Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 03 Pt. 02

I am planning a set of strikes that will make it look like he is facing two different enemies. Us and the chromatics occupying what remains of the Griffon Rider territories."

The King looked at Travious, "The most they had with any of their human neighbors was a non-aggression peace treaty. No treaty in which to provide them any aid exists. How do you plan on doing this?"

Travious smiled, "By having 'our' chromatic dragon casters attack one port. Then fly off in the direction of the griffon riders during a daylight strike. Coming in from that direction.

They then teleport back to a well-anchored ship. Hours later in the late evening time my Shadow riders will take out a different port. We will lead them back out to sea. The Shadow riders would strike late evening so they are returning to the ship that evening as the sun comes up as this dragon hates the light.

After the dragons do a daylight strike on a different port. We cannot strike dead at the compound because of this other dragon. We need to draw him out to fight us. We lay waste to some of his ports and major cities and his naval capability, he will have to face us directly.

It will be moves and counter moves. The fact that the elven Warhorses can fly will be known if not already known. I will have my casters busy making leaflets that we will drop over major cities. Letting them know the Shadow Riders will slay all slave owners in the province. Even if we have to turn the province into ash."

The King looked at Travious, "You said we could not go at this compound directly. Why?"

Travious nodded, "True. That dragon can drain energy from those it hits with its breath weapon. We need to get a couple of our casters close enough to set up a teleport location. Then we have our latest intelligence asset to identify a few rings that could get our casters closer to set up other teleport locations. We then draw him out with dragons and go in with shadow riders to free the slaves while he is giving chase."

The King looked back, "Why would he give chase?"

Travious sighed, "Because I would be with them. It will take a couple of weeks to set up and get geared up for this raid. We should hopefully have your ships cleared well before this occurs. That comes first.

I would also reiterate my lack of faith in the Ambassador in regards to diplomacy. Specifically keeping you informed. He is a talented caster but his skills need work. I recommend sending Jarron out as he was there for the original treaty work."

The King sighed, "I will be sending him to review this on my behalf. Ensure it contains what we need."

Travious looked at the King, "I will be working my own agreement for the two ships I will own. Separating the crown from my activity."

King Goldeagle looked at him, "The secret of them flying is a big issue."

Travious sighed, "Given how easily I recovered her. I can assume they have a spy or some means of watching me. In which case they already know."

The Queen Mother looked at him, "You do not believe it was a coincidence?"

Travious shook his head, "Not with all of the draconic monitoring wards. Then the one slave that was a blatant listening device that our clerics even picked up on when she was examined. They expected us to get those slaves. This was a tactical decision to break our treaty."

At that moment Travious and the King both had crystals buzzing. The King had several buzzing.

Travious grabbed his crystal and walked away as it was his Aunt. She sounded out of breath, "I have, I have about forty, make that fifty. Ah to hell with it. We have large groups teleporting into town. They are from the King's navy!"

Travious sighed, "I got to talk with the King."

He looked over and the King was on a half-dozen crystals and he let it go dark. It was a lot of desperate calls to let him know of dragon attacks. He ordered them to abandon the ships and teleport to Quatarsia.

He looked at Travious, "Some are at the embassy. I ordered them all back to Quatarsia. The only ships that did not contact me are the four you cleared."

Travious sighed, " I should get down there right now. Odds are they are alerted to the fact the forge had already been recovered so they destroyed our naval capability. Else Kan Tri is deeper in league with these dragons. This could also be a retaliation strike for my attack on his ships. Several are possibilities."

The King nodded, "Go to Quatarsia. Find our Captains. Check for any spies in the group."

Travious nodded, "What about the embassy? If there are any my Aunt should see them. She is wearing her glasses as well. We do not have that capability at the Embassy and Academy."

The King Sighed, "Elven lands first, then the embassy. I know you have wives out there but we have to take care of the bigger threat first."

Travious unsecured the room, "Let me take them to their temporary home as well."

King Goldeagle nodded, "Stay safe."

They walked out as Travious spoke, "We are heading for House Silvertree. I want you to use the permanent circle back to my old home."

