Silvertree Chronicles Bk 01 Ch 18

Silvertree Chronicles Book One, Chapter 18, The World Awaits (Dragon Wars Enhanced Edition)

Synopsis: The life of Eldar Silvertree from graduation at the prestigious Elven Academy and desire to leave it behind; only to return full circle to shake Elven Society to the core.

***Inspired by multiple fantasy environments. Not endorsed by any of them. © EmotionalStorm April 2021. This story cannot be transferred to any other site besides Literotica.com without the prior authorizations in writing from the author and EmotionalStorm must be credited for this work.

Authors warning: This section contains scenes of incest between sisters.

Authors Note: For those who have not read my bio, please note I write as a form of therapy for a Traumatic Brain Injury. I know the English majors will probably encounter issues that annoy them. If these are your focus, instead of the story itself, then this is not the story for you. I am not and will never be a professional writer.

I do it to tell the story, for those who wish to read them. I originally submitted this story back in mid-2017 to mid-2018. I have worked to try and improve my writing style while struggling with this issue. I have added some editing software and written a few other stories. Now I am revising and editing this earlier work to try and bring it up to a higher standard from what I have managed to learn over the last few years.

Chapter 18

To Build a Town

They walked out to the horses with the Royal Guards. Eldar and his ladies got a round of applause from them as they mounted up. He put Annette behind him and Charlemagne got behind Hunter. Eldar looked at Hunter, "I think the horse could use a good trot or gallop today."

Charlemagne glared at Eldar, "Disregard that order, we might HURT someone if we do!"

Eldar smiled at her veiled threat, "You heard the Command her logic is sound."

Hunter laughed and shook his head.

Eldar wanted to add 'to save her clit' but he kept that to himself.

Annette groaned, "I just tried to get you to slap yourself for that one and I could not get through."

Eldar nodded, "I know, as I felt it. One of the things from the sword blocking mind control."

Annette squeezed him, "If I was not so busy hugging you, I would have slapped you for that one."

They headed off to the market district and found their wagons and other horses were stabled. He got a list of what supplies he thought they would need to Skinner and Cook to start that process, "You 2 think of anything else such as a complete kitchen or 10 add it to the list. Take one of the guards with you so they know who you are.

Have them stage it for the moment. I want all the wagons checked, for wear, tear, and wheels greased. Just have them get the order together, I need to talk with the stable owner and get the horses looked over while we are here. If we need the extra wagons best to get them now."

Eldar looked at the group. "I need Hunter, Eagle-eye, Keyno, Tranosa with Charlemagne and Annette. Let's speak with the stable master. You know him, Charlemagne?"

Charlemagne nodded, "He doesn't like Half-Elves very much."

Eldar nodded, "Then I guess I will open up negotiations with one of our Royal Guards to keep things civil."

They headed inside and Charlemagne pointed out the owner, "He goes by the name Borass Greentree, a city born Wood Elf."

Eldar walked over to the owner, "Greetings. I am here to do business."

The owner looked at him then looked at his companions, "Them I have seen before, you are a new face. What do you want?"

Eldar stared back, "I have several things on the list today starting with the 4 wagons we already own. I need them greased and checked for any breaks, on the wagons.

We leave in 3 days and we are looking to buy quite a bit if you have what we need."

Greentree looks at Eldar, "What are you looking for?"

He smirked at him. "Let us start with horses, workhorses, and riding horses. Once we have a number that passes my team's experts, we will be looking at wagons. Then we will want saddles, bridles, tackle, and harnesses for pulling lumber out of the forest.

We will want to double up tack gear Hunter. It is a couple of days into town and until we get the leatherworking up, we want to avoid delays."

Greentree looks at Eldar, "You building a city?"

Eldar held the village contract, "It will be a town in 2 years if not sooner cover 80 square miles on both elven and human land that we now have control over. We provide protection over 400 square miles."

Eldar showed him the Gray Blade charter. "We were told you would be expecting us. This gentleman here is one of our Royal Guard escorts who is supposed to arrange some pricing on what we buy. We were supposed to come late yesterday but got delayed helping the Queen with other matters."

He looked up from the documents, "I got 50 riding and 60 workhorses."

