Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 01 Ch. 29

Eldar could not help but chuckle. "Help him back to his feet. Point for creative thinking. You are supposed to be working your blade, not your foot. In combat, if it works, do it. Not in sparring. I will remind you both you are not competing against each other but yourselves. One has a mischievous side and the other a vengeful side. Need to leave those out of your sparring this is about skill and form. Switch it up."

They spared like that for an hour. He looked at the two of them and they were hot and sweaty. He walked over to them and waved them to him.

You are progressing. "There was no clear winner or loser in this. You both did well. Bow you are hot and sweaty and quite frankly smell."

With that, he pushed them both into the water. She came up laughing and he did not. She dove under and helped him to the surface.

Eldar looked at them, "She knows swimming, you know something about acrobatics. You two are going to work on those two together when you are here. Now if you have drunk your fill and cooled off you can get out of the water."

He looked at Moon Ray, "Points for going after him without having to be asked."

She smiled and he smiled back. The two got out of the water. The crowds started to arrive. He cast cantrips to dry off his students.

He waited for everyone to get there and then got up on T'suras, "I am up here so I can see any hands that pop-up. I would like the Elders to gather for a minute and read this. I made two copies, one for each village. Let me know when you are ready to continue. For my officers, it is a list of things that have been done. Some of which you are not aware of yet. It will be relevant to the Elders.

I will Speak with Captain Dusk Moon and my training officers at my home after this meeting for more details. If you would hold your questions until then I would appreciate it."

The Elders finish reading the list of things. He looked at the crowd, "Those are the things I have been doing and leading my men into. At least those things not classified by the Royal family for the security of the Kingdom. As such, the Queen has made me a Duke over the southern region of the Kingdom which includes your villages all the way up to the border of the city.

Now the first thing I want to say is this will cause growth, the garrison we will be building as I have to build a keep by Order of the Queen. No change in the agreement we have on the town size or trees, that will remain. I need to know which elder is in charge of the warriors for your villages."

He saw two hands go up.

He looked at them, "You are now captains in the protection force. Get a list of your men together and provide it to Captain Tranosa. Charlemagne will get it from him when she returns from the city again. She will be gone for a week or so. Now what this means is nothing.

You will continue to govern your own people with your own rules and your warriors are still under your control. They are required to protect the area which they are already protecting. The difference is they will be getting paid to do it by the Crown."

They chuckled. "I am allowed to have 600 in the protection force."

He looked at the Centaur lieutenant, "Broxam, I am moving from the Gray Blades to this protection force and making you a Captain. As such you know the surrounding area and the warriors protecting it. Get me a list of names and ranks. No more than four lieutenant and two sergeants under each of them. They are protectors of this area already that are now getting paid to do so.

Between the three of you, I am looking for a force of about 450 if you have it but no more unless they wish to provide town and garrison protection. That will be my fourth and last Captain with the 150.

I have also been made a Field Marshal for this area based on my knowledge of the enemy and the allies we are working with. That means when the Elven Army comes in, they will follow my direction. That also means they cannot conscript your warriors or my Blades."

They actually clapped on that news. One of the Elders raises a hand, "What do we call you?

He chuckled, "Eldar Silvertree, Eldar also works. Those that are part of my protection force or Gray Blades should call me General Silvertree or as the Blades like to call me General Stud."

That got a few to laugh. "I leave the Duke crap in the palace not out here where we do the real work. My men will come to know me as the Commanding General for this area. If you hear me referred to as general you understand why."

Another raises a hand, "So you killed the enemy leader?"

He nodded, "The head strike team did. My team was the support team that killed all of the chieftains and bodyguards. We captured the second in command for questioning."

Another raises his hand, "What does this mean for war?"

He sighed, "It will still come, the incursion was part of the posturing of one of the wannabe leaders. They obviously failed so there will be some infighting before they settle on leaders.

