Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 01 Ch. 28

This is us doing it with indirect guidance if you will from the Dragons. We help to keep things in check. When we find a major issue like we will be discussing today we bring it to their attention. At that point, it becomes a dragon matter."

The Lady nodded, "Silence from this point forward unless asked a question." They walked into a large chamber and the prisoner was waiting. She handed Eldar the rope attached to the manacles for the prisoner and pointed him forward. Blaze stared at the prisoner. He started to speak and Eldar held up his hand. They walked forward and he felt the hum of energy as some sort of barrier came into place.

They looked around and they saw Dragons flying in from each direction and taking positions around a U-shaped table. Most of the conversation was in draconic with a lot of shouting from the gold and silver at the red at the table. The blue and black next to him did not seem to provide any aid. 2 silver and 2 gold dragons from the back came and escorted the red out of the room. That left 8.

They were in front of the Dragon's Council of Nine, minus the red who was the Draco-liches son. They all shifted into a humanoid form and the room seemed to be a more normal size now. It was a nice trick. One sat there flipping through a report that looked like it was several hundred pages thick, He was a Gold Dragon before the shift.

The dragon looked at Eldar, "You carry all of these titles."

Eldar bowed to him, "I have not seen what you are holding but I carry many different titles. All of them lead back to being a protector of the Elven people, guardian of the southern border, and a Commander in the Knights. The titles I am most proud of are husband, soon-to-be father, and Grand Master Blade Singer, Your Majesty."

He looks at Eldar, "Commander in the Knights, Commander of the Gray Blades, Knight Champion of Corellon Larethian, and Grand Master Blade Singer."

Eldar nodded, "You are missing two I was also Knighted by the Elven Queen as Knight Protector of the Elven people and just an hour ago made a Duke over the Southern Province of the Elven Kingdom."

He looked at the paper, "This says you joined the Knights, a Lieutenant jumped to a commander in just a few weeks?!"

Eldar nodded, "That is accurate, Your Majesty."

He looks at Eldar, "How old are you?"

Eldar sighed, "A few months away from my 85th birthday."

The dragon looked at the group and threw his hands up and looked at Jarron, "You found this one?"

Jarron shook his head, "His father and mother created him. He is a double legacy. His wife Charlemagne helped to recruit him. I hired him to take over for her when she would be out with a pregnancy. Then he came back with even more ideas and made a wager with me. One that would keep his wife working, help the Elven people, provide a central location for gathering intelligence, and feed potential Knights into our group. We added 12 for this mission.

We added 2 more high-ranking contacts in the city that went on this mission, including one at the Academy an arcane instructor, Instructor Moon Bow. Also, the premier Elven Weapon Smith you would recognize the family name Gatrius Moon Blade."

The Gold King looked at Jarron, "These are the first he recruited?"

Eldar shook his head, "No they are not. I also worked recruiting my other wife Duchess Annette Silvertree as an intelligence asset. I then recruited an unarmed combat expert and his sister who is an archer trick rider. Both of whom are providing instructions. The unarmed combat might not seem like a big thing but it led to the capture of one spy in less than 30 seconds without a spell going off and she was a 7th-tier caster.

So, subduing and capturing spies has been a thing we try to do to enemy combatants like this poor fellow..." As Eldar pushed the prisoner forward. "I also recruited Captain Silver Moon who has been Knighted in 2 courts and wields her family Moon Blade. Finally, Captain Blaze, who is also known as Sir Captain Goldeagle, nephew of the Queen.

Captain Goldeagle was in charge of the men I went back to help protect. He lost 3 in the attack we intercepted. While we killed hundreds. We present the prisoner for question and disciplinarian action based on the articles of Dragon War treaties.

Governing the capture of enemy combatants who are of dragon lineage. It is a small subsection as capturing someone of DragonlLineage is a rare feat. Page 493 Section 12 last subsection, Your Majesty."

He looks at Eldar, "You read these things for fun?"

Eldar nodded, "I found a lot of things in treaties useful including the information that allowed us to put this mercenary company together. It combined elements from 3 treaties. I last looked at these over 14-20 years ago. Except for the treaties dealing with the mercenary company as I pulled those out for Jarron. I gave him the relative page and paragraph numbers he needed to read and in what order, Your Majesty."

