Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 03 Pt. 02

Grand Master Strong Oak nodded, "They hated me. My life was threatened daily. Then I started manifesting powers and they just loathed me from a distance. They steered clear of me once I became a Grand Master Blade Singer, thanks to my Cousin Eldar and the Gods. This sounds exactly like something they would do. Thank you. I know you lost a lot of family and people you cared about. This all started a long time ago."

Travious nodded, "The drow wanted me for more than that reason. Like the orcs, they had a champion on the field. After that last attack, I had someone do something for me. You know Lady Silver Hair?"

He nodded, "She is still around?!"

Travious nodded, "She is still around. Very close in fact. She helped me to deliver a care package from some dwarven sappers. I found out this evening I could unlock and activate the drow communication crystals. She can teleport or teleport something to the other crystal. In this case 20 barrels of dwarven explosives a foot off the ground.

The Lady of Dreams told me the other champion is off the field. As in dead. Along with another 80,000 other drow and driders. It may have stopped the war brewing with the drow. Most of the tunnels collapsed and have become unstable. Even some going to the Dwarven Kingdom from the drow are in the same state. They are happy as pigs in shit."

He chuckled and sighed, "We have funerals to tend to."

Travious shook his head, "I have to get my wives and move to the Far East on a mission. I have little choice in this matter. Divine direction."

He nodded, "Thank you for what you did for my wives. Also for taking on the drow and making them pay. You take care of yourself cousin."

Travious nodded, "You find love again cousin. A Strong Oak has many branches."

He nodded. Travious mounted up and rode off to the Inn at a relaxing pace, "Shi'Drakon I lost many family members today but I may have helped to avert a war with the drow."

Shi'Drakon responded, "I heard you talking. I know how you feel. I have lost many in our time together and before then."

Melia came riding up and looked at him, "Where did you go?"

Travious looked at her, "To talk with my cousin, Grand Master Strong Oak, who lost 3 wives from assassins who were trying to kill the Silvertree and the Strong Oak families. Hired and arranged by the Goldbar family. The one instructor from the Far East was cut off from the family a long time ago.

We arranged for him to keep his modest assets under his new House Golden Star. He is into men and infertile so it is not going to last long. House Silvertree will be getting a sizable increase from the destruction of this family.

They killed all the people in the House Silvertree Estates, Elders, the widows of my uncle and brother; along with all the children present. Another 20 assassins in the Capital. They killed all of the family elders including Victria.

That makes John the new Elder of our branch and my Aunt the new Blade Singer on the council for the family. There will be a new election to elect a new head of the Council when the funerals are done."

Melia leaned over and hugged him, "What now?"

Travious looked at her, "We get gathered together. We move to the Far East as planned. It is a danger for me to be here for the others. I also have a mission to plan while grieving with you for those we lost."

She nodded and sighed, "Getting away for a while might help."

Travious pulled out the crystal to his Aunt, "Can you talk?"

She responded, "What can I do for you, my nephew?"

He sighed, "A few things actually. I have a request to make. A few actually. I need 10 casters with a teleportation circle spell to meet me out in front of the inn. To teleport a bunch of stallions and gear to the Far East Embassy. I dealt with the 30 family members trying to get into House Silvertree Estate.

I told them you would be getting with them about the deaths. That you were at the Palace with Uncle John. That everyone in the compound was killed and you were actively working getting the pieces together. I have a request for you to pass along to the King. For all of the Goldbar family members who do not get executed, but are stripped of their house. They not be known as Gold, but as Fool's Gold."

His Aunt chuckled at that last part, "Thank you for talking with those waiting. I am with John and your cousin going over this data. The King is having evening dinner with the head of the Goldbar family. John will be joining them shortly."

He sighed, "I know he will not ask for anything but be sure Strong Oak gets some compensation for the assassination of his three wives as called out in that journal. He might not need it but his children might in the future."

He heard her sigh, "I feel for him. Nice thing you did for the one Goldbar you are working with."

