Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 09

Mercian switched out to himself, "I will prove it to you."

She looked at him, "An elf?"

He nodded, "Mercian Silvertree as in the one who can access the Eternal Forge."

She looked less alarmed. "Why did we get shut out of the forge?"

He sighed, "Divine direction to Charlus who died, was not me who turned it off. But I can now access it. The forge was to be used in a spirit of cooperation. When the Alliance fell apart the forge was stored.

It takes a member from each of the races to be restarted. Three master craftsmen and a royal dragon. We have the dragons back. That is when we found this. Left Eye, Workstation one in paragons home monitor. Workstation two display throne room. Workstation three display forge." He pulled out the display and cycled through, "The forge area." She nodded, her beard bouncing up and down. Mercian went to the next one. "Your home." She nodded, "Throne room."

She looked at him, "What are all the yellow symbols?"

Mercian looked at her, "Those necromancy rings we destroyed. They are being worn by everyone in the room and one near the forge. A few others are floating around but the 12 in that room control everything."

She sighed, "Explains some of the stuff going on. You 2 wait in the bedroom. He will be home soon. One of the guards has been escorting him home. Some attack occurred last week they are on guard or alert about."

Mercian got contacted, "Necromantic ring moving your way Commander."

He sighed, "Off communications." He pulled up the display for the area and moved to the bedroom. He heard the door close but the signature remained, she talked with her husband. He dimension doored out and cut off the hand with the ring and crystal in it.

She looked at Mercian, "Deceiver!"

The paragon shouted, "No, that fucking ring had my mind!"

Mercian looked at her, "I can get him to a healer to get his hand back. His life is too important to deceive you."

He looked at Mercian, "That thing will only activate if I have the ring on."

He nodded, "Tell them an elf has come to unlock the forge and they need your help. Find out what he wants you to do." He cupped his severed hand with the crystal in it. He spoke into, "An elf showed up at my home. Said he could get me into the forge. He is waiting just outside. Should I go?"

He heard chuckling, "Yes let him get the forge for us. I will send a few to meet you."

Mercian nodded and teleported them outside the forge, took them inside, and into a side room. He opened the portal area and watched the display, "Deactivate blades."

The blades shut off. "Into the side room." They moved in. "Seal side portal, Set portal access to include the paragon. Turn off gas and drop security wall."

Mercian turned on a teleport blocker, "Raise wall."

He was inside with the forge. He watched the four of them walk down and then enter the outer room. Mercian turned to face the force field, "Lower force field."

Mercian heard banging. He turned. "Activate entry security wards! Activate blades!" The one who held back was getting shocked to death by necromancy wards. While the bodies exploded into fluids in the blade trap and out through the open portal. "Raise forcefield. Lower security wall."

He saw the flames of the breath weapon which helped to clear up a line of fire. Mercian smiled, "Thankfully All those bodies blocked your bad breath off."

He went to talk, "Insolent..."

Mercian fired a hand crossbow into his mouth and the miniature shield went off. He shook in pain and then it cut through his body leaving a nearly perfect cone around his neck. Mercian removed the teleport blocker and made his way through the muck.

"Activate all forge security. Open side portal. Remove all portal access." The dwarf looked at all the blood and the dead dragon. Mercian nodded, "That got rid of 4."

He nodded, "Open the outer portal."

There were six dwarves out there. Mercian looked at them, "Stand down. I got your paragon safe." Two tried to push their way through. Mercian brought the paragon, his wife, and the contact out. Mercian looked at them, "You have a dragon problem. Big red ones. Including at least 8 in your throne room."

He looked at the paragon who nodded, "They put one of those fucking rings on me last week! He had to cut off my hand to keep me from killing myself to free the beast."

Mercian looked at them. He pulled out the display, "Your throne room. Those symbols. Seven at the moment; one is on the move. We need to get him out of here."

They nodded, "To where?"

Mercian smiled. "Seal all ports except to the blade wielder." He looked at them, "Gather," Mercian teleported them to the edge of the Capital. He pulled a crystal, "Left Eye, inform the King the first package, wife, agent, and six guards were pulled from the mountain. We are at the main gate, the paragon needs medical treatment, regeneration."

