SWNOVELXO Chapter 25: Wailings
After the departure of Sebastian's great grandfather, a knock came to to Sebastian's door. Sebastian sighed, he was walking towards the door when the person knocked again. A scowl appeared on Sebastian's face being that he was in bad mood. He squinted his eyes at the door for a moment before opening it slightly. "My Lord?" Benjamin's head came popping through the slight space of the opened door. Sebastian then opened the door fully, allowing Benjamin to come in. The moment Benjamin entered, he had a weird look on his face. The atmosphere in the room was different from what it usually was, yes it had a glint of eeriness before but now, it was worse and more dense. Like darkness itself had been there.
"My Lord. Was someone here?" Benjamin asked. "My great grandfather" came Sebastian's reply. Sebastian had told Benjamin about his great grandfather once but Benjamin had never set eyes on the man. Sebastian had described him with so much contempt that he began pondering on who Sebastian's great grandfather might really be and what the man did that made Sebastian hate him so much. "He sure is strange. Leaving all this darkness behind". "Well, Father Roberts is waiting on you my Lord. The body of the Coachman is on the wagon already, everyone is prepared to leave" Benjamin continued. "Give me five minutes and I'll there" Sebastian said walking towards his closet to put something on. Today was the burial of the Coachman Matthew. Normally, Sebastian didn't involve himself with things like this but he had already given Mr Nolan his word that he would take care of everything and besides, Mr Nolan had brought the body here so it would only be right to conduct a befiting burial for the Coachman. He couldn't bear to hear the wailings from the family members of the man, he only liked hearing the cries of humans when he is the one making them cry. So he would attend the burial but he won't stay for the whole process.
Letters had been sent out to the village where Matthew was from to invite them for the burial. The letter stated that the burial was going to be held in Blackthorn and also, it stated that the king was going to be present.
"Be quick honey. We need to be there early so we can greet the king before the burial starts" Mr Nolan said as he urged his wife to quickly prepare breakfast for the family. "I'm as fast as I can honey" his wife replied as she added seasoning to the meal she was preparing. Everyone in the family was going to the burial. Matthew was a friend to Mr Nolan so it be be disrespectful not to attend the man's burial. After Mrs Nolan was done preparing breakfast, they all ate and headed off the the site where the burial was going to take place. Father Roberts and Benjamin were in one carriage while the king was in a carriage of his own. Sebastian had picked a cemetery in Blackthorn which was the village Matthew was from and that was where they were heading. After few minutes of being on the road, the king and his subjects arrived Blackthorn. The family of Mr Nolan and the family of Matthew were already present when the king arrived. The moment they saw the king, they all greeted and hailed him. The burial ceremony had began and the family members and close friends of Matthew were giving their speech about how good the man was. Soon, the heaven's opened and rain started pouring down making everywhere seem more dull and dark. Since no one had come with an umbrella, everyone had to bear being under the rain till the burial ceremony was over.
The family of Matthew were crying their eyes out. The unexpected death of the man had affected them so much to the extent that Matthew's wife was seated on the ground, crying and pulling on her hair. Her son tried coaxing her but the more he tried, the more it got worse. Sebastian glanced at the woman as she expressed her deep sorrow. As he glanced at her, he felt nothing. Maybe if it was Mr Nolan who had died he would have felt bad. Sebastian excused himself from the gathering. He needed a break from hearing the woman wail and cry. Benjamin wanted to follow him but the king asked him to stay with the others. Sebastian stood in front of the cemetery for a while as his mind went to what his great grandfather had told him earlier. "Someone was after his life?". He wasn't afraid, he just wondered who it was that dared have him as a target. Meanwhile, the Nolan family were standing along with the others. But something unexpected happened, Mirabelle Nolan gently pinched her mother by the side and whispered "I want to ease myself. Can I go?". Mrs Nolan glanced at her blind daughter and whispered back "You seriously want to relieve yourself right now? Can't you hold it in?". Mirabelle shook her head.
It wasn't her intention to distract anyone or anything. If she could see, she would have sneaked away and returned without anyone knowing but now she needed someone to help her. Her mother stared at her for a while and sighed "Let's go". She held Mirabelle's hand as they quietly separated from the group.