Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 05 Pt. 01

He did not give her a chance to reply before leaving.

Rising From the Ashes

Jarronus woke prepared his spells and headed out after getting dressed. He got his horse saddled. He thought, "My friend they want to make me a fucking champion. Emphasis on fucking. May the Gods help me. I must be losing my mind for even thinking about this."

He heard chuckling from Sattona, "What is the problem with that?"

Jarronus sighed and thought, "Besides the incredibly short lifespan, throwing myself into impossible situations, working with some I can barely stand to be in a room with? Let us not forget having children I have next to zero hope of having a relationship with and dying on the other side of the world at a very young age? Not much. Great choice in destinies."

He heard more laughter from Sattona and Karti'Ros. He headed out and stopped at the bank. He ran inside and walked up to a lady at an open counter.

He looked at her, "I need all of these accounts, consolidated into this one account and two new ones. Evenly divided. Then half a million in gold and another half-million in diamonds."

She looked at him like he had lost his mind when he handed her the papers from the Queen.

Then she looked at the balances in the accounts. She looked at Jarronus and practically drooled as she whispered, "There are billions here!"

He nodded and whispered, "I know."

She completed his request and there was 72 billion and change spread across 3 accounts. He put the funds into his bag of holding and went to the enchanter's district. He walked back. A pretty lady behind the counter looked at him, "Can I help you?"

He nodded. He set a list in front of her with a set of the celestial chain. She read through everything.

She looked at him, "This will be very expensive work!"

He smiled, "I know, but I am looking to be well protected."

She wrote down a figure.

He nodded, "Add the following to the list."

She looked at him, "ADD to the list?" He nodded. "Some of this could take months to complete."

He nodded, "No house designs or logos, those have to be removed along with the rank insignia. The duchy no longer exists and the heraldry is wrong. Make the armor blackout on command from its shiny self." He set the bow down and she examined it. She sighed, "Very impressive work."

He nodded, "Done here a long time ago. I just need it to generate its own ammo so I do not need to carry a quiver. That is what the gloves are for. I will have to choose between them and some special bracers I have, but for now, the gloves will work."

She nodded, "Very well." She gave him a new number. He gave her an account number she ran it. Her eyes about fell out of her head. She looked at him and was about to fawn over him, "How old are you?"

He sighed, "70, the last member of my house."

She shook her head as he had 5 years to go before she could try and win his heart, "Surprised you did not ask for a sword."

Jarronus chuckled, "My Moon Blade would be annoyed by that. It is a little grumpy at over 11,000 years old. As it is he hates that damned bow."

He heard a chuckle in his head from Karti'Ros. She sighed, "Let me get you the items we have now."

She went in back. She came out with a necklace. He looked at it and cast detect magic on it, "I need non-detection added to this as well. It was on the note."

She smiled, "It already has it. Very high caster level as well, as requested."

He cast identify instead of detect magic and then nodded, "Very well."

She set down the ring with moderate attributes to strength and dexterity, a death ward belt, and the gloves of storing. He put on everything except for the necklace. Jarronus walked out and rode to the Palace. The Queen was at her throne. She saw him walk in and waved him forward.

He bowed to her, "Your Majesty, I left in such a hurry I did not pick up my paperwork. The people you wanted me to meet I should see sooner rather than later. Could you let my instructor know? He has not given me a crystal. I have been to the bank and enchanters today."

She nodded. "You know where to go. I will be up shortly."

He bowed, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

He went upstairs and waited at the door for her and his trainer to arrive. He did not want to be in there, let alone be in there alone with Dragons he did not trust. She looked at him, "He will be here in a while we should go on in."

He looked at her, "I am likely to say or do things today that will shock you. Please trust me when I say, I may not be an adult but I know what I am doing, Your Majesty."

She was perplexed by his comment but nodded, "Alright. I will try to be understanding. Thank you for the forewarning."

He walked in and walked out and past the end of the table and cast up a shelter and walked inside. She followed as did the other 7. The one 'elf' looked at Jarronus, "This is overkill."

Jarronus looked at him, "No it is not Lord Regal. You are just not being cautious enough, as usual."

