Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 04

Jazzia looked around, "Nothing has to be decided today. I have a year before I can even marry. I will not think any less of you if you dismiss this kind of arrangement. It just means I will have to continue searching or forgo a relationship altogether.

Something the Lady of Dreams does not want me doing, but I made no promise. I just made an effort and proposed an idea for consideration. I need to travel to see the King on a few matters but I wanted to find Melia first."

They nodded and they carried the dishes back into the dining area. They left them behind and they disappeared from the table as they walked into the main room. She saw Melia as she walked out of her room.

Melia looked at her, "Did not know you were here. Also, with guests."

Jazzia smiled, "A potential mate or two who may wish to talk with you. I was finally contacted by the Lady of Dreams last night. I have a list of a few items I would like ordered for myself for protection. If you could get them on order for me. I need to see the King as soon as possible."

She handed her an extensive list of gear. She looked at it and her, "You were given some insight!?"

Jazzia nodded, "Some and my own concerns which I was told to voice. Eldar's armor would be nice, but given my form switching ways will not work. I have to have something built."

She nodded, "I will take care of this and talk with whoever wishes to talk with me. Now or another time."

Jazzia took her aside and whispered, "I know you are expecting and will die when they are born. I will ensure one way or another that they are taken care of like you have for us."

Melia hugged her, "Thank you for letting me know that."

She left them to talk and headed downstairs. She got mounted up and went to see her Cousin, the Duchess. She looked at her, "How are you, my cousin?"

She smiled, "I am fine. Did you need something?"

Jazzia nodded, "I was hoping you would take me to see the King as some of this affects you."

She walked down, "Anyone else?"

Jazzia nodded, "The Countess, Traxxa, General Goldeagle of the Gray Blades, and the new head of the Elven Army. But I will leave that call up to you. I had a visit last night from the Lady of Dreams."

She ran upstairs. "Wait there!"

---

Duchess Giria got on a crystal, "Your Majesty. Are you secure?" She secured her room and he sighed, "Just finished mid-day meal and am still in my quarters which are now secured. You have something to report Dutchess?"

She sighed, "Yes, my Cousin Jazzia said she was contacted by the Lady of Dreams last night. She asked for The Countess, Traxxa, General Goldeagle of the Gray Blades, and the new head of the Elven Army to be present to meet with you."

He sighed, "I will contact them all and get our other allies as well. Thank you for the forewarning. Get with the Countess directly, she is often in her quarters and she can take you all straight to the Conference room." He ended communications and issued the recall and sent his wizard after the Dwarven King.

---

Duchess Giria came back down a few minutes later, "Leave your mount we are going to the inn and the Countess will be taking us to a conference room."

They walked back over and headed upstairs. She had 3 of their dragon friends talking and they got the Countess to separate off to take them. They appeared in the conference room and others started showing up including the Dwarven King and Queen from Grand Falls. The Elven King and his Army general walked in.

The doors were finally sealed. She bowed to the King and he waved her off. "Speak plainly and what has she told you?"

Jazzia looked at him, "Some of this is from the conversation that occurred with the three elders who held the sword before me. The rest was the Lady of Dreams. Initially, it was about me getting married in a year and my concerns. I was told if I started soon after becoming an adult, I could deliver two sets of children.

I would become infertile before war struck. I can narrow the time of the return down even further. Sometime after Septa 1st 7196 is when this will occur. My guess is within the year following that date by some of the things she avoided saying. I was given direction. After I have finished training my three apprentices, I will surrender the Master Trainers ring. One of them will continue with what I have added to the training.

My days as a trainer would be over. I would be needed in the war on the Dragon front first. To get checked out with the Shadow Riders which I did earlier today. Traxxa is looking at making me a Captain overseeing the Red units. Those are things she said directly. She then told me to voice my concerns. I wanted to start with the Countess. You know the most about this device that was used. How high would it have taken your lands up?"

