Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 01 Ch. 35

He launched himself backward and spun like a top head down and landed on his feet with his sword in his hand as he had drawn it in mid-spin. She did her double flip and one foot slid back a little and she drew her sword after she landed.

He looked at her, "When you are doing a ride by blasting the enemy you want to stay on your horse. When it is time for your blade work, you want to be on your feet. Acrobatics will also help you if your horse gets injured and falls. You will know how to safely tumble away. Nobody talks about Blade Singers walking to the battlefield or jumping down from the wagon. They ride into battle but the Academy in the Capital fails to train any of this.

This gave me an advantage when I could do acrobatic moves my counterparts could not do. Now next time I want to see that at speed."

She nodded, "Yes, Grand Master."

He looked at them. "You two have training to get back to. The evening meal is at my house tonight. Do not forget to take care of your horses. Good work both of you. Keep on your toes. I will be around quite a bit over the next few days now that my father's funeral is over."

Rachel jumped into his arms with Dorothy. Rachel spoke while Dorothy nodded, "We say yes, we want to marry you."

Eldar looked at them, "I am the male in the relationship but Charlemagne and Annette have to be on-board as well so go talk with them. I agree if they agree."

He walked over to the other two. "This is the chaos that is my life. I work hard, play hard and I love long. The question is for you 2 to consider. I know this has only been a few hours for you. Is this something you want to do and do you love me? You know the new marriage laws."

They looked at each other. Astria spoke first, "I love the idea and I love everything you do. I just am not sure if what I am feeling is love. Lust, definitely. Friendship most assuredly. Love, I am not sure about yet."

He waved her down and she got off her horse. She looked at him and he ran his hand along the side of her face and near her ear. He softly kissed her and then he did so with some passion and she has her arms around him. He cupped her ass and pulled her off the ground. He licked from the center of collarbones up and around the side of her head. Then along the jawline and under her chin. She had her feet wrapped around him. He went back and kissed her passionately, "What about now?"

She breathed heavily, "Do it again and maybe I can answer that."

He repeated but went up the other side slower and harder and flicked his tongue at the end. He went back to kissing her.

He stopped, "What about now?"

She breathed out, "What was the question?"

He smiled at her kissing her again and pulled back slowly, "What about now?"

She shuddered, "Gods yes! Any man that can kiss me like that and make me cum simply by kissing me I have to love."

He whispered in her ear, "If you think that was a climax you are in for some big surprises. He lightly chewed on her earlobe and she moaned out and shook again with another climax.

He looked at her, "You need to put your legs down so I can talk with your sister."

She unwound from him reluctantly. She did not let go. He waved her sister down, "I think she is having a hard time standing."

She laughed, "She walked up and went straight into a passionate kiss with him. He slid his hand up and grabbed the back of her head. He softly pushed back from her wanting mouth. He slid his lips under her chin, down the center of her neck, back up the jawline, and sucked on an earlobe.

"You are wearing too many clothes for where I wanted to go on my way down."

She giggled, "Gods I thought I loved you the first time you came into the office. Then what you did to that ass of a boss of mine I knew I wanted you. To find out that you knew someday you would marry me, your wives even told me that. I knew I loved you before I got off the horse. Hells, before I left my desk today.

He slid his hands down and cupped both asses. "You need to talk with the other ladies and make sure you are comfortable with each other because my ladies like to play like you and your sister but probably more intense. They can teach you. Also, Rachel was anti-male before yesterday. You know how I convinced her?"

She shook her head. He gave them an explicit rundown of what he did to the two sisters the day before. Now he held the two of them up because they were weak at the knees.

"Just imagine what I can do for each of you once I know what triggers bring you the longer, more powerful climaxes."

They both moaned into his ears. "You ready to talk with the other ladies because they are coming toward us now. They found their feet and each one attacks a different sister. Then the other twins. Then they switch it up and all of them laughed.

He looked at Charlemagne, "Did Gabriel reach an accord with the horse?"

She nodded, "I think we have reached an accord too."

Eldar nodded, "Let us wait until tomorrow to announce to your parents Rachel, they will want to come for the wedding which will be after the sword ceremony."