They heard a few chuckles. Jarron nodded, "He has an excellent memory even knowing the name of the group from a book his mother had. He has regained the book and plans to have a thousand copies made so I never use the 'you do not know shit' test question. He knew the answer. Except for the reformation. He read that book as a child over 60 years ago, Your Majesty."

The Gold Dragon King looked at Eldar, "I do not know what to make of you."

Eldar nodded, "You are in good company. As except for the Gods nobody knows what to make of me, including me at times, Your Majesty."

That got a few more laughs. He flipped to the back, "It comments on the fact that your courtly behavior is unusual and sometimes humorous to some."

Eldar nodded, "True, I do not go in for courtly subterfuge. I have too much to do than to deal with playing games. I am very direct at getting to what I want, need, or the message I need to deliver. Also capturing spies in the main audience chamber. Where swords should not be drawn; but I did it anyway. Which led to our 2 latest assassins with over 7,000 killed including 92 Blade Singer among them.

Of those, 71 received justice with the death of Lord Barimus, the Draco-lich that was taken to task in this mission. One of them helped to create the Draco-lich leading the horde. The other 21 were ordered by one man. He is dead in a trial by combat. He was a Grand Master Blade Singer. Like you, we act against our own who go rogue. I took his life in under 30 seconds, Your Majesty."

He looked over at the Lady who sat next to him, "Do we know when we will get this assassin?"

She shook her head. She looked to talk and Eldar interrupted, "No disrespect but unless the Queen grants some sort of exception the assassins would never be released to you. Same treaty Same page Paragraph 18 dealing with crimes committed against elven people and captured by elven people shall be held fully accountable up to and including execution. We are working to find the people who used these assassins and bring them to justice as well. They were in the castle to commit Regicide.

I would expect the Queen to make them available for questioning but they would likely never be turned over based on the treaty. Not with the number of dead Elves, unlike the previous spy who wanted to kill the King. We have names and numbers we are still working through, Your Majesty."

The Gold Dragon King asks for a copy of the treaty and closes the book.

He smiled, "We will have to have our examiners come there. They can work on the prisoner."

Jarron interjects, "The Queen will allow questioning but not torture. We have a psionic who aided in the interrogation of the spies and assassins that we captured. Including the non-elven ones that we did turn over, Your Majesty."

The Gold Dragon King played dumb and looked at him, "Where did he get a psionic asset?"

Eldar looked at him, "I married her and recruited her. My wife Duchess Annette Silvertree. She is the Knight Intelligence asset I mentioned." Eldar brought her forward. "She also aided significantly in the capture of your prisoner here and ensured that no call for help went out, Your Majesty."

They appeared to be having a private conversation.

He looked at Eldar, "She says you provided direction on which abilities to bring to bear."

Eldar nodded, "Having a psionic in a group is a challenge. She adheres to a strict code of conduct on when to use her abilities and against who. Most of the time if she were in an inn, she would just read surface thoughts. For an interrogation, she goes much deeper.

Having to develop her talents without the aid of instruction she does not yet know the full scope of her powers as of yet. I am well versed in tactics. She takes my direction in these matters on the rare occasion we take her into the field for something. Like this last mission, Your Majesty."

The Gold Dragon King looked at Jarron, "Please take them to a guest suite while we confer and talk with the prisoner."

He turned and followed Jarron out of the room. They got halfway down a hall and Eldar sighed, "Why does guest suite sound like 'comfy prison cell?'"

Jarron chuckled, "You are not a prisoner but you are not allowed to roam free either. Expect your room to be monitored."

Eldar shook his head, "As I can invoke diplomatic privilege I do not wish or want you to monitor my room. We will remain in our rooms as the Captain will want his own. We will allow the guards outside the room. If we do have to venture out the guard protection is warranted. I can block the interior of the room from teleportation so the only way in will be your guards."

The lady looked at Jarron. Jarron nodded, "You have that right, but we will monitor the Captain as his room is not going to be protected from teleportation."

Eldar nodded, "Then they will not get a good view of the freaky sex show."

