Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 02 Pt. 02

Silvertree Chronicles Book Two, Part 2. Storm on the Horizon (Enhanced Edition)

Synopsis: The son of Eldar Silvertree and Astria Crescent Moon. Sir Brannar'Lortan 'Storm Wraith' Silvertree is sent to the Knights. What happens next challenges the Knights, the alliance, and the family while changing the face of the world. The Lich is at it again and now the stakes are even higher.

***Inspired by multiple fantasy environments. Not endorsed by any of them. © EmotionalStorm May 2020. This story cannot be transferred to any other site besides Literotica.com without the prior authorizations in writing from the author and EmotionalStorm must be credited for this work.

Authors Note: For those who have not read my bio, please note I write as a form of therapy for a Traumatic Brain Injury. I know the English majors will probably encounter issues that annoy them. If these are your focus, instead of the story itself, then this is not the story for you. I am not and will never be a professional writer.

I do it to tell the story, for those who wish to read them. I originally submitted this story back in May of 2018. I have worked to try and improve my writing style while struggling with this issue. I have added some editing software and written a few other stories. Now I am revising and editing this earlier work to try and bring it up to a higher standard from what I have managed to learn over the last few years.

Then There Were Two

Brannar and her finished getting cleaned up in the washbasin. He was hard again and she smiled at that. She had now experienced sex and she wanted to feel that again and again with him. They got dressed as they needed to get going.

He smiled, "With that bag, you can get rid of your pack. Anything you want just think of it and it will always be on top to take out. You can also turn it inside out to dump everything."

She nodded and transferred gear while he walked from the room. He headed downstairs and unlocked the door and his brother sat there waiting for them. She nearly ran into Brannar when he stopped suddenly.

John looked up at Brannar, "Congratulations on the wedding. Why am I still here?"

Brannar looked at John and sighed, "Go into my mind back 3 hours up until you see us leave the Queen. Your answer lies there." He looked into his eyes and a few seconds later he leaned over the railing and puked his guts out.

Brannar looked at him, "You went further back. You see why I could not trust them to return you? When they were not giving you any information about our home and the crap I found."

He nodded. "To have to read that over days. I went back and went through all three days of what you read."

Brannar looked at Silver, "He is psionic. He just saw all that crap I read in that short frame of time."

She looked at him, "Gods, I know what Brannar was like after 3 days of no sleep because of that crap. Getting it all at once must be hell."

He nodded, "I forced it as I wanted the quick answer. It was horrid as there are things...the details he did not give you. Else you would be puking your guts out."

He sighed, "I gave her enough to understand without all the trauma you and I endured."

Brannar got up on Zea'Trans and grabbed the other horse and got them together, "Be safe brother, you will get back to the field one way or another. Use our house while we are away, there is extra food downstairs. We have to go to resolve some major trust issues."

Brannar burned through another scroll.

---

John went into the home, drank 2 bottles of wine back to back, and then crawled into bed in the lower bedroom. His mind was in turmoil over those he trusted and that trust now shattered.

---

Brannar looked at the stable and the others had not left. He looked at her, "Put the other two here. You come with me today."

She smiled and they rode up to the house and dismounted after stabling the other two together. They walked in and a couple of the men were up and had started eating. They looked over at them and her cleric Gerald drops his fork. He walked over and looked at her. She held out her hand to him and he saw the ring and he hugged her.

Brannar looked around, "Where is my scoundrel of a brother?"

He heard quick feet coming up the hall. His brother and Silver Moon came into the foyer.

He looked at Silver Moon, "The Queen sends her best. Guidance on diplomatic do's and don'ts including the rules regarding relations with those you are in contact with."

He tossed her the book. She saw the cloak pin and armor and she smiled.

She shouted, "You ran off and got married last night! That explains the constant knocking!"

The dining area cleared out as the others came up. The remaining Paladin of the Rose, Brunt, looked at his beaming leader decked out.

Lieutenant Sutter came up and looked at her in shock, "You guys were gone all night?"

