Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 12

Brycen heard, "Sometimes we just take their legs. Then leave them on the field of battle."

Brycen groaned, "How long have you been at war? At odds with them?"

He responded, "A hundred millennia. Maybe longer. Records lost."

Brycen groaned out, "I need to warn both ships when we leave, our ship generates an electrical field that could damage your ships if you are too close. We would move back but your ships travel faster. Please advise us as we are ready to depart."

The insect face responded, "Your ship would cause little damage if any."

The Hintra looked at Brycen, "We do not back away for a potential adversary."

Brycen glared, "If we do, are you going to pursue us?"

Brycen heard back, "Yes, it is our nature."

Brycen walked around took his seat. He activated the jump. The lightning field arced and expanded around them he groaned as they jumped to another world. All 3 ships were here. Brycen heard shouting from both ships. They each fired something but their ships seemed to be losing power.

Brycen looked over, "Try and fly us away. Silence the shields. Scan this world."

He scanned it, "I am finding crystals like the Hinta use on the southern continent."

Brycen sighed, "Unsilenced shields." He put it back and they were both still yelling, "Scan the southern continent. It has the crystals you use. I know this from the Hintra ship when we scanned them. You have a chance but it is below. Silence the shields."

Brycen sighed, "Did what they fire at us do any damage?"

He shook his head, "No. They are not pursuing."

Brycen nodded, "Scan the northern continent. See what we have. Stop. Bring them back to the masts. I am going to add more to it."

Julian smiled, "Want to be able to tell the sex of the dwarves?"

Brycen nodded, "Exactly!"

Julian laughed as Brycen went to his Quarters. He ran into his eldest, Gerron. He felt like he was being held back because of the spell level cap. Brycen could not argue that point. Brycen waved for him to follow him. He grabbed the bag and went back on deck. He flew up and put all of the crystals in place once he lowered the ring.

Gerron gave him a hand once he saw what his father was doing. They added all thirty-six to the array; which now has all 72. "Varus'Nor link one, two, and three down.

Adjust link one, two, and three. Then bring them up."

He raised the ring, "Spread them out to the edge of the shields. Then scan that insect ship."

He chuckled, "We are getting a scan but I cannot tell you what any of this stuff is. It has living and mechanical components with those energy crystals. They do not need to breathe. There is no air in that. At least nothing like we would use. The two of them look to be trying to kill each other off." They felt the shock wave. "Correction! Killed each other off."

Brycen sighed, "Start scanning the continent. Start on the southern edge. Along the eastern and western side of that mountain range to the far west."

He pressed the crystal for communications, "Eldar Base here, can you hear us?"

Brycen heard Alissia, "Yes the Patron passed since we talked last. The fighting is getting worse. We have fights coming in from all directions. The King managed to get one tribe of Snow Elves to come south, less than 200. The others fought to the death and were brought back to fight against us!"

Brycen sighed, "We had two ships come at us from the moons from the last world. We tried to get them to back away before we left. The electrical field extended around them. Drawing power from their ships. They were at least partially disabled. All 3 ships jumped.

The 2 of them set about destroying each other and succeeded. We are scanning the northern continent to try and find what we need. We find it and we will get the gate up and survive. This world is massive and breathable."

They scanned that range and a cursory scan over the entire continent for twelve hours. He used the crystal, "I need the Council and all who have been certified to fly ready to do a ground survey." They arrived. "Use your horses, their senses are sometimes better than yours."

He took the portal down with the portly and venerable dwarven Elder. He had not taken a new War Horse in 50 years. He left the portal open for them just in case. He looked at the display. "If I am reading this right, there is a vein of adamantium below my feet. This is one of the most temperate climates we have found."

Gratin looked at Brycen, "12 feet down. Rare to find it this close to the surface. Yes, this feels like home."

Brycen nodded, "I think this is the place. I will wait for the report from the head of the herd and the Rangers. Start digging. It is just a hole."

He smiled, "Good to actually get back to the dirt and stone."

Gratin was just a child of an artificer when he joined his crew and now, he was beyond being elderly. Waiting for this day and he got to be the first dwarf digging into this new world.

