4. Chaotic Burial

It was a beautiful scene indeed. The happy dancers shaking and moving in accordance with feathered and rainbow coloured costumes, shrieking in excitement. Reven felt highly entertained by the Singers and Dancers who made the burial look like a harmonious ceremony.  

      He laughed occasionally at the dancers weird moves and at the singers flat lines, completely unaware of the turning heads and murmurs people made towards him.  

       It took him a while to notice that he was the only person laughing and he was the only person in blue tee-shirts and a white short instead of the regular all black attire. He was the only odd person in the gathering and he didn't seem to mind.  

        Reven was still laughing when Natalie came in with her father, her brother and the rest of her pack. Demenicus patted Reven on his lap and whispered in his ears, "Remember what I told you." 

     "Yes, father. Is she the really pretty girl that 

mounted off that nice horse?" 

       "Yes, and it will do you no good by laughing at the burial of a woman who was like a mother to her. So, put in some character, boy." 

       "Okay, i'll try but these dancers are just too funny to ignore." He said struggling to conceal his smile. 

        "Be serious, Reven. We can't miss this opportunity because of some silly dancers." 

       "Okay." 

  As Demenicus took a few steps back behind Reven, a smile formed in his lips. He was so proud of Reven, and he just couldn't hide his endearing love for his son. 

      Reven stared at Natalie for a while and soon lost interest at the dancers. He stared at her with his mouth agape for several seconds and finally whispered to himself, "She is such a beautiful creature."

It didn't take Natalie long before she noticed her mysterious charmer staring right at her. She looked away in shock. Her heart was beating faster than ever, her mind was racing with several crazy thoughts.  

      Why is he looking at me? Did he notice me staring at him earlier ? Then to more disturbing thoughts. Why is he standing among the Skull pack? Why in heaven's name is he standing next to Demenicus Darke? Is he from the Skull Pack? Is he one of Demenicus sons? Is he Demenicus bastard son? 

Her thoughts were interrupted by Oritz, who whispered to her, "Are you alright?" 

      "Yes." She said firmly. 

     "Are you sure? Because you look like someone who has just seen a ghost." 

     She faced him with a fake smile on her face, "Thanks so much for caring, But I Am Okay!!!"

Oritz returned her fake smile and said with a soft voice, "Just know I'm here to help if you ever encounter a problem." 

       "Yes of course, if I ever encounter any problem, trust me you'll be the very first person I will contact." Natalie said sarcastically. 

     "That's wonderful to hear, little sis." 

Natalie watched Oritz walk off into the thick crowd and her thoughts quickly drifted back to the mysterious charmer. She didn't want to think about him, at least not on Yvonne's burial.  She attempted shutting her eyes and taking several deep breaths which seemed to help a little bit.

Delia struggled with her long black dress which Heathrow had selected for her. She complained about everything, from the loud and talentless dancers to the singers to the dress to the people attending the burial and then to Heathrow.  

      With impatience, she instructed Heathrow to stop the dancers from dancing and to shut the singers up. She demanded for the casket carriers to bring the body of her mother out, so that the burial wouldn't be too long. 

     Within a few minutes, The old but still beautiful Yvonne Ney was carried out by the casket carriers and was taken around the crowd(as such was the tradition) in golden attire and with jeweleries and several ornaments adorned beautifully on her. 

      As the casket Carriers carried her close to Natalie and the Deadbolt pack, a heavy teardrop fell from Natalie's eyes. Although she cleaned all trace of it immediately it fell, Reven still noticed the teardrop and for the first time he truly acknowledged her beauty. She was way more gorgeous than he had thought. Her face was the most wonderful work of nature. Every shape and curve of her body seemed to be a work of perfection. He couldn't help himself from looking stupidly at her. 

After Delia had given her perfectly displayed speech, Yvonne Ney was set into the ground. As soon as Yvonne was in the ground, Delia made a ridiculously loud sound which raised eyebrows from everyone. She fell to the ground in an attempt to make people see that she was grieving but she was just so wrong with the sound of her cries. Heathrow slowly crouched down and whispered to her to reduce the sound as it was arousing suspicion.  

        To add to the ridiculous wails of Delia, she made the situation worse by stopping abruptly and whispering sharply into Heathrow's ears. "Call the goddamn Seers for them to perform  the final rites." 

     Natalie could not help but notice the falsehood in Delia. She was really shocked by Delia's actions and was standing totally perplexed. 

     Within minutes, the twelve old seers and the only young seer, Taz, walked toward the open grave.  

      Everything was going well and as planned for Delia and Heathrow until Taz had a vision right there as he performed some of the rites. He shook violently on the  ground and his eyes had turned pure white. Everyone waited in alert to hear what the seer had to say, and finally he said; "No, she can't be buried. Not until the killer is found and persecuted. No, bring her out!!!" 

    Delia couldn't believe her eyes, she slowly murmured "No, no, no." 

        Everyone was surprised. Handogan had never expected such a turn out.  

      Taz was still on floor, shouting in a loud voice. "We can't bury her until I get we persecute her killer. Yvonne doesn't want to be buried now…." 

     "ENOUGH!!!" Delia screamed at the top of her voice, immediately drawing everyone's attention. "Enough of this madness, Yvonne is dead and is gone forever, so can we just put her beneath the ground so that we all could get on to other issues." 

         Everyone was taken aback by Delia's sudden outburst. Handogan couldn't believe his eyes nor ears.  

       Even Reven had not anticipated such a reaction from Delia. For a long while, everywhere was indeed as silent as a graveyard.  

       Delia, knowing that she had blown her cover, bolted out of the premises, mounted on her horse and in a split second was gone out of sight.