Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 01 Ch. 31

The Bard looked at him, "So you been hooking up with some sergeant who is an Arcane Archer have you?"

He looked at her, "Who are you and how did you know?!"

Eldar looked at him, "I hope you love her, she is right outside why don't you invite her in."

He was red in the face and he invited her in. The face almost floored him as he stood quickly and turned slightly white as the blood rushed from his face, "Sergeant Goldensong."

She looked at Eldar, "Yes, oh by the Gods, you are him."

He looked at her, "I am sorry about your sister, I hope your parents are well...surviving after that."

She nodded and the ladies now knew why he did what he did. The reason why he just shot up like that from his chair, "When did you join us?"

She looked at Eldar, "A few days after the funeral."

He nodded, "Well maybe you can name your daughter after her. You are carrying an Arcane Archer and a Battle Mage. The Girl is the Battle Mage."

He looked at the Captain, "You better let the Queen know about the wedding. Do not make me spring another surprise on her."

She stared at Eldar. Eldar broke her out of it as he commented, "You want to get the door Doc is back. She opened the door just as Doc was getting ready to knock.

She turned around. Eldar looked at Doc, "Do both checks and show Captain Goldeagle. Doc did his divination thing and just as he told her. "You can check to see if they love each other but it is obvious to me. The question is when will they get married? Take a couple of days to think about that. You will be left in charge while most of the other Captains and commanders are gone. I need to speak with you upstairs Captain."

The bard just stared at him, "I told you to talk to Doc."

He took the Captain upstairs, "Let me start by saying the palace is working a cover story. One of the assassins who tried to kill the King and Queen was a male in disguise. He gained access to the palace district through his lover of 40 years. The assassin was a Goldeagle who had been banished. His lover was your elder sister. The Queen cleared me to tell you."

He leaned against the door, "One two punch from you, you're going to be a father and lose a sister."

He nodded, "Sorry about that I was hoping I was wrong, that assassin also had plans for the death of your mother. The threats we uncovered in the dwarven Kingdom and human Kingdoms both had some kind of plan to instill a puppet government. One was a son. The other was the destruction of the entire human court. We did not stop that as you know but I kept the puppet government from forming. That led us to question your mother and her comments led us to your sister."

Captain Goldeagle looked at Eldar, "So, no doubt?"

Eldar looked at him, "She confessed much and her head was checked by three different individuals. Two of whom were dragons and one was Annette's trainer in psionics. I will tell you one more thing. Not to hurt you but to keep it from hurting you with the Queen."

He nodded "Go ahead."

Eldar looked at him, "Your sister was more than a lover. She also helped in the torture of Blade Singer Goldensong. The Queen knows this or she will very soon when she gets the report from Annette. She did not kill her, but she did not make her life easy. I killed the Grand Master who ordered the assassination."

He nodded, "Best I knew. I wish it had not happened but I cannot worry about what my sister did."

He looked at him, "I was not joking about naming your daughter after her. She was a competitor on the field. Someone who held a special place in my heart off of the field. After all of the competitions were done. I killed that Grand Master in under 30 seconds and I did it in a way that no other Blade Singer in attendance will ever forget."

He nodded, "I heard some of this from her sister." He opened his bag up and pulled out his journal and opened it up the entry for the last competition.

He looked at him, "You probably did not hear about this from her sister. My wives are the only ones who have seen this entry." He sat there and read it and laughed and shook his head."

Eldar looked at him, "That was probably the closest she came to love. She was taken a few days later. That is one of my regrets. You know the rest of that story."

He nodded, "Obviously not your best moment."

Eldar laughed nervously, "Probably my worst was how that ended. She was killed because she did not beat me in the fucking competition. The Grand Master lost a ton of money and wanted her to suffer. Even after death."

He nodded, "You killed him too quickly."

Eldar sighed, "A promise to Annette before she told me the details of what the assassin did to her and that she was dead."

He nodded, "You have good wives."

Eldar smiled, "You will be an excellent father. The others are arriving and we need to get down there."

The officers filed in and he looked at his apprentices, "You can wait by your horses." He looked to Sergeant Goldensong, "He will be out shortly to pass along assignments and help you to plan a royal wedding."

