Worlds Collide Chapter 23: Old Ghosts

Three months later, the four hunters strode down the main street of refuge. Ciara clasped her hand on Gerhart's shoulder with a grin.

“So, goblin pies on Gerhart?”

“The fuck they are.” He scoffed. “Last time I checked you and Bridgit were the miracle workers.”

“But you’re being paid crown money, not peasant money. And you can’t buy beer with baking and gift baskets.”

“Let’s give him some slack.” Eldrine interjected. “He is having to pay for a lot of dates with his goblin girlfriend.” He threw out the verbal jab without a hint of humour or the slightest smile, which only made Ciara and Bridgit cackle louder.

“Corse, can’t be takin’ from Gerharts romance fund.” Bridgit agreed.

Gerhart scowled at Eldrine, his smirk unfaltering.

“Well it’ll have to be one of you two, considering how many lunch breaks Eldrine’s having with Cathasach at the inn.”

Eldrine would have normally cringed at ribbing, but the memories of sitting down with Cathasach at the inn, and all that came after, flooded him with so much raucous joy he couldn’t help but laugh to himself, a wide toothy grin spilling across his face.

“You know I’m having such a damn good time I don’t even care. So yes, I am going to ask one of you to shout because inn rooms are expensive and my boyfriend has an amazing ass.”

After a moment of shock the three of them cheered, Gerhart wrapping Eldrine in a headlock.

“You ploughing horndog!”

He cheered as he shook him excitedly. Eldrine couldn’t help but be caught up in the boisterous laughter easily prying Gerhart off him.

“Well one of ya is gonna have ta pay. I just footed the bill for repairin’ Jeera’s rockin’ horse so- Gerhart?”

Gerhart was standing perfectly still, his irises like needles, his stance wide and fingers outstretched ready to pull up a sign at a moment's notice. They all knew what they’d see, but the sight of his medallion silently shaking still put a fire in their ribs and a sheer drop in their stomachs. They all immediately slipped into similar stances as they fanned out into a circle, still facing each other to maintain the illusion of carefree conversation as they scanned their surroundings.

“Ya smell anythin’?”

“Nothing.”

“Could be a Shalemar.” Offered Ciara.

“Impossible.” Retorted Eldrine. “One of the dwarves I served with dealt with a Shalemar in his family's mines; we'd have felt the ground shaking long before it got close enough to set off a medallion.”

“Maybe it’s hiding in a house?”

Ciara shook her head. “In a small town like this there’s very little that could slip into a house without notice.”

“Gerhart?” Bridgit asked, noticing him staring intently at the ground.

He clutched his medallion and walked forward. He turned around to reveal the medallion was still. Taking it from his neck he slowly moved the dangling emblem through the air. When his arm was about half way extended the medallion began to shake again. Flummoxed confusion washed past the group, followed by a chilling realization, as they all looked at the dirt beneath their feet.

---

“So there's a ghost haunting Main Street?” Exclaimed Arnuvel, more trying to grasp the twisted reality of what he was facing than asking a question.

“The technical term is spectre, but yes.” Replied Eldrine.

“Did it come from your world?” Asked Jeeka as she clung to Tolla and Ben.

Gerhart shook his head. “No this is definitely a home grown Refuge spectre.”

“We're not sure what a conjunction does to a world.” Began Ciara. “Some stories say mages only appeared post conjunction. It's possible the kind of magic that makes a specter flooded in from our world.”

Arnuvel felt a pressure behind his eyes and a heat running across his skin like acid. He gripped the armrests of his chair as his mind ran through all the ways he absolutely could not explain to the king that ghosts were a new threat to the kingdom.

“Marvelous, simply marvelous. Are there any other monsters you'd like to set lose from our nightmares? Flesh eating livestock? Perhaps some living trees.”

Gerhart excitedly perked up. “Those are real actually. They're called Leshies and-”

Arnuvel's glare slaughtered the words in Gerhart's throat making him shrivel back into his chair. Wanna put a firm yet comforting hand on her husband's thigh, her magic quickly soothing his temper. With the softest tone she could manage Bridgit continued.

“Spectre’s forms are deeply tied ta who they were n’ how they died. Can ya think of any tragic or violent deaths that happened there?”

Tolla, who up until now had been quietly taking in the grim report, suddenly felt a chill run up her spine like a knife as a thought came crawling out of the recesses of her mind.

“Where did you say you sensed this spirit?”

“Corner of main and first by the leather workers.” Replied Eldrine.

Everyone except the hunters suddenly felt a weight fall upon them like a bird of prey. Through fearful glances they all came to the same truth as the hunters looked on bewildered.

“Is someone going to tell us what the devil’s so scary?” Exclaimed Ciara.

Arnuvel braced himself with a roll of his shoulders as he tried to push out the words, some part of him hoping that if no one ever said the words they'd never become real.

“In the last battle of the Goblin War, that was where their leader died.”

A thick heavy silence fell across the room for a handful of seconds, before Gerhart shattered it with a bout of laughter, rushing uncontrollably from his mouth like chuckling wild horses. After a short while he managed to wrangle enough composure to respond.

“Sorry sorry, it's just, ha! Coming into a new world and the first two monsters we find are a bruxa and a fucking draug.”

“What kind of specter is that?” Jeeka asked.

“The kind that's more complex than almost any other monster on the continent.”

