Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 12

He came out his sword drawn and stared at Brycen, "You sent it."

Brycen sighed, "Actually the sword did. I have some business to discuss with you."

He waved Brycen back. He walked back and handed him the 10 holes, "Those are expanded portable holes. Here is my account number for this project. As you agreed to go, I will need you to fill those with the raw material for crafting items. Bars of it. 4 days until it can be accessed, but you have what you need to start."

He nodded, "This might last a few years."

Brycen nodded, "I have 850 more of them."

He chuckled, "Why? Mithril can be made into bars but adamantium has to go straight from ore to an item by way of a smelter. I have two of them that are enchanted to deal with raw ore. I will use one for this project."

Brycen smiled, "Each one held 5 million in gold from Nova Base."

He nodded, "I heard she kept at least 5 billion back. Gave the rest to the Crown, minus a small amount, maybe a billion to the house to cover expenses and such for the grounds."

Brycen nodded, "Roughly, counting the cost of making those things and getting the bank to count it all."

He chuckled, "That would be a task. I will see what I can do. The dwarves have used our bank since rejoining. Their bank they do not talk about."

Brycen smiled, "Probably similar to the Dark King who cleaned out the bank and the bank employees."

Moon Blade nodded, "Before my time. You put the King on the spot with that today."

Brycen nodded, "Demand of the sword."

He smiled, "I never met her. I am about a century older than you. I will go. As will my heir, as in my will I will call that out."

Brycen's crystal buzzed, "Your Majesty?"

He sighed, "They want 2 million in gold for the Keep, not in a bank."

Brycen nodded, "I can do that if they can count it."

The King chuckled and talked to someone, "They want to know when."

Brycen sighed, "No time like the present. Where are we meeting?"

He heard the King talking, "They want to meet in Porzcosa."

Brycen smiled, "Church in Quatarsia. Tell them I am a cleric of Corellon Larethian as well."

He laughed and told them. He responded to Brycen, "They will meet you there."

Brycen nodded to the Enchanter, "Start shopping for what you need. Let me know when you are running low."

She smiled, "Thank you for that." She left and he teleported out to Quatarsia's crossroads. He went into the church and waited. He had five wood-elves with a moon-elf.

He nodded, "You must be the new champion that wants the 'eyesore' for an enchanting project."

Brycen nodded, "I need to get it flying. Get rid of any bags of holding or hand haversacks unless you wish to take a trip to the astral plane."

He laid out a portable hole for them. They stripped off a couple of those. The five wood elves sat there and started counting. Three hours later with the hole almost empty, they stop.

Brycen looked at them, "You going to be able to carry that?"

They all chuckled. The Moon elf looked at Brycen, "Can we get the portable hole off of you?"

Brycen smiled, "I get a transfer of title for the Keep and everything within 4 Keep widths on the 3 difference on each side and 7 Keep widths on the one side.

Then you can have what is left in there and the portable hole. I will even work to fill in that hole with material from the plains out west."

He smiled and they shook on it. They pushed the coins back into the portable hole. Brycen got a receipt and transfer title for the land, "When will you be doing this?"

Brycen shrugged, "I got to talk with the Master Enchanter first and line up the different projects. Hopefully sooner rather than later."

He nodded, "That is what we were hoping for as well."

Brycen teleported home and went to the main house to be met by a crowd of family.

Brycen walked toward his new home in the main house and spotted Hellina standing there. He sighed, "Yes, I have the sword. Also, all the headaches that go with it. Including this one. The Flying Fortress, what I will call Eldar Base.

He was responsible for getting the first keep built within Quatarsia, he made that town what it was in his day. I bought the existing one with a lot of surrounding land. Less than an hour ago. We will be using that for this project. It will be under construction for many years to come.

Probably close to a century of enchanting to be done. It will depend on how many skilled enchanters we can get on this task. Parts of this base are going to require a lot of magical power. That requires another relic that we already have and has been in our family for centuries.

It will require the family Silvertree to be moved onto the base. I have a unique divine spell to make that happen...came to me in my praying. It is out there but not in my memory yet. We have time before we have to make that move.

