“You were so cool!” Ben cheered when Ola descended the stage. She blushed a bit, but grinned at him with appreciation. “You were like the wind! Dancing around, he didn’t even see you!” Ben continued fussing around her. Seth also nodded and patted her on the shoulder, “you are very skilled with wind,” he added, still smiling at her.

  Ola was starting to feel rather hot, so she turned her face away. She won, but still… Her new technique failed… A bittersweet, but victory, Ola smiled to herself. Victory is a victory, let’s not spoil it to herself.

  “Excuse me,” the elder hobbled towards them. “We are glad for the demonstration… but…” he hesitated. “When will you make the ghosts disappear?”

  “Ah,” Ben smiled. “I can’t do that now.”

  Everyone just stared blankly at him. “Ben…” Ola said slowly. “You can’t send them away now?”

  “No,” Ben smiled pleasantly. “They are here physically now, so you can all talk it out.” He gave the elder another smile.

  “Why-” the elder’s voice failed him. “Why haven’t you banished them?”

  “That would kill them.” Ben frowned. “They probably couldn’t leave, so now you can ask them why they are staying here.” At that point, the elder had to sit down. He looked around and then wondered if laying down wouldn’t be an even better idea.

  “If I may, Elder,” Seth moved towards him. “How about you call-in order for the village meeting. You can lead the discussion with the ghosts there.” Seth nodded towards the more and more restless crowd.

  The elder just nodded absently. What else was he supposed to do now?

  An hour later, the village council and the ghosts representatives were seated in the tavern. Well, the villagers were seated, the ghosts sort of just floated there. It was hard to tell whether they were sitting or not, as it missed the usual contact with physical objects such as chairs.

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  Ben sat in the center between the two groups, prepared to organize the discussion. The villagers by one side, in their center, Elder Pertek, few other folks from the village and even the black haired woman, with skull-shaped talisman sat further back. The council members were restless, throwing worried looks at the ghosts, whispering to each other. It was rather clear, they would like to be anywhere else than here.

  On the other hand, ghosts seemed to be quite enjoying themselves. They were laughing and joking with each other. One was just pouring ale into his mouth and gathering quite a bit of applause as the liquid passed through his body and spilled on the floor.

  It’s good to understand that when a person dies, their sense of humour stays in their original body, so sadly enough ghosts tend to be entertained by the strangest things. This phenomenon was described by many necromancers as ‘dead jokes’ and examples of such jokes would include:

  “What do you call a ghost in a bottle? Stuck.”

  or

  “What do you call a ghost who works as a host? G-host.”

  For your (and my own) safety, there will be no further gokes in this story, nevertheless I would recommend memorizing a few of these; they may come in handy if you happen to encounter any ghosts.

  Finally, Ben clinked two glasses together to get started. After some disarray and ghostly complaining, both parties calmed down and focused on him. “Ask your questions,” Ben turned towards the elders.

  Pertek coughed and stood up with the help of one of the other villagers. “Ghosts…” Pertek quickly threw a look at Ben, asking if the address was appropriate. Ben gave him a thumbs up, so he continued, “we are but a peaceful village. We don’t hurt anyone and welcome all strangers… yet… With you present, sleep eludes us, shadows scare us and the smallest of sounds turns into the greatest of dangers.” He took a raspy breath. “Why have you come to plague us? We wish no harm to you, but you cause harm with your mere presence.” The agreeing rumbling sounded from villagers part of the room as he finished.

  “Eh,” one of the ghosts grimaced. “We don’t wanna be here either, man.”

  “Yeah, it’s boring.” Another chimed in. Rest of them nodding, few sticking out their tongues and grimacing. Then the ghost Ben spoke with first floated higher and spoke over the other ghosts, “thank you for your words, elder. I am afraid my friends are right. We don’t want to be here, no more than you want us here. Yet somehow, we can’t leave. But mayhap now…” The ghost floated lower, closer to Ben, now looking directly at him “With a guide, we may be able to leave.”