Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 08

The crystal to Base 1 came on, "Base 1 is secure. What do we do with the third human?"

He thought, "Turn him over to the dragons have one of them take him to dragon lands and one of the neutrals can see if he is a slave trader. I want one dragon and one elf kept in place there until I get there tomorrow. I will secure Base 1 and you can operate exclusively out of Base 2.

Have our dragon friends check for dragon wards while they are at it. Check that the equipment is working right. Check the Elven palace for necromancy. Queen's Audience chamber. All humans are barred from the bases until I vet them. I do mean all of them, I don't care if the human King wants in. The answer is no. I also want that scan over the human lands I asked for."

He heard a response, "Yes it appears to be working fine. We see a slew of them in the Palace. I see almost twice as many across the Human Kingdom."

He bagged up all the rings. The human on the floor started coming too. Charlus looked at him in a Far Eastern dialect, "Hanged Man Guild does not tolerate failure."

He looked up at Charlus, "Who in the fuck are you?"

Charlus looked at him, "The elf with no combat skills who you wanted to replace. The one who took you down without a weapon or a spell, so much for unmatched combat skills."

He stripped off his clothing and removed all the dragon wards he found, "Ok tiny. Now that nobody is listening in using your body. You might know me better as the stealth butcher."

He looked at Charlus, "Butchers. That is a human gang." Charlus sat down and ran through a dozen human images in front of him. He looked white and pissed on the Queen's floor."

She looked at her guards, "Get him out of here."

Charlus held up a hand, "Manacles so I can pull mine off. No sense in someone trying to disenchant them to watch his hands get crushed off. He will die quickly enough."

They put there's on and Charlus pulled his manacle off. Charlus watched as they left and cleaned the floor using magic to get rid of the prisoner's urine. She looked at Charlus, "Stealth butchers?"

He nodded, "There name, not mine. But it fits. I infiltrated and then killed 3,847 slavers and released 20,256 slaves in the Far East while I was there. They believed I was a 12 man gang, different appearances. I went in alone. Always alone. I got a few agents out there and brought 10 back who need training in language skills first, Your Majesty."

He pulled out another crystal, "White Crane. Are the winds favorable?"

He heard back, "Storm likely is 6 or 7 days."

Charlus groaned, "800 coins the going price?"

He heard back, "Closer to 2,000. Going fishing."

He put the crystal away. "He was worried about being spotted. He is in a small fishing boat in the region. Nighttime there. He will be fine, I hope."

He pulled a crystal, "Majisa you should have a prisoner from Base 1. I needed to know when you might be available for a risk briefing."

She sighed, "Tomorrow at the earliest, and they just brought the human in and gave us an update. There is more?"

Charlus smiled, "A few thousand if not a few hundred thousand."

She sighed, "I will be there in 5 minutes."

Finally, the guard from the front gate, his superior, and the one from the palace district and his superior arrived. He looked at them. "Do you remember me walking into the city today?"

They shook their heads and he switched forms and they nodded. He looked at them, "A simple detect magic or illusion should have picked me up. Let alone the half-dragon we took down in here when I arrived.

Your people have these glasses, they show up for a shift without the glasses they better return home and get them or start spending the money to have them recreated. They let me through into the palace district completely unchallenged.

Trust the Captain of the Guard. He got an earful because I stood right in front of him and took down a human commander before he could figure out what in the hell I was doing. I also ripped into the ones using Overwatch. The four of you are on duty until Overwatch tells you that the city is cleared. Six hours to sleep and eat. Pick! Before you ask, I am Commander Silvertree. What are you calling it now Alliance Monitoring Service?

I built the fucking thing for the Knights to use. I own it and I will name it. It is Alliance Overwatch."

The Queen nodded, "The Human King's input into it. He wanted one of the bases for humans to use."

Charlus nodded, "When I see him, I will let him know when he has casters talented enough to create the system, they can ask that it be named that. Until then they can stay the fuck out of my home, Your Majesty."

She chuckled, "Good to see you back. Not keeping a very low profile, are you?"

The guards were gone. Majisa walked in he secured the room and she came and hugged him. He looked at her. "Diamond thirty-four. Focus your activities there for the moment."

