Circus

“Are you sure this is what you always wanted to do?” Ben frowned looking down at the juggling ghost.

“Yeah man! It’s sooo awesome!” The ghost yelled back, almost dropping the bottles.

“Strange guy,” Ben mumbled.

“If that’s what he needs to disappear,” Seth shrugged. He was sitting cross legged, next to Ben and watching as the ghost performed the whole circus performance. He juggled; threw knives; trained lions (actually dogs, since no one in the village had pet lions) and a bunch of other circuslike theaters. Finally he finished and ascended uphill to Ben and Seth.

“That was awesome guys!”

“I am happy, you are happy,” Ben gave him a tired smile, then coughed, watching the ghost closely. “Do you feel lighter? Or maybe a bit more transparent?”

The ghost looked down on himself and shook his head. “About the same,” he shrugged.

“Hm,” Ben grimaced.

Seth made a face too and got up, “same as everyone else,” he noted as they walked back towards the village.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Ben complained. “This was the fifth ghost and none of them disappeared! They should be gone by now, we helped them with their wishes. We make them happy, but they just stay here! It doesn’t make any sense,” Ben kicked the rock on the road and watched it fall downhill.

“Maybe we are missing something?” Seth suggested.

“I guess…” Ben mumbled. “It’s weird. Ghosts normally don’t stay in our world at all, and if they do, it’s because of some unfinished business or something… It doesn’t make sense for so many to be here. And they don’t even disappear when we-”

“Maybe those aren’t really their dreams?” Seth interjected. He didn’t want Ben to fall into complaining again.

“Maybe,” Ben kicked another rock. “Maybe one, or even two. But five?” Ben sighed. “Ghosts aren’t like humans, they know what they miss and what they need. Death sort of clears it up for you. I never met a ghost who didn’t know why they weren't leaving…”

“Could something be holding them here?” Seth tried.

Ben stopped.

Seth turned, looking at him.

“Ben?”

Ben was still staring directly at Seth, but he didn’t see Seth. It was as he saw right through him and through the hill behind him, somewhere far no one else could see.

“Ben!” Seth clapped his hands.

“You…” Ben mumbled. “You may actually be right…” He said slowly. Then he raised his head and looked towards the village. “Let’s find Ola and the elder, I have an idea.”

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Ola looked around and when she made sure she was alone she sat on the ground with a sigh. Maybe here she can finally have a bit of peace. She was in a small corner between two houses, the roofs kept the corner in shadow, but when she layed down, she could see the sky above her. A peaceful blue sky, barely a cloud on the horizon. It reminded her of the ocean, of her home.

She kept looking up, her hands behind her head. She hasn't had a moment of peace since… _wait a minute._ Ola focused on a fast moving cloud that seemed to move directly towards her. Actually… it wasn’t moving; it was flying. _Oh no._

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“Comrade!” The cloud called as soon as it arrived.

Ola just closed her eyes. “Alexandrus,” she nodded.

“Indeed, tis me Alexandrus.” the ghost warrior grinned. “Are you meditating upon our battle?”

“Mhmh,” Ola mumbled, her eyes still closed. She was hoping she would have a few days for herself. Ben and Seth were running around, trying to help the ghosts fulfill their dreams or whatever and she was hoping she could just… just exist by herself meanwhile. She felt she needed it. The whole traveling with a necromancer still didn’t settle in and she just hoped for a bit of peace-

“How is your meditation going, comrade?”

Ola refused to open her eyes. Maybe he would leave. Any time she tried to be alone, this ghost just appeared and insisted on having a duel or warrior discussion or some other nonsense. But she knew better now, the ghosts had all the time in the world, and were never in a rush. Particularly this ghost refused to leave no matter how much she ignored him.

Ola sighed and finally opened her eyes, “yeah, I am done. Have you come for another duel?” She lifted herself and looked up at the floating ghost.

“Mayhap later,” Alexandrus grinned. “I have come with an important message.”

“Hmm” Ola started gathering her things from the ground.

“I believe I have discovered the whereabouts of our enemy.”

“We have an enemy here?” Ola threw over her shoulder, as she stretched her legs.

“There are always enemies for warrior souls like us!” Alexandrus roared and swung his fist against his chest. “But, that’s not what I mean…” he paused, scratching his head. “Ah yes, the woman, yes.”

“What woman?” Ola yawned, briefly wondering if there was a way to distract him so she could run away.

“Ah, the woman, our enemy. I was occupied by deep warrior meditations behind a chimney of one of the houses, yes.” Alexandrus coughed into his fist and looked at her sideways. “And I just happened to be present when a strange conversation was happening in the house below me.”

“What did they talk about?” Ola yawned again and began walking towards the tavern. _Maybe she could eat something… Those eggs for breakfast were delicious._

“About ghosts and how they can collect them.”

Ola stopped mid step and turned towards Alexandrius. “Did you see who it was?”

Alexandrius shrugged, “only barely, there were two of them. Man and a woman. The woman had the skull around her neck.”

Ola’s eyes widened.

“You understand,” Alexandrus quickly added. “I would have engaged them in combat immediately if I hadn't been so exhausted from our fight. It was quite a challenging decision for me to…”

Ola nodded absently. She remembered Ben saying something about ghosts could be trapped and that he couldn’t figure out why. “Alexandrius,” she stopped still babbling ghost. “Let’s go find Ben. This could be important.”

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Ben and Seth walked towards the city. It was a lovely late afternoon, the sun was bathing close to the horizon, painting the sky with a red brush, lazy clouds with a scarlet tint and barely any wind except occasional stir of warmth. It was no surprise our heroes took their time and enjoyed the spirit of soon to be evening.

Ben was still deep in thought about his discovery, was he going about all this the wrong way? He thought about the ghosts being trapped before, but dismissed it and focused on the idea, the ghosts were simply playing a prank on the villagers and simply didn’t care to leave yet, but… what if they actually couldn’t? What would be strong enough to pull so many ghos- Hand on his shoulder shook him awake.

He looked up and saw Set looking ahead of them: An old lady walked towards them. Ben probed his memory and then smiled, “Miss Vinia,” he waved and raised his pace.

“Oh, darlings.” Miss Vinia said with a toothless smile, as soon as Ben reached her. “Have you been helping the ghosts again?”

“Yeah,” Ben grimaced.

“No luck, I suppose?”

“Still nothing,” Ben stuck his hands into his pockets, still grimacing. “But,” he brightened up. “I have an idea now!”

“Oh?” Vinia smiled her toothless smile again.

“Yup,” Ben nodded. “I think I was going about it all wrong. I thought the ghosts didn't want to leave, so they lied about not being able to. But that doesn’t make sense.” Ben scratched his chin. “For some maybe, but all of them? Neah, that’s pretty unlikely. So, I think they may be right. There could be something that holds them here against their will. We don’t know who b-”

“Ben.” Seth put a hand on his shoulder as soon as he reached them. Ben turned to him, cocking his head. “Maybe we should wait before we-” Seth stopped as he looked from Ben to Vinia. The toothless smile was gone.

The much younger woman clang the skull necklace in her hands, sneering down at them. Then a flash of green light and darkness.