Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 01 Ch. 16

King Goldeagle, "Why does Charlemagne need the knowledge?"

Eldar, "We do not keep secrets from each other. Ground-rule from when I was already in love with her and she was on assignment to evaluate me for inclusion. No more secrets between us or Annette."

King Goldeagle, "Understand. You truly love these women."

Eldar, "As often as I can, and yes."

The King chuckled as did Annette.

King Goldeagle, "Could it be someplace else besides a finger?"

Eldar, "Why do you ask?"

King Goldeagle, "She has piercings in her tits, multiple earrings, and down by her clit as well as toe rings."

Eldar, "Strip search it's where we start with the most likely places and go from there, I will let the ladies feel her up in the private bits, might be a turn on."

The King chuckled as Annette turned red.

Eldar, "Jarron, final thoughts."

Jarron, "Solid plan as usual."

Eldar, "King Goldeagle, final thoughts."

King Goldeagle, "I will owe you for this."

Eldar, "We can talk about that later. Let us get this plan into action. Your Majesty, we will need to have someone on standby to go get the woman and leave. A guard will have to take the 6 of us up, to not look too suspicious, then you can order him to wait for the human. The guard can take him downstairs and take Skinner and Cook to the third floor.

Let him know once the King arrives, he can depart. You can point us to her room and wait way back in case anything goes off or go back to your office, your choice. Can we find a room for about 5 hours before we kick this plan into motion? I want Annette at her best for this."

King Goldeagle, "That works well as it will be after the evening meal, speaking of which I will have one of my dining rooms made available and food brought to you."

Eldar, "Thank you could you have them bring it right away so Annette can get her sleep in?

King Goldeagle, "Certainly."

Eldar, "Let's adjourn this meeting of the minds."

Eldar looked to King Goldeagle, "Is the room she will be using near the dining room?"

The King nodded, "I can make that work for you."

Eldar asked, "We need a small room to use so I can brief those on what they will be doing. I will send Tiger out before giving others additional details. It will be brief and nondescript until we can have Annette help us to convey any sensitive information if required."

They got up and headed out. He gave the King a quick bow before leaving and Jarron did his formal thing as the ladies and Eldar headed back to the main group.

Eldar looked at everyone, "I got good news, we have our village and mercenary charters, and they are finalizing the treaties. We will be getting some food soon and we will be delayed a while longer at the Palace.

Jarron is getting us accommodations for the week in this district and buying us each a week's worth of new clothes suitable for this district. The fancy shit we will only have to wear now and then but you will get a wardrobe."

A few chuckled from that but Hunter asked, "Why the delay, where have you been?"

Eldar sighed, "We had to give a few tactical assessments to several groups of people. It sped up our approval process but we have been asked to help with a matter in the Palace, but they only want a small handful of us to know of this mission.

Trust me when I say this is one of those command decisions I do not like to make and Jarron concurred. However, I will be working only with my ladies, they are in the know of this already, Tiger gets his first assignment, Fireball, hope you're up for this one, Skinner and Cook will be needed. This is a need-to-know operation we're doing as a favor for the King himself."

Jarron showed up with a guard, "I can show you to the dining room and room for Annette to get some rest. You can use that room to house your short meeting that I want to sit in on."

---

Vattia'Desua was fit to be tied. She was in a meeting room at House Silverbar and told her father, "The gods made that IMPURE BASTARD a fucking Champion! Then gave him the Family sword. I saw it at his side and my son confirmed it once I got him aside. He witnessed the whole FICKA thing. I told him I had enough support in the family council to have him disowned if he did not drop his trainer immediately.

He shrugged at me and told me, 'No parent can live my life! I am keeping my trainer as he can graduate me as a Grand Master and he is the best trainer short of getting trained by his BROTHER, but that would mean leaving the Academy.'

He stated if it came down to it he would pursue that course if we cut off his funding for the school. I am being outmaneuvered by my son, this Bastard, and this new 'Master Trainer.' The bastard went off to have a meeting with the royal family.