That buys us a lot of time to get our fortifications in place so they do not make it here. The goal is to keep them contained as best we can. Other incursions will occur and we have doubled our patrol size. We are also shrinking the area that the mercenaries will patrol in half as the caravan and escorts up to the river can be done by the protection force.

That puts more of our Blades out on the front line of things. The Human General we encountered is also being reinforced and he is doubling his patrol size. I will be leaving in the next couple of days to go see the dwarven King, my apprentices are coming with me. I will have them working on spellbooks all day tomorrow. I am taking a protection detail with me.

Including what is left of the force that protected the caravan and another squad. We now have the authority to start recruiting in the Dwarven Kingdom and we hope to soon have the path cleared to start directly recruiting in the Human Kingdom of Grand Falls. There will be some retention issues along the way. One lieutenant and the two squads she leads. The ones who made up the force with me are looking to move on.

With the war being delayed they are taking on another challenge for the Queen. They have helped immensely. They will be in the city for a few weeks helping to transition the 'spoils of war' over to House Silvertree so we can equip our forces. I do not know how much gear will be recovered as they still had 14 caches to go through. I have ordered cloaks for the warriors like my blades.

They are dark green with brown and black on the Moon and swords. They will blend in with the forest but help to identify those who work for us. I am also getting all town stoves and village stoves changed over to enchanted stoves. This will take time but it will reduce the need for wood to fuel fires immensely."

One of the elders raises his hand, "How are you paying for all of this?"

He smiled, "I am using money given to me through House Silvertree to do so. One other change. Outside of town limits, we will be constructing a large grazing area, pastures for the horses as we start to breed our intelligent creatures and get them to our forces. This will take a little size out of the area we initially plant and these pastures will have a few trees in them.

So, there will be shade. But it will not be as full as the forest here so the horses have food to graze upon." He got a few who nodded. He looked at the Elders. "Have you gotten the seeds for the Silvertree for me? Has the first installment of saplings been given to Captain Dusk Moon?"

Tranosa spoke up, "We have gotten a few hundred so far from each village. They are still searching for more diversity. I have the Silvertree seeds."

He nodded, "I will show you on the map where I want them."

He looked at the Elders, "They will start to dispatch payment when we give them a count of the size and they will send it here for distribution as most do not have accounts in the city. Speaking of which if you have any major purchases you need from the city send the list and funds to Annette. As a Duchess and me as a Duke, we get a nice discount on goods in the city.

I might as well use that as much as possible to help out the villages. This goes to food stores as well. This is a win for the villages. No change in the way you are doing things. Your warriors will get paid for what they already do, and your people are safe from conscription. Any more questions?"

No questions came. He nodded, "I need to know when the bows are ready as I have an enchanter in the city lined up to work on them. I need a carpenter or two to go in and assess and make repairs to the Moon Ray home. I bought it from the daughter and it will be my apprentices' home while I train them and the keep with garrison is being built. Just let Captain Dusk Moon know if my wives are not back yet. I thank everyone for their time. I hope this will be a beneficial arrangement for all of us."

He looked to the new Centaur captain, "You have your work cut out for you. Keep your men on patrol in the same areas but you will need to send word of this back to your communities."

He nodded, "I will keep them on patrol and go myself."

He looked at him, "Now I mention cloaks. Keyno, please wave your arms for him."

She waved her arms. "She is wearing a herald sash instead. I ordered 150 of those for the protection force. I know Centaurs can be particular about what they wear so you have options. The same goes for any acrobatic archers in the villages. Keyno's trick riding drove that option and it is available to you as well. Get with Charlemagne or Annette as they trickle in from town. They are already ordered!"

Captain Broxan nodded, "Thank you for including us in this arrangement. Moving us to the protection force makes sense given the assignments you have us on now."

He nodded, "We will have more incursions and some will make it further in and that is where your men will come in handy to alert us and kill them."

He nodded, "I am off then."

He raised a hand, "This force can include any outlying community that has warriors protecting an area not just centaurs so you could build a diverse force, on paper anyway."

