Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 07

They both nodded. She pointed, "Teleport him back and help him clean up his office. We will take care of this. He walked over to his trainer and wrote a quick note with the name of the whore house. He gave it to his Trainer on the way out."

Charlus looked at him as he teleported out and the Spy Master just smiled.

---

The Spy Master pointed, "Stern, tell me what you see."

Stern looked at the body, "Two sets of double strikes, necromancy on the ring and I am seeing the half-dragon. Shadow dragon. That could have been a nasty fight. He got lucky, Your Majesty."

The Spy Master looked over at him, "He is skilled Stern. You can say it. It is fair as those were precise strikes. If he had not had those glasses he would have been in deep trouble."

Queen Goldeagle sighed, "I should have waited for you 2 to arrive before sending him down. I don't like having to have a child in training killing this young. Yet we know he will do it when needed, and he kept it from escalating. I gave him those glasses after he correctly guessed I had been disenchanted.

Why I am wearing them again. Stern, part of being a Spy Master is reading things like this, and the threat Millium posed from the will reading. Monitoring the debt even if it is widespread. The legend Lore on the weapon was a good thought as well, as it is beyond what that house could afford. We will need to get a better idea as to who all is involved in this attempt."

---

Charlus used cantrips to clean up the floor and walls and then himself. The Guard Captain was satisfied. Charlus looked at him, "I never read the note. I have checked our glasses and corrected the problem. As the Queen said this event did not happen. Do not talk about it because they will be checking on you."

He nodded, "Thank you for saving my life and my job. I will work to be more careful. I never got a name."

Charlus nodded, "Because I am insignificant and in the background. I work for my trainer who works for the Queen. I am in training. You can see me as I am and not as how I appear to others. What did the note say to you?"

He looked at Charlus, "That you were to check my glasses address any problems and you would be working in her court today and not to interfere with you."

He nodded, "Then we should unseal the room and get out in the throne room and see if there are any other issues."

He undid the crystals and exited the room ahead of Charlus. Charlus stood near the stairs at the entrance and saw three dragons walk into the throne room from outside. He moved away and got on his crystal, "Your Majesty, I need you to get secure and drop both sets of shields for teleportation outside the city for 2 minutes. We have 3 very large uninvite guests. They are still together waiting for you. I can get them out of the palace. Then report to your Audience chamber, Your Majesty. If we hurry then I can do this."

Charlus heard the Spy Master, "You sure you can handle this?"

Charlus smiled, "I am the unassuming child."

He chuckled, "Good luck the shields are down."

Charlus signaled the Guard Captain to hold. He cast a feather fall on himself. Charlus walked behind the 3 of them without being noticed. Looked like they were getting ready to divide out. He used the still spell meta-magic ability enchanted into his secondary sword. He used a teleportation circle to the top of the volcano over the lava.

Those three dropped and he teleported back as his own legs had started to burn from the heat. He dropped to the ground in her office. They looked at him in shock. The Spy Master asked, "What did you do?"

Charlus looked at him, "I need to add another 50-100 feet when I drop someone in the dwarven volcano."

He just laid there. The Queen got on a crystal. His 'rival' Stern, because of his demeanor, started repairing his clothing. Stern shook his head.

The Queen's cleric arrived. He healed Charlus up. The Queen looked at him, "You came in here to check the boy for a sprained ankle but it works fine now."

The Cleric simply nodded and left as Charlus stood. She secured the room. "Three dragons sank into the lava in elven form. Only one had a chance to survive. A red, but he had gloves over any ring he was wearing. No time. The other two were black dragons. Possibly a shadow, but I am fairly certain they were black based on the horns."

The Queen looked at Charlus, "You could have been killed."

Charlus nodded, "I cast a feather-fall on myself where I was. I used a still spell enchanted into my secondary sword to quietly cast it. I had a false appearance up and the only one who 'knew' I was there was the Guard Captain. I am out of teleportation today unless you count objects, Your Majesty."

