The Funeral Parade (Part 6)

When I headed back to my chambers I felt a huge knot in my stomach but the day was done. I had the freedom to relax and throw away all the tension I´d been carrying since we left Ponywood. But it wasn´t like that at all; a new set of feelings unfolded and I couldn´t share them with the boy who guided me through the halls of the fourth level.

"Have a good night, Sir!" he said as he opened the door to my bedroom.

Blak welcomed me with open arms; he had slipped into something more comfortable and warm to make it through the night. His soft embrace belittled me and I broke into tears.

"There´s no need to explain, Love; I understand," he said. "You must rest now; it´s been a long day for all of us."

"I´m confused," I said sobbing, "Not sure what to think anymore."

"Now´s not the time; perhaps tomorrow or the next day."

"I feel awful inside, Blak. Do you have any idea what it´s like to feel helpless before all of this?"

He sat down on the bed, "As long as you tell me what "all of this" means."

"I´m a tool! Dammit. It´s heartbreaking. All my life I fought so hard to be independent and successful and when I finally had it all I become a pawn in Death´s little game. "Perhaps he´s more tolerant", Death says, "he´s been through this before, he´s even exorcized an entire household! I´m sure he can handle more."

"Look I know you´re deeply upset but that doesn´t mean you´re a failure. You´ve done an amazing job to make things peaceful especially for me. If it wasn´t for your intervention back there at the house I would have committed suicide."

"Mr. Grey said that we´re equal now including all the magical creatures; in which way is that true if they are dying?"

"Sweeheart, we are going to die too someday. Did you even know how old was Rosie May?"

"A little above fifty; it still was too soon and they didn´t care to explain if she was sick or weak. Or worse; what makes you think she wasn´t killed and they made it look different?"

"Please, it sounds like a bunch of nonsense."

"What if she didn´t want to die and was forced to do it anyway?" I said as I circled the room, "I keep thinking there´s something odd about all this. Why do you think they´ve treated us extremely well like kings?"

"Because it´s their job; that´s what they´re trained for."

"I have a theory; they don´t want us to suspect a thing. Mr. Grey has done his homework and knows about the Circle of Death. There more guys like me out there who make sure magical creatures get wiped out, at least their ghosts."

"That´s refreshing."

"I don´t trust him or his sidekick, Mr. Lowbrow. I tried to be nice to them but I´m old enough to read between the lines."

"Would you please stop? Why can´t you just accept reality as it is?"

"Because it hurts me to have lost Rosie, that´s why!" I cried, "and it´s the same thing like when Dad went away...I didn´t want him to die either."

"Oh," sighed Blak, "It wasn´t your fault; he just gave up. "

"How would you know if you weren´t there?"

"He wasn´t strong enough to survive the perils of nature and that´s something you couldn´t control. Come here."

He embraced me again perhaps tighter than before, "You are not a giver of life or death; you´re a spiritual being. I´m a giver of Love and my duty is to stand by you and support you. My job is as important as yours and I´m not ashamed of it."

"I know!"

"Tell me, what are you most afraid of?"

"To be alone in this world and watch everyone around me die for no reason."

"Baby, you´re not alone; I´m here for you. Please don´t ignore me."

For a second something crossed my mind, "Where´s Vyla?"

"I think she´s on the third floor, why?"

"I need to go talk to her but first I´ll have to change."

"Let me help you with that."

"Are you coming with me?"

"Only if you tell me what you want to do," he said as he kindly removed my suit and put into an old wooden closet.

"I´m not sure but I feel that I must use my intuition this time."

I looked from side to side to make sure no one was following us; the hall seemed empty like a ghost ship.

"It´s clear! Come on, sweetie," I said in a lower voice.

"Gosh, what time is it?" asked the blue pony.

"Midnight, I guess. The Moon sure looks pretty from this angle," I said as I peeked through the big arched windows. "It´s almost quite romantic."

"I´m glad the countryside inspires you, Love. I spoke with my sister Jill earlier this afternoon and she agreed to see us tomorrow. It looks like it will be in a matter of hours if we stay up late."

"Oh, I´m sorry," I said sounding more calm, "I hardly sleep when I travel."

"Me neither but I would love to wrap things up as soon as possible if you don´t mind."

"Then go back to sleep then!"