He walked over and stripped off the top of his armor and slid the necklace on. They listened to the high-end whistle and a flash of light. He looked at him, "Answer your question? Yes, the gods are making me a champion. The 6 of you must be my distant uncles.

Yes, the Lady of Dreams spoke with me last night. I told her I had to be fucking crazy to want to consent to help out any dragons with this fiasco. Besides, the Queen's conference room is lovely but it does not have this."

Jarronus finished putting his armor back on and he pulled up the adjustable map. "Part of the work Dame Staria did. Any of you able to cast the mythic elements needed to make this place permanent?"

They shook their heads. Lord Regal looked at Jarronus, "We do not have those books anymore."

Jarronus looked at him. "Want them?"

He stepped out and pulled out the six books. He went in and set them out. "I have copies of all of these. Made by previous wielders. They spent time making a complete copy of these 6 books. These are the originals Jazzia used."

Jarronus set them out. Lord Regal looked wide-eyed. "Where did you get these from?"

He sighed, "Last champion's bag of holding. They would have been willed to Lady Staria or the Silver Queen but they both died. Do you have a Royal Silver left?"

He nodded, "Yes, and a gold in front of you."

Jarronus nodded, "Majisa. I would love for her to attend this. I have been made aware of your failing health."

Lord Regal looked at the boy, "I am the King, you will deal with me!"

Jarronus smiled, "No. I will not deal with you. I told the Lady of Dreams, given your track record and almost destroying the world as we knew it, the exact same thing. I felt working with your replacement would be far better. I even went as far as to ask if you should be considered an enemy of the elven people for your actions.

You will be happy to know I have not been instructed to end your life any earlier than it is already going to end. If that means waiting for you to die, then I will wait. I am not saying you cannot offer your advice, but anything I request she has to be able to fulfill.

Changing human monarchies we deal with more often than Dragon changes. Gods only know what our relationship will be like when you are gone, it could not be much worse. Which of the 6 of you is the champion?"

---

Queen Goldeagle was in shock. He confirmed he was a champion, knew of the Gold King's health, and would have liked to kill him! At the very least he did not want to work with Lord Regal at all. He would likely not like to work with dragons at all. She remembered his forewarning, he was pushing Lord Regal and he had his own reasons.

---

Lord Regal went to open his mouth and Jarronus looked at him, "Say the words 'dragon business' and I am gone. You think Brannar had the ability to take out the walls to escape, you have seen nothing. I do not need a staff to aid in the task. I have a trove of information on you including your real dragon name and the other members of the Council of Nine from before the War. Most of them are dead now most likely with the losses you suffered from your inept ability to rule."

---

Lord Regal was about ready to attack and he heard Bahamut in his head, "The elf has not made a comment that I have not stated to you. You will need him to succeed against these threats now that the god awful Dragon Wars Treaty is gone. You try and attack him and I will strike you down now!

He has the blame squarely on your shoulders. As you are the leader and this is cleaning up more of the mess you allowed to happen under your watch; the blame is right where it should be."

Lord Regal composed himself and worked to keep his anger in check with this child.

---

Jarronus looked at the Queen, "I was not ready to deal with dragons yesterday. Yes, I can see them. The last champion added her 'dragon eyes' to the sword. I can cycle through magical auras as well, your Majesty. That crystal will not work in here by the way."

She stepped out. He looked at the 7 of them, "The choice on how to proceed is in your hands. I have been given a timeline for what I need to do so it does not need to be decided today."

The Queen walked back in, "Lord Regal you need to open the door for my cousin who is his instructor."

He stepped out. Jarronus looked across at the other 6, "He must be real fun at parties."

He got 2 of them to snicker at his comment. They came back in with his instructor.

He looked at the portal, "Seal portal. You should also know I have the command sequence to override any shelter built by Jazzia. Including the 4 over dragon lands. I should say part of her resides in the blade. She built them as the wielder, or should I say the owner of this blade can open them. She was not even a full up enchanter but she saw to the future. The blade was a part of her when she made them as the blade wielder instead of herself. If they were made permanent and she created them. In those cases, I can access them. I tested that in Quatarsia yesterday.