I wanted to kill my son and his trainer right then and there, but then the guards and others in the gallery would have worked to kill me. I was told by two guards to leave the court because I was getting too loud. ME, being told to leave the court!"

Her father paced back and forth, "This bastard is unlikely to know of the tie of the sword to be the head of House Silvertree. Work with your allies in the house and get that severed before he finds out about it and makes your life hell.

Let the rest of the family work over Heliar, some of them would like to kill him for letting this happen. Including his younger sister who had her eyes on that sword as well. Start the rumor it is no longer the family blade. It was replaced with a copy and the Gods must have taken it away.

That the house is no longer tied to a fake copy of the blade. Use that as the ground to switch out the leadership. I have spies who gave me an inn where the abomination he married usually stays in the market. Our sex slave is employed there as of an hour ago."

She screamed, "He has 2 fucking wives, her and her twin sister! Both are pregnant with twins, again from my disrespectful idiot son!"

He nodded, "She will know they all need to die if he comes after you. One thing at a time. Work the house rules. That is your first goal. Disown your son but keep him in the Academy so you can keep him and this Master Trainer in the city where we got assets if needed.

Heliar will fight you on his son being disowned but it gives you leverage to get other concessions in the leadership which is more important. Keep him occupied and away from the bastard for now. A constant state of pressure from all of your allies to keep him occupied. Stopping him from aiding the bastard or the bastard aiding him."

---

The consort was fit to be tied. She got her crystal to contact Lord Barimus and found it cracked. She pulled the one she had to the human wizard to find out what in the Nine Hells was going on. She connected. He answered. "One moment. Alright, my room is sealed. If you are calling about the mercenary company I already know about it." She growled, "My Crystal to our master is cracked. What is going on?"

He sighed, "The Dragon Council noticed the travel blocker because travel was blocked over the Elven Kingdom for several days. They did a worldwide search and now know Ok'nar has one.

They don't know who or why but he did not want communication coming in from crystals into that area that they could track to distant kingdoms. He destroyed the one to me as well. We are left with a trusted courier or going ourselves if we have anything to report."

She growled, "My scribe is missing, I have no trusted courier. Send yours. I need to send an update on this Eldar Silvertree. I cannot leave as he is still in the Palace and I hope to gain more insight from the King who has been in meetings with him since his arrival. Send your courier."

The human mage laughed, "You will have to take care of that on your own. My courier is undergoing experimentation by me right now. I want to make sure my research is perfect. He won't be missed, but I would be if I left.

Teleportation to the area is a bad idea as dragons are monitoring it now. Your best bet is to travel yourself or find another to act as your courier. I have no time for your games, you Drow witch."

She growled and slammed down the crystal and shattered it. She did not have one to the dwarven spies. She contacted the general but it would not connect. Likely in a bag of holding because he would be in the field with his men.

She sighed, "I will find out more and then travel to a border town of Ok'nar and get some of his men to escort me to the Master. I want the King dead first! As I got the nightshade ready for him. He was eager to try it but occupied with Palace matters the last few days. Even with the court being canceled. Probably because of this fucking Champion."

She pulled another crystal that had a spider with legs around it. She had not used it in over 300 years. She activated it She heard, "You! Traitor. Why do you dare call me?" She hissed back, "Dear sister, I work with truly greater powers. Power types that will rule the world including the Underdark one day.

I am close to killing the Elven King. Possibly the Queen as well. I wanted you to know, as you are a priest for Loth. The Elven Gods have put a Champion on the field. His name is Eldar Silvertree. He appears to be focused away from you and toward the orcs but you're still praying to that demonic bitch loth. I am sure she would find it interesting news."

She saw the crystal crack in her hand and she growled, "Ungrateful bitch!"

---

Lord Barrimus looked over the crystal that remained, "The human general, the mason, and Prince Fire Axe."

He sighed, "They have no means of getting to here themselves and they only contact me when they have something to report. I will leave them be for now unless they get too chatty. Then I will have to send a courier to the human wizard for more of those damned rings to handle getting couriers in place."

