Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 11

Monnius shook his head and pointed at the wife. Nova thought, "Any idea what ripped her apart?"

He pointed at the King, "His hands and mouth are covered in blood."

They searched the place just in case.

Nova looked over the babies with the detect magical auras she had. "Cast dispel magic on the children. Repeatedly! I will let you know when they are all gone. Get more casters just in case. There are a lot of them!"

Monnius did as well until all of the magic on the children were gone, they had brought in 6 other casters. Nova walked over to the 'King' who was still asleep. She pulled a boot dagger and stripped him down and then put his pants on. She started cutting on his chest. She stopped when she found the unholy symbol on his chest. "He is a champion."

The King looked up and cackled, "Cannot kill me without destroying half the Capital."

Nova went through his mind and was not gentile.

He whispered, "Psion!"

Nova nodded. She looked at them, "The children were to be his last payment to bring the demons here to kill all of the elves. Then work to rule this world as a new Demon Lord until it dies. They wanted the draconic books from my family as well. I know the name of his Demon Lord but I am not saying it.

He was one sick fuck but I took it all from him and encrypted it all to keep it from any students I work with. He used the gold from the bank as a part of that payment. He destroyed all the records and sacrificed all of the people who managed the accounts. You did not destroy the eleven Gods or my ability to pull the information from your head.

The good news is the gold elves, including your house, pulled all of their money from the bank. The royal treasury was over 800 billion and we know we cannot get that back. Most of the others totaled out to around 20 billion. Double that to 40 billion for what he has ripped off them.

Then and another 10 billion from fines associated with. Every major gold house Patron was complicit in persecuting the moon-elf people and killing off Psions. Their accounts are over 200 billion. It will be a start while you pull 75% of the assets to the royal treasury. We can restore all of the house finances for the non-gold elves."

Nova picked him up, "We cleared all of the runes and hexes off of the children. They will not be sacrificed today. In fact, they will not leave this shelter until after you are dead."

He screamed, "NOOOO!"

She looked at Goldeagle, "He was hoping to become a Demon Lord. Now he's just going to spend his days getting ass fucked by one and become some sort of demonic maggot. Fitting for what he has done.

They did send a succubus but she got fucked by a bunch of wards at Overwatch. Apparently, they wanted me to let the King out to complete his ritual. She tried to get into my head and failed."

Goldeagle shook his head, "No we will get all the lower houses up to a total of a 100 billion."

Nova shook her head, "You are asking for more corruption."

He sighed, "50 billion for all of them."

She nodded, "I have the numbers and can write them out. 40 billion and the rest of the fine goes to the royal treasury. More reasonable. We need to get royal arrest warrants for the 47 gold-elf house Patrons. Pass judgment on them."

He looked at Nova, "We are going to strip out a lot of their high-end gear as well. What do I do with the army?"

Nova smiled, "Deal with these 47 houses first. Also, get me healed up from that disintegration."

He sighed, "I will send a patrol to each of their houses to inform them that the Patron and heir to the house need to come to the Palace to swear fealty to the new King. I want Psions here to go through their minds. Get the General to send patrols through the Palace with clerics to clear any wards or sigils of an evil nature."

Nova nodded, "He can get them."

They walked out and picked up the teleport blocker and called the portal, She took them up the Keep. She walked him down to the vaults, "Open all vaults!"

The former King stared at everything with his mouth open.

She looked at him, "We got the Moon, Wood, and Snow elves covered easily enough regardless of the fines. The numbers for the gold elves were current as of two weeks ago when he closed the bank because of a 'specific threat' from Dark Nova. The gold elf houses were given 3 days to get their funds withdrawn.

No other houses were warned of the closing as he worked to keep them loyal. The number from the others come from ledgers a hundred years ago before he started fucking them over. You should know the first one he sacrificed was thrown from a cliff while rock climbing while smashing his head in."

Monnius looked at Nova, "The previous King? His brother?!"

Nova nodded, "His first payment to rise in power. He smashed in his head personally and tossed him off the side of a cliff in the name of his demon master. To become his champion on the throne. He was of course at home at the time with his first wife as an alibi.

She died 10 years later with all of her children as part of another sacrifice to his Demonic Lord. He married the new Queen, the one the King was going to marry and had those 2 children with her finally. He just used her ass most of the time. They were to be his final sacrifice to bring his master here, to complete his transition.

Not counting the King's security detail. Which includes one of our gold-elf guards in holding. They had plans to sacrifice all of the prisoners in the dungeons. Instead, he took out his own house which he planned to do anyway; except for you and your children which frustrated him in not being able to get to you, but you were not a dealbreaker.