The caster who brought them nodded, "Is there a reason?"

Travious nodded, "Yes. It is an ORDER!"

He looked shocked at the blunt answer as they rode out. They arrived at the village. He looked at them, "Ride slow. If you see any signs of dragons flying, get into the woods! Take her to the inn and get her into secure quarters with my Uncle John and Amy."

She nodded as did this young Mage. He took off like the wind for the crossroad. He found his Aunt with a few hundred sailors. He looked around and saw at least four dragons in the mix. They all looked like ordinary crewmen. He called out in the local province dialect. "Do not discuss anything until you are debriefed. Those that wish to return to your home province please move up the road. We will arrange transportation once we know how many we are dealing with."

That thinned out the herd. He looked at all of the officers, "Officers need to head inside the church to start debriefing."

They moved into the church. His Aunt caught onto what he was doing. He went around and pulled his crystal, "Your Majesty, I need you to get a hold of your ambassador to contact my wife. We Need an ALPHA assist of casters to return some of these sailors home as soon as possible.

I have the officers in the church waiting for staff to debrief them once they are ready. We need to ascertain the number of enemies involved in this attack and locate the culprits. My men can aid in that effort."

King Goldeagle sighed, "I will pass that back."

He looked at the group wanting to return home. He rode over to them. "Step inside the inn and I will have them feed you all. Get you something to drink."

He rode over to the group with the dragons, "All remaining elves here follow me into Keep."

That split them up. The Duchess looked at them, "I need to know the name of the ship each of you came from." Travious pointed at one 'elf', "The Silvertree."

He looked at him, "Follow my Aunt. Any others from the Silvertree?" He pointed at another 'elf,' He looked at him, "The Goldbar."

He nodded, "You come with me then."

Another man raised a hand, "I am from the Goldbar."

Travious cut him off, "I will get to you next."

He nodded. He walked that one into the Keep and pointed to a chair. As he moved past. "Karti' Ros alpha." Travious cut the creatures head off before he even turned back. He cleaned off his sword and walked back out and looked at the rest of them.

He gave a hand signal to stop. He walked back out front after sheathing his sword. He looked at the remaining men and in the foreign language. "I need to put you into groups. Those wishing to go to the capital and petitioning the King for permission to stay here personally step to the left. Those that only want a few days here and to move back into human lands move to the right."

The two of them moved to the left while half the group moved right. He still had six men here including the two 'gentlemen'. He looked at them, "You know Warlord Sun might very well protest and ask for your return when you see the King. If you wish to change groups do so now.

One stayed and one moved. He summoned the sword and ran the one through that moved and ran him through. He smacked the other in the face with his shield, jumped onto the back, and ran him through. The others looked scared of him. He looked at them and raised a hand. With a stop signal. "Wait and all will be explained." He got up and went to get his Aunt. He saw her glasses and ran up the stairs to the roof with his sword in hand.

He got to the top just as he did with the last dragon held his Aunt with a poisoned dagger against her throat. He reached out and touched her foot, "Kill the bastard!" She held his hand at bay and flipped him over. She got cut. He stabbed that one in the face. He laid hands on her and healed her up. She looked at him, "Took you long enough. What of the others?"

He looked at her, "The other three are dead." He looked down and another group came in with a red in the mix."

He still had his sword already in hand and his shield at the ready. He ran and jumped off the edge as the existing men talked about the dead bodies to the new arrivals. He activated the fly spell in his armor. He smashed into the red Dragon in mid-change and stabbed him. He flew up trying to draw his attack. It worked. The dragon took to the air and went to breathe on Travious.

Travious stopped and flew into his open mouth with his sword cutting through his tongue as he headed straight into his stomach cutting his way down his throat until he felt gravity slam them back onto the ground.

He cut his way out after putting the remains, his lay on hands into himself to deal with the fall and the stomach acid. He stepped out and looked at the group. "NOW! Any question on why those others are dead now!?"

They had dropped between some trees and partially crushed someone's house. They had escaped out of it. He looked around and there was a dead villager under the rear right foot. He sighed, "INTO the keep courtyard now!"

