Night Riders (Magi fanfic; Third Book)

~ Sixth Chapter ~

Judal led them through a large corridor over which was stretching a long red carpet. He stopped in front of a large golden gate, similar to those as in Sindria only on these stood crest of Kou Empire. Judal pushed the door. In front of them was opened a large room with a lot of chairs placed in the semicircle. All the chairs were occupied except one. On them were the princes and princesses of Kou Empire. Judal let them in before him. Avalon came in with her head raised, and the others followed. After them Judal closed the door and hurried to sit on an empty chair. Avalon, Emmet and the others stood in the middle of the semicircle.

"Thank you for receiving us." Avalon said, bowing to them at the waist.

The others imitated and silently bowed at the waist. Emmet, Harper, and Nathan did not even know what to do now. Aisha showed them with a hand to be silent.

"We are glad to see you, Avalon." said the man in the middle.

Avalon smiled gently at the man. And he smiled at her for a moment. He cleared his throat and he clapped his hands.

"We heard you have problems with the dark wizards." he started. "And that they settled in the woods near our country."

"You heard well."

"So we're interested in what happened between you and the Torment Brotherhood." he said and leaned in his throne.

"Why they decided to attack you?" asked the man to his right.

"Well..." Avalon sighed. "It's better to start from the beginning, isn't it?"

The man in the middle nodded. There was no sharp look on his face. He looked at them gently. This relaxed Nathan a little. Still, he still felt that everyone were tense. None of them met with four princes and two princesses at once.

"It all started two years ago, when I chose candidate for the throne. It was unintentional, but I did." Avalon began in a flat voice. "As we went through the woods, we were attacked by one of the dark wizards with his Metal Vessel. The fight took a long time, but I managed to eliminate him."

The princes nodded.

"At that moment came Chaz, the leader of the organization who settled here. He accused me that I killed his brother. I explained the situation that occurred. However, this did not calm him down. He said that he would someday get revenge."

Her eyes were flat, cold-looking. And her voice was cold. At that moment, Nathan felt as if Avalon does not have any emotion in her. As if they were all blocked.

"A few days later, while I led the candidate home, a horde of men in dark uniforms attacked us. With them was ten ghouls. I tried to protect my candidate. However, I have not succeeded. Chaz controlled them with his dark magic and forced them to tear up my candidate."

At her words, everyone was visibly shocked. Even Judal frowned wide-eyed.

"He killed your candidate?" Judas asked shockedly.

"Yes." Avalon confirmed. "After that they ran into the woods and did not appear any more." she sighed. "At the beginning of the school year, I felt the presence of a powerful wizard, so I went to Maysville to find him and, if he did not know it before, to tell him who he was."

She turned and pointed at Nathan. He did not move. He just buried standing while the eyes of princes and princesses rest on him. After a few seconds Avalon turned to the semi-circle again.

"He did not know what he was and made friends with Chaz. I did not immediately say what I know about him and I made a huge mistake. Chaz told ghouls to kill and hurt two of his friends, and this girl was poisoned." she said, pointing to Harper. "Then, with hundreds of ghouls, he attacked innocent people and tried to kill us."