Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 01 Ch. 05

Jarron tossed Eldar the bag. "As to the money, Grand Master Yetto sent it back for you if you decided to join, he knew your value and figured it would be an incentive to get you to join if I needed to apply it. Each one of the diamonds is worth 5,000 gold pieces or more. Wages are based on rank and profit-sharing is equal shares among your team from those you happen to take down, spoils of war. Charlemagne knows this and can fill you in."

Eldar looked to Charlemagne, "I know when and where I would like to get married. On the night of the double crescent moon in the open grove near the waterfall close to my mother's home village of Misora."

Charlemagne looked at Eldar, "That is a lovely location for a wedding and Doc will be our priest. That leaves getting clothes for the wedding. I would like Jarron to extend an invitation to Grand Master Yetto, your father, Jarron, my family, and our crew."

Eldar replied, "Then there is the matter of feeding everyone and allocating accommodations for the night."

Charlemagne smiled, "Accommodations can be had in my home village it is only a few miles from the wedding location. I have a home there, with my step-son when he is around. We can get my family to organize a hunt and gather for the feast as they are local. Roughly 10 miles west in the Village of Porzcosa if you take the other road.

Three miles directly to the falls by the back route. Jarron, can you send a message to my father on my behalf. Letting him know I am looking to get married again at Silent Falls on the night of the double Crescent moon. In about 4 weeks, if the weather holds."

Eldar looked at his father, "You will make it?" Sounding like more of a statement than a request. He nodded at Eldar and smiled.

Eldar quipped, "You could always ask your wife if she wants to come to play with the natives in the woods."

Heliar chuckled and shook his head vigorously. "One additional request father. Speak with your other sons about overcoming their prejudices. I cannot personally speak to his skill level. If you believe his mother would have asked him to throw the competition because of Grand Master Yetto's racial mix, tell them he is your cousin and worthy of respect.

Pass along from me, 'Live your life to the fullest, no parent can live it for you. You have to carve your own future, no matter the cost.' I would like to know their response to that information to know if there is any redeeming family I can relate to back in the city."

Heliar thought for a second before answering, "I will think upon that last one. Not sure I want their mother to know how much contact we have with each other. She can be a real bitch."

Eldar nodded, "Marry for love, that is my motto."

Jarron laughed as Charlemagne and Eldar moved to leave his office.

Charlemagne stopped, "Two questions, when is the mission briefing, and am I off the hook for breaking the rules?"

Jarron responded, "Mission briefing is in the morning. Give you more time to recover from those battles and other activities. As to if you're off the hook, I have not had..."

Eldar interrupted him, "I spoke with my father on that, there is no issue. The issue is dead."

Jarron looked at Heliar who smirked and then he nodded.

They exited and Charlemagne looked over at Eldar, "Good talk with your father?"

He shrugged, "I let him know where I stood on things. He got a better understanding of who I actually am."

They continue to walk toward the barracks with him supporting her and she ponders, "Did you get to know him better?"

Eldar sighed, "No, not really. The man does not know who he is. I would be guessing at a moving target. He wants me in one world and out of the other. I will go with that for now."

---

Jarron went through his files on the last 10 documents sent out. Heliar looked through them as well as they split the stack. All sent in the last 6 months, all had the same minor issues and all of them were assigned to the same Master Scribe.

Jarron and Heliar teleported to the Palace together. The Queen saw their arrival as they walked toward her Audience Chamber. She called out, "I have a few other matters to attend to this evening. The court is dismissed for today."

Her husband went to his office as she went to her audience chamber to find both men waiting. She sealed the room, "Report, please. I assume you have something new if you are both here together."

Heliar nodded, "Yes, we have a clue, a series of them that require us to look to one of your Royal scribes for answers. He is either a spy, in league with one, or one of his apprentices is in league with one, Your Majesty."

Jarron looked at her, "We lost 18 Knights, as you know, in getting this document to the first waypoint. Something is building up, but we do not know who or what is behind it. We captured a name, Lord Barimus, but we don't know if that is a leader, middleman, or an alias.

We had 3 teams go out and 2 of them were destroyed by infiltrated mercenary companies or ambushed. We have serious holes in Capital security. The third, which had the document survived due to a Knight under evaluation. Heliar's son Eldar.

He also gave us our clue on the current document. We compared them to previous ones that showed the same scribe worked on them all. The same abnormalities were in all of them. It looks like a substitution cipher but we would need the codebook to break the messages. We also need your permission to apprehend the scribe for questioning."

