Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 09

Mercian shook his head, "I was going to start looking and then I lost my mother. I wanted a few days of just hunting and ended up at the pointy end of a war. You grabbing your horse?"

She nodded, "I have it here at the palace. I will meet you out front."

Mercian mounted up and rode at a normal speed. She caught up with him, "Why didn't you wait for me?"

Mercian smiled, "Saving a couple of teleports, and getting my friend some exercise."

She nodded, "Fair enough."

They took off at double pace to the city gate and teleported to dragon lands. They rode up to the gates. The dragon looked at them, "Things are still a mess here."

Mercian nodded, "We need to see the council because it is about to get a lot messier."

He got on a crystal. He looked at Mercian, "You know the way. No guard required this time."

Mercian nodded. They traveled at like the wind speeds as they were the only horses inside dragon lands. They slowed as they got to the meeting room. They were still working to clean up the blood in that area. They had gotten rid of the bodies.

They rode into the center as the council flew in throwing rocks as they landed. The bronze took the center seat. There was a gold Dragon on the council. Mercian looked at him, "Your Majesty, the last report we got from you on our common enemy was they fractured along with types and races. Which one aligned with the drow?"

He looked at Mercian, "Shadow and black, Knight Champion."

Mercian nodded, "The drow have breached somewhere in the lands between our kingdoms. Which means we will have dragons showing up as well. We do not know where this breach or breaches are located. They sent a probing incursion force of several hundred. The drow champion is off the field.

This leads me to suspect a dragon champion or worse will emerge. We collectively need to know what is going on. Getting Dragon's Overwatch systems back online, including the Alliance Overwatch. I have the schematics to get it built if we have to go it alone. It will take more time than we have I suspect. Our King sent us back, Your Majesty."

He looked at Mercian, "You repelled this incursion, Knight Champion?"

Mercian nodded, "To a point, the Duchess that was overseeing the area did not drive them back underground. She did not pursue them. They also sent no casters. She gave them an appearance of weakness. The King replaced her, Your Majesty.

Right now, they are south of the trade road and west of the Keep. They effectively have control over that section of the woods. The new Duke is working on that issue. We have been tasked with finding the source."

He appeared to be in a conversation. He looked at Mercian, "We would like the system up first, Knight Champion."

Mercian looked at him, "Your Majesty, it is in our best interest to work on this together. As a sign of good faith, send a representative to the capital tomorrow. I will pull one of the two sets of uplink crystals. You will not know which set so all of the diamonds will need to be in place. Crystals to restore access to 8 of your 16 workstations. We will connect in 3 of the 6 Alliance workstations.

We would both be at half strength. If we are forced to build a system with the other uplink crystals then we have the option. You would have to agree to leave those diamonds alone as we would yours. We get our Alliance restored then we can give you the other crystals to bring the rest of your workstations and ours back online to full strength."

He talked with the others, "Agreed. It would bring our system online just weaker until we resolve the full Alliance. Your 3 workstations will connect in as a part of this until we resolve the problem, Knight Champion."

Mercian bowed to him, "I thank you for taking the time to address this urgent matter, Your Majesty."

He nodded, "Part of that alliance is reconnecting our banking systems. We will be looking to get some enchanting done as well, Knight Champion."

Mercian nodded, "I am sure agreements can be reached in those areas, Your Majesty. We have a lot of enchanters in the elven Kingdom who would enjoy the work. House Silvertree just signed on with all of our enchanters to get the Duchy forces on this new battlefield battle-ready. Once that is done you could negotiate with our patron on consignment work.

We have a distant relative discount which reduces the cost significantly. Majisa was a Silvertree and her children both before and after would be considered family. Same with Jazzia's offspring who had children and Amy if any neutral were involved. I hope they are faring better after their captivity. The direct connection is gone but not the distant relatives. We consider house Strong Oak a distant relative because of Eldar, Your Majesty."

He chuckled, "They are doing better, sickened by the experiments that happened. They lost some of theirs as well. You are a very different diplomat than last time, Knight Champion."

