Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 02 Pt. 01

Extremely young for an elf as you know. I lived in the Academy for 63 years teaching for 35 years of that time. Which reminds me I have one of my father's spellbooks. It has a spell to find a phylactery. I will need to isolate that one and take it with me."

The one female elf looks alarmed, "You have that spell?"

He looked at her, "He had three levels of magical encryption on it but that was not an issue for me. I had time to discover the encryption mechanics in the Academy prison. I put new ones in place but I know how to get the spell. Going after a Lich I may need that one. I did not understand why he was so hung up putting that much protection for such a single purpose spell."

She stared at her companion. "I have lived with those who use magical and psionic telepathy to know you two are discussing something. Something to do with this spell I found." They continued with the conversation and Brannar looked at his sister. "We need to get back to the burial site. Our horses are still there."

She shook her head, "Sent mine back to the Keep. You did not set home?"

Brannar looked at her, "Which one? The Academy prison, the Fort Ash prison, or the Keep of consorts for father?"

Jarron chuckled. Zaria glared at him. He stood to go and the 'elven man' called out, "Wait just a moment."

Brannar looked at him. "I have provided my detailed report. I was told I would need to get my things together before leaving here. Has something changed? I can be back in a little over an hour while you decide on a course of action for my future. That is what my father would do. Decide MY future without my consideration in the matter."

He glared at Brannar and waved his hand, "Take care of your personal business, be back soon please."

Brannar looked to Jarron, "Is this what you want? I work for you and the Queen. I do not know how they fit into the hierarchy of this group. I would think they do not, given the terms to the Dragon War Treaties and non-interference."

Jarron looked at Brannar, "Be back in a couple of hours."

Brannar walked out of the room and immediately teleported to his father's gravesite. He looked over and got up on Zea'Trans. He took him to the garrison corral at the Keep and stowed his gear and brushed him down. He went to his room in the Keep. He removed the magical lock from the door and stepped inside. He looked at the stack of almost two hundred books.

Some were repetitive, while some were enchanting books used by Staria that he got when she died. He pulled the volume of rare spells and then found a few others that had a spell here or there that might prove useful in the future. He shoved them into his bag along with three sets of formal and 3 sets of everyday wear clothes.

He added a stack of teleportation and teleportation circle scrolls and then a few scrolls that had some utility use when he had thought about leaving previously because of the gilded cage they had him in. He stored it all. He heard women crying from upstairs. He locked and warded his door. His new widows who he did not know or that he even wanted to know.

He walked down to the barracks, "I need a caster with teleportation circle who can get me back to the Palace. I hate burning through scrolls unless I have too."

One of them got up, "You have to go back tonight?"

Brannar nodded. "My sister and the Queen are waiting for me. I just put Zea'Trans away for the night and picked up some supplies."

They gathered and he took Brannar to the front courtyard of the Palace and then teleported back. He headed back upstairs to find the guards in place but the door was gone. He sighed loudly.

He pulled out the crystal to Zaria, "I am standing outside the wall where the doors should be."

She did not answer but the doors reappeared. He entered the room and closed the door. There was a new face in the room. One he recognized. He walked across the room and gave her a hug, "Hello Silver Moon. It has been a long time."

She nodded, "I decided to travel after Tiger and Keyno passed. The kids had families of their own."

He smiled, "You got called into this mess?"

She laughed, "I got recalled because of you."

Brannar nodded, "I behaved, I was trying to get everyone else to behave."

She laughed, "I taught some of his initial classes. Including etiquette as I had experience with courts around the world. He took over for me on that for about 15 years from what I understand."

He nodded, "20 years on those subjects, 35 years on your language courses and advanced spell casting courses once I started casting tier 9 spells. That was why I gave them a hard time about yelling at our Queen in her own Palace."

She laughed, "You would need a title for that."

He pulled out his tube and she looked at him, "When?"

He smiled, "About 6 years ago after I shocked and fried a hundred and eighty-two orcs and ogres single-handedly. Saved a few Dwarven nobles in the process. I did not know there were nobles in the detail. The fourth died from the poison they used."

