Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 03 Pt. 01

They appeared in front of the building. He walked inside and the sales lady came forward, "Knight Paladin. We have been expecting you. Here is a package from the King. A bunch of wands. With a note, 'I want details on the fireworks.'"

He smiled and looked at her, "I need three black cloaks of protection with this design on it. High end. Exclusive. Then we will need another thirty low enchantment cloaks. I wanted to know what you had in the way of magical elven barding?"

She looked at him, "Not much. We have two sets. One low-level mithril chain and another mid-level mithril chain that the secondary enchantment did not come out correctly.

It was supposed to be silenced. Instead, it is blackened and at night it produces a slight fog around it. I heard it looks nice riding through the middle of the night but it has no value to it. We are selling it as a mid-level elven chain barding just to get it out of stock.

He looked at her, "I will take the black barding. I am also looking for the following ring. Do not say it out loud. I want to know if you have one."

She looked at it and then she went to the case, "I have one but it is very expensive."

He nodded, "Standard 3 times a day."

She nodded her head, "It has a high resistance enchantment as well."

He nodded, "Add it to the list, apply the royal discount to the order. It is in my papers."

She looked at them and nodded, "It will be significant."

He gave her his account number and she smiled, "Good luck."

He smiled, "When the cloaks are ready, I would like them teleported to Fort Ash, for me."

She nodded, "We deliver there all the time. They will have a scheduled delivery in 2 days you should have them then."

He nodded. They left and headed back to house Silvertree. He found a Silvertree ring that was not a resistance or protection ring. He switched out his resistance ring for a freedom of movement ring.

He took off his armor ring and placed it in a pouch. He wore the new ring. He wanted to keep secret as it only has a chance of working. He tagged the one and left it for the next user to know what it was.

He mounted up and headed to the Palace. He walked inside and saw the King was in open court but nobody was in line for once. He moved to the head of the line. He smiled, "Knight Paladin, what can I do for you?"

Travious smiled, "I was hoping to get a private audience with you and the Queen Mother. To go over some recent events, Your Majesty."

The King nodded, "The upstairs conference room. We have other guests to attend to."

He nodded. "I expected as much, Your Majesty."

Travious followed him upstairs and the Queen Mother came down the hall. He stopped and held the door for her. She walked in with a smile. They got inside and the room sealed. He looked at the King, "Two secret Royal weddings."

He looked at Travious, "Two?!"

He nodded, "My Uncle and Amy Tryst. Myself and Majisa. The divination from Majisa proved enlightening, Your Majesty."

The Queen Mother looked at him, "Sit down and keep it informal. What did you learn?"

He sighed, "Go with the higher number for expansion of the town. The half-dragons; what is left of them, will return. They will be fertile and may crossbreed. I have one son who is destined to be a sovereign prince for the half-dragons. His sister is destined to be the King's wife!"

The Queen Mother looked at him in shock, "That is news! Who did the divination?"

Travious smiled, "Doc did them. The prince was also a dragon rider which means dragon lances! That means getting the forge. We still have a navy over there?"

The King nodded, "Twenty ships out there looking for pirates. They are in four-ship teams."

Travious nodded, "They also need to keep an eye open for slavers."

The King looked at him perplexed. Travious sighed, "Paladins code calls out slavers as enemies of the gods."

He nodded, "I will make contact with them and expand their orders. I will talk with our ambassador first."

Travious sighed, "Just remember as a Paladin I cannot negotiate with slavers. I am to capture, question, and kill them."

He nodded, "I will not look to send you out there just yet then. Let me gather what information I can."

Travious nodded, "I know I will have to go there at some point. My parents are buried there at the embassy. We should move a group of those ships to the sunken island for the foreseeable future."

He looked at the Countess who nodded. Travious continued, "We recover the forge. It will have to be put on a ship and moved unless you have a caster who can widen a teleportation circle."

The King nodded, "Have to check with our academies. Still would have to be on something to get moved."

The Countess nodded, "We could get it on a ship and one of your casters could get it to the dwarves."

