Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 05 Pt. 02

He looked at him yelling at the Queen. Jarronus hit him with a thunder wave and sent him across the room. The General looked at Jarronus from the floor, "Who the hell are you to attack me?"

Jarronus looked at him, "Who the hell are you to be yelling at my Queen in her Capital and her Palace? Some general who is pissed off because a Field Marshal was assigned from here? I gathered that from your discussion. I am that Field Marshal. You work for me. Who brought you here?"

He pointed back at a human wizard. Jarronus picked up the General, "Your Majesty, have your personal healer on call here. You follow me, wizard."

Jarronus took them out to the falls and looked at the wizard, "Did his King order him to come in here and be belligerent to my Queen?"

He shook his head, "Not that I know of. He just requested to come here."

Jarronus pulled his blade, "You think you are a good General let us see your combat skills."

He looked at Jarronus, "I lead troops."

Jarronus nodded, "There is a dragon on the top of that falls what are you using?"

He looked at Jarronus, "The human Kingdom has not been attacked by dragons."

Jarronus chuckled, "No just infiltrated left and right. Now draw your blade or has age enfeebled your arm as much as your mind."

He drew a blade. He charged at Jarronus with a shield. Jarronus swept his leg and sent him sprawling. He was slow getting up. Jarronus turned his back to the man.

The General came in with an overhand swing which Jarronus rolled away. Jarronus grabbed the edge of his shield and shattered his elbow when he bent the man's arm in the wrong direction. The General swung wildly around with his sword. Jarronus grabbed his wrist and held his hand against his other elbow and looked at him, "You ready to apologize to my Queen and get that elbow fixed, or am I going to have to keep beating the shit out of you?"

He screamed, "Fuck you."

Jarronus did a standing flip and dislocated his arm at the shoulder.

Jarronus looked at the General's broken form, "This is why you are not right for your current job, let alone leading the allied forces. You have no tactics and even less common sense."

He took his sword and shield and handed them to the mage, "He cannot carry them let alone use them. You will take us to your King."

He looked over at a couple of paladins who smiled at him. Jarronus looked at them, "Help him to his feet."

They nodded, "Yes, Duke Silvertree."

They went over and got the aged man to his feet. Jarronus looked at the General, "I can put you in a cell for a few days and let you decide to apologize where they will have to break that arm again to get it to set right or you will issue an apology to my Queen. You have options."

Jarronus looked at the wizard, "Your King wished to come here fine. He orders you to bring someone here fine. Some shit bag general starts throwing his insignificant weight around and you bring him? You will be trying to learn to cast with stumps for hands. I take the Queen's security seriously. I will not suffer fools.

I am a Master Trainer Blade Singer and a battle sorcerer capable of tier nine and mythic spells in both disciplines. Do not test me on this!"

He nodded. Jarronus took him in front of the Queen where the general apologized for his actions. Something the Paladins told him he bet. They healed him up. They walked out and Jarronus looked at the mage, "Take us to your King."

He teleported them away and they were in a keep somewhere. They walked toward a throne where his court was in session. He saw Jarronus with his right hand pulling this general along and his wizard following with the general's sword and shield weighing him down. The King waved them aside. The King had his glasses on.

Jarronus walked the General forward. "Your Majesty, your General took it upon himself to go and see the Elven Queen. He started screaming at her for a Field Marshal being appointed from the Elven Kingdom. I took him into an area and demonstrated the errors of his ways.

I also informed your wizard to not bring anyone to the Palace without your specific direction. To those who do not know. I am Duke Silvertree, Knight Champion to Corellon Larethian the Elven God. Also, the one who stepped up to take over this fiasco we called our defenses. I spent the morning with our Dragon allies and had a similar but less confrontational discussion with their Generals. He finally apologies for his failure in court etiquette when dealing with a Queen."

The King chuckled, "Recommendation?"

Jarronus looked at him, "Retire him from the field. I would like to meet his second in command, Your Majesty."

He nodded, "Understandable. Would my wizard take him to the general's encampment on the outskirts of town?"

