Authors notes: I got asked a fun question on the previous chapter, and I wanted to elaborate. Regarding Maven the witch hunter, from Viridescent Shadows 1. She's not the same character as Kaisa. Maven stopped extending her life following the events of that story, and passed away. I named her Maven to allude to her being an ancestor of the librarian, who the fandom often called Maven before season 2. Maven had a daughter, who had several kids, one of whom was Jena, a character from Viridescent Shadows 2. Skip a few generations from Jena (who never had kids, but their siblings did) and you get Myra, also from Viridescent Shadows 2, who is Kaisa's grandmother.
Ahlberg is nothing but a glory seeker, selfish and unwilling to stop chasing Edmund's legacy at any cost. At least that's what Hilda said. Why was digging dirt up on him so hard them? How did I end up going against an officer of the law? I should've just gone with David, Hilda, and the Woodman.
Remorse Of An Adventurer II
Tangled Paths
By Daring D.D. Danger
II: The Draugen
***Frida***
"So you want to find dirt on Ahlberg? How do you plan to do that?" I asked Hilda.
"You had to ask." David moaned.
"We're going to find the Rat King!" Hilda cheered.
"Not again." David buried his head against his dining room table, a bug falling free of his hair.
"We'll have to take an alternate path, the main street into town is closed." I had noted it on the way over.
"Why?" Hilda pressed.
"Something about protecting the borders. Ahlberg is having them fill the Vittra tunnels."
"What about the Vittra?" David asked.
"They were putting up a good fight." I responded . I saw a construction worker being tied up by them when I passed.
"We better go then." Hilda said.
The route to the sewer was uneventful, something I never expected to say more than once in my life. We walked through the tunnels until Twig started growling. Rats ran around us on every dripping wet surface and soon the black mass with hundreds of eyes spilled into the room, like some kind of fluid.
"Well well!" The rats made a circle around us, David covering his eyes. "You've come once again, seeking secrets?"
"Do you know anything about Erik Ahlberg, head of Safety Patrol?" I asked.
"Maaay be," it said, drawing it out "I require an exchange first."
"Okay, fine, sometimes when I'm home alone I-"
"No. No secrets this time." The Rat King stopped David from saying whatever secret he had. "We want a fried cod sandwich from the Salty Maiden!"
"You want... a sandwich?" Hilda asked.
"Make sure you get a good one, that's aged properly. They keep them in the dumpster out back." before it had even finished, the Rat King began spilling out of the room as quickly as it had come.
"Well…" I pursed my lips and looked at the others. David was still recovering and Hilda just shrugged.
The Salty Maiden was a slightly run down little place right on the docks of Trolberg. I'd only heard of it from some rumor the cod wasn't... well, cod. Hilda stormed in ahead of us with Twig. She flagged down a waiter and asked him if she could climb in the dumpster. He just walked away.
"Hilda, I don't think we need permission to go in the dumpster."
"I'm not going in the dumpster at all." David asserted.
"Woodman!?" Hilda suddenly was fixated on a small table near the entrance, surrounded by sailors and empty steins. We ran up to the table as a frighteningly large gentleman in white riled five dice.I'm not even sure what they were playing. The dice didn't even have numbers on them.
"What are you doing in town, Woodman?" Hilda asked.
"From the looks of it, winning." He said dryly, as he shook the dice and threw.
"Double Dragons." A man in red said in a gravely voice. Another man in blue began crying as he pushed some gold and a hat towards Woodman.
"I'll be going now." Woodman said, wrapping up his winnings in some sort of cloth.
The man in red smashed his fist on the table.
"It's bad sportsmanship to leave a game of sea bones after a big win."
"But very profitable!" Woodman noted. The men began standing and assuming fighting stances.
"Hey, it's bad form to beat someone up for rightfully winning too." I noted.
"If you leave now you can never gamble here again."
"That's fine! I'd do the same if I lost that badly." Woodman was already partway to the door. The fishermen grabbed Woodman and I and carried us out, and threw us in the dumpster, where I landed in something wet.
"The cod sandwich!" I picked up the smelly wet thing as David and Hilda came outside.
"Are you not being fed enough?" Woodman asked, hopping out of the dumpster. I was preparing to answer but he stopped me. "I don't really care."
"And you let him teach you guitar?" David asked me.
"He seemed fine at the time."
"Anyway I'm off to find the Draugen." Woodman continued.
"Wait what?" Hilda walked up and into his way.
"I'm on a schedule, I have to leave now to find them by sunset."
"What's a Draugen?" She pressed.
"Draugen are the spirits of drowned sailors who travel the seas on a ghost ship, forever separated from their loved ones. Also fresh produce."
"And you think you can find them?"
