Soul Riders | Star Stable

The Unknown | Chapter 5

Nicole asked so many questions on the way to Valedale Alex was struggling to keep riding with her. The urge to ride away was making her mad. Time was passing to slowly. 

But finally they made it to Valedale, Alex led Nicole to Avalon's house (*a druid) and told her to wait outside. Alex didn't even knock, and found that the door was open, so she stepped inside. Avalon was reading, as was usual, and looked up at Alex when she entered, keeping his face concealed. "We have a minor, little issue, that I need your help with." Alex told him

Avalon sighed, "what happened?"

"Well, I saw a shadow creature when I was out on a ride with Tin-Can. So, naturally I destroyed it but a girl saw me strike it. Can you make it"

Another deep sigh, "The potion can take days to make, even by the most experienced hands." Avalon droned on. "Luckily last month, I experienced boredom when I was rereading the Pandorian Codex for the twelfth time. So, I decided to start making another batch. Let me brew a cup of tea to slip it into, I will appear outside soon." 

Alex left and greeted Nicole as she went outside, "My err- uncle is making some tea, would you like some?" 

"I think I'm okay, no than-" 

Alex cut Nicole off, "he insists." She smiled in what she hoped achieved a somewhat not scary look.

Nicole sounded hesitant, "sure..." she trailed off.

Alex noticed Nicole looking distractedly behind her shoulder, Alex looked and saw Avalon. The first time she saw Avalon she was weirded out too. He kept a hood concealing his face at all times, and glided around when he walked. It was hard to tell if he had feet because of his long thick robes. "Oh, and look here he is!" Avalon was moving towards them with two cups of tea. He handed one to Alex and Nicole. Nicole looked apprehensive, so Alex took a sip. Even though tea was the last thing she felt like right now, this was important. Nicole took a sip too, and Avalon went back inside.

"Do you want to sit by the river?" Alex suggested. It should be setting in any minute now.

"Sure."

Avalon lived right by Silversong river, the girls walked over to the bank and stuck there feet in the water. Alex was still waiting.

"So, do you live on Jorvik, I haven't seen you around here before."

"No, I just wanted to see where I was born, my parents left right after."

Alex started showing a worried look on her face, which Nicole noticed when she looked over at her.

"Were you born here?" Nicole asked.

"Uh, yeah." Maybe it was defective, Alex didn't know what to do, so she knocked her tea over and it splilled down the bank.

"I'm so clumsy, jeeze. One sec, I will be right back, I'm just gonna get a refill." She smiled.

Nicole nodded, and made ripples with her feet in the water.

Alex went back inside Avalon's house. His hood looked up when she entered. "How long does it take to set in?" Alex asked nervously.

"Secounds to a minute," Avalon replied. 

"It's not working! Does it have a defect!"

"No, It was already used last week, it worked flawlessly last time. Hmm, I believe we may need to discuss this with Fripp. This is very unusual indeed." Avalon murmured.

"So, what do we do about her? How do we keep her alone, so she doesn't tell anyone?" 

"Keep her occupied, I will speak to Fripp, be sure to be here in an hour." Avalon left and Alex followed him out.

Nicole was still waiting on the river bank.

"Where's your uncle going?"

"He is umm, going to work." Alex replied.

"What does he do?"

"He's a stable hand." Alex sat shocked, she could not believe she just said Avalon was a stable hand. She had never seen Avalon near a horse and the thought of him mucking out a stall in his thick robes made her want to giggle.

"Really?!" Nicole said. Alex nodded, trying to stay serious.

"Would you like to go on a short tour of Jorvik?" Alex asked changing the subject.

"Umm, sure." 

"I will invite a friend, to come along with us, it will be fun." Alex sent a message to the group chat.

"Lisa, Anne? Can you come to Valedale and help me give a tour of Jorvik?"

Lisa replied, "sorry, I'm having dinner with my dad tonight."

"np," Alex wrote back. 

Anne's message read, "Sure be there in 10."

Once Anne arrived they left and gave a short tour of Jorvik, Anne and Nicole talked about Jorvik's shopping centre's, while Alex listened uninterested. It was almost an hour, Alex decided it would be best if they started heading back now. She pulled out her phone and looked at it for a secound before saying "My uncle just texted, said I should head back so I don't miss dinner."

Anne looked curious, she knew Alex wasn't close with her uncle AT ALL. So, to hear about her having dinner with him was a surprise and she suspected something was up.

"Would you guys mind riding back with me?"

The girls both nodded, Anne still looking curiously at Alex. She knew something was going on. Once they went back to Valedale, Avalon was waiting outside his house for Alex. 

"Ahh, Anne, how nice to see you." He greeted when the rode up. "Me and Fripp discussed this and it isn't something easily fixed. We have both agreed it would be best if all of you could go to the Secret Stone Circle that way we can talk in private. Fripp usually doesn't like strangers, but he knew the importance of this."

Alex faced Nicole, "do you trust me?"

"Why do I have too?"

"Because what your about see and most likely be told, you may think it's all a lie."

"Well, maybe tomorrow? I should be getting back." Nicole looked frightened.

"If you want to know what and why that happened on the field, I suggest you come with me."