She sighed and thought, "A few feet to a couple hundred feet I do not expect it to go over 1,000 feet. We do not know at exactly what altitude it will appear. It should reappear just over the water. It was untested at the time."

She looked at General Goldeagle. "The attack on my Aunt found a new poison and you collapsed a lot of tunnels. If you could use one word to describe the layout of the tunnels what would it be?"

He laughed, "I have more than one but it looked like a haphazard crossing of tunnels with multiple breach points that have been sealed."

She nodded, "Would 'web' be an accurate term?"

He looked at her, "Yes it would actually. The tunnel breaches were evenly spaced like the anchors for a web. I see what you are saying."

She shook her head, "I am not saying anything yet. Pulling in observations like previous champions."

He nodded. She looked at the Dwarven King, "I did not expect you to be here but you can answer a question. IF the volcano breeches do you have a plan to get the craftsmen, material, and forge out?"

He looked at all of them, "We will have to work on that. It may require the aid of the elves to do it if that happens."

She looked at the human Queen, "As you are here, the area around the new ocean where the dragon lands exist been cleared out? Evacuated? What about the port areas on the other side of the world including our embassy?"

Queen Thornlord looked at Jazzia, "We will have to look to implement a plan to have them all out of the area by Septa first of that year. The floods were bad enough last time. Let alone the earthquakes."

She looked at them, "We know the world will be reshaped. We do not know how it will be reshaped. I think our enemy is in the same situation. This is forcing some alliances that we would not likely see. Like the drow with the orcs and Giants. Everything in between.

We know one enemy did not get off the field in the last strike and that was the one Draco-lich. Our current set of dragons cannot track if they are using another relic like the forge to create more. We have a lot of moving parts that are unknown but we have to address some contingencies.

Like saving the forge, scouting for another volcano with the deposits of materials needed to keep the forge operational."

The Human Queen looked at Jazzia, "Why are you so concerned about continuing to run the forge?"

Jazzia looked at her, "The last war the Elven Gods put two champions on the field and that lasted 5 years. The dragon war, the first part in 'modern times', was longer but no champions were identified. My father came onto the field after they departed. This time we have a Champion on the field, a dwarven champion, drow champion, orc champion, several human champions, and a second elven champion.

The last one was elf-blooded trained quickly. Hand-picked to create a new house, have children to pass along a sword, and died shortly before the war ended. That champion being on the field for potentially centuries could mean centuries of war. Like the dragon war of the First Era.

Dragons, Drow, Orcs, Giants, Draco-lich, and who knows what else they will have us fighting on multiple fronts. I know I am to start on the dragon front. At some point, I will be moved and the fight may still be ongoing at that location.

The Gods are going to pit me against the greatest threats. Likely to remove opposing champions from the field as my father did. This is my educated guess on the matter as I was not told anything beyond where I needed to start.

I noticed enchanters working on trying to figure out how to levitate the school grounds. I told them they would be better off making it fly above the location instead. Fixed to a point in the sky. Even that will not work out well."

The King looked at her, "Why?"

She looked at him, "What if that section of the forest becomes a mountain? What will happen with the winds from the impact? Once it hits how long before the sun returns to let the plant life try and start to grow again? Let alone the animals? In short, the return could kill us all. Unless we take action immediately."

The King looked at her, "What kind of action."

She looked at the Countess, "We would have to try and make it so the mass does not directly impact the world. Or at least slows it to minimize the damage. Build some kind of magical platform for it to fall upon to stop or lessen the impact. Another option is to try and slow time over that area. To make it fall slower."

The King sighed, "That is a massive area."

Jazzia nodded, "Compared to the rest of the world?"

She looked at the Countess, "You have the best enchanters available to assume form now. They should work to address these issues. If it will reappear above the water building collapsible islands to soften the blow is another option.

Based on your knowledge of the Ground. Tell us what is rock and what will be dirt. Where are the buildings? Building a map of that ground from your memory for us to place blacks to break the fall of this lad mass.