She looked at Jarron, "The recruit under evaluation to your Knights saved the one group and gave you the clue. Why have I not met this Elf if he is your son Heliar?"

Heliar sighed, "Because he is of mixed blood. He just graduated as the first 4-time champion Blade Singer from the Academy. I had family restrictions placed upon me by my father that carried forward in his will. I was allowed to claim him as my son but not allowed to marry his mother.

I had to avoid contact with him until he graduated from the Academy, just a couple of weeks ago. That affair of the heart began when I was active in the Hordda War. Elara Strong Oak was her name and this was under your father's Rule. He was aware of her and Eldar's birth, Your Majesty."

She sighed, "This is the impure Blade Singer that the Academy is fit to be tied about? Who trained under this Half-Elf Grand Master Yetto? He also soundly beat my nephew in every tournament in which they faced each other. My nephew has another 5 years to go and is hopeful of getting that last tournament win before he graduates out. He is the top remaining Apprentice Blade Singer at the Academy now.

He said Eldar is a force of nature in the tournaments. My nephew told me that some in the Academy had even conspired to make his life miserable. They found that did not work. If anything, the adversity drove him harder so they changed tactics and gave him a wider birth.

They tried to make him think his competition was not practicing for the next tournament. Apparently, he did not buy that either as he stayed singularly motivated. The only thing they did not try to do was stick a woman in his life fearing that might give him something to fight for instead.

My nephew thought it was bad for the Academy to gang up on a talented student like that. Still, Eldar trounced the competition. I heard complaints from the head of the Academy and the Blade Singer Council immediately after this last tournament, as I did when he won the 3 previous times. They were more vocal this time.

I did not know he was your son until now. I told them if he was beating our students and he was not cheating then maybe they should learn something. Fix the problem in how they train them instead. That was not well received but it got them out of the Palace as I had no reason to take any action against him. I have never watched the tournaments.

My Husband did one year, up until this Elf, your son, trounced my nephew. Going so far as to disarm him. Then he left before your son won that first time. The King stated that Eldar was extremely talented. He did not feel as bad about our nephew losing to him because he lost to the one who won the tournament. Did Eldar at least join you?"

Jarron nodded, "Yes, he is joining Charlie Silver's team and plans to marry her. She is a Half-Elf asset, as you know, that was married to another Silvertree who was disowned. He died on a mission 15 year ago. Her step-son is Grand Master Yetto, who trained Eldar. A distant cousin of Heliar as well, your Majesty. She is expecting her first child now which means we will likely lose her in the future."

The Queen sighed and chuckled, "You have mentioned her before, but never told me this Grand Master was her stepson. Or a relative of Heliar. So much is kept from me at times that I find it frustrating."

Heliar chuckled, "Grand Master Yetto is also a Knight in the order, following in the footsteps of his parents. His father had worked in the Far East when he recruited his wife into the order. In all three cases, rules were broken in regards to fraternizing with the evaluation subject. He loved her though and married her.

My father disowned him but left him the family name. All over marrying a human. He still had his skills as a Blade Singer so he knew he was not in violation in the eyes of the gods and left him his name and only his personal assets. He was barred from the family Estate and family profits going forward, Your Majesty."

Queen Goldeagle sighed, "We have a lot of mixed heritage couples forming because of your Knights is what I am hearing. I want your thoughts on if they should be disbanded given the losses and the issues with affairs of the heart that have exasperated this issue it seems. I admire a free spirit, but I do worry about our race's survival and want to know if the Knights are going to remain viable."

Jarron sighed, "I will review what we have your Majesty but keep in mind. These agents with mixed and Half-Elf blood have been of value to us for hundreds of years in getting into places our pure Elven races have had a hard time infiltrating without getting killed.

They are talented people and because they are looked down upon in both societies they are often underestimated. Part of our problem is we have no method of training these people. Instead, we have to find them across all member races and get them to agree to work in a mixed cultural environment.

If they are agreeable to working with them, then fraternizing with them is not that far of a stretch. That is one of the reasons our group is secret from most of the world, Your Majesty. We know it is getting late and we figured this would be a good time to detain this scribe for questioning."

She nodded, "Very well, but I still want an assessment of the last 5 years from today to our standing 3 months from now. I would like to see an upturn or a plan. I want to see how our overall recruitment is going or if this group is in an unrecoverable decline and no longer viable.

I know the Council of Nine is split on if the group should continue. I want to see some ideas on how we can make it work, turn it around, or if we should simply look to withdraw our support from the group by this time next year and run a separate clandestine service around the world if needed. I would like some options if we are going to continue."