Brycen came back an hour later and the hole was done. So was Gratin. Lying next to it while his head rested on the dirt pile with a smile on his face. Brycen found his second and showed him the scene. He made notes and smiled. Brycen gave him an empty portable hole. "Until you return his body to the stone properly."

He nodded, "He liked it when you called him 'kid' when he became elderly. That you let him continue to work shifts with you."

Brycen nodded, "He was a child who grew to a fine adult and made it to the new world. He was extremely talented with the system and finding some metal for us to quickly extract from time to time."

It took 10 hours to go through everything in the ranger reports were all positive with a couple of minor nuisances. This was as closest to perfect as they had found. He looked at them, "Command Center."

They all returned as he hit the crystal, "We start gate assembly in the morning. Yes, this is rushed, but we are running out of time from what I am being told. We get everyone working. We should have all the pieces together and be ready the day after tomorrow at the latest."

He heard Patron Alissia sigh, "I will pass the word. They are pulling them back into the Capital. They have been going around the edges for weeks and laying out several permanent walls of force spells on the ground. They put a glow on them and made them permanent."

Brycen smiled, "I told him once about the walls set up for the Pegasus riders. Tell him to get them using earthquake spells to bury them. Make it harder for them to tunnel under."

She sighed, "He paid to have walls of fire made permanent on the top of the walls. That helped to provide some additional light but not much heat.

The temperatures are getting closer to those at Broken Glacier at the edge of the Snow Elf area; well what used to be their area. The Force shield for the city will go up in a few hours. People are clamoring to get into Silvertree Estates to escape.

They know of your mission. It was announced the day you left that you were following your faith. Your departure blasted a hole into the enemy army at that time, we were told to withhold that from you for some reason.

There was a city-wide party when they heard you got the forge restarted. The dwarves were buying, believe it or not. We have 6,000 dwarves. They did not put up much resistance. Instead, they called for evacuation. I heard some dwarves made it into the shelter and sealed it."

Brycen chuckled, "Only took 19,875 worlds to be checked over. I am getting rest so we can build."

He went to his room and curled up with his one remaining wife, Vittra.

Juna 19th 11931

Brycen slept as well as could be expected. He prepared spells to help fight sleep for the next day. He studied up his magical spells and pulled out his trove of scrolls. He walked out and took the portal down. He looked at them, "People are dying. I plan to work through the night. I have restoration spells to fight off the fatigue and I am sure some of the casters have the same spells ready. I pulled this out of storage."

He held it up, "This book was enchanted before we left over the course of building the Keep. I have disintegration, teleportation circle, heal, wall of force, and permanency scrolls. There are twenty to fifty of each in here. I saved it for a day like today. I need my dwarven diggers. These are the dimensions for the Flying Fortress.

We are going to land it right here in front of the gate. The one in Silvertree Estates goes from south walking north. This one is being set up to walk out going north. We got the first hole for the first pillar dug by our eldest dwarf who passed with a smile on his face for making it here. Now it is our turn to get everything in place."

He saw Gretor raise a hand. "Yes?"

He sighed, "We had 311 humans leave last night to establish a new village somewhere to the east. They did not return to the ship. The horses refused to go with them."

Brycen nodded, "Their choice. I would have hoped the years of travel and support would have garnered more loyalty. Please help us to see this through. I do not know how many humans are on the other side. I know we have 6,000 dwarves.

Less than 200 Snow elves, and who knows how many other races. See this through and get the gate up. Please remember this operation is not just about elves. The Elven Kingdom became a haven for refugees for all kinds of races. I just don't have numbers for them all."

He nodded his understanding.

"I have some assignments. Rangers and my children. With the magic release from this thing may grow or be taken down. I am hoping for growth. I have seeds for trees. Silvertree and Ironwood to add to the diversity.

Ones we collected every 40 years from the Great Silvertree and the couple we let grow every time to all for shade and to generate the wood we needed. No telling how Silvertrees will affect these new trees. They helped with the ironwood trees giving us seeds.

Once the Keep is landed you are in the village of Quatarsia here. Tolerance. We had some dust-ups and bent egos over the years but we are here. Council members your assignments for your teams. Let us make history today."