She picked up a crystal, "I am canceling court for today. I want the royal guard double and all officers to get glasses issued for tomorrow. Tell them I got pulled into an emergency meeting for the security of the Kingdom."

She turned back and looked at Charlus, "What do I do with you?"

Charlus looked down, "Your Majesty, I took care of both problems in the court with minimal risk of exposure and no loss of life, except theirs."

She sighed, "You are still in training. I should have sent Stern when he arrived."

Charlus looked at the Spy Master, "Everyone seems to be missing the bigger issue. Both sets of shields are set to block necromancy, this has caused some issues with personal gear not being rings but they put it into a bag of holding and they could get it through.

Non-detection items can also affect that, but 4 times at 2 entrance ways? It would not work for those rings hiding dragons or half-dragons consistently. How did dragons and half-dragons get through our defenses to get into the palace? Who hired them or brought them here, Your Majesty?"

The Spy Master looked at Stern, "Where would start?"

He looked at the Spy Master, "We figure out who and we might figure out how. We should check to see if the shields are working and who was working them. Then check bank records for major withdrawals or deposits. We do not know how long they have planned this infiltration for or if this was an attack."

He looked at Charlus, "Enigma, your thoughts?"

Charlus looked at him, "The establishment I gave you earlier should be checked into. Who works there and who owns it? This was a coordinated attack plan. There are so many Guard Captains.

This attack had to occur when a given Guard Captain was on duty and the others were not near. Middle of his shift; which is when this occurred. Then there is the Queen being disenchanted. Someone with access got close enough to her to disenchant her.

Again, as I told her already, she should also check her usual protection devices to make sure they all function properly. Proof against poison, disease, and mind control are 3, I can see being attacked in this matter.

I do not know what else she might have; I am not in the need to know what her defenses are. She may not have revealed to you that was why I was sent to the Guard Captain to check his glasses in the first place. We have who, what, when where, why, and how.

We know what, it was a coordinated attack against the Royal family, at least 2 of them thought the same actors could be in play. The when was today but when did the planning for this start as Stern alluded too is also a very good question.

We cannot answer that until we have prisoners to interrogate. We have some from the Silvertree will issue that started this morning and the Goldeagle House branch, we found records of their nefarious activity already. Interrogation should start there.

Checking the shields for the how would be good as Stern has alluded to. But we have to remember the rules for the shields. They go until they hit the ground. The island where the forge was had additional wards in place underground.

Some were placed with the dwarven Kingdom. I do not know if the additional wards were placed on them to deal with attacks from below after they moved locations. Something else to look at for our allies and not germane to this discussion.

Those wards worked with the shield to keep anything from coming in from underground. But those wards have never been built here as we have no underground tunnels that we are aware of in which to build them They would likely have the same issues as the shields in how long they would survive the creator's death.

What about the underground? Directly across on the other side of the world. Like opposite sides of an orange. From what I have read of the reports on the World Killer he could come up from the bottom by tunneling. The same can be said of the dwarven land.

Yet the World Killer never went after the Eternal Forge when it resided on the lost island. The wards likely kept it out if it was awake then. The sunken island likely still had those wards on as it was sealed until the return and the control were destroyed. That volcanic vent being destroyed and with ocean water being much cooler it would have made it a less desirable target if it had been awake.

Our one dead body could be divined, the objects from them on how they got into the area. That unusual sword divined and legend lore could bring some additional answers. Areas we can investigate; testing of the shield and bank records as Stern covered. Divination we have assets for. Interrogation by mental and non-mental means.

Those areas where we need the assistance of our allies are the Dragons intelligence network. Dwarven assessment for tunnels. Also, the dragons for a shield assessment. We find any, we can evaluate our options.

Remember it does not have to break the surface they could teleport up into the air. I have ideas for how to deal with those we find. There are also things we could enchant but those will take time, resources, and permission from the Queen because our Dragon allies would be upset if we built certain items.

I do not see where we have many choices for the level of information we are getting back. We have to expand our own capability. I would assume this is the smallest group we would have to talk about one other issue. My personal activities. Enchanting efforts and things I have built that you do not know about yet, any of you. Including you, Your Majesty."