The wizard nodded and teleported them to the encampment. Jarronus looked over as they walked to a command tent. The general looked over at his officers, "ATTACK THIS FUCKING ELF." Jarronus held his sword under the Generals Chin having drawn it as they walked up. "Your King just retired him. Please note the wizard is carrying the general's sword and shield. I am the new Field Marshal."

The wizard nodded to the others. The General looked around, "All of you are cowards. His brother was a better man! The King should of fucking died!"

Jarronus handed him to the Wizard, "I think his retirement just became more permanent. All of you outside, please."

He sheathed his sword waiting for the half-dragon to exit the tent. Jarronus shook hands with them as they came out. As the half-dragon went to shake hands with him, Jarronus thought, "Karti'Ros right hand Moon Fire on."

Jarronus shoved it up through his skull. Jarronus looked at the others, "Stand down." He walked his body back.

Jarronus pulled his rings and found the one. He put it on and they saw the half-dragon. He waved the wizard forward. Jarronus took the general and threw him to the ground. He reared back and breathed out over his and listened to him scream. Jarronus took the ring off. "Half-shadow dragon. Tell me he is the second, right?"

They nodded Jarronus looked over, "Who was next? Wizard bring him over." The general was still alive. The two of them came forward.

Jarronus teleported them into the Palace from where he left to everyone's shock, "Your Majesty, his second with a half-dragon shadow dragon. He tried to order his men to attack and then stated 'your brother was a better man and you should have died.' Was he aware of the attempts on your life?"

The King shook his head, "No. I feel much better now of course. Take the general into custody."

He looked at the King, "Is this the man who will take over or did you have another in mind?"

He looked at Jarronus, "I do not know."

Jarronus looked around and saw divine auras and he pointed. You and you step forward. Your Majesty, who are these 2?"

He looked at Jarronus, "That man is a squire to one of my knights, a paladin in training. The other is a knight scout in my court."

Jarronus nodded, "I want him and the Squire working for him."

The King looked perplexed. Jarronus smiled, "Private audience with these two, and you, Your Majesty." He nodded and went to a side room.

He followed the two humans inside. Jarronus activated crystals and sealed the room, "Your Majesty. My sight is better than most dragons. Who do you worship, scout?"

He looked at Jarronus, "Mielikki."

He nodded and pointed to the squire, "You wear the symbol for Tyr."

The squire nodded, "I worship him."

Jarronus nodded, "How far out are you from your paladin trials?"

He looked at Jarronus, "Days."

He nodded, "He finishes his trials conscript him into service. Conscript him if you have not already. They are both champions to their Gods whether they know it or not. I am the Champion of Corellon Larethian. The dragons have a Champion to Bahamut on the field. I swear what I speak is true." Jarronus handed each of them a set of glasses.

"To see the truth in the world. You see a red aura subdue the subject and get the rings off. You see an image of a dragon or another evil creature then kill them." He put the ring on for the half-dragon and they all backed away.

Jarronus pulled it off. "The general's second was wearing it. Now the half-dragon is trapped in the ring with no mind. As an arcane, I can access its abilities. Like the breath weapon, I hit your General with in front of his camp. The two of you pray on it but I am not wrong."

He pulled off the top of his armor so they could see his holy symbol.

The King nodded, "I will work to make this happen."

Jarronus nodded and looked at them, "I will be back in a few days. I will prove it to you if I can."

The ranger looked at Jarronus, "I knew already."

The Squire looked at him, "There are more experienced knights."

Jarronus nodded, "The big fight they are expecting is 30 years out. When you would be in peak form on the battlefield as a general by then."

He nodded his understanding. Jarronus looked to him, "The first Knight Paladin in the elven Kingdom came from Tyr. She was elf-blooded or half-elf she changed deities and established the order for Corellon Larethian. The next Champion was her son. This was before they went celibate. I am a descendant of him.

He killed a 5,000year-old champion to an evil dragon god during his day. Losing his life in the process. I respect paladins. I of course respect Mielikki as I ascended from the First champion who was half wood elf. I have a respect for nature as they do. Silent Falls is one of our most holy sites. Bringing more champions into this fight will be needed."

