Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 12

Mia 6th, 11702

Brycen was on duty in the command center and there was a knock at the door. Nolla'Vasi alerted, "Danger!" a human had gotten up to answer the door. Brycen looked at him, "Stand fast."

He leaped at the door and threw open the old latch. Brycen reared back as the men tried to enter the room and launched a fireball and a quickened one into the group. Quickly killing or putting near-death those who had tried to take the command center including the human who opened the door. He hit the crystal for mass communication, "We have an attempted mutiny underway. All humans are ordered to their quarters to avoid being killed in the crossfire like the 12 here in the control who attempted to breach the security! All blade wielders are called to arms!"

---

Below deck. Vittra heard the announcement and went to step out of the room. She looked across and saw Master Smith Roberts dragging his two daughters out with some type of sword at each one's throat. He yelled across as he pulled them through the portal, "Follow and they are dead!"

Mellissa yelled out, "Sorry. Seal portal." As Vittra had moved forward.

Vittra went to find the communication crystal they used smashed near the door. She knew Mellissa would not go with him willingly. He had to have blackmailed them about something. It was dangerous but she cast fly on herself and teleported up on deck using an emergency scroll.

She slammed into the wall as the ship was moving and she had not accounted for that. She stayed in the air because they fought on the main deck. She moved over and landed on top of the command center after a crossbow bolt hit her in the leg. She landed and swung her bow around and started shooting at the humans who were not supposed to have weapons.

---

Brycen looked out around the fighting on the deck. There were too many weapons. They had to have broken into the armory. He ensured both bracers were loaded with the right wands and went out of the control room. "Seal it! No humans in. Control room emergency shutdown all systems! Karti'Ros, Varus'Nor, Nolla'Vasi!"

All of the consoles went dead to everyone's shock. Everyone who was not ready, which was everyone but Brycen, suddenly got jolted as the ship came to a sudden and immediate stop.

---

Vittra caught herself as the fortress suddenly stopped. She heard Brycen as he yelled out an incantation she knew too well. A human went flying in the air and he disintegrated the body before it hit the deck. It flew into dust and blew away. The shields were down! Brycen screamed, "I can do that all day long!"

One man yelled over, "You only have so many spells!"

He was picked up bodily and thrown over the side. Brycen yelled out, "The first one was to show you the shields are down. I have wands loaded into my bracers with grasping hands and just tossed 2. How many more do I need to kill to get my point across?!"

Several hesitated. One trained a crossbow toward him from behind another man. Vittra put an arrow into the front man's knee and the second in the other man's throat. She yelled down, "I can also cast and just lay waste to the whole deck if needed to protect my family!"

---

Young Patrick Roberts heard the announcement, got out of his bunk, and dressed when his father came crashing in with his two sisters. He looked at his father, "What are you doing?!"

His father yelled at him, "Shut up! You are such a disappointment when it comes to having a backbone."

Mellissa looked over, "He told us he would kill you if we did not come with him immediately!"

He looked at the weapons in his father's hands. "He was right, you made the weapon the other man used."

The older man laughed, "Not only made it. I ensured the boy used the blade when the bitch overheard us talking about the rebellion. I sent him to the forge to destroy it. It was not just his hand on the weapon.

I grabbed one of her hands to keep her from casting. I had the sense to destroy my shirt before going up there. I just did not anticipate the fucker sending the search parties there first. By now we have control of the ship."

That was when they got hit by the jolt from the ship's sudden stop. Patrick got thrown to the floor and the two sisters tried to break free. The older man ran the sickle-like blades across both his daughters' stomachs gutting them open in the struggle.

He looked down at the two dead women and fled the room. Patrick went to his 2 pregnant sisters and knew he could not help them. The attack killed the children inside them as well. He went in pursuit of his father.

---

The older Master Smith made it to the deck to see his people surrendering or dead. He was tackled from behind knocking the swords from his hands. His son Patrick wailed as his fist struck him with every fiber of his being until he was pulled back. The old man looked up with a smile, "Finally! Some backbone!"

Patrick yelled out to Brycen, "He gutted my sisters. They are both dead, as are the unborn children!" The 2 dwarves that had a hold of him let him go after he started crying.

The old man, "They were growing abominations!"

