Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 03 Pt. 01

A man steps forward, "Would you look through these and tell the Queen what you see him holding?" He looked through them and handed them back to Travious as he drew his sword. "He is holding a red dragon!"

The Queen looked at him, "That is crazy."

Travious looked at the guard captain, "As long as he has her hands restrained, she is harmless for the moment. You can put your sword away.

Your Majesty and Your Majesty, a necromancer created a slew of rings being used by assassins and chromatic dragons to assume the bodies of people to get close to positions of power." He pulled out a ring and handed it to the guard captain. "When she is killed in this form her dragon body will be stored but its mind wiped. Much like the girl that wore this ring. The wearer of the ring can then assume the body with their own mind. Captain, would you move into an open area of the room behind us.

Put that ring on for just a moment. The ring he is about to put on was taken off of the corpse of an elven serving girl in the elven Palace."

He nodded to the Guard Captain and everyone watched as he transformed into a blue dragon. He took the ring off and gave it back to him. "Under my code as a paladin, I am required to kill this dragon. The woman's body he or she now possesses is no longer with a mind. The dragon controls the body. A fatal flaw in the rings is they do not have their strength or innate spellcasting abilities in this form."

The Queen sat down and nodded. "Do it and show me. If you are wrong then you die."

He pulled his sword, "Moon fire on." He took the blade and slid it straight up and into her heart. She fell over dead. He put his sword away, "Bree can you tell me which ring." She went over and looked, she tossed him the ring and he walked to the back of the room and transformed into a red dragon.

He took the ring off and stored it. "Bree identify any other jewelry or items on the girl and make them available to the royal family. The ring I just collected like the other is useless in a mundane hand, like mine or your guards unless they are mages. We do not have the magical ability to understand polymorph. Our arcane casters can gain control of flight, tail, and breath weapon. Something we will need in the coming years. I hope we have demonstrated we are not here to harm but to help."

She was shocked but nodded. He looked at her, "Could I get a private meeting with both of you? The security detail, as well as any military advisers you might wish to have, can sit in on this discussion. We can use my secure conference room?"

She looked at him, "You travel with a room?"

He smiled, "I travel with a copy of my secure home. Would you like to see it?"

She nodded and he pointed back. Bree nodded, "Nice bracers and a ring of resistance, a dagger of venom, and an amulet of protection."

He nodded. She left the items laid out. He looked at the dagger, "I would prefer the dagger was destroyed. We do not tolerate poison weapons or poison at all but the choice is yours."

Bree finishes casting "Unta." He walked into the portal and the court watches as their horses did as well. The King and Queen walk toward the portal with a group of guards. A few advisers. They followed them inside. They walked all the way into the back and they followed.

They unsaddle the horses and brush them down and left the gear. They look at the waterfall. The Queen commented, "Remarkable!"

He nodded, "The main house is designed after the Palace of the Council of Nine. We have a silver dragon enchantress who made the design for us and taught our arcane casters how to cast this. The waterfall is a homage to Silent Falls, a holy site in the Elven Kingdom. It is also great for horses while traveling."

He walked them back out to the main room, "Is everyone you want here at the moment?"

She looked, "This is a small enough group if we need to, we can call others."

He nodded, "Portal please seal and allow no entry at this time."

The portal closes. Travious looked at her, "We are in an extra-dimensional space. Nothing can hear us or teleport in or out. This is about as secure as it gets. This will last for several hours. There are dragons still left around.

The elven people along with the dwarves and humans of Grand Falls have an alliance with the Metallic dragons. Founded in the fabric of the Eternal Forge. The one device that can create dragon lances and siege weapons that can take down a dragon Your Majesty."

That had her curiosity. "We are breeding a metallic half-dragon army. Some of those are to be dragon riders in need of these lances. The problem is we have nobody to train these half-dragons in the use of these lances.

You do not have these lances for your own riders. It takes a master craftsman from the humans, dwarves, and elves along with the blood of a royal dragon to start the forge. All freely given and not under duress. The forge was buried with the destruction caused when the dragons left. It is being recovered now if not already. The dragons will be back in 75-85 years. I have gotten this information from multiple and competing sources so it is accurate.