She thought, "That is a safe zone."

He shook his head. "They are close to finishing 2,000 naval vessels with several hundred half-dragons on each. No necromancy rings for you to track. They have been breeding the slave population like rabbits. Around diamond 54, 200 gold and bronze dragons should be able to sink a majority in two to three passes.

Use Dragon Riders and you can feed the Sahagian. I figure that is still 4,000 or so that would get through. Start scanning the human kingdom for necromancy. I had Alliance Overwatch do it and it is crawling. We need to get that fixed!"

She looked at Charlus, "They wanted their own doing that."

He held out the open bag, "From the guy wanting to replace me."

She sighed, "Will get them started. You at least came back with news."

The Queen chuckled, "Also a nickname. Stealth Butcher or Butchers."

Majisa's head snapped back and she stared at the Queen and then at Charlus, "That name has been circulating for the last 6-7 months. You? Just you?"

He nodded. She shook her head, "Wow! They fucking want you badly. Been killing the warlords' men."

Charlus laughed, "You mean slavers headed up by chromatics playing as warlords and his half-dragon and slaver buddies then yes."

She nodded. "Noted. Unchecked aggression and stealth are deadly."

Charlus looked at the Queen, "I dropped the non-detection going through the city, raising it only long enough to pass the barriers so I did not need to mess with my sword. Did you need to make an announcement today?"

She shook her head, "No I want you back at mid-day with the human King in attendance. He is going to get a piece of my mind when I box him in on the 'talent' he has put forth. Also, the dwarven King who wants to thank you for the rescue you pulled off. They are back into crafting mode. It took one of our casters to find that teleport blocker. Clever invention."

Charlus nodded. She unsealed the room and he teleported just himself to the palace gate and walked out. He pulled the crystal, "I am knocking."

The voice came back, "Feel free to enter."

Charlus teleported into the home. He looked at the guard, "Now you know who has that crystal." He nodded. Charlus stuck out a hand and opened the portal. He walked inside. He barely made it through the wall before getting mugged by mothers. Charlus pulled them back, "Wall up."

He looked at them, "Where is she?"

They pointed, "Your old room."

He nodded and went into his room and she smiled and cried. He sat beside her and hugged her.

He heard a sigh from across the way. He saw her mother Moyra and nodded to her, "Things are much worse in the world than we hoped for."

Trilia looked at Charlus, "How bad?"

Charlus looked at her, "The guy they wanted to replace me with had a thousand necromancer rings and was an officer in a slave trader company bad. The 2,000 ships they are building for a half-dragon invasion they are months away from launching bad.

Then the humans infiltrating Base 1 were half-dragon or slaver sympathizers bad. The human Kingdom is crawling with those rings bad. I was reinstated to oversee the system I built and also Overwatch. They lost all senior leadership in the Diplomatic service 6 months ago and no investigation was done into how that happened.

I entered the city in altered form and made it into the palace in front of the Guard Captain. Without being detected bad with my non-detection down except when going through barriers. I brought it down to see if they would see me. Impromptu security inspection. I have to be at the palace at midday tomorrow."

She nodded, "You give them hell."

Charlus kissed her hand. "I know you have been worried. To maintain cover, I could not be seen with communication crystals going off or going off in dangerous environments."

Her mother glared at Charlus, "She should not have to have been going through this alone."

Charlus stood up, "I asked her to come with me. She knew I had to leave to get a diplomatic assessment of what was going out in the human lands at some point. She decided to stay with my family. I did not lock her away. Do you want to know what I have been doing with unchecked aggression?"

She backed up as he walked toward her and down to the training dummies. Charlus spread them out. He did a series of flips and kicks. He twisted and turned back toward her with his dragon eyes and she stared at him with a sense of fear as he sheathed the swords. She looked at the 80 or so wooden blocks that had been training dummies a few seconds ago.

He was not even breathing hard. Charlus looked at her, "I did that in stealth infiltrating slave bases and killing guards in three provinces. Freeing slaves. That was killing over 3,800 slavers and freeing over 20,000 slaves. They have a force of 600,000 to 1,200,000 half-dragons coming in 6 months."

She held up her hands in surrender. She looked at him, "She told me she let you go do this. Said you needed to do it. From the sounds of it, you had your hands full."