She sighed, "You met Lady Silver Hair and Lord Regal. That was the names your father called them by."

Eldar nodded, "No introductions but I met them."

She looked at him, "They want me to become the command General for the Gray Blades."

Brannar shook his head, "Not their call."

Lord Regal, "How would you know?"

Brannar looked at him, "I am supposed to help support the integrity of the Dragon War Treaties. As such I would be remiss in my duties to allow a DRAGON to directly interfere in the sovereign decision of the Elven Empire. It would be a violation of those treaties, one that would force us to take action against you. The mercenary company leadership has NOTHING to do with dragons!

My father spent years training my sister for that role. Unless she has done something to undermine that confidence. I would not see why the Queen would put someone else in charge of a Mercenary group inside of the Duchy. A Duchy that is overseen by my sister. Too much chance for chaos in who has authority."

Lord Regal looked at Brannar, "You sound like your father."

Brannar laughed, "No, my father would have given you page and paragraph numbers."

Jarron chuckled. Brannar looked at him, "My father left me a note. Told me If you are looking for a new job you should pursue Jarron's job. He told me to let him know that I AM after your job."

Zaria laughed, "He left me a note to be sure to tell him he still needed to get a wife or three! He said Jarron is getting up in years so keeping it up might become an issue soon."

That got several of them to laugh except Jarron. He shook his head, "The guy is dead and he is still giving me shit."

Brannar looked at his sister, "Jarron was asking about your Apprentice, Tri-Moon."

She looked at Jarron, "What did you need to know Jarron?"

Jarron turned red and he looked at the Queen. "Do you remember when Lord Regal and Eldar had that blowout argument and he went into prediction mode in your office?"

She nodded, "I remember the tempers flying and Eldar's eyes were outlandish. Why?"

He looked at her, "He said I would have two children. I would not learn of them until after he was dead."

She sat back, "Oh Gods, The Tri-Moon twins?!"

He nodded, "That was one of the things he put in the note to me. Another dealing with his son here and figuring he would be the one delivering the message. I will not go into that now."

Zaria looked at him, "You going to tell them, or do you want me to do it? I know they are curious about it. It would be good for them to know you are a good man in the service to the Queen. My apprentice may work for you when he graduates or after the next war."

He looked over, "We can discuss that another time. I agree the General should remain Duchess Silvertree, I know Dame Silver Moon even agrees with that as she does not wish for the job. I do not see why we should continue to pursue it. If you want to change her sponsor Lord Regal that would be your right. But like Tranosa she was groomed for this job. The Dwarves and Humans have already agreed to keep her as the Field Marshal. She is a known asset on the ground."

Lord Regal sat back, "Very well I will not pursue a change for now. I just hope I do not run into the issues I had with her father."

Brannar smiled at him, "The easiest way to avoid that is to let us know what the issues were so we can work to avoid them."

He looked over at Brannar, "That is Dragon business."

Brannar chuckled, "Then do not be surprised when one of those undisclosed issues resurfaces in the future."

Zaria glared at him, "Now is not the time. Behave."

He looked at her, "You released me to Jarron, it is his job to tell me to behave, not yours anymore."

The Queen laughed. Jarron fought for a couple of minutes to keep from laughing when he looked at Brannar, "Sit and behave."

Brannar went over and had a seat. He looked at them, "You had an issue with a spell I have access to or something to do with this Lich."

Lady Silver Hair looked at Brannar, "Your father helped to discover 2 necromancers who turned a Dragon into a Draco-lich. He and his team helped me and my team to take the Draco-lich down. We used that spell to track the phylactery. One of the necromancers killed your grandfather and most of the human court, becoming a Lich in the process. He had a couple more run-ins with the Lich. One of those resulted in the tragedy surrounding your birth."

Brannar glared at her, "By helping you, that killed my grandfather, mother, brother, and put how many others in my family in danger? Is that what I am hearing?"

The Queen looked at Brannar, "He was helping the elven people."

Brannar looked at her, "Will all due respect, Your Majesty, he was covering up a violation of the Dragon Wars Treaties."

She nodded, "Because he knew we could not survive another Dragon War."