The Queen looked at Charlus, "Any of these deal with draconic magic? Mythic Magic?!"

Charlus nodded, "Several do."

Queen Goldeagle sighed, "I was asked about draconic enchanting in this area by the Dragon Queen. They must have picked up on it. I should have thought to ask you about your experiments. What have you built?"

He looked at her, "Two rods of the draconic meta-magic expansion. It is 'the widen metamagic' on steroids as it will work on higher tier spells. Yes, I have that meta-magic and it is mythic. One is a planned gift to the Dragon Queen. I learned how to tap into that from the Draconic books.

Because of my memory, I was able to add it to my skill set. As did a couple of my siblings who are enchanters. They do not know how to enchant that into an object yet, they are still building up to mythic enchanting.

They both are holding open the spots to learn that. I told them after our letter of intent when we become adults. When we declare where we will be working, I would make that information available to them.

One of them is a female sister and if she goes to work for you and you authorize it then I will get her that knowledge. She knows that constraint but she is not old enough to work for you officially yet. She is focused on her master's certification in all areas of enchantment at the moment.

When she has it, she will evaluate Zirra and get her hers after all of these years. She is a very talented enchanter, just not Academy trained. I am also working on a few other items on a small scale that taps into mythic enchanting they would not want me creating, Your Majesty."

The Queen groaned, "First thing, Spy Master did you have anything to add to his list?"

He shook his head, "We should work on what leads we have, Your Majesty."

She pointed at Charlus, "He stays. I have to get a meeting together with Queen Majisa. He needs to be there for that meeting about his activities. His direct activity in this investigation is suspended until I deal with the fallout from our Dragon allies."

She unsealed her office and summoned her bodyguards. She waved Charlus on and he followed behind her. Stern actually smiled. Happy at seeing him in trouble with the Queen. Queen Goldeagle was on her crystal. She walked briskly with her guards ahead of them. She talked with the Dragon Queen Majisa. It was brief, "I need to see you now."

Followed by the order to lower teleportation and then to raise it in one minute. They got in the room and he dropped his alter-self. That surprised the Queen and he looked at her, "They would see me, Your Majesty."

She nodded as it was just the two of them and soon it was five. Charlus looked over and asked, "Queen Majisa are the two beside you, my uncles?"

She shook her head, "I take it you are a Silvertree?"

He nodded, "Yes, Your Majesty. I would request the two of them to leave and my two uncles, one of whom is a champion, come to this meeting."

She looked at the Queen Goldeagle, "You believe it is necessary?"

She looked at Charlus, "I would trust he has his reasons. I see no harm in it."

The Queen made the call and the two dragons switched out for two other new ones. She looked at Charlus, "You have a set of glasses at your age?"

Charlus nodded, "Yes, Your Majesty. I could have had Zirra craft me a pair but I figured the Queen would issue me a set when I needed them. Like today."

The Queen opened up her War Room and he stopped and pulled a few items out before walking inside. The Queen looked at him after she closed the portal.

She sighed, "Speak plainly in here to speed this along. Your source for draconic magical crafting."

Charlus shook his head, "One of them. I cannot be certain I am the only one. Likely picked up while I was at your training grounds. Would not have been picked up in the Silvertree home or other extradimensional spaces. I know of 4 in the Silvertree line who could craft certain Draconic items. Zirra for example and she has a couple of other students who are starting to learn it. My brother and sister who I alluded too."

The Queen nodded, "Fair enough."

The Dragon Queen looked at him, "What have you been crafting? You are so young."

He nodded, "I am also not a full up enchanter, unlike the other two. I am a battlemage in my arcane skills. I can do scrolls, wands, and wondrous items only."

He handed her one of the rods. "Reports I have read stated that this was used to expand a teleportation circle for moving the forge. It came from Dame Staria and was destroyed or lost when Jarronus was killed. I recreated two of these."

She looked at him wide-eyed. "You crafted this? How did you learn the given meta-magic? You are doing mythic enchanting?!"