"I truly hope so."
"David, Frida, we should go with him to help the Draugen." Hilda asserted.
"We're already on a quest here Hilda." I shook the cod sandwich.
"But those poor souls! On a ghost ship! Forever!" Hilda was putting her foot down. Literally.
"I'll go with her Frida, just take the sandwich to the Rat King." David said. I shook my head in agreement.
***Hilda***
David, Twig, and I sprinted to catch the Woodman exiting the alley.
"Woodman! We want to help you help the Draugen!" I yelled.
"Well, I suppose I wasn't sure how I was going to sail my boat." Woodman pointed to a white sailing ship, docked a few meters ahead of us.
"Is that what you won!?"
"Why'd you think they were so angry?" Woodman laughed a little. "Come on." He signaled us to follow as he boarded the ship. "Not the Deerfox though." Twig whimpered a little.
"If Twig doesn't go, we don't go." I crossed my arms, David walked up beside me doing the same.
"Fine." Woodman groaned as he reached into his sack. "He has to wear this scarf though." Woodman tied a red and blue scarf around Twig.
"Is it for good luck?" David asked.
"No, but it's adorable." We boarded the ship and Woodman instructed David to untie it from the dock as he took his spot at the wheel.
"I've got it!" David yelled right before he tripped over the rope.
"Raise the main sheet!" Woodman instructed.
"Um." I had no clue how to use a sailboat.
"The big rope." Woodman pointed. I pulled the rope and the ship began sailing.
"What a lovely day." I said, watching Trolberg fade behind us. "What do you think David?" I looked over just as David retched over the side of the boat.
"I agree with you." Woodman noted, walking over to me. "It's terrible."
"What?"
"Draugen like to appear during storms, we'll never find them on a clear day like this." Hmm, that was a problem. I peered around the sea and the sky, settling on a single puffy cloud. I set to climbing the mast.
"Hey! Excuse me!" I yelled into the distance.
"Excuse you indeed!" The weather spirit turned to face me.
"Could I ask for a change in the weather? Maybe some rain?"
"In my youth, I would squall on cue. However I'm an adult now and I'm past indulging such requests."
"They're very snooty Hilda." David shouted up to me."
"Okay, I understand it's now considered indecent to precipitate in front of others."
"Indecent!? It's completely natural!"
"Oh yes, but is it proper?" Suddenly lightning filled the air and the sky turned gray. By the time I descended I was soaking wet with rain.
"There you are Woodman."
"Proper? We are elemental forces!" The weather spirit vanished into the stormy sky, complaining as it went. "We won't bend to human whims!"
"Does this work?" I asked.
"See for yourself." Woodman pointed at a large shadow, which slid into view. As it grew closer it began showing various holes and other signs of age, it wouldn't be above the water if it was a real boat. It stopped beside Woodman's tall ship, and a rope ladder dropped in between. Woodman was already climbing as I grabbed David and Twig.
As I climbed onto the deck, it was quiet. Covered in dead plant life, and riddled with holes. Woodman was eyeing the captains quarters.
"This looks unsafe." David noted as he climbed aboard. Suddenly the ship gained an eerie green glow and dozens of ghosts with sea-foam green auras filled the deck, surrounding us. One with dead seaweed on it's head stood high above the others and approached, sizing us up.
"Welcome aboard swabs!" She yelled and extended her arms in the air, her crew began laughing. She grabbed a stein from one of them. "Have some Draugen grog to celebrate your arrival!" She handed me the stein. I drank and spat it out.
"Is that sea water!?" I began coughing.
"Hilda why would you drink that at all?" David complained. The captain took back the drink, and downed it, although it just washed through her, onto the deck.
"We've been out here a while, we ran out of grog some time ago."
"Is that a Deerfox?" Another ghost pointed with his only remaining finger. He had a whiny voice. "It's bad luck to have a Deerfox on a ship. Everyone knows that."
"Told you." Woodman said smugly.
"We're already dead Nicholas! How much worse can our luck get?" The captain complained, and Nicholas shrunk back into the crowd.
"Anyway. We've traveled a long way to find you, all so we could help you get back home!" I announced. The entire crew began laughing.
"Home? We don't want to go home! Back on land we'd be simple ghosts. Out here we're Draugen! Free to roam the sea to our once-beating hearts content!" She flew to the wheel at the top of the ship. "Who's with me!" Her crew cheered. If they were happy out here why did Woodman come all this way? And where had he gone off to?
"This really isn't necessary." Woodman said, as another ghost carried him by the foot.
"I caught this one trying to steal our coral sextant!" The ghost held out the pink object.
"Woodman, you said you wanted to help the Draugen!"
"Actually, you said that." Woodman corrected.
