Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 01 Ch. 16

Eldar carefully took it from his hand and walked toward her, "You do not want this stuff..." She shook her head, "What to do..."

He set the bottle down on a table. He found a wooden mannequin. "Hold her up, I want her to see something." The twins hold her, "Do you mind if this gets damaged?"

The King shook his head, "If it will prove a point."

Eldar, "Karti'Ros left hand Moon Fire."

The sword appears in his hand, "This was my father's sword."

He held it with two fingers and set it on the shoulder of the mannequin and it burned through all the way down to the crotch with the angle He had it at.

He then set the sword so it's balanced on the other shoulder and after half the blade was in, He walked back over to her as she watched it sink through the mannequin. He sat right next to her.

Eldar, "Karti'Ros left hand Moon Fire off."

He had the sword above her and told her. "Do you understand what this will do to you? As it hates drow on top of what you just saw."

He laid the Blade on her stomach flat, she panics until nothing happens. He laid it across her thighs. "Do not move. Barely breathe. I have very little interest in keeping you alive. Some of the others just want some information. I'm going to have these fine ladies remove your gag."

He walked back with his left-hand inches above her.

Eldar, "Karti'Ros left hand Moon Fire."

"I'm going to walk down here where your knees meet and hold this active blade above you. Oh, one thing you should know my mother was killed by a drow so you better answer and not try any tricks. Also, you should know my last name is Silvertree. I believe you know my father. I'm not bluffing. Remove her gag top of the head first." He stood there and held the sword while they worked the knots off. "Doc see if you can find a proper gag in this room."

The King points and Doc walked across the room. "Now Doc before I have them cut that last one, I want you to cast a dispel magic on her to see if you get any better results than Fireball and I did."

Doc cast dispel magic. Her spell fell. They saw the very naked drow underneath who had half of one breast missing. "Stop with the gag check for more jewelry. They found two more rings and a band in her hair."

Eldar looked at the King, "We will have to wait at least an hour for her ring to function again. We're going to see what is floating around in her mind. Connect me in please and both of you."

Eldar, "Let us start with your name?"

The prisoner, "Matridexx."

Eldar, "Why did you come here?"

The prisoner, "To kill elves the higher up the better I just got that bottle a few days ago. I knew something was wrong and was running out of time."

Eldar, "Describe each of the magic items we took off of you."

The prisoner, "Immunity to mind control circlet, it sends a signal indicating which direction it came from, a ring of spell storing major, and a ring of seduction."

Eldar, "Which ring is the spell storing and what do you have stored."

The prisoner, "The one with the ruby, Gaseous form."

Eldar, "Any of those items cursed or restricted?"

The prisoner, "Ring spell storing arcane only to store the spells, anyone could recall them. Divine casters cannot store in it. It has slots empty"

He looked to the King, "Can you work this under your crown?"

He threw him the circlet. He looked at it, "Probably why?"

Eldar sighed, "Well so long as your crown is not enchanted that circlet blocks access to mind control. Consider it insurance that you know we will never manipulate you."

He looked at the two rings, He picked up them both and threw one over to Fireball, "As the only single guy here. Ring of seduction."

That got a few chuckles.

Eldar, "What tier of spells can you cast."

The prisoner, "Seven."

Eldar, "You have any compulsions on geases and the like."

The prisoner, "Yes."

Eldar, "What words trigger your gease?"

Prisoner, "Lord Barimus, Draco-lich, Torbarim."

Eldar, "You just earned the right to live for a while, now tell me of any other spies you know of?"

The prisoner, "Court scribe, Wizard of the court in Grand Falls who is a prick a and a necromancer, General Travius with Grand Falls King's army, Flanus Stonehammer mason in Dwarven kingdoms, Grontic Fireaxe son of the Dwarven King."

Eldar looked at Jarron, "High-value prisoner seventh tier wizard spells and she just gave me the names of five spies including the one we have. Two in each of the dwarven kingdom and the human kingdom."

Eldar, "Are all the spies you have listed who they appear to be are they another race."

The prisoner, "They are all traitors to their people."

Eldar, "How long have you been here?"

The prisoner, "Ninety-seven years switching forms every 10-12 years."

