Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 02 Pt. 02

Brannar looked at Silver Moon, "I say we take our Lieutenants and make them Captains.

For our 'flagships' if you will. She nodded. He looked at Zaria, "We really have to get back. I have a request. Could you stop by the enchanter's shop and let them know I am looking for 2,000 pairs of flying boots, potions of flying. Anything with flying on it really. I need to know what they can produce in 2 months. Hit EVERY shop. Send them to House Silvertree as they become available. We will pick them up in bulk.

Zaria laughed, "Why?"

He looked at her, "Tactics! Swimming in full plate bad. It does not work! Trying to catch a moving ship even worse. Being drug down, very bad. Silver has a set so that should hopefully never happen to her again. I flew in and got her but it scared the hell out of me. She was knocking on death's door by the time I got her to the deck of the ship.

She was one of two who made it out of the water. They were not even in heavy armor just being dog piled on. Those creatures hate lightning. Hence why I wanted that sword for her."

Zaria nodded, "Alright, I can see the need for that because of the ships."

He looked to the Queen, "Will we have new crystals by the meeting?"

She nodded, "The three of you back to me and a set for Jarron and you to coordinate. Also, a set for Silver Moon and you to coordinate."

He looked at Zaria, "You need to get a new set for us, to your commanders, Fort Ash, and to Silvertree Estates."

She nodded as he looked at her, "Triple encryption applied. Like protecting a spell in a spellbook."

She nodded, "Alright. I will get those taken care of with our enchanters."

He looked at the Queen, "Do you have an extra set of those security crystals? We might need them for a meeting on the ship. More importantly when talking to Warlords, Your Majesty"

She nodded and handed him a set of them, "Good luck."

He smiled, "We will need it."

He bowed to the Queen, "All going back east follow me so we can start our day all over...yet again."

That got a laugh from Jarron.

Silver cuddles up to him, "Triplets!"

He nodded, "Probably all of your nocturnal activities." She laughed. "Now you are looking at 20 months of pregnancy."

She looked at him, "What!?"

He smiled. "Elven pregnancies go 2 years. You will deliver early because of the multiples."

She sighed, "Did not know that."

He smiled, "Well you do now. You will just get hornier and hornier."

He stopped by the Guard Captain, "How did we do on the flags?"

He snapped to, "Duke Silvertree I managed to find 8 of the larger one and 6 of the small ones. I have sent off requests to have more of them ordered."

He nodded, "That will be fine. I will be back in a couple of days to see if you have any more by then. The first two ships will be in hand in 6 days and the embassy can be set up correctly. Good work Captain. Like I said earlier I have thick skin. If he had done that to the Dwarven King they would have sent him home with multiple boxes carrying separated body parts to his next of kin.

One of these others who lives in the Court would have had him and you getting ripped apart by the Royal family. Even when he is right. I had to see her! She knew it as did I. Being on the other side of the world we see and contact each other at all hours. Let alone coordinating a visit can be a challenge. You take care, Captain."

He nodded. They walked out and Silver asked, "What was that about?"

He looked at her, "Just me trying to help him to cover his own ass. His officer called me an asshole under his breath on my way in this morning, after I went around him to find out where the Queen was located. We walked away. He said it loud enough that Jarron and I both heard it. I told him to call me 'Sir Asshole.'

Anyone who is hung up on the protocols of the court would have caused a world of hurt. Instead of a warning to watch his ass. It would have gotten his boss into trouble. That was who I was talking with."

She nodded and Zaria was on her way out, "Tell them I will also be looking for 60 sets of manacles as well. Capturing pirates and all of that."

She nodded. "Stay safe my brothers."

She mounted up and headed off. "It is a couple of hours before evening meal here which means we will be getting back in time to start our day with the morning meal."

Silver looked at him, "I never thought about it but I just became a part of a very big family."

He smiled, "Getting larger every day thanks to my fucker of a brother."

He laughed and Jarron smiled.

Silver Moon looked at Brannar, "Did you do this?"

She held up her papers.

Brannar shook his head, "I talked her out of making you an Admiral as well because you would have killed me."