He looked over and saw Doc, "Doc over here." He showed up. "Would you do the formality of checking that all of these women love me."

Doc looked wide-eyed and did the formality. He nodded, "Yes."

He looked at him, "Now I need to divine an answer to a question. Can you do that? The previous time I was able to take both of my wives to the sword ceremony. Ask the question, can all 6 go to the ceremony?"

He looked up at him and smiled, "It is expected."

He nodded, "I was not taking a chance with their beautiful eyes."

Doc smiled, "So you are going to have 6 wives!?"

Eldar nodded, "Following my wives and the Lady of Dreams guidance in the matter. I am going to have T'suras pick out horses for these 4. We have a human who likes heavy armor, crossbows, bows, and long swords. We have one mage who has been out of training for a few years but does not have a lot of combat experience. Then we have a mage fresh out of training who needs to have a smooth ride horse that can deal with magic.

Then we have a human who likes heavy armor and a sword to ride into battle. You fight from horseback. She nodded. "What about a shield?" She nodded rapidly. "She likes to fight from the back in the middle of the fight with a shield in one hand and a sword in the other."

Dorothy got the only blonde horse out of the bunch, Astria got a chestnut. Staria got one that was all white with a black star on the forehead. Rachel got a massive gray mare.

He looked at the ladies, "I will leave Annette to show you how to do your contract, name your horse, and how to break any bad human habits. No kicking whips, spurs, crops, or bitted bridles. They will respond to voice commands in elven.

The ladies can take any human name you give them and give you an elven equivalent name. Good luck ladies, I am taking T'suras to the house brush feed, etc. Then I am teleporting to the Elven Palace.

Get the extra tack from the stable, I haven't released any of it yet from the first 50 we ordered. Not a circle, just a regular teleport so only I can go. I have a meeting about the evil crap we captured from the lich with the Head of the Academy and the Queen."

He headed back to the house, took care of T'suras. He stopped by and saw his apprentices. They were reading when he walked in, "How is the reading?"

They smiled, "Good, Grand Master."

He looked at them, "There will be a change and you will see it so I will explain it to you." He explained what the amulet was doing and the need for 6 wives as told to them by the Lady of Dreams. "The ladies you met today are the ladies the Goddesses visions led me too. They have all agreed and they all love me. I am just such a lovable guy when I am not being your pain in the ass teacher."

They laughed. "An hour after the sword ceremony the Lady of Dreams will appear to perform marriages. To any who wish to get married. You two will be part of a lucky few who have witnessed the appearance of two gods. Do you understand? I do not want anyone giving you a hard time.

Apprentice Strong Oak, my grandmother might be upset that none of them are wood elves. When she expresses her annoyance, tell her I went where the goddess's visions took me. I will love all of my children. I love my apprentices. I want what is best for both of you. To provide stability, protection, training, discipline, and a code of honor.

Also, love. I brought this book back to put in the library here, I had copies made. Strong Oak should read it sometime soon. Before the ceremony. It is short but it deals with honor. It was a cornerstone when I was a kid that led me to become a Blade Singer."

He stood and the two of them hugged him. He hugged them back, "You get back to your books and I have to go to the Palace again. I will be back for the evening meal."

He stepped outside and activated his crystal. "I am on my way for the meeting with you and the Head of the Academy, Your Majesty."

She responded back, "He will be here momentary just go straight to my Audience Chamber."

He replied, "Yes, Your Majesty."

He teleported onto the steps leading into the palace and startled the groom, "No time for a horse this time."

He smiled at Eldar as he walked inside and straight to the Queen's Audience Chamber. The guards led him straight in. He arrived just ahead of the head of the Academy and Eldar bowed to the Queen. Eldar moved over to a side table, "Your Majesty, how familiar with Jarron's work is the head of the Academy, Magister Golden Bow?"

She looked at Eldar, "I hereby direct you to read him into the order."

He looked at the Queen, "If you are sure, Your Majesty."

She nodded. He pulled out his Crystal. "Lord Regal, I have had my first formal request to read someone into the order by my Queen. I did not know if you wished to be here for this as it is the Head of the Elven Academy. Lord Regal, it is in regards to those items from the Human Kingdom."