Eldar, "Do you know who I am?"

The prisoner, "Person of interest. The anomaly Eldar Silvertree 4-time champion. Champion to a god now. Should not have happened after I tampered with the academy. Now I know why, Abomination Champion."

Eldar, "Your master has my name? Does he know I am a champion?"

The prisoner, "Yes, and no he does not know yet. I was going to tell him in person after killing the King and if I was lucky, the Queen as well."

Eldar, "How many wards in your room?"

The prisoner, "17."

Eldar, "Shut off all of your wards."

The prisoner, "Wards are gone."

Eldar, "Any traps?"

The prisoner, "Only 2. Both chests deadly necrotic poison needle trap."

Eldar, "What is the most valuable item in your collection?"

The prisoner, "I have two dead Moon Blades. One longsword and one bastard-sword. No wonder that house died."

Eldar glared, "She is not going anywhere yet."

Eldar, "Forget all spells in memory."

The prisoner, "I cannot remember spells."

Everyone laughed and he looked up. Fireball now looked like our naked little-redheaded female. Eldar snickered, "Might want to give that ring back unless you want to look like a red-headed female consort. Brings a whole new method for you to get fucked."

The others laughed as Fireball took the ring off.

Eldar, "You have lost all your innate abilities and do not know where to find them."

The prisoner, "I had some abilities but I do not know where they are."

Eldar, "You will never pick up a weapon or magic item other than to turn it over."

The prisoner, "Turnover all weapons and magic items."

Eldar, "You will do nothing to harm yourself."

The prisoner, "No harming self."

Eldar, "You will never try to memorize another spell again."

The prisoner, "No longer a caster, just me."

Eldar, "You will follow the direction of the man named Jarron."

Prison, "I follow Jarron's will."

He looked over, "Jarron, come here a moment."

Eldar, "You can speak again."

She groaned.

Eldar, "Jarron can choose to end any of these compulsions I have given you selectively."

The prisoner, "Jarron can set me free one by one if he chooses."

He looked at Annette, "Cut connections."

He stood up, "Remove her gag and untie her."

Jarron, "Are you crazy?"

Eldar looked at Jarron, "No but she's a lot more compliant now. She works for you and will answer any questions you want, not dealing with her master, I have those answers. She will drop down on her knees suck your cock and tickle your sack if you want her too. She will respond to you and only you. Ask about the compulsions I have had Annette apply.

You can remove them at your choosing by simply saying 'you're released from being my sex slave.' Which is not one of the compulsions but to follow your orders is. The wards in her room should be down, ask her to put that ring on and not try to run away. In fact, she should hold your hand!"

Jarron got a few chuckles.

Eldar smiled, "I had her forget all spells in memory, won't attempt to study spells, all innate abilities she has forgotten how to use. The four spies include one court wizard, one general, one king's son, and one mason. She also confirmed my worst fear about Lord Barimus; he is a Draco-lich who has me down as a person of interest. I'm an anomaly for doing well. She had not taken the opportunity to tell him I am a Champion. As for the Academy, it has been tampered with by her. She has been here for 97 years."

Eldar looked at the King, "I have two requests for our services today. The spoils of war, the magic items and magical reference material she was a seventh-tier caster. It should be extensive enough for training just about any Blade Singer or mage adequately. The second is I have Jarron on the hook for enchanting my officer's weapons once crafted, not mine or our agent. We have what we need in weapons.

I was hoping you could outfit the 12 of us in enchanted Elven armor. Two sets of Elven full plate, three sets of magical bracers for our caster and no armor users, and eight sets of Elven Chainmail. One of the chainmail is for a Knight agent who cracked this open for you, and two of the chainmail are for the commanders of this new mercenary company that's going to get a lot more attention a lot sooner given the spies in place."

The King thought about this, "The spoils of wars are of course are yours. I'm just not certain about the armor yet."

Eldar nodded, "We thank you for acknowledging our claim to the spoils. There was one piece I was going to give you outright but I am hoping now to leverage it to get you to support that second request. There are two items of note in there one is a long sword and the other is a bastard sword. Moon Blades, belonging to dead houses. From my study of ancient weapons, there are supposed to be rituals to be able to activate them.

