Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 01 Ch. 18

If not for the next 5 years. Do not expect them to go away anytime soon as the Grand Cleric Council will be building an all Elven denomination church. We need those skills starting with regular laborers, carpenters, and masons. How many can you have ready that will be self-sufficient for the first year? How many more will we be able to bring forward in 4 weeks?

Again, bringing provisions for themselves. We will be working on getting some human farmers and ranchers in place to start building up food stores. Hunting will be limited and monitored by The Gray Blade and the Wood Elf population in the area.

The Wood Elves will attempt to detain outsiders but if they are attacked, then the use of lethal force is authorized. Poaching is an offense of a year of hard labor; be it trees or game. Talk to me?"

They looked at each other, "We can send 20 wagons 5 men per wagon with the gear to start the fields, build your corrals and start on clearing operations for building operations. With another 1,000 in 4 weeks.

They are to live off of rations then they will need to make regular trips to the city to get supplies. Five thousand gold pieces each."

Eldar sighed, "The carpenters and in four-week masons; we will be ready to start foundations."

He smirked, "We do not do things that way we..."

Eldar held up his hand, "You would tell the Royal family this? No. We want 6 carpenters with the laborers. Also, 12 masons in four weeks."

He clears his throat, "That would be another 3,000 gold pieces each for a year."

Eldar nodded, "That brings me to one very important job, a town planner to work with our people to identify what additional craftsman we will need to add. The town's name is Quatarsia. We are looking for a young idealist who can work across racial boundaries and land."

He smiled, "We have a master craftsman who is of mixed blood like yourself Moon Elf and Wood Elf. We send him out on a lot of these jobs he might want to interview for the job. When is a good time?"

Eldar smiled back, "Tomorrow after mid-meal at the Academy. An Academy-wide discussion on what is going on and what we are doing. Let him interview us first to see if he is interested. Annette, you want to handle this through the discretionary fund?"

She smiled and gave the account information. Eldar looked across the table, "We need them to have their tools, shovels, axes, picks, everything as we will hopefully not be coming back to the city for 4 weeks."

Eldar got up and everyone followed, "That took enough time! Let us find food. I want to keep Charlemagne with me to go to the bank. I would like our guard to go with Tranosa, Keyno, and Annette to shop for wedding stuff. We will need a second escort for the two of us. While we eat in peace can you get us the second guard? I will behave until you get back."

The Royal Guard chuckled, "In a way, it is fun watching you guys work. Why are you in such a hurry?"

Eldar shrugged, "Maybe because we have a really strong hunch that we will be at war in that region in 30-60 years. We do not have time to lose. The Palace probably agrees."

He turned white, "That explains your level of seriousness."

Eldar nodded as they left the building. T'suras waited with the others, "See we are back. We will get you brushed down tonight and I will see about picking you some more apples for barding day and as a thank you for your patience."

They found a little place in the market to eat and Eldar tried a little experiment as he could watch the horse from where he sat. "T'suras Veta (Stay or stop)."

---

Astra waited for her sister in the park and Victria quickly walked over and hugged her. Astra smiled, "You are in a good mood."

Victria smiled as she saw Staria and she waved her over and hugged her. She smiled, "Heliar Silvertree asked me to marry him last night, then made love to me for 2 hours. He had to go back home because of all the family chaos going on around his son and the Family Moon Blade being in his possession."

Staria looked at her, "This son Eldar Silvertree? If so, he was in my office today with his two gorgeous Half-Elven wives. The escort told Golden River it was legal and would become more common.

When Golden River started insulting Eldar he yanked the shitty little man I work for over the counter and held him against the wall suspended in the air. When he repeated it after being released. Eldar summoned a sword with blue-gray flames on the edges and held it an inch from his throat! I wanted to jump over the counter and mount the man after the Royal guard took Golden River home. The little snot shit and pissed himself in the process!"

