Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 04

He went through their minds, "What you feared. You are here and they think the prism is here. He is sending a contingent. Including the other champion."

She sighed, "Do they have a circle here?"

He checked, "Yes under the falls. Two of them."

She looked at the Countess, "Try and disenchant them. Get the forces together from the beach, first." She walked out of the shelter. Jazzia accessed the one crystal, "I am knocking."

She replied, "Come in."

Jazzia teleported into the confines of the sphere. Jazzia looked at the mage on duty, "I want 30 dragon mages with riders and Traxxa. NOW!" She went off and they all assembled. She looked at them, "Be ready to fight!"

She took them into the palace She took 6 and sent 3 back to bring them all forward. They mounted and saddled up. Jazzia walked back inside, "When are they coming?"

Uncle John looked at her, "They should be here."

She walked back out, "Traxxa saddle up with me for now."

She changed forms, "They should be here. The Countess went to the beach to get them organized."

He got her saddled up. They took to the sky and headed for the falls as they were coming out. There were 10 including the champion and the Shadow Riders overwhelmed them. The champion went ethereal. They took down six immediately with lances and spells. Then again as they tried to rise.

The Shadow came back and she threw a force web and slowed him. He turned and they flew after him, Traxxa got a lance into it and Jazzia breathed on it and raked it and flew past. Jazzia watched to see if it followed. It turned back for the falls.

Jazzia threw another force web and that caused it to drop to the river and float out toward the sea. The enemy champion snapped out of it as it went over another large fall. They pursued. It went ethereal.

She changed forms to drop Traxxia and then switched back and went ethereal after the other champion. She cast a planar anchor on him to keep him stuck on the ethereal plane. She followed him as she was faster. She drove her sword into his back. As he fell away and Jazzia pursued. She saw his holy symbol and she threw a disintegrate and hit it. She phased back to the material plane and climbed away. A few seconds later the body parts scattered across the ocean. She flew back and found her brother.

He looked at her, "The saddle went that way." He pointed down. She dove down and found his saddle and brought it back up from the bottom of the falls. She set it in front of him, "The shadow dragon exploded on the ethereal plane. I used a planar anchor to hold him there. Disintegrated his holy symbol and then switched back to the material plane. His parts just scattered over the ocean."

They had Pegasus riders inbound with hostile intent.

She switched forms and teleported them back to the palace, "Recall all riders into the palace." She looked inside, "Your Majesty, you want to get you riders to try and stop attacking my forces before we are forced to kill them?"

He came out and sent up a signal to summon all Pegasus riders. They came barreling in and he looked at them, "Do not attack unless attacked first. If you attacked them and they responded then stop. Tell your troops we have dragon riders in the area helping us. Jazzia went to get her horse to find him dead with a Pegasus rider stabbing the corpse over and over again.

She paralyzed his ass, put manacles on him. Jazzia dragged him, head bouncing up the stairs, in front of the King, "He killed my horse which was standing outside waiting. He did not stab it once, but several times! He just came in here and got instructions not to attack unless attacked! Watch him Traxxa I am going to check the beach."

He sighed, Jazzia teleported to the beach, "They were chasing her rider She thought up, "Tell all Shadow rider mounts order the Pegasus to the ground NOW!"

The Pegasus landed in front of her with a thud, "Your King just ordered your men to stand down and stop attacking my troops! Do you go about disobeying your King!?" One drew back a bow She thunder waved his ass off his mount.

"NEXT one IS A FIREWALL! Followed by a firestorm."

Her sister came down, "These fucks started attacking as soon as the Countess returned. She came down and landed, "Thank you for the suggestion!"

She nodded, "Order them to fly to the throne room and remain!"

The Pegasus took off. She looked around and had four dead riders and six dead horses not counting her horse. Jazzia teleported them back to the royal palace with the four dead riders.

"Seven of our horses counting mine and four of my riders. They started attacking as soon as the Countess returned. I want the officers in charge of this cluster fuck!"

The King looked at Jazzia, "This is still my Kingdom."