Travious smiled, "Taking a page from grandfather's Journal about Silverbar. I will let you get a hold of Tranosa about those casters."

He heard her sigh, "Alright."

He turned for the inn, "Straka unta."

He dismounted outside. He headed to the fourth floor and into his home. He saw the new wizard who stood, "I heard things have been busy for you."

Travious nodded, "If finding an entire compound of people dead is busy then yes."

Travious looked at him as he turned white. "I know it is hard to discuss this kind of stuff. Do not take my response as a rebuke of your comment. You either did not know or know what to say. Regardless it has been a hard day that we are about to start all over."

He looked around, "Find Bree."

They pointed to a room and he knocked and Bree answered, "Sorry just got up from a long nap waiting for you to get back."

He looked at her, "Get everyone together. You got your spells together for teleportation circle?"

Bree looked at Travious, "I have one left and a teleport."

He nodded, "You will need them both so no casting until your mission briefing."

He looked over and his wives had gathered with the Countess, "Astria able to cast up and make this place permanent like Staria?"

The Countess shook her head, "She does not have the right skills to make them permanent. We combine in draconic mythic magic to make it work on that spell. With the standard permanency. It is complicated."

He nodded, "I will need Staria brought to the Far East after she is ready. We can find a good place to put it out of sight but accessible to our horses as well. I do not want us to reside in the main embassy building.

They have their work to do. We can get by for one night. Ladies get your horses. If you have them. I have a group of casters that should be waiting to get to the embassy location if they do not already have it."

They nodded and Majisa came up and hugged him, "The Countess told me. I am so sorry."

Gia came over, "Majisa told me."

Travious nodded, "It has been a long day and it is not over."

They nodded and headed out of the home and downstairs.

He looked around. "How many casters here have more than one teleportation circle?" Three raised a hand. Travious looked at them. "You have teleportation as well. Stick up your hand if you have been to the embassy?" The three of them nodded. Two hands went up but one was from someone who had only 1 teleportation circle."

Travious looked at the other two. "I want the two of you to get all of these horses moved to the embassy and return home. Take the two who have two to pick up the other horses. The horses will spread out on their own."

He looked at the Countess and she nodded and got the rest of them to the embassy. She smiled and headed back as they walked into the building. Travious looked across "Bree find me 8 casters with teleportation circle and meet me in the dining room."

He looked at Melia and the ladies, "Find the Ambassador for me. I have a trip to make that he needs to accompany me upon. Find Goldbar and get him to the Elven Palace as soon as possible to deal with his house business."

After 5 minutes the ambassador arrives and Goldbar walked out and teleported away.

He looked at the Ambassador, "You have a warlord to introduce me to and we need a room for the day until we can find a location to set up our home. You have other buildings here? I might need to have one built."

He looked at Travious, "What is going on with the horses?"

Travious looked at him, "A security precaution. Over 50 assassins just since my marriage. They are watching the grounds, at the direction of Shi'Drakon. They will alert if they sense a problem."

He walked into the dining area and he followed. Travious turned to him, "You ready to ride into the Warlord's Palace to make introductions?"

He sighed and headed to the stable. He looked at Bree and came back with nine casters. Travious looked at Bree, "Setup a temporary version of my home for now just outside against the wall. She smiled and cast it and they walked inside with the other ladies. He looked at them and laid out a group of rings. "Try those on." They tried them and they all disappeared. They pulled them off.

He looked at them, "You are going to step out of here and surround Bree facing outward. Put those rings on and walk through the garden and set up new teleport locations. While there observe the skies for griffons or dragons. Do not make your presence known. Back in ten minutes or less if needed.

This is not about the best locations, this is about knowing what is going on there as we have reason to believe the humans there are in trouble. If not, we will monitor periodically. If you see dragons. Spread out. Set new locations and get the hell out of there! They will see you with those rings on. Enjoy your first mission."

They headed outside and left. Not even 10 minutes later and they started to come back and he waved them inside as they arrived. They had all of them. He looked at Bree. She sighed toward him, "No Griffons in the sky. Parts of some in the garden. I saw no dragon's in the sky."

