Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 03 Pt. 02

All of you. Explore and embrace your heritage. The town I live in is called Quatarsia which means tolerance. Built by my Grandfather when he was the Champion of Corellon Larethian. Gods select champions in times of trouble to stave off major disasters; if they are successful.

My grandfather stopped an orc invasion and was part of a team that killed a Draco-lich that was leading that horde. That delayed war for an extra 20 years. It bought time for building fortifications. While also finding and removing assassins. He died facing another champion. They killed each other. That God had another one on the field and the other day. I took a small team in and destroyed 28,000 orcs, ogres, and Ogre Magi and even a few giants.

We drew him out to face me. Out of my team of 27 mounted riders, we had 5 horses and 10 people survive the encounter. I lost my sister and great uncle in that battle. We now control that valley and will make it that much harder for them to be effective in the next engagement.

The Gray Blades are a protection force and they are looking for good candidates to help out. There is also an Academy in the town and three multi-faith churches. One to the dwarves, humans, and elves. As I said it is part of my code to encourage you and I have done what I can. My wife appears to have something to discuss with me. I will let you ask a few questions if you wish."

One of the ones who was a cousin, "What does it mean to be a Silvertree?"

He hopped down, "Around 8,000 years ago an unmarried but expecting mother made a request to the royal family. Her betrothed died before they married.

She requested to be recognized as his last wife. She bore two sons. From them, House Silvertree expanded and survived. It would have died if the request had not been honored.

We have grown into what it is now today. The branch of the family I am from spends a lot of time in service to the Elven Kingdom. Stopping wars, my Great-Great Grandfather was a diplomat. We have worked to train others and make sure they get a fair shot in life. There are no poor in my town. Everyone can find work. Housing is assigned based upon availability.

There is an expansion effort going on that I requested to bring in more housing, farms, and security forces. There is a Silvertree planted here. It is over the ashes of my parents. They died separately but were buried together at the embassy they founded. With the vision for the Academy, you are attending. They found the eternal forge so that helped us during the last dragon war. It will return again in about 75 years. As elves, we look that far out.

Humans see that as two to three generations away. Not an immediate need. I am a hundred and five. I spent from the age of 16 on learning my skills until I was an adult at 75, then another 30 years training 2 others. My abilities are divine like clerics. If you visit my town then you can visit with Doc, his nickname.

He is the head of the local church but he could divine who your actual parents are. Gia doesn't have that ability. The town is led by my Aunt, Duchess Silvertree. She is also the Blade Singer Master Trainer.

With that, I can petition the family to get you added to the family tree which gets you a share of the family profits from the businesses we have. My grandfather ensured it was done even for those born after he died. Correct instructor Silvertree?"

She nodded, "He was a very generous man I never met because he died before I was born."

Travious nodded, "Like myself and my own father died before I was born."

She smiled and nodded. "Next question?"

One in the back raised his hand, "What about for those of us who are not Silvertree?"

He smiled, "I would make the same petition but to the King instead. I have a communication crystal to talk with him as the leader of his Paladins. A second paladin will finish in less than a year. My two apprentices are training with the Gray Blades until they are 75.

Then they have to train 2 others. My mother was the first and the only female allowed to the order. She was an elf-blooded paladin to Tyr. She switched to worshiping Corellon Larethian. She went through a week-long atonement process and had to learn new skills. New approaches to doing things because we are not like human paladins."

He waved him forward and opened his book, "As dictated by my gods. Rule 37."

He sat and read it and nodded, "Thank you for letting us know we have the option and would be welcomed."

He looked at them, "This includes your mothers, fathers, siblings, and your own children. If you are Silvertree from my Grandfather's line you have or had a twin. You know the offer is genuine. I need to talk to my cousin the Instructor and Instructor Goldbar. The rest of you can return to your studies."

They filed back into the main tower building.

He looked at the two of them, "You have been selected for a mission. Please saddle up. The King has authorized it including your Magister. We will talk about that when all of the students are gone and while we eat."

He walked over to her, "This young man did not show a house."