He replied, "I will meet you all in our conference room there."

He looked at the Queen "As I do not work for Jarron I felt it prudent to ensure Lord Regal was aware. Given the topic of discussion his presence might be ideal, Your Majesty."

She nodded, "I agree it was a smart move I do not wish to get on his bad side."

Magister Golden Bow looked shocked that the Queen feared the wrath of this 'man.' They got to the conference room and Eldar called down the box. They felt the magic seal the doors. He walked up to a table and set the box down.

He looked at Lord Regal. "Magister Golden Bow, Lord Regal is my contact within the order. Your Majesty, Secrets of the Kingdom."

She looked at Eldar, "You are quite right. You are being brought into an order that is a Secret of the Kingdom. You cannot speak about this with anyone outside the order and only in a secure location."

Eldar pulled a book out, "Are you familiar with the book?"

He nodded, "I read this fable when I was a child."

Eldar looked at him. "It is no fable. It was established again over 800 years ago. To ensure the sanctity of the Dragon Wary Treaty and sovereignty of all our allies. You have true seeing?"

He nodded. "Cast it." He did. "This is Lord Regal, my contact on the Council of Nine."

He stood there open-mouthed. "We recently worked together on an operation. This will help to explain how I became a Duke which I know is a nagging question you are begging to ask. Ask yourself if 'these are things I would want to do myself.' Sorry, the vision stuff kicked in."

Eldar sighed and caught his breath. He proceeded to pontificate all of the relevant highlights from his departure from the city until the Human King's funeral. With special emphasis on those things he discovered, sacrificed, or lost because of the events that had occurred. Eldar looked at the Magister, "I ask you Magister, are those things you would have liked to tackle for the Kingdom? For the sake of keeping the Dragon Wars Treaty intact and our people safe?"

He looked at Eldar, "I see how you got to where you are. You proved your point. That is a lot of information to take in."

Eldar looked at him, "We want your expert opinion on how to destroy the items in the chest or secure them in a safe place to hopefully never be found."

They walked to the chest and he saw the level of dark magic with these items.

He sighed, "I know of no way to destroy them or keep them safe in this world. They truly are evil incarnated relics!"

Eldar nodded. "I would like you to ward the items, inside of the chest, and the outside of the chest. He looked at Eldar strangely and then worked to place the wards and closed the chest. Eldar magically locked the chest. "Drop the room wards for a moment." The room opened up. He used the spell to send into the ether. "Seal the room."

He sealed the room. He walked over to the fireplace. "IF nobody has a better suggestion throwing this into the fireplace should hopefully keep the box irretrievably lost in the ether."

Lord Regal chuckled, "Not on this world."

Eldar smiled. "Agreed?"

He got three nodding heads and he tossed the box into the fireplace and watched it burn.

Eldar sighed, "That came in handy at times. Like when I took the dead decapitated human back to the Princess. To show I followed her order while he was in my area of control. But it was captured from a spy so I did not pay for it. The magical tomes I still have are secured.

I have amassed a fairly good library since leaving the Academy. Which brings me to one other point of concern. How many qualified candidates are turned away from the Academy each year because you do not have space and staff to take them on?"

He shrugged, "About 30% of the applicants that come in qualified, we do not have space for them."

Eldar looked at him, "The Academy works off qualified and then Family name to fill the positions not who is the most qualified to fill. Correct?"

He nodded, "There is a degree of favoritism toward prestigious families like your own."

Eldar smiled, "As a graduating Grand Master Blade Singer, I think I was qualified. The Academy being built in my town should become a priority. We will take applicants and place them strictly on the most qualified applicants. Once we have been established, we will have our students compete in the other Academy's tournaments to see how well the two different approaches work. Are you on board with this, Your Majesty?"

She smiled, "This goes back to all the testing you wanted to have done."

He nodded. She looked at Eldar, "I agree."

Eldar looked at the head of the Academy, "Until I can find someone better, I will oversee the Academy when it is completed. I will warn you now. Talents are coming from other cultures that will change the way we do things. Like my Blade Singer style and what we are training your Arcane Archers to do from horseback will be ingrained into our students.