He looked over at Tranosa, "Take Keyno to look over the riding horses, Hunter and Eagle-eye look over the workhorses. The three of us would like to see what you have in covered wagons. Eagle-eye and Hunter. We need you to double-check the handful of mounts Keyno is picking out. See if there are any issues. She is looking for very trainable horses."

Greentree looks at Eldar, "Train them to do what, shit in a spot?"

Eldar looked at him, "No, to be able to handle sudden weight shifts while at a full gallop. As the rider with a bow swings along the side to shoot pursuers and rights back into the saddle. To come to the owner when called. To move to a safe distance from a fight."

Greentree looks at Eldar, "Horse pucky."

Eldar pointed out at the white riding horse, "Would you like to see such a horse? She is looking to train more. Her skill with a bow has the Master Bowsmith of one Wood Elf village, Misora, agreeing she is worthy of one of his bows. She will have the second bow made from a Silvetree. The first one is mine, then my archers and scouts."

He looked at Eldar skeptically, "How did she prove herself worthy?"

Eldar looked at him, "Two shots from horseback and one from the ground. The one from the ground I advised her to shot out the support lines of 2 moving targets as they crossed and she destroyed the practice range. If you want to see a demonstration, she will be putting one on at the Academy tomorrow after the midday meal. This is not a joke."

He nodded, "I never got your name. What do they call you?"

Eldar chuckled, "Commander Eldar Silvertree of the Gray Blades, Grand Master Blade Singer. Others have other titles for me but if you hear them with Eldar Silvertree then they are talking about me. Wagons, what do you have?"

He looked at Eldar, "Two 16-foot wagons, two 20-foot wagons, and six 24-four-foot wagons."

He looked to Charlemagne who gave him her thoughts, "The 16-footers and 20-footers are easy to handle. The 24-footers would be a problem for long trips and even just the short ones unless you hook up a 6-horse team to them."

He thought for a moment, "What about for a mobile leatherworking or blacksmith shop. Using just four-horse teams to travel the main road and service the town's needs?"

Charlemagne looked at him, "The extra room would work well for a leather shop fixing tack and harness."

Eldar looked at her, "Check out the 2 16s and 20s. I need to talk with Keyno before deciding on the 24 but look at one of those as well. We will take the 16 and 20 if they pass her inspection. Going back to check on horses."

They headed back to the horses. Eldar saw one by itself. It was pure black with a double crescent on the back-left thigh. Eldar looked at Greentree, "What is the story with that horse?"

He huffed, "Some lady sold it to me a couple of weeks ago. Nobody here can get near it."

Eldar looked at him, "How much is the horse?"

Greenleaf looked at him, "I can't sell it like it is. I do not know if it is even broken yet."

Eldar looked at him, "A fine creature like that should not be broken, you must come to an understanding with it. How much?"

He looked at Eldar, "I will sell him to you with the discount already applied, 700 gold pieces."

Eldar smiled at him, "I will make a bet with you, you bring me a new tack and harness.

All black fine quality and a soft but firm horse blanket in black or dark gray. I will give you 800 hundred gold pieces for the horse if you take my bet. I will come to an agreement with the horse. I am certain I can get it saddled and ride it out of here in less than 30 minutes. If I do, you will sell me the horse with all the gear on it for 500 gold pieces. What do you say?"

He looked at Eldra, "You make it 600 I will take that bet. But if you lose it is 1,200 including the gear."

Eldar looked at him, "Time to find a saddle and bridle. One without a bit to it."

He snorted, "You are not going to have much control over the animal that way."

Eldar looked at him, "It is not about control it is about coming to an understanding with the beautiful creature. The horse is male capable of breeding?"

He looks at Eldar, "The parts are still there."

Eldar asked back, "What do you have in mithril chain barding?"

Greentree looks over to Eldar, "You think you can get barding onto that horse?"

Eldar shrugged, "I have not seen the barding to make that decision."

They got back to his shop and Eldar found a black saddle with mithril buckles. A matching set of reins and bridle with no mouthpiece.

A soft gray blanket that was not standard wool. He didn't know what the material was but it should work. He found Greentree, "What is the material on this horse blanket?"

He looked at it, "You would find that blanket I only get a few a year it comes from the humans. It is made from a special type of goat wool. That blanket goes for 10x a normal one. It is durable as well as soft...you did say soft blanket. Alright, we will keep that in the package, nice saddle, and bridle. No saddlebags?"

