Ghost Stories: Bernard Shumborski

There was once a mercenary who came to Chelmo during the war against the Kingdom of Pollechia hundreds years ago. He chose to betray his side and fight for the enemy. With the help of a relative, a traitor to the kingdom captured the town.
He couldn’t believe his eyes. The town he saw left him breathless.
He wanted it for himself, so he killed the previous mayor and claimed the town as his own.
He made sure that everybody listened to him. Ruling with an iron fist, he mercilessly robbed the townspeople of their last savings.

People did not stay silent. They did everything they could to fight against this evildoer. However, the assassins were always caught in time by the new ruler, who made them die a most agonizing death.

The desperate residents of Chelmo asked a demon for help. But the demon laughed at them. It would be easier for the demon to wait for the mercenary to die and then take his soul.
This demon wasn’t interested in the town’s offer. Not when the idea to ask him for help, had been given to them by the Moon Wizard.
“You know what they say: if the devil can't do it himself, he'll send a woman to do it for him.” the demon said when leaving the poor people of Chelmo.

However, the demon did not know that people took its words to heart.

They found the most beautiful girl and asked her for help.
She used her female charms to gain the mercenary's trust and then poisoned him mercilessly.
Just like the people he had killed, the mercenary died a painful death due to one-sided poisonous love.

To ensure his death, the beautiful woman set fire to the building and watched it burn down until morning.

The gunpowder store exploded after catching fire.
Nothing was left.

Some time later, the tower was rebuilt and a cruel ghost started appearing inside it.

The ghost's name was Bernard Shumborski.

He was searching for the maiden who had claimed his life.

Leontina and Mozuta had finally arrived in Chelmo, a town rife with stories about the evil knight-mercenary Bernard Shumborski. The innkeeper they met during their travels had been right. From the moment they arrived in the town, people were eager to tell them stories about the man who had ruled over them for twenty-two years, ruining the town during his reign.

Until recently, the ghost had been confined to the tower, but it has suddenly started venturing out, forcing the citizens to stay indoors at night. Moreover, the ghost began to attack those working at dawn or returning home at twilight. His victims were most often young women with black, raven hair.
Mozuta and Leontina were currently standing under the tower that people had mentioned. It was the middle of the day, yet there was no one nearby.

The boy looked up and noticed the crows sitting on the top of tower, looking down at them. He gulped at the sight.

“Y-y-you can stay h-h-here if you want,” said Leontina, worried.

“No, I’ll go.”

The soul guide opened the old wooden door leading inside the rebuilt tower. The first room that they saw was quite spacious. Barrels, presumably holding gunpowder, were propped up against the wall. Further back, a door ajar revealed a staircase leading to the upper floors of the tower. The interior was dimly lit, with the midday sun struggling to shine through the small windows. Torches hung on the walls.

“W-we’ll need some light,” Leontina turned to the boy, who was still standing on the threshold. Mozuta nodded and lifted his leg to step over the threshold, but he suddenly wobbled and fell headfirst onto the floor. A puff of dust rose around him.

“A-a-a-a-are you o-o-o-okay?” asked Leontina, panicking as she ran to him and helped him to his feet.

“Ugh, blegh, dust.” Mozuta lifted his head and stuck out his gray tongue. He stood up and searched his bag for a bottle of water. He ran outside the tower, took a sip and spat it out.

“Blegh,” Mozuta felt as though he was going to vomit. The taste of dust lingered on his tongue.

Leontina stuck her head out of doors and looked at him concerned.

A loud soud echoed behind her.

“What was that?” Mozuta asked tightening the grip on his bottle.

Leontina turned around and saw one of the barrels rolling across the floor. She entered the building and surveyed the surroundings. There was nothing there.
Strange. Ghosts usually appear at night because it gives them more power thanks to the closeness of Weles and Selew at that time. Leontina went to the door and looked up the staircase. She didn’t see anything.
“M-Mozuta, I’m going upstairs,” she announced.
“Huh?” The boy widened his eyes. “Okay, then I...” He looked up, and one of the crows cawed loudly. Mozuta laughed nervously under his breath. Evil ghosts were not his forte, especially after his encounter with the blood-thirsty ghost woman. The thought made him shiver, and the place he was in didn’t help. “I’ll go with you,” he said, running after Leontina, but he then fell over the threshold once again.