Astra looked over, "The same Eldar Silvertree that won the last 4 Blade Singer tournaments? Trust me I watched several of them. The man can move and that last match. He ran that poor girl into the ground for half an hour before finally attacking her and ending the match.

The man has skills and stamina. I've never seen a match go that long! He just kept blocking and defending and pissing her off even more. I wanted to jump him on the sparring field. He reminded me of your former lover."

Staria nodded, "Mixed blood like him but Eldar has a commanding presence. Said he was a champion to Corellon Larethian. The way the Royal Guard acted I believe it."

Victria smiled, "It's true, Heliar's son and he is at the center of chaos in his life right now. He told me about plural marriages but he wants to get rid of the witch he is married to first. He fucking hates her guts. She wants to disown her son for taking on Eldar's Trainer!

All because he is a Half-Elf and now a Master Trainer as called out by the Gods. He will be training 3 Blade Singers at once! Everything goes well, and I could be his stepmother at some point. If he has not taken notice of you he will take notice of you through me."

Staria smiled, "He mentioned he is destined to marry sisters and his wives looked to be around 40-50 years old If I had to guess. Young enough for children, they both carry twins. They both looked like they would be fun in bed. They said all of his children will be twins with his wives. I'd hate to wait that long, but if I have not gotten an offer and he is searching, I'll drag Astra with me to the altar!"

Astra laughed, "No dragging required. I think we would be hard-pressed to get him to the altar without stripping him down and fucking him first. Maybe even during the ceremony."

The ladies laughed at her. Victria smiled, "If he is as good as his father in bed then the man will fulfill your needs."

They all busted up laughing again while they ate.

---

The Elven Queen sat in her audience chamber and had 3 crystals out. She called, "The monthly meeting of the Royal Council is in session. King Fireaxe, are you connected and secure."

He responded, "Aye. Queen Goldeagle."

She looked at the Next one, "Queen of the Silver Dragons and our representative for the Knights, are you secure?"

She replied, "Queen Goldeagle we are secure."

She smiled, "King Thornland are you secure and ready to begin."

He replied, "I am Queen Goldeagle. I would move that we start with the new mercenary company your Kingdom is sponsoring over the trade routes on the Northern border of our Kingdom and your southern border."

King Fireaxe growled, "I've received reports from my ambassador. I had our people review the treaty in question. I wonder why we were not brought into this discussion sooner?"

Queen Goldeagle smiled, "As called out in the treaty the first steps were the allocation of territory, which in this case there is no territory involved with the Dwarven Kingdom. We have the agreements for that in place and they are only getting started with this group. Do you have an objection?"

He sighed, "I have spoken with my court, some merchants are concerned with our goods getting to the destination without our dwarven caravans having dwarven protection."

Queen Goldeagle smiled, "Most of the caravans coming here to the Elven Kingdom are manned by humans and elves, even from your Kingdom. The exception is when you are moving gemstones and ores from your Kingdom and you have your mercenary companies escorting those."

King Thornland responded, "Same for our Kingdom. Your merchants only provided all dwarven guards on very specific shipments but we would add arms and armor shipments that your people export to us as well, though the market is not as large because of the cost. Nobility and some rich merchants can afford the armor but not our militaries at this point, with notable exceptions like the swords used by some of my military officers as the head of elite units."

King Fireaxe grumbled, "I will concede that our merchants use more outside resources but we do have units designated for merchant shipments that are not being addressed with this agreement. Your people want to use only their mercenaries."

Queen Goldeagle smiled, "They stated they are not prohibiting them from moving with their shipments, just that the mercenary company would be in charge of security in this area and your mercenaries would be considered passengers through this area as they provide the protection. They, of course, can protect themselves."

King Fireaxe responded, "Yet our merchants suffer under this agreement because they have additional costs associated with doing business that way."

The Queen of the Silver Dragons called out, "Your Majesties. The dragons are not a part of this agreement. In any formal sense, however, the people who created this idea to provide this protection are Knights in the order. You all have assets in the Knights order and we support this creative use of the treaties for this.