Mercian looked at the guard, "Treat them as guests of House Silvertree if not the King."

Mercian showed him his papers and the guard nodded at him, "Yes Count Silvertree."

Mercian sighed, "Left Eye how many in the throne room?"

He heard back, "Six one looks to be heading for the paragon's house and one to the forge."

He nodded, "Heading to the throne room. Let the King know if he wants assault teams for the other 2 isolated ones he can try. Try to cut off the hands, paralyzes them if they can to save them."

He drew the two hand crossbows. He teleported some ways down the hall while both hidden and invisible using the coordinates he had he looked in and saw the King walking around talking on a crystal. He could hear the talk of fighting. Mercian fired the two bolts into the far wall. He heard those in the room screaming.

Mercian sheathed the crossbows and ran forward, "Varus'Nor Left-hand moon fire on."

Mercian got to the King and cut his hand off as he grabbed his ax. He tossed him back down the hall and got two more that were shaking on the ground. Mercian severed their hands and brought them out. One of the dragons went to revert. Mercian rolled back out and sheathed his swords, "GATHER!" He drew and fired two more bolts into the room and took them out of range.

Mercian teleported them to the main gate and started healing them up. The Dwarven King looked at Mercian, "30 years with that thing in my mind. I fucking hate dragons!"

Mercian looked at him, "Chromatics. We would not have known of your situation without getting the metallics back in the Alliance, Your Majesty."

Mercian took him through the gate and pulled a crystal, "Your Majesty, you ready for that royal briefing."

He heard him sigh, "Yes, I am."

He got them all gathered, "Clerics ever show tell them to see the Guard Captain at the palace. Mercian teleported the lot of them to the palace gate and they walked through. He took them into the fourth floor and into the War room, he pulled out a crystal, "Left Eye, status?"

They heard him sigh, "We saved one, we lost the second 6 man team assault force. The one near the paragons home."

He sighed, "Royal recovered and the paragon. What does the throne room look like? He sighed, "I am still seeing six but they are not moving."

Mercian nodded, "Severed hands, rings pulled off, or on dead bodies." He pulled out the display "Workstation 3 give me a twenty-foot depth scan from the top down." The King watched the scan, "Seeing a new signature on paragon level. IS that correct workstation one?"

He heard a sigh, "He probably put on another ring. He is headed to the throne room, Mercian looked at them as the King walked in, "The last one that we know of?"

He heard, "Yes that we can see. A scan of the mountain shows only one."

Mercian stepped out, "I got one red left."

Mercian teleported away twice and then back up to the throne room. He used the cavern again. He stored the rings in the room. He saw him coming up the ramp. He threw a force web.

He locked up the dwarf and three guards behind him. He dimension doored over them as another twelve came running up. Mercian teleported them back into the throne room and killed the one with the dragon in it. He waited for the guard and looked at them, "Your King is safe and with my King. Up here. He walked over to the dead dragons in the room. They looked at their guys webbed and one dead. They pointed, "Why did you kill him?"

He pointed, "Ring right hand take it off, go into the hall, and put it on." He did it and came back and threw it down.

Mercian grabbed the ring. "Your King said he had been trapped by a ring holding a red for 30 years. It waited for someone to kill the King and then surprise. Dragon. Half of you sheath your weapons. I have six guards with him and your paragon. A few more will not hurt." They nodded.

Mercian took three all the way back to the fourth-floor jumping but staying above ground. "Your throne room is a mess but guards have it secured. I got the last one before he could get the ring off. Dragon is now mindless in that ring, Your Majesty."

King Fireaxe growled out, "GOOD!"

Mercian looked at him, "Mercian Silvertree, your access to the eternal forge once we have you and the humans back on board to activate it."

Mercian let the King run through what they had, what was out there, and what they needed. King Fireaxe shook his head, "I was fucking giving orders to send sappers into the deep roads. I do not think we have any left."

Mercian shook his head, "You mean trained at the moment. You would not lose that secret that easily."

He nodded, "No trainer so it will be a few generations before we have a competent lot. Thank you for coming to get me. Do you know how my forge got shut off?"