Jarronus shook both of their hands and looked at the King, "They have the skills you will want to aid your people. To find two in your court is a good sign that the human Gods will take a more active role in this conflict. I leave the general to you to dispense justice, Your Majesty. Keep this between us for now. We do not know where spies are lurking."

They all nodded. He unsecured the room and teleported out and back to the fourth floor.

He walked in to see the Queen. He looked at the paladins, "What did you say to get the general to get him to apologies?"

One of them chuckled, "That you cut the face and half the head off of one man who pissed you off by being an assassin."

Jarronus nodded, "He tried to get his men to attack me. The King did relieve him. I killed his second."

Jarronus slid the ring on and the Queen backed up and he took the ring off. "They have adult half-dragons in play. That one is a shadow dragon. You can see we have our work cut out for us. On a good note, I found two human champions within the King's court.

Your workers are vetted, they will get supplies brought in, they will be living out there until the job is finished. I ordered them to get the ballistas out of storage and installed, the Academy is to send assets to the army and southern duchy as I requested. I need to go and take care of some casters. Have more coming tomorrow to the Palace. They will start training and I have apprentices to work with, Your Majesty."

She nodded, "Thank you, Duke Silvertree."

He stepped out and activated the crystal to Majisa, "Have an update for you, are you in a secure area?"

She chuckled, "Not really."

He nodded, "Meet me at House Silvertree. This cannot wait."

Jarronus teleported to House Silvertree. She arrived a minute later and Jarronus took them just inside and put the ring in her hand. "They have adult half-dragons on the field. That one is a shadow dragon I killed in human lands. I also found two human champions. One knew the other was not aware yet but he has his paladin trials coming up.

Nirman should be able to see them, he should visit the young human. I feared half-dragons in numbers and it could be happening."

She nodded, "Thank you for alerting me. I will talk with our intelligence guys and get this to them."

He nodded. She left and he opened the entryway and secured it. He went into the library and looked at the mages, "You ready to test spells?"

He got a lot of nodding heads. Jarronus stopped each on the way out the portal and asked about copying or learning spells they were not supposed to copy.

He held one back, "I told you I could tell a lie. He handed Jarronus a previously blank book with a necromancy spell in it. Jarronus asked him again and he sighed, "I have another in memory."

He nodded, "I have some psionic friends who can strip that out or you can cast it and get rid of it on the training ground."

He nodded, "I was just checking to see if what you said was true." Jarronus asked him, "Any others?"

He groaned, "This is the last one. He pulled out one on a scroll. Jarronus looked at it and set it on fire.

Jarronus shook his head, "Only the one spell one time in memory?"

He sighed, "Yes."

Jarronus nodded, "I am dead serious about this stuff. Necromancy spells are rarely a good idea."

He looked at Jarronus, "When is it useful."

Jarronus smiled, "The one you copied and likely memorized combined with another will kill you but make the shield permanent. Did you wish to die that way, to protect the Capital?"

He shook his head. "I will purposefully remove that from memory."

Jarronus nodded, "Would be selfless but not something you are ready for, just yet."

He chuckled, "No."

Jarronus took him back to where his apprentices worked out. Jarronus created up another room and locked it in place. He opened it up and had him start. He was able to cast mythic spells. As were four others. Five of the others could cast draconic but not mythic spells yet.

Jarronus paired four of them off, "You work for me. You will be staying in the barracks next door. You mister extra spell are to report to the Academy and start teaching these to others. The rest of you gentlemen will work for Duke Strong Oak.

You three are first up with the dragon riders. Wing lock and force web will be some of your favorite spells. Along with wall of force and your damage spells. You will be dropping dragons."

They nodded. The four Jarronus paired off looked at him, "What will we be doing?"

He smiled, "I will get some more and you will likely be mixed at different times to protect against death bring the shields down all at once. You will be enchanting the shields. One in the Capital and one in Quatarsia starting tomorrow. We will see how far out they are on the other enchanting."

He nodded. Jarronus got them all on their way or bunked down. He went back inside and sighed, "Long ass day."

---

Two days later Jarronus held a meeting with the Kings and Queen minus the human King and outlined some of his special projects. The vaults having been started the day before and made permanent without the need for Nirman. At first blush, they thought he was crazy for some of them but Nirman backed his plans. He liked a few of them even. They fielded and took down a few feeble dragon attack attempts over the next several months.