The King laughed, "I never thought I would hear a dwarf drool over a communication crystal. They would be happy to host it with full access to the allies as they exist today. He also liked your idea of blowing the hell out of the valley and the tunnel into the mountain to get a view of the troop in the valley.

He talked with a couple of sappers who worked with your father and one who worked with your grandfather. They are eager to work with you given your mindset. King Fireaxe wanted to make you a Knight in his court and I explained to him the Paladin code. I think he is working on some kind of award for you.

Finding out about the simultaneous attack and your ideas of thinning them out now. As did the Human King, to a point. I do not believe he understands what a champion is capable of or your family history with the Kingdom. Else he has chosen to forget it. Regardless King Fireaxe was intrigued by your idea and how it came about?"

Travious sighed, "They sent 10 assassins across our border through that stretch of newly grown human forest thanks to Silvertree Woods that the humans refuse to monitor, remind King Thornlord of that fact at least. That is now a corridor into this area.

They sneak in. We do not. We ride down there their fucking throats blast the hell out of them. They will lose hundreds before they kill 10 of mine. We teleport ours out and set up all of these teleporter locations. Gods willing. The gods created Paladins to be an offensive force to take the fight to the enemy and push them back or obliterate them. You do not need a lot of us.

We will always seek out to lead the group and push the assault, Your Majesty."

He nodded, "Excellent observation, and I will point that out to them both when I talk with them again. Your daughter is destined to be my wife?"

Travious smiled, "Yes. This gives you half-moon-elf half-dragon as a wife and your children will be impure by the old standard. I think it is the Gods' way of saying, 'We have the population moving in that direction now it is time for the Palace to do the same.' My guess, Your Majesty. The facts just support it. But those children will be strong with dragon blood in them, especially gold dragon blood.

My Blade Wielder's Journal had a small section on things from the first era, before it really during the great Dragon War. There were gold, bronze, and silver half-dragons who were Silvertrees way back then in my family line. At different points. Some came from the wives of those who they married as well. I found it odd being a paladin but I have a lot of blade singer and battle mages being identified in my offspring, also an enchanter psion with Melia."

He nodded, "When she is closer to being of age, I would like to meet her."

He nodded, "I will get her educated started on religion, the laws, treaties, and court etiquette. She has no warrior-based class so she is of no use in a recall. As far as magic goes, she will not be a caster or at least not a powerful caster as she showed no signs for it."

The Countess nodded, "That would be true. She would likely have some minor magical talent just not enough for battle. There are other things the Dragon Mothers will teach her but those are the important items."

He looked at the King, "Is Tranosa cleared to impregnate the dragons who want him?"

He chuckled and nodded, "Might as well."

Travious smiled, "I neglected to say that Majisa is carrying six children."

The Queen Mother looked at him, "Six?!"

Travious nodded, "Three sets of twins."

The Countess looked at the Queen Mother, "Four or less is not considered high risk. Six is considered high risk for us in this form."

Travious nodded, "We have the best clerics who have dealt with multiple childbirths. Including my Great Great Aunt who has dozens of them with no loss of children. There were a few deaths of the mother from complications. But even those were rare. I picked up your care package and ordered up a few new cloaks while I was at it."

Melia looked at him, "What is with the change in rings."

He smiled, "A freedom of movement and spell turning resistance ring. It only gives a chance of turning a spell. When called upon.

If I am going against a Magi champion, I figured having that as a surprise for him would be a good idea."

She nodded, "Alright I can see the logic in that. We also gave him the nickname 'Stallion!'"

The Queen Mother chuckled, "Why?"

She smiled, "Because he cums like a horse. Rope after rope fifteen to twenty at a time and still hard and ready to go through a dozen ejaculations."

The Queen Mother nodded, "Stallion sounds about right then." the ladies laughed.

The King shook his head, "That is insane."

Travious smiled, "I returned the cock ring to Eagle-eye because I did not want to kill any of them."

The King laughed, the ladies just shook their heads.