Brannar nodded, "Yes we got no sleep. She is riding with us today. Sutter, I would like it if you can take the guys and work to finish unloading the ship and speaking to the other ship's Captain. Work the division of the haul. I want us divested of anything from that ship in case we sell or trade it today."

He nodded and said sincerely, "Congratulations." He felt better that they repaired their relationship and got married, even after the ass he had been toward them both.

Silver leaned over to him and whispered, "I forgive you."

Brannar looked at Silver Moon, "The Order of the Rose guys are mine when we get these two ships."

She laughed and she pointed at Silver, "I figured that out!"

The guys laughed. He looked at her, "How long until you are ready to go?"

She thought for a second, "About 10 minutes then the four of us can go."

Brannar looked at Valita, "Do not be surprised if the Queen directs us to recall you back soon. At least so Doc can divine if you knocked up the one lady and to get a count of the illegitimate children you have left in your wake. You might have father beat on the number of offspring!"

The guys laughed and Brunt asked, "Why has she not yet?"

Brannar smiled, "We have to have a base of operation here on the ground. This compound is on loan to my brother. Will the Warlord let us continue to use it if he was gone? Can we purchase it from him? You get the idea. Too many unanswered questions just yet. Besides, we want him back!

I just have to deal with the political issues if that one lady drops a couple of half-elven children on that Warlord. I have to talk my ass off. I have a PLAN. You are a bard, TALENTED in magic with a STORM BORN as a brother.

The magical genes alone are things the other Warlords would kill to have. Then there is the virility of our males. The beauty of our elf-blooded or half-elf women. How am I doing Silver Moon? Do you think it would work?"

She nodded, "If you deliver it like that with Silver at your side. I think that might work. BUT it is not guaranteed."

He nodded rapidly, "Which is why when this guy returns, or before then, you are getting the answer to those questions. You want a scroll of teleportation to go and see Doc? To get those answers? I will give you one to get there and our Duchess Sister can give you one to get back.

She could contact us in case you want to get a couple of Elven War Horse like the five we now have out there. The Queen is really concerned with half-elven children across the world because of Silver's story. She welcomed her back to the land of her heritage."

Silver Moon laughed, "About half of that I heard and the other half was not quite clear."

He smiled at her. "The Queen wants those earrings."

She looked at him, "You told her?"

He nodded, "She thinks it will be freaking hilarious listening to the nobles try and bullshit her."

She laughed. "Alright, I could see that and the other is good. But what about the other aspect."

He reached into the bag, "I believe we both have some enchantment skill. I know I have books. Speaking of which."

He handed her the scroll, "I believe you will want to add that to your spellbook and triple encrypt it."

She smiled. "The Queen knows?"

He nodded, "I told her you would get it. One is going away for safekeeping, and another I gave to her to give to her most trusted enchanter.

To CRAFT...Only for those, she sees fit as having a need. After the attempt on my life, we felt it prudent that more than one copy of that spell exists. Lady Silver Hair knows that woman tried to assassinate me. I made that abundantly clear."

Silver Moon laughed at that but nodded. She knew an attempt would probably not have been made if not for him calling the dragon out. "Now, for the rest of you Knights. I have ordered 200 sets of these quality glasses to enchant.

I want to put an enchantment I saw in one of the spellbooks. It deals with adjusting the transparency to the light level so it will help with the glare of the sun off the ocean water. I will look at adding the other stuff as well, but that will take a very long time."

He handed Valita a scroll of teleportation, "You do not need to use it right now, but if you have to run to save your life, better to have it."

The guys laughed. Silver and Brannar headed out to the horses to wait for the others. Several minutes later and there were several who looked with admiration of the horse she was riding.

Brannar looked at the Cleric Gerald, "Would you bless her new holy symbol on the shield?"

He smiled and came over and took care of that.

Silver looked at him, "I could have done that."

He nodded, "I know but now your cleric knows I respect your god. I respect his abilities and faith even though they are not the same as mine."

She nodded, "That makes sense as we did not have him do our wedding."

He nodded, "Exactly! I ran off with you in the cover of night and married you in my homeland. We went back for many reasons. Some of those were to be in compliance with the Elven law and to get the new diplomatic code. Still, I do not want him to feel slighted."