Over the next few years, the forces grew significant and the rings were ferreted out as quickly as they appeared. Janell died in labor. Something Jarronus suspected would happen. He named her daughter after her. Slaraxxa did go infertile and her children grew quickly. He set about loving her often regardless. As he did with the other four wives who continued to have children. The other two dragons having departed after giving birth.

Seven years went by and the World Eater finally appeared. Coming up from the lava field. It went for the vaults and was engaged in aerial combat. Jarronus rode in on Nirman. He tried to turn back toward the volcano and they got the shield in place. He turned back and went to try and burrow his way down. It took 6 tries but Jarronus finally got an expanded and heightened force web to stick long enough for him to crash down. The volcano erupted from the impact and the ground shook for miles.

They finished him off with cold spells. The shield came down and two very warm gold dragons escaped the area. The lava fields turned into flaming fields of death from the lava. It spilled back into the dwarven tunnels. The tunnels the Dwarves did not collapse as asked filled up and exploded.

That ensured those tunnels were sealed. At least well enough for the lava to pool over the area. The dwarves lost over 100 men due to that leadership mistake from King Fireaxe. The dome of the volcano partially collapsed.

It spilled out across the fields and toward where Grand Falls used to be. The crack in the elven land through the old keep expanded and went deeper by 8 additional feet. Lava poured over the force walls and under the expanded crack from the impact. All but sealing off the dwarven homeland. It had been evacuated years ago. A new shield activated over the new dwarven homeland and assets were pulled from the vaults and returned to the respective kingdoms.

They set up the old elven and dragon vault as a temporary shelter for the dwarves. They enchanted in a teleportation circle on the platform for them to use until they got their new homes together. Then it would be a refuge for the Dwarven King during the war.

The forge had been moved into a test tunnel and set up 4 levels down inside of shelters. And was just outside of the new dragon mountain of material; it had been in place for years and some excavation had to be done to reopen it after the dragon came down. The forge room, the main entrance, and it had two side rooms for doing finishing work with bedrooms.

The flying towers went up across the realms, a platform for the dragon riders which numbered 500 was in place. The shield over the Capital was turned on as was a separate one over the Palace and churches. Eleven houses from the churches were saved. Two were destroyed. Most of the senior leaders of the eleven houses were killed for treason.

House Silver Roots formed from the disowned Silvertree family members and earned awards for heroism on the field. The dragons followed suit with the double shields. With the new land over by Grand Falls, they now had a direction for their attack. The tunnels north of the elven lands only sank and collapsed more. Making drow intrusion from that direction less-likely.

Then lava pooled up from below letting them know those passages were likely to never reopen. Jarronus spent the next 12 years training students and his daughter who was an arcane archer sorceress. She went to the Academy in Quatarsia to learn the trick-shot abilities. She learned she was infertile. Jarronus gave her the bow he could never use well.

Instead, he added in the bracers with the weapon wand enchanted into them that still bore the shadow rider symbols. Fewer than 100 pairs had been returned, most of those though were the high-end bracers. The Gods stopped contacting him after the World Killer was put down.

Twenty-nine years after his first child was born the hordes came in. They held them at the elven side of the river and stayed low in the sky as planned. When 1,000 dragons tried to drop in on the front three Kingdoms and the town of Quatarsia. They were ready for them.

They activated the first shields which were giant cones pointed from far back to the floating towers. Each tower had forty force walls blocking them. It took hours for them to claw their way through them all. As they destroyed the tower the other shields activated. They went for the new active towers. These did not point out, or up and down. They were aimed to create a sphere from side to side. They destroyed the towers but soon found out these shields were different.

They had been enchanted with a form of dragon's bane. Damaging for them to even touch. They destroyed the tower to find the beams were being shot out of secure shelters. They could not get to the occupants. The beam was so damaging. Any that changed shape found themselves in all of the blades and they had nowhere to safely land once they destroyed the towers. They eventually fell from the sky in exhaustion and screamed in agony in the sky as they died in mass.