Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 01 Ch. 21

He nodded in agreement. "Now after your apprenticeship, you will be brought into the Gray Blade mercenary company for 30 years, this is a paying job, you will see combat if you have not already and in the defense of the elven kingdom. As a Blade Singer is required to do in protecting the Elven people. Is this agreeable?"

They both nodded. "Now have your bodyguards get the Royal Guards horse brought up. Narius, time for bed, I will be working you 16 hours a day for the foreseeable future. One more thing for you! Every year on his birthday you will deposit 25,000 gold pieces until the day he dies into an account.

It will not buy a son's love, but it will give him more options for the future after the war. Set up the account so he can access it once he is seventy-five or older. You will put that in from the day he was born and set me as the second holder of his account. Agreed?"

He nodded. "Just so you know I do sword practice for 8 hours a day in one-hour blocks. I was less pissed off than the day I did four hours at once! Be happy the sword broke or I would still be spanking your ass!"

He turned pale and nodded again. Eldar looked over to New Moon, "We are done here, let us go over to the Silvertree Estate. See what kind of trouble I can start."

They headed out. He got on T'suras, "T'suras Biana" and they rode off.

Eldar looked at Guard New Moon, "Have you ever wanted to do that to some rich entitled prick who treats people like shit?"

He laughed out loud, "I thought I was going to lose it when you whipped the father's ass. His bodyguards did not know which way to turn! I just wished I could have done it. I just watched those bodyguards' faces as they went into shock when the sword broke."

Eldar sighed, "I was hoping that piece of shit sword would have lasted to 100."

Guard New Moon just smiled and shook his head. "I had a mother who instilled a thirst for knowledge and reading until she died when I was 37. I was adrift but learning and continuing to read on my own for 18 years.

That is when Master Trainer Yetto took me as his first apprentice. He would not allow my disadvantages in life to be a crutch."

Guard New Moon looked at him, "Where was your father?"

Eldar snickered, "I saw him once when I was 30 and he gave me a sword. The next time we spoke was at my graduation 55 years later. I have had several conversations with him since then. Damn, we need to head to the inn instead. I got to meet up with the wives for dinner and the 3 of us will be heading to the Palace."

Fortunately, they had barely got off of the huge Golden Bar estate when he recalled this. "We have to meet Jarron after the evening meal. No chance of blowing through a gate, why don't we give these two a little exercise. I will give you a head start."

He started moving he gave him 3 minutes, "T'suras Biatus Evanill Aisiaon."

They were off like a flash even with the barding. They still caught and passed the guard on the way to the inn. He pulled back on the reins and slowed to see his ladies approaching with the others coming from the Academy. Guard New Moon caught up. He looked at Eldar, "What do you feed that thing?"

Eldar smiled, "Apples, oats, and some hay. Charlemagne and Annette, you try those voice commands yet? We have to go after the evening meal. Back to see Jarron at the palace just the 3 of us."

They sighed and Charlemagne looked at me, "Not yet on the voice commands, I forgot about the meeting with Jarron."

Tranosa rode up, "I want to know who else was in on this sword?"

Eldar smiled, "The list of people who did not know about the sword was Hunter, Eagle-eye, Tiger, Keyno, and you. The people who knew what was going to happen and when. Just me. Although I have been saying for days, I was going to find a solution to our Captain problem, some might have put it together."

He grumbled a bit, "When did you get the sword?"

Eldar smiled, "That night at the palace I gave the King and Queen a heck of a deal on the other sword. We are wearing them. We could have easily gotten twice as much. I just wanted some protection for my officers and gave them the first opportunity to refuse on the long sword."

They pulled up at the inn. He pulled his horse off to the side. "T'suras Vita."

He headed inside as the ladies tried the commands on their horses. They sat down to a quiet dinner for once. They would have liked nothing more than head upstairs and fuck like rabbits but they had to get going. They headed outside and got mounted up, "T'suras Biana."

They made their way to the palace. He stopped away from the groom and the ladies followed suit as they ended up saying, "vita" in unison.

The groom came out, Eldar stopped him, "Those are trained warhorses, you try and grab those reigns they may try to bite off an ear or see if your head will split open like a melon. They will stand right there until we get back."