Brycen was in shock, as were most of the people on the deck. Especially some of the humans. Nolla'Vasi snapped him out of it. "You have a blade to collect. One of the wielders is dead."

Brycen looked across, "Put him in shackles! Vittra, take the boy and confirm the facts. I got a sword to locate. One of the blade wielders is dead."

He looked around and counted them off. Moon Blade was missing. He looked over at the old man who smiled, "Seems one-on-one or two-on-one he might have been good with a sword. When he got rushed by three with no room to swing. That is another matter. The hot Iron I had burned right through the fucking watchdog you put on me!"

Patrick walked over to Brycen, "He confessed having a hand in the death of your other wife as well. Keeping her from casting while the boy ran her through. She overheard them talking about a rebellion."

Brycen sighed and looked down, "That was what she tried to spell out. She got 'RE' and the first line of the letter 'B'. She tried to tell us before she died."

---

Brycen spent the next hour getting the ship systems back online one at a time. They sent the portal down to the rendezvous point and brought the scouts back who were checking out the wildlife and vegetation.

Even though they knew they could not stay here because of the communication issue they faced on many worlds they had visited. The elves who went down ensured all of the humans were disarmed before bringing them back onto the ship.

----

Brycen walked out to the group of humans tied up and returning scouts. He pointed to a wall outside of the forge area, "Strap the bastard up over there."

Vittra had come in crying minutes earlier and confirmed the facts. Brycen had the man's shirt off and his sword out. "He killed his pregnant daughters and unborn as witnessed by his eldest son, had a hand in killing my other wife Pelau as confessed to his son, and killed Moon Blade by his own confession on this deck. Anyone is a death sentence."

The old man laughed, "You can only kill me once."

Brycen stopped and looked at him and sliced his gut open with one swing. He wailed out and Brycen healed him up quickly. He repeated it and healed him up again. He looked at him, "For your 2 daughters so you know what they felt as they died. They might have had leniency for you. I doubt it, but they might have. You commented on killing Moon Blade. The thrust killed him, not the fire. He was immune to fire damage. You on the other hand."

He thought "Moon Fire on!" He had never activated it in front of these humans or most of the living dwarves aboard. "We will find out about."

He stuck it under the indentation in his chest bone and thrust up slowly and channeled healing into him as it entered his heart and then brought it out from the center of his chest as he stopped healing him. Brycen whispered, "You only thought I could kill you once."

The crowd watched as the man thrashed and screamed through all of this. Brycen thought to Nolla'Vasi, "I will pray for forgiveness later."

He heard her respond, "I do not think it would be required but as a cleric, I could see you saying that."

Brycen looked out across at the ones bound, "You can die here now for the death you caused. You can be exiled to this world with as much of your family that wishes to join you here. Those are your only options. Young Roberts, you were on the surface so you can decide your own fate in this matter."

Patrick looked at Brycen, "I am staying and getting married soon. I spoke with her a few minutes ago and her family was not involved. She will stay with me regardless of their decision."

Brycen nodded, "That makes you the new human Master Smith then."

He nodded, "I have been for a few years now. He was losing his skills to age."

The younger Roberts looked over, "Staying."

His choice surprised Brycen. Everyone had 8 hours to decide. Brycen had his wives' bodies brought to the deck for the humans to see before they left. He held a wizard's funeral for both of them before any of them could leave the ship. He gathered their ashes as he had for his other wives.

Brycen looked across the crowd, "I wanted you to remember the monster you followed that led to your banishment to this world. He brought the ship to a halt. Brycen lowered the lower shield and dropped all of the makeshift weapons over the side along with the dead bodies.

Brycen looked at them, "You will find them below; just look for the bodies. I will not make arming you easy. We have no provisions to give, no blankets, but the scouts who returned provided some information on wildlife and edible plants.

You will just have to adapt to survive by making what you need, trial, and error on what you eat or drink. You brought this upon yourselves. I asked you to fix this problem and you refused to address the murderer in your midst.

You tried to support him instead. That makes you all guilty of murder and attempted mutiny. I could have just thrown you over the side. Your deaths would come quicker that way."