Jazzia looked at him, "We are here to provide you with a shield by the request of your God! Are you disobeying the will of your own God?"

Helnar walked in. Four riders came flying out of their saddles into the middle of the room. He looked at them, "Tell your King your thoughts?"

One of them looked at his King, "We do not need their help. They were not invited!"

Jazzia looked at him, "I bet you are the one who invited the 6 dragons we found in hiding in your city. Or the 10 dragons who came in from under your falls including a shadow dragon champion that the dragon riders put down while you fought with my troops on the beach!

My father wrote of a wizard just like you once. God gifted you with two brains. One was lost and the other was out looking for it. Traxxa please bring those four idiots. Those who are interested follow me. Jazzia opened the portal to shelter, "Leave the portal door open. She walked inside, "What kind of rings do those two fucks have on?!"

Uncle John looked at her, "Dragon rings, they will pop into dragon form upon death."

She nodded and set the chairs.

She looked at the men at the door, "WATCH AND LEARN. When you live in isolation that means you do not know shit! Briefing room security activate!"

They watched the spikes go through and the dragons appear and get pierced to death. She looked at the four men, "Outside!"

They went outside. "Countess, take us to Griffons Peak!"

She took the 7 of them including their King to the peak.

The smell of rotting corpses was still in the air, "This was home to the Griffon Riders. Just like you, they lived in isolation."

Jazzia went to one of the buildings and they could see all the decomposing corpses. "Humans who died in labor those last days, half-dragons killed in the battle born from them. THIS will be you if we leave before that shield is in place. Is that what you want for your wives and daughters?! They will just eat your males like a light snack!"

Jazzia took them back. Three of them started hurling. She looked at the others, "I just showed them what your lives are like without our help. Any more idiotic comments like we can do this ourselves? Fuck, we do not do this ourselves!

We have humans, dwarves, elves, Dragons, Centaurs, and several other smaller races in our ranks. You killed two of our human members even! Countess, you want to fly down and get those teleportation circles under the falls? Before they are used again."

She nodded and flew out of there. Jazzia looked at the King, "My troops are going to get some sleep in my home here. Come morning you can let us know if you wish to go extinct or follow the direction of Helnar.

It does no good to help you and have to kill you at the same time! These four should be pulled from the air and stripped of being paladins. My knowledge of paladins who fail to listen to their Gods."

Jazzia walked away and got her saddle and reigns off of her horse. She came back up and Helnar talked with the King directly. She looked at Helnar, "You said you have been watching things for a while. Show the King the battle of Griffon's peak from the viewpoint of General Goldeagle, or Tranosa. Then he might fully appreciate others who were too short-sighted."

She walked into the shelter and threw her gear down. She went to her room and sat under the shower for a good 10 minutes. The Countess came in, "Vivia teleported a group back when the attack started. She is safe. That God was giving the King and his men a serious tongue lashing. I think he has pulled their paladin status."

Jazzia nodded and went to sleep under the water. She found herself at the falls alone. She sat with her feet hung over the edge of the water. The Lady sat next to her, "I am sorry about the people you lost."

Jazzia nodded, "One was that human sorceress you said would not live long. She did not die from being impulsive. If anything, she died by showing restraint. She would have had enough time to have children once or twice even."

She chuckled and sighed, "There is some truth to that. She was not likely to join you as she did not care for the touch of women. She was starting to get some discipline though. Helnar is fuming at his own people. He thought you held tremendous restraint."

Jazzia nodded, "Condemning hundreds of thousand for the crimes of a dozen is not right. Unless they choose to make it right."

She nodded, "Most of your men are wanting to return back to the sphere to work. Be away from this place."

Jazzia nodded, "I would remind them of the Deep-Sea Elves and the Eternal Forge. That was an elven fort that we abandoned long ago. Someone came in and created 3 Draco-lich off of it. How many would they make off of this prism if they got their hands on it?"