Your Majesty, you need to start building up your forces now. Consider that divine direction. While I may not be here when they strike. the Lady of Dreams talked about restarting the Knights and I have yet to agree to that part of their plan given the current ruler and the restrictions that most of the force would have to be human. Then there is the aspect of how the dragons are going to find the threat, that other threat being this Draco-lich that Jazzia brought down but did not destroy in her era.

The other issue, and the one you need the armies for is the Orcs, ogres, giants, and drow will be attacking in force in 30 plus years if not sooner. I was not given a direction for these attacks.

Finding this Draco-lich goes back to my question on draconic mythic magic because some chromatics will likely be in that fight as well. They will likely have it, the means to track magic would likely have to be rebuilt given spells from those books.

Rebuilding the shields here would be beneficial. I could take these six books and see if our sages can engineer an elven equivalent."

Lord Regal looked at him, "Your young and arrogant."

Jarronus looked at him, "Your old, arrogant, and unyielding. We are quite the pair are we not?"

Master Trainer Goldeagle chuckled.

Jarronus looked at the Master Trainer, "Master Trainer, the Lady of Dreams contacted me last night. That prompted this meeting with 6 of my uncles and Lord Regal. You might know him as the one who came close to destroying the world."

Lord Regal snapped back, "Close, we did not do it!"

Jarronus sighed, "Was not for a lack of trying. You can thank Jazzia and Dame Staria for the magic put in place to keep you from succeeding in that asinine effort and foolish decision!"

Lord Regal headed for the portal, and it stayed fast. "I will be nice and not put you through what you forced Brannar into. Release portal."

He stepped out and talked on a crystal.

---

Lord regal was fuming and called his daughter, "This young Silvertree boy is arrogant and disrespectful. I wanted to kill him but Bahamut directed me to stay my hand or die now! He does not want to deal with me, has no respect for me, knows of my health, and has the books for the mythic magic we need. Yet I don't want to give him the satisfaction of taking them from him."

She sighed, "I will be there shortly and I will take them from him if he is offering them to us. We will need it to track our enemies. I have the sky diamonds from the former Queens vault. She gave them to me to hang onto in case she died in that battle.

I knew, as did you, that his family had those books. He has offered them and you likely did not ask for them. Probably tried to play dumb in the fact that you knew about him having those. He would know we needed them if he has read them, and what we could build with those.

What we need to build to succeed now that Bahamut has put a champion on the field giving us direction. I will work with him as you have obviously gotten off to a bad start with yet another elven champion."

---

Jarronus looked at the table, "Lady Staria was a genius and Jazzia was no slouch herself. The black diamonds on the floor. She knew the mythic that allowed for those to turn into three-foot-long spikes floor and ceiling.

Still, it exists in the home in Quatarsia along with environmental controls for two waterfalls. To allow for a 'cold' room for her silver dragon self while pregnant. After the fact. Some might have dealt with the 6 of you. Being the sons of Jazzia."

They nodded. The elven Queen looked shocked, "She birthed 6 dragons?"

A female gold walked in with Lord Regal. Jarronus looked at her, "You must be Majisa Silvertree."

She nodded, "You must be the Silvertree working to push my father into an early grave."

Jarronus sighed and said under his breath, "Not that early."

Lord Regal stormed out again but she just smiled. She tried not to bust up laughing.

Jarronus called out, "Seal portal."

Jarronus sealed him out and she laughed, "I am sorry about him. He does not like to be reminded of his health. You have a certain wit about you."

Jarronus nodded, "I have the six books dealing with Draconic spells and mythic spells. Do you have anyone capable of casting them yet? Besides your asinine father?"

She shook her head, "Not yet. We are another millennium away if I had to guess. We have to develop a trainer first. He would be one to do it if he were an enchanter and he is not. He might be able to teach a few, willing is another matter."

Jarronus nodded. "Well, I have a complete copy of these 6 books. You can have the originals. Your Majesty, she had 12, 6 elven children, and 6 dragons. They were divided because another God took an interest in her and wanted her to be his champion. That was Bahamut.