She nodded, "I would have and I still might."

He looked at Jarron, "He is the one who said you had been avoiding promotion for a while."

Jarron laughed and she glared at him. They gathered and Silver Moon teleported them all back. Silver and Brannar went to the stables to start getting horses ready. Jarron tapped him on the shoulder. He looked over and Lady Silver Hair was there with Lord Regal. Just inside the door. He looked at Silver, "Get the other Captain and all of your men to ensure the house is cleared. Including Jarron's royal cock sucker."

Silver Moon laughed at that.

He smiled, "Someday he might actually realize he is enjoying life a little and decide to marry her. Until then."

Jarron rolled his eyes and they headed inside.

He looked at them, "We are short on hands on the ground at the moment. That will change, but before we begin let's have the ladies clear the house first."

He found food and wine. He put the ring on and confirm no poison and replaced it.

He took the food into the dining room so they could eat when Silver walked in. Brannar looked at Lord Regal, "My wife Silver Silvertree Paladin of Tyr. Her and Sutter here have both been made Captains as of an hour ago. How can we help each other this morning?"

He hung a royal flag in the room. "Now it is an Embassy."

They sat to eat and he joined them.

He looked at Brannar, "Your idea to bring Lady Silver Hair to talk yesterday."

He nodded, "We knew enough to know we did not know enough. We knew things you did not. You knew things we did not. Based on that we discovered by working together to pool our information we uncovered a lot more of what was going on. I have said it before. I do not want more lies and deceptions anymore. Same things my father and Jarron expected but did not get.

I knew you were keeping things from us. My father's journal had hundreds of thoughts and concerns about the Knights. He did not want me going in trusting you blindly. You were trying to keep us in the dark when we needed to be getting ready for the eventual fight for our collective lives.

This was never about destroying the Knights, it was about untying our hands so we can do the job right. My father built up the forces so we would have them to do this. He wanted the next blade wielder to break them free and untie there hands from the Council of Nines underlying corruption."

He nodded and gave the book to Lady Silver Hair. He thought to her. 'He is calmer and more reasonable this time. I cannot say I understand the sudden shift. Maybe his wife. I can see by his words his father helped to drive this action. Exactly what you said. Untie their hands.' "She has the information you asked for."

He looked at her as he saw Lord Regal hand her the book. She laid out a tome that had schematics and diagrams.

Brannar looked at the data, "The compound is elven! With a Dwarven forge?"

She nodded, "Human ports were built into the caves behind the reefs."

He looked at it, "This shows that the wards to control teleportation can be turned off from the inside. A permanent set of locked wards are below the island to protect from entry from below. Even the volcano vents."

She nodded, "A lot of work went into that. It has a barrier over the whole of the island that keeps all magical transportation from getting in. The island was completely shielded from sound and all forms of magical effect to allow entry from fly to water breathing.

It would literally stop anything from flying or falling through the barrier. Stop magical effects like dimension door, teleportation, planar travel. Even normal flying and water breathing that dragons have. No fish could get through, though some might be trapped in that area from when it was activated or when it was deactivated to let others in.

The shield blocks all dragon entry, dragons bane. Even in the volcano vents and from trying to teleport in from underground, below it, or from the other side of the world. It is shielded."

Brannar shook his head, "None of which would have bothered a Lich who could simply walk in on the ocean floor. None of this incorporated undead-bane."

She nodded, "You are correct, necromancy protection was never added to the shields to block it. Even the reefs are magical. They have controls to change the configuration, depths, and randomly change the patterns. They were set to constantly change at random every few minutes. Even small boats could not safely get onto the island. It is an elven fortress atop a dwarven forge with human shipping. The reefs are the hazards that stop boats from entering."

Brannar looked at her, "Can you teleport and fly inside the sphere once inside?"

She nodded, "It blocks it at the barrier. But once inside that is another matter."

He looked at her, "Does this trap dragons as well as keep them out?

She looked over, "Theoretically, yes with the dragon's bane aspect they would not want to get close to it. The magic used to create this barrier is encased in ancient elven magic and Draconic mythic magic intermixed. The reefs are an elven and dwarven creation. The forge is all three with Dwarven divine magic included on the forge."