Everyone saw today's light show which is still going on and it will be for many years. Before it drops to what was normal. It will be several degrees hotter outside at mid-day for the next 10-50 years. This is all laid out in this prophecy from the church. The same prophet who predicted Eldar and the Grand Clerics.

Now you understand why I call it that and all information beyond this is classified. No divination will function to confirm this. We have permission to build at our own expense. Every enchanter will be gainfully employed for the next century; maybe longer. Nova left me the funds to do it from the captured Nova Base.

Helinna, our Master Enchantress, has been working diligently getting pieces of this built. She will not live to see the chaos that is coming most likely. When we will likely see the Base's departure, let alone the chaos that will come aftward. That means a new Master Enchanter will be selected at that point. They will have to work this end of the bridge when that occurs.

Also, any defenses the King needs back like the shields. I told the King 115 elves will be needed. We all know that number is going to grow; that is a minimum number. Children, heirs, and more wanting to go at the start. Eldar Base serves 2 purposes. One is an ark for our people to survive in another world.

Second, and most importantly, is to build the other half of this bridge. As such there are requirements for those going. They have to have faith, fertile, willing, and working constantly to generate more family. Also, the skills we will need. All casters going would be restricted, by the Gods, to tier 6 spells.

The exception is me, or my replacement, as I will have to cast and activate mythic spells. That is for divine and arcane magic. No bags of holding or handy haversacks. We will be using portable holes to carry things and we cannot afford to lose anything or anyone.

It will be a mix of skills but with a family of gestalts that is not generally a problem. I negotiated enough Keep space for around six thousand bodies so we have room to grow. Enchanting the secure shelters into each room will work to keep them fed as they are anchored to the walls.

Things we learned from the Nova Base research and captured spellbooks. I am going to go and eat in private because I have not eaten today. I still have to come to grips with what was thrust upon me. Questions...ask the Master Enchantress; she actually received guidance apparently."

He left them standing there clamoring for answers from Hellina.

Brycen walked in, "Secure shelter to all but me and my heirs. Close portal."

Brycen went back and sat at the table. He thought, "I woke up looking forward to being an adult to find the world is going to end in an undead horde."

He heard Nolla'Vasi, "Do not fret over what you cannot change. Focus on the tasks in front of you. That was cruel, what you did to the Master Enchanter."

He thought, "She earned it for shoving my hand on the sword and slapping this necklace upon me. She did not ask, explain, and it could have killed me instead. I have a right to be angry with her. If she knew more and it was certain she failed to voice it beforehand.

Task 1, empty the contents of my stomach into a chamber pot again...but hit the target this time. Task 2, return to Quatarsia and get a horse and hope he knows where I can find a few wives who can fuck me silly in 3 and a half days. Task 3 which I did this morning; pray again."

Nolla'Vasi did not have the heart to tell him the enchanter knew and the risk was non-existent. She was not allowed to share or discuss that fact regardless. It would be known eventually to him. She decided to let it go and not force the issue.

She knew how he felt as she had been saddled as a champion at birth without being asked or consulted. She often asked that question and never got an answer. Brycen sat there and ate in silence and outlined all of the tasks they would need to complete based upon the plans and added to it.

He wrote out a small book by the time he was done. Nolla'Vasi offered guidance along the way on some items. He walked out to a cleared room; except the Master Enchantress.

She looked at him, "You put me on the spot earlier."

Brycen looked at her wide-eyed, "REALLY, after what you did this morning you can expect a lot of that!"

She chuckled, "Alright, my interpersonal skills are sorely lacking in how I approached that with you. What task did you want to tackle first, The vessels?"

Brycen shook his head, "Another 175 years before I HAVE to deal with that. Will likely get to it much, much sooner. Likely in 10-20 years..maybe longer as we have to focus on a given project or two at a time. Tomorrow we will start on the house shield enchanting and creating our build environment for the bridge.

I need to take a group and outline the area I need to cut out around the Keep. Then take another group out to the plains and repeat it. With the middle cut out and one end open."

