Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 04

As a Blade Singer, my first duty is to Corellon Larethian. As such he or the Lady would have to direct this champion to turn over those books. I told her there are many things in my journal that I have not shared and there are many things in these books that others would find disturbing. I will also ask this question. Have the dragons turned over every piece of elven 'property' they have to us?

I know about the 4 blades. I am talking about everything else elven made. You claim it is your property. Prove it in that context. Did she tell you I was going to put them in my will to her? Your turn, Countess."

She sat down and the King grabbed a seat as did the others. The Countess sat there, "He has not talked to me since locking you in dragon form. He told me to control access and personally watch over you. Not everything 'elven' was turned back over to the elven people."

Jazzia looked at the King, "Did she tell you about my willing them to her?"

He shook his head. Jazzia looked at her, "Now what is it you really want? To deny me access to the very magic your God saw fit to give me access to or did you need to learn from that book?"

Those two went into a conversation. Finally, Staria looked at her, "There are spells in there I could use."

Jazzia looked at her, "I would let you copy those spells. Hells, the entire book if that is what you want. I was not about to deny you access to the book. I was just not going to surrender it. Then have you try and control what your own God saw fit to give me access to. There are spells in there you do not want me to use or even know about them.

I know about them. I have no desire to use them. I was looking for spells to help me with the upcoming combat. Those things that would help us in this fight. If you are refusing to do what is needed to block those rings then I will copy those spells out and do it myself. Holding the Kingdom hostage over me and jeopardizing your own security is problematic for me. Foolish for you.

The bearer of that ring was actually a town guard! The Duchess has the ring. One thing I did learn from that book that the King needs to be made aware of. Those wards they put into place can be enchanted into wands. Those can be used by anyone to set a listening ward, track ward, or dispel it. What they are adding to block it does not block it completely.

It just means that they have to go against the resistance of the shield to get access to a ward. Every time they try, they have to make that check. If they fail, they cannot connect to that one ward for another twenty-four hours. Like the non-detection cloak I wear. It is not a hundred percent. Regular detect magic will show those wands as divination wands.

You will not be able to tell anything else about them without the draconic version of the spell. Dame Staria you want to put up a shelter in here. Your Majesty, I would recommend my sister the Queen join us. Along with your court wizard. Have him come in 20 minutes."

The King nodded. Staria threw up one of her shelters. Jazzia stepped inside and looked at the three of them, "Need you all to strip. The same goes for my sister. I saw at least 80 of those listening runes in the conference room and I could have sworn they were moving. Did you set up the dispel on the doorways?"

Staria nodded. "In that case I just need the two of you to strip at the moment. They did so, Jazzia looked at them, "Left thigh, on Staria. None on the Countess. Jazzia saw her sister walk in and hugged her, "I need both you and the King to strip now. You have one in the center of your forehead. That doorway has been disenchanted."

They stripped down and they removed 6 more runes.

She sighed. They waited for the court wizard. He came in, she looked at Staria and thought, "Seal the portal."

Jazzia looked at him, "We need you to strip down. We have been finding listening and tracking runes."

He looked at Jazzia, "You want my clothes off?"

Jazzia nodded, "Yes." He sighed. He set his wands on the table and removed his robe. Jazzia looked at him, "You have six of them."

He screamed, "What! How?"

She looked at him, "Turn around for a second. He did so and Jazzia took him to the ground. She manacled his hands together and looked at him, "You do not have any on you."

Jazzia grabbed two wands off the table and tossed them to the Countess.

She sighed, "One for tracking runes and one for listening runes."

She took his non-magical bag and dumped the contents. Jazzia saw a hundred moving runes on tiny spiders. She found a rod used to disenchant items. Half full. Jazzia looked at the King "We now have a hundred of those runes walking on the table in the form of spiders."

She picked up the stuff off the table they needed. "Other end of the room." They moved off.

Jazzia cast a fireball in the area and killed them all. Jazzia nodded, "All dead. I have one over here that is not as badly burnt. Look familiar?"

The King looked at it, "Drow spiders?"