She smiled, "You are ready to go back champion." She awoke in her bed. She looked around and the Countess was on the other bed. She was dry so she must have taken her out almost immediately. Jazzia studied her spells and saw the Countess sitting there looking at her.

She asked, "You alright?"

Jazzia shook her head, "I know how my troops feel but I cannot let them do it."

Jazzia walked out to the dining area, "I need everyone down here." She waited for them to get gathered and recounted history to them. Elven history and got most of them to understand why they had to stay. At least the majority. They stepped out to a room filled with humans. She walked out to see six bodies off to the side, not the four they had last night.

Jazzia looked at the faces of all six of them. The wounds on the last two were definitely from a dragon. She stood and after setting her tack next to them. She continued forward and stopped at a respectable distance from the 2 thrones. She looked at the King, "Has Your Majesty come to a decision if our help is needed here?"

The King nodded, "Our God was insistent. Rightful insistent, that you be allowed to stay and help us to protect our island home."

He set a crystal on the corner of his chair. "This was left by your father. For us to contact your people when we wished to discuss providing training. I used it earlier to speak with your King. To express our regret over the loss of life and the organized confusion that turned our men against yours. Our God informed us that you showed amazing restraint. Comparing the power, you have to that of the prism we have protecting our island."

She cringed at the word prism. "Watching the battle of Griffon's peak through the eyes of your Elven Generals was horrifying. Also enlightening to the disaster, we have avoided once. Because of our distance from the rest of even human society. Our defenses are no match for a small handful of dragons. Let alone the numbers I saw in that battle.

Your warriors have been fighting and dying for centuries to keep this evil at bay. We can no longer cower in the knowledge that we cannot be found when we have been found. By the enemy and by those who are trying to help us with them."

She nodded, "My Great, Great, Grandfather was considered an impure bastard by his society. He grew up with prejudices that some races have for others. He was born from two different species of elves. His parents never marrying.

Simply because his mother refused to watch her love get disowned for marrying for love. He became the first champion of known history to our God. In over 7,000 years a least. This champion sought to change the fabric of society. By gaining acceptance of the disenfranchised. To get people to marry for love. Accept the children of society because he saw something others refused to recognize.

The elven peoples' greatest threat to survival was the elven people. I tell you this because your greatest threat is your own people. Living in isolation has allowed you to survive. Given how long you have been here a society on the mainland would be ten to a hundred times the size of this society.

Numbers are not always best when higher. But when you consider your entire population is the size of some human societies' armies? There are many of those. Fighting this alone would lead to another Griffon's Peak. Especially now. She walked forward. Do you have any clerics here, Your Majesty?"

One walked forward. She handed him a wand. "Activate it and look around." He did so and his mouth opened with shock. Jazzia looked at him, "What you are seeing is hidden draconic runes for monitoring and tracking. Some are on surfaces. They do not last very long. You will note there are hundreds of those. You will notice that there are hundreds of them on the people in this room.

What this means is the entire conversation about the prism was picked up by the dragons who wish to claim it and consume or breed you into extinction. They now know for a certainty that you have what they want. They will come for it. They will kill any who stand in their way. The only choice you have is to allow us to help you by taking it away from here to a secured location already under one of these shields.

At least until yours is finished being built. That said, we cannot say they are all gone yet. We killed 6, then another 10. There could be one or more still on your island. As we demonstrated we can find them but it would take longer than we have to search your entire population. The magic to search them out here is only partially effective because we can overcome the non-detection they have been wearing.

Our escort to your palace was handed one of these cords the other day. They all seemed to be of the same design. Something local that was enchanted if I had to guess. The other thing we would need to do is bring in a lot of dragons who can see and remove these wards. In the short term, you should select an honor guard willing to travel and watch over this item from another secure location until we are finished with your shield.

Get your population cleared of these wards, Your Majesty. This would be a lot easier to do if you had arcane casters."

A small girl off to the side asked her King a question in one of the lesser-used dialects of the Far East, "Should we tell them about the shrotun?"