He went over and started running through disintegration scrolls. He cleared out the area for the gate. Brycen went over to the landing site and took out two-thirds of the dirt. He angled the rays and took it down in steps sized for the dwarves.

He looked at them, "I need mages to help teleport pieces for the gate down here and we can start constructions as soon as our dwarves give us the second pillar location. Here are the scrolls for that. Take the portal back up. Save magic where you can.

This spot was chosen because the proximity to the mountains; rich veins of ore, the one pillar is going to sit on a vein. We are looking at doing everything we can to try and obtain the best results. I am landing the ship to bring 3 more relics into proximity.

Having them in close proximity may aid us. We jumped 2 other ships because of the energy it drew. That was unintended. It did show activation and proximity to power sources can affect things; make them bigger. In this case, I want it to last long enough for everyone to make it through. At least those that made it to the city and are still living."

Brycen went to work getting pieces down and slowly assembled the gate. They quadruple checked measurements and angles for the pillars and the arch, which was one giant piece. 16 hours later and they cleared out the spot for Brycen to land the ship. Which was easier said than done until we had it aligned and slid it down into position.

They spent another 12 hours getting the gate locked into place. He attached the communication crystal. "This is Fort Hiltannta, in Quatarsia. We have the gate up. The communication crystal is attached to the gate."

Brycen heard her sigh, "Glad to hear it. Get your swords in place, we are waiting on one more. The King is here but Silver Ring and Tri-Moon are not here."

Brycen groaned, "Ask your blades if they can sense those blades nearby. Anyone know if they were fighting and where?"

King Goldeagle yelled over, "Tri-Moon was near or fighting around the north gate. Silver Ring was fighting on the southern gate. The fighting got heavy on both of those. The longer we wait for the few we can save. They started tunneling under the force shield outside of the walls."

Brycen walked over where his sword would go.

Brycen handed the other blade to Vittra, "You remember the command phrase?"

She nodded, "What are you going to do?"

Brycen sighed, "Try and travel through these communication crystals."

She looked at Brycen, "You know how to do that?!"

Brycen smiled, "Charlus's Hiltannta was a name I gave that sword, but I did not enchant it. When I contact you, yell the command over to the sword."

She looked at him, "You mean Charlus enchanted it?!"

Brycen nodded, "To my specification. One of the spells kills the enchanter when cast. He was already dead. I had the means to bring him in for a single task. I chose the sword and got so much more. We got to talk and I learned about traveling through a communication crystal from him."

She chuckled at that, "So he built our Salvation."

Brycen walked over, "Have they shown?"

He heard, "No."

He kept one hand on the crystal and the other on his sword. He focused on the destination crystal. He was building a gate between the plane of shadows and two material planes. He gripped tighter. He felt himself traveling the great distance unable to breathe and being clawed at as he went. His nightmare was made real. He healed himself twice with a wand in his bracer before he appeared.

He rolled across the gate area, "Your Majesty, put your blade in the missing side slot!"

He moved his blade, "How in the 9 hells did you get here?"

Brycen looked over, "Tell her I made it and activate it."

She yelled, "HE MADE IT HERE. ACTIVATE." He drove his blade home. They saw a swirling water effect. Looking down the big end of a tornado. They saw the 2 gates move closer and lock together, "GO! GO! GO! This is your show, your Majesty. You can thank Charlus for this. He enchanted the sword on the other side. He taught me about traveling through a communication crystal."

He pulled a crystal, "House shield, Activate shield activate necromancy bane." He knew that would stop them from teleporting directly into the House Silvertree and damage them greatly if they were undead.

The King nodded. Brycen pulled his vorpal and teleported into Gods' Eyes and healed himself up fully. He then teleported in front of the secure shelter in dwarven lands. He put in the two force walls and made them permanent. He opened the portal, "You got one shot at the gate and this is IT!"

He stepped inside and cast up three more force walls from the book to create a box. He used the expansion rod and did five circles to Gods' Eyes. He took them to the top. He felt the sword slipping away. He started casting them from scrolls. He got the rest of them up. They ran thru the gate. He looked over as the King was in the middle waving people forward.