Eldar shook his head, "This horse is not a pack mule."

He followed him back to a large room. He has three sets of mithril barding. All different in style and shape. The first was too restrictive for the legs. The second obstructed the horse's view. The third set was much smaller, it had a piece to cover the head halfway to its mouth, the neck from the main down to the body.

It shot around the top of the front leg hip joint but would not constrict too much. It has a section that came down the center of the chest. That buckled underneath in front of the saddle. It covered the sides and then angled sharply up and toward the tail. "How much for this set?"

Greenleaf looked at Eldar, "2,400 gold pieces. They consider it half barding. With the discount, I will sell it to you for 2,000 gold pieces."

Eldar nodded. "I will take the barding but as I do not have a lot of experience with it, I will not put in on as part of this wager."

He smiled. They walked back out. He sent Annette to grab 12 apples for him. He set the barding, saddle, bridle, and blanket on the fence. Annette returned with the apples. He slid them into the bag of holding for the moment.

Eldar looked at him, "Time starts when I enter the corral."

Hunter and Eagle-eye had seen him. They looked at what he had sitting on the fence. Hunter looks at Eldar, "Another one of those feelings you got?"

Eldar nodded, "The horse turns and he could now see the double crescent. He looked at Eldar, "That is a War Horse. A beautiful one at that. You got all this gear for it?" Eldar nodded. "What kind of wager did you put on it?"

Eldar just smiled and looked at everyone. "Please stay at least 10 feet away from this section of the fence."

He pulled out his boot dagger and put the first cut into the apple, and slid between the rails. He slowly walked out with the soft blanket under his arm. He stopped about 10 feet from the horse and introduced himself speaking in elven, "I am Eldar Silvertree. I plan to take you out of this corral.

I will never throw a rope around you, use a bridle with a bit, or use any kind of spurs on you. I will only ride you into a battle if I must. I use acrobatics to get off of horses quickly and let you get to safety if you choose. I have light barding to protect you but we will leave that for another time."

He finished cutting the slice out of the apple and ate it. He dropped the rest on the ground at his feet and back away 8 feet and pulled another apple out. The horse moved over and grabbed the apple he dropped. He put the first cut into the second apple, "I have bought only the best gear for you including this soft blanket under my arm."

He dropped the apple as he ate the slice.

He stepped back 6 feet this time and grabbed another apple as the horse continued to move forward. "I intend to call you T'suras which means, 'Coming from the night sky'. Like you, I have 2 crescent moons. Mine is on the back of my head, my armor, wedding ring, and sword." He took a slice and dropped the apple.

He backed away 4 feet. "I am the Knight Champion of Corellon Larethian. I believe our destinies are intertwined T'suras."

He dropped the apple and sheathed his knife but did not slice the apple. He pulled out another apple and backed away 2 feet from T'suras. "The man at the stable thinks I need to control you, to break you. I told him we just needed to come to an understanding."

He extended his hand with the apple about a foot and he stood just a couple of feet from the fence rail. He took a step back and fully extended his arm while pulling the next apple. T'suras sniffed his hand and took the apple He backed up to the rail. "I will put 3 things on. This blanket, a bridle without a bit, and a saddle. For each one, I will give you another apple T'suras."

He handed the horse the apple extending it off to his left. The horse moved over and Eldar patted the side of his face, "I will work to brush you down myself at least a couple of nights a week when we are out together." He pulled another apple out and placed the blanket out from under his arm so he could sniff it.

"This is the softest blanket they have, it will cushion the saddle." He placed it softly on his back. He slid his hand through the opening in the bridal, "If I am required to tie you down this is what I will use, it will not hurt your mouth and it will let you know where I want us to go when we travel."

Eldar let T'suras smell the bridal and took the apple as he slid it over the top of his head and secured it. He pulled another apple and set it on the saddle, "This is the heaviest part of the gear I will put on you right now. I will ride you alone or with one of my wives on occasion. I will limit any other riders."

He let T'suras sniff the saddle and while he held the reins loosely. He waited for T'suras to take the apple. He grabbed the saddle and placed it on his back on top of the blanket.