Replied Ciara curtly, a grim focus falling upon her face as her mind fell into the practiced motions of planning how to keep as many people alive in the face of certain death. The other hunters didn't react, much to the unsettledness of the other members of the meeting. Eldrine broke the brief silence with equal serious focus.

“Despite their variety, specters have two shared traits. They're invulnerable to harm unless debilitated by yrden or moondust, and they're not sentient, meaning they cannot talk, organise or do more than mindlessly attack everything they see. Draug breaks both these rules. They are the souls of commanders who died in a losing battle and could not come to terms with how thoroughly they were defeated. So they relive their last battle over and over, commanding the remnant souls of the men that died under them.”

Arnuvel blinked in shock. “He has an undead army!?”

“I'm afraid so.” Continued Eldrine. “Despite being corporeal they're still spectres, so you can't get rid of them without a ritual.”

“That might actually be the easy part.” Interjected Gerhart. “The witcher Geralt of Rivia defeated a draug a while back, and even though there's a hundred and one stories about what happened, there was a through line of needing four objects tied to war. So get together some personal effects that represent Akhoba and with a whole school full of mages we'll be able to banish him easily.”

Despite the excitement in his tone a thick feeling of worry settled into Wannas gut.

“You said that's the easiest part, what's the hardest?”

The hunters looked at each other sheepishly, Bridgit finally deciding to answer.

“Well, we don't actually know where he's goin’ to appear.”

“What? But you just told us where he's going to appear!” Exclaimed an exasperated Jeeka.

“We told you where his spirits entering the world.” Corrected Gerhart. Eldrine leaned forward and continued. “One of the few traits draug share with other specters is that they're confined to a specific area. But since their haunting grounds are an entire battlefield it becomes much harder to predict where they'll attack. And if Akhoba saw all of Refuge as the scene of his last battle, well he could form anywhere.”

Arnuvel clenched the bridge of his nose firmly and tool a deep laboured breath. The feeling of his wife's arm gently caressing and squeezing his arm brought him enough comfort to continue.

“Anything else we should know before I put the town into lock down?”

“I'd advise against that.” Said Ciara, her voice still calm and cold as steel. “We cannot tell you exactly when the draug will arrive, so you may have to maintain this lock down for weeks if not months. Additionally, being haunted by murderous ghosts is not the reputation you want for a town so reliant on tourism.”

“So you're telling us to lie to everyone when lives are on the line.” Snapped Ben, his voice barely raising despite his clear anger.

Gerhart retorted quickly. “We're saying not to cause needless worry. Because no matter how much we tell them they'll be safe and we'll exercise it immediately, all they're gonna hear is ‘army of revenant war criminals’ and they'll piss themselves like kids on a cliff and start fucking panicking.”

“This still doesn't sit right with me.” Muttered Tolla.

Arnuvels brow was furrowed, but not in frustration, but thought.

“Sadly, that doesn't make them wrong. But that doesn't mean we can't prepare. Ollie, I need you to calculate how much it's going to cost to install lockable shutters on the windows of every house in town, then get the constables to inform every resident they need to declare any broken or worn locks and hinges. And make sure the garrison and town guard are fully informed of the truth of things, when the sword drops we’ll need them poised to act.”

Ollie was dragged out of his fearful stupor and quickly replied. “Right away sir. Should I stick around or?”

“Best get started now, this is going to be an exhaustingly arduous project.”

With a nod Ollie rushed out the door and Arnuvel turned back to the hunters. “Anything else we should know?”

“Just thin's for tha ritual.” Replied Bridgit. “We can sort that out with tha magicians.”

“Please do, and inform me of any expenses or resources you require. I won't see this bastard win his war from beyond the grave over thriftful spending.”

The hunters nodded in agreement and soon filed out of the manor in step with the magicians. “So what is this banishment ritual?” As Jeeka.

The hunters all looked to Gerhart who shrugged. “It's a standard exorcism really, honestly considering how ploughing powerful draug are its a piece of cake. The devil is in the ritual materials. You gotta have four items that represent the souls relationship to war. Hate and death are basically always on there, but the other two can be tricky.”

“Magic would be one.” Replied Ben almost immediately. “He used magic in every fight, and a lot of it.”

“Control would be the other.” Jumped in Jeeka with a scowl. “That's all the bastard cared about, controlling everything and maintaining it forever.”

“Easy. Let us know when you have the items and I'll swing by to go over the ritual.”

Ben nodded, apprehension slathered across his face. “I'm not sure about this. Ghosts didn't exist in my world, I don't know the first thing about exorcism.”

Gerhart clapped a hand firmly onto his back making Ben lurch forward. “You'll be fine. Exorcism is like curse removal, which is like reverse enchanting, and enchanting piss easy. Trust me, you got this.”

“I'll take your word.” Ben replied with a small smile.

The magicians said their goodbyes and disappeared in a swirl of air. As soon as they'd left Eldrine let his mask drop find frowned, his teeth clenched.

“You really think he can do it? Exorcisms don't give any second chances.”

“He'll have to.” Replied Gerhart, all the pep and humour vanishing from his voice.

---

Since I first thought up this story I knew I wanted Akhoba to become a draug. 1: Draug are rad as hell 2: It fits his death so perfectly & 3: It'll make for an incredible fight scene.

What that fight scene will look like? Well ya'll just have to stay tuned.

Also any time I get to write banter between the four hunters I'm happy. I love their dynamic together so much.

See ya'll in the next chapter!