He looked at them, "I need to go as we have our team assembling tonight for their briefing on all of this. Well, most of this, not the future royalty aspects, for now, ...at least yours. The sovereign prince will be of interest to Dutchess Zaria."

They nodded. Travious smiled, "I will see you ladies, back at the inn. I will want you around for the briefing."

They nodded. The doors reappeared and Travious left the Palace, "Back to town, stable the horses and assemble for the meeting."

They nodded and they were back at the crossroads. He stabled Shi'Drakon and brushed him down. He walked into the inn. He smiled, "Kirra, Victria, and Uncle would you come up first please with your groups. You too Fangs with your guys." He got them upstairs. They saw his 'bedroom.'

He looked at them, "Please grab a seat at the table with your group. He stepped forward and the portal opens and Fangs looked at it, "Now that is cool. They stepped inside with him and looked around and his Uncle Elios asked, "Who designed this?"

Travious smiled, "I have a very gifted enchantress. Soon they will make this permanent extra-dimensional, and secure. This will be one of many. Please have a seat, I have others to get."

He walked downstairs and saw 4 clerics with Doc. He looked at Doc, "Come on up with your group just get them seated."

He looked over and saw the 3 Gray Blade fighters he wanted. He had worked out with them over the years. He looked at them, "You guys are going to love this shit! Once the shock is over! Follow me."

He walked them up to the empty bedroom and went forward until the portal opened. He stepped in and the others followed Fangs whistled, "Someone has been busy."

Travious smiled, "Countess, can you collect the ladies please."

She nodded and stood there and they started standing around the table. He looked at the table, "This information is Classified by the King. The highest-level secret of the Kingdom. In accordance with our alliance with the Metallics, we have eleven dragons living with us. They looked at the ladies.

He walked over and handed the glasses to Kirra. She looked through them, "All Dragons!"

He smiled, "They informed us that the Dragons will return in 75-85 years. The orcs are planning to strike at the same time. These ladies will be breeding with selected members of our community. Two of them have actually been married. Countess Amy Tryst who is actually a Queen of the Amethyst dragons married my Great Uncle John Silvertree.

Baroness Majisa, Actually the youngest daughter to the King of the Gold Dragons. She is a Princess who married me earlier today with the blessing of the Gods. It was encouraged in fact. At the same time, the Lady of Dreams informed us that it will be a full out dragon war as it will feel like days to them instead of years. The orc assassin also confirmed this timeline. I have three sources saying the same thing.

We will be fucked unless we do something. We will be invading the valley the orcs hold tomorrow. The plan is simple but not without risks. They have built a couple of rows of spiked pits to take out a horse; not counting the few grunts who watch the border. We are going to use walls of force as bridges. We are going to get on them and blast anything around, near, or on that line for about 20 seconds.

We will split into 4 teams, plus one small group of 2 casters staying behind for this initial assault at Fort Ash. Once we are over the bridge the scouts will direct us to advantageous positions one group going left, one right, and one down the middle with me. My uncle will be in charge of the left group. Fangs will lead the group to the right.

We find a good spot especially for a spy and caster to sneak into to set up more teleportation locations at night. We will coat that valley with known teleportation locations. The orcs will no longer have a front line unless they retreat into the mountains. Even then we might get one or two locations in place before they know what is happening. They have a new champion. Like me but for Gruumsh. He is an Orog Magi.

I am hoping this destruction of his troops will draw him onto the field. That will give me a chance to put him down. The orcs may try and attack during this storm either way. It will not matter. Feather fall with teleportation circle to the locations several hundreds of feet above them and teleporting back out. What they will be dropping are dwarven explosives. Seventy years of it stored for that coming day.

Fifty mages with those spells can wipe out half their army in the first wave. We won't stop until our casters are exhausted of that spell or the explosives are gone."

He looked at the men, "The half-dragons and dragons' presence will be known in about 10-12 years. Questions?"

Fangs looked at him, "Alright, so now I see why you kept turning me down."