That got a few laughs as most of the officers were out of the loop. "For those who do not know I predicted again and we have another set of twins on the way."

Charlemagne jumped in, "He did two but Doc will have to check the other for us when he is in town."

Eldar looked at her. "Anyway."

He got interrupted and Cook asked, "Who?"

Annette fired back, "Moon Bow."

Eagle-eye laughed, "He probably has not had sex with that bitch of his wife once they had one son."

Eldar looked at her, "I never said it was with his wife. Annette you are supposed to be seeing Greentree." She got up and headed out. "Now moving on."

Eagle-eyes eyes went wide, "Gods, who has he been sticking it to?"

He sighed, "A female not five years out of the Academy. Blade Singer who started teaching magical theory after I left. Just so she could be near him. Doc, when you see Moon Bow you probably should take him aside and let him know exactly what I said. Two boys. Both Blade Singers.

If we are done with the prediction issues. I want Captains Tranosa and New Moon to travel as part of my honor guard for the funeral. Along with Doc and Fireball. I need those four and two others from our best Blade Singers, fighters, of Battle Mages. Those two do not need to be a part of the funeral Honor Guard. I leave the rest of that up to volunteers who wish to go.

In some ways, a lot of you knew my father better than I did. Show of hands."

He had Skinner, Cook, Eagle-eye, Moon Bow, and Captain Silver Moon volunteer. He knew Silver Moon went through the academy with him.

He looked at them, "I blocked Goldeagle from this because I need a Captain back here and I am leaving Captain Silver Moon off of this mission to watch over my apprentices and be my voice with the three villages. She is also working on equipment distribution.

For those going on this mission the day after, this is information gathering with a possible search and destroy. We are looking for one wizard. The one who killed my father. He is a necromancer and may have turned into a lich. We are going the day before the Queen arrives. I will have a group of Battle Clerics, Battle Mages, and Blade Singers waiting in House Silvertree.

Pulling some from the Academy to be in this reserve by order of the Queen including Moon Bow. Let me take a moment to introduce you to Lieutenant Silversong. I see we have six dwarven lieutenants with us, welcome. Any sappers in this group. One raised his hand. Eldar looked at him, "How many sergeants among the sappers?"

He held up two fingers. "Privates?" He held up four.

"I want one elven Battle Mage, Battle Cleric, two rogue-types, and two fighters assigned to fill out those ranks. Three sappers to a squad and the Lieutenant is in charge of both squads. I want your guys to do an assessment and plan the destruction of the valley entrance. You will be moving into human territory. Do not expect to see any of them there.

Captains Goldeagle, The Lieutenant reports to you while I am away. They will be assigned out of the fort once it is built. I want ideas on how to narrow the valley. Crater the valley, if you can think of it, I want to hear about it when I get back."

He chuckled and finally spoke, "Call me Sparks, I just finished my master levels training. These others are more than qualified but not masters yet. My buddies said, you respected sappers."

Eldar nodded, "The mission I was on with them I requested sappers. A Good sapper can deal as much damage as a Battle Mage or arcane archer. A great one can do a squad's worth."

This got the dwarves chuckling. "That leaves five, who among you can ride?" He got two hands. Eldar looked at those two, "When I get back, they are in my detail until I can decide which one will become my first Dwarven Captain. The other three Tranosa get them assigned under elven captains for now.

I highly recommend learning to ride. Once you see me on horseback you will know why. You have war horses?" They both nodded. Eldar nodded, "If you need help with training them, I will point you at Lieutenant Trick-shot. She trained human horses to do some of her crazy stuff. Put on a demonstration for them tomorrow will you please. Trickshot is also known as Lieutenant Keyno Dusk Moon.

She is married to Captain Dusk Moon. We will be activating another three Moon Blades on the twelfth please be sure the village elders are aware Captain. All Moon Blade holders are expected, meaning mandatory attendance. While I only need a minimum of four active blades to do this it is important that we have as many as we can get. Word is being passed to those in the city as well.

Captain Tranosa plan rotations accordingly. For those who are new. Stay away from the falls unless you are invited. This ceremony burned the eyes out of one who tried the last time. This is no joke. For those who did not catch my name, Command General Eldar Silvertree. Any pressing questions?"