The groom nodded and backed away. We entered the palace, the doors parted and there was Jarron who sighed, "Good! You're here. Guard, I have them."

They followed Jarron to the dungeon, "They arrived early."

Eldar looked at him, "They?"

He nodded, "Based upon the information we provided they sent three to verify. Please stay out of their heads." He stared directly at Annette. Annette giggled.

Eldar smiled, "You got one promotion, Tranosa is a Captain now."

He huffed, "Since when?"

Eldar smiled, "Since I gave him that bastard sword Moon Blade on stage at the Academy in front of the Queen and everyone. More could come."

He looked at Eldar and Eldar smirked, "The Queen gave us a modified charter allowing us to go to 600. 200 for each kingdom involved."

Jarron sighed, "Who do you think will be next?"

Eldar laughed, "If I were a gambling man, I would put my money on Guard New Moon."

Jarron shouted, "What?"

He smiled, "One of those gut instincts that has been building since the bank visit and the emotional vision storm. I was doing some strange shit yesterday. We helped to catch a mass murderer. One Guard captain got relieved of duty when he caught the neighbor impregnating his wife, with the other guy's wife eating her cunt first. I told him to ride fast.

He did not do so there are now two pregnant women without husbands. It helped Moon Blade get his mistress pregnant with twins by giving him directions. We also recovered another dead Moon Blade. That makes three, had House Silver Moon send a message to the other side of the world to save their blade holder from being lost at sea.

Got the patron for the house to send her to a magical transport. She should catch up with us when we leave to head back to the crossroads. See what happens when you leave us alone? Like the new cloaks?"

He looks at the cloaks, "That sends a message."

Eldar shook his head, "Only Annette's sends a message that is what the quill and ink represents. As well as being the town administrator which will explode if we go to 600 quickly."

He just shook his head as they pressed through the maze of corridors. We saw down the hallway as two 'people' in gleaming armor stood there and looked toward them as they approached. We slowed to allow Jarron to make introductions, but that did not occur.

They walked up and looked inside and saw the third, a female with her hands on the prisoner's head and they waited. Another 20 minutes passed and she simply nodded to the other two. They sighed and looked at Jarron and nodded, not a word had been exchanged thus far.

Finally, Jarron pointed to us, "These are the Knights who uncovered what you have seen today with these prisoners. This is Annette Silvertree, the one with psionic abilities, Eldar Silvertree, and Charlemagne Silvertree. The twins are married to Eldar who is also the Knight Champion of Corellon Larethian and a Grand Master Blade Singer."

Eldar smiled, "Jarron left out Charlemagne and I are the Commanders of the Gray Blades mercenary company setting a protection zone on the southern border of the elven Kingdom with cross-border protection. We have been busy lately."

Jarron chuckled, "Like you are not busy enough breaking up spies."

Eldar shrugged, "That was a side job."

If he had to guess the three of them conversed telepathically about what they had been told to them on top of what they learned. Finally, the female spoke her voice almost musical, "We thank you for the information you have found out. If it were widely known it would cause mistrust of the Dragon Council."

Eldar nodded, "I was aware of that. The question is how far are you willing to go to fix the issue?"

She looks at him, "As much as we like to look to level the playing field that is not something we can do, without exposing us as interfering."

He nodded and pondered, "That means, the horde and spies in the other Kingdoms are out of bounds for you unless they attempt to stop you from your target. What of the Draco-lich itself?"

She nodded. "Correct, we have no way of getting to him without exposing ourselves. We are in a difficult position concerning him. We cannot even prove he exists at the moment. Regardless of what is in their minds, it is not enough."

He sighed, "What if you could do something that helped to level the field without taking direct action?"

She cocked her head, "You have something in mind?"

He nodded and opened his bag of holding and pulled out the dead blade up just enough so they could see both weapons, "We are activating 3 dead Moon Blade in the next week. We will have the 4 active all in the area within the next few days. If your hordes hold any Moon Blades, regardless of the condition, we could affect repairs and get them back to their families.