Leontina walked up with confidence, one step after another. Whenever ghosts were involved, she felt the need to send them away as quickly as possible, especially if they were evil. Mozuta walked behind her, stumbling over the steps from time to time.
On one floor, a painting fell down. On another, the floorboards creaked slightly.
But aside from similar things, she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

After spending some time looking around the tower, they stepped outside.
"S-strange," she said, tilting her head. “I-I guess I'll need to p-prepare for tonight,” Leontina said to herself. “M-Mozuta, it would be better if you s-sat this one out,” she told the boy standing behind her.
“Huh? Why?”
“I-if this ghost can p-play such pranks during the day, I-I don't want to imagine what he could do at n-night.” 
Mozuta gulped at her words and gazed up at the tower with shaking eyes.
“So you’re saying all those sounds is the ghost messing around?”
“P-probably.”
“Probably?”
“Y-yes, I haven’t s-sensed its presence very clearly, so I-I can’t be sure.” Leontina held up her chin and studied the tower, her eyes glistening behind the mask.

Oh, she finds this fun. Mozuta looked down at his clothes. They were slightly torn in places and grey with dust. He had lost count of how many times he had fallen and stumbled inside the tower. Yes, he was scared, but not to that extent. He sighed.

“Whatever. I'll come too.”
“A-a-a-are you sure? He could be much s-s-stronger than J-j-jawozina.”
Mozuta swallowed hard and nodded. It wouldn't be the first time he'd come across an evil ghost. It's better to gain some experience and get used to it.

They came back when the sun slowly hid itself behind the horizon. The moon was already up. Leontina took off her mask and put it in the bag tied to her side.
"Oh, you're getting rid of this psycho? Finally!"
Mozuta looked over his shoulder and saw a familiar spider with a moustache.
“Mr Twardowski?”
“I came because you might need a little help,” the spider winked at Mozuta.
Leontina put her hands on her hips and nodded towards the door.
“As my great apprentice, I would like you to open them for me,” she ordered. The boy looked at her with a pale face, but slowly walked towards the door. However, before he could reach the handle, he tripped over a protruding root and fell.
“You’ve been very clumsy lately,” Leontina commented.
Mozuta lifted his head up, irritated. “This thing wasn’t here before!” he remarked, pointing at the root. He stood up, brushing the sand and grass off his clothes. At least the fall had made his fear disappear a little.

He walked towards the door to open them, but he didn’t have to.

The door opened slowly with a creaking noise.

The torches inside lit up one by one, leading them to an open door with a staircase behind it. Then, a skeletal hand appeared and, with a delicate movement, invited them inside.

“That’s just creepy,” commented Mozuta.

Without looking back, Leontina walked into the tower, with Mozuta staggering behind her. The moment they stepped inside, the doors slammed shut. Mozuta tried to open them again, but the handle didn’t even budge. The boy took a few deep breaths while the spider patted his cheek to comfort him.
The hand that had invited them appeared once again, but this time it pointed towards the stairs, encouraging them to go up.
“Normally, I would just turn around, walk away and sleep in a different town. You know, one without evil ghosts,” said Mozuta. The previous two cases involving child ghosts and a pair of lovers weren't as scary. Both concerned ghosts who wanted to reach Weles and who didn’t harm humans. Here, however, it was quite obvious the ghost was trying to scare them.

“I suppose I should accept this gentleman’s invitation,” said Leontina, walking to the staircase and starting to go up it. Mozuta ran after her, but then he tripped and fell, knocking the bottle of water out of his bag. It collided with one of the barrels. The bottle opened, its cap flying towards the window and smashing it. Terrified, Mozuta stood up and ran to Leontina, tugging at the hem of her skirt.
“I really am being clumsy today,” he admitted, looking back at the room they were leaving. A shadow flashed through the room, but it was so fast that Mozuta couldn’t see what it was. Assuming it was a rat, he walked behind his mistress tightening his grip on her hem.

A hand appeared before them, beckoning them upwards. The young boy looked to side, acting as if he never saw it. While Leontina, without stopping, moved up, dragging the scared Mozuta and a spider behind her. Finally, they reached the top of the tower.

The beautiful doll scanned her surroundings. If it were the day, the tower’s beauty would be even more outstanding, with sunlight flowing in through the gaps in the roof and reflecting off the tiled floor. It wasn’t big enough to be considered a ballroom. Rather, it was a place from which you could observe an approaching army. Nevertheless, it was nice. The staircase in the middle added to its charm. If only there weren’t so many cobwebs and dust. Leontina sighed. Because of one ghost, such a beautiful place is left unused. Mozuta did not share her sentiments. He saw a dark space with moonlight flowing in through the gaps and shining on the spider's webs. Dust particles floated upwards, resembling spheres.