One of the dwarves asked, "I heard you got one of our paragons all worked up about these blades. Could we see one?"

He smiled, "Silversong you have not claimed that blade yet so stand-fast. BLADES Moon Blades up! Karti'Ros Left-hand moon Fire on."

The dwarves looked around the room and they saw Silver Moon, Tranosa, New Moon, and Eldar's were all out. The five dwarves look around. They nodded.

His buddy smiled, "He only asked to see one."

Everyone laughed. Eldar looked at him, "Three out of the four Captains in this room hold a Blade. Soon both of my apprentices will hold these blades. Captain Goldeagle is a battle-mage. His brother holds the family blade. They will kill any non-owner who tries to handle it. If one falls in a battle note the location but do not touch it.

Only one person in an elven family can hold a blade. A new owner cannot be granted except after death. That is why I had them show the ones in this room. So, you know. Also, which Gray Blades have them. If that is all we got a few waiting for us outside to see."

They stepped out and Eldar continued, "Doc give me four Battle Clerics suited to this mission." Eldar saw his Aunt Trisna and walked out to her, "You are coming back with us tonight for tomorrow?" She nodded.

He whispered to her, "I see things are going well with you and Hunter. Does he know yet?"

She looked at him and Eldar smiled, "Let me guess I know more than either of you do. Run a pregnancy check, in private."

She looked shocked and stared at Hunter.

He saw the four Battle Clerics, "Silver Moon or one of the others will teleport you out tomorrow night. You will be going to House Silvertree. You will be on a reserve to teleport into a potential battle zone. No horses needed. Battle Mages and Blade Singers?"

He had one Blade Singer who graduated eight years before him. Eldar nodded to him, "Welcome, I did not expect to see you."

He nodded. "You avenged two of my relatives and a classmate. You proved yourself to me."

He nodded, "I want you on the assault team standby. I do not expect it to stay standby so keep your blade sharp. That leaves four Battle Mages. I will tell you right now if the prey we are hunting is out there they took down 20 casters and I have more Battle Mages coming in from the Academy including Moon Bow. This one is a necromancer."

They stared at each other and he got the top 4 candidates.

Eldar looked at Silver Moon, "Make arrangements to get those 9 to house Silvertree tomorrow. Honor guard, be sure you have your horses. Aunt, you can grab a horse from House Silvertree but saddle up with Hunter for the moment. Silver Moon get casters who can cast teleportation circle to get the others out tonight if they can.

House guards are going to put them up in the Wing dedicated to the Blades at the moment. Also, two days from now get the Lieutenant in charge of the sappers and the Captain candidates out to House Silvertree. Let them look over what gear their people might be interested in."

He looked over, "Tiger, I want a sparring match between you and our two dwarven Captain candidates unarmed combat. Let me know how it goes."

Tiger smiled. The Dwarves looked at the skinny human and chuckled. He thought to himself, 'They will learn I do not send lambs into the lion.'

Eldar looked over, "Captain Goldeagle keep a healer on hand in case the dwarves need one."

The dwarves looked at Eldar with indignation as he teleported out with the group he was with.

He looked at his apprentices, "Stable your horses. Follow Hunter to the wing you will be staying in for the night." He walked down the hall with his wives and was glad this day ended. They got to his room and they got undressed and crawled into bed together with his arms around his two crescent moons for the first time in weeks.

---

Lady Amy Tryst was in the neutral dragon section of the great Dragon city. She had the head of Crystal Dragons and Emerald Dragons with her. She had secured her home.

She looked across at them, "This is mostly for one of you. The one who keeps voting for isolation."

The Emerald King looked at her, "I would prefer we had no contact with them at all. They could be a danger to us if they knew some of the things that have happened in the past."

She nodded and held out her hands. "I had permission to access Eldar Silvertree's mind. It about knocked me on my ass. Both of you, sit and connect to me."

She sent them both the flood of images that made up Eldar's entire life and the things he had been doing. She opened her eyes to see she had to wake both of them up as she had knocked them both out cold. The crystal looked at her, "He has a perfect mind, if only he were a psion. My youngest son would benefit from this knowledge as he has been searching for a perfect psion mind. He will want to watch this family."