Jarron chuckled and the ladies smirked. He looked at him, "Am I allowed to work?"

He looks at Eldar, "What are you talking about?"

Eldar looked at Jarron, "I got several scrolls I wish to add to my spell books. Volumes of captured spell books to go over. A couple of books the Queen gave me on the Court and Etiquette. I also want to get in some sword practice."

Jarron nodded, "That would be a good thing to take up your time. You will likely be in there for a couple of days as they will want me back for further questioning."

Eldar looked at him, "Food. We have 2 days to be back for the debrief."

Jarron nodded, "Food will be brought to you. The debrief might be delayed."

They got to the room and it was quite spacious. He cast the second to last copy of the private sanctum spell and blocked teleportation into the room. He shook his head, found a table, pulled out quills and ink, and his spell book.

---

The Gold Dragon King pointed, "Our psionic dragons will collectively be going through your mind. Resistance will be painful. Resist if you feel you must and know that it will not stop their activity, even If you fall unconscious."

The 3 of them worked collectively searching for different kinds of information. The Half-Dragon's mind was on fire from the onslaught of the 3 dragons working in tandem. He resisted for all of 20 seconds before crumbling to the ground and crying in pain. They fed all of the information back to scribes who listened into each mind and wrote down what was discovered.

They had volumes of data including those Chromatic Dragons who had been accused or who had contacted Lord Barimus after his change and knew he was still alive. That list grew to 175 names, including 2 rogue metallic dragons. The council looked over at the two leaders, "We will be issuing arrest warrants for all the names on this list for their knowledge in the violation of the Dragon Wars Peace treaty."

The Blue looked over, "Point of order. This is uncorroborated hearsay information from an abomination."

The Silver Queen dropped tomes on the desk, "Arrest warrants for interrogation. We have the logs kept over the years to go with what was extracted from his mind, which included visuals of any dragons he might have met. The psionic dragons have that."

He still stood there, "The proof of what is in your hand was done by another, instead of this abomination?"

She sighed, "As the Draco-lich is destroyed that would be very difficult to prove. Now the spies the Elves captured would be another matter. They might not have every dragon on this list, but they have some and we will get to the bottom of it. Not all accusations before this council have to have Dragons or Pure-blooded ancestry to be considered.

If we went off ancestry the words of blues, blacks, reds, umbrals, greens, and a few other undesirable and untrustworthy dragon races would have no voice here. We could go after the human spy as well if the risk is worth the reward of finding those who might be seeking their services.

From the journals, he was as untrustworthy as Trobarim was in faking his death into undeath. The human soul bound the dragon to ensure if he died so did the Draco-lich. The word I received is the Mage fell ill for 2 days afterward before reappearing with a new amulet that is believed to increase his constitution and fortitude to make up for what he lost.

All communication into human lands is being monitored at all times by Silver Dragon Knight aligned assets to isolate any further attempts to contact this wizard. Consider yourselves warned."

The Emerald dragon council member looked at the Silver Dragon Queen, "I am less inclined to believe those who are not Dragons. I still believe we should be isolated from the other species and this proves my point once again."

The Amethyst Queen stood and looked across, "You are and will always be an isolationist. There is much we can learn from and much we could teach them if permitted."

The Silver Queen looked around, "While we still have a quorum, I move to Bring Eldar, Charlemagne, and Annette into the Order of Dragons. Charlemagne would work for me dealing with Knight asset allocation of resources around the world and coming out of this training facility they are building.

Annette is a unique opportunity to deal with a non-dragon psionic who can get into locations we would have trouble accessing. Getting all of her skills she can master known and to the surface should be of interest to our Gemstone Dragons. Eldar worked tirelessly to bring Trobarim's crimes into the light and find a way for us to deal with them with minimal exposure.

He is also the Champion of Corellon and has been selected to be the Field Marshal as well as the Duke over that area. When war strikes there, Eldar will be leading. He sees any Dragon interference and he can report it, just as he did. Along with a plan and solution to address the issue."

The Amethyst Queen looked over, "I second the motion on these three." The Black asked, "Who would be the sponsor to this Eldar and what of this elven abomination psionic."