Mia 9th 11702

Brycen sighed as he annotated his journal, "Our 10,160th world. Coming up on 112 years on this ship. We had 13 more deaths than births for the elves. Eight more births than deaths for the dwarves. The humans had doubled their number in the last 60 years to have the largest population amongst us. Until an attempted mutiny on the last world cost them the lives of many.

While others were left behind rather than face death at our hands. Humans now number a 164. My 2 human wives were among the dead; dying less than a month before they were due to deliver and killed by their own father. Killed in a manner that killed the coming children as well. Responsible for 7 murders. Father in name only it seems."

Brycen looked over, "Breathable atmosphere, no strong presence of disease." He looked at Gods' Eyes. "We are getting something approaching on Gods' Eyes! Be ready, everyone."

He pulled up the displays and they passed on either side of them. He walked out of the control room and went to the pasture and watched them circle back.

Brycen smiled, "Silver dragons!"

This was followed by a shadow overhead and another dragon. His sword alerted, "Danger!"

Brycen jumped down and got back into his seat just as it bounced off of the shield. Wounded for its effort. He activated the interdimensional communication and got 'BLEEP' a few times.

He thought, "Fuck no advising them of this."

He looked over, "Take us up higher." They nodded.

He called out, "I want all three balistas manned. DO NOT FIRE and ONLY FIRE at the targets I call out." He looked at the displays and they had disappeared. He went out and grabbed his portable hole from his room.

He looked across, "Saw three dragons. Two looked silver. The third came in from the top and I did not get a good look at that one."

The ladies jumped up again as they got hit again. He got back to the control room after picking himself up off the ground.

A human called out, "I got one in my sights, lower the shields."

Brycen looked over "DO NOT TOUCH THAT! Who requested the shields be lowered?"

A human male sighed, "Henry Roberts, Sir." With more than a note of disdain.

Brycen shook his head, "You are relieved. You almost shot on a silver dragon. One of the ones we might be looking for to restart our Eternal Forge. Head back to your quarters."

He thought out to his War Horse Helius (Guide), "Elves, dwarves, humans, and Nova. Repeat it twice."

He heard back from Helius, "The two circling us requested permission to land."

He walked outside, "Step away from the ballistas. If you are uncomfortable go below deck." He looked around and still had one human at a ballista. Brycen walked over and tapped him on the shoulder. "Henry, get below deck!"

Brycen launched the bolt he had ready into the shield wall. He got up and stormed off. Brycen teleported down, grabbed the bolt, and then back up throwing it down into the courtyard. He went inside and lowered force and flying only. He left evil Dragon Bane in place. He thought back, "Permission granted. Upper pasture."

He looked over, "Deploy Gods' Eyes out wider beyond the ship."

He went out as they came in for a landing. He walked forward as Vittra hung back. Brycen called out. "Bring us to a stop."

Brycen looked back into the courtyard and saw the edge of a crossbow. He dimension doored over and knocked him out cold. He manacled his hands behind his back and teleported with him back up on the top with Henry at his feet. Being a scout, he had access to that weapon.

The dragons changed forms and landed. They looked at him. They tried probing his mind and Nola'Vasi kept that shutdown.

Brycen shook his head, "Not happening. You actually have to talk to me."

One spoke in draconic, "Who are you?"

Brycen looked at him, "Answer a question first are you aware of the nova?"

He looked at Brycen more insistent. "Who are you?"

Brycen gave him a one-word answer, "Silvertree."

He looked at his friend. Brycen pulled a crystal, "Tranaran. I got two who would like to talk with you."

Tranaran Moon Eye arrived to see the two dragons and they seemed to converse for several minutes. He looked at Brycen, "They want us to go."

Brycen shook his head, "I have an invitation. Her name to us was Glimmer."

They looked put out about his refusal. He handed them a crystal. "Have someone who can make a decision contact us. We are looking for a Royal metallic dragon to restart the Eternal Forge; we have it with us."

They took off. He went below and turned fly and force walls back on. He looked over, "Did we get bearing?"

He nodded, "They went north-north-west." Brycen called out, "Bring Gods' Eyes in. Wall down." They brought it in. He went up and added 24 to the array. "Varus'Nor links one, two, and three down.

Adjust link one, two, and three. Then bring them up." This brought us up to 36 in the array. Half of what he had available.