Jazzia nodded, "Yes and they are crawling around invisible in the palace. Wait here a moment."

She emptied his bag again. She went out and with her sword and got all eighty in this room into the bag except one. She disenchanted it and the spider tried to attack and she stepped on it.

She walked back in and dumped them all in a side room. Jazzia incinerated the room with another fireball. She looked at the King, "I checked under the chairs and tables as well. "They preferred the outer wall. Once disenchanted they will attack. I confirmed that while you were safe in here."

Jazzia looked out and saw more walking into the room under the door. "She sighed, "Countess, you need to make the multiple jumps. Get my Uncle to fry this guy's mind. We have more crawling under the door. We need to know how many of these bugs he planted and if he is working with someone. Bring Doc as well. We might need some divination. We cannot use any crystals here. The bugs all had that necromancy component. I think they did something to trap the spider's free will and turned it into something they could control.

I am willing to bet a thousand gold pieces that this guy was with house Goldbar. He just changed his name and assumed someone's identity. Who recommended him to the court?"

The King sighed, "One of the men involved in the coup plots."

Jazzia nodded, "Did you have Uncle John go through his head?"

He shook his head, "No he took his own life when cornered. He disintegrated his own body into nothing according to the guards."

She looked at him, "Did his clothes go with him?"

He looked at her, "Yes it destroyed what he was wearing, why?"

She looked at the Countess, "Find phylactery."

She rolled her eyes, "Elves are not supposed to be able to turn into liches."

Jazzia looked at her, "Not impossible, only rare. Chances of success are extremely small without the aid of a relic. Would be where his phylactery is or was probably had a relic with it. It would have been close to where he was. Also, one of the spells I decrypted from his spell-book after reading the text.

I did a study on them because of the Draco-lich. I went through every rare necromancy book I could find to learn more about them. None that went into the creation process in detail only small references here and there. That is likely who he is working with. To get around the shield.

He can use a normal communication crystal and report back what he finds."

The King groaned, "He had a home on the palace grounds. It has been sealed off."

The Countess left. Jazzia sighed, "We should go back out there and talk about an invasion plan into the orc valley in 3 days."

The King looked at Jazzia, "For what purpose? He will bring in his dragons to take down this threat. We are spreading out our dragon riders, they are searching for these damned wards."

Jazzia nodded, "I have an assignment in the Far East from the Gods. It will draw him into making a move against a perceived weakness. That gives me time to get these spells in to drop the dragons to the ground so we can remove the rings.

We can do those things and set up communication crystals with teleportation circles. Reappear out by the walls of the fort when needed. Order one of your generals and his entire brigade to Fort Ash. They have these shelters in place and dragon-slaying ballistas in the woods."

The King nodded, "We can try this. To find out how well their spy communication system is working. I will bring it up as an order I plan to issue asking for your support but the gods have interceded. We are going without you."

They walked out with the Queen. Jazzia looked at the King and nodded.

King Goldeagle sighed, "The gods pick the damnedest times to send your unit off to our embassy in the Far East."

Jazzia nodded, "I am sorry. You know my direction from the Gods. I have to take my unit to do this. They told me not to discuss my mission with anyone including my men until we are in position."

The King looked at her, "I have the Dragon Riders scattered right now looking for these damnable runes we cannot seem to get rid of. I am having General Golden Rod forward deploy his troop to Fort Ash. We are going to do a large-scale attack of that valley the way your father did but we want to get into the mountain pass and clear that. Then we can talk with the dwarves about walling that area off, 50 feet high and 50 feet thick."

Jazzia looked at him, "We could be gone several months, your dragon riders will be at it for weeks. Is this really the right time, Your Majesty?"

The King sighed, "We need to do something in response to that dragon attack. Like your father did. In clearing that valley. When do you leave?"

Jazzia looked at him, "We will start forward deploying out tomorrow morning. The men just do not know it yet. The Gods are even doing more for me. They are doing something to take all of the milk I produce and sending it directly to my children. They should be fine so long as I do not get poisoned, Your Majesty."

The King smiled, "Why have you not gotten something for that yet?"