"I caught this one trying to escape!" Another ghost was holding David, who laughed sheepishly. The captain hit the deck with a thump.
"Is this the part where you punish us?" Woodman asked.
"I admire your boldness! We could use more of that around here!" She eyed Nicholas.
"Sorry I respect the rules." He crossed his arms.
"We're not going to punish you, we're going to make you Draugen!"
"How exactly does one become a Draugen?" I asked.
"Same way as the rest of us." The captain said with a serious tone. Before I knew it we were tied up and dangling over the side of the ship.
"Why do you and Frida like him so much?" David mumbled angrily. The winch dropped a few inches and stalled.
"It's the Deerfox, bad luck." Woodman said. Twig growled at him. The winch jerked downward once more.
"Sorry. We're short on winch oil. I drank it all!" The captain laughed.
"I thought you wanted to help the Draugen, but you were just being selfish." I stared at the Woodman as best I could, although he was behind me.
"Is it selfish to steal a magic coral sextant for my dining room? I'm going for a nautical theme."
"Yes." I said loudly just as a Bearfish jumped out of the water at us.
"I'd very much like to not drown or be eaten by a Sea Bear." David was crying a little.
"Is there some kind of loophole?" I asked.
"No." The captain said.
"Well..." Nicholas crept up, bearing a wide smile. The Captain stared daggers into him. "Tradition dictates that if a captured sailor can beat the Draugen back to safe harbor they will be freed."
The captain groaned. "I suppose you'll be wanting to race then?" She moaned.
We all shook our heads vigorously. Well, except Woodman, to whom the whole thing seemed quite the bother.
The four of us took to readying the Woodman's boat as fast as we could.
"Ready! Set!" As the Captain spoke a canon fired from the ship, sending a skull shaped firework into the air. "Go!" She yelled and the Draugen ship took off. We began closing the gap as I stepped to the front of the boat.
"We're pulling ahead!" I yelled as we cleared the front of the ghost ship. Suddenly the ship took to the air and leaped forward, gaining more and more speed.
"They did seem confident. Especially for a ship with holes in its sails" Woodman noted.
"Isn't that cheating?" I asked.
"Do I look like I have a book of ghost rules? Because I do, at home." Woodman said. I noticed the weather spirit from earlier in the distance and pushed Woodman off of the wheel, doing a 180.
"Are we running away and assuming new identities?" Woodman asked.
"I rather like my life Hilda." David added.
"Hello!" I yelled.
"You again?" The weather spirit was seething.
"Sorry for sailing away earlier, you were making some excellent points on the true nature of weather spirits. Could you continue?"
"Really? You want to hear my opinions?" The rain suddenly stopped.
"Yes please! Hold nothing back." The weather spirit cracked a huge smile.
"Any creature should feel proud of it's natural functions-" As he started talking a huge ghost of wind propelled the ship into a 180 and then forward with renewed vigor.
"See? I've got this." I said, steering the ship back at Trolberg. "David! Come help!" I looked and he was retching once again. He joined me holding the wheel after. I waved as we sailed past the Draugen, David and I doing everything we can to hold the ship steady as we passed the islands at the entrance to the harbor.
"On three David! We spin the wheel left!" Trolberg was edging closer and closer. "Three!" I yelled, having waited to long. We spun the wheel and the ship spun wildly to it's side, water rushing over and spraying us, until we impacted the dock and came to a jolting stop.
"We won!" I cheered.
"You should tell the Draugen that." Woodman pointed to the ghost ship hurtling into port.
"They aren't slowing down. Run!" I pulled the two of them into the city and Twig followed. Screaming filled the streets as we ran past several people, the Draugen on our tail. I jumped over an old woman, who called us hooligans as we ran past. I hope she was okay. I pulled David and Woodman into an alley and the ship sailed passed. David fell onto the ground, hyperventilating.
"Why are they still after us Woodman?"
"Do you know anything that pairs well with pink coral?" He asked, admiring the sextant.
"Woodman!" Suddenly the ghost ship entered the alley and I dragged David back to his feet.
"Just take the sextant back!" I yelled at the ship.
"It's too late for that! You're joining our crew whether you like it or not!"
"This is highly unorthodox captain. Draugen are never supposed to return to Trolberg!" Nicholas complained.
"Shut up Nicholas! I'm trying to conjure a mood!" The captain's voice sounded annoyed.
"Return to Trolberg! The Draugen are from Trolberg!" I yelled.
"Does that help us?" Woodman asked.
"It might." I dragged him and David into an alley once again, losing the ship. I pulled us through a Vittra tunnel and towards David's house.
"Hilda!" I heard Frida's voice yell as she ran towards us. "The Rat King had no dirt on Ahlberg!" Of course not.