Else get them assigned to new houses if dead. We know the status or location of 8 that leaves the status of 15 unknown. The possibility that one or two are in a Dragon's horde given how old the blades are is possible."

There was a long silence as they discussed this mentally. They finally returned from their mental conversation. The lady spoke again, "This is an idea with some merit to it. As it simply returning something to their originating people. Especially legendary weapons such as Moon Blades. Definitely an idea we could see coming from the Knight Champion of Corellon Larethian. This attempt will take you to seven blades?"

Eldar smiled, "No, if everything goes as planned, we will bring three of four dormant ones to new owners in the houses they belong to. Those Blades will be more powerful than the dead ones. We know one dormant is missing and fourteen are either broken, dead, or completely destroyed. My sword provided me the information on counts.

Dead and destroyed are impossible to track except for one. The one destroyed 9,000 years ago that was owned by a member of the royal family. The destruction occurred because of a retributive strike. It was an epic event the sword knows even though the exact war is lost to elven history."

They once again appeared to be chatting mentally. The lady spoke again, "We knew of one destroyed 9,000 years ago. The destruction of that sword helped turn the tide in the Dragon Wars. We will put your idea forward to the council. It was a noble deed. Is one of the dead ones being activated being done so by a member of the royal family?"

He nodded, "I gave the King and Queen first right of refusal on a long sword."

She looked at Eldar, "Did you ask for something in return?"

He smiled, "Sort of, the King had already agreed to give us the spoils from the spy's room. I had asked about getting armor for my group of twelve. He was on the fence about that. That was when I brought up the dead Moon Blade long sword. The fact the royal family had one which was destroyed in battle. We were going to try and reactivate them.

We also wanted to ensure they ended up in the hands of someone who would use it to defend the elven people, not hang it on a wall. Between our activity that brought down the spy network here and identified the four other spies, two in each kingdom. We gave the blade over to a member of the royal house earlier today in fact. They gave us the armor. We could have gotten twice as much from a collector.

Once I learned of the destroyed blade, I was sure I could restore a little history to the royal family, and protect my people in the combat to come. To be honest, I also told the King this, if they had given us the armor up front, I would have given them the sword outright instead of using it to bargain with them. I don't consider them bargaining chips. My leaders needed better armor for what you know and we know we will be facing."

She looked at Eldar, "Why Gray Blades?'

He smiled, "Symbolic in many ways. We stand between the light and dark so long as we do not move darkness cannot advance. Second, the color of the moon with Corellon Larethian and Sehanine Moonbow symbols are of the moon.

Another reason is the composite of a gray blade is steel, mithril, and adamantium is representative of humans, elves, and dwarves working together. I had decided the name before I even had my family Moon Blade. I did not know the family had a blade."

She smiled, "An idealist."

He nodded to her, "Yes, who believes in symbolism. I would like to thank you all for this opportunity to meet. We know information like this can bring down a Kingdom or a fragile peace. We had a similar discussion with the Elven Queen and King recently. We are Knights, we do not bring down our allies to make us weaker when the true enemy waits to strike. Our job is to keep things small when they do occur."

She smiled with a nodded, Jarron glared mockingly, "You really are after my job!"

Eldar shook his head and then with a touch of sarcasm, "I got enough on my plate without having to try and take on your job. Besides, your job is so boring! Speaking of boring, What is the word on the dwarves? With the modification to the charter, I would expect they have responded.

What will happen with the prisoners now? Also, we are assuming you are going after the other four spies? Can you keep us in the loop and we will do the same if any pay us a visit?"

Jarron chuckled, "One at a time! The prisoners are gone after tonight. They will take them. Dwarves, I will check. It seems you know more than I do at the moment. Spies, we have other Knights who will look into them. We will not hear back until the threat is evaluated and eliminated.

They are in just as big a hurry if not more so to avoid complications. As to the swords, I wanted to ask about that. Do you think a couple of more blades is going to make that much difference?"

Eldar chuckled, "How much difference do you think it got us with the Queen? How about the crowd today when we announced the existence of two blades with plans to bring two dead ones back to life? The credibility we get from the three houses we are aiding in getting those blades into active hands? The morale boost to the masses knowing we will have more Moon Blades active than we did 5,000 years ago!