They are old weapons able to gain abilities but all of the previous house abilities are gone. According to my sword, a Moon Blade had been created for the royal family but was destroyed 9,000 years ago, my family sword is over 10,000 years old.

Only one Moon Blade can be owned by a house, I cannot save this for my brother. I have others who use a longsword but they are bow users most of the time; I have access to a master bow smith and enough Silver wood to craft two hundred bows thanks to our efforts with the wood-elves.

While you're on the fence about the armor; we could trade a dead Moon Blade back to the royal house to try and activate the blade. They would have to be of strong mind and body and in good standing the Lady of Dreams. It should probably be someone serving in the army or coming out of the Academy who could use the leg up and has not been corrupted by outside influences if you have a candidate in mind."

Now Eldar had the King's attention, "A Moon Blade."

Eldar looked at Jarron, "Jarron, would you ask her to respond on the issue of Moon Blades, oh her name is Matridexx?"

Jarron looked at her, she just sat there with a goofy grin, "You have two Moon Blades?"

She sighed, "Not after I turn them over to you. I have to turn over all weapons and magic items."

He looked at the King, "As I said, I would have offered it as a gift outright but with major threats and you being on the fence about armor, I'm looking to protect my officers. I thought as an incentive it would help move you to our side of the fence on the armor. I would like to present the blade to the would-be heir of it and have a suggestion about the best places to reactivate the weapon."

Jarron smiled at Eldar, "Calculated decisions again?"

Eldar nodded to him, "See you're learning."

The King looked at him, "I would like to say yes, but I would need to talk with the Queen about this without getting into too much detail."

Eldar nodded, "I could help you with that if you would like to go see her. We should take a walk to her room and we can confirm everything. If Jarron would take her hand so she does not get lost."

Fireball laughed. Jarron gave Eldar a stern look, "Why did you set her to me?"

He sighed, "You wanted additional confirmation for your friend on the status of Lord Barimus. I got it and she can tell you every covert thing she has done, what weakness she has found, what vulnerabilities she has seen or set in place, list of the persons of interest she has passed on and why they are interesting. The compulsion won't last forever, maybe a week or two but you should have secured her by then and she has a strong desire to live. I never asked what was in the jar?"

Jarron looked at her, "What in the jar?"

She smiled, "Oh that, it's a bottle of nightshade acid; it will burn the lungs and poison the body over hours if not days depending on how long you breathe it in. There is no cure for it. It's a magical poison so you might be able to dispel it but the person will never be the same again as it damages the physical fortitude to the point a common cold could kill them. I wanted to kill the King and hopefully the Queen with it."

They stepped out of the portal and headed up to the third floor and found there two rogues waiting. The King dismisses his guard and she skipped down the hall. Cook looked at Eldar, "What happened to her?"

He smiled, "She tried to fuck with us and she got mind fucked for her trouble. She's a seventh-tier caster who no longer has an interest in magic and she's going to hand over all the gear she has been collecting. I'm trying to barter one piece to outfit all of the officers in enchanted armor."

Cook looked at Eldar, "What in the world could this one item be that's worth that much?"

Eldar, "Karti'Ros left hand."

He held the sword out, "A dead one of these that could be reactivated and claimed by a new house. It won't be as powerful as this one, but it's a legacy and this one is over 10,000 years old."

Cook looked at him, "Who are you bartering with?"

He smiled, "The King after he agreed to award us the spoils of our effort tonight."

They got to her room, cast detect magic. No signs of any wards. He looked at the group, "Wards are down that just leaves the two-needle trapped chest that will kill you. Show us the swords, to begin with. My sword can tell if they are truly dead or belong to a house with a living member.

If you draw one and you're not a member of the house, or try to pick one up and belong to that house and found unworthy then the sword will kill you. My wives are on the safe list to pick it up but they cannot wield it and no other family member can wield it until I'm dead. They still have to be judged and if found unworthy they are slain. Great power, great consequences."

Cook looked, "Your father is still alive."

He nodded, "With part of his spirit ripped away thanks to a Goddess. All of the other spirits were released except a small piece attached to the power. The rules were broken and changed."