Jazzia sighed, "The enchanters have it on the list of things to do but it is way down the list to some other gear I am having made for my riders. Like high-end bracers for all of them."

The King nodded, "You spend a lot of money on your men."

Jazzia smiled, "As I said in court. Money serves a purpose but to covet it leads to greed and corruption. I am taking a page from Eldar. Investing in saving the lives of the men and women riding with me, Your Majesty."

The Countess returned and Jazzia held up a stop signal. Jazzia looked at the two guys and pointed to the shelter and they walked in. Jazzia looked at the Countess and

sent her a message, "Play along. We are feeding false information."

"Countess we know you are pulling your resources to watch over the enchanter on your special project. No way you can delay it to be there for the King's Army?"

She looked at Jazzia, "We only have so much time to get that done. We still have no idea when it will need to be finished. If we had a date for when things needed to be done by, we could change it. Unfortunately, we do not have an exact date. I will have them working until it is done. Right now, our work area is classified while we build this."

Jazzia nodded, "I understand. I will get her access to those spells she needs tonight."

The Countess smiled, "That is appreciated, those tomes are ancient. What are you going to do with them?"

Jazzia smiled, "A secret chest spell. They will be stored in the ether. The chest will be locked away nice and secure in my new home. Now that we have guards being infiltrated. Killing that blue was satisfying though. We ready to teleport out of here?"

She smiled as Jazzia pointed to the shelter door, "Yes, I will take us out of here."

Jazzia looked at the King, "We will do better at working together, Your Majesty. You get a good night's sleep in your bed for once."

He chuckled, "We will see, I have a lot of correspondence to read through before bed."

They opened the outer door and hurried into the shelter and they moved to the back shelter, "Secure portal."

Jazzia looked at everyone, "When we do leave, I want you all to be perfectly silent. We have spiders out there with listening wards. You need to rip this guy's mind out and find everything."

Her Uncle nodded and went to work. Jazzia looked at Doc, "Start doing divination on him. Find out if he was from house Goldbar."

Doc worked his divination magic, "It took me a few tries because he has something blocking it on. But he is from house Goldbar, I think."

Jazzia looked him over again and found one missed item other than a necro ring. A cock ring. "Get the command to release his cock ring and get him to say it."

Uncle John chuckled, "Ficka the King"

The ring popped off. Doc nodded, "That was blocking it! It was trying to mask it. I was getting overlapping symbols. Now I know with absolute certainty he was from Goldbar."

She stepped out, pulled out the two disputed books, 2 blank books, and some ink with a couple of quills. She went back inside and sealed it again. She looked at them, "Start reading Staria and Countess. Find those spells you want first and put them in those books. We got a few hours. I was not joking about a new home. I am putting it on a different wall. I tested it out while inside my home. I made a few modifications to allow for my Dragon children to have a climate-controlled area. After I cast it you make it permanent.

I will see if I can lock it in. Then you can decide if you want my help if it works. If not, I will relocate my dragon children into a home that will not potentially crush them and work to raise them myself."

The Countess sighed and simply nodded. A few hours later Uncle John finally finished his novel, "He has a drow in his ring. He helped with the spiders." Jazzia nodded and ran him through and killed the drow. She looked at the King, "You want him dead? The drow is." The King nodded.

She ran him through again. She pulled all of the gear off of the drow and handed the intelligence to her Uncle, "It is encrypted. This will take a while. I need to get home."

She looked at the King, "I will need two of those 10 million gold piece diamonds for an enchanting project. I will pay for them. But I will need them. I have the materials for the other stuff already."

The King looked at Jazzia, "Do I want to know?"

Jazzia shook her head, "Not yet. I will get with Traxxa after feeding the children again. Write out a message to your guards not to say a word about these men. Just pick up the bodies when this ends tomorrow, Your Majesty. A Mage disappearing might be noticed. A portable hole might be best for now."

He sighed, "I will do it with my personal guards tomorrow. I will bring the General in here for our fake briefing on his invasion of the valley."

