(Book 1) The malediction of the Undertaker

Chapter 9: Many tears

All the dead are in a room lined up before being buried all tomorrow, the women who have become widowers mourn the death of their husbands, the children cry for their dad, the men who have lost their creature mourn too. Diana sits next to her father's body, holding his cold hand, tears streaming down her cheeks wondering what she will do without him, finding herself an orphan. Taker walks into the room with his mother, wanting to pay his respects to his many fallen soldiers, the widowers weeping as they shake hands with the Majesty. There are some who crumble into the Queen's arms as Taker talks to the children, presumably to reassure them. They stopped at each body, at each widower, each child, he let himself go when a widower or children give him a hug but his gaze has no emotion. He stopped in front of Frish's body, looked at him, then knelt down to touch his head as the queen took Diana in her arms. "He fought well..be proud.." she whispered to Diana who was mourning the loss of her father. Taker stands up, looks at him one last time, then glances at Diana before moving on without saying anything.

~!~

Taker is back on his throne, his hand is healing, his other hand is against his head, he is thinking. Betty sees her son on his throne, very calm. "Mom..I think it was Dad.." He finally says, he thanks his soldier when he's finished healing his hand and then gets up from the throne. "No...your father is..." she tried to tell him he was wrong. "Dead? I'm not sure anymore..I saw a man with the same look as mine...like all the men in the family.." he explained to his mother who sat down against a wooden table. "You didn't have all your head.." she said refusing to believe her son. "I know what I saw...mom..." he said sure of what he had seen, looking at his mother with a confident expression. "Your father would never hurt us.." She said before Taker's gaze changed dangerously, he walked towards his mother but Betty didn't back down, not afraid of her son. "Hurting us? Did you forget what he did to me?!!" He shouted to his mother so loud that the few people in the throne room fled. "Mark.." Said his mother trying to touch her son's angry face. "I am  a monster on the full moon because of him!" He said pulling his face away from his mother's hand, Taker moved away from his mother, took his big black dress and left the room wanting some fresh air.

~!~

The cool air of this late afternoon does him good but gives him a funny feeling when he sees the village half destroyed, half the people are going to sleep outside while others will sleep at home, he could see people helping each other during this difficult time. It's his fault. If he would have come back to Araneolus Shire sooner, there wouldn't have been so many dead or injured. These women and children will not have lost their father and husband. He looks towards the house where Diana lives, a small candlelight illuminating the house, he could see, in the distance, through the wooden window, Diana crying. This woman helped Markus heal, this girl intrigues Taker, he feels he is attracted to something but what?

He decides to go knock on her door, he waits a few seconds before she opens, rubbing her eyes. "Oh...Majesty...good evening..." She sniffled, leaving the door open for him to enter the house, she sat back down on the couch. " How's it going ?" He asks the woman who just lost her father, she agrees to take Taker's handkerchief which was given to her. "I...I'm fine...how is Markus...?" She said before blowing her nose and wiping away her tears with her hand. "He is sleeping..I wanted to thank you for helping Markus.." He said grateful, she smiled looking at Taker. "Oh you know...it's the least i can do...you...you saved us..." She blinked, letting tears roll down her cheeks. "Where did you learn this technique?" he wondered.

"Well...to tell you the truth...my father studied spiders a lot and knew that their web could be a kind of compress to stop the bleeding. She explained to Taker who seemed surprised that a human had taken the time to study the creatures. "He taught me that when I was 18...in case I got hurt..." she added, smiling as she thought about it. "And your mother...? Where is she? He asked wanting to know a little more about her life. "I didn't know her.. my father raised me alone.." She said smiling sadly, she doesn't know anything about her mother, she knows that her mother left after her first birthday. "I know she was an alchemist and loved to creates some potions to sell it to people.." She added, looking down with a sad smile. Taker looks at her, feels some compassion for her, he knows how hard it is to grow without a parent. " Anyway, be proud of your father. He didn't die for nothing, he died for you to have a good life. " He said, not in the habit of comforting anyone but her mother before leaving home.

~!~

Betty was in the room where all the dead people are before their funeral tomorrow, she places on each of the bodies, a rose, bread and the symbol symbolizing the army of her son. As for the creatures, she placed fresh meat and a black and purple band symbolizing her son. She looked at the body of Frish the one who saved her life during the battle, she smiled sadly hoping that he found peace. She leaves the room to go see Markus, wanting to make sure the creature was okay, she opens the door slowly, noticing that it was very dark as night has fallen. "Markus..?" She whispered looking around the room but didn't seem to be there then looked up and saw Markus on like a hammock made out of spider's web, she smiled sadly decided to leave Markus alone by putting his meat in a big bowl and leaves.

~!~

Taker sits on the edge of his right tower of the castle gazing at the horizon thinking of his dead. It is the first time in sixteen years of reign he feels like disgust and sadness having lost many men, creatures, half of the village was burned and the left tower demolished with Markus. The night is cool, the stars are here but luckily there is no moon in the sky. Tomorrow he will say goodbye to several men and creatures, it will be hard but he will have to do it. This red-eyed man is still in his head, he doesn't know who it is but Taker is determined to find out. He will do anything to make this man pay. Even if he doesn't have many men left, he will fight, like a Calaway must be.