Hilda nodded, her hair a tangled mess around
both of them. "No matter how much lightning rocks the castle,
William, you rock me the best."
Baba Yaga stood in front of the window as the
lightning struck. She was blown through Esmee's room and landed on
the ground, after a cunning detour against the wall. "Suck an elf,"
the ugly witch muttered as she somehow managed to stand up
again.
The lightning had bounced off the window
sill. It had jumped onto the metal stand that had held a few large
sunflowers, in the days that Esmee still was a genuine flower
witch. After examining the stand, the lightning had decided that
the large copper bed with the witch was its final destination, so
it had leapt over to that, shocking the bed and its sleeping
occupant.
Grimalkin and Obsidian had already located
safer quarters as the lightning hit. They were on top of some
bookshelves and saw how Esmee was picked up and thrown down on her
bed again.
Baba Yaga was on her feet again, but she had
not seen how Esmee's body had bolted upwards as the high-powered
flash had slammed through the bed. "Suck the proverbial elf," she
mumbled as she saw the mess that Esmee's blankets had ended up in.
With some magic Babs corrected that. Then she settled into the
comfortable chair again to continue her wake. A few minutes later
both witches were asleep. The two cats curled up where they were
and called it a day also.
-=-=-
The next morning came with a lack of rain.
Thunder and lightning had left also, in search of places where
their work was more appreciated.
A knock on a door woke a few people inside
the room that the door was in.
"What!" Baba Yaga was not on her best this
morning.
Carefully the door was opened and a servant
peeked around it. "I'm sorry," he started.
"Not nearly as much as when I'm done with
you," Babs informed him. "What do you want?"
"Princess Snow White," the man said, "wonders
if the witch Esmee is able to come and help with the children."
Baba Yaga pointed to the bed. "Ask her
yourself."
The servant cast a glance at the bed and
noticed a lack of liveliness from the figure in it. Without a word
he closed the door, successfully escaping Baba Yaga's wrath.
"Come to think of it," the ugly witch
muttered, "she's very silent." Babs rose from the chair and
shuffled over to the bed. "Hey, wake up you." She prodded Esmee for
a while, until life seemed to be restored inside the young
witch.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch," Esmee groaned. "What
happened? Is this a normal feeling after being a cat?"
"I don't know, but you seem to be alive.
That's good." Babs brushed the little hair she had to the side.
"Maybe an idea to get up and find something to eat. And collect the
horny couple. They've shaken up the castle with their humping. A
miracle they're still accepted here."
Esmee, feeling as if a train had hit her (had
trains existed in her world), crawled from the bed and put on some
clothes. Everything about her hurt. "Yes. I can do with some
breakfast..." She walked to the door, that swung open, and she went
into the corridor.
Baba Yaga frowned as she watched the open
door. "Stylish," she mumbled. "A new trick for that kid, but I like
it." She headed out after the kid.
William and Hilda were surprised by a knock
on the door also.
"If you've had enough of each other, care to
join us for breakfast?" a voice rang through the door.
Hilda stared at William. "That sounded like
Baba Yaga. And as Esmee."
William nodded. "Maybe it's time to call off
Babs's education idea. This is getting scary."
Hilda agreed. They got out of bed and joined
the other two in the dining room not much later. Snow White, Jordan
and the children were already there, as were King Louie and his
wife, Queen Daphne. The magical couple was just in time to catch
Esmee saying: "I am the witch, not the nanny, so please let me eat
something and take care of the witching around here. I don't do
children anymore if that's all the same to you."
-=-=-
"What happened here?" Lindolf felt he was
entitled to an answer as he saw the bloody rags and the bandages on
Santera's arms.
"Nothing special," Magda said. Simi had left,
hoping to get some of her regular work done today. "She went wild
and we tried to restrain her."
"Looks as if she had a run-in with knives of
something," Lindolf remarked as he saw a cut on Santera's
shoulder.
Magda cursed herself for not dressing the
young woman properly. Then Lindolf would not have seen those
wounds. "You know how she can become. She got to you too,
Lindolf."
The man nodded, remembering the attack.
"Maybe we should chain her up again."
"You are terrible. She does the hardest work
and as a reward you want to chain her to the wall. Be careful,
Lindolf, you're walking a thin line lately." Magda stuffed herself
with the food the man had brought. "I am going to wake her up, she
has to eat also. You should better leave, unless you want to know
how Santera reacts when she sees you. She still has not forgiven
you, you know."
Lindolf nodded. "Just make sure she's ready
to go out again tonight."
"I don't know if Simi will be here. I need
her for that too," Magda said.
"If not, I'll send for Mad Jock," Lindolf
said lightly.
"Jock is not the same," Magda pointed out.
"He doesn't know how to freely give his power."
"Just see to the girl," Lindolf snapped.
"We're going to make the big move soon, so I need her ready." Then
he turned on his heel and left the room.
"Prick," Magda grumbled as she went to wake
up Santera.
-=-=-
Baba Yaga grinned, proud of her protegé.
"That's my girl," she mumbled as Esmee dug into her breakfast.
Snow White and Jordan stared at the witch
whose attitude had changed so drastically. "I guess we have enough
people here to tend to the kids," Snow White then decided. She
turned to William. "Dear wizard, can you tell us when Jordan is
free of pain again? I feel so sorry for him..."
William chewed a bit of bread, while looking
as