He thought, "Lady of Dreams, do you know the story of this boy, or is it something I need to unravel?"

He looked at him, "I hope to know something more and if not, I will find out myself."

He looked at the other one and she sighed, "He is from house Golden Sun."

Travious looked at him, "Who was eleven, Your mother or father?"

The boy looked at him, "My mother. She was a slave and he finally married her. He does not acknowledge me but as I was born after they married, I was not born into slavery. When they heard of this Academy my mother sent me away without him knowing or not caring. I do not know."

He asked him, "Did she give you anything, a note or letter that you cannot read?"

He nodded, "Yes she did."

Travious looked at him, "Run and get it would you." The boy nodded.

Travious sighed, "Some gifts have multiple purposes."

He pulled a crystal, "Dear aunt of mine."

He heard her groan. "You know what time it is?"

He smiled, "Around mid-day meal at the embassy. I found 14 disenfranchised Silvertree offspring at the Academy. I have a couple of other questions for you. Doc would be better if you want to get him."

She groaned, "I am dressed now and walking. What are your questions."

He sighed, "What do you do when you find an heir to a house that is thought to have been dead for a couple of hundred years? Also, when you do a check for houses it comes up blank?"

She sighed, "The money would go to the crown. If you found an heir that would be big news. A lot of money for them."

He sighed, "His mother was a slave and then the guy finally married her. You know my code on slavery."

She groaned, "Give me a second. She banged on a door. He heard her sending an acolyte off. Finally, he heard her relay the questions to Doc. Doc leaned into the crystal, "Do you know what time it is?"

Travious groaned, "I am at the embassy my father established. There is no good time for either of us. Answer the questions."

He sighed, "The child is elf-blooded with no house symbol. Either the gods are blocking it or the Kingdom disowned the entire house and left them with no name at all, that would be rare and unheard of in this age."

He asked the boy, "Who was elven in your family your father or mother?"

He looked at Travious, "My father, though he was gone long before I was born."

Travious looked at him, "Did he leave anything behind for you or by accident?"

He nodded, "I will go and get it. My mother did not want it."

He looked at Gia and whispered, "Check to see if he is half-drow."

He heard a voice in his head from the Lady of Dreams, "The boy is complex. He is the product of sex with one of those rings. The father's mind was a drow. The body was elven."

He sighed and thought, "You have to recognize the house of the father or tell me to kill him."

She responded back, "The body was that of your bard uncle. The one who died. This is a child he created."

He thought, "He did not care about using his body for pleasure and could have just as easily been in control of that situation. He is in the elven pantheon. What is his thought on this?"

He heard a sigh, "No he is not. Those rings destroyed the spirit when it stored the body upon death."

He sighed, "Not the boy's fault and biologically he is a Silvertree. Give me a means to track that ring and I will destroy it when the forge is restarted in the hopes it releases the spirit it has captured. The code says he should be accepted or killed but his biology was based on my uncle."

She sighed again, "We will let this one be claimed. We cannot send you after the ring. You already have it. The blue dragon took it from her companion. You will need it so do not destroy it yet. The drow will be in the war. You are not likely to find him. We cannot track him. You have much to do before that.

Your King is being informed as he sleeps. You have volunteered but these assignments take precedence. When they are done you can enter the war with the drow. The list is long. He is to give them to you one at a time based upon his biggest concern from the list."

Travious sighed, "This is an attempt to keep me out of the drow war. At least this one."

There was no reply to his comment. He sighed, "You know I will comply. I was just following the code."

The boy came back with the paper, "Gia would you run that to the Countess to see if she can recognize it before I try anything with it."

She nodded and rode away quickly. The other boy showed up with a dagger that had holes in it. Drow dagger. He covered it back up, "There is a story behind that dagger and your birth. All of you follow me for a moment."

He stepped away from the building and grabbed one of the rings and switched rings and turned into a red dragon. He took it off and put on another one and found the blue. Travious walked toward them and then took the ring off. "As a 'non' arcane that is about the best I can do with a dragon form. Walk, maybe turn my head. An arcane who knows polymorph, on the other hand, can do almost anything. I wanted to find this ring. I am trying a small string to it.