One gold-elf raised his hand. "I saw some dragons in the open area of the Palace. They had their backs to me. I saw six or seven."

Another moon-elf from the military looked over at Travious, "I got to the edge of the garden and there had to have been 40-50 of them flying in from the mountains."

Another moon-elf who had been in the Academy lines looked at Travious, "It was at least that many coming in from over the Palace when I teleported out."

He looked around, "Anything that any of you wish to add?"

None of them said a word. He walked out with them in tow. He headed into the embassy and looked at the Ambassador riding in. He secured the room and locked the ambassador out.

He opened up my Crystals to the Countess and the King, "Your Majesty, I have a crystal open with you and the Countess. Can I get both of you to a secure location?"

The countess responded, "On my way to the conference room."

The King sighed, "As am I. Your cousin and Aunt are still reading through data you gathered in there."

Travious sighed, "That will have to do, your Majesty, I have the local ambassador locked out as well."

A few minutes later and the countesses' crystal went dark and the King responded, "Your brother John has those two in an extra-dimensional space..."

Travious cut him off, "Not what I am contacting you about, Your Majesty. I sent the team in to check on the Griffon Riders. They are with me. No griffons in the sky. Griffon parts scattered in the garden. Reports are 2 groups of chromatic dragons seen in the air averaging around 50 in each. Another 6-7 in the main palace area that was an open area. They immediately left."

The King groaned and he heard him fall into a seat, "We are ill-equipped to take them on at this time."

Travious nodded, "My guess is we are 30-40 years out of having a chance of doing anything other than hit and run strikes but that might cause counter strikes. We need to get the Knights situation fixed sooner than later. We need to find those who can train dragon riders.

We need 20-30 lances to be the first thing off of the forge when that time arrives. We still need to find trainers and we got one shot and that is finding a mercenary until who can do it. Do we have a timeline on how long until they will be ready to install the forge?"

The Countess interjects, "I know of a few dragon lances we might be able to get our hands-on. What did you have in mind?"

Travious sighed, "I want to get eleven dragon riders started while we wait for half-dragon riders. Both on dragons using the rings and our horses. Also, ask the question is the every-3-year thing a foregone timeline or is it being extremely safe. If they have a city of several hundred thousand with half the population being female. I have seen a lot of rings with male chromatic dragons they could out-breed us. Also, check with the King of Grand Falls.

See if they have any alliance with the Griffon riders or any human race does. Then there is another option. We could use the two rings with the gold and silver dragons. We try and draw a few away at a time and thin them out, Your Majesty."

King Goldeagle sighed, "Nothing I need to decide tonight but I will take it up with my military advisers."

The Countess added, "I will get my people to try and locate a few of those lances. A handful at most could possibly exist. Hard to say. We at least know where the majority of them are located."

Travious responded back, "Until they run out of food which is where this mission comes in handy. We cut off the slave trade or curtailing it they will send a few after us. Away from the elven kingdom if that is their primary source of food. Or breeding females, Your Majesty."

The King brought it full circle, "I will consider what we have, you have a set of 4 ships arriving in less than 2 days give or take. Stay on task and thank you for the information."

---

King Goldeagle looked at the Countess, "The champion told me I would have to replace the Goldbar families hold over the bank soon and I dismissed him on it. Now I know they are the ones bringing assassins into my Kingdom. My mother told me to listen to champions, but I have to rule.

I failed to do it with him thinking it was a family vendetta. Instead, they destroyed all of the house Silvertree elders. From the reports, I am getting almost 100 children who lived on the estate are dead. Those are deaths I might have been able to prevent if I thought to act instead of questioning his motives."

The Silver Queen looked at him as the others were in the secure shelter, "You had nothing to act upon except a warning it was coming. You had no actionable information. Trust me. I worked intelligence for Dragons, even before I became Queen.

A vague warning from a champion should have made you aware it was going to occur, nothing more except working a potential plan to deal with what would have to happen when it occurred. The fact was it was likely fated to go down this way and you could not stop it with the information you had.

