In the dark corner, the man in the cloak and
hood smiled again. This, he knew, was very good. Suddenly he
grabbed to his pocket, as something started burning in it. He felt
the small pebbles that Magda had given him, they were red hot, and
tossed them on the table in front of him. She clearly needed to see
him. "Blast that witch and her magic," he muttered as the stones
cooled down. He swept them into his pocket again, put some coppers
on the table and left the tavern.
Magda saw Lindolf come from the tavern. She
stepped out of the dark alley where she had been hiding. He walked
over to her and asked what she wanted. "We have a problem. The
witches found our shed."
"Oh. Shit."
"Yes," Magda agreed.
-=-=-
"Now tell us, Willy, when are you going to do
your thingy with Jordan's thingy?" Baba Yaga asked, just a little
too eager.
The witches and wizard sat around the large
fireplace in Baba Yaga's room, enjoying glasses of wine. Hilda's
was severely watered down, as usual.
"The sooner the better, I think," William
thought out loud, "he was pretty much pushed into being brave this
evening, so we should exploit that."
"He's a bit of a whimp, isn't he?" Hilda put
in. "That hasn't changed over the years." As several eyes regarded
her, she told them again how she had met Jordan, fighting and
crashing into the glass coffin where Snow White lay. That story
always was a source of entertainment.
"Tomorrow afternoon, perhaps," William then
mused on about Jordan. "Take him by surprise, might be the best way
to handle this."
Hilda agreed. Esmee still worried about it
all. "Have you done this thing before?" the former flower witch
asked.
"No, but I've read books on how it's done.
Didn't look too difficult. I'll be fine," William said, certainty
all around him.
"It's not you I'm worried about," Esmee told
him.
Hilda laughed.
Baba Yaga then asked what they should do as a
next step concerning the cat-woman. "Messing with Jordan is all
good fun, I'm sure, but that's not what we're here for."
"I say we go and have another look at that
shed tomorrow morning," Hilda suggested. "Maybe they have used it
again and the magic trail is stronger. We might get a feel for the
kind of witch that's involved."
"Good plan," Esmee said. "And once we... I
mean you know what witch it is, what then?"
"And what if you can't figure that out?"
William challenged his witch.
"Urgh, you are so negative, William. Give me
some credit," Hilda grumbled. And to the other two witches she
said: "He has been in that strange world of his too long, I keep
blaming that. Such a waste. As to what we can do once we know what
kind of witch we're up against, I think we should look at that when
we actually know."
"Which means you don't have a clue at the
moment," William translated her words.
Hilda looked at the wizard. "Yes. You're
right. I don't. And that bothers me to no end."
"I know, Hilda," said the wizard. "I can feel
that. Now come sit in my lap and listen to me."
"You do not tell me what to do, wizard,"
Hilda said, her voice threatening and cold as ice cubes Then she
got up and sat in his lap. "I planned to do this long before you
said it."
Baba Yaga and her protegé stared at what was
happening, for different reasons but with equal interest.
William nodded. "We all know that we are
walking in the dark and there is reason to believe we are running
down a dead-end street. But nobody knows except us. So as long as
we appear confident and seem to follow a plan, everyone will be
certain we are on to something. And if we manage to make that
feeling known everywhere, so that includes the village, then the
witch and her partners will hear about that. Because that's how
small towns work. You just need to talk to the right people."
"And you know the right people?" Hilda
asked.
Babs whispered to Esmee: "I like that
boy."
"I heard that," said Hilda, "and I am waiting
to hear an answer of this boy."
"Shopkeepers and people working in taverns
and on market squares," said the boy.
-=-=-
"I am not doing it." Santera sat in the
corner of the room, huddled up under a blanket as if that protected
her from Magda and Lindolf.
Simi stood close to the young woman. "We
shouldn't, Magda, she's still too hurt from that attach of these
wild creatures, can't you see that?"