They bowed to her as she left the room and Heliar sighed, "Let us go and find this scribe." They got directions to his quarters. The door was locked and Heliar unlocked it with a knock spell. They walked in to find him writing a note. He looked over, "Who are you and what are you doing in my quarters?"

Heliar looked at him, "I am Heliar'vasius Silvertree..." The Elf went to cast and Jarron hit the man with a thunder wave. Heliar moved across the room quickly as the Elf in his anger and pain started cursing in Drow.

Heliar stabbed him in the shoulder and pinned him to the ground face down. Jarron got manacles on the squirming spy. Jarron looked over, "This spy apparently knows your name."

Heliar nodded, "We need to order a search from top to bottom. He probably knows you as well and of my planned expedition."

He cast a true seeing. "I am not picking him up with true seeing as being a Drow." Jarron started striping the man of gear and found a ring that changed his appearance. The Drow cursed even more as they now had a Drow male in front of them. They wrapped him up in a cloak and got him out of there and into a solitary confinement cell in the dungeon.

Jarron contacted a Knight's search and infiltration team to go through his quarters top to bottom and then his workspace on the main floor of the palace. Heliar went back to the Queen's Audience Chamber and knocked. "Enter."

He walked in and realized his blade was still out and put it away after wiping off the blood. He closed the door as she sealed the room, "You found a spy?"

He nodded, "Drow male. Jarron ordered a search and infiltration team to come in and go over his room and work area tonight. We don't know who in the palace to trust at the moment. He wore a ring that even true seeing could not penetrate. I will have to spend some time studying it to get answers. Jarron is working on the spy issues. My son was right. Hopefully, we can find the codebooks. No telling how long he has been here. It might take some time to get answers."

The Queen nodded, "Your son is proving useful it appears. Much like his father. Keep this quiet for now. I don't want the Council of Nine coming after him until we have a chance to figure out who he is and who he works for. I want the intelligence gathered from this male Drow and keep that ring back as well. We need to understand what it does and how to counter its effects.

The Dragons have not been as forthcoming since I took the throne and I want some leverage so they might be more responsive to my requests. The last two requests I sent I got back the message, 'You are inquiring about Dragon business.'

Covered under some section of the Dragon War Treaties and they refused to answer further. Unless I know there is a dragon connection that Drow is going nowhere. Thankfully you and Jarron sought out this spy tonight. That is one less threat at the moment."

Heliar thought about saying more about his son's involvement but decided to let it go as she was already in a mood. He already knew of her requests and why they turned them down. Being a part of the Knights there were things he could not answer to those outside the group or individual governments without clearing it with the Council of Nine first.

She knew this fact as well. He still worked for her on many trade matters as well, things his father used to do. This reaffirmed his belief that the next war and this enemy were coming from the Drow front. Jarron and he could only hold this information back from them for so long.

Yet he agreed they needed to know more and right now it was not 'Dragon business.' It was elven business until proven otherwise. Heliar went home shortly thereafter as it was late and Jarron dealt with the teams who would investigate.

---

Corellon was in a meeting with Bahamut for a change, "Your Dragons are not very forthcoming."

Bahamut shook his head, "No it is the flawed treaty they are dealing with and the Chromatic Dragons. I have recently lost my last Champion who did not report to the council in search of Tiamat's Champion. He is the 4th one I have sent against this other champion in the last 1,000 years.

I am focused on that while working to keep the Metalic Dragons from voiding those damned treaties. That is Dragon Business at this point, I will say Tiamat found a fucking loophole that has plagued me for centuries and will leave it at that. I will not alert my followers on this Drow spy, that is Elven Business to work through. It has to be that way by the direction of IO on all Dragon Gods on this world. For now anyway."

Corellon nodded, "I understand. You are painted into a corner. At some point, those treaties will fail. They may learn of the Deep Sea Elves' demise under these treaties. I have been instructed to not let my people know if directly. Directions from 'The One.' It is a painful reminder and Deep saved many of them by relocating them.

Also justification for restarting the Knights, though they are having issues. Deep is more diligent on the remaining Sea Elves since then. They are too close to the Elven people and received instructions to report any Dragon aggression to King or Queen Goldeagle immediately.

That occurred before we were ordered to hold all activity in regards to direct contact, another 'boon' if you will. Evacuation plans for them are already in place for their Rulers. They have options unless the planes get shut off again. He has always avoided surface Wars on this world, as you know."