Travious is not accusing you of inaction. He just felt they would be a problem again and tried to warn you. He will challenge you, again, and again. It is the nature of champions and we have dealt with them on numerous occasions from our own kind.

Eldar accused us of inaction and he was right. Lord Regal clung to that treaty up until Brannar ripped it to shreds with the evidence he found. He was not even a champion but he was damned observant like his father."

He nodded to her, "Thank you for your observations. I have to figure out how to measure this response. I will likely spend a lot of time with my mother going over this. She got very ill when she heard the news in open court. I need to learn when a champion asks for privacy, it would be best to get it."

She nodded, "True. It was not something he would hold back and it was something that would be known to the masses regardless. He wanted to prepare you for making the announcement instead of doing it himself like that. You gave him little choice in that regard. He was required to keep you informed."

The King nodded and headed off to see the Queen Mother.

---

The crystal went dark. He unsecured the room and went out to the ambassador, "We should get going. I set up my home right outside the embassy until we can figure out what the best building is because the next one will be permanent for my family while I am away. Lieutenants oversee your units until I get back."

He left a crystal with Melia, "One of the ones from my border runs. The last one. In case you need to get a hold of me."

She nodded and smiled. "Sleep when you get back."

He nodded, "Evening time tonight we will start with aerial riding skills so those who do not have an elven Warhorse will get one assigned and Gia has extra tack. If we need more then we will get it this evening from the Capital stable. Gia, here are the feather fall items I thought the bracers would work for you."

She smiled and nodded. He mounted up and rode out with the ambassador and four guards. Travious looked at Ambassador New Moon, "Guards?"

He sighed and nodded, "There are some who do not like our presence here. The current Warlord Sun is on the fence about things he is facing pressure from a few others who are anti-magic. King Goldeagle is only partially aware of some of this. Do not be surprised."

Travious shook his head as they arrived at the Warlord's Palace. He put Shi'Drakon in the stable stall with the ambassadors and escorts horses. Travious walked in with the Ambassador into a royal court with several people milling about. They were forced to wait until asked to approach. Travious handed his papers to the man that came forward and he read his papers. They bowed to the Warlord and waited for him to speak. He looked at Travious and spoke in common, "What is a Knight Paladin?"

Travious looked at him and in the native dialect, "A Knight Paladin is a protector of the elven people. Answering to our Gods and our King in that order. You have knights in your culture you call them samurai. In the Elven Kingdom, you have a knight, knight paladins, and the Knight Paladin Champion of Corellon Larethian. Each is a step higher and the last two can only be achieved through years of training a human could not complete, Warlord Sun."

He looked at Travious, "Why not?"

Travious looked at him, "Warlord Sun, our training begins at the age of 15-25. It runs for 30 years under the instruction of another Paladin. Then continues with military training until we reach the age of 75. This is followed by 30 years of training 2 to follow.

Training does not guarantee acceptance. Your instructors have to agree that you have mastered the material. If humans in this part of the world are living and fighting at that age of a 105 it would be news to me."

He looked at Travious, "I thought all elves were casters."

Travious smiled, "Warlord Sun, all elves are casters would be like saying all humans are royalty. My abilities are from the divine. The gods themselves. I am the revealer of truth."

He chuckled, "Who's truth? Human or elven?"

Travious looked at him, "Warlord Sun, I get the impression you think they are different."

He chuckled, "They are. It depends on who is writing the history."

Travious looked at him and smiled, "Warlord Sun, do you know who I am? To your people?"

He sat back, "No."

Travious looked at him, "Warlord Sun, just over 106 years ago a Storm born Battlemage entered into this Palace. A Ring of poison detection, a bag of holding, and a special set of glasses came in the years that followed along with the siege weapons to protect your province.

That Battle Mage was my father. He secured the Eternal Forge to create those weapons. Those dragons will return. Not all of them have left. My people recovered the Eternal Forge from the sunken island. They intend to restart it for when the dragons return and war resumes for all of us.