This ring is central to the story of your birth. It is based on necromancy. It is put on someone they are killed and their body is stored in the ring. Then someone can wear the ring and use that body. In your case, the body that was being used was my Uncle's body. Biologically you are a Silvertree. The mind behind it was a drow who gave it to the Blue dragon later on with a new body; that of an elven serving girl. I killed that dragon in the Elven Palace trapping its body.

We are collecting the ones with dragons in them to help train for the upcoming dragon war. When it captures the spirit it does not let it pass on into the afterlife. My Goddess said it is destroyed but when the time comes, I am going to try and purify the ring and hopefully release the spirits back to their pantheons. You are Silvertree the mind behind the act was not. The seed that made you came from him. From his father and his father. You would be welcomed back home."

He nodded, tossed the metal fragment into the sun, and sighed but in disgust, "At least I know. I will consider it."

Gia returned, "She said it is a very old Knights cipher but it would take her a while so you should read it." He opened it up.

"Captured, got my son away, I am Trilarna Golden Sun, mother, slave, who was forced to marry my owner. Along with two hundred other elf females that live here. A major player in the slave trade in the Sang Ti province. I hope the Knights find this."

He looked at the boy, "How long have you been here?"

He looked at Travious, "4 years."

He sighed, "This is a call for help. I will do what I can but I will have to confer with the King on how to proceed."

He nodded, "When will you do that?"

He smiled, "Right now."

He pulled the orb, "Your Majesty, I need to speak with you."

The King responded, "I really hope this is important."

He smiled, "Yes your Majesty, the goddess told me she was sending you a list of tasks for me to take care of. I have a boy here who tested for House Golden Sun. His mother is in the Knights order or was before she was turned into a slave.

I got the name of the province. She also said 200 elven females were being kept there. She sent the note out encrypted with the boy 4 years ago. Was slavery on the top of your list."

He sighed, "Number two now, right behind that forge."

He nodded, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

He looked at the boy, "I can guarantee nothing except I will try and get her and the others out."

He nodded, "The man is the warlord for the province. Kan Tri, 'The Reaper.'"

The King heard this, "Coordinate with our allies in the area after the forge. This just became much more complicated."

The crystal went dark.

He headed for the door, "Let all of us non-students head up to the Magister's office."

---

A dragon approached Matroxxxa and sent him mentally the information from the ward communication on the Ambassador.

Matroxxxa smiled and pulled up a Crystal, one of the few that went to War Lord Kan Tri directly. He answered it, "You have something to report to my father?"

He smiled, "No this is for you directly. You have been working with Warlord Sun to get the elves out of the area. They have an elven champion on the field who is a paladin and hates slavery. You have a female elf, one you married, named Golden Sun. Her son is at the Academy in this province.

She sent an encrypted message to them in a Knights cipher. They know you have her and 200 other elves. This champion might be knocking on your door. If you want the elves out of that province and out of the Far east all together then you can leverage that woman. Trade her off with a few others to this Warlord Sun you are working with.

If it breaks their treaty and drives the elves away then you have achieved that goal by giving up the one woman. The call is yours. Considering this champion just killed the orc champion and 28,000 of his men. I would say it might pique your father's interest as well. He is an Elven Paladin."

Kan Tri sighed, "I will speak with him and get guidance on what he wished to be done. Your spies have been helpful hybrid."

He ended comms and went below his palace into the dark caverns of his father, Slintheraxxal. "Great champion and father. I received a message from the hybrid."

He recounted the message from the hybrid. His father smiled and chuckled, "Find four in the next shipment to replace her for your stable. Arrange a trade. If he is a paladin and he gets the one he is looking for his King will likely redirect his activity. At the very least if he attacks this warlord Sun it will break their alliance and drive them out of the Far East. Either way is a win for us. Those are my orders to you, the mouthpiece of my will."