To devise something to minimize the impact of this device. Else the whole world will start over. As the device was designed to do and you are talking massive deaths around the world. The other question is if the governments cannot be contacted, do the troops know what to do in the short term?"

The Countess stood, "There are ways. My enchanters will need to confer with others. To discuss if we have the resources to do it. Slowing the descent long enough for one of us to get to the controls of the device and slow it from there would have to be a goal. Provided those even work and we can get to the controls through the enemy that is left.

The assumption is that it would hit at full speed which is a distinct possibility. Again, it was untested. Part of the reason we wanted this force was to capture the palace where this device is located deep underground. We would need a more precise time."

Jazzia shook her head, "I do not have a more precise time. Maybe when we are closer. That is a big maybe. Your gods would know that better as it is draconic magic we are dealing with."

She sighed, "We would have to get inside and use communication crystals in the zone. We may have to use some draconic mythic magic to make this happen. Thank you for letting us know now. Once there, psionic communication would alert them all."

Jazzia nodded, "We use it to alert them all. That HAS to be the plan. If we can equip our Mages with an item that changes the dragon color to something not standard then we know our forces, the metallics know our forces and the enemy knows our forces. A sneak attack is not going to work with the elven war horses coming into play.

It is also the way to pull enemy forces away from the device to face this counter-attack in the air. Giving a chance to get someone or something inside to try and deal with the rate of descent."

She sighed, "The horns would give them away as non-metallics."

Jazzia nodded, "But for color-coding friendly units from non-friendly? I would say we make them all a pink color or add a design to them. A bright white Silvertree design or something to differentiate them. My thoughts on that issue. Consider that project one. Project two is contingencies for natural disasters. Can you throw up one of the house designs if you have it ready."

She sighed and pulled out a crystal. She unsecured the room. She then secured it, Staria threw up three of them. Jazzia looked at the rooms, "These were used to help secure the metallic dragons. We should set these up as shelters to the royal families. Set them up to be in the sky; floating platforms at the entrances and when the alert comes, they move into the shelter. They can leave the door open and talk from the platform until they know it is safe to return after the initial impact. Continuation of the governments.

Project three is troop deployments. We would have to spread them out toward each front and have the means to get them back quickly. An equal number of casters at each location with teleport and teleportation circle to grab troops. In this one design, my father asked for the map to reflect the change in landmasses. He looked ahead. Permanent teleportation circles take a year to put in place.

They could be misused or unusable because the spot is gone. The Goddess told me to express my concerns and observation. She also told me that what we do resides in the King or should I say with the list of people in this room Kings' and Queens' choices. She said you are being tested again, Your Majesty."

The Countess looked at her, "We would have to move the riders closer to the homeland. We have one caster who can make those shelters permanent. That is her. She taps into draconic magic to make it happen. To make a few more could be done. Beyond that and we are jeopardizing the first project you listed with the return.

Jazzia looked at her, "That falls under contingencies and they would have to be housed in those same secured shelters ready to strike from above. You have no idea as to what the damage to the surrounding area will be to do a standard ground base. That means homes for Elven Dragon Mages, their riders, and the Shadow Rider mercenary group."

The Countess sighed, "We have a few things to look into then. You are correct. It would be more advantageous to strike from the air. They could also be used as shelters for the metallics in the rebuilding process."

Jazzia looked at the King, "All extra-dimensional spaces in the Arcane academies should be removed. They are anchored to a point. If the elevation changes up or down then the students could find themselves trapped.

I would suggest some academics research a way to anchor it to a wall or object so if the elevation changes then it changes and moves with the building. As to levitating the academies. They would have to have to be able to set a minimum altitude. Shield it from the elements like the island had. My grandfather recommended sages research the magic and try to duplicate it. Did that ever happen?"

The King looked at her, "I know sages went to look at it. I will have to get on the Academies to make that a priority. For the cities and your town of course for many reasons."

Queen Thornlord glared at King Goldeagle, "What many reasons?"