The Knights plan to use this as a place to form a training and evaluation base for the growth of the Knights, where losses have been heavy for all member Kingdoms. It provides a strategic resource to reverse those losses. Looking at the numbers they would have one person for every 20 square miles of land.

Far too small to be effective. This is based on mercenary charters being limited in size to 200. I would point out that this is the first use of this kind of agreement, this is confined to a given area of land and not across all of your Kingdoms.

Your limits on charters do not allow for groups larger than 200. Might it not be advantageous to revisit this. An exception for this type of unit. To be large enough to cover this area and be effective.

Then those dwarves who would provide this protection could fit inside the Gray Blades, not all members are Knights. Only a very small number but they can aid in training those who would join that order. Those who work to benefit all member nations."

King Thornland responded, " I am not wanting to increase the size of mercenary charters beyond 200."

Queen Goldealge smiled, "I am inclined to agree with you, but we could put an exception into these cross-border treaties. This is the first and there may be others in the future. Say the size is at the maximum size of 200 for each member nation in the cross-border Mercenary company.

That would address the Silver Queens concern on the numbers protecting such a large area. King Fireaxes forces would be, based on the reports I have far under 200 dwarves participate in these shipment protections currently. Yet it presents opportunities for those dwarves who wish to do that and expand into our protection activities.

It provides a means for them to be folded into the Gray Blades to alleviate the costs you are talking about King Fireaxe, the potential growth for the Knights we all support, and a more effective means of monitoring that border from our common enemies.

You have all received the report from Jarron on the battle at Rambling Rock that occurred with his Knights unit that protected that town, an Elven caravan and courier group saving human farmers. That was a significant force, it was not a scouting party.

Someone had put a bounty out for that giant from the human Kingdom and it was paid out based on the information collected. We have adversaries at work here, I foresee this border heating up in the future and the time to fortify it is now.

That invading force managed to avoid the detection of the human military while traveling in a straight line to that town! This would decrease the size of the area they would have to monitor so they might detect this kind of intrusion faster and this is further south from my kingdom but the numbers are concerning.

I have villages along that border that will benefit from this agreement. We all have trade moving through there. Trade shipment times with the dwarves will be 4 days shorter in each direction, 6-7 days shorter to Grand Falls to us in each direction.

Depending on the number of wagons on this excursion. It is a win for our merchants, our militaries, and our Knights recovery from the downturn we have been seeing. It is also the first time in over 7,000 years that our Gods have put a Champion on the field and he is the one who put this plan together. For us, we see this as a divine direction to focus our attention along this volatile border with our enemies."

King Thornland sighed, "I was unaware of this bounty. I had my general review the Rambling Rock incursion and he said it is a hole in the patrol patterns he is working to correct to keep it from happening again. He did not seem alarmed.

He attributed it to a rogue mercenary band, we all have had our share of those and one incursion is far from a full-out invasion. He said it is isolated and the border is quiet. I could see the logic to increase the numbers given those guidelines. Based upon member nations."

King Fireaxe looked at what he had. The only real objection he had was cost being inequitable. The rest of the treaty was clear. He nodded to himself, "I expect this unit to be recruiting our dwarven assets into this force."

Queen Goldeagle smiled, "If they were in the Elven Capital they will be starting recruiting over the next few days. There are humans here and he has 2 humans on the founding charter as Lieutenants already.

As soon as we get acknowledgments from you King Fireaxe that he may cross the border to seek out recruits for your units, and you King Thornland for more human recruits, I will talk with the commander to make that a priority."

The Silver Dragon Queen sighed, "It is an improvement that would seem to address everyone's concerns at the moment."

King Thornland looked over his notes, "IF he proves himself and finds these threats, builds up these fortifications to strengthen our position for the next war, I would look to bring him into my court if we had sponsored this unit.

That would be a logical step given the size of the area you would have him overseeing. If that happens, and to reflect this cross-border treaty we should see that he is recognized in all 3 courts. Again I am looking ahead here.