Something fell with a loud thud behind them. Mozuta jumped at the sound, but Leontina simply looked behind her and saw that it was one of the wooden desks that made up the roof. She came over and the moon was now clearly visible, lighting up her beautiful pale face and raven locks.

“It would be nice if you could just stop with these inane pranks and come out,” she said. The dust swirled at her words, and a human-shaped figure materialised near the staircase. It was a bulky man wearing armour and holding an axe in his right hand.
“Didn’t enjoy my little spectacle?” he asked in a raspy voice.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t to my liking,” she said, taking a step forward to look closer at the ghost. “The citizens are also unhappy with it. I have come to help them, and to make unruly beings such as yourself disappear into the abyss,” she proclaimed proudly, resting her hands on her hips.

The ghost started laughing uncontrollably at her words. “They sent another dark-haired beauty to get rid of me! What a joke!” He aimed his axe at her. “I won’t go down so easily,” he said, throwing the axe at Leontina, who dodged it to the side. Mozuta stumbled and fell on his back. His recent clumsiness had saved his life.

“Darkness around…” Leontina didn’t finish the chant. The axe came at her again, trying to cut off her head. She ducked to avoid it.
“Oh, I won’t let you,” the ghost said, disappearing and then reappearing in front of her. He grabbed her hand and pulled so hard that she could hear a cracking sound.

“Leontina!” Mozuta watched as she struggled with the ghost. She was avoiding his axe with swift movements. Because she was a doll, she didn’t get tired, but for some reason the ghost could touch her and destroy her. What would happen then? The boy bit his lip and ran towards her. Suddenly, he felt something jump onto his head, and another desk fell straight onto him from the roof. He jumped back to avoid it. “What the…?”
The spider looked at the top of Mozuta’s head and smiled knowingly. “Don't worry, boy. I'll help the lady. You don’t need my protection with such a great guard.” He chuckled and jumped off Mozuta, running straight to Leontina, who had just managed to dodge another axe blow.

“What do you mean?” Mozuta touched his head, but there was nothing there. He was sure that something had been sitting on it. Was there another ghost they were unaware of?

Leontina tried to summon her scales, but each time she started the chant, the ghost forced her to stop with a swift blow of his axe. His weapon finally touched her arm, tearing her clothes and scratching the white, porcelain-like surface of her body. She took a step back.
“What? Surprised?” the ghost grinned at the sight of her covering her wound. “Why don't you stay, lovely lady? You’re similar to that madwoman. It would be nice to burn you more than once. I wonder if your screams would make better music than those of the random women in the street.”
“Unfortunately for you, sir...” she said, a spider's web appearing in her hand and forming into a sword. “I’m not interested in such expressions of adoration. I would prefer to receive a lovely flower than burn scars,” she said, parrying the axe with a sabre that had been given to her by the spider. As soon as they touched, the spider webs immediately enveloped the axe and forced the ghost to let go of it.
The ghost's face contorted at the sight. He let out a piercing scream and charged at the woman, aiming for her neck with both hands. Leontina ducked swiftly and used the sabre to cut off the ghost’s arms.

“AAAAA!”
“I thought you would be a better opponent,” she said, smirking at the ghost. Unappreciative of her mockery, Bernard disappeared into thin air again. He soon reappeared behind Mozuta, trying to harm him with a triangle choke. However, another desk fell from the roof, hitting the boy on the head and causing him to sway and fall to the floor. Because of this, the ghost missed the boy's neck and Leontina was able to cut through its head as she ran over to the scene.

The ghost disappeared once again. She seized the opportunity to quickly recite the chant. As she finished, the ghost formed behind her and tried to attack her in the same way that it had attacked Mozuta. However, Leontina swiftly turned around to face it, holding up her scale. Chains emerged from it and enveloped the ghost, dragging him onto the left plate. Leontina’s eyes turned blue and the trial began. The numbers on the scale were growing really fast.
Unsurprisingly, the ghost’s body turned black and scale fell down hard under the weight of it.

The chains held the ghost down without releasing it. Leontina raised her hand, her freezing gaze saying it all.
“For treachery, murder, torture, harm, lies, tyrannical rule, kidnapping...” she sighed. “I’m tired. You have committed so many sins that I would have to stay here until morning to recite them all. Fortunately, this is not a public ritual, so I can just sentence you.” She flashed a mischievous smile. The scales emitted a white light and transformed into a scythe. She walked over to the ghost and held the scythe aloft.
“The moment it cuts through you, you’ll feel the pain of everyone you hurt,” she said, as the scythe fell and cut the ghost in two. Then she used her left hand. Her thumb and index finger touched, opening a sinkhole that led to Selew. “Have a nice trip,” she said, kicking the ghost down through it and waving goodbye. Then she her thumb and little finger og her left hand touched and the hole started closing.