His son stayed bowed as he left his father and went to make the deal.

He smiled to himself, 'A formidable champion who is not a dragon, unlikely. He comes for me and I will end him as I have the dragon champions. Regardless this will break the elven alliance in this region. That alone is worth one elven woman. He smiled at that thought. Getting them to be further away from being a threat to his operations was a good thing.

It was bad enough they had naval ships out on the ocean they never approached his ships. The bone dragon and the hybrid both had spies everywhere inside of the elven military and their navy. They could crush that at any time. For now, it was another source of intelligence on what the elves were doing.

---

Kan Tri contacted Warlord Sun, He got into a private room before answering it. "Kan Tri, To what do I owe your attention?"

Kan Tri smiled, "You're falling behind on my request. I told you I wanted the elves gone from your province and they are still there."

Warlord Sun sighed, "I don't have the funds to deal with the contract that I am being held to by my ancestor who sold them that embassy. I don't have an army to send against their casters who could defend themselves from their magical arts to force it. Not counting what they could bring to overrun my province. I need a way to get them to break the treaty so I can get away with taking it for nothing."

Kan Tri smiled, "I will aid you in this task. An elven paladin will come visiting. I am sending you 30 slaves. An elven woman is to be kept in your dungeon, he will be searching for this one. A few half-elven abominations you will have working as servants. You can fuck them all of course. All-female slaves to tend to your enormous cock.

This elven paladin will work to break the treaty with you over having slaves. Threaten to kill the one in the dungeon if he does not leave or simply negotiate with you. Keep your guards on alert. He is a paladin and they have a code of conduct and he is not a wizard. Negotiate with him the release of the elven and half-elven slaves to end the relationship you are bound too. This will break your contract."

He sighed, "There are provisions in there about slavery. If we have slaves they know of then they will call us out for breaking it first. That would bankrupt this province as my three neighbors do trade with them still and heavily. They would force restitution."

Kan Tri smiled, "Just kill this paladin then and blame him for attacking you. It would be difficult for him to dispute it if he is dead. Lots of archers with poison, a poisoned meal, there are many ways of killing an elf. Let him instigate the break. Succeed and I will send you another 100 slaves with at least 5 more elven ones.

But remember, there are many ways I could kill you if you keep delaying getting rid of the elves, from your ports and your province."

He ended the communication and Warlord Sun sighed, 'Owing that man is a pain in the ass I will have for the rest of my days. But I rule this province, I will drive them out of here, one way or another.'

---

They were teleported upstairs and walked into Travious's home away from home. The table had been restored. He smiled, "See, self-repairing."

He walked back to the dining table, "Midday meals for five. Roasted pheasant. Wine, water, and fruit."

They looked at the food and sat down. Travious looked at Goldbar, "I do not know if you know, but your family has bumped head with mine on a few occasions in the past."

He nodded, "I am aware. One of the reasons I left to come here."

Travious nodded, "One of my cousins was an unclaimed Goldbar. He is Strong Oak and a Moon Blade wielder."

He nodded, "I heard your grandfather treated him well and put one of those blades in his hands. Your father threatened my father on getting a withdrawal done over a million in gold in diamonds."

Travious nodded, "It bought the ships to get the Eternal Forge. He was an impediment. He did not suffer fools well. At least from his journal."

The guy chuckled, "I heard that and thought, 'I would so have loved to have seen that.' My father and I did not have a great relationship. I was born from a failed cock ring with a gold-elf consort, or so he claimed, yet he claimed me because I was 'pure gold elf.' Please note, not high-elf. He spent his nights nailing her nether-hole after that."

Travious sighed, "I feel for her."

The guy shrugged, "After the years of being one she had the money to leave. She just takes it. She has another 50 years before she will be unable to conceive based on age."

Travious looked at them, "Here is the problem. The eternal forge is buried in the sunken island. The chromatics are looking for it as well. The ships' Captains do not have these glasses that will let them see necromantic rings. Regular true seeing does not work. Chromatics might be on those ships. We are to kill them before they get those rings off.