Jazzia looked at the girl and responded in the same dialect, "I am proficient in many languages and three regional dialects of the Far East. This 'shrotun' is not a term I am familiar with. The rest of your statement I understood."

She turned a little red and the King chuckled, "Shrotun is a rather derogatory term used to describe any who show or display non-divine magic. Years ago, it was believed to be what led us away from our God."

Jazzia chuckled and then laughed openly, "Forgive me but the hypocrisy is not lost on me. You are talking to a group of arcane casters about this. About your greatest artifact created by your last great arcane. Which you rely upon to shield your island. He was considered one of your greatest heroes.

The relic was allowed to be created or sponsored by Helnar. The only one who could potentially lead us to it. Our gods could not find this relic. They could find my family blade because it is a relic of the Elven Gods. But the twisting of facts around arcane magic I find laughable, Your Majesty.

In the context of your own history. If you have those who have talents for the arcane the problem lies not in their ability. The problem is a lack of acceptance that your God lets it continue. That you have none strong enough to teach them. I grew up in a town called Quatarsia. Do any of you know what that word means?"

Jazzia looked around and nobody spoke. Jazzia smiled, "It means tolerance. The town was founded by the first champion and his wives. The men and women who worked for him. With the blessing of the Gods. One of the things built there, and in a province in the Far East where we have a regional embassy, is Arcane Academies. To teach those of human, elf-blooded, or elven decent the use and control over arcane magic. You need to understand. Magic is a gift of the Gods.

Divine or arcane makes no difference. My father was a paladin. We had no paladins before his mother who converted from Tyr in order to start the paladin order. Now we have them. They are different from yours in their approach to things. Ours can be even more aggressive than yours. They will rally a group together and charge into the mouth of the hells if it kept it away from the elven people.

They are not allowed to negotiate with the enemy, they can use any means necessary to get information from the enemy including torturing them. There is no one-on-one battle with the enemy because they cannot be relied upon to fight with any honor. Torture is specifically barred by our society but not for the paladins against our Gods' enemies. I bring this up because I am a sorceress but I am also a Champion Blade Singer.

The Elven arcane version of one of your paladins. I was listed as a Grand Master at what your people would consider the age of 10 or 11. I then became the new Master Trainer within days of obtaining that as my Aunt who trained me left the ring to me when she died. I am barely over the age of 18 by comparison.

I have trained others for over 30 years while training myself for over 30 years and beating my instructors routinely halfway through that time. If you have skilled swordsmen in your ranks, bring a few forth. I will give you a demonstration, Your Majesty."

A man stepped forward and Jazzia looked, "Only one?"

He looked at Jazzia, "How many do you want?"

Jazzia looked at him, "I was taking on 4 Grand Masters at a time before I was considered one."

He stepped forward with his longsword, "I am the Master Trainer of our paladins here."

Jazzia nodded, "As you wish? Karti'Ros left hand."

He pulled around his shield and Jazzia cast mirror images. Jazzia entered into blade song and he charged forward and Jazzia flipped up over and smacked him on the ass with the flat of her blade. He came in with an overhand strike and then tried to hit her with his shield.

Jazzia grabbed his weapons arm and did a twisting flip and had him on his face with her sword over his back. She released him and backed away. "I did not even bring any offensive or sorcerer abilities into the mix. I would have had you on the ground in seconds if I had."

He got back up, "Prove it."

Jazzia nodded. Jazzia squared off with him and he came in with a weapon sweep of her legs. She flipped into the air and turned into a huge silver and pinned both arms to the ground. He looked up at her as she backed off of him and reverted back. She put her sword away. "Blade singers fight with a code of honor but are prepared to deal with those who would not fight honorably.

We can clear a field of enemy combatants. Your strength is going against the undead, healing skills and you are formidable warriors. I did not say I was the average blade singer or sorcerer. I am a champion for my god so find no shame. In these contests, you are fighting against yourself much more than me. That is what I taught my students."

Jazzia looked to the King who sat there smiling.

He finally commented, "Helnar told me you could have had your forces decimate my entire island last night for what those men did."