Mercian nodded, "Divine direction to Charlus. OUR forge was meant for ALL in the Alliance. When you dropped, that meant the forge needed to be shut down. That is why it takes four to start the forge. I got in there with the paragon today. It is secured. Four dead dragons inside their but secure, Your Majesty."

He nodded his unhappiness but understood. Mercian looked at the King, "Your Majesty, I had them direct clerics to you Guard Captain. We want them to get back to having two workable hands. We should get started on that."

He pulled a crystal, "Any clerics show?"

The Guard Captain responded, "I have 6 here, Your Majesty."

The King called out, "If they have regeneration send them to the fourth floor. Else send them back."

The guard looked, "Three are on their way up."

Mercian went to the door and showed them back after securing the display. They did their casting. One of them asked, "Who cut off all of these hands?"

Mercian smiled, "That would be me. Caught them trying to lift up on the gown of the Lady of Dreams and we could not have that."

One of the other's looked at Mercian, "Why would they do that?"

Mercian chuckled, "Probably checking her for a beard."

The dwarves laughed. The King looked at Mercian, "She is not likely to care for that joke."

Mercian looked at the King, "I would think a cleric should not be that gullible enough to ask the question as though it were the real reason."

He tossed necromancy rings on the table. One still on a hand. They looked at them and nodded.

Mercian sighed, "I would have given you the hand, but could not tell you which one the hand belonged to."

The King shook his head, "Not mine."

The Paragon nodded, "Mine."

Mercian looked at the King, "I am heading to the Alliance Overwatch to get some sleep, Your Majesty."

He called out, "Deactivate." Teleported. "Activate" He brought the security down on Right Eye. "How are things with the drow?"

The lady looked at him, "No change commander. Like they are waiting for something."

Mercian went back over to Left Eye after securing Right Eye. Mercian walked back, "Good work today. All security on."

Mercian walked back and fed his horse, "Sorry for all the alone time, I had to go save dwarves today. Oats and an apple."

She thought back to him, "We need to go riding soon. This is nice but I would like to stretch my legs."

Mercian nodded, "We will work on that."

Mercian went back to his room and activated a crystal, "Hello Glimmer."

Mercian heard her sigh, "Your King just updated us. It sounds like you were busy."

Mercian nodded, "Yes. I wanted to ask about the guys tunneling toward you. Did you decide on a plan?"

Mercian heard Glimmer groan, "I would like to say dragon business but the fact is the council is still trying to decide. They are getting closer. They will have to do something in the next few days."

Mercian looked at the crystal, "Let them know the dwarves sent all sappers into the deep roads. If they captured one and compelled him, they could be through a lot sooner."

She groaned, "Is it true?"

Mercian sighed, "The fact they were sent? Yes. The rest is speculation. But it is champion speculation. The drow appeared to be waiting for something."

She groaned, "I will inform them. Thank you for checking in."

---

Glimmer walked into the council chamber and bowed, "You got the report from the King. Some things from Mercian did not get passed along. All of the dwarven sappers were sent into the deep roads. They could have sapper explosives in those tunnels.

They said the drow appeared to be waiting for something. I did not mention the eclipse but they likely know it is coming and with a rogue Gold, black, and shadow dragons likely to be involved. That eclipse would seem to be an important thing to mention soon, Your Majesty."

A Silver was in the position to head the Council today, they had set it to rotate among the five metallics instead of leaving it under one. This Silver King looked at her, "We would be speculating about the eclipse and the champion would be speculating about explosives."

Glimmer sighed, "As a distant relative of the last dragon champion and the one who served the longest among our kind, Champions speculate. They are typically spot on with their speculations. The decision of the council I will follow, but to ignore a known champion that helped to free us and uncovered what is going on in our own Kingdom would seem unwise, your Majesty."

He looked at Glimmer, "When Bahumut gives us a champion on the subject we will listen more astutely. He has been rewarded for his efforts in freeing us. The Alliance is back in place but we have no definitive information to pass along on dates or our plans at this point.

Until we do, it is not up for discussion on hypotheticals. We will consider the warning you obtained for us and work to come to a decision sooner on moving the Kingdom and or attacking those tunnels. You are free to go."

