"No, it just will hurt insanely," William
grinned.
"Are you sure?" Jordan's face showed genuine
disbelief.
"Hmm, maybe it is just like that for magical
people, so don't take chances."
Hilda muffled away a snort into her teacup.
She could not help that some drops of it landed on her face.
"Bring her back," Lindolf told Magda. "She is
talking too much."
Magda looked in pain now, and Simi was not
looking her best either. Their almost constant work to keep Santera
under the spell was taking its toll.
When Santera finally returned, Lindolf
sedated the young woman with a potion he had once gotten from a
peddler from a faraway land. It knocked Santera out immediately,
and he carried her to the bed, where he tied her to the chain that
was bolted to the wall.
As soon as Santera had passed out, Magda
slumped back into the chair and Simi fell over, almost
exhausted.
"Now, this evening," Lindolf started, when
Magda turned her head towards him. Her gaze told him enough.
Nothing would happen that evening.
Without moving, Magda said: "I sometimes
wonder why we are doing this for you, Lindolf. The three of us are
more and more wasted after each trip we have Santera make, and you
are not suffering from anything except more dreams of greatness. Do
you understand how much you need us?"
Lindolf sat down and watched the exhausted
witch breathe. It was true what she said. He needed these three
women. Without them he was nothing but a normal merchant, be it one
with a good business going at the moment.
It had all started many months ago, when he
had accepted an old book as payment from someone who was severely
in Lindolf's debt for simply not being able to pay his bills. The
book look old and had a lot of gold print on it. The language in it
was impossible to decipher for the merchant, so he had put it up
for sale for the highest bidder.
Magda, who occasionally came to clean
Lindolf's house, had seen the book and was immediately attracted to
it. As she had touched it, it had called out to her. At least that
was the way she had explained its effect on her. It seemed to
scream at her.
Magda was a half-witch. Her mother had been a
true witch, and her father was an ordinary who, after a few months
of intense pleasure, had run off with another woman. Magda's mother
had born the fruits of that short encounter several moons later,
when Magda popped out. Her talents had never really developed; a
result of the mixed genes from her parents. The book however had
changed everything. Magda had sensed its magic. It was a strange,
wild and unruly magic, but it boosted her abilities and she
suddenly was able to do amazing things.
At first she had not told Lindolf about it,
but when he found out when he had a serious buyer for the book.
Luckily, or perhaps it was a wicked twist of fate, Magda had been
in the house and had screamed "No!" when Lindolf wanted to close
the sale. She had told him about the book after throwing a
hysterical fit that drove the buyer away. She also told him that
she did not have the energy to sustain the magic, but the book had
told her that an adequately strong other person would be good, if
this person gave his or her energy willingly.
Lindolf was very interested and had asked
Simi, a woman he knew, to help in an experiment with Magda. Simi
had been intrigued by the possibilities, and told Lindolf that she
was feeling amazingly good after a session with Magda. This amazing
new source of power had triggered him to try a few simple things,
like putting a few competitors out of business, getting a few
others killed and more kid stuff like that. As this had not proved
to be a problem, he had conceived his devious plan to remove the
king from his position and make the kingdom his own.
That was when Santera had come into the
picture. Magda had learnt from the magical book that she could
invoke a shapeshifting into someone who was willing to let that
happen. Santera had been influenced by Lindolf to participate in
the magical play and the cat woman had been born. It all had looked
amazingly simple. Santera had gone through the forests catching
rabbits and squirrels, and then Lindolf had become bolder and sent
her onto the castle grounds to kill chickens and rabbits there.
And then these three other magical people had
shown up, crossing his plans with so much vigour that he had
started to hate them terribly.
"When can we do some more?" Lindolf wanted to
know.
"Not today," Magda said.
"And not tomorrow," Simi added. "You people
are killing me. I plan on not helping anymore if you keep this up,
Lindolf. I am already a wreck every time I go home, I can't even do
my daily chores anymore after something like this."