Mercian nodded, "Yes Your Majesty. Getting denied to see my relative, under constant guard coming in, and then kept in your force wall interrogation forcefield had a tendency to put us off on a bad footing. I knew something was wrong.

Then I saw 3 gold dragons sitting there, with Charlus's concern over Majisa's death I surmised the offspring she had with the necromancy ring got corrupted. My sword confirmed that as true. As did what you found in their experiments."

He nodded, "Very brave and some would say foolhardy in your approach but I think that is what caught them off guard, Knight Champion."

Mercian nodded, "Yes, Your Majesty. I wanted to get him to show his true color was red and not gold."

He nodded, "My paladin senses did not pick it up until they turned upon me. We did find non-detection items on the bodies. We will see you tomorrow, Knight Champion."

They bowed and rode out of there. Lucian looked at him, "Nice compromise."

Mercian nodded, "I had to get them to propose the idea first as I knew they would ask for it all. Something I would not agree too because of the mandate to get the Alliance together if at all possible. That would have lost us all leverage.

It will take an hour to sort out the crystals. At most. I really just need to install the crystals in our first three workstations and put those with the half of the crystals for their stations.

Then position the repeaters. Then all the diamonds for both networks. It cost us half a day but it was better for them to seem like they were getting what they wanted instead of us appearing too desperate. While keeping the completion of the Alliance as a priority for both of us."

She laughed, "You had this planned before you came?"

Mercian nodded, "I thought it would occur and formulated my response to the request in advance. Including making them come to us to get them."

She laughed and contacted the King and relayed the conversation. Needless to say, he was shocked they got a compromise that quickly. He laughed, "I want the 2 of you at the palace first thing in the morning."

Mercian nodded, "I will spend the evening in the underground shelter. I will come with the crystal in hand ready to seal our compromise, Your Majesty."

Mercian pulled the crystal for his house, "Need to speak with my patron again."

It took a couple of minutes and he came on, "Our enchanters are very happy about that work. I just finished talking with them."

Mercian smiled, "Expect another set of consignments coming in on the distant relative discount. This one you could probably do for a 130-150% of the cost. The Dragons mention a desire to get some item crafted if we get the Alliance back in place. We reached a tentative agreement to get half of the system up immediately. Close to it. They will have a delegation in the capital tomorrow."

He laughed, "I will wait to be contacted by them. We do have Silvertree family running through there for a few species."

He let the crystal go dark as they approached the gate and left dragon lands. He teleported them back to the city gate. He looked at her, "This is where we part ways." She nodded, "See you in the morning."

He pulled the crystal, "Deactivate."

He teleported in "Activate." Mercian looked around and everything looked in place. He walked over and opened the portal and went in and turned the walls and security up. "Seal portal."

He took Anama'Losgadh to the falls and brushed her down and then they ate together again. He thought, "One day I will find the right woman. No Lucian is not her. Too many secrets and she was willing to steal from me."

He heard back, "Her horse seemed to think highly of her."

Mercian nodded, "The horse is not married to her and has nothing she would want to steal. She also does not look at an Elven Warhorse the way I do. The way they all should do, as you are our allies and friends."

Mercian heard, "True on all counts, my friend."

He went through and pulled crystals and set aside the repeater he needed and got everything packed up for the morning. He went to his room and got a quiet night of sleep. He changed outfits and wore his house regalia visible.

He grabbed his horse, saddled her up, and they ate. He took the security down. "Open portal. Seal portal." He tried to teleport to test the blocker and it kept him in.

"Deactivate." He teleported, "Activate." He walked into the palace and the Guard Captain stopped him, "The fourth-floor conference room."

Mercian nodded and walked up and entered the room. He went to the War Room and laid out the designs for the crystal layout. The King arrived with a delegation of 5. A representative of each of the five on the council. They walked in and nodded.

The Silver seemed to the spokeswoman of the group. She smiled, "Hello champion. Last time I saw you came bursting into the shelter they had repurposed as our prison. I thank you for coming to our aid."

Mercian smiled, "As I have no names, I will refer to you as Ambassador for this meeting."