"Alright, that was rude. You need to rest more than I do."

"But I can´t! I have too much stuff going on in my head."

"It might sound a bit off topic but you can usually take care of that with a little bit of action if you know what I mean."

"No, not right now. We´ll take the staircase."

Unlike the fourth floor there was a servant prowling on the hall of the third floor. This was where the faculty slept.

"Now how do you suppose we´ll find Vyla?" asked Blak.

"We´ll ask that guy!"

The servant in question went by the name of Thomas; he was tall and I could barely tell his coat and mane had shades of blue. He looked at us in a suspicious way, of course.

"Pardon me, Sir," he said politely, "we´re you trying to get somewhere?"

"Ah, yes," I answered kindly, "I was trying to deliver something to Miss Vyla Jenkins."

"In that case I will give it to her personally," he said.

"Um, actually I prefer to deliver it myself."

"Very well then. Sixth door to the left."

"Phew," I gasped as soon as we lost the guy, "That was close."

I knocked three times before I heard someone answer the door, "Vyla," I whispered.

"Come inside, Master," she said. "I was expecting you." She was also wearing a long black nightgown. I think they were taking this mourning thing very seriously.

"You were?" I said startled, "I keep forgetting you were psychic."

"No, actually I recognized the sound of your hoofsteps."

"You can do that too?" I said.

"Anyone can do it if they pay a little attention. I suppose you had a hard time at the waking, right?"

"I got emotional, I couldn´t help it."

"Have a seat," she said. "There´s a pitcher with fresh water if you´d like."

"Thanks," said Blak.

"You know why I came here in the middle of the night," I said.

"Yes," she sighed. "You can´t sleep."

"Of course I can´t sleep!" I replied. "I was hoping you would say that it was because of your aunt´s strange death."

"What else seems to be troubling you, Master? Do you not trust Mr. Grey?"

"He, um, told me things, about the Circle of Death. He probably knows more than I do and that scares me."

"That conversation was bound to happen."

"You mean I would meet him sooner or later and not because of Rosie´s death?"

"Evidently. He told you there are more of you, didn´t he?"

"Somewhat but is he involved in any way with this gruesome society?"

"No. He is just curious, very curious. Most of us in Hoofland knew about the incidents of the Ponywood Manor even me. We talk to each other very often."

I shook my head, "Look, forget about the society, just tell me how did Rosie die?"

"Master," she paced. "You´re making it sound like an awful unresolved crime but if you insist I´ll tell you."

"Please do," said Blak while he drank some water, "I´ve been trying to get him to bed but he wouldn´t listen."

"I have no need to hide the truth from you, Master but I respect my late aunt´s wishes. When I came to Ponywood she kindly gave me a letter of recommendation which you obviously received."

"Uh, yeah" I said, "I did but what´s wrong with that?"

"The envelope included specific instructions about how I was to act before you. She said that you I shouldn´t tell you one word about her condition."

"So she was sick?"

"Yes, Sir. The poor dear had a bad heart. The night she passed away she had a stroke and never woke up. That´s why she left the Ponywood Manor."

"But she looked so well!" I cried.

"If she had been totally honest you would have done the impossible to save her and probably even suffer more in the process. She knew what you had been through with your dad and wanted you to live happily with your lover."

I froze for a moment.

"You see why I didn´t want her to die? Unicorns are not so bad."

"Don´t you think I miss her terribly?" said Vyla, "you have to see deep before you judge someone. Magical creature or not she was still a wonderful being."

"And now what, I´m supposed to hunt down the evil unicorn spirits?" I said.

"Practically, Master your duty will be to vanquish any demon regardless of their powers, at least the Hoofed Ones. Mr. Grey made an annotation of that."

"And how did he know those little details?"

"Because he has seen other members of the Circle of Death. Although he has no connection with them he has travelled a lot. When he heard about you he just wanted to bring you more information for your powers have barely awakened."

"And you told him about this?" I asked.

"No; Aunt Rosie did."

"Apparently she wasn´t very good at keeping secrets, eh, Love?" said Blak.

"Fine. It´s still not everything I need to know but I´ll discover it as time goes by. I´m tired. Thank you so much, Vyla."

"Pleasant dreams, Master," she said as she showed us to the door. "See you tomorrow at the funeral."

END OF PART 6