Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 01 Ch. 09

Charlemagne squawked, "This is what you were doing with all the touching and kissing? While I sat there you were conducting foreplay?"

Eldar laughed, "No, it was determining what she could do. While I asked some questions about experiences. Pushing the limits of her power to see what she could handle. Can you connect us again just to talk, alright?"

Annette looked at Eldar, "I'll try regaining my concentration, still that was a 'mind-blowing' orgasm."

Now she could not stop laughing for about three minutes. They laughed with her.

Annette, "Can you hear me."

Eldar, "Yes."

Charlemagne, "Gods this is strange."

Eldar, "Charlemagne You remember that entry in my journal about unlocking talents. Your sister can do that."

Charlemagne, "Oh shit, that is HUGE!"

Annette, "The talents are unpredictable. I cannot select them for the people and it does not often work and comes with risk."

Charlemagne, "A piece of information that should be handled delicately."

Eldar, "Agreed. Senior leaders only and only after they accept her into our organization."

Eldar, "One more thing to try tonight."

He turned around and placed a couple of gemstones into the palm of his gloved hand.

Eldar, "Now Try to look through my eyes. To see what is in my gloved hand, close your eyes for this one. Now try and see through my eyes."

Annette, "This is strange I see crates and the end of the glove. Alright, now I see an emerald and a topaz. Wow, you are moving so fast. Now I see me. You have my hand and now the stones are in my hand.

Eldar, "They are yours. You have taught us a lot tonight. Including the fact that I will need clean padding for my armor. You can stop now and drop the connection."

Eldar looked at her and she was about to cry, "What is wrong?"

Annette looked at Eldar, "You are so accepting of me. Many would fear that."

He sighed, "I am a mage everything I have walked through with you there is a spell similar to it. That is why I do not fear it. Now, one more thing. Try to make Charlemagne slap me."

Annette looks at Eldar, "What?"

Eldar looked at her, "Try it. It is a test." SMACK sending him to the side of the wagon.

Charlemagne gasped, "Oh my gods I did not want to do that! Why did you have her do that!"

Eldar looked at Annette, "It is called the power of suggestion. I am just glad I did not ask her to have you hit me hard." A small giggle escaped from Annette. "Think, drop your weapon. Attack the guy next to you. All kinds of possibilities in combat."

Charlemagne smiled, "Wow that could be useful. I knew she was going to try but I still did it anyway."

He nodded, "It is a matter of your mental resistance versus the strength of her attack on you to attack me."

He leaned in and kissed Charlemagne and then Annette. "If you agree she is on the payroll for this trip?"

Charlemagne nodded.

Eldar looked at Annette, "These are the same people who saved you. Your sister has trusted them for years. They are the first ones we have to convince you are a powerhouse to the team. From what I have seen we may have only touched what you can do.

I am getting some rest before my shift. You need to go to weapons training until the first guard shift starts or it gets too dark. Remember you are in the middle tonight. Charlemagne, we can talk more about this when we are on guard duty."

He went to sleep. The night passed quietly and Charlemagne thought his ideas were funny. He whispered to Annette, "In the morning I am going to ask someone to throw something. You have them throw it at the side of the cooking pot instead.

I will ask somebody to hand it back and you have them drop it because it is freezing cold. We want to show the crew what you can do. After our morning meal and before we break down."

They slept again and woke to the sound of Cook working. They went out and had their morning meal. Eldar gathered everyone together. Eldar looked at the group, "I have been told Skinner is good with knives.

When I say go, I want you to throw into that tree stump over there. I want Fireball to watch over us all with detect magic to be sure I am not interfering. I will give Skinner 5 gold pieces if he hits the stump and it sticks. 3, 2, 1, go."

CLANG and the dagger skittered off of the cooking pot. He looked at Cook, "Would you give that dagger back to your husband. He can try again."

Cook walked over, picked up the dagger, and shouted, "Oh shit!"

She drops it to the ground. Eldar looked at Cook, "Did it get hot from hitting the cooking pot?"

She looked over, "No, the damned thing is fucking cold."

Eldar looked over, "Doc, would you check it please?"

He held his hand over it and nothing seemed amiss so he picked it up. He returned to Skinner.

He looked at Skinner, "Now Skinner, The stump not the cooking pot."

He threw the dagger into the stump. Eldar looked at Fireball, "Anything magical with the dagger?"

He walks over. He shook his head. "Any magic flying around?"

Fireball shook his head again. Eldar nodded, "As a fellow caster what could cause those 2 events without magic or being detected by magic?"

He looks at Eldar, "Psionics, the power of suggestion."

Eldar nodded, "Exactly. I got to thinking again, and you know how I love to observe things..." A little laughter from the group. "How does someone live in a home with no real combat skills, yet live a comfortable, not extravagant lifestyle? The answer is by trading in gathered information.