The amethyst smiled, "I would take on the lovely Half-elven Psion into my care as her sponsor."

The gold dragon King finally spoke, "I would take on Eldar. His memory and tactical abilities fascinate me. We have dragons who spend a lifetime, like some of our Crystal and Amethyst Dragons do, to try and have the memory he has naturally. Instead of a Silver overseeing this Regional General, a Gold Dragon for a change. The motion on the floor needs a vote. All in favor?"

The vote carried at 5-3. The crystal who had been quiet the entire time but voted in favor of these 3 sought to seek a balance. "I put forth that we table the discussion arrest warrants the validity of the testimony derived from the prisoner's mind until the council is back to its full 9 and in balance.

The Blue looked over, "I second that motion. You got your 3 new Knights into the Order of Dragon because of the vacancy. Nothing more. Until this council is full, talk of warrants that break this balance should be halted."

They ran the vote and got a 4-4 split. Deadlocked. The Crystal looked over, "Any motion to bring warrants will be a no vote from me until the balance is restored. If you wish to pursue it now, then do so now. Else adjourn the meeting until the vacancy can be filled. Your 3 new members of the Order of the Dragon could still be here tomorrow to get the offer before the council if you wish."

The Gold Dragon fumed a bit as he knew the psionic dragons would cause a rift if he pushed it. He looked over. "I move to adjourn this meeting for now." The Black looked over, "Second." They had 5 votes for, 2 against, and 1 who abstained. The meeting was adjourned. The Silver and Brass Dragons had voted to keep going, the Gold Dragon King voted to stop to keep the peace. The Amethyst Dragon Queen abstained from that vote."

---

The Gold Dragon's chambers had the Silver Queen and the Amethyst Queen present. He had the room sealed.

The Silver Queen, "Why did you vote to adjourn!?"

The Amethyst Queen sighed, "Because he knew it could end up a 4-4 tie. You want the Crystal on your side, you have to be in balance and present solid evidence to sway his vote. The emerald will always vote to isolate us because he is paranoid. The thing about both of them is they are consistent. You have not been on the council as long as the Gold King or myself.

Votes taken that end in deadlock cannot be brought back up again unless new information is available. That is where I can help. I get a read on these 3 and I can put forth a formal report. I am the strongest psionic the Council has. They know it.

The Gold King taking sponsorship for one and I another shows some diversity in your Knights. Not all Silver Dragons. That is how you got all 3 approved. The Crystal did not see it as just Silver dragons with those three, we divided them out."

The Silver Dragon Queen sighed, "Alright. Now we just need to get them to agree. I am going back to my monitoring station."

---

Eldar started copying in spells for the next several hours until the food arrived. The ladies were bored out of their minds waiting as the room did not even have windows.

He looked at them, "Why don't you two get in the toy bag while I finish up here." They smiled and got out of their clothes. He got all of the scrolls into the spellbook that he wanted to transfer over. That dropped the stack almost in half but some were fairly unique. Like his last copy of private sanctum. The girls were under the blankets playing to not distract him when the evening meal arrived.

He checked it for poison and then peeled off his clothes after the dishes were taken away. He found a small room in which some levers controlled the water coming into an overhead fixture. He grabbed the ladies, "An indoor rainstorm that you can control the temperature with. They stood under it and rinsed the day's grit and grime off of them.

He looked at Annette, "My cock could use a good cleaning while we are in here. For that matter so could your pussy."

He picked her up and flipped her upside down. He sucked on her pussy while she sucked him off. Annette was not as skilled as her sister but she had been improving and it seemed to be a race to see who could get who off first.

She screamed out and held her head back and he shot all over her stomach and tits. He looked down to find Charlemagne. She sat in the corner with a couple of fingers in her pussy. He huffed, "Annette has made a mess of it."

He smiled, "I got her here why don't you clean her up and I have to clean this pussy some more now as it is all full of sticky molasses fluid. When you get done let me know so I can wash that dirty pussy of yours. God knows what you have been sticking in it beside your fingers."

He licked Annette out quickly and then attacked her clit with a strong passionate kiss and she started to arch away.

Charlemagne stood up and said, "My turn." He stopped leaving Annette right on the edge of coming again.