Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 03 Pt. 02

He nodded. "Create the shelter and set it for you and him to be able to open it. Dim the lighting as he is not used to the sun." She nodded and created it.

Travious looked at Staria, "Show him around and see if this is what he wants if so, make it permanent for him. Away from the rest of the world."

She nodded, "She was back in a couple of minutes and he looked at Travious, "Thank you, my nephew. This would work well."

Travious nodded, "Live well and in your own freedom for your final days."

He nodded and sealed the door. He looked at them, "Reverse course take us straight north-west from here. I want them thinking we are headed south. While we head back into the warlord's area. Let me contact the King first."

He opened the crystal, "Your Majesty?"

The King came back, "Knight champion. I actually got a couple of nights of sleep."

Travious smiled, "My Aunt could not say the same. I found a half-brother to Eldar. A Moon Bow relative of Eagle-eye on the first two slave warships I took down. I sank one. We then took three more ships. All humans. Except for one elf blooded who doesn't know our language."

The King sounded surprised, "Another half-brother?"

Travious sighed, "From his mother. Also, half-drow. Old, enfeebled, and infertile. A slave all of his life. We did not kill him. I did just put him in a permanent private sanctum in the middle of this ocean so he can live out his remaining days in peace and isolation. He had no useful skills."

The King sighed, "Wow. Did not think she lived that long."

Travious groaned, "That is what we were all led to believe. She lived long enough to have that child. Also for the child to know her. I could not bring him back there and I could not kill him because of his elven blood. It was a conflict. I had to ask for guidance. We need flags for four more ships, your Majesty. Also, any sailors who wished to join me should be hired. After being cleared at the embassy.

The King sighed, "The agreement is still not finished. They keep getting interrupted. They resume again the day after tomorrow."

Travious nodded, "I made contact with one of the other Warlords ships. Found 2 dragons on his ship and a traitor first officer for him. We just finished getting the ships cleared of trackers and we are heading away from the drop off point for my Great uncle if you will."

The King chuckled, "Any other surprises?"

Travious smiled, "I have one of General Goldeagle's sons in my group. He is working on the other ship. The Silver Moon."

The King chuckled, "I will be sure to let his father know. He must have volunteered. From what I understand they were all volunteers to work with the man who shut down the drow invasion."

Travious nodded, "We impressed the other Captain as well but we released the dragons. The three ships that came in had a red launch from it. We sent blue and black dragons against him. Then our own reds to fry the sails of the other 3ships. We captured 4 in a few hours.

They are crewed by the slaves and a few of our officers. Tomorrow morning, we will head straight south to the rendezvous point. We will drop off two of the four ships. If you can get us those flags then we will leave the two sets of royal flags we have so you can salvage them. I will have some of our army guys go over the intelligence I decrypted. See if there is anything useful. Any of your royal navy guys need a new ship you can piece together crews for these two ships.

The King sighed, "How many more can you safely handle, Knight Paladin?"

Travious sighed, "Capture. Max I would think is another 6-10 if we use the slaves we capture to help out. It depends on the slave crew, which could be 20 if we have the talent in the slaves. We would need to hire more crew which means returning to port and vetting them. The problem is he has hundreds of these ships or thousands. I need to divide his attention which means getting a ground operation going as well and destroying his land-based troops.

Else he will march into the neighboring provinces to do his business. I had more of these glasses to see the dragons then I would be able to make these ships more effective in diplomacy with the neighboring warlord department. The secondary, which is a primary concern, is the chromatics are in league with this province.

That is why a red could launch from one of their warships. Trying to blame it on the dragons at the Griffon Riders will not work. Our fliers are getting some experience now in aerial combat as dragons. Those lances might help as well. Again, we would have to do those from land in order to get saddles on them, your Majesty."

The King was quiet for a moment, "What are you suggesting then?"

He looked at the charts, "There are three small islands inside of their territorial waters. Based on the scale the one to the north is the largest and looks to have two ports.