"Baloney," said Lindolf, "they're only some
scratches. Hardly worth mentioning. We have to bring the cat-woman
out again tonight, so people will believe the tale that goes around
the village now."
The group was in the attic of his house. They
had decided that was the best place for them to take residence, now
the shed was destroyed. Lindolf had tried to talk sense into the
three, but he was outnumbered. There also were no alternative
places.
"You just have to walk around a bit,
Santera," Lindolf tried. "Scare someone, or eat a chicken or
something. People have to know you are real."
"I'm not going to scare someone," Santera
said, determination trying to settle on her face and in her
voice.
"Okay, okay, wait, how about you just go
outside then, go to the market square, you scratch over some doors
so the marks are clearly visible and then we bring you back?" Magda
offered
Santera looked less opposing already...
Shortly after that, a furry shape moved
through the backstreets of the village, silent as a ghost. Santera
had given her will to Magda again, allowing the woman to alter her
appearance as she tapped into the power that Simi allowed. The
cat-woman passed the door of a shop, stopped and slowly dragged her
long sharp nails over it, the sound tearing up the silence of the
narrow street. The large cat growled and leapt through the street,
seeking cover in the darkest shadows while waiting if something
would happen.
The night remained quiet though. Santera
moved through the streets again, until she arrived at the market
square. Crouching down on all fours, she looked around. Her ears
turned, catching the slightest sound. There could be someone
around, even at this hour. The space in front of her was deserted,
save for some carts. Santera ran over to the carts and jumped on
top of the first one. It was empty. The next one was too. Leaving a
few scratch marks on that, she jumped from the cart again.
"Make her throw something through a window,"
Lindolf said, even when he had no idea where Santera was. He knew
that Magda would hear him. He also knew that if he repeated his
wishes often enough, she would make it happen, as long as it was
somehow possible.
Santera made her way to one of the houses,
picking up a piece of stone between her paw-hands. She flung it
towards a window as she came close to it. As glass shattered, she
madly scratched the front door of the house and then ran off, as
Magda ordered her to come back.
As the cat-woman disappeared in the darkness,
lights came on in the house that had been attacked.
As Hilda and William entered the dining hall
of the castle, they were immediately aware of a hush that went
around the servants. They frowned at each other as they sat down.
When a young man came to bring them their food, Hilda asked him
what was going on.
"Oh, nothing, nothing," the young man said
too quickly.
"Right. Now you sit down and you stay on that
chair until you told us what's going on," the witch said. "And not
on that chair, that's Baba Yaga's spot. She likes keeping things
like that simple."
"But I have to-" said the young man as he
could not stop himself from sitting down.
"-tell us what's the rumour," William ended
his sentence for him. "Come on, we can feel there is something, so
just tell us and you can go on with your work."
The young man swallowed hard. "There's a
rumour that one of the giant cats who attacked the king was in the
village last night."
"One of?" Hilda said. "Who claims there are
more?"
"Oh... many people in the village say that.
I'm not sure, but some may have seen a few even."
The witch released the young man, who took
off in rather a hurry. His exit was the cue for Baba Yaga and Esmee
to enter the hall and find a seat at the table. Hilda and William
told them what they had just heard from the servant.
"An army of cat-women? I don't believe a word
of that," said Babs as she tapped her empty cup and filled it with
her favourite tea.
The four magical ones agreed on that, but
wondered where the rumour had come from. William did point out
that, if this was indeed just a rumour, that proved his point about
putting their own rumour in the world. "There is genuine power in
that. See how the servants are sweating with the thought of many
cat-women?"
"But what if there really are more
cat-women?" Esmee asked as she watched his plate of food. "And why
don't they bring us food?"
"Uhm, that last bit might be my doing," Hilda
said. "Pinning down a servant may have been a bit harsh."
Babs grinned. After a few encouraging waves,
someone dared to bring two more plates of food. Over breakfast they
discussed options for the day, and then they left the castle. As
planned the other day, they headed over to the shed again.