Brannar sat back down, "I am just wondering how much blood the Dragons are shedding over these issues? Either of you lost a family member because of this? I am betting no."

They looked at him but said nothing. There non-answers only enraged him. He got back up and walked to the sealed door, "I need out of here, NOW!"

Lord Regal called out, "We are not done talking to you yet."

Eldar looked back at him, "I do not work for you or answer to you. We are done talking for now. You can drop this or I will."

He sat back, "Go ahead."

Brannar called forth his staff and sent forth a thin green beam that cut a forty-foot opening where the doors used to be as there was little more than dust."

Brannar looked at him. "I can see why my father and you had problems. Be glad I did not kill you where you sit in order to escape the room. Because you're a fucking asshole."

He stepped out of the room as the Queen looked at the gaping hole where her doors used to reside. She looked in Brannar's direction. He finished using a scroll as she got up to speak to him when he disappeared.

Lord Regal growled out, "That elf should never have been brought into the Knights!"

The Queen glared back, "You pushed every extreme on him and tried to hold him, prisoner, for no other reason than you could! I have told you before, those selected to go into the Knights from the Elven Kingdom are my call. Not yours! You will pay to fix that hole in the wall. Your order of Dragons is another matter. Then you have a voice in the matter.

As it stands you cannot get Zaria or Silver Moon into the order because you cannot get the votes to support either of them unless all the neutrals align with you in the matter. That makes Zaria a general in the Knights and not in your Order of Dragons.

Your sponsorship of her is a courtesy and not required because of that. Get that through your thick fucking skull. You forced him and dared him to escape your cage. Guess what, he is not about to allow you to push him around! Neither will I!"

Zaria stood, "Lord Regal, you should spend a little more time listening instead of trying to rule over this group. You don't. I contact you and it is courtesy. Same for Tranosa as he is not in the Order of Dragons. You are a sponsor for sending information back and forth if we find a dragon issue on that border then I will report it. Same for Tranosa.

Now I got to go and find him and try and bring him back without him destroying the town in the process. He cast 4 spells, killed 180 plus ogres and orcs, and destroyed from the MAP, 800 feet of forest. Not damaged, Destroyed! None of those spells were heightened and what he cast was not heightened. You heard what the Lady of Dreams called him.

I can confirm if you think that is devastation you have seen nothing from him. My father feared what he could do and he was happy he was ruled ineligible due to age to get into tournaments. He figured he'd kill any opponent put against him! That was as a 5th year at 17 years old!

My father sent data on him to Tranosa and through him to Lady Silver Hair. They had to reinforce parts of the academy when he started teaching advanced spell casting because he blew holes in the walls without heightening it!

They all know he is a walking arsenal that you just pissed off. I have to try and defuse the situation and get him to come back without pissing him off further. Not an easy task as now he has even every reason to fucking hate you."

She teleported out. Lady Silver Hair looked over, "Lord Regal will pay to fix that wall. Else I will take it to the council. Every chromatic would love to hear about that."

Lord Regal looked at her and thought, "You are not playing fair! He was insolent and disrespectful!"

She thought back, "He was also right! He was not told we were royalty and he had no reason to know that as far as etiquette goes him calling you a fucking asshole was fitting. You told me not to answer that question. This is a mess of yours to clean-up or the council will direct it."

He glared over, "I will pay to fix the damage. I still do not agree with him being a Knight in the order as he has no regard for protecting dragons or the Alliance."

The Queen nodded, "Just the Dragon Wars Treaty, which your kind keep violating. As to the alliance he has been doing more in that regard for years than you. When was the last time you guarded alliance shipments along that border? He respects the Alliance and will enforce the Treaty and not hide behind it. We may not want a Dragon War but you are not doing enough to keep one from happening from your own kind. We had this discussion before with Eldar."

Jarron sat quietly during this exchange because it was a level above him at the moment and he did not want in the middle of that fight. Silver Moon took her queue from Jarron and just watched the big dogs fight it out. A first for her to see the stress fractures in this group.

---

Brannar appeared at the stable and he got his horse saddled and out of the coral as his sister came out of the Keep looking for him.