Partly because she was descended from the man who killed a 5,000year-old enemy of Bahamut. The shadow dragon champion. Partially because her husband was a silver half-dragon and she was a dragon-blooded sorceress. Unseal portal."

Queen Goldeagle nodded. He came back in, "Why did you lock me out?"

Jarronus looked at him, "I had something to say that would have only aggravated you further. Do you wish for me to repeat it?"

He groaned and moved from Jarronus. Jarronus pulled up the map. "Do we know where this Draco-lich is operating from? They were smart in incorporating these maps to update with the changes in the world after the return."

Majisa looked at Jarronus, "We do not have that information yet. We hope to at some point."

He nodded, "You needed the books to build what you need to be able to do that. To track the magic. Yes, I have read those books. Well if they have not found an artifact then they will try for the dwarven forge again. The only other artifact I know they have a potential location for is the Pegasus riders island if they went in search of the Prism. I have never been there so only a really old dragon might have been there in the past.

Else if they have that one, we are fucked because they have had it for a thousand years. They could have 50 Draco-liches if that is the case. With the failing of the shields, it would not surprise me if they put it back into operation to generate a trap to hold any who go there. Now if the Draco-lich knows how to cast draconic mythic magic, which is highly likely, then there is no point even trying for the island because of a potential shield trap."

Majisa sighed, "I have never been to it. If we had access to her home in Quatarsia the map might show the location of the island."

Jarronus nodded, "I do have access to that. I have ownership set to me now. I was able to access it yesterday. I cannot check it out, but if it is there then some Silver Dragons might be able to confirm if the island still exists. The map might reflect it.

My journal says Jazzia created the shelter and they both made it permanent. Looking for a spot at an unknown altitude over an island that may no longer exist sounds like a futile effort, though my eyesight might help with that. As it is the same as what my uncles have they might find a sky diamond in the area and confirm if a trap is still likely.

The first thing to find out is if the island exists on the charts in Quatarsia. If we can roll back the time on them to see what it looked like before the change. If it disappeared with the change then it is likely the island sank. The prism is in an extradimensional space, or it was back then. No telling if it was moved out of the shelter."

She nodded, "It is worth seeing if it is on the chart at least."

Jarronus looked at her, "This assumes a spirit of cooperation, not the misinformation of the past. If it is found we have a right to know about it just as we would if 10 Draco-liches were circling the island.

I am speaking from journal entries on either one or both Silver Queen and Gold King keeping the information they felt was 'dragon business.' Those including the need for sacrificing elves and dwarves during this process and was kept from the elven and dwarven people.

In short, you have to be better allies. I told him already I heard those words from him and my spirit of cooperation is over. Like the Dragon's did with the Moon Blades, I am returning the books on mythic magic to you. Keeping the spirit of Jazzia's promise fulfilled."

Lord Regal looked at Jarronus and grumbled, "Why do you say the spirit of her promise?"

He sighed, "Because the promise was NOT to all dragons. It was a promise to the Silver Queen and Staria and not to Dragons as a whole. When they both died there was no known heir beyond that, you would not give that information up freely and we have no idea if any of her children actually survived or if a new royal line was established from a distant relation or just some sort of dragon pit fight.

I am not looking for an answer to that question as that is Dragon business I could care less about. I cannot claim to know how Dragon royalty is selected if the only surviving member of the line is killed.

I am actually taking it a step further than promised by giving it back to the Dragons, much like the return of our Moon Blades to our people but that was 7,000 years after the fact. I do not think you want us waiting another 6 millennia to return your books back to you.

The fact Jazzia had the ability to cast mythic and had the spells were known. By Majisa and the dragon who raised these 6. You probably knew it too if you fought with her during the returning Battle. It was no secret and Bahamut could have told you we had the books as well."

Jarronus thought, "Goddess. Have you or anyone heard from that human deity since the time of the return."

Jarronus heard back, "No, the island went up like the dwarven lands. He had a small following as it was. Before you ask, I can tell you the island finally sank like the forge island. In hours, not days, and became an active volcano."