They are innocent

When Ned and William saw the kids they wanted to rush to their sons but the situation they were at kept them from moving. The kids looked pale and weak but aside from that they seemed alright so they sighed in relief.

Since the prisoners have arrived we shouldn't waste anymore time and start this meeting said Zair.

Who among you represent your king asked Zair.

Rhea stood up from her seat and said I am the temporary representative of the king of midgaard for this matter. Zair nodded in response and continued.

Let's begin with the question that whether or not they belong to your territory? asked lord zair while looking at the boys first and then the elders.

Yes, they are one of us said Rhea.

Good, then do you mind explaining to me what are four of your youths doing in our territory? And how did they manage to pass the ancient barriers.

Rhea explained to lord Zair about elder Jorak and his betrayal. She also explained to him how Jorak manipulated the kids through his disciples and how he opened a fissure in the magical barrier through which the kids entered the forest.

Johan and his friends cursed at their stupidity, the elders words confirmed their doubts that they were fooled by Treius all this time.

When we investigated the site of the fissure before restoring the barrier, we found traces of chaos.

Hearing about chaos shocked the lord. Ned and William too were equally shocked.

Do you any proof to support your words said Zair.

Rhea took out a vial filled with some black mass from her robe. She handed it over to zair.

Zair's eyes turned into two blue fiery slits while looking at the black mass in the vial. He was using a diagnostic spell and it showed to him that the vial was an enchanted item with darkness magic.

Chaos was not part of the six elements. It came into existence as a result of the damage that the world sustained due to the great war. Yggdrasil, the world tree was severely damaged too keep the world from collapsing by using her own life force to cover the fringes formed at all the corners of Valengaurd. She managed to close the fringes but the darkness of the endless Abyss outside somehow managed to enter the world giving birth to chaos.

His spell confirmed that the black mass was indeed Chaos itself found at the distant corners of Valengaurd. It also had traces of the spells used to keep the barrier up.

He placed the vial on the desk and looked at the elders and said do you mean to say that this Jorak you mentioned not only manipulated these four but he performed chaos magic to break the barrier asked Zair.

Yes

Then why should I believe that it wasn't these four that broke the barrier and that you are not involved in this asked Zair.

You could always check us with your diagnostic spell said Rhea.

The lord stood up and walked towards Johan's group. His eyes turned fiery again and his spell confirmed they were clean. They would have traces of chaos if they were the ones who did it and three among the four had a very low affinity with magic while one had zero affinity towards it. So there was no way they crossed the borders and entered the forest on their own. He then did the same to the elders including Ned and William and the results of the spell was same.

He went back to his seat and signalled Rhea to continue.

As you can already assume, Jorak is a follower of chaos and he along with his disciples plotted all of this. And until now we had no idea about this. Only the master mages of the mage tower at the royal capital and the king himself has access to the control of the barrier. So there's no way we were involved in this.

As for the kids, they were clearly tricked with the promise for power. I assume that it was a petty trial of theirs to trigger war between the two nations using the kids.

The four of them are just innocent victims who got trapped in all of this mess saying this Rhea ended her statement and waited for the lord's decission.

Zair didn't say anything for a while. He was processing all the information and the statement of both the elders and the four youths. It was clear that Jorak was responsible for all this and the others didn't had any hand in this matter. But the man in question was missing and the pact was broken.

Someone has to take the blame for all of this or else the consequences would be worse and severe.

The lord finally made his decision : As the representative of the Emperor Lokar stormborn, the ruler of Nilfgaard. And by the authority he has bestowed upon me. I, Zair Blackstar, the lord of Nilfheim declare that the human Jorak is charged guilty of the several crimes against the ice giants that breaches the terms of the ancient pact and the oath of our ancestors.

Nilfgaard demands the blood of the human Jorak along with his accomplices from the humans as a compensation as it was your carelessness that lead to these events.

As for the four youths, he looked at Johan's group and said they might be manipulated but they are still responsible for their crimes.

Hearing this the four of them, Ned and William turned pale.

Rhea knew what the lord was trying to put the blame on the kids but before she could say anything the lord cut him short.

But taking into consideration their age and naivety, as an act of mercy I will not sentence them to death.

Ned and William sighed in relief but the elders knew better that it was not that simple. He was not going to let this slide easily and just as they predicted the lord revealed his true intentions.

I sentence them to a lifetime of slavery!