He turned his horse in her direction and she looked at him, "Where are you going?"

He shrugged, "Anywhere but here right now. Did you know THOSE details?"

She looked at Brannar. Of course, she knew it but she was told not to talk with him about it. That needed to change but not here, "We cannot talk about it here."

He started moving forward and around her, "You did. You are mostly right! We cannot talk about it."

He was pissed now at her and his father keeping him in the dark. Else he would have gone off and become a dragon hunter and searched for the lich years ago.

He rode past her, "Let the Queen know I am sorry I was forced to destroy her doors. When I calm down, I will contact you."

He heard her casting and he was enveloped in a wall of force. She desperately wanted to stop him from going off in anger.

He looked at her, "This is how you wish to play this?"

She looked at him, "Come back to the Palace with me."

He looked at her, "Why? Give me a reason why?"

She could not think of a single good reason to put him back in front of Lord Regal.

She finally blurted out at him, "Eventually you will run out of air."

He pulled out his communication crystal to her and dropped it on the ground. He pulled out a teleportation circle scroll. She yelled, "Don't!"

He was gone. She cursed in 6 different languages.

---

She teleported back to the palace with both crystals in hand and walked through the opening in the wall and glared, "I tried to stop him from leaving. He teleported away with his horse leaving behind his crystal to me. After I told him I could not talk with him about what I knew and when. That was a direction from my Father as he did not want him leaving until he was ready to face the lich.

I have no clue as to where he went. He wanted to apologize for the hole he was forced to create, Your Majesty. I managed to completely fuck it up by putting him inside a wall of force. I knew he could destroy it with the shake of a wrist if he wanted. Instead, he is in the wind and I have no means of contacting him."

The Queen glared at her, "What is it with everyone trying to contain and imprison him?"

Zaria sighed, "I did not know what else to do to get him to stop and come back. I had no good reason to put him back in front of Lord Regal. Nothing good was going to come of it and now I am worried he might go off the rails and destroy a town somewhere, Your Majesty."

Queen Goldeagle looked over, "This meeting is adjourned for today. Hopefully, he will contact us soon and not try and go off on his own to hunt this lich."

---

Brannar rode through to the small little town Zaria took him to earlier that evening. He decided to get a room. He went to the stable and checked his horse into a stall and removed tack and saddle and stored it. He got to the inn, "I would like a room."

He paid for a room and walked to the elf-blooded female in the corner. He walked up to her. "May I join you?"

She smiled, "You are back again. I thought I saw you leave with Jarron?"

He nodded, "You did. I did not like some of the company he was keeping this evening so I left."

She motioned for him to sit. "Who did you not like?"

Eldar sighed, "His bosses apparently."

She looked at him, "What is not to like about them?"

He looked at her, "You find out that they were indirectly involved in the death of your grandfather, mother, and brother. They wanted to sit and discuss it. I wanted out of there. He did not want to drop the magic sealing the room and he dared me to get out on my own. Here I am. I only destroyed 40 feet of doors and walls in the process."

She shook her head, "I find that hard to believe."

Brannar nodded, "I did too until they told me."

She looked at him in shock, "They told this to you? What are you going to do?"

He looked at the stairs, "I am going to get some rest and recharge my spells. Then I will see if my mood has improved any."

She nodded, "I guess that means you will not be taking over my squad."

He looked at her, "Not tonight. Tomorrow is another day."

He smiled at her and headed toward the stairs. "I think I need some time to clear my head. Tell Jarron whatever you want. He sends anyone after me I will know. It might not end well. I will return when I am ready to talk and not before."

She nodded at him.

He went upstairs, locked, and magically locked the door and the window. He used a crystal to block out teleportation into the room. He read through some of his father's journals and his concerns only rose. He laid down to sleep.

---

Silver Rose went back to Jarron's office. Silver Moon was there and she smiled at her, "Hello Dame Silver Moon."

She smiled, "Hello, we are kind of in the middle of a crisis."

Jarron looked over, "Brannar has gone missing. He got into a heated argument and left elven lands as best we can tell."