When it comes...the earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and a large dust storm will occur. Nobody knows which faction of dragons will be in control. We are preparing for the worst. Once the forge is in place, we will have everything except the trainers.

That is also where the rings come into play. We can use them with our mages to simulate the dragons as the ones we are using to breed this army cannot change shape as long as they are with a half-dragon child inside of them. We have them in a secure location. Now you see why I could not discuss this with a red dragon in your court, Your Majesty"

The Queen nodded, "How did you know?"

He sat down, "True seeing. To be honest a newer version of true seeing created by my grandfather and enchanted into the first set of glasses by his wife Staria. There are very few of these glasses. It would be a point of trade negotiation with the Elven King to try and get a set. As they are the only ones who have the resources to craft them at this time.

These have also been set to tint to cut out the glare of the sun. That aspect is great for sea travel but I know it will be great for aerial fighting. Another point of negotiations with the Elven King. These glasses have both. They were meant for my father and they were given to me by the Queen Mother. Her son now rules. Your isolation has served you well but in the coming years, it could be damaging to your people.

The Metallic dragons in our lands are under the protection of the Elven King. We need them and they need us. You need the lances and we need the training. You can see the inter-dependencies."

She nodded. "This is a lot to absorb."

He nodded. "If you like we can come back at another time to continue this discussion, Your Majesty?"

She looked at Travious. "I think that would be for the best. This is not something that needs to be decided today. We have years to consider this."

Travious nodded, "We have about 12-15 years until the first ones will be old enough to start training. You however have been infiltrated and we found one. There will likely be others. While the training is aways out, your security is an issue now, Your Majesty. Something you should consider."

He handed her a crystal. "This is one of the communication crystals given to me by the King for field communications. It connects to this one. When you are ready to talk and if you want a formal ambassador to work negotiations you can contact us on that crystal.

I will see this one gets to the Palace. We will work to contact other aerial combat units to try and get this training as well. I do not have a list but I understand there are a few others to talk with as well. The Queen of the Silver dragons suggested we start with you."

She nodded, "Thank you for your candor in this matter."

He looked at her, "Please do be careful with who and where you discuss this. As you have seen the handmaiden was sent to kill with poison to eliminate any threat."

She nodded. Travious looked over, "Unseal the portal." The portal opened up. He looked at her, "We are going to get our horses ready and then teleport home. Nobody should remain in this place once we leave as when the spell ends, they could be trapped in here without hope of rescue until they die."

The Queen nodded. "You have a permanent version of this?"

He nodded, "It was made permanent to save on having to construct a whole new set of buildings for the half-dragons that will be coming. This is adult quarters. There will be different designs for a nursery and the like."

She smiled, "What do you do to feed that many?"

He walked into the dining room, "Mid-day meal turkey pie for 12 with wine water and bowls of fruit." She stood there and watched as the table filled with food. "Each housing unit can feed over 200." She shook her head, "Elven magic never ceases to amaze."

Travious nodded, "Not my talent. I am a Paladin. Bree is the mage here."

She smiled at Bree. She looked at Travious, "Is there a chamber pot nearby?"

He walked back to the master bedroom and pointed to the one in the shower area. "That one is fixed and self-cleaning. I have a regular chamber pot that is not fixed and is self-cleaning. That is what the dragons call a shower, like rain but you can adjust the water temperature. A slow-moving waterfall for getting cleaned up."

She smiled at that and they left her to do her business while her guards stood watch. They got their horses saddled, "Do a room by room search once we have the horses out, and then we will set it so only someone can exit nobody can enter."

She nodded. "It would just expel them."

He nodded, "Noted. I am not that knowledgeable on this spell."

They got the horses saddled up and walked back out. The Queen had just come out, "Very large beds."

Travious smiled, "I have three wives with the possibility for more."

She looked at him, "That is a lot of wives."