Charlus nodded, "Yes, I have agents now in that part of the world and brought 10 humans back who got cornered and came close to being dragon chow. They are in Quatarsia. Humans with little knowledge of the languages. Duke Strong Oak is watching over them for me."

Charlus walked back into the room with Trilia and slid beside her and she held him.

She asked, "What did you show my mother?"

He looked at her, "You remember the last time I went off on training dummies? She nodded. He sighed, "About 20x worse leaving one-foot blocks is a third of the time."

She sighed, "Unchecked aggression."

He nodded, "Wanted in three provinces in the Far East. I am worth over 10 million gold pieces to the chromatics. They are looking for 12 humans. They called me the 'Stealth Butcher or Stealth butchers' gang as they had no idea as to numbers and the posters they had up for finding me were of 12 different humans, 9 of which looked like locals racially. I went in alone. They never heard a body scream for help and just found the pieces of it."

He went to sleep with his head on her shoulder and was at the falls for the first time in almost 2 years. He spun around onto a knee at lighting pace. He heard The Lady of Dreams as she sighed, "I am glad you made it back alive. With information to help the people."

He nodded. She sighed, "Not talking."

He sighed, "I have been running months with unchecked aggression. I worry I might say something that will get her killed. Not talking is the better option."

She sighed, "I know your mind is a scene of chaos and death. Unbridled rage. It was not what I wanted for the 2 of you."

He looked at her, "What did you want for the 2 of us? What were your thoughts when you told me she was an excellent choice for a wife?"

She sighed, "This was not what I wanted to talk about."

He simply nodded. She looked at Charlus, "I wanted to know when you plan on bringing the rings to the falls?"

He looked up at her, "I'm not, EVER, going back to the falls! I am leaving that to my wife when she gets back on her feet. If she gets back on her feet. I will take them to the forge as I said I would but my family would oversee this duty on the rings at the falls, not I.

I do not know how many more we will find as I just got back and found a 1,147 already. Not counting the 2,743 I brought back. It will take me days to get it back to the place it should still be in. If not months, given the deaths you have allowed to occur while I was away in the Diplomatic Service alone.

I need to work on an expansion of Lighthouse to deal with this incoming threat. Given our last encounter and the years of silence I figured it would be better to keep my distance; for the sake of my family. Not myself. You can strike me down if you wish, like a certain lich."

She sighed, "I am not the Lich that killed Astria and Brannar's brother to make you suffer like Eldar. I know your thoughts."

He glared at her and shouted, "Could you see where I MIGHT draw that comparison?!"

She nodded, "Yes. I have had several heated discussions over that comparison. Ever since the first time, it entered your mind. Then you focused on it every night. I would have tried to talk with you sooner but I did not want to distract you into losing focus."

He simply nodded again. She grabbed his chin and looked at him, "I will do what I can for her and your children. I know you will wait and see. Given our history, I know why you will wait and see. Talk with her about bringing another or two in. She will not talk to you about it because she is afraid of setting you off."

He sighed, "I do not want her to fear me. I just wanted us to have children together, to raise them together. To live something of a normal life while this chaos crashed and clashed around us.

I did not want her health at risk, or that of our unborn children. She knew about twins; she did not expect this. I did not expect this for her. You know my heart on this matter. If she is infertile any woman, I bring into our bed will be infertile, and I will never marry them.

I lose children from this and the ones that survive will be the only ones I have. You can stand your ground on this and so can I. We were promised that you would be hands-off in our affairs of the heart. You already said she will be infertile from this; I have next to no hope of having more children. Given your refusal of fixing what you took from her! You or Aerdrie Faenya, hard to tell where your hand ends in this conspiracy."

She groaned, "Spend time with your wife before you go to the palace. Do not rush away."

He simply nodded as his anger raged below the surface.

She knew what he was feeling but she had no idea as to where he might go with it. She hoped she could get his heart hooked to another fertile lover now that he was home.

Corellon Larethian had stopped speaking with her the day he left until she resolved this issue with the champion. He had also not spoken to the champion since that night.