He pulled out the final apple, "Part of my agreement with the man is I have to ride you out of here. I will need to secure the saddle and this will feel a little tight. I will set this one on the ground so you can see what I am doing."

He placed the apple at his feet. He stepped to the side and knelt. He grabbed the strap from the other side and ran it through the buckles. He watched him breathe then cinched it in place. He stood and made sure to have a firm grasp of the reins. "If you do not throw me, I will take good care of you and let you pick out 2 mares to take home to be your wives like I have my 2 wives."

He climbed onto T'suras and slid into the saddle. He hesitated for a minute and Eldar got him pointed toward the gate by saying "Biana." (forward). He knew this horse was trained now and would respond to elven command words.

He got to the gate. Greentree stood there dumbfounded. Eldar rode out of the stable. He waited for the stable master to close the gate. He patted T'suras. "Thank you T'suras."

He looked at Hunter, "We find any good mares?"

He looked at T'suras, "T'suras is in the market for a couple of brides. I told him he could pick them."

That got everyone to laugh. They got to the mares and T'suras passed them all up and walked to the fence; He looked over at Hunter as two brown mares approached the fence. "Why did you pass these two over?"

Hunter looked over, "To be honest, they were not riding horses or workhorses. They are War Horses. they look pretty good. Let me check them out for you."

Eldar looked at Hunter, "You won't find anything major with these 2. Add them to the tab and we can go settle up."

Hunter pulled them out and brought them over and they all rubbed noses. He turned T'suras and they walked on. He yelled back to Hunter, "Bring the two mares forward and hand one off to each of my wives."

He stopped in front of Annette and Charlemagne. "Annette you pick first going after the apples, T'suras picked them out. I thought who better to ride them."

Charlemagne grabbed hers and pulled it forward. He asked Hunter to hand him the barding. He brought it over and Eldar put it into the bag of holding. He told T'suras, "We can look at putting this on tomorrow for the show but not today."

He looked over and saw Keyno, "How did the talent search go?"

She smiled, "I found 7 with the right temperament; 3 males and 4 mares I think one is with a foal."

He looked over, "That reminds me. Until you get your business up and running, did you want to look at doing work out of a 24-foot wagon? Should give you room to move and start on saddles right away."

Keyno looked at him, "I would have to see the wagon. Can you show me?"

He pointed to Charlemagne, "She checked out the wagons we have added 4 more to take us to 8 and we have the horses already pulled; we are getting the horses regardless as we will need additional horses for labor anyway. Hunter, what is the final headcount on horses?"

Hunter fired back, "We have 37 riding, 3 warhorses, and 30 workhorses."

He looked over, at Charlemagne and Annette, "You want to grab saddles, bridles without bits, blankets for your new horses and work out names for them. They are married after all."

He got a few laughs at that comment. He looked at Hunter, "That gets us a few short of a hundred with what we already have. Not a bad start."

He waved Hunter, over. "I got the horse, the soft blanket, the new saddle, and the bridle for 600 gold pieces. I bought the barding separately for 2,000 gold pieces."

Hunter shook his head, "You and your double crescents."

Eldar smiled, "I have it as a birthmark. I did not know until Charlemagne told me. She assumed I did. She heard it from her first husband and Annette confirmed it. I just knew I was born on the night of the double crescent."

Hunter nodded, "It has been following since the day you were born."

Eldar nodded and smiled back at him. Eldar looked for one of the Royal Guard escorts as Keyno came up, "The 24-footer will work for a while especially since you are pulling me off horses in 6 months; I will end up loaning mine out while making more."

Eldar looked over at Hunter, "Tell Charlemagne to add that 24-footer to the bill."

He waved over the guard, "I have to ask. How many horses can we stable at the inn? Also, I will need to stable this one myself. It is not trusting of strangers."

He smiled, "One per rider you need to stable the others here; we can get you to the stable."

Eldar smiled, "This one can only be stabled in the same stall as the 2 mares my wives will be riding; can you make the arrangements for that please."

He nodded, "That will not be an issue."

Eldar looked at Hunter, "Can you work arrangements to stable my other mount here? Let Charlemagne know 'a lot of brushes' for the horses."

He rode over to the general store and saw Skinner through the door, "Skinner, make sure we got enough horse feed and hay for 100 horses for 3 months. We got 5 more wagons so space should not be a problem."