They stepped out and the King left while they teleported and hopped their way back to the fourth floor. Jazzia took one hand and slid the bed clear across the floor opening up the wall and She cast up the portal and set it to align with the hallway leading to the other rooms. She cast up her new home and finished 4 spells later as she cast in a constant procession of magic.

Staria made it permanent with her mythic to lock it.

Jazzia repeated the process and they heard a locking sound. Jazzia opened it up and they walked inside.

The Countess looked around, "You took some rooms out, lowered the ceiling, and there is no dining room. You also changed the flooring."

Jazzia nodded, "It is in with the briefing table. Dinner for three. Steaks rare and two inches thick. The food appeared. Jazzia grabbed a plate, "Grab one and follow me. I have a few minutes before I will burst."

They chuckled. They walked back to the falls and Jazzia turned back after they entered.

Jazzia looked out at the room, "Activate briefing room security." Three-foot spikes shot out of the floor and the ceiling. "I lowered the ceiling to make that more effective. In case a chromatic gets in. You notice the white squares are safe. The small black diamonds on the corner of the tiles are another matter. You see the falls are virtually untouched. I even left the little caves in the back."

She nodded. She looked out, "Deactivate briefing room security." The spikes retracted. Jazzia opened the door next to it and they saw a mirror image of the falls.

She walked over to the wall and activated a lever and dropped the temperature to just above freezing. She looked at them, "It will go to below freezing. Both this one and the other falls have it. One of the mythic spells I found. Allowed for automation functions. The Bedrooms are the same except they do not go to freezing by design. But they could be set for a hot and sunny day as well. I shrunk the bedroom a little but took that out of the bed sizes.

They were a little too big for me. The briefing area is the most likely place for an attack. I took some space from it and decreased the bedrooms but doubled up the beds with bunk beds. I have three bunks end to end in the four end rooms, two on each side. The shower will fit three of them at a time as adults in all rooms. They will be in the academy by fifteen though. They all have magical talents. Mine started early. I suspect that will occur for them.

When they have control, they have a bedroom to come back to. The lower bedrooms are the same except for the additional bunks. I can house a hundred and twenty people with beds. Not counting the master. Then the same between the two falls sections for the horses." Staria looked at Jazzia, "That is the absolute maximum capacity."

Jazzia nodded. "It gives me options. I can teach it to others without the draconic magic. Then we can cast a second one inside the first one.

We then leave that portal open. Now I have my entire unit in one of these when traveling." She nodded, "The defense mechanism?"

Jazzia smiled, "That is draconic Magic. The automation stuff I will leave off in the field. I wanted it for my home. I also did not tie to Jazzia the Champion Blade Singer. I tied it to the Wielder of the Silvertree Moon Blade. If I pass the next wielder of the blade can take ownership. Making something like this permanent and tying it to the wielder of a relic to access it 100 or 1,000 years from now. Did I go overboard, Countess?"

---

The Countess looked it all over and thought, 'He said I would be humbled by my experience during this time. She just created something wondrous to protect her family. She knows how to do it for the shelters we build for the return as well. Damned, she is imaginative and she is right.

I have to release some of my over-controlling aspects of being a Queen when dealing with her as she is not one of my subjects. She is championing the cause for multiple gods because Bahumut chose her to bear his next champions.

To bring in new abilities to our Silver Dragon lineage with her request for her children's eyesight. I see your wisdom Bahumut in choosing her to do this. You told us years ago if another race took down that Shadow champion you would look to match the moves of Null and open up draconic magic to the race who did it. You have, at least temporarily.'

---

The Countess looked at Jazzia but kept her inner thoughts to herself, "No it is a precaution. That has paid off in your other design. To keep them from pulling that ring."

Jazzia finished eating and opened the portal, "Because it is mine, I can set the access. No more overriding it on me."

Staria nodded, "Understood. I noticed you changed the banners."

Jazzia nodded, "To reflect the sword. This is the blade wielder's home. I am no Stallion."

She chuckled at that. They walked over to the other house and back to the children. She fed them two at a time. She put those two to work burping them as she finished up and got dressed Just as Grandaxxa showed. He looked in, "Good you are back."