He looked at him "Got the trapped dwarves for you as well."

King Goldeagle shook his head, "There is no title to describe you."

Brycen chuckled, "Good I did not want one anymore. Be ready to fight if any undead makes it thru!! They should be badly injured if they do."

Brycen thought, "You still there Nolla'Vasi?"

He heard her scream, "Yes, I am dead and this still fucking hurts badly."

Brycen thought, "Hold on they are moving. When I call you, try to appear in my left hand? We will try to break the bridge from your side. I will call out, 'Ancestor!'"

Brycen heard her groan out, "Alright I will try to hold on."

Brycen watched the crowds push through. Then it was a trickle followed by a horde of undead.

Brycen called out, "ANCESTOR!"

Brycen heard her groaning, "It is not working."

Brycen stuck his hand thru. "ANCESTOR!"

He had the sword and was blown backward by the collapsing gate. He looked over and guys were scrambling to kill the few badly injured undead who made it through. Brycen sat there for a second and there was an explosion on the ship. He went back to the ship and found all the vessels had turned to dust.

He finally looked at his Moon Blade.

Brycen sighed, "Looks like a puddle on the end of a handle, with half the metal gone."

He thought, "You there?" He heard nothing. He looked at the moonstone and it was attached and intact. He walked out to Salvation and it was the only sword that still stood strong.

He called over the command, "Deactivate, Karti Ros, Varus'Nor, Nolla'Vasi."

He sheathed his vorpal. He pulled 'Charlus's Salvation.' He felt energy still coursing through it and then through him. The energy rushed into his hand holding his Moon Blade and then back. He could not let go and waited for it to finish. He was lying on the ground.

Vittra helped him back to his feet. He looked at his hands. His Moon Blade was gone. In his left hand, he found a Silvertree seed.

He thought, "What was that about?"

He heard Nolla'Vasi, "You transferred my stone into your new sword, the spirit anyway"

He thought, "It fused the two of you?"

He heard her chuckle, "Yes, I was not looking forward to a life trapped in the other sword unable to speak."

He thought, "You are not a Moon Blade and you are not Charlus's Salvation."

He heard her laughing, "Protection of the elven people but no house. Not even assigned to a house. I can inflict damage into anyone's hand who pisses me off by their action. Potentially killing them."

Brycen thought, "What else can you do?"

He heard her laughing, "Telepathic, summon to either hand, holy, divine grace, immunity to mind control or probing. Fire resistance not immunity, Dragons Eyes, poison immunity, and VORPAL!?"

Brycen chuckled as he thought, "Vorpal, holy, and divine grace were built into that blade. Other abilities were lost. What am I saying, you know what was in that blade."

---

King Goldeagle heard from the Lady of Dreams, "He did it, and you did what you could to save many more. The actions of your grandfather were regrettable, but you stepped up. I am sorry to say those Gold-elves and others who tried to gate to other worlds on their own did not survive.

They worked together and created one. You lost half your gold-elf population as they went through into an environment that was toxic to breathe. Not that they breathed for long as the gate opened over an ocean of acid. They did not do the research the champion did and some of that he took with him from the Silvertree Library.

They threw away their lives as they lost faith in you, us, and the work the Champion did. We will contact you again in dreams to let you get answers to upcoming questions. You no longer have a Kingdom. Many of your Gold-elves who survived who came across are missing vital skills.

They do not have the skills, the ones who did, led their own exodus into suicide. Gold and snow elves are endangered species here. Keep that in mind as they are both likely to die if you cannot change their hearts in the short time you have left. We will contact the champion soon. The rest was for your ears alone. One final task to try and take on as the last Gold-elf Ruler."

The Lady of Dreams sent him numbers of what survived and percentages to share.

---

King Goldeagle walked up, Brycen sheathed the sword. Brycen shook his extended hand.

He looked at Brycen, "The Gods made the transfer to this world. Said you saved about half of the elven people. From when you left until now. 600,088 survived.

That includes the lives of your elven crew. They will be in touch with you. You did it, you saved us."