He chuckled and ran off. He looked at his apprentices. "Grab your gear apprentice Strong Oak as you are moving to a new home. I hope your time with my grandmother was to your liking."

He nodded, "Very much, Grand Master."

He smiled at him, "Get going we will ride slowly so you know where you are going."

He looked at them, "Charlemagne, can you ensure the house is free of any other guests? We need the training officer, Tranosa, Captain Blaze, and Silver Moon at this meeting."

He saw Hunter, "How was that elk?"

Tranosa shook his head, "I still did not believe it until I saw it and that was one big buck. Tasty. We saved you some dried meat for your return. I will grab it for you."

He started riding, "What did you do with the trophy?"

He smiled, "I found a guy in the village who is up for mounting it. Might be better in the inn, in your building."

He nodded, "How is that coming along?"

Tranosa sighed, "Slow, the barn is almost complete and the sawmill should be operational in a couple of weeks, if not sooner, that will speed things up."

Eldar smiled, "Thanks for keeping an eye on those things."

He shrugged, "Greentree has been driving them. They have three of those fields cleared. The farmers are ecstatic over that. They are laying in the stone foundations.

The stonecutters are getting blocks out and have found a few gems, we used our share to pay the farmers. They are staging the blocks until we come back with a decision on what we want to be built. Which KEEPS changing."

This got some laughs.

He nodded, "We can talk about that at the meeting."

He had his apprentices with him. He headed toward their home and stopped in front.

He looked at them. "Take care of your colts I will be right back."

He walked into the house and heard moaning. He saw the door to the room upstairs was not closed. He walked up the stairs and pushed the already open door open further and Silver Moon had her knees by her head. Tiger was standing over her with his cock quickly slamming into her cunt. He waited for them to finish as neither looked his way.

He finally deposited his load into her and withdrew. He packed more below the belt than most elves he knew, himself included. He had at least 8-9 inches and has about an extra inch in girth. He finally started clapping and they realized they had an audience.

He looked at them, "Better me than my apprentices. The other will be moving in here today. This room is going to be taken over by my other apprentice. We will have to find you another place to split wood."

Tiger chuckled at that.

He looked at Silver Moon, "Never let Eagle-eye see what he is packing below the belt or she will want to borrow him, and you!"

She was still red-faced, "You missed the meeting at the Falls. I need both of you in my home as soon as you are packed and this room is cleaned for the young male elf coming in here in just a few minutes.

She jumped up and he closed the door for them.

He yelled through the door, "If you keep the room clean you can borrow our room when we are out of town."

He walked downstairs and pulled out ink and quills with books on first and second level spells as well as one on cantrips. He pulled down a book stand, opened the first level book to the first spell he wanted them to add to their book, Magic Missile.

He saw them come in. He looked at them, "Over here, I know it is getting late. Eat something and then I want you to copy this ONE spell into your blank spellbooks. Save the first ten pages front and back for cantrips. We will add those tomorrow along with more first level spells and maybe even a couple of second-tier spells you will need for this trip if we get into any trouble.

I will allow you to pick one first level and one-second level spell during this exercise that is yours. Remember Blade Singers are offense and defense spells especially at your skill level." They nodded at him.

He smiled, "I have a meeting to get to as soon as Dame Silver Moon moves out of the room upstairs, she will be joining us. It will be you two in this house tonight. No trouble. I have divination spells that can monitor you."

The two looked wide-eyed. "Food, spells, and then bed. Morning weapons training half an hour with each arm and bow each arm for half an hour. When I get here that all stops and we move to spells for the rest of the day."

They nodded at him. He walked out of the house with Silver Moon and Tiger behind him. We got to the house and Cook had been nice enough to have a meal ready for them. He cast the private sanctum spell and then magically locked the door.

He looked at the group as he sat down and sighed, "I just threw a spell up to block voices from being heard out of this house. I magically locked the door. The list of things we did is accurate some details were left out. We found the location for 14 weapons and armor caches and 77 billion worth of coins and gems.