Between getting nothing in the way of help from fixing the problem created by one of their own or getting a boost in morale? I will take the boost. Speaking of morale, I forgot to tell you about my first apprentice lined up even spanking him and his father."

Jarron laughed, "You convinced me with the blades, but how do spanking an apprentice and his father boost morale?"

Eldar sneered a bit, "Let me throw this at you and you tell me what it sounds similar to. A son who loses his mother in this case at childbirth. A father who does not give his son his family name but raises him hidden away in a house without any contact with the outside world because it is a family dirty secret.

A child who's angry with his father is almost all-consuming? A child who is so spoiled the first thing he does is tries to do is burn me alive with a scorching ray? A father who played lip service to care for his son's well being seeing him a couple of times a week. He never saw to ensure his son was receiving the best care from his instructors.

Putting the son over my knee for trying to fry me, to give him a taste of discipline?! You bet I did! He got five swats with the back of the junk sword he was using. Seeing the abuse caused by his father's handling of him?! I could have beat him and his guards to within an inch of their lives and gotten away with it.

Instead, I took that same junk sword and smacked his ass until the sword broke. Which came too soon for my liking only 20 swats. Seeing a few things, I could relate too. Not exactly the same but it could have been that way. This guy made my father look like a chaste priest."

Jarron nodded, "I can see this guy got to you. It sounds like his son is not a great candidate. Why take him?"

Eldar smiled, "Because the father is paying through the nose to get him the things he needs, because of the disadvantage he put him into. Books, gear, and magical protection. The guy was about to protest the cost when I pointed out his estate. It is close in size to the town we are building. The guy is damned Goldbar, the people who run the bank. A fucking'high-elf' second in wealth behind the crown and he complained when I listed gear for his son."

Jarron laughed, "This is about making the father pay?"

Eldar shook my head, "If it was just about making the father pay, he would be laying on the floor permanently maimed if not dead. It was about saving lives."

Jarron looks confused, "This is about saving this kids life?"

Eldar shook his head, "I am not going to save his life, I am giving him a purpose to live. Not just him either. He does not know he is the last male heir to a Wood-elf family carrying that name."

Charlemagne piped in now, "Who else? Yourself? The Gods?"

Eldar sighed, "Do I owe it to another to do for them what Master Yetto did for me, ten times over. Did the Gods send me there? Yes, they did. The other life I am saving is Elder Strong Oak."

Annette asked, "How is this saving Eldar Strong Oak?"

Eldar smiled, "I neglected to mention this part. Elder Strong Oak is the last to bear the Strong Oak name. The boy's name is Narius Strong Oak, son of Tisa Strong Oak. I do not know the relationship, but the kid is family and carries her family name. Then I find out he was born on the same day I was, thirty years later.

I am giving them both a new purpose in life. I knew I had to take him as soon as I knew his family name. I just ensured his father paid, and the boy knows who was in charge. How much is that worth?"

Jarron sighed, "One of these days I will have you figured out."

Eldar shook his head, "No, you will not. You already have me figured out you just do not want to admit it. I do something for a greater purpose, putting other lives ahead of my own. I am out to help save the elven people. Save and lift the lives of those around me who need it the most.

If they realize it or not. Take the cloaks, they are all enchanted, the money came from an account set up by my father. I did not know about the account until my trip to the bank. I spent a big slice of that money to protect my people even more."

He chuckled, "I suppose I do when you put it like that."

He sighed back, "I have not figured out how you keep betting against me?"

That had all of them laughing at this point as they approached Guard New Moon. Jarron fired back, "You neglected to tell me about divine support."

Eldar laughed, "You would have given me odds to double or triple my money if I told you I saw this in a dream."

Charlemagne could not stop laughing. She nodded her head up and down. Jarron smirked, "If you were so certain then why did you bet me?"

Eldar nodded, "Fair question. What better way to show my confidence in the idea? What a better way to get you to make the needed inquiries? If only to see how far off base you thought I was? Also, what better way to improve the lives of our people and to help the elven people in one shot?"