Charlus looked at her, "Part of the message from my father that all of his children received was that we all needed to read the dragon tomes before they were destroyed.

All of the necromancy spells had been encrypted. I learned it from memory. I transcribed the method for unlocking that meta-magic for 2 of my enchanter siblings to read. They do not have the ability to enchant that into an item as of yet."

She looked at Charlus, "From memory?! From something you read after just entering the academy so over 20 years ago?!"

He nodded, "Yes."

She looked at Charlus, "How much do you remember of what you read?"

Charlus looked at her, "Everything. I will remember every word of this conversation."

She looked at Queen Goldeagle, "You were aware he could do this?"

The Queen smiled, "Brima went and checked with him and he told her he would not transcribe those books without divine direction. Did you have a divine direction?"

Charlus looked at her, "The short answer is yes. The long answer is more complex and I cannot go into it yet by divine direction."

Majisa looked at his uncle who was likely the champion. He shook his head. Charlus sighed, "I am assuming you are asking him if I am the new champion?"

She looked at Charlus, "You can hear psionic communication?"

Charlus shook his head, "It would be a logical course of action to take given my family name. I am Charlus Silvertree, by the way."

Majisa looked at him, "What else have you built?"

Charlus looked at her, "A small-scale version of something you would not want me to build."

Majisa looked at him, "Elaborate?"

Charlus sighed, "I adapted the draconic ability to track magic and narrowed it for picking up necromancy and necromantic auras. It does not have a very large range. The scale would work on a standard home like the Silvertree home but not the palace. It was a proof of concept to test my skills for building what we would need in the future."

He walked over to the table and laid out his drawings, "This is one design I have been working on for the Capital. We had four of those necromancy rings in the palace this morning. The guard having his glasses swapped on him. That is being investigated by others."

Majisa looked at it, "You are building a dragon sphere around a floating building."

Charlus nodded, "The building in question is at the Academy and in a state of disrepair. They have been debating on bringing it down or repairing. I would look to repair it and have it set to fly with a dragon sphere around it inside the palace district. No internal doors. Small enough that another teleport blocker can be used in the inside to keep them out. All entry coming in on this landing strip and the persons vetted before being brought inside the shield and again before being brought into the building."

She looked at it, "This is small in scope and focus. I am surprised but I understand your concern. No call came in for assistance."

Charlus nodded, "I killed all 4 of them. One was a half-dragon in the Guard Captains' office, a shadow dragon half-dragon. I was sent to check on the state of his glasses after finding out the Queen had been disenchanted at some point. Why she is wearing them again. The other 3 I got a two-minute window in the shields."

He pulled back so she could see the elven long swords, "Enchanted with the still-spell meta-magic for a few times a day, into it my off-hand weapon. I did a teleportation circle over the top of the volcano with the three of them. I cast feather-fall on myself before sneaking in behind them. Two black and a red dragon wearing those rings. Witnessed by the Guard Captain as we replaced his glasses before the 3 showed.

I signaled him to hold after getting the window in the shields to get them out. Then myself back but in need of medical assistance. First time doing that over a volcano, but I wanted to come in low enough that they stood no chance of escaping. In fact, those are the first 4 creatures I have ever killed."

Majisa looked at Queen Goldeagle, "What is a child doing in the palace?"

Charlus smiled, "Training."

Majisa looked at Queen Goldeagle again and Queen Goldeagle sighed, "He is in training with my Diplomatic Service."

She looked at Charlus, "How many languages do you speak."

He answered her as he used sub-draconic gold metallic, "Major languages or sub-dialects?"

She walked over and fell into a chair, "In common or elven how many major languages can you speak?"

Charlus looked at her, "Technically that is classified but it is significant."

Majisa looked at Queen Goldeagle who sighed, "Tell her."

Charlus looked over, "Fourteen languages and all sub-dialects of them counting common and the 3 languages of the Far East, 4 of the Far West as one because they are sub-dialects for the species."

She looked at Charlus, "You learn languages by the species and all of the subtle differences afterward?"