and the burrowing owls having everything under control, Evelyn moved into a small chamber a bit of distance from the main one and prepared to get some rest.

Naturally she was still wary of the burrowing owls and set up a few manners of protections before going to sleep. But once she was done, she quickly fell into a deep sleep.