All students will know how to ride, dismount acrobatically if possible if they need to have feet on the ground. With a spell-like feather fall if needed. Regardless, getting them onto the battlefield is not something trained. Except to our fighters who fight from horseback. We will be bringing in new disciplines like psionics. We have an elf-blooded who is expecting quadruplets. All battle mages. The father is a battlemage moon-elf. She is an Arcane Mimic."

This got his attention, "Elven Arcane Mimics?"

Eldar nodded, "You will see them in the battle mage arenas. By incorporating new traits that we do not have in our society, like the mimics and psionics. We will bring new fields of study to the elven people over the next several centuries. This goes back to what the gods have asked for us to do. This girl lived and worked in the palace district yet was never tested for ability. Now she will be the mother of a whole new discipline of elven magic."

He looked at Lord Regal, "You can bet your horde if I find a mimic worthy of being a Knight, they will be afforded the opportunity." He nodded and smiled at Eldar.

Eldar looked at him, "We have an agreement on the psionics that we will have to test and evaluate the skills. Then decide if what they can do would benefit the Knights. Annette has proven to be a valuable asset and our children together will carry that marker.

I would also point out to Lord Regal if you have any Knights who are psionically gifted that would like to live in the mixed community? I know for a fact that women to the male population for the wood elves it two to one.

The more strains of psionics we introduce the better chance we have of developing assets for the Knights. One other piece of business, the Gray Blades are more than a Mercenary force we are training and proving ground for Knight candidates. I figured while you are sworn to secrecy you might as well know what we are doing. As a Knight yourself."

He pulled out a copy of the book and handed it to him. "If you have Academy graduates who have honor; like what is talked about in this 'fable', then please send them to us for evaluation and further training. That was all I had to discuss today; did you have anything for me Magister?"

He shook his head, "For Lord Regal or the Queen?" He shook his head again. He looked at Lord Regal who lifted the seal on the door. He pointed the way for the Magister.

"I have a couple of personal matters to discuss with the Courts." He left and Eldar looked at the Queen and shook his head, "He needs to go at some point. I think I just fried his brain."

Lord Regal chuckled. Eldar smiled, "On to personal business, did you have a good talk with your nephew, Your Majesty?"

She nodded, "I think the Goddess idea is the better approach we will see if he wants a full-on royal ceremony or a semi-private one with a Goddess."

Eldar nodded, "I had success on the proposal front, all four."

He looked at Lord Regal, "What are the rules for spouses knowing about the Knights? I have always had an open and honest relationship. Should I read them in as they may be forced to hear these discussions with so many Knights in our house day and night?"

He sighed, "Once you are married to them make them aware but try to limit what is shared."

Eldar nodded. "That necklace that Lady Silver Hair examined that is now embedded into my chest. Has more than double my sex drive. I finally allowed my wives to run an experiment because I cannot be anything but hard. It took 30 climaxes to get too soft for a few minutes. The Lady of Dreams and her husband are amused at this turn of events.

It means I will have even more children as all my children will be sisters. Lord regal chuckled. "Six wives, that makes twelve children."

Eldar shook his head, "Each pair of sisters is destined to have twelve children, so that is 36 children! I had them add another floor to the keep! Plus, we have the temporary space over the inn which is nearing completion. Do you know what sucks? I cannot even get drunk to forget my troubles for a while. Alcohol has no effect on me!"

Lord Regal laughed, "Your wives picked a good amulet alright."

He laughed some more. Eldar looked at them, "I do not see him being of any active assistance. Consultation here or there but you will never get him in the field. I want you to take this communication crystal, it is a long shot but the Lich may still have the other and may try to contact the Barron we killed.

I have to go and eat the evening meal with the ladies, my apprentices, and all of my Knight officers who show to eat. We will be informing Duke Walder tomorrow via the Princess. I have a direct crystal to her. I even suggested she might want to sneak away. Speaking of which I wanted to add to our plan. Require all active blade holders in the city to depart from here for the ceremony.

You sneak in with them and you have a Moon Blade Bodyguard contingent. With the chance to see two gods directly and weddings."