"Well, that takes care of that," Baba Yaga
said as they stood close to the ruins of the shed. Obsi and Grim
carefully tiptoed around it, sniffing and clearly not appreciating
what they found. "Looks like we just found out that someone found
out that we found out."
-=-=-
"I don't want to do this anymore!"
Those words came from Santera's lips as she
was clawing at Lindolf's face. The young woman was furious and
Magda on her own was not capable to remove the furious person from
the one that tried to protect his head.
"Get that mad woman off me!" Lindolf
yelled.
"I am trying!" Magda screamed as she yanked
at Santera's hair, which in the end proved to be effective in that
Santera did not claw at Lindolf anymore. Now Magda was the subject
of her anger. Lindolf ended that quickly though; once he was free
he put his arms around Santera and prevented her from lashing out
at the witch. All she now could do was scream. And that she did,
until Magda stuffed a rag in Santera's mouth.
"Can't we sedate her?" Lindolf asked. "I
can't hold her like this for-aaah!" Santera had kicked one of his
kneecaps.
Magda looked at her old book of magic, the
one she had saved from the shed before she'd set it on fire. She
took the book and whacked Santera on the head. The cat-woman's
fighting came to an abrupt end.
"Not magical, but effective," Lindolf said as
he lay the limp body on the floor.
Magda inspected the book. It was not damaged.
Then she checked Santera; the book was quite heavy. The young woman
was fine, just out of action for a while. "This is getting to all
of us, Lindolf," she commented as she sat down with her book.
"Santera's going mad over all this stuff you make her do."
"You make her do it, Magda," he grinned. "I
just make suggestions."
"You are a swine, Lindolf."
The man smiled. "And you are my pearl, Magda.
I do agree that Santera is becoming a weak spot in our plan. We
have to act quickly."
"What do you have in mind?"
Magda held on to her book as he spoke.
-=-=-
Four brooms landed on the market square in
the village. Four magical people and two magical cats got off
them.
"So, where do we begin?" Baba Yaga asked. She
looked around. The square was remarkably empty. "Not here," Babs
replied to herself. "Nothing to do."
William asked Esmee to take them to the
tavern, where they would start their spread of rumours and also
enjoy a cup of tea.
"The tea there is awful," Esmee whispered to
the wizard.
"And we have magic to improve it," the wizard
whispered back, "so let's go."
Once away from the market square, they
encountered more people again, but none of them seemed very happy
to see them. Hilda wondered why that might be. It should be clear
that they were here to catch the strange cat-woman, and yet the
people looked at them as if they were responsible for the cat-woman
to be there in the first place.
Esmee ushered the others into the tavern.
Several tables were occupied. As soon as the four magical ones
entered, all talks died away as heads turned.
"As usual, your ravishing beauty renders them
speechless," William said. He did not go into specifics whose
beauty he was referring to, but Babs snorted. "Inn-keeper, we need
a table. With four chairs and four tea, and the table should be in
a place where we can't be overheard."
Hilda looked at her wizard and wondered if he
had gone stark raving mad. The inn-keeper however came galloping
along from behind the counter and guided the honourable group to a
table close to that very counter. "Not many ears around here,
honourable wizard," the man said as he bowed a few times. "Four
cups of the best tea for the honourable company, certainly sir-...
wizard-... sir wizard."
The four sat down. "Are you sure what you're
doing, William?" asked Baba Yaga. "This is not exactly a place to
unfold a plan of action, if you ask me."
William grinned. "But that is exactly the
beauty of the whole thing, dear Babs. I'm not asking you."
Baba Yaga spread her hands out on the table
and looked at the grinning man. "How long did you plan to stay
alive?" she asked.
"I will let that remain in the hands of my
witch," said William.
Babs pulled her hands back. "You just gave
the only acceptable answer, Willy."
The inn-keeper came back with their tea. It
looked like ordinary ordinaries' tea. After the inn-keeper had
removed himself, Esmee sniffed her cup. "This needs improvement,
William..." The wizard winked, wanded and things were well.