The group laughed as he shot back, "Other than you are male, I have no interest in you OR men. Plus, it is against the Paladin's Code."

Everyone laughed. Fangs picked back up, "How are we supposed to see these bridges? Especially our horses."

He looked around the table, "Would all those capable of wielding a wand step forward." He pulled out the package of 26 fireball and 26 chain lightning wands.

"A present from the King. He expects a full report on the fireworks. I would like estimates on the number of dead from each group. That is the fighters' job as well as keeping anything off of the casters. I will be that for my group. Every caster takes two, one of each. We get to the front. We will turn the front line of horses sideways. The two casters setting up the bridges will put them in place.

Then fireball the fuck out of the front line. Where you see soot and debris floating in the air is where you will find your force bridges. Next questions?"

One of the fighters known as Brok and an elf-blood looked at Travious, "What is to stop them from dropping that front line?"

Travious looked at him, "Everyone in that front line, my three clerics, myself, my uncle, and my sister will all have Silvertree saddles. All casters will have one.

Any others will be given out to the least armored to the heaviest armor. They provided protection from normal missiles. We get up on the bridges we will stop for about twenty seconds blast the pit traps to hell! Our blade singers will chain lightning anything coming at us. Once over the bridge, the two casters who do the bridges will return to Fort Ash. We will ride out at 'ride like the wind speeds' blasting big pockets of troops.

Our Blade Singers will blast anything that comes at us from the front. Until the scouts say to stop or the situation becomes worse. When that happens. Gather and teleport back to the backside of Fort Ash, the front gate if you will. An hour later we can have mid-meal and go over the intelligence we have gathered. We will re-enter the territory using the new teleport locations. Rotating caster to get more of them in the know of each location.

When that is done, we will immediately regroup into small groups. Every group that has one teleport circle to get out and another to get back will go. No more than groups of 3 or 4 with a wizard who has a teleportation circle to exit the area. Our goal is to cover the valley with teleportation circle locations and get to these 3 locations. The two orc barricades on the human side to blast the hell out of them. The mouth of the valley going into the mountains is our primary objective to take complete ownership of the valley.

Everything goes well, we will have 12 or more teleporter locations known in the valley. We give it the night at Fort Ash as it will take them a day to try and get their acts together."

One of the Blade Singers raises a hand, "What are we doing about the poison they use?"

Travious looked at him, "Before we leave Fort Ash I will come around and inspect each mount and shake your hands. Melia, what will that do for them?"

Melia looked at them, "He can give you delay poison with a touch. It will last for hours and make you immune to the poison."

Travious nodded, "I will also do it again after-midday meal before we leave. This will be after the briefing to reassign the caster and determine entry points. The two who did force bridges will be rotated in so they will know at least two locations by the end of the day. If you can cast it only once you will be fire support on at least another mission so you know two locations.

We will gather all of the information. Our scouts will give us our three best scouting positions so far. We will not use those positions on day two. The third day we ride up and blast anything they have rebuilt on the front line. That evening three teams with a scout, caster, and Blade Singer will use the three best scouting locations. Determine what they are doing. Move off the location and establish a new site to teleport into.

We will do that using day two and three locations. After that night we will have established at least six if not more scouting positions. Day four. We will determine the best location we can scout from AND see a sizable troop presence in the area. We will teleport into that location and hit it with the first group, then the second, and then the third. That night we will see if they have taken the bait and surrounded that entrance location.

If not, we will launch from there again riding into different nearby targets. That night we will see if they surround that area with troops to try and protect themselves from us. If so, we will send our first dwarven care package into that circle the next morning from about five hundred feet above. We will wait 30 seconds and send in a group to mop up what was gathered, they will ride out and find another teleport location.

Thirty seconds later group two will come in and do the same thing. Except for hit and run. Group three will be in twenty seconds behind you to blast the entire area to ash. They will move off and establish a teleport location. During the next few nights, scouts will assess what they are doing. Next morning, we will hit the front line on our side and the two human lines. They should be putting effort into stopping us from entering on horseback in force. They will do one of two things at that point.