If he is a Champion and he helps to bring stability to that area making him a count or duke over those lands would be a logical course. Because of the cross-border aspects, we should consider recognizing that if we all agree that this has been demonstrated. To reflect he is loyal to all of our courts under this agreement and not just the Elven Court."

Queen Goldeagle sighed, "It is too soon to consider now, but I do see your point and will consult with all of you before making that move. When and if it becomes warranted. To give the option to all of you to consider that approach.

When I feel it is time for that level of recognition based upon the deeds he does in service to us all. Let us first see how well he protects us all first. We are talking about something that could be years away from happening."

King Fireaxe sighed, "I agree, it is something to consider only after he proves himself. It is more than land, but action on the field of battle that would prove himself within a dwarven court."

King Thornland smiled, "As long we have forewarning and the option to consider it before you take that action. That is what I am asking us all to consider."

The Silver Queen looked at her crystal, "When and if he proves himself within the Knights we will consider it as well. Until that day it is best not to speculate. We will see how this facility helps us in getting the Knights out of the freefall of losses it has been suffering. This training facility was a brilliant idea and I have not met him, yet.

I will see him with Jarron in a few days to get our assessment of this champion as well. Having a Champion inside the Knights is also a first, in this case, selected as a Knight and then made a Champion by his Gods."

They adjourned the meeting as this was the only topic of discussion for the day. The Queen smiled and wrote out the revised charter for the Gray Blades to take them to 600. She smiled and thought, "I will surprise him with this at the Academy-wide all-hands. I suspect he might cringe when he hears of this news. I would cringe in his place."

---

Corellon smiled at the Lady of Dreams, "He is already having an impact with our allies. The Queen of the Silver Dragons was very helpful. I think this has to do with her wanting to understand our Champion and she knows we have a problem. She wants to find a way to appease him. We will see what he does when they meet. That might be just as telling."

The Lady of Dreams smiled, "He got the brief vision and he did not act upon it, saving it for now. I think he wants to talk with his wives about it but does not want to upset them either. He knows where to look when the time comes.

Both sisters want him for different reasons. I foresee a lot of children for this champion if he does 12 with each pair of Sisters over his life. Easy to do when he is giving them all twins. I misled him and made him think it was us doing the twins, instead of himself."

Corellon nodded, "I know that, and I have no issue with that because we cannot talk with him about Dragons Heart or the 5th Age directly. One of his heirs will get some of that information, but all information on Dragon Heart was eliminated at the end of the 5th Age from all records for a reason."

---

Eldar had left T'suras untied to see if he stayed. He guessed right the horse stood there through mid-day meal. After they walked out, "T'suras Unta (Come or follow)."

The horse walked over to him. He grabbed his reins and patted him on the side. He mounted up. The guard looked at the horse, "You did not tie him down and he came to you. Well trained. How long have you had the horse?"

Eldar smiled, "We came to an understanding this morning when I first saw him in the corral at the stable. Nobody else could get near him. I had him saddled and rode him out of the stall in less than 30 minutes."

The guard stares at him in shock. They rode over to a big building in the next district over. They had someone to stable horses standing there.

Eldar rode past him as Charlemagne and the Royal Guard dismount. Eldar ensured they were out of the roadway and stopped and dismounted. "T'suras Veta."

A boy came to get the horse and Eldar waved him off. He looked at Eldar, "Your horse could runoff."

Eldar nodded, "I could be saving you from losing an ear or getting your skull crushed if you touch the reins of that War Horse. T'suras is very particular about who can even get near him. He will stay put. Anyone tells you otherwise tell them they have been warned."

He walked into the bank and up to a lady, "I am Eldar Silvertree, I have been told I have an account."

She pulled it up, "Would you like to know the balance on your joint account?"

Eldar looked at Charlemagne, "Don't look at me."

Eldar looked at the lady, "Who is the second holder on that account?"

She replied, "Heliar'vasius Silvertree. This shows you have unfettered access as soon as you turned 75."