His Aunt got down with the bow he had left behind in her hand and her glasses back on.

He took his bow and sheathed his sword after cleaning it off. He cast some healing into himself.

He looked at her, "Contact the King and find out if this is all of them?"

Melia's crystal to him buzzed. He grabbed it and sighed, "What is going on?"

She cried, "The Ambassador is dead. Most of the buildings and a lot of the horses here are dead. Half of your team is dead. Majisa, Gia, myself, Silverleaf, and his squads are still alive. We sealed the portal after the first breath weapon went off. Shi'Drakon rallied the horses here to take down the dragon.

They took down the dragon with a few of the casters from the other group who were not in the line of fire from the first breath weapon. They said it was young or just an adult dragon. Bree did not survive. The Academy was undamaged."

Travious sighed, "I will contact the King."

He pulled the crystal to the King, "Your Majesty are you secure?"

Travious heard him sigh, "How bad is it?"

Travious looked around, "In the town, we have one damaged building and one villager dead from the red that fell on him after I killed it.

Four dead dragons in the rings. At the embassy, it is a disaster. Half or more of the buildings are destroyed. The Academy stands. Lots of dead horses. Half my unit there was eliminated including Dame Storm. The Ambassador is also dead. What are your orders and are we expecting anymore?"

The King signed, "All of the ones who contacted me. I will hit every naval communication crystal I have and find out what we got. Jarron just walked in here."

Travious sighed, "His son is alive, I just spoke with Melia. His unit did not make it out of the shelter before they sealed it upon seeing the first breath weapon go off. Majisa, Melia, or Gia had to have ordered the sealing of the space.

I am requesting Jarron, a new ambassador, the town planner here, and two squads of battle mages and two squads of Arcane archers be deployed to me. I will get you numbers when I am on the ground at the embassy. Could you let me know when to expect the other four ships, Your Majesty?"

The King sighed, "Back here first. We need to regroup."

Travious sighed, "Is our conference room open, Your Majesty?"

He groaned, "Yes. I am headed back to it now with Jarron."

He walked back to the crossroad, "Straka wait outside the inn for me my friend. "Shi'Drakon lives. I do not know how bad he is injured."

He pulled the crystal to Melia, "Melia?"

She responded, "I am here. I have one of the casters bringing us to you."

He sighed, "Very well. Make sure Shi'Drakon is with you."

She sighed, "I am not sure if that is a good idea."

Travious looked at the crystal, "Do it!"

He waited at the crossroads and Shi'Drakon was covered in blood. He walked over to him and thought, "You hurt bad, or is it from the others?"

He heard, "Both."

He went around and pulled out water skins and rinsed him off first as others came with buckets.

He could see the gashes from the claws. He started healing him with spells, "Get some clerics from the church!"

She went inside and Majisa headed into the inn. He looked at Gia, "Out of healing?"

She nodded, "All six of the new healers died in the first strike. They were congregated together near the captain when it turned from what we can tell."

Travious groaned, "Let the Countess know that we have two dragon bodies to get rid of. One here and one at the embassy. See what she can arrange. Where is she?"

Melia pointed, "She had come back here shortly after you left, with Staria. Majisa went to find them. I'll track them all down. Meet us upstairs when you are ready."

---

Majisa walked into Quarters after Quarters until she found the Silver Queen who looked at Majisa as she spoke, "The chromatic dragons attacked the embassy and this town! From what I heard they were sailors from the Royal navy who came back when their ships went under attack and were destroyed."

The Silver Queen shook her head, "How bad is it?"

Majisa looked at her, "The embassy is destroyed. The other shelter he wanted could have saved those women if you did not rush back here so quickly."

The Silver Queen looked at her, "I had other structures planned for today and they had a room allocated to them in the embassy already. Where is your husband?"

She pointed, "Downstairs. Shi'Drakon got torn to hell and he is tending to his horse." They stepped outside and Melia looked at them, "We have two dragon bodies that have to be disposed of, one in this village and one at the embassy."

She sent Staria off to get others to handle the task. She pulled the pearl to the Elven King, "Your champion is tending to his badly wounded horse they just brought in from the Far East. I am dispatching teams to get rid of the two dragon bodies, including one in each location."