If we could capture that island, teleport in the crew who would man any of these ships we capture or have captured then we could establish a base to get him to focus on us. To make this truly successful you would have to have an alliance with the two neighboring provinces or completely withdraw. We hit it too hard from one end and they could spread everywhere else to try and strike out at those that ally with us. your Majesty. Most likely they will attack where the hammer hits them from if we have no allies here.

Right now, the best we can do is be a thorn in his side, and taking out these islands and disrupting his shipping will keep him funneling assets at us. This could take years to complete. I am asking our arcane casters who can write scrolls to start getting that true seeing into scrolls for our sorcerers to use.

I get a dragon bodied ring for every caster in my unit. We could launch a full out aerial attack on the province. My approach though has to be predicated on what kind of relations you want with these other provinces. Your call on that, Your Majesty. I can approach this in several ways but I need an answer to that question. The gods test more than champions, they also test Kings and Queens."

Travious heard him sigh, "Coordinate a rendezvous with our two other ships. Turn over 2 of those ships to them. Then turn your four ships to take out that northern island if you can. If Jarron and the ambassador are delayed then we will get Knight assets deployed to that island.

You can direct their actions. I will work on getting the dwarven King on board with more sappers for these ships. I will let him know that the chromatics are in league with this province. Take two of the four remaining sappers from the other two ships. Have and spread them out on your four ships."

Travious sighed, "Your Majesty the Countess has not left yet. I have a request. If my book was accurate there was a banner those knights fought under during the end of the dragon wars. I would like it incorporated into flags for these 'other' forces to use on any additional ships we bring forward, Your Majesty."

The King laughed, "For what goal?"

Travious smiled, "If the enemy dragons know the banners then they are going to be hell-bent on destroying this force. It would draw them to us. We have a ring with a gold and a silver trapped in them. We would have 'dragon generals' if you will, Your Majesty."

The Countess looked at Travious, "I can get these flags and banners made in case we go this route. I admit it has a certain appeal to it."

Travious waited for the King.

He replied back, "Create them. How many days to meet up with the other two ships?"

Travious looked at the charts, "I am not certain where they are at the moment but I would guess two days. Maybe three, your Majesty."

The King sighed, "Countess return to the Palace. Champion we will have an answer for you in three days."

Travious pulled crystals to the other two Captains. "Greeting Elven forces. We need a location for your position so we can meet. By direction of the Elven King."

---

They got coordinates and if they were lucky, they could meet in 3 days given the direction they went and the weather. They were headed toward Travious now. Travious's ships encountered two more of the warships and two full-fledged slave ships during this time.

They captured the four vessels. They called in the countess to clear the tracking runes on the ships. These slaves did not include any runes as of yet. Travious figured it was a fresh supply from another coast. Their logs bore that out and he would ask the Elven Navy to look into that supply route.

They found 6 more recently captured elf and elf-blooded people who eagerly joined Travious's ranks given their mission. Travious had his troop put all of the slavers aboard the two slave ships and sent them to the bottom of the ocean by using his bow to punch holes in them. Late into the third day and their lookouts spotted the two elven ships.

---

Kan Tri knelt before his father Slintheraxxal, "This elven champion is proving elusive. We believe metallic dragons are helping them. They have captured or destroyed 10 ships in less than 7 days. The Hybrid said his spies have been unresponsive and the tracking and listening wards on those aboard those ships have gone silent or have sunk if they were full out slave ships. They have been removed on others."

Slintheraxxal hissed out, "Double up our ships traveling together. Hunt this elf down and kill him. Have them report location and heading. Give him no safe place in the Deep Sea from which to escape our sight. What has Scrying shown?"

Kan Tri sighed, "Scrying is not working to find this champion. We have nothing to tie to him and we believe he is using a non-detection item to keep us from finding him."

Slintheraxxal hissed out, "Smart and he has allies. They could not remove the runes without the aid of a dragon god or the dragons themselves. Keep me informed. 10 ships is a trifle but I want him killed."