He growled out, "I hate relying on that wizard, but he is the only one I know who can craft those quickly. No, I will have to get an Ogre Magi working that task to replace him. I will wait for one of the three of them to report an issue and then I will work to deploy this alternate means of communicating with them.

This wizard will have to go soon. I need an Ogre Magi strike team with those rings to capture the wizard and put him into stasis. We need to get into his mind to find the relics he has hidden away for the transformation. He is too damned powerful and proud.

He might kill himself just to end me. Curse that fucking human. I want one training to do just that. That could take months or years to put together. Get them started. My God will allow it for this one Ogre Magi leader only, your fucking ugly mother.

Also, your half-brother on the Council could do it, but he won't be here for another month to report in person. IF he can handle the mythic spells. You being a non-casting brute keeps you from being an option. That and you are often a disappointment to me.

I will then get him and others loyal to me who could do the work to perform it from within Dragon lands. I want her placed into isolation to work this exclusively. You will have to take over her troops as she becomes my new enchanter on a full-time basis.

Do not fail me, my security is more important than ever now that the council is focused on the teleportation blocking shield over this area. The human necromancer has become too much of a liability. Getting him access to the draconic magic to transform me was a mistake.

He is irreverent toward me now, he managed to pervert my phylactery. Yet I cannot kill him or send fools who would attempt to kill him. Boxed in and tricked by a fucking human. My half-orc spy in Cottonwood back-traced the wizard putting a bounty on my giant that sent in glory seekers.

The Knights collected on it. He caused that failure, he is a traitor to me. He is unreliable and I will never release those assets to him. We have to find a means to recover our relics from him to continue this on others in the future who are loyal to me alone."

Graxxor bowed before his father as he took the two scrolls with draconic magic. He smiled and thought to himself, 'Menial but access to draconic magic will put my bitch of a mother in a cage. I will take over her troops and rain the Nine Hells on the elves, Humans, and Dwarves for nothing more than existing.

She is not the warrior I am, yet she survived my conception and birth. A rarity, though my father thinks I was not strong enough to kill her when I broke free of her body. Anything happens to him and I will destroy her myself and lead this army.'

---

They walked to the dining room as Eldar spoke, "Everyone I called out, please come with us to this sleeping area."

They walked over to the little room with a big couch.

Eldar nodded, "Jarron this should work fine, Annette can come back over and I will join them, I will need to change out a couple of spells. The briefing will be quick and not everyone needs to know everything. So, on that note, I want to start with Tiger.

You will be accompanying everyone here except Skinner and Cook who will be waiting for your arrival and the guard. The guard will escort you two to the third floor and wait for our arrival. Tiger this is your part. You and I will be standing in front of the King's desk with you in the center when he tells the person to come into the room.

You give him a bow and say 'Thank you, Your Majesty, for the apology on how my sister and I were treated.' He will say something else and the two of us will make our way toward the door. Annette will sneeze loudly as she gets up from a chair near the door. You're to subdue the individual as fast as you can.

We need them alive but they might be a caster and we do not want a firefight in the middle of the room. Once the person is subdued you will go back into the hall and go with the guard back to the others and he will pick up Skinner and Cook. Good with that Tiger? It might be a she that needs to be subdued but it makes no difference."

Tiger nodded, "Yes I can do that."

Eldar nodded to him, "This is a chance to impress with your hand-to-hand combat to subdue and it will show the King why we have you as part of our group. You have a great talent he has never seen before."

He smiled at Eldar. "You can go get some food while I go over the next steps with the others but this is not to be discussed with anyone. If your sister asks, tell her you will be putting on a display of your skills for the King."

He nodded and headed out. Jarron chuckled, "You're pushing your luck with the King and that comment. It will be fun watching him react but he will not like being boxed in."

Eldar nodded, "I know, but we are handling a problem for him and after he sees Tiger in action he will know that apology is deserved, and disarming him would be plain ignorant in the future."

Jaron chuckled and nodded, "True you alluded to that fact to the guards."