King Goldeagle sighed, "Thank you for your efforts. Come to our conference room with the champion if you can."

She sighed, "I will."

---

Travious finished exhausting his healing. He looked at the clerics coming out and the caster who came with him, "I want you to take these healers to the embassy. Get another set from the church out here! Have them healing everyone including the horses!"

He nodded and told the acolyte. The caster left with the first group and they finished healing up Shi'Drakon.

He thought, "Sorry my friend. We killed five here and saved the herd here. How many survived?"

He heard back, "Less than half. Around 3,000-4,000. Mostly mares who fled immediately, at my direction. I deployed all the stallions. Some scattered after getting badly wounded. There may be more, but the clerics you sent will help greatly. I did not get an accurate accounting before we left them."

Travious looked at him, "Check on your herd here my friend. I will be back for both of you." He stripped down Straka. He carried the gear upstairs and looked at the Countess as he dropped all the gear on the bed on the 4^th floor. She sighed, "Your King is waiting on us. I told him your ladies just arrived and you were tending to the wounds on Shi'Drakon."

He nodded and she had them in the conference room.

The King looked at Travious, "Well, how is your horse?"

Travious looked at him, "Shi'Drakon is banged up pretty good. We lost almost 6,000 horses out there at best guess. the embassy, and all 6 clerics you sent. I dispatched another 8 clerics from Quatarsia to work on the wounded out there. Including the horses who survived and are in bad shape. Did your ambassador even tell you they had almost 9,000 horses out there?"

The King sighed, "I did not know we had that many out there. The Countess said she was sending a couple of specialists to each location to get rid of the two dragon bodies."

She nodded, "They will bring me all intelligence if any is found."

Travious looked over, "Hello Jarron. Your son is in charge out there at the moment."

Melia looked at me, "I left him my crystal."

Travious nodded and walked over and pulled it, "Lieutenant! Make sure those clerics that arrived take care of the badly wounded horses. Find one and let him call the others in to be tended to. Worst upfront. Mares first."

The lieutenant responded, "In progress. My horse survived and I relayed your request. Who will be taking over out here or will anyone?"

Travious looked over, "We are working on that and I have recommended your father be recalled."

Youn Silverleaf chuckled, "He told me he thought you would find some way to do that, but I did not think this would be it."

Travious let the crystal go dark. He handed that crystal to Melia, "I will get the other from the Lieutenant."

He walked over, "Your thoughts, Your Majesty?"

He looked at Travious, "It will take time to rebuild the navy."

Travious shook his head, "We convince the men to come back. I will get the ships. I will commandeer Kan Tri's fleet a ship at a time if needed. He has hundreds or thousands of them. I would like all four of the remaining ships to do it with."

Jarron shook his head, "Do it with 2. Take any you capture to this point and anchor them.

The Silver Queen interjected, "We will need to clear them of any dragon wards that might be in place. I will get a team to work with you on that when you contact me. We will get them cleared of any dragon wards. Listening or otherwise. We should do this for your remaining ships to be safe.

Jarron nodded, "Then we will collect them up as salvaged abandoned ships. Bring them into our Navy. I will be finding those regional generals that are not working and recalling all of their assets. We will make larger regions if we have too."

Travious nodded, "I will need a crystal to whoever is leading that effort in case we bring in 12 at a time."

The King chuckled and Jarron sighed, "You think you can do that?"

Travious nodded, "Yes if the King provides the assets I asked for. We could also use eighteen blade singers if we are going after his navy."

King Goldeagle nodded, "Jarron you need to get the peace treaty to include our ability to salvage abandoned ships from outside territorial waters. Knight Champion what about this Warlord who is at war with the Kan Tri?"

Travious sighed, "He is toying with him like a mouse. He perceives them as a threat then he will move out in that direction or come to me depending on where the pressure he gets from the chromatics. Especially if I start to destroy all of his ports. I align with a neighboring province and he will just get the food out of those people."

King Goldeagle nodded and looked at Travious, "You need to see if you can reach an agreement with him."