"But think of the riches we'll have once our
plan has succeeded!" Lindolf tried to make the two women
enthusiastic again. "The gold and silver and the gems."
"Good luck having fun with those when we're
all dead," Magda groaned as she hoisted herself from the chair. She
took the book and held it to her chest, as if she was trying to
make it a part of herself.
Lindolf did not like that idea. At least not
knowing that this happened before his plan was completed. "Okay, I
agree, we've been doing a lot lately. We'll give it a while before
we send Santera out again. I understand the problems."
"About time," Magda said. She was swaying on
her feet a bit and in need of sleep and food, and not particularly
in that order. "We need something to eat, Lindolf. Get us
something."
The man was not used to be ordered around
like that, but for now he had to accept it. He knew that anything
stupid would make his plan collapse, so he went down to the kitchen
to find the women something to eat and drink.
When he returned, Simi scolded him for
putting Santera to sleep. "She needs to eat too, you know."
Lindolf grumbled something, took a small
bottle and put a drop of its contents on Santera's upper lip. A few
moments later, the young woman's eyes fluttered open. The first
thing she noticed was the chain on her wrist.
Santera made a grab for Lindolf's face,
hoping to take out an eye or so, but she was too tired and he was
too quick. She resorted to cursing him down to the deepest and most
painful pit, preferably before he died.
"Calm down," he said, "I woke you up so you
can eat something. Promise you won't try to kill me when I bring
you something?"
Magda told Santera to accept the food, as she
needed it at least as badly as she and Simi did. Santera grudgingly
said Lindolf would be safe. Somehow, even while she was chained to
the wall, it gave her a feeling of power over this man and his
plans.
Lindolf left the three women alone, assuring
them that he would come back soon. As soon as he was left, Santera
demanded that Simi would take the chain off her. "He treats me like
a wild animal," Santera complained, rattling the iron.
"Well, the way you assaulted him, you have
given him reason for that," Magda said. "But yes, Simi, you can
free Santera."
Soon the three sat eating, Santera on the
floor as far from the bed with the chain as she could be. "How long
do you think we have to keep doing this?" the young woman asked. "I
want out of this. I want my life back, and not spend every night
prowling the village as a big cat. It's scary."
"Why is it scary?" Simi asked.
Santera explained that it was becoming harder
for her to distinguish what part of her was human and what part was
the cat woman "I want to be all human again," she said as she
licked her fingers, "and have a husband and children and a normal
life."
"Not sure if any of us will be able to have a
normal life after this," Magda thought out loud. "Not as long as
Lindolf keeps going on with his plan."
"But when we walk out on him, he can do
nothing!"
"Wrong. He knows too much about us," said
Simi, "and if we walk away, he will have enough ways to make us
solely responsible for all that happened. Would you like to be
accused of attempting to kill the king?"
Santera's face grew dark. "Then we'll kill
Lindolf."
The assembled magicals strolled through the
castle gardens, trying to come up with a new plan. "I doubt that
creature will show here again soon," said Baba Yaga, "it knows it's
being hunted now. I suggest we take the cage apart again. It's
really an ugly thing."
William did not grin, but to hear Baba Yaga
talk about ugly always was a wonderous thing. He did agree, the
cage was of no use anymore, so they walked over to it and
disassembled it, at first much to the delight and then to the shock
of the gardeners. The cage had damaged the lawn considerably.
One of the green-fingered men dared ask if
the witches could please repair that damage. Hilda frowned. "Nature
will do that, and you can pitch in. Take pride in your craft, man,
we have better things to do."
Esmee chuckled at the face of the gardener.
"And while you're at it, do remove all those iron bars. They are an
eye-sore," she added to Hilda's words.
The four walked on, still unsure of what
their next step would be to find that cat woman "It is remarkable
that nobody saw her lately. Do you think she is hiding somewhere?"
William wondered.
"Maybe," said Hilda, "but I get the feeling
that this is not just a cat woman doing things on her own. That
shed, burnt down and all, with the strange magic, that is tied into
all this. Has to be."
"Do you have evidence?" William wondered.