Glimmer bowed and left the room. The new Gold King looked over and he was one of Majisa's first children after the return, "I think we will have to do both and soon. We need to finish the building inspections to ensure nothing was damaged by the rogue elements we had in power first. Then we can make an informed decision."

---

Mercian laid back and went to sleep. He was at the falls and groaned. Mercian took a knee and waited and it was Corellon Larethian. He looked at Mercian, "Have been having words with the dwarven god on why he cannot get a competent champion on the field. Was one of the ones killed in the throne room. The King was right, she did not like that joke. The Dwarven god, on the other hand, was laughing his ass off. Except for the joke in bad taste, you did excellent work."

Mercian nodded, "I figured she would have put a viable candidate in front of me by now. I have seen none."

He smiled, "You have, you have just dismissed them."

Mercian shook his head, "There has been Lucian and the girl next door in Right-eye who will not even give me her name and worked with the King against me. Not viable. The most viable mate I have seen is not elven, but Glimmer."

He nodded, "Glimmer has a mate and breeding with dragons is not something I am foreseeing in your future. I told her you needed to get laid. She agreed."

Mercian smiled, "She said married."

Corellon smiled, "Yes, to a few."

Mercian sighed, "We make quite the pair. I have no time to start a family with all the chaos going on right now. I could not even go hunting for a couple of days. She is off planning a wedding with a wife to be decided later. Or WIVES if it were her choice."

He chuckled, "You can find the time if you were not so determined to do it all yourself."

Mercian nodded, "You are saying leave the drow to Strong Oak and the military to run off and get laid? Then our King who keeps failing to listen to me or only takes measured steps."

He laughed, "I would not put it that way, but you can find a way if you try."

Mercian shook his head, "All I am doing is trying the Lady of Dreams and the King's patience. I was so fucking pissed to be excluded me out of the mission. To the point, he had Right Eye working on the mission while telling them to tell me nothing. What happened to it 'being my system?'"

He nodded, "That is a point of discussion. Bahamut has put a champion on the field. I do not know who but he felt one was needed. They have not announced their presence as of yet. They will soon."

Mercian nodded, "What of the humans?"

He looked at Mercian, "They are working through their own issues. Getting them back is secondary to the Drow."

Mercian looked at him, "Is the drow secondary to getting laid?"

Corellon laughed, "Start your day champion."

---

Mercian woke, showered, and changed clothes. He contacted the King, "Your Majesty, I have a hunting trip that I have been putting off."

He sighed, "I can get another caster to take the King and his group back."

Mercian shook his head, "I could return them but I would like to take some time to try some hunting."

He responded, "Go hunting, this we can handle."

The crystal went dead. Mercian prayed and got all of his spells back.

---

A young Bronze Dragon walked into the council chambers. He bowed to the Kings and the Copper was sitting in the center seat today, "Your Majesties, Bahamut spoke with me last night and has made me his champion on the field for the upcoming battle."

He lowered his divine non-detection to show his amulet and aura so the Kings could all see it. He then turned it back on.

He looked over, "He advised that I tell you to handle those tunnels and soon. He would prefer if we stayed closer to our allies and not move off hundreds of miles to put distance between us and them. I obviously would have no way of knowing that discussion without him. The choice as always falls to you but his opinion should be strongly considered.

However, as you stated yesterday to the one the elves call Glimmer, you wanted a champion to confirm his ideas and my thoughts on what you are looking at doing. I have come before you to make that known. The elven champion will know I am around but will not know who I am until the conflict starts.

The Dwarves are also working to get a competent champion onto the field after our elven allies rescued their King. The only reason the previous champion, who was killed by the elven champion, did not explode is because he stripped that champion of powers to save the dwarven lands from destruction.

When that champion was captured with a necromancy ring on him, he knew it would likely happen in the future. Flying our capital should be a last-ditch effort to save our people and not a first-line strategy. We can deal with the tunnels and will likely have an opposing dragon champion in this fight. Something our kind should be dealing with."

The Copper looked over at the others, "We will consider your words in closed session. Thank you for making this known."

The Bronze Dragon Champion left and the Bronze King chuckled, "We asked for a champion to guide us and we got one. One of mine for a change. I think we should listen for a change. He made no mention of the eclipse. I think that is a test of this council, like previous champions.