He raised the ring, "Force shield up. Spread them out to the edge of the shields. Then pursue."

He pulled a crystal, "You want to come and get your brother Henry Roberts."

He heard a groan from the other side, "What did he do?"

Brycen shook his head, "Failed to listen 3 times, wanted to try and assassinate 2 silver dragon visitors. We are trying to ascertain if they are the dragons, we are looking for to restart the Eternal Forge. One of our mission parameters."

He sighed, again, "I will be up in a minute. Just sit on him."

Brycen picked him up by the manacles and took him into the Command Center. Leaving him on the floor. He walked over and hit high definitions and they looked at Brycen, "When did it start doing that?"

Brycen smiled, "It needed enough diamonds to connect to. I want a subterranean scan, an aerial scan. I will work the surface scan."

His older brother showed up and asked, "What do you want to do with him?"

Brycen shrugged, "He is your brother. I am considering leaving him in this world. We cannot stay on it. It is one of those we cannot establish a link back."

Patrick nodded, "I will talk with him again."

Brycen pulled him to his feet. He pulled the manacles. "Restricted to quarters until we jump again. I catch him out and this will be the last world he sees."

He nodded as they walked off. Patrick carried the crossbow. Four hours later and he got contacted, "This Silvertree?"

Brycen sighed, "Yes, it is."

He called out, "You need to leave this world."

Brycen smiled, "I heard that line already. I asked for one thing. A dragon of royal blood to restart the Eternal Forge."

Brycen heard back, "Request denied, now leave."

Brycen smiled, "I can wait a while yet. I have a world to survey first. Then contact my leaders and find out if this one would be suitable."

He heard back, "Your ancestors were a pain in the ass."

Brycen smiled, "Which ones did you know? Eldar, Brannar, Novella?" He heard back with a note of disdain, "Lerian Silvertree."

Brycen smiled, "You are not the gold he bumped heads with, are you?"

He chuckled, "We did more than bump heads." Brycen got nudged and he went over and took a look at the display. He groaned, "Do you wish to discuss the elf, dwarf, and human slaves below the surface of the world?"

The crystal went silent for several seconds. He asked me, "You brought your monitoring system?"

Brycen smiled, "A part of it. We had redundant uplinks and sky diamonds. We brought some of the existing terminals and left some behind. The other part is trying to keep the undead at bay until we find a world to set up an interdimensional bridge."

Brycen heard back, "Your world died over 5 millennia ago."

Brycen chuckled, "Then I was conversing with the spirits before jumping to this world. What year do you think it is?" He responded, "18425."

Brycen sighed, "It is just past 11700. 11702 to be exact. That confirms I have time to do a complete world survey. Every 7-10 days is one day back in my world. Do you want to talk survey, chromatics, slaves, communication, or the forge? Like my ancestors, I know you are wanting something. Mark this location on the map for further study."

The human at the console smiled, "Annotated." He walked over to the dwarf in the room, "What are they mining?"

He looked at Brycen, "If I were to guess, very dense adamantium ore. Nice deposit."

Brycen nodded, "Add a mineral survey to this area."

The voice sighed, "What will it take to get you to go away."

Brycen smiled, "An explanation. I doubt you have taken slaves but someone has. Also, the forge reactivated. We brought three master craftsmen. Where is Glimmer?"

He heard him sigh, "She died 300 years ago. How do you know the name?"

Brycen smiled, "She left me a note. I know she was a descendant of one of the Silvertree Dragons. I discovered the note in one of the old shelters. When we started building this Fortress Sky Ship. We went in search of a royal to move the forge. Found the note in the old shelters built by Jazzia addressed to Silvertree.

She hoped we would run into each other again and get it reactivated. Now I am fulfilling a dead dragon's wish. We brought it. You going to deny her that final wish?"

Brycen heard him sigh, "On my way to you."

Brycen looked at the display and pulled up the high definition on the subterranean scan. Brycen groaned out as he looked at it. He saved the display for the next 30 minutes. He made sure the forge was in place with all of the masters. He saw him approaching with four others.

He called out, "Lower force wall, lower fly. All stop." He checked that the ballistas were unloaded and unmanned. He watched them land on the pasture and change form. He waited in the courtyard.