"No. It's because I say so," Hilda explained.
"Cat women don't just appear from out of nowhere."
"Except in Catzachstan," Baba Yaga reminded
the wicked witch.
"Yes, true, but that's far away from here,
and these women hardly ever leave their country. It's safer for
them that way."
William and Esmee exchanged glances, they
both had never heard of Catzachstan but it sounded an interesting
place. "So if this cat woman is sent by someone, it is obvious that
this someone has a plan. What else would be the reason?"
"See, that's why I keep him around," Hilda
told Babs. "He thinks at times. Yes. There has to be a plan. And I
think I know how to provoke a reaction from the controlling
person..."
"Really?"
"Really. And you three are going to help with
my little plan."
-=-=-
"That looks amazing, Hilda." William's
respect for his little witch grew some more again.
"It's a nice job," Baba Yaga agreed, pleased
with what Hilda and she had wrought.
"I'm quite satisfied too," Hilda nodded.
Obsi and Grim lay on the bed, staring at the
cat woman that stood in the room. "Mrrowww," said Esmee. It was
obvious that she was not so impressed, the more there she had not
had any say in deciding who was going to be turned into a cat
woman
"Don't try to speak, Esmee," said Hilda, "you
can never be sure what you're saying, and it is dangerous to anger
other cats." She turned to the two cats. "So what do you think?
Will she do?"
Esmee was eyeing herself in the mirror and
was impressed as well as abhorred with what she saw. The two
witches had turned her into a red haired cat woman, complete with
fluffy tail. And the tail responded to what she wanted it to do.
Her hands had changed to paws, as had her feet. She could easily
stand on her hind legs, but walking gave her some balancing issues.
On all fours there was no problem, but from that position the world
looked all wrong.
"Right then," Babs said as Grimalkin walked
around Esmee and rubbed her head against Esmee's legs, "looks like
we did a decent job. Let's turn this cat back into a witch. We'll
be able to switch her into cat again this evening, for when she's
going out."
Hilda and Baba Yaga did their magic thing,
while William held up Esmee's dress, ready to magick it around her
as soon as the cat-disguise had gone. It worked quite well.
-=-=-
Esmee felt miserable as she was going through
the forest. No pleading had helped her: she was going to walk to
the village. As a big cat, not on a broom. And it was raining. The
flower witch had never been a big fan of rain, but her catlike
appearance brought out the dislike larger than life. She went
through the undergrowth for a while, hoping that the rain would not
reach her there, but that proved to be a bad idea: she got caught
in the dense plant life and had to fight herself free a few
times.
Hilda, William and Babs followed Esmee's
progress through the revived crystal ball of the flower witch.
"She's not doing a really good job, is she?" Babs commented.
"How often have you been a cat to do that?"
William asked her, which earnt him a very disapproving look. And
coming from Baba Yaga, that made him instantly forget any other
smart remark he had up his wizardly sleeve.
Esmee in that time had discovered how to run
on all fours. It was a very strange experience: the world was much
higher now, as she was not used to it, her head bobbed and made
what she saw quite dizzying, but she was going faster than she had
ever run before. Also she picked up so many other things; smells,
sounds and vibrations she'd never sensed. And rainwater. Soon she
reached the village.
Hilda and the others watched how Esmee kept
to the dark parts of the streets as she went through the village.
It was what they had agreed on, Best for her to get used to being
there in her current form for a while.
"What's that shaking she does?" Hilda
wondered. William laughed and explained a bit or two about cats and
getting wet. "Oh. I see. She will hate us for that, right?" William
nodded. "Good."
As soon as Esmee felt more safe, and she had
found streets that were deserted (which was easy as it still
rained), she got up on her hind legs and walked along the street.
Esmee worried as she started her stroll; she felt naked as she was
only 'dressed' in cat hair. Also the long tail was giving her fits
at times as it got caught between her legs. She had not much
experience in twitching it, or keeping it in the air like the two
cats of Hilda and William. And holding her tail was no option as
she had not hands.