Say you find out a certain noble has been targeted to be killed in his sleep by a rival. You could let someone at the noble house know you heard something of importance. Would you like to know and what is it worth?

Just to have the information. When it pans out you collect a fee for the tip and potentially a regular customer that tells you if you hear of anything else concerning my home let me know. Fireball, who am I talking about?"

He looked over at Annette, "Annette."

Eldar nodded, "We had her demonstrate that she can cause someone to attack a different target, say his comrades instead of us."

He looked at Skinner, "If that were used on someone with your skills. They could be coming around an ally and they stabbed them in the back, how devastating would that be?"

Skinner looked over, "Fatal."

Eldar nodded, "What happens if we got a giant to throw his sword and strip out of his armor? How beneficial would that be?"

Skinner nodded, "It could alter the course of a battle."

Eldar smiled, "Annette has these abilities and they are no different than some of the magical spells an arcane or divine caster has. Think about what a person can do. The difference is it is nearly undetectable and does not always work. Just like a spell. Charlemagne and I decided on this trip we would put her on the payroll to use her talents to aid the party.

Before anyone asks, we do not know all of the abilities she possesses like you would not know all of the spells I could possibly cast or better yet everything available to Doc through the Lady of Dreams. We are telling you this because she has known about the Knights for years. She has kept that safe.

If we did not tell you then it would be keeping secrets that are important to all of us. She will not go into your head without your permission unless it is something like sending you a message. 'You got an enemy sneaking up directly behind you.' While fighting someone knowing you are being flanked is a good thing.

To know BEFORE the dagger is plunged into your back is even better. Especially if she told the guy sneaking behind you to run away for 30 minutes. Before you ask some of these abilities she did not know until I had her try it. I told her to have Charlemagne slap me. She knocked me to the other side of the wagon..." That got them laughing. "Questions?"

Skinner asked, "What is to stop her from digging around in your memory?"

Eldar looked at him, "That is a good question. I thought about that, while on watch last night. What stopped me from going around and killing everyone in their sleep last night? Or from one of you back-stabbing another in our group? It boils down to trust. We would like to get her as an agent with the Knight. The information she could gather to aid the Knights would be invaluable.

One last thing, she has known many of you for years and has not done the things we did today. You trusted her yesterday as the lady riding with us with little to offer us when combat comes calling. Now we have a mental wizard within the party.

Annette can get enemy combatants to turn around so you can stab them in the back, or drop a weapon. We do not even know what else she can do. We have only begun to explore some of the limits and it does have limits.

As far as scouting goes, she has my permission to talk with me and look through my eyes while I am out there looking around. Each of you can let her know. I know, Fireball, Doc, and I have abilities that grow as we work at our craft to expand our knowledge and you will not see the effect. Not until we use it in front of you. There is very little difference in that regard."

He walked over to Skinner, "Here are your 5 gold pieces seeing how I did cause interference in your throwing."

That got a few more laughs. He looked at Hunter and Eagle-eye, "Does she have your permission to look through your eyes while scouting when you stop on the trail in front of us? Or to send you a message like we are being ambushed from behind?"

Hunter looked at Charlemagne, "Yes, I trust her sister. For those kinds of things, she can do it."

Eagle-eye chimed in, "Not yet, I want to see how it goes with you 2 first."

He responded, "Fair enough to wait and see, but if you need her to look and change your mind while out there reach around and scratch the middle of your back alright?" She nodded. "If you have any questions you talk with Charlemagne, Annette, or myself depending on what you want to know. Let us get the camp packed and on the road."

---

The guards finished putting out the fire on the outskirts of the town. 72 bodies spelling out the word ASSASSIN on the hill outside of town that flamed up last night. Nobody saw who started it. Vexxor got the message from the messenger boys and ensured the threat was carried out. A threat that was heard by other patrons at the 5 Aces.

The captain of the guard knew it was not them as he had watched them leave town early in the morning. He told the King as much, but the King did not know who did it. Eldar was officially listed as wanted for questioning. According to the Ambassador, he was not expected back this way. Still, the King needed answers.

He got on a crystal with the Elven Queen. She sighed, "Hello King Thornlord. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

He sighed, "I had an incident here dealing with an elven citizen. He came in with the trade treaty from what I understand. The son of Heliar, Eldar Silvertree. I am investigating it right now as the timing is off. He was overheard threatening a couple of assassins at a local establishment that had attacked him.

He said he would bring in elven assassins and have the entire gang wiped out if they attacked him again. He left town yesterday morning at the direction of your Ambassador and my Captain of the guard watched them leave. Sometime last night the entire gang was wiped out and the bodies burned on the hill outside of town spelling out assassins. Just as he threatened."

The Queen sighed, "We do not have assassins and he has no method of getting them even if we did. I think someone overheard them or whoever hired the assassins got the message and made it a reality to frame Eldar. He is a Blade Singer, like your Paladins. If he did something against his code the Gods would strip his abilities.