She looked at him, "What is the second one for?"

Brycen looked at her, "We will use a combination of the disintegrate spell and stone-shape to generate a 35-foot-tall 'U" shape exterior for even more rooms; with a top capable of having pasture on top for horses. Reusing the dirt, we will take-off of the bottom and a few shade trees. Our scouts will need something to keep up and elven War Horses will be required. The teleportation circle spell is restricted to me and any other Moon Blades that have it."

She looked at him; "You are building a portal room, right?"

He nodded, "Yes, one of the things the tree will help to power."

He had the tack and harness in one of the holes already. He walked out to find 20 enchanters waiting.

They looked at him as one spoke, "We want to get started."

Brycen nodded, "I need several walls of force put in place. 400 by 400-foot square. 150 feet tall. Leave a 40-foot opening on the back that is 20 feet high leading north. They need to have the tinting we use on eyeglasses enchanted into them. This is not hurting my eyes but it has to be fucking killing all of you.

The sword changed my eyesight. Then a roof over. Leave a foot gap all the way around that; to allow for air for the next decade or 2 due to the heat. I need 1 high-level enchanter to go and work with the Master Enchanter and work on the house shield."

He used the fly from the armor and flew up, "Open access to house Silvertree only all security walls down and security spikes off. The Master Enchanter and myself for security control." He flew back. "The rest of you can come with me."

Brycen had 8 with him and took them to the Fort. He drew a line around the whole thing. "Hire some local laborers to rake the top 10-15 feet of dirt off. 10 feet on either side and all the way up to the keep walls on the three shorter sides. Get us to the granite below this.

Take the trees down and save the dirt. Keep three of the larger shade trees on the long end, The Ironwood ones. Leave all the dirt on that end, that is where it will get piled up as we make the area deeper for tree roots. Except within 5 feet of the keep; take it to the granite all the way around. We have to lower the Keep to the rock below. That will take skill, patience, magic, and lots of time."

Brycen walked inside. To the top floor of the Keep proper. He looked at it. "I will have to modify for the multiple entrances to take it to one or convert it into the control room. Let us do that. This former Master bedroom will become our control room.

Each of these larger bedrooms set them up as secure shelters capable of feeding the maximum allotted. I am talking about the moveable versions for all of these. Also, each of these needs to become a bedroom for up to four who are married."

One of his cousins looked at him, "That would be a problem as we do not have God's lock."

He nodded, "But it gives you a chance to practice and find a design that works for the spaces. Not permanent straight away; design first. Find your best solutions to fit the space and next week we will look to start making them permanent. They get the outer dirt cleared so we can start cutting.

We will need to use a rod for 'mythic sculpt spell' to generate a disintegration beam that will become a 5-foot-wide beam. We have 2 of them. Taking it down to 40 feet of granite. Use a rod of 'mystic focus spell' To disintegrate the base putting in a force wall and making it permanent to keep it level.

Then the Master Enchanter and I can enchant the lower blocks, bind it to a control gem Then we repeat this process twice out on the plains except we cut it down. We will fly one back here to fill in the hole we make. The other will get cut into a 'U' shape. Before we enchant the lower blocks.

I want a focused beam straight up and down, around the center Keep. Perfect circle. I will want the center another thirty feet deeper then we will focus the beam and cut that off. The rod can focus it down to a narrow beam. We fly that center circle higher. Then we stone-shape it to push the Keep a good thirty feet higher.

With what we get from the plains it will be relatively level. The focused beam is what we will use to cut the 300-foot-wide hole that will be a good 100 feet down. The spell to move the tree will preserve the roots but it will get spread out in the bowl-like area we will build into the front section. It has to be deep and large to hold the tree and all of that dirt."

They looked over the plan he had drawn up and nodded. One asked, "What is with this raised section in the back."

He smiled, "For inside. We will hollow out large sections for more living quarters. Actually, using a stone shape with cross cuts in the rock to expand the area. Instead of destroying the rock, we will expand the area. It will get almost double the width and the length of what we have now. When we enchant that area, it will look like the blade wielders quarters fixed inside of that area."