Eldar waited a few seconds, "Skinner and Cook will be using their skills in finding secret compartments disabling potential traps when we conduct a targeted search. We will give you more details on the subject of the search later. Same rules do not discuss this with anyone."

They left and he waited a few more seconds, "Jarron, Charlemagne, and Fireball will be waiting in an adjoining room. When the fighting starts you come in; if she is not down then we still want to subdue her if we can but lethal is authorized. If we cannot get her down.

Both Annette and Tiger will be working on this. Tiger is not aware of her abilities or her being an agent of the Knights--that last part is now official. Rules on combat. No area of effect, save room for dispel and detect magic. Counterspells if she is a caster.

I will be switching some spells to aid in that area during this rest cycle. You remember the wedding?" He nodded and grabbed his balls. "Not that, say nothing out loud. What killed my mother is what we're dealing with. Plan your spells accordingly if needed..."

His eyes got big as saucers. He nodded. "That's everything for now. Food everyone."

They walked across the hall and ate. Then the ladies and Eldar took a nap curled up in their best crescent shapes for the coming battle. They woke and Eldar changed out a couple of spells to help in the search effort afterward.

Jarron came to get them and the 6 of them headed upstairs to the audience room and knocked. "Enter."

They opened the door and the King was sitting there with a messenger. He looked at the messenger, "Please deliver that and you're done for the night, return to your quarters."

The page nodded and headed out the door. The King waved them forward, "We should have about 10 minutes given the distance."

Eldar looked around, "Where do you want Jarron and his team?"

He points to a door. "It's the latest thing a room to bathe and relieve yourself without a chamber pot. Called a bathing room." Eldar looked and found the nearest chair toward the door.

The handles were no good for locking a sword into place to bar it.

He sighed, "Annette, will sit here looking sickly, she will wait for the lady to pass and sneeze. Any other doors we need to cover that she knows about?"

He turned green, "There is one built into that bookcase that leads to a private bedroom."

Eldar looked at him, "Is it locked?" He nodded.

He got Tiger in position; his weapons were tucked inside his sleeves. Eldar looked to King Goldeagle, "Once she opens the door Tiger is going to bow and issue a thank you. I will stand here like I'm his boss who has brought him to you; which is true. You say whatever you would normally say to him in regards to his thank you.

We will turn to walk and as we get close Annette is going to stand and sneeze. That may distract her. Once Tiger leaps into action Annette will move to block the door and I will move to flank. The King should head straight to the bathing room, the others are going to jump out as soon as the first punches or kicks are thrown."

Now they waited. There was a knock at the door and King Goldeagle said, "Enter."

The King gave a little nod and Eldar watched as Tiger bowed, "Thank you, your Majesty, for the apology on how my sister and I were treated."

The King looked a little taken aback but replied, "That won't happen in the future."

They turned to leave and saw a lovely Silver-haired elven female walking toward them. As Eldar was on the right side she had to drift to the left and in front of Annette and closer to Tiger. They had her between them, as Annette went to get up the girl turned at her and Annette sneezed.

Tiger leaped and put the back of his heel behind the woman's neck as her hands were coming up and she glared at Annette. The spinning kick knocks her straight to the floor face first interrupting whatever she was going to cast and two more punches later and the woman was out cold.

Eldar looked at King Goldeagle, who had barely got out of his chair; "This is the other way we gather intelligence. You now understand why I had issues with disarming the humans."

King Goldeagle had never seen unarmed combat like that or even heard of it before. But it was effective. He then thought about them being disarmed and knew that would never happen with this human as Tiger was a weapon. He did not know if his sister could do that as well.

Eldar pulled out some cloth strips that Jarron had given him and tied her arms at the elbows, wrist, and across each hand, tied her feet at the ankles, knees, and Then tied her hands to her ankles. Eldar looked over, "Thank you Tiger time for you to go and see the guard."

He gagged her with one strip then tied another from the chin to the top of the head to keep her mouth from opening even a little bit.