Travious laughed, "My grandfather had 6 at a time. Not the norm but multiple spouses returned to increase the elven population."

Bree came back, "All the other bedrooms are cleared. I will check the master and then we will be ready." She came out and nodded.

They followed the contingent outside and Bree sets the conditions. They stood side by side, "Thank you for your time when we return, we would like to return to your garden to avoid the confrontation at the border."

She said nothing and they teleported away back in front of their home and unsaddle the horses, "Search around for any you might have missed you stud."

Bree took hers to the stable while Shi'Drakon jumps the fence. He headed upstairs and walk into the home.

Melia was surprised to see them so soon. "Did you see them?" He nodded. He sat the saddle and barding down and threw the blanket on the ground.

The Countess came out, "How did it go?"

He looked at everyone, "Back up."

He jumped up on the table and put on the red dragon ring. Crushing the table. Then he took it off and put on the blue and took it off. The tables and chairs were smashed but the Countess looked at him, "Found a red there!"

He nodded, "Took a bit of convincing to let me kill the female human. But once they knew it was a red dragon my life was not forfeit. They have a crystal. They MAY contact us. I warned her that they were already infiltrated. Will have Bree or better yet my Aunt take it to the Queen Mother and King. The dragon lances are an item that interests them but 75-80 years might as well be talking about a thousand years to them. Tell me about these other aerial riders."

The countess did not like the direction this was going, "A group of riders who ride Pegasus, another who ride roc or giant eagles, the next is a group who ride hippogriffs, another who ride dragon-horses, and the last is a necromancer group who ride nightmares. I will start the absolutely undo-able nightmare riders. The riders of Dragon-horses are not a society but individuals.

Tracking them down will take your God's giving us an exact map with the ability to track across the planes. They can shift planes. Hippogriffs will find you to be a tasty snack let alone your horses. I know of no organized society again; only individuals. That leaves Roc and Pegasus riders. The only group of organized Roc riders I know that even might deal with you is storm giants.

They would expect payment in the form of horses. Lots of horses to feed the rocs. Think 50 a day for one is what they would likely ask for. That would probably feed 10-20 of their Rocs. Do not know of their knowledge of lances if they even have any.

There are two groups of Pegasus riders I know of. One is the Valkyrie who would sooner steal the souls of the fallen warriors from the battlefield as to be involved in the battle. They are not on this plane thankfully. They work for a human deity. The second is a group that lives off a remote island out in the middle of nowhere.

Take a ship out of the Deep Sea. Go out into what they call uncharted waters. Then search for an island that is hidden in invisibility. Travel about a month away from all known shipping lanes or societies. The riders are even more reclusive. The Dragons have little to no information and that information is in the Capital.

The last group made the Griffon riders look like an open and accepting society. The society is all human. Outside races are not wanted, needed, or wished to be seen. The only thing you would have going for you is that they are all paladins or clerics. The thing you have going against you is they hate all dragons. Color makes no difference, mission makes no difference, they would attack us on sight if they knew we were dragons."

He smiled at her, "That last group of humans is where we will need to start. Then we need to go to our human allies in the embassy my father established to start looking for these single riders or small groups of riders. In addition to checking with bards from Grand Falls across the entire expanse of human lands."

She sighed in resignation and nodded, "I know how to teleport there. I went a long time ago before I was a Queen. The welcome was not warm. Their clerics can cast divine true seeing, but not the new version as far as we know."

They headed back outside, "Bree can you get a few of the casters that are left to join us just in case."

She nodded and rode down and brought back four casters mounted up. He had Shi'Drakon armored and ready to go. The Countess teleported them out and left immediately. They waited and he had his bow in hand, just in case after the last encounter. Finally, a group of Pegasus riders came into land with bows drawn, "You are not welcome here!"

He looked at him, "I am Travious Silvertree Knight Paladin, Champion of Corellon Larethian. I have come to speak with one of your leaders or a matter of great importance."

One guy looked at him, "You?! A paladin?"