His Cousin Vittra nodded, "It will be slightly smaller but that is the idea to bind it to the walls."

He nodded, "Exactly."

Vittra was a very distant cousin. By more than 12 generations from a different branch of the family. An Enchantress Blade Singer who enchanted swords, ring, and wondrous items. She was also skilled with a bow. 10 years older and she had a female lover who lived with her in one of the houses.

Brycen walked off, "I am going in search of a mount."

Vittra smiled and teased Brycen, "I thought you had another 4 days before you could mount."

Brycen smiled at her and shook his head, "Counting the days, are we?"

She turned red and walked away. She yelled back over her shoulder, "Maybe Lorranu and I both."

Brycen thought, "Such a tease."

He heard Nolla'Vasi, "Only if she is joking. Else she is flirting with you. I may not have been bound to a mate. I did have a lot of sex and several great lovers."

He groaned, "What I want is my great, 6 times removed grandmother talking about her sex life."

Brycen heard her chuckling in his head, "Point taken. I will try and live vicariously through your exploits."

Brycen chuckled, "Right you can see everything I see. So, when I am fucking someone you will see it. Do me a favor and save the critiques. At least until after I am finished."

Nolla'Vasi laughed, "I am not here to help with your sex life, but if I see of a way to improve your performance, I will let you know after the fact."

Brycen rolled his eyes when they were closed so she could not see it.

Brycen made it to the pasture and looked over the horses. "I am looking for a Stallion. I am an enchanter battle cleric Champion of Corellon Larethian. Charged with trying to save the elven people from the end of the world, yet again."

He had a white stallion run over toward him. Brycen looked at him "Drakon'Vos (Knight of light). He heard, "Hello, I like that name. you think of me as a knight?"

Brycen thought, "I need one of us to be a knight given everything coming."

He heard him chuckling at his comment.

He thought, "Given any insight into who my wife might be?"

Brycen heard laughter, "You ask this of your horses?"

Brycen smiled and thought, "You are my first Elven War Horse. I claimed my family Moon Blade and was given a grim picture of the future. The Gods have gone silent. We are to take things on faith."

He heard him, "Then have faith in yourself to find them."

Brycen thought, "Easy for you to say. You have a pasture full of mares ready to go. I am overwhelmed by the task and the time to get it completed."

Brycen got him saddled up and teleported them to the original dragon lands secure shelter. He looked down, "Long way down." He flew by. "They took the force walls off. Likely to keep from impeding movement."

Brycen flew by and held out his hand as they flew by the shelter door opened as he used his eyes to find the magical aura of the opening. He turned and flew inside. Brycen looked around and it was empty. Same for the next 2. The last one was empty except for a note addressed to 'Silvertree.'

Brycen opened it,

"I do not know if this will ever be read but I wanted to apologize for our departure. The Council's decision following our champion's guidance. We are off in pursuit of chromatics who escaped this world. They traveled the elemental planes, in some cases, or started using an interdimensional gate to travel to another world.

Possibly several of them as the gates are rather random and they likely traveled individually or in small groups and will be spread out to where they will end up going. The problem is they could be on 100,000+ worlds. We have to pursue them 1 world at a time and completely at random.

A handful of the older ones stayed behind. They do not expect to live beyond the nova or will escape on their own when the nova arrives which is less likely. They are very old.

If you have not had a nova you will and will have less than 500 years to get off the world before it goes dark. Probably much less time if you want to save more of your people. The sooner the better.

One of the things from our system was the ability to see that over several millenniums away. No metallics of breeding age will have remained behind. Only a few neutrals that will escape when the time arrives when they travel to their elemental plane. I know you will get asked about this.

There are no metallics of royal blood staying behind. Neutrals of Royal blood are likely not to be around if the Nova has already occurred. They will take that as a sign to depart if they have not done so already.

There should be few if any dragons remaining. Take the forge with you and we might meet again to help your people. I wish that would happen as your people did much to help my kind. I was not allowed to contact you and warn you directly.