Just before it closed down completely, the ghost’s hand reached out and gripped her ankle.

“I promised him I'd take you back with me,” he said, clenching his teeth.

Leontina tried to throw off the hand holding her, but instead she slipped and fell. The ghost dragged her down as the hole closed.
Fortunately, something threw itself onto her, pushing her away from the hole which finally closed. Leontina panted and looked down at her chest. A small animal that looked like a cross between a cat and a squirrel looked up at her, worried.
“Huh?” she said, taking the small animal in her hands and lifting it up. After blinking a few times, she put it down and ran to the unconscious Mozuta.

“The boy hasn’t done much today,” commented Mr Twardowski shaking his little head. The unknown animal sat next to the Mozuta’s head and snuggled up to him. When it did, Leontina heard a crack and looked up. She widened her eyes and held her hand above boy’s head. Another desk fell from the ceiling and bounced off her arm.

“It was close,” spider jumped onto the animal. “I know you care, small one, but you’ll cause more harm than good.” The small animal scowled silently and walked away.
Leontina looked at it with pity.
“Come to me, then,” she said, holding out her hands and smiling warmly. The animal beamed and energetically jumped into her arms. Leontina looked around.
No desk had fallen down.
No sound had scared her.
Nothing had happened when the animal cuddled up to her.
She tightened her arms around it, but she couldn’t feel anything.

The next morning, Mozuta woke up in the warm bed of the inn that they had booked when they arrived in Chelmo. He sat up and looked over at Leontina, who was already wearing her cape and mask. She was holding a wisp of straw and playing with an animal. Mozuta felt a pain in his forehead and rubbed it. He tried to stand up, but he wobbled and fell back onto the bed.
Leontina came over to him, the strange animal sitting on her shoulder.
“D-don't stand up,” she said. “You h-hit your head several times. It p-probably hurts.”
Mozuta sighed. Of course it hurt. But what hurt more was the fact that he proved himself to be useless once again yesterday. Sure, he knew he didn’t have any powers, but was there no way he could help? Without Mr Twardowski’s help, Leontina would have fought the ghost all night instead of sending it to Selew. What if the ghost had overwhelmed her and hurt her while he was lying on the floor doing nothing? He was angry with himself. He gripped the blanket he was sleeping under tightly.
“What is it?” he asked, pointing at an animal. It was better to think about something else.
“Oh, t-that's the main r-reason your head hurts,” she answered. “T-this is liho. They b-bring small m-misfortunes to living humans. I-it looks like it used its p-powers to scare people away from the tower.”
“Liho?” Mozuta looked at the animal with contempt. Falling pots, stumbling on nothing, chairs breaking when you sit on them -- and many, many more incidents like these. When he was a child, he experienced the pranks of the liho first-hand, and together with his grandparents, he did his best to shoo them away. But the liho he saw before him looked sorry. It curled up on Leontina’s shoulder, trying to hide behind her while scowling quietly.
“I-it saved you too.” Leontina patted it. “B-b-by throwing several desks at you, but it t-t-tried its best.” she added.
The boy sighed and held out his hand to pat the Liho on the head. But the moment his hand touched the small animal’s forehead, a bird flew into the room through the open window and stabbed Mozuta in the back with its beak.
A piercing scream of pain filled the room.
“Keep that thing away from me!” the boy exclaimed, tears of pain falling down his cheeks.

A warm smile graced Leontina's face as she observed Mozuta's curling up in pain.
Mozuta couldn’t see the relieved smile beneath her mask.
Fortunately, you’re more human than undead.
Liho’s powers were her proof that Mozuta was a living being, and that his undead side wasn’t strong.

She preferred not to think about herself. How she felt when she could easily hug this small creature and nothing happened to her.

Just like her body didn’t feel anything, it would be better for her heart not to feel anything too.

The only thing she needed is to find the one who put her in this state.

She recalled Bernard’s words.
I promised him I'd take you back with me.
She looked through Bernard’s life, but she didn’t see anyone who resembled Count von  Firnau, nor anyone else who knew anything about Soul Guides. Bernard hadn’t met one during his lifetime. He wasn’t interested in them. This meant that the HE he was talking about was someone he had met as a ghost. Had she known, she would have interrogated him properly.

I’ll find you.
She promised herself, clenching her fist.