Travious nodded, "I was knighted in the elven court as a Knight Paladin. Were you knighted by royalty or simply knights by the virtue of your holy order? I am both. Do you have a King and Queen or do you have a different form of government?"

The man talking sneered, "You do not need to know that elf. Leave or I will shoot you."

Travious asked, "Care to trade shots? Just you and me?"

He looked at Travious and fired and the arrow deflected away. He drew an arrow and pointed it at a downed tree and watched it burn a foot-deep hole into it.

He thought, "Shi'Drakon They seem to be very un-paladin like but I do not know their order."

The next thing he noticed was all of the Pegasus riders' mounts turned toward Shi'Drakon and bowed toward him. They would not respond to the riders.

He looked at the man, "Our horses are capable of flight. They integrated with local horses and turned into hybrid Elven war horses. This one is the leader of the herd and he is the one talking to your mounts. Not I. Does someone wish to volunteer to get someone in authority that I can talk with about the state of the world and trouble that is coming?"

One of the guys in the back looked at Travious, "I will go."

His mount was released and he rode off. About a half-hour later and 20 more show up and they had weapons drawn, their mounts all did the same thing and landed and bowed before Shi'Drakon. He looked at them, "I am here to talk with one of your leaders, not to invade. So far all I have seen is hostility. I was told your order is Paladins which makes little sense to fire on me."

An older gentleman came up, "You have papers for this?"

He handed them to him and he read through it and handed it back, "You have any battle experience."

He nodded, "I took my assault force of 27 into orc territory on elven war horses after they sent 15 assassins to kill me and killed over 120 others instead. We killed 15,000 on the first day. They brought another 12,000 troops onto the field. With our alliance with the dwarves, we blew the hell out of them while 300 ran from the field.

Then they sent 1,000 toward our human allies. We interceded with their permission and crushed them. The next day the champion of the other god who sent those assassins finally took to the field with rogues and other ogre magi. We killed all but one. From that, we lost seventeen out of our 27. We lost 22 horses as well. A kill ratio of 200 to 1."

He looked at Travious, "Fire your bow at the log over there."

He drew an arrow and shot the log. He shook his head. "You men! Put your weapons away. I am an emissary from the royal family. I deal with all outside contacts for them."

Travious nodded, "We are looking for those trained in aerial combat with a lance to train some of our own people. The dragons will return 75-85 years. It will be a full-on dragon war. We are in the process of relocating and restarting the Eternal Forge.

The forge from the first Alliance of the Dragon Wars. It leveled the playing field with dragon lances, siege weapons, and other weapons designed to kill dragons. We are interested in trading training for dragon lances."

He looked at Travious, "Those times are too far out for us to consider. We do not look that far into the future. Return in 50 years and meet with my replacement to see if they are willing to negotiate."

Travious nodded, "Our casters here now know this location. If for some reason we need to return early this is where we will appear. We will wait as we did this time. We know you do not trust any dragons but we do. We have an alliance with the metallics. As do our allies. It was needed to protect the world when the latest civil war started. They are still out there.

Their kingdom is just gone. They can also hide in plain sight. Do you have any arcane casters?"

He shook his head, "No our equipment is done by divine magic not arcane."

He looked at him, "There was a mass of rings that were created by a necromancer and are still circulating about. With these rings, they can infiltrate anywhere. The body you see has had its mind-wiped and the body of the dragon or spy is stored.

True seeing will not reveal it. Not unless you are using a newer version created by my grandfather, but that is arcane magic. If they die while wearing the ring then the ring will use the body in storage. In the case of two, I recently dealt with a red and blue dragon. Would you care to see this? Provided you do not attack my people."

He looked at Travious and nodded. He looked at Bree, "Would you walk over to the clear spot and face out toward the water and demonstrate what you can do without flying here?"

She nodded and got down and walked out. She slid on the ring for the blue dragon and she roared out at the water wing buffeted and then breathed lightning." She took the ring off and mounted her horse. He looked at him, "This will help us to train metallic half-dragon dragon riders with lances.