He looked at her, "All the controls are together?"

She nodded, "Three levels down inside the fortress with the forge and docks being the tenth level."

He leaned back, "Is this fortress larger or smaller than the Draco-liches layer you invaded with my father?"

Lord Regal looked shocked. "I got my father's private journal when I got the Moon Blade knowing that I would be brought into the Knights.

Because of the 'standards' he had set. That all Moon Blade Holders are to become Knights. Discussion of the taking down of this Lich has been held at a high level already. His journal was with a separate package that went to the new blade holder. I was brought in after my father's will was read. I know some things. Including his paranoia, fears, theories, and research.

In the hopes, the next wielder would not walk into the group as accepting at face value as he did. He was all about making them great again. Expanding the reach. Making them a better-trained force for good. He expanded them in the hopes that we could free them to do the job that needed to be done.

After dealing with the division and corruption on the Council of Nine he realized that the Council would always hamper the Knights ability. When I arrived, you were not a part of the solution. When I came in you led the problem. Now we get this Alliance with the Metallics you will be a major part of the solution, as we work TOGETHER.

You gave us the plans; you cannot be a part of the solution until we get the controls down to let you fly in. Once in we close the controls to keep any of the dragons who are in league with this Lich from escaping. How many dragons could you put on our ships to work this assault?"

She looked at Brannar, "How are you going to get in?"

He rotated the plans around. "The shield extends across this section of water on the other side of the island."

She looked at it and nodded, "Any ship that tries to get into that area will be destroyed as it is thrown against the sheer cliff wall on that side of the island."

He looked at her; "I could land a force of two hundred or more in that strip of water."

She looked at Brannar, "How?"

He smiled, "Because we are going to crash the ships against the cliff." She looked confused. "I have orders to get another 10 warships taking us to 12. I can put landing craft 5-6 on board. Each can hold at least 6. I take 10 boats with 5 landing craft each multiplied by 6 people per craft. That 300 mages, paladins, clerics, Blade Singers, fighters, and arcane archers on the ground.

We take two ships and position them at the mouth of the reef far enough away not to get slammed into them. When we signal the barrier is down. Your forces fly inside the barrier. We fly even more assets onto the island if we have too. You tell us to seal it up and come in from the dock while we work our way down.

If this area with the fortress to the docks is smaller than the cavern. There is no escape for the Lich this time if this is the case. Be prepared to find multiple phylacteries if they get this ritual to work before we launch."

She looked at Brannar, "You still did not explain how you get from crashing ships to getting the troops on the ground."

He looked at Jarron, "What did I order for the troops before we left?"

Jarron laughed, "Your protection to keep the tanks from sinking if they fell overboard. He ordered potions of flying and boots of flying."

Brannar looked at Lord Regal, "We fly right up against the side of the wall. Not a dragon approach to a problem but an elven approach. Too narrow for dragons."

Lord Regal looked at her, "They stand a good chance with our support."

He nodded, "We would still attempt to go it alone if we are forced to. It would be bloody, costly with a higher chance of failure and the Lich escaping again. But we would try; the fate of our kingdoms rests on securing this island and reactivating this forge. The question is what we can get in terms of numbers and types. I will want one dragon to remain with each ship at a minimum.

We have three groups. Two ships near the reef with ten on the backside with the launches. We then have those ten come around to the front side with five going in each direction around the island."

Silver Hair looked, "Explain the division?"

He sighed, "The ships up front are loaded with dragons waiting to fly in. They are the lure. Any pirate ships or dragons providing protection are going to see those ships. The two directions are because we do not know how many pirate ships or support dragons they have."

He looked at them, "I figured a safe low-end number is 100 dragons."

Lord Regal looked shocked, "Why so many?"

Brannar looked at him, "My father's mission had 24 dragons for one Draco-lich, they are looking at making 3. That mission had plans for destroying and containing the dead bodies."