All of it was stolen treasure from the Dragon's Royal Treasury. They had 412 billion stolen. The majority of that was in the Draco-liches horde. We knew him as Lord Barimus, now destroyed. That and we destroyed a large section of their top leadership. We captured the second in command who is a half-dragon.

He was turned over to the Dragon high council. I no longer work for Jarron or my father. I have been made a General in the Knights covering this region. This went hand in hand with a no death raid into the horde and using Annette to extract some key data the dragons needed in order to expedite the transfer of stolen treasure out of the area.

All said and done, we are keeping the weapons and armor, the governments are each keeping a billion gold pieces reserve. I have a different contact than Jarron or my father. Charlemagne and Annette have different contacts as well. They were both elevated. They have an interest in using Annette to help get into places it is hard for them to get into. Without being detected as dragons.

With the no torture method, she can get information quickly, saves time, and lives. Charlemagne's role will be working on Knight's training, pay, and disbursement of assets around the world.

All of this was negotiated between two Kings, a Queen and the Dragon Council which oversees the Knights. That is why I said Commanding General in case anyone slips and we have all of these ranks flying around. It means I can assign someone into my commander position.

Charlemagne is in the same position. Which means her commander slot will open up. Annette is receiving special training with an instructor to help find what she can do and what she cannot. Someone with her type of talents. She will report anything she finds through me.

I have direct communication with the Queen and my contact with the Knights depending on what we find. Over the next few days, Captain Silver Moon will be teleporting back and forth with all of you in small groups to get new equipment. More will come in by wagon for the troops. They will let you know when they are ready for certain people.

They will pull some of the best gear for you guys. The news about the guys leaving is true. They are going to Jarron as they had to be brought in for this mission. Jarron went on this mission to watch how I did things. This regional general thing is new.

You recover over 400 billion for the dragons and do it with no exposure to them. They are impressed. We can thank Annette for her talents in interrogation and having the enemy strip off all their magical protection and eventually lay on the ground with his hands behind his back. Any questions?"

He looked around the room and a lot of open mouths as he told them about it all. Finally, Tranosa looks at him, "You went into a Draco-lich layer with 2 squads?"

He nodded, "Not alone. We had 24 silver dragons. We also had 4 Moon Blades with us. In case you are wondering, we had Silver Moon, Moon Bow, and Moon Blade with us. The last two are high profile knights outside of my area other than being a valuable resource for getting equipment.

We had a few other Knights from our dwarven friends with us on the mission. A couple of sappers and clerics. The sappers did not get to do what we wanted but were able to aid in getting to the device holding the teleport blocker. Oh, I almost forgot when I went forward to let them know about the device.

The Draco-lich turned on me and tried to roast me. I am immune to fire damage thanks to my sword. Apparently, all dragons can hear psionic communication; even undead dragons. The fact that we knew where the teleport blocker was located and he knew who I was kind of pissed him off. It allowed the 6 dragons on him to tear his first body apart."

Tranosa looked at Eldar, "How many bodies did it have?"

Eldar smiled, "12 that it could occupy. That was where the other 18 dragons went. They were working through the traps and ward on the way to them. They then started disintegrating them. When it died, they knew which alcove it was in. They walled it in with a wall of force until they were finished with the other bodies.

Then they ripped that one body apart with 18 of them. They found the phylactery and destroyed it. They were also impressed with my wall of force idea. Apparently, that distraction I gave on the Draco-lich saved one of the silvers from being killed. I found this out later."

Tranosa laughed at him and shook his head. Eldar looked at him, "I think you would be a great commander you could take over for Charlemagne. Take care of what she does if she is away."

He stopped laughing, "You are kidding me right?"

He shook his head, "I like your sense of humor. She is off seeing Greentree at the moment. I am thinking of Blaze to eventually replace me as the front-line commander. It solves a couple of restrictions the Queen placed on his travel after I made him a Knight. That idea caught her by surprise, but I told her it would keep him local."