At this point, she opened a bag and pulled out two swords in their sheaths.

Eldar, "What can you tell me?"

Karti'Ros, "Both dead houses a rare find."

He sheathed his sword and pulled the blades and set them atop the sheaths; one side then the other. The blades were flawless and gray. He looked at the King, "They are both dead."

He held out the hilt toward him so he could handle the weapon.

Eldar looked at him, "If I had pulled a living blade or an inactive one from another house it would have killed me. Only one per house. Only 24 were created, only 4 are active and 4 are dormant; the status of these 2 means we could get that to six out of ten in the hands of wielders."

The King asked, "What does it mean to be dormant?"

He nodded, "Fair question, it means the other four are sitting in a family vault, sitting at the bottom of a mine shaft, or in a dragon's hoard. The family line is still alive but the sword is unclaimed or missing."

He looked at the King, "Do you still wish to talk it over with the Queen?"

He nodded, "Bring it with us."

Eldar grabbed both swords. Skinner asked, "What are you doing with the other one?"

He smiled as he walked away, "Which of my lieutenants uses bastard-swords and is a moon elf to boot?"

Skinner yelled at him, "That's a very good idea!"

Eldar yelled back, "I'm already over my quota. Charlemagne, please make sure Jarron finds my library for me."

He walked away with the King carrying 3 swords headed to find the Queen. He walked downstairs and down a corridor. He knocked on a large door when the voice from the other side said, "Come in."

The King walked in and Eldar followed. The King stopped at the desk and he stood next to his wife and waited for Eldar to speak. He bowed to the Queen, "Your Majesty, the very closed-door meeting I had this afternoon dealt with the spy in your dungeon. We discovered quite a bit from him. We found out where his codebook was and the fact that there was another spy in play in the palace.

This one has been throughout the city doing her damage for 97 years. As part of the spoils of war, we came across two, what is termed as dead, Moon Blades. It means the family lines died out. These blades can be claimed by a new house that does not have a Moon Blade.

Eldar, "Karti'Ros right hand."

He laid the sword out across his arms, "They are deadly to any but the judged wielder. Part of what you observed at my wedding. Failure in the judgment results in death. This is why the goddess said 'Good you're still alive'; she made only a couple of minor alterations to my sword. The Silvertree house symbol and the double crescent to the end..."

Eldar, "Karti'Ros left hand"

"Setting the grip to adjust because I can wield with either hand and in some cases will switch in mid-fight to throw off an enemy."

He sheathed his sword, "These two are dead. Have no house. One is a bastard-sword, I have a man in my group who's a moon-elf and loves this type of sword. Tranosa Dusk Moon is his name. I want to give him the opportunity to activate it for his house. The other is a longsword."

He pulled it out and set it across the sheath and flipped it over. "My sword is over 10,000 years old and is capable of telling an active, inactive, and dead sword. There were only 24 of these blades made; currently, only 4 are in the hands of wielders. One of those 24 was created for the royal family.

That sword was destroyed 9,000 years ago. I made an offer to the King. I want to get my eleven officers and my wife Annette into high quality enchanted Elven armor; 3 are casters or non-armor-wears so looking for armored bracers for those 3. I know I could get this from someone who wanted to hang this on the wall, but I thought I would extend the invitation to help out our new group.

I would present the sword to a worthy heir of the royal family who would use this weapon in the upcoming conflicts and give the best advice I can give on reactivating the weapon; the same advice I'm going to give my lieutenant. Your husband wants your thoughts on the matter."

The Queen looked at the King, "You know swords better than I, is the young man right he could easily get what he is seeking from a collector to put a rare sword like this on a wall."

The King nodded, "Probably more if he put it up for auction, they are hereditary weapons bound to a family line until that line dies out or the weapon is destroyed."

Eldar, "Do you know why the other sword for the family was destroyed nine thousand years ago; how was it destroyed?"

Karti'Ros, "Retributive strike in combat, during the war."

Eldar sighed, "The family sword your ancestors had is the only one my sword knows how it was destroyed. The family member who wielded it performed a retributive strike. They purposefully destroyed the weapon in order to create a massive explosion during combat, during a war.