Those children to his wife who he married under this demonic Lord's gaze was another matter. He has been on the lookout for a champion since that day he killed the former King. He was monitoring all blade wielder homes, especially Silvertree. He was expecting a Psion which is why he singled them out for persecution.

He dismissed me as a candidate after my commendations started coming in for my sword work. Confirming I was a duelist, a talented one from his spy in the army during the war. He figured I was dead when I did not act against him and the other champion exploded. Or it could have been a misdirection of the gods, as nobody he questioned could confirm I was a champion.

Not until I got the blades back. That Army spy was sacrificed for his failure to identify me. Correct or not, he did not care. Also, what happened to the consorts and any children they produced. Sacrifices. He was thrilled to death when he could kill the mother and baby during childbirth. Then consume them.

He was sacrificing his own guards to bide time for the portal to be opened. His wife knew who he worshiped and she figured as long as the portal remained closed, the children were safe.

He killed her in the name of the demon, devouring her raw flesh. He then spent the time to place all of those wards on the children. In order to ensure they were sacrificed as soon as they were on the material plane. He disintegrated the nanny."

Nova sent the portal down to the throne room, "General need you, the blade wielders, and any House Silvertree members left there. Ask Janella to go to House Silvertree get my Patron and the other blade wielder."

The general chuckled, "Need me to wipe your ass too?"

Nova laughed, "Our new King is saving that task for you; to do his ass. You do have clean up this royal mess. You know the Army gets the shitty end of the deal."

The general laughed. He called out, "All in."

Epilogue

Charlus returned that night to talk her into reconsidering finding love. She dismissed him and his concerns. She reminded him of his own sworn oath and longevity for holding a grudge in a matter. He finally realized she was way smarter in turning her knowledge of him against him in this discussion and he agreed to drop the issue.

The next 3 days were taxing as they went through the minds of Elders. They recovered 500 billion in hidden assets and another 6 billion in gear. The psionic weapons and items were given to elders of 7 small Psion enclaves.

They were happy to have not just one but two Psions as blade wielders. They were thrilled to be paid 100,000 gold pieces for each telepath who worked on finding hidden assets. She also released all of the Elven War Horses in the Champion pasture out to the main herd.

Most major gold-elf houses were stripped down to those 300 years and younger. Some down to a 100 and below. Now they would need an exception for the next war. The King had already forewarned, "Fuck away because no exception would be allowed for them."

The Goldeagle assets took the richest house in the Kingdom down to 20-billion in personal assets. Still the richest single house in the Kingdom. The former King was executed by the champion 7 days later after identifying where the next invasion force would be coming in from.

She used the portal as the execution room and had it shown live; fulfilling the promise to resistance leaders. She took it to a hundred feet above the forming horde and sent the King's body down before returning back. The blast showing on the display followed by two other champions being destroyed.

The Army was sent to expand another 40 miles south and west. There was only one human village in the area in the crux of two converging mountain ranges. The champion and two other blade wielders went with a group of battlemages.

The group started getting mentally probed. She blocked the attempts on the mages. She called in the portal and got the mages out of the area. The three continued forward into the village proper. Village leaders met them at the border. Hundreds of attempts of mental probing came but were blocked. Finally, it stopped when they realized it was futile. Their leader called out, "Leave or else."

She sent out a broadcast message, "This is not what Sanity wanted you doing with your gifts."

She then sent her first encounter and his farewell message to the entire group. They were taken aback by the revelation that they were facing a superior force in just the champion. She showed them a mental image of the flying keep as well as the advancing army.

She broadcasted a message, "You can go beyond where we are stopping. You can stay and live under the elven King. This army will not be turning back for a group of 532 Psions out of a village of 5,207. That number includes the unborn your women are carrying. The last several wars have been costly in lives.

That pass will save thousands of lives by simply controlling it. Something you are unable or unwilling to do. We have humans in other parts of our kingdom who live by these rules. The first is to stay out of elven minds unless given permission first."

She sent them information on the council and the King. Showed them images of three small human villages within elven lands. Several weeks of discussions occurred. 3,143 non-Psions went in search of a new village. The 'peace' with the village lasted less than 50 years.

A 'human Psion' resistance formed. Nova was sent in to deal with it. They refused to turn over the resistance members. She scanned them in mass and got the names of the 7. She sent them the images of the former King and what he sacrificed to try and become a demon.