The Emeralds King shook his head and looked at her and sighed, "You've made your point. He has a son on the way. He may or may not have a mind like that. But we should teach him. Regardless, from what you showed us it was the right call to bring those 3 into the Order. He is furious with the Metallics at the moment. Especially the Silver Queen."

Amy nodded, "I cannot say he has no reason to be upset with them. The way his mind works. The way he sees things. His gods told him 3, but in actuality, I doubt that. I believe he was the only one they wanted in that role. He has affected massive amounts of change and he can save the Knights.

They could help save our kind when war comes. The gods gave him the ability to make it happen. What we don't know is why our metallics are refusing to be more forthcoming with him. I shared this revelation with the metallic leaders verbally and in private.

I did not give them all of this. I made sure they knew he could be one of the greatest assets to aid us in the future or if we were declared an enemy of the elven people, he would be one of the strongest opponents we ever faced. We have to work on handling him better."

She sighed, "His requests and insights need to be handled better. His code is strict and the answers he got from the Silver Queen, you saw his eyes and the way he yelled at her.

She is on the verge of losing him and potentially the others if they don't become less restrictive on keeping him in the loop on developments, ESPECIALLY with this lich. One major push and it might create an irreparable rift between them.

The Gold King was not as convinced but the Silver Queen wants him more involved because of how his mind works. He will find conspiracies and he will work to act, even if we do not support him. That could be damaging to our societies if we fail to support him."

They all nodded their agreement to her. The emerald looked over, "That family will be one to watch and we cannot do that in isolation. Tensions between the chromatics and metallics are only getting worse and the chromatics are failing at following the treaty. Especially the reds after this last revelation."

The Crystal looked over, "I see now we will need to be more supportive of the metallics if we want to win peace within our kind as the chromatics work to bring outside forces against us and our society as a whole. Even each other. Blocking the vote did not aid us. It will likely hurt us in the long run."

They left Amy as she released the lockout on her home. She looked over at her own children, hatchlings that played in another room. She sighed, 'Our kind are not meant for war, but it may come sooner than we hoped it would."

---

Eldar awoke early and got in an hour of sword practice and spell preparation.

He included the phylactery detection spell. He was cleaned up and dressed as the ladies woke up.

He looked at them, "I will get the horses brushed and saddled while you find us something to eat from the cooks. He headed out the door and one of the guards stopped him, "You have a visitor."

He looked over and saw a red-eyed female elf he had not met before. She had obviously been crying.

He looked at the Guard, "Get Doc and have him meet us out by the stable. You can come with me. What is troubling you besides the fact that you are with children?"

She looked at Eldar, "You know?"

He nodded, "Two boys, but I cannot make what their futures are to be."

She sobbed a bit, "They are your brothers. I did not know it was 2."

He looked at her, "My father mentioned he had started dating again. Though I suspect it has been going on for a while."

She nodded, "Almost two years, he wanted us to marry soon but then this!"

He nodded, "Give me a moment to get these horses brushed down and geared while we wait for Doc. I believe you but I have to make sure. After I disowned 60% of house Silvertree. Doc can do that quickly."

He finished getting the barding on and the last saddled.

Doc showed up. "You rang at this ungodly hour?"

Eldar chuckled, "Doc, I would like you to meet?"

She looked up, "Victria Silver Cloud."

He looked at Doc, "She claims, and I believe her, to be my father's betrothed. She is expecting twin boys. Take that as a given. I need you to confirm the children are in fact, my half-brothers."

Doc nodded, "He looked up and they saw a House Silvertree symbol over her head. As well as a Silver Cloud."

He read the signs, "She carries your brothers."

He looked at her, "What would you like me to do for Victria? What do you do for a living?"

She looked at Eldar, "Nothing glamorous like you or your father. I worked over in the government building. Dealing with elven laws, house laws, and contracts. I want my children to have their father's name."

He nodded, "How about yourself? Do wish to be a member of this house, as dysfunctional as it is."

She nodded, "But your father is dead."

He looked at her, "An enchanter and a diplomat. The children are the easy thing to do, they will be acknowledged as Silvertree. As to you, that might take a little more work. Give me a moment."