"Not now Frida!" I yelled as I entered David's house, grabbing a tool from me and David's room, and immediately fleeing the house again, as the Draugen ship sailed through it, leaving some kind of goo all over.
"Hilda what was that!" Frida yelled.
"Come on!" I gestured everyone to follow me.
We didn't see the ghost ship again as the cemetery approached and I pulled the object from my backpack.
"A rune stick? Don't we have enough Dead people on our hands?" Woodman asked.
"Stay here and stall the Draugen!" I instructed him. David, Frida and I continued in, and I set the rune stick down.
"Deep in the Earth, your moldering bones for posterity lay, but on this night they stir and moan, when you come out to play!".
"Oh, hello." David said to the Draugen crew that approached.
"Update!" Woodman said, held tight by a Draugen. "It's not going well."
Suddenly the rune stick began to spin, and the ground stir.
"What's happening?" The Captain asked.
"Something I swore I'd never do again." The first of Trolberg's blue ghosts exited the dirt.
"Who do you think you are! Waking us all up at once!" The ghost who we'd wrestled all that time ago approached me. Suddenly he turned towards the Draugen. "Abigail, is that you?"
"Dad?" The Captain asked. Suddenly murmurs filled the area as the ghosts intermingled.
"What's happening?" Frida asked me.
"Woodman told me the Draugen were separated from their loved ones. Since they were from Trolberg, I thought of a way to reunite them." Suddenly all around us the glow of the Draugen started shifting to blue, like the other ghosts, and they began returning to the Earth with their loved ones.
"Nice job, Hilda." David pat me on the back.
"Well, I'm taking this to my dining room." Woodman pointed at the sextant as he left.
"Hilda?" A voice came from behind me. David and Frida began backing away. I turned to see a tall ghost looking down at me.
"M-mum!?"
Meanwhile, in the Huldrawood…
***Twintail***
"-four new deaths by blood loss reported just this morning. All the victims were found in their beds." A voice on the radio said.
"Sounds grim." An unfamiliar voice said. Suddenly every Marra in the Huldrawood was in the air, the clearing alight with the green from our eyes as Kelly silenced the radio. A woman entered the clearing. She was wearing a white t-shirt and blue jean shorts. Her right leg was covered in some sort of tattoo.
"You shouldn't bother Marra at night girl!" I said aggressively.
"Oh, I know that." She smiled, her eyes turning green to match ours. "I'm just passing through town."
"As you heard on the radio, it may not be the best time to be visiting." Kelly said.
"I'm not staying long." The girl said.
"What may we call you?" I asked. The girl stepped into the light more. She had green hair, flowing down to her legs.
"Gemma." She said. Suddenly I took a look at her tattoo again. It was in a familiar text, although the only word I could read in it was the one on her upper thigh, 'Alma'. The temperature dropped a full degree.
"Cool! Get out." Kelly said coldly.
"Kelly wait." I stopped her. The girls shut up. "You." I snapped my fingers, creating a flame on my thumb.
"Oh!" Gemma gasped. "That's certainly not something I expected to see." The other girls were looking at each other, only Kelly knew about the soul fragment.
"Let's go talk." I gestured away from the fire with my head. Gemma followed me into the dark woods.
"Show me." Gemma asked. I began drawing the Enneagram spell, which came alight with just the Alma flame.
"I haven't seen this in many years. You're Alma's soul-bearer."
"You're Gemma of the original Nightmarish Nine." I said, stamping out the spell. "Did you come looking for me?"
"No, this was a total accident. I'm here for other business."
"I've wondered about you for about 60 years, ever since a ghost said the words 'Gemma's still alive' in front of me."
"A ghost?"
"Someone named Cicily." I noted. Gemma's hand turned briefly into a claw.
"I didn't notice any evidence of Huld's return after Cicily and my soul-bearer passed away. I assumed whoever came for them failed to get you."
"That's correct. Although I can't take credit for putting Eva down."
"Eva!? Like, my friend Eva?"
"The very one." I said, remembering that night.
"Unbelievable." Gemma's hand was a permanent claw now.
"I don't think you should stick with the Marra." I said.
"I won't be, I'm headed to a special place in Trolberg. But I wanted to warn you."
"Of what? We're Marra."
"There's another type of Marra. The Alp. It's much more vicious than us, and not above killing people, and even other nightmare spirits."
"I've been through worse." I said.
"Alright. One last thing. What can I call you?"
"Twintail." I grimaced.
"Did you meet Alma in person, Twintail."
"I did."
"I'm sorry that our mistake is now solely on your shoulders." Gemma pat me on the shoulder, before taking to the sky.
To Be Continued in: The Ghost