---

Travious contacted the two captains, "How goes your day?"

He heard them both chuckle as one spoke, "Our lookout spotted 8 ships."

Travious smiled, "Something about this warlord's ships liking to mate. We also sunk two slave ships they were escorting. We have extra crews to fill out the ranks on these ships and several are experienced sailors. We are sending over a couple of our casters to guide you into our formation as we change heading again."

Travious heard them both laugh and concurred.

He looked at the casters, "Flyover first. Stay on your mounts if you see anything unusual get to the air and teleport back and report in. Stay on the stern by the wheel. They nodded and he sent four of them off. Two to each ship. Everything went well and they brought their captains aboard. Travious looked at the crystal and contacted the King, "Your Majesty, we have eight ships meeting with your 2 ships."

The King chuckled, "Found a couple more."

Travious smiled, "Also sent a couple of pure slave ships to the bottom with the crews of all four ships shackled in them. Feeding the sahuagin I am sure. We got 4 more elf-blooded and 2 more elves who were recently captured from different adventuring groups. We have almost 8 full crews with that last capture. I have turned over some intelligence on the supply line from the other side of the deep sea that your Royal Navy might want to look into. Have you come to an agreement, your Majesty?"

The King signed, "The dwarven King is on board. The new King in Grand Falls has his reservations. He signed over that strip of land for the road that gets us the land in the valley. It was economically advantageous to him and lets him move the northern blockade forces back to the southern blockade forces, for now. Consolidating his forces that he has to commit to the area during this time 'of peace.' He agreed to the expansion of the town thus far.

He has held off on increasing troop size increase until your Aunt gets hers fully staffed, or so he says. He will allow the Gray Blades to expand down to the northern blockade for now as it is for his trade, but not down to outside Cottonwood. He is agreeing to this in stages over time for now. With some of Jarron's efforts, she is back to full strength but he is still reluctant to go further."

Travious sighed, "Then settle for 200 instead of 300. Get the Countess to sign on the Gray Blade Charter and it was set up for 200 for every Allied Kingdom being protected by this group, Your Majesty. We have our peace treaty and we are protecting her assets and this is tied to the forge which she is aiding us with.

Something will cause devastation to his troops in the future due to this approach. He will blame you, but his people will blame his approach to finishing the final stage of this staggered start to the treaty, Your Majesty. Like the champions on the field, they will want his head if they lose those forces and that town because he failed to listen."

King Goldeagle chuckled and looked at the treaty, "That will have to do if the countess agrees. Give me a moment."

---

The King walked over and pulled the pearl to the Dragon Queen, "Travious is surprising again. He wants you to Sign onto the Gray Blade treaty as a fourth ally. That would allow them to grow by 200 to help protect those trade routes and the Duchy where you will be heavily invested until the return."

The Countess chuckled, "I see his great-grandfather's influence and his grandfather's influence in this decision. I will agree for the sake of my kind. That was a provision I talked them into years ago when it went from 200 to 600, I was advising on that at the time. We can put the details together. He is leveraging the forge to keep the humans from objecting. They are the ones I know you have been frustrated with thus far. An elegant solution for now."

King Goldeagle sighed, "He also said that Cotton Web and the troops there will likely be attacked in the future and it will cause a shift."

She sighed, "You can provide King Thornlord with his thoughts on this, but he would likely push back on what he has already agreed to and see it as a directed threat. Let fate take its course if he refuses to see what is likely to happen by his own actions or inactions in this case.

I would say the odds are high that the champion would be correct. He gave you no specifics, just like Goldbar. He just sees the threat, it is not a prophecy to take action, just him making you aware of it in the same fashion."

King Goldeagle chuckled, 'The Queen Mother agrees with you, as she did with the Goldbar incident I tried to shoulder that blame and she told me not too. I had not put it into that context until you reminded me of that just now. Thank you. He will be contacting you shortly."

He ended communications and went back to the other crystal.