When he returns to the Capital I can have that checked easily enough. Regardless, if they were a group of thugs and thieves who did attack him, I am not losing sleep over their deaths."

The King chuckled, "I can see your point. Do you know much about him?"

She sighed, "I know that the treaty would not have arrived if he had not joined the couriers in delivering it. They were evaluating him to join that team on the trip out. Someone tried to get that treaty as 2 decoy teams were attacked and destroyed. Eldar helped them to avoid a couple of ambushes. He was a very talented swordsman coming out of the Academy last month.

The only 4 time Academy tournament champion. Given his impure heritage and his instructor was a Half-Elf he has overcome significant obstacles and odds in achieving that as he is the only Elf to ever graduate from the Academy as a 4-time champion.

The best we have had in millennia is 2-time champions and we have 2 who lead the Blade Singer Council. Conduct your investigation, but given his father, I do not believe he was responsible for this. Throwing away 30 years of hard work and training to kill a gang of assassins and thieves I do not see him doing. Regardless I will keep him away from Grand Falls until you clear him of this."

King Thornlord sighed, "Very well, it does not stop the rumors from swirling that he is responsible. I believe you are right. Heliar has always been a great diplomat and friend to my court. I could not see a paladin-like individual doing this act either.

I will leave it as an open investigation, as I said we know he left yesterday morning and that team turning around for him to do this would not be likely. They have been couriers here for years."

He let the comms go dark as the Queen got Jarron on a communication crystal, "What do you know about Grand Falls?"

Jarron sighed, "I have a couple of local agents who are stationed out of the city. They heard about his encounter with the group who attacked him and then a second group who attacked him after he moved to an inn. Charlie's sister is where they had been staying but I have been told she packed up and was coming back with them.

I think whoever sent the assassins might be a part of whoever set these ambushes on our teams. Regardless, Charlie's team's worth in that town is blown. I will talk with them about that, Your Majesty."

Queen Goldeagle sighed, "The fact the team is blown is fine. The fact the gang was wiped out...hold that information back for now. The King and the Captain of his guards agreed with you as the Captain of the Guard watched them leave very early yesterday. He is 'officially' wanted for questioning but he knows Eldar will not be going back that way.

I can have the Council confirm he still has his abilities if it comes to that, but I agree with you. He is a talented Blade Singer and someone wants him away from Grand Falls. The attacks en route and this sound like they are linked.

Taking out the team that succeeded in making the delivery sounds like petty revenge and a more likely scenario. We will go with that as a working theory for now and you let me know if you find anything in that regard Jarron."

Jarron shook his head and sighed and contacted Heliar and let him know what was going on.

Heliar sighed, "I agree with the Queen. We can talk with him about it together after the wedding if we have not figured it out by then. I can get the head of the Blade Singer Council to travel with me to the wedding and they can check his abilities afterward if needed.

I spoke with Grand Cleric Goldenrod and he and Grand Cleric Moon Bow are both willing and wanting to attend and preside over my son's wedding. I want that to be a surprise."

Jarron sighed, "That would be a wise precaution and we can let the Queen know we had that checked ourselves before he gets to the city if needed. If Grand Cleric Moon Bow is there we also have divination to get to the truth if needed. Alright. We will leave that alone until after he gets married.

I have to figure out how I am going to get another crew in place for the next trip to Grand Falls. We have time but shuffling wagon teams is a pain in the ass. Not counting the fact we have a shortage of them."

---

Corellon looked at the Lady of Dreams, "He is already being noticed and not even a champion. He has some hunting him likely. Again, I will wait until he arrives to announce. He won over Annette. I am close to making the decision final.

I want to see how he deals with Jarron first. Bringing Annette's talents back into the fold. Finding loving sisters seems to work for him. I have a feeling he will soon find that to be the case going forward."

The Lady of Dreams smiled, "He is happy about her joining and conflicted some still. I will watch and see what transpires."

---

Journal entry Mia 23rd 7016

A very short stay in Grand Falls. We got the ring shopping and wedding apparel bought. I also managed to attract the attention of the town guard, the Underhill Gang after I roasted 6 of the gang members. They sent 4 assassins, 2 of which Charlemagne killed and I captured two.

I left the 2 gang members alive but utterly humiliated, hanging from the Five Aces business sign to make an example. The other goal was to send a message to the Underhill Gang to end their efforts or be exterminated. The entire endeavor has taken a wedding invitation to Charlemagne's sister and changed it.

We had to have her completely abandon her home and extract her from the city for her safety. I guess that is one of the downsides to having a twin is when one is seen they are both seen. We have discovered Charlemagne has certain talents that our employer might find useful.

We are hopeful that we can get her steady work. In the meantime we, Annette and I, are getting to know each other better. She is getting to see the importance of love and family which is important to me. Also, the lengths I will go to protect the ones I care about.