She thought out to them, "Stopped by a Psion. The same will happen today."

Nova called out, "The village is ordered to turn them over for execution for the deaths of 4 elves. Refusal would get a military response that would not stop until the village is obliterated. The attacks were unprovoked other than being elven and not human."

Three came forward and a resistance force of 105 non-Psions moved to attack.

The seven Moon Blade wielders incinerated or cut those down that attacked.

She walked up to the leader of the village, "You have 4 weeks to leave elven lands."

He looked at her and angrily asked, "If we don't?"

She spun around and cut his fucking head off, "You now have 3 weeks."

An old woman who looked to the leaders now widow, "You would condemn us all for the acts of a few?"

She sent the woman the images of the purging of hundreds of house elders for corruption.

She looked at her, "He was enabling them. By elven law, he and all of his children who are grown would be executed. That would include you. In this case, you are getting a chance to save them by fleeing now. We asked for the resistance leaders. You refused and attacked us, we responded with superior firepower.

I scanned and found the names of 7 Psions, 3 turned themselves over for execution. Another 105 humans attacked, including the other 4 Psions. Your refusal to cooperate has led you to be expelled from elven lands.

I have helped to train your young psions. They were some of the same ones attacking my people. You have lost an instructor, husband, and 108 lives. Nova base will be here in hours. Save lives not condemn them. You cannot control your own then that is a problem for you.

Elven Psions are guarding each other and their communities from this level of corruption. You enabled the immoral resistance. You are the resistance because you took that action today. You have the images you need to know what I say is true. You will die if you stay. I cannot help people who will not save themselves."

In the weeks that followed 82 decided to stay. They were dead in minutes from arcane archers launching from Nova Base as they destroyed the village and burned it to the ground.

Nova had 16 children over 40 years 4 to each to 4 different couples; 3 Psion families for 12 of them. She had no heirs set to be able to access the Blade Wielders Quarters. All of her children were set to be raised by others outside of House Silvertree until they went out of the Academy and graduated.

She had other quarters for the 4 that carried the Silvertree house name in other unused Quarters on the main estate as they had lost many in the wars. She left inheritances she set up for the 16 of them when they turned 70. Some she knew better than others if they were Psions.

She was rarely home and she had the pasture and those quarters sealed to all but the Moon Blade wielder by that point in their life. She did not want horses left unattended in the pasture built there. She thought of that as prison-like the Keep where she spent most of her time.

She went in search of the children of the stone when she turned 400. She found the dwarves now numbered fewer than 2,000. Driven from the mines they created by the remaining drow. An offer was extended by King Goldeagle to allow them to return to their old home and rebuild.

They no longer had a King at that point, just 10 elders. They agreed to accept the offer and were evacuated in a day by using the portal from the base. Access to the eternal forge was provided so they could build the tools needed to rebuild their home. Over the next 250 years, they were back to 6,000.

In large part to her fixing fertility of those dwarven women who went infertile personally. She took her knowledge during this time and split into 8 parts with 2 students in each of the now 8 Psion communities learning different pieces. The exception being the fertility fix. She taught that to 2 in each community and 2 of her offspring that carried the Silvertree name.

She also passed it on to a couple of dwarven and human Psions who passed her scans to ensure they would not harm the elven people. She finally found a balance in her life, yet she never found personal love in life. She accepted that she was a weapon and a tool for a job that needed to be done.

She served the ever-evolving role as any bard might do. She was never sent out as an assassin after reclaiming the sword. The possibility could never be ruled out in her mind that it could come again. Before dying, she made one request of the Gods for 7 centuries of service.

With that one request, she used the only love she had, the love she developed for her people, and her house as a whole to find happiness. She also held onto one Dark Secret from the Gods; death was coming for them all. The information she added to her journal. She added her Draconic Grace to the blade when she passed. Her last thought to the sword, "Fly it into the sun. Then turn off the shields."

Her will warned, "The sword will remain active until the final command given to it gets completed. This is the will of the Gods. The Gods will choose the next wielder when the time is right and the sword is ready to be claimed. The Council will have to rule without a Silvertree member until that day. I secured my personal belongings in the Blade Wielders Quarter. The account number is known by the sword. It all goes to the Blade Wielder"

The sword was still active after her death for another 200 years. Displayed in an open display case in the center of the main home that she had put in place; as she was the Patron at the time of her death. Moon fire was active on the blade.

That allowed the new Patron and any house member to see if the time had come. There was a Nova event and the sword finally went inactive. What happened next was the story of the sheer survival of the elven people.