Jazzia did not see her face but looked toward her, "It is home to one of our most holy sites, four champions, and many heroes to the Elven People came from this little duchy. It is also the frontline defensive area toward the orcs, the training facility for the Shadow Riders, and Dragon Riders. The reason I am here is the goddess's direction who made her presence known in that duchy.

Before it became a duchy. I would also look to consider our three forward bases to protect our naval base in the Deep Sea. I do not know what challenges will arise from there. It is a concern. I am willing to bet challenges will arise there as well that we will have to tackle."

She looked at Jazzia, "Those should be secondary to my capital!"

Jazzia looked at her, "Your Majesty, with all due respect, I do not set the priorities. I identified the problems. The first champion, my great, great, grandfather, turned down the throne to your Kingdom. Instead, he helped a young princess to carry on the family legacy you are trying to preserve.

I am doing the same thing as him by trying to identify the issues. Protecting the elven people and his legacy. It is up to the Kings and Queens to set the priorities. Ignoring the holiest site to the deities who are giving the insight into this coming conflict would seem like a very bad idea."

She sighed and simply nodded. King Goldeagle breathed a sigh of relief that she understood Jazzia's position and explanation. He looked at Jazzia, "Did you have any other insights?"

She smiled, "Not at this time but when they occur, I will let you know directly, Your Majesty."

He nodded, "You are free to go for now. We will discuss this further and see what we can do immediately."

Jazzia nodded, "I would like to go to the Academy here and see what those scholars have come up with on that front. I might find some insight into that issue."

He nodded, "Given your arcane prowess I think that would be a good idea while you are in the city."

Jazzia bowed to all of them and walked to the doors. The Countess looked at her, "Staria will have your horse out front for you by the time you arrive."

Jazzia nodded, "Thank you, Countess."

She headed out and Staria stood near her horse. She walked over to her, "Thank you for bringing him. I am headed to the Academy here in town. This discussion might interest the enchantress side of you."

She nodded, "Very well I will ride with you then." She hopped up and pulled her behind her. They rode toward the Academy and she whispered to her, "I heard you proposed marriage to Grandaxxa."

She smiled, "I proposed an idea, I did not propose marriage to anyone. Be sure to tell him that. It was to give them time to think about the idea. To get feedback from relatives and friends. I am still a year out. The goddess told me to take steps. Open the dialog.

I was also debating forgoing marriage altogether. That was what the other former wielders came to try and talk to me about. To try to alleviate some of my concerns. They talked with me before my talk with the Lady of Dreams. To try and establish a "Champions Code."

She groaned and sighed, "I told him I had mixed feelings about it. Given your family history. After Dusk Moon passed I started hooking up with Silvertree and Silverbar on different cycles. He was the only one I got from Silverbar before he died in the Far East. Right after Griffon' Peak. A random attack on the embassy. With the Silvertree House, I had 22 and with Duskmoon I had 20."

Jazzia nodded, "You are not the only one concerned about history. However, you will not find a stronger candidate with draconic silver dragon blood than myself at the moment. Outside of him breeding with another silver-half dragon or silver-dragon, I am not sure just how much draconic power I have to tell you the truth or how it scales if you will from being blooded to being half-dragon."

They arrived at the Academy and walked into the main lobby. "Magister's office please."

He looked at them, "Do you have an appointment?"

Jazzia shook her head, "No. I just left the King and told him I would stop by here and check on some time-sensitive research. He told me it would be a good idea if I did that. I have the top Dragon enchantress with me. The research involved a mixture of magic."

He sighed and took them up. There appeared to be an argument in progress concerning levitating the tower. She looked at him, "Both Academies are looking at the same problem. Could you secure the room, please? I am here on behalf of the King to discuss some of these very issues."

He turned and secured the room. He looked at her, "I told them not to disturb me."

She nodded, "I know. This is Lady Staria the top enchantress for the Silver dragons. I advised against levitating the buildings."