Valita rode beside Silver Moon. They fell in behind them and the others behind Silver and Brannar. They broke off as the other headed to the docks and the four of them went to the Warlords Palace. They stabled the horses together and his brother turned his horse over to a groom. They finished up with them and the stall door shut.

Zea'Trans mounts Silver's new mount. She looked back, "That horse going to do them all?"

Brannar nodded, "Over and over again."

She laughed, "You better."

Silver Moon laughed as she caught her words, "She expecting?"

He shrugged, "We did not even check fertility. Just that she loved me."

She looked at Brannar, "Good for you!" She knew Doc could tell because of the new laws if she were infertile he would have told them.

They got inside and the Warlord was waiting for them. "Welcome back and you brought another along."

He smiled, "Warlord Sun, I would like to introduce you to my wife Silver Silvertree Paladin of Tyr, Order of the Rose, and head of our security detail. She was a bit tired after the voyage so she ensured her men got bunked in for the night before I returned to her.

Though I did not stay at the compound for long. I was recalled to see the Queen who sends her best. She wanted to make sure we had the latest copy of the diplomatic code and rules. It also allowed me the opportunity to bring you back a couple of items."

He looked intrigued. "Could you have your alchemist get glasses of wine and put the smallest amount of a mild poison into one of them. Only one; do not tell us which glass. Also, could you get someone to bring you 100 coins and one precious stone? It does not matter what kind."

He nodded to a couple of his men and they came back a few minutes later. He looked at the six glasses, "Could you set them on the table and mix them up and put them in a line.

He walked over and held open a bag, "Put all the coins and gemstone in the bag."

He dumps them in and he handed him the bag, "Would you give that to Warlord Sun? The bag is enchanted. It will always remain the weight it is. It can store a few hundred pounds but it is best to keep it to around 200-250 pounds. Put nothing sharp into it. I carry a few with clothes, food, and supplies in them. The other advantage to these bags is," He went over and grabbed an apple. He tossed it to his man. "Items in the bag do not decay."

He reached into one of his and pulled out a banana, "This piece of fruit I bought almost two months ago at a farmers market before getting to the city where we boarded the ship that brought us here. I bought a lot of fruit on that day."

He looked to the man with the apple, "Place it in the bag." He puts it into the bag. He asked the man, "Were all the coins gold?"

He shook his head.

Brannar smiled, "Good. Now if you stick your hand in the top of the bag and say ask for the apple, gemstone, and ring and pull your hand out." He did so and has the three items. "The ring I placed in there, it is also enchanted. Place the ring on a finger it will adjust to fit."

He put the ring on.

Warlord Sun smiled. "Move your hand over each of the wine glasses."

He did so until the stone starts pulsing and he moves away to the others. He turned around, "Please shuffle the glasses around." He took off his ring of protection and slid the other detect poison ring on and he ran his hand over the glasses."

He pulled the one that was poisoned in front of him. He walked over to his alchemist. He ran his hand around and pointed to a pocket and his hand.

"The hand he used and the poison is in that pocket. The ring is poison detection, the bag is known as a bag of holding. I walked into a store, bought those off the shelf like you would a sword or suit of armor. That is how talented in enchanting the elven people can be. Those items are a gift to you from me and the Elven Kingdom. To show we hold no ill will about last night.

The fact that my very presence brought a would-be assassin into your home. I felt a ring that would allow you to detect poisons would come in handy. Now back to the bag, stick your hand in, ask for twenty gold pieces, then all non-gold pieces, then half of the gold. Then the remaining gold." He played with this and looked at the item.

Brannar smiled, "I for one hate searching through a chest or pack for an item when I know what I want. As a Warlord, you should not have to expect to search for these items and you would hate to be kept waiting. Now let me show you a gift of mine to my wife. Silver, show him your sword."