She sent him away and Hanali Celanil appeared, "You can work to influence his heart. But not of those elves who are not his wives. That falls into my domain. Until my father tells me otherwise, I will not let other elven women fall into the trap you are holding his wife in.

Love and romance are my domains and she loves him. Vandria Gilmadrith backs my position after the loss of her champion by your actions or inactions. When death and fertility come about, she will deal with his grief and it will ensure you work to find another solution. Influencing his wife will only go so far.

She sees him grieving for years over your actions and that is not something you can stop as she has not released that to you. That leaves you with trying to get human wives into his bed in your scheming plot. Fighting their deities over those actions unless they are unaffiliated."

She glared at the goddess, "Why are you conspiring against me?!"

Hanali Celanil shook her head, "We are conspiring to get you to admit your mistakes with the champion and come to a real resolution. You were given abilities to support many of the Gods going back to before Eldar. You crossed a line with your argument with Aerdrie Faenya.

The others know this and a few still support you. But not those that deal with love, fertility, and grief. You want our support? Like my father, this is your mess to clean up. Come to an agreement we can support.

Use your own domains and within the restrictions you have. If you are going to use trickery and guile, then you will have to earn it without the support of our domains to do it." She disappeared leaving the Lady of Dreams fuming.

---

Charlus awoke next to her and her mother sitting there and stared at them.

Charlus looked at her, "Did she talk with you about what set this whole road of chaos into motion?"

She nodded, "She said you had words with the Lady of Dreams."

Charlus nodded, "Did she go into detail?"

She shook her head, "No, she refused to elaborate other than you had words with her."

Charlus looked at her, "I expressed my concern, very vocally, about your daughter and our children in regards to all of their survival. This was not about me but my love for her. She knew I was crushed about the concern she was feeling. It made me feel like I had purposefully hurt her by getting her into my bed."

She looked at Charlus, "Her having 4 was a plan of the gods?"

Charlus smiled, "They would not confirm any detail of the 'plan' if there was a plan. I don't even know if Aerdrie Faenya is involved in this or not. I have refused to ask that question directly. Instead, I get nothing. Accept it and move on. I flat out told the Lady of Dreams if she did not answer I would just assume the worst of her."

She sighed, "I do not know how I would have reacted to that. Alright, I will leave you 2 alone but I am in the next room. Before you go come and get me."

Charlus nodded to her, "Is she allowed into the shower?"

She shook her head, "Not recommended."

Charlus nodded, "Then I will not even pursue that."

She nodded, "I have a better understanding of your actions now. While you were out, I spoke with the Queen. She told me about what you did in court. Bringing it to a halt.

She said you were a force of nature snapping one man's neck over your shoulder and showing him for the half-dragon he was. She said you were careful not to draw a weapon. I told her what you did to the training dummies. You know what she said?"

Charlus shrugged, "They need help in the royal kitchen?"

She laughed, "No she said you needed to get laid."

Charlus sighed and looked at his wife, "We see where that got me. Got us."

She stood, "Stop beating yourself up about that, be here for her, and listen to her."

Charlus nodded and held Trilia to him. Her mother left and Trilia looked over, "You handled that more tactfully."

Charlus nodded, "The Lady of Dreams contacted me last night. First time since I left. The Lady of Dreams said you were scared of me. Scared I would go off on you for expressing your thoughts on other wives.

I will listen on that matter once we know where things stand. I am not saying I will change my mind, but I will keep an open mind to what you have to say."

She smiled and nodded, "Thank you. More civil conversation?"

Charlus shrugged, "I did not get called out for being nearly blasphemous so that is an improvement. I did tell her that she could strike me down if she wished. Over my thoughts of comparing her to a certain lich in Eldar's time."

She sighed, "You are pushing her, please be careful. You need a shower."

Charlus smiled, "You need to stay in bed. Agreed?"

She nodded. He got up and stripped down.

Charlus walked into the shower and washed up. He walked over and pulled out clean clothes suitable for the court from his dresser and got dressed over his armor for a change.

He looked at her and sat next to her, "I love you with all my being. Not just my head or my heart. That is why it pains me so much to see this happening to you. She told me 'I will do what I can for her and your children.' She and I know that I am taking a wait and see attitude. Right now, I do not trust her and she knows it."