Copyright J.B. Norman
“So,” Pela notes. “We stopped the bad guys from stealing King Guthrum.”
“Yeah,” Nolan answers with a nod. “Good work, everybody.”
“Well, Captain, what are we going to do about that?” Amara asks, pointing over Nolan’s shoulders to the where the ghostly figure of King Guthrum himself is now floating around the room, moaning and groaning and promising all sorts of novel punishments from beyond the grave upon the Lyte Brigade.
“See?” Matilda notes as she puts the finishing touches on her circle of blessed salt. “I told you we were going to get cursed.”
“Ten thousand maledictions upon those who have disturbed my slumber!” the ghost of King Guthrum moans. “Terrors heaped upon terrors without end! Misfortune and woe! The crows shall peck at your faces! The dogs shall gnaw at the cuffs of your pants! The bears shall steal your picnic baskets!”
For the most part, the Lyte Brigade’s strategy has been to ignore the ghostly king until he gets bored gives up — except for Matilda, who has decided she’d rather not take any chances and is warding herself with as many supernatural defences as she can and is currently reading a book of exorcisms from within the safety of her magic circle.
“Your eyes will run unceasingly with tears of terror!” King Guthrum promises.
Falcata glances down at her cards and then across the table at Tancred. “Do you have any threes?” she asks.
“Go fish, Miss Falcata,” Tancred answers. “Got any fours?”
“All of your tables and chairs will have one leg slightly shorter than the others, and shall wobbly unceasingly and you won’t be able to find something the right size and shape to put under the leg that’s too short and it will be super, duper annoying!” King Guthrum says.
“Go Fish.”
“And your very fingertips will get itchy!” the ghostly king continues. “And will be really hard to scratch, because it’s a really awkward location!”
“I don’t even know why he’s haunting us,” Amara notes. “We were helping!”
“Because. he’s. a. ghost!” Matilda says, looking up from his book. “But don’t worry, I’ll settle this soon. I just need to collect three tears from a beautiful maiden in a silver thimble. Somebody get me a thimble.”
“I mean,” Pela says. “Sure, he’s annoying, but he’s not really doing anything. He just kind of glowy and grumpy.”
“Well,” the ghostly king notes indignantly. “You’d be grumpy, too, if somebody dug up you, carted you off halfway across the continue, and put you on plinth for the burghers to gawk at you!”
“We said we’re sorry!” Pela notes.
The ghostly king blinks. “You did?”
“Multiple times, in fact” Tancred notes.
“Oh. Well, alright then. Apology accepted. Terrible sorry about the misunderstanding.”
“You’re welcome?” Nolan says.
“Wow,” Matilda mutters as the ghostly figure floats back into his sarcophagus. “I did not think that was how this was going to go.”
She looks down at her various magical defences drawn all over the floor.
“You know, I feel kinda stupid, now. This really was overkill, wasn’t it?”
She coughs into her elbow.
“So, uh, who wants to help me clean all this up?”
So, after setting up King Guthrum’s curse yesterday, I feel like I kinda had to deliver on it. But, also, I think I like the idea of a ghost who’s more just insistent but ineffectual to the point of being a nuisance rather than actually scary…
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