She called the sword to her hand. "The sword is enchanted at the request of my father for one of his wives. She was a skilled fighter from horseback. He called it 'Black Light.' It is actually lightning that has been modified to emit an absence of light. It can have a paralyzing effect on the enemy or a hasting effect on the wielder. It has small chances to do either or both on a strike. It is a deadly weapon built to my father's specific requirements as a wedding present to her.

The ring she wears to do that with her weapon can be applied to other things. They are a matched set. She has another one on her that lets her go from being dressed like me to wearing her full plate armor."

He looked shocked and asked, "Can I see this?"

Brannar went over and helped her off with her armor. She was in clothes and she summoned it back on.

Brannar looked at him, "Just like the poison detection ring. I walked in and found out how many they had in stock and bought them. They are not cheap but that is just one of the things we can talk about. We can talk about the testing of your people for magical aptitude and help to train them in an Academy.

Open up trade with our dwarven neighbors who specialize in really heavy armor and weapons made of adamantine, a black metal that is nearly indestructible to most things. They use dwarven clerics to enchant mostly. It is in some weapons. My wife's sword is a mix of mithril, adamantine, and steel. It only has a few drops of steel in the metal and acts as a binder to allow mithril and adamantium to mix. Mithril is what her armor is made from.

The sword was forged by an elven master whose ancestors created the weapon known as Moon Blades. Silver Moon and I carry these blades and they are over ten and half millennia old. They're made of mithril with adamantine without any mention of steel or how they were bound together.

That is a mystery that artisans have looked at for some time with no success other than the gods had a hand in making it happen. They are family relics tied to elven houses and intelligent weapons.

They will kill anyone who attempts to wield them other than the selected wielder, even after death the sword will only ever be usable by a worthy successor as decided by the sword. Failure is death. The elves are a very magical society. Our purpose for being here is to find 6 missing family members.

Based upon the logs from that pirate ship 2 are dead. Personal effects were recovered. Four are missing but we have the location of an island we believe them to be on. It is in the middle of pirate waters along what you call the bone reef. We need warships to go after these pirates and get to this island. The ship we captured is a fine cargo ship.

I have been authorized to ask to purchase two of your Dromond class warships. With the potential to buy more in the coming months and years. We wish to eliminate these pirates. Including this base of operation, they have. As we have no territorial waters, we would be an independent party to make these changes.

We would also like to set up the option to buy a compound, like the one you have my brother living in. To be a place where we would have a local ambassador to work with you. A regional embassy if you will. The other Warlords in the area who have items of interest could look to do business with us here. This, of course, adds to your prestige."

He looked at Brannar with amusement, "You think two of these ships will be enough to kill off all the pirates?"

Brannar smiled, "I do not. The Queen wants us to start with 2 to effect this rescue, to begin with, and get the lines of negotiations open. Our goal is to drive pirates to the brink of extinction. We cannot violate territorial waters of course.

We know some Warlords in the region may send 'privateers' into neighboring Warlord territories. This is something we could not address. At least not without some form of alliance. That would be a future item, considering we are just starting negotiations."

He looked at Brannar, "Will consider this if you make 2 of my daughters with children."

He sighed, "Unfortunately that is something we cannot do as diplomats. It is against elven laws and our Diplomatic Code of Conduct for diplomats to engage in relations with members of countries we are in negotiations with. I have a copy of these rules with me if you would like to see them, Warlord Sun."

He pulled out the book and found the section and held it open for his man to look at. "There was apparently an incident in which a diplomat was felt to have been compromised by having relations with a host country's female or male population. As such all negotiations conducted by that diplomat had to be voided and started over.

Then these new rules were added to prevent it from happening again. I do have one possible solution, but this is not anything I could compel. My brother the Bard is magically skilled. Our father with a Knight Champion of an Elven God and Blade Singer. Corellon Larethian, the God who oversees elven magic. He is gifted with magic and the blade, like Silver Moon who has been knighted in 2 separate courts.

My brother carries the magical genes you are seeking. I would also point out that my father had 32 children with another 12 on the way. He died 2 days after marrying his last 6 wives. One child died in childbirth. My twin. All of my father's children were twins. A gift from the God of Magic Corellon Larethian and his wife the Lady of Dreams, Warlord Sun."