She nodded, "Fair enough what do you have in front of you?"

Mercian looked at her, "A map or the world. Showing the location of seventy-two crystals. They never took it to that. They did take it to 48 and each location is marked with coordinated with only minor changes in altitudes across the world. They must be relevant so it is worth noting.

Looks like eight are set slightly higher and eight slightly lower for each set of 24. I believe it helps with three-dimensional displays. This small bag has the link crystals for the 3 workstations crystals we need to connect. The crystals for 8 of your 16 base systems, the diamonds for the sky which are numbered.

Then one set of 6 uplink crystals. 3 up and 3 down. It should only take a few minutes to get your base system online. Our stations connect to it. This diagram shows which crystals go in which slot. We could have that part operational in hours. It would take a day or two to get all of the diamonds deployed and turning on the uplink.

He did make one change in the diamonds in that they are all of 20,000 gold piece value. I believe he has a hidden upgrade to the system. There is also a note that your covers for the panels would need to be adjusted as the base crystals are larger for the internal system. Again, alluding to some secret upgrade, Ambassador."

She looked at everything. "We would need to take these along with us."

Mercian nodded, "He made three copied of the documentation. One that would go into each base or eye of the Alliance Overwatch and one set for you."

She nodded. "The council was impressed with the two ways you addressed the council. You saw the confrontation on the first visit and returned in kind. A message from the bronze on the council. He preferred the second visit approach for both parties."

Mercian smiled, "I am sorry for the turmoil and loss of life from the attack, Ambassador."

She nodded, "We believe based upon the bodies that one rogue gold dragon is out there and this system could help us to locate them."

He nodded, "I will need two communication crystals for working with you. One for each location or eye. For now, one will work, Ambassador."

She set down two crystals. "I worked on the system with Charlus. When he came to visit. Very talented enchanter. A very giving man."

Mercian nodded, "We miss him as well, Ambassador."

She smiled at him, "I suppose that is the way to put it. We also gave the King your commendation and reward for what you did for us. No small task. Finishing off one gold is a tough task, let alone the King of the Gold dragons and his second brother. Then his 36th, but it was a sister that you got with the shelter security."

Mercian nodded, "I learned the strategies from what I read and was told of what occurred in previous dragon fights. I seem to absorb tactical fighting information. I have picked up a heightened sense of hearing and the focused strike other champions have had, Ambassador."

They packed up and rolled all of the plans up. She looked at him, "This has been a great start. It will take a few months to finish our Alliance agreement. Keeping your stations connected and our communication open is a part of that agreement."

She set down a third crystal. "That one is to me in case you need to contact us directly as we put this together. We will have the base system operation in a few hours and the crystal all deployed tomorrow. We are just as anxious to get our eyes back on the world."

Mercian nodded, "There was one thing we did not discuss and that was getting your people the access to draconic mythic magic back. That was specifically called out as something to do once the Alliance is back in place.

You will need a couple of scribes to go over these books to copy them all in a reasonable time. I have yet to ask the sword the location of the books. I hope your neutrals are doing better, Ambassador."

She nodded, "That is a part of the Alliance that needs to be updated is their level of involvement. It will be more than a simple non-aggression for them now. After their recent experience, they are wanting to be more actively involved. They lost 9 in the experiments. Significant given their numbers."

Mercian smiled, "There numbers on this plane; they do like to cross into certain ones, Ambassador."

She nodded, "True. You should decide on a name for me for our communication."

Mercian nodded, "Glimmer, as you are providing a very bright Glimmer of hope that this will work."

She nodded, "Very well, Glimmer it is."

They stepped out, grouped together, and teleported out. Mercian looked at King Goldeagle who sat there in awe, "They doing multiple hops, Your Majesty?"

King Goldeagle nodded, "Until we have an Alliance. Throne room now. You did rather well with them. Very concise."

Mercian bowed as he left. He closed the portal and walked down to the throne room as they were waiting on him. He walked to the line, "I sent Mercian as one of two ambassadors to the Dragon lands to try and get them back into the Alliance. What happened is something else altogether. He realized he was in the middle of a civil war.