---

It was quiet for a few minutes and the King returned, "She will sign the paperwork to get to add the additional forces, it helps to protect her kind as well. She played a part in getting that in place the first time. King Thornlord does not wish to stop us from our own efforts over the ocean, he seems fairly happy that your forces are nowhere near this area at the moment.

The Countess will be joining you when you contact her. She will be bringing sixteen dwarven sappers who all have portable holes with explosives. Another twelve of those rings from the Army, and the Dwarven Kingdom. We have a contingent going to Grand Falls to search it out.

Something else he agreed too, to prove he is not infiltrated like we are. He is reliant on his own mages who do not have this new spell yet. We won't release it until we have cleared his court first, given his tactics on this treaty.

I want you to have your people to do a scouting mission to the Griffon Riders to see how many dragons are flying first thing in the morning. You will have another four full crews ready to come aboard that have been vetted and that includes another 200 casters.

You will be given new banners for the Knights. You will keep your two ships under your own banners and all of those Knights report to you. We are shutting down our embassy and Academy in the Far East for at least a year.

I have the army mages helping to pull back the herd as well, that was a smart move to get it started and would need to occur as well. I am told it is close to 4,000 more horses that we will need in the future.

We still own the land and the Warlord wants to negotiate with us but he needs us gone for now given your plans. Your Aunt is now coordinating with the remaining regional generals. The ones who stopped responding have been eliminated. Our assets are secured. All assets coming to your ships have been examined already and are coming directly from Quatarsia.

You will be operating independently of the governments. Once you control the island you can get a resupply from the dwarves and a few more sappers will be bringing those supplies. You have a crystal to your Aunt and all communication should go through her."

Travious sighed, "I will get up on deck. Work to get the other ships to connect up so we can distribute crews around. They bringing fresh supplies as well?"

The King chuckled, "Yes, you will all be eating very well. Also, some of your ordered gear will be arriving."

---

They spent an hour getting everyone together. He contacted the Countess. She brought in the forces and they had another 1,000 bodies across these ships. He reallocated a division of casters across the ships and their 'dragon' forces which now number 60. He sent in 18 casters to spread out and get information on what they have labeled Griffon's Peak. They returned and he gathered the leaders of the two groups who collected the notes from the others.

---

He activated his crystal to his Aunt Zaria, "You secure?"

She chuckled, "Was wondering when you would call."

Travious smiled, "We wanted to be sure there would be enough light for all of the casters to see. They all returned. Two are certain they were spotted and had dragons inbound. Sixteen seen in the air and another 60 spotted on nearby mountains overlooking the area.

I am asking the Countess how many she thought she left behind. The way these numbers are coming in it looks like a lot more than 100-200 with what we have killed as well."

His Aunt sighed and the Countess spoke, "That is based on officially reported births. Some of those rings are young adults.

Your care package includes two lances. We kept back four others as well as a couple of the dragon rings. To be able to train others. The herd has identified a few other would-be human assassins. As such returning is not advised right now. We have not caught any of them alive as of yet.

We took the liberty of outfitting 8 dragon saddles for you. Not every rider needs a lance. We should have another 10 saddles ready when you have the island. Your wives send their best but we have been keeping them locked down for obvious reasons."

Travious nodded to her and she left. They spent three more days before they encountered another six ships in the distance. All warships headed for them. They turned North and away from them and had the other six followed at a distance like they were chasing the 2 elven mercenary ships. They had left flags flying on the other six ships for Kan Tri.

The six new ships then launch a blue, white, and red dragon toward the Shadow Rider ships. Travious called out, "Let them get closer. The red and blue are a priority. Travious gave them a few more seconds, "Launch our dragon forces, my squad, form up on me. He flew out with a group of six casters and they blew the sails off of the six ships while the other three dragons lasted mere seconds to the 60 inbound mages he sent at them.

His 'pursuers' teleported assets into the crows' nests. While the ships turned to 'help.' They found three more dragons in hiding on the ships as slaves.