Lunar Flare Book 2: Midnight Eclipse

Chapter ???

William was roughly dragged down the corridor by his upper arm, still trying to eat the drumstick he had managed to grab from the table before he had been apprehended. He quickly figured out where he was being taken; towards the Wizard Council chambers, of course. They had to climb quite a few flights of stairs as the chambers were located in the upper part of the enormous castle which served as the Magus Academy's campus. Soon they reached a large ornate door, which led into the main chamber that the council sat in for meetings.

The faculty staff promptly turned to the right, pulling William around to another smaller door. One of the wizards snatched what remained of the drumstick from his hands and with a quick word of magic made it disintegrate, before Will was pushed in through the door, into a small antechamber which was connected to the main meeting chamber by a currently closed door. Will was guided over to a chair which was placed in the middle of the room and forced to take a seat on it.

William glanced up at the wizards who had manhandled him, glaring at them for a moment before turning his attention forward, to the person who stood a little way in front of the chair he was seated in. It was a tall man wearing ornate robes, who had a greying beard and a bald head. His hands were clasped in front of him, hidden under the massive sleeves of his robes, which were made of fine blue fabric with details embroidered in golden thread. He was frowning at William.

The council member unclasped his hands to shoo the faculty staff members away with a small wave. They bowed slightly before heading back out the door. Then the older wizard approached William, who stared up at him defiantly.

"Would you care to explain yourself, Mr Fellowes?" the council member, whose name was Galdur, asked Will in a measured tone.

"Where's Alexavier? I thought it was usually his job to reprimand me," Will asked brashly.

"He is currently trying to get your sister down from the ceiling," Galdur said in a completely humourless tone. "Do you understand the gravity of your situation, William?"

Will couldn't help but snicker slightly and the ironic use of phrasing that the older wizard had uttered. Galdur glared at him, clearly unimpressed.

"Do you know how much trouble you are in, William?" Galdur attempted to rephrase.

"Hrm, I'm not entirely sure, why don't you spell it out for me?" Will goaded intentionally. This wasn't the first time he had been seated in this chair with someone chewing him out, though normally it was Alexavier himself who did the honours.

Galdur sighed with exasperation. "You used a dark magic spell. Dark magic is forbidden, especially for-" he suddenly cut himself off, appearing slightly alarmed. Galdur quickly tried to regain his composure and cleared his throat. "It is forbidden, everyone knows this," he ended his statement as if he hadn't just changed what he was going to say.

"Oh oh, does this mean you're finally going to kick me out of the Academy?" Will said with eagerness which was only partially faked. "I best go get packing then!" he made a motion as if he was about to get to his feet.

Galdur raised a single hand to indicate that Will should halt his action. "Your punishment will be up to The Grand Magus to decide," he explained, and Will slouched back against the chair again.

"Then what are you doing here, baldy?" Will asked pointedly.

Galdur made a sound of displeasure. "I am here to question you about the incident and report my findings back to the council once the Grand Magus returns. So, if you would like to stop wasting time, would you care to explain what happened?"

William groaned dramatically. "My sister was being awful, as usual, so I cast a spell on her to get her to shut up. That's really all there is to it," he explained, sounding a little exasperated himself.