He recognized the danger, planned an unorthodox escape for our other Ambassador. He then set about turning the tide, finding those captured and becoming 'their savior;' their words. Take a knee Champion."

He took a knee. He looked at Mercian, "Two medals here from the dragons for your extraordinary work. Including killing 3 of the rogue gold dragons including the former Gold Dragon King. Identifying the problem that caused them to go rogue. Then bringing a solution and helping them to save themselves.

The second is for diplomacy for both of your visits by bringing a solution to the problems. The monetary reward for this has been placed into your account. To make things even more interesting he went hunting and found drow instead.

Hundreds of them. He helped to draw them back and the new Duke over the area is making progress in pushing them back and out of his lands. I spoke with the Elder of Porzcosa.

He was extremely happy you saved his hunting party you were traveling with. Then again when you turned the force toward the Keep in Quatarsia. I have one for heroism and another for taking tactical leadership in the field to try and reduce casualties.

I hereby make you a count in my court for your work. I am also assigning you as the commander of the Alliance Overwatch system which your family owns but your efforts will lead to a restoration of it to service. Rise Count Silvertree. He handed Mercian new paperwork as he stood. Mercian handed him his old paperwork. The room gave a very loud round of applause.

Mercian looked at the King, "I could use a couple of people from the Kingdom Overwatch to help with the Alliance Overwatch as we bring it online, Your Majesty."

He nodded, "I will get you 4 to work with to start. A crystal to get into contact with me and one to get into contact with the Kingdom Overwatch. You may tend to your responsibilities Count Silvertree."

Mercian bowed to him and made his way out of the throne room.

Patron Silvertree stopped him, "I was told to give you this."

Mercian took it and cracked the seal on and sighed. He showed it to the patron. "12 billion gold pieces, the combined horde for the three I killed, in gold pieces as they don't hand out relics and such."

Mercian shook his head, "Follow me."

They went out saddled up and he took him to the bank. Mercian walked in, "I would like a new joint account opened with myself and my Patron. Move 3 billion into that account."

She looked at his account and nodded, "That was a massive deposit earlier today."

Mercian nodded, "Yes, I know."

They walked out. Mercian looked at him, "A million to everyone who got nothing from the trust, including those that married off or split into a new house, except for my Great uncles' family as they are gone from the kingdom if they followed the suggestions given to them.

Then 2 million to every member of House Silvertree currently only. With 4 million going to all the wives who married into the family. The 2 additional if you will for getting married. Two more for this bonus if you would. Let me know if you need more."

He chuckled, "What about what is left?"

Mercian looked at him, "Invest it into improvements for House Silvertree and to pay for security and maintenance."

He nodded, "Where are you going?"

Mercian sighed, "To work on the Alliance Overwatch."

---

Mercian spent the next 2 days in the Left Eye as Charlus referred to it. He traveled to the Dragon Kingdom to watch them install the relay crystal and they did a scan over the area and felt immediately sick. Mercian got his crystal to the King, "Your Majesty, I need you secure."

He sighed, "Just a moment."

He got to his side room. "You are operational?"

Mercian sighed, "That is the good news. Dwarven lands are infested. The area that looks like the throne room has no signs of dwarves who are not in necromancy rings. Unless they have moved off the dwarven people have been seized; at least their leadership. There are three overlapping shield domes over the plains.

From what we can tell each one is a breach and they incorporated features to block or heavily reduce the light going into them. There is a solution to that problem but that is dwarven explosives right in the middle of the three of them. Maybe fifty barrels in groups of 10-barrels. The dwarven shield is inactive.

That leads me to believe they got 2 different factions involved. One who knows how to build the shields and one who does not. We need to infiltrate dwarven lands and find out how bad it is. Our forces to the south appear to have them out of elven land but no telling what they got going on in those 3 drow surface villages.

I would like a strategy session. We should have representatives of our enchanters on the status of our defenses including the shield weapon, Duke Strong Oak, and our dragon allies who have yet to sign on to the Alliance but based on this picture they know something has to be done."