He slid them a piece of parchment, "The names of the dragons that have been killed already that we know of. Their bodies are there. That is a lot of continuous fighting to kill them over and over again. Until you can find the phylacteries in the middle of the battle. You will notice all nine members of the Council of Nine's real names are listed. I am the only one who has read this other than the Queen and Jarron if they read through every log entry."

Lord Regal handed the list to Lady Silver Hair, as he sighed. He knew what she was going to see after reading that.

Brannar looked at her, "You are careful to ensure we never have a Dragon's name until they have died and the new era is named. You can tell me if that list is fake."

She dropped the paper on the table, "There are 40 metallics on this list, including my younger brother."

He looked at her, "Take what you're feeling and times that by 6 siblings and that is what I am going through. 2 are dead. This does not count my mother, brother, or grandfather who were all victims of this lich. I do not know if I can save the other 4 but I am going to try."

Lord Regal thought to Lady Silver Hair, 'That list has made it personal to all metallic dragons. Every one of our metallic brethren is listed on that sheet of paper. Including friends of mine who disappeared in the last few years.

One was a former mate of my eldest daughter. I didn't care for him but he was expanding our numbers. The shadow war of the past has begun again already and we have been blind to it. They are using our own kind to experiment upon. Just like the elves and Dwarves used in the experiments.'

She responded, 'Now we have dragon blood on our hands from our own failed leadership.'

Lord Regal looked at Brannar, "Rip into me at the meeting. Disconnect the Knights from the council as you have planned. Lady Silver Hair and I will work behind the scenes."

Brannar nodded, "We have taken it a step further. The Dwarven King and Human Queen were at the Elven Palace this morning. An unexpected arrival and an unplanned briefing took place because of them. They wanted to go over the data early it appeared.

We briefed them on the findings and our wanting of the alliance with the metallics. When asked why I showed the Dwarven King the symbol you drew from the island. He knew it. I showed him the map and explained what it would take to reactivate the forge.

They all agreed to the alliance with the metallics as the way forward. They all assume their communications are being monitored now. They will voice their disgust with the Dragon Council. With the lack of trust, they are going to change out all of the communication crystals as a precaution. They will all be multi-layered encrypted. Just like what I do with rare spells."

Lady Silver Hair sent a message to Lord Regal, 'Eldar put that theory together from close examination of the crystal you gave him, let alone the others used by his wives. His son merely confirmed it with me by asking the question yesterday. He was checking to see if I would be honest with him about it.

There was no sense in hiding it as they would not believe me if I had lied to them. It was not that big of a stretch that the monitoring system could do that given what Eldar put together from what he saw and learned. Including the fact we knew where the lich went.'

She nodded as did Lord Regal. Brannar continued, "Once we get the back-channel communications in place to the Metallics the alliance of old will be in place again so we can proceed. We are under a time crunch. We want to be in place in 3 months at the latest. We need to know you are on board as soon as possible."

Lord Regal set a crystal in front of him. He looked at Silver Moon, "You will need one too." He set another in front of her.

He looked at Lady Silver Hair, "Because of your ties into the dragon intelligence gathering I want one with you as well. As I get pieces of information, I will pass them along and I would want you to do the same. Things like a large number of chromatic dragons disappearing would be important to us as we're out at sea."

She nodded and gave him a blue pearl. He picked them up. "This is the beginning. We have a long road to full trust. I hope we can start here with mutual respect."

He extended his hand to Lord Regal.

Lord Regal shook his hand and gave him a smile. "I will not hold it against you for ripping into us. It will show the dissolution of the connection to the Council. It is a wise action at this point, given the data you have found."

Brannar looked around the table, "Jarron is now conscripted into the Elven Military as a General for Foreign Operations. Code for Knights. I have been made the first Elven Admiral in the Deep Sea in 7 millennia. Silver Moon is a Commodore. With court titles to match, two Dukes and a Countess. We are all part of this new organization and you will hear chatter on Knight assets being recalled to the Gray Blades for reassignment.

Those are assets we will be moving around the world to aid in this effort. Now we have to brief a human Warlord on our need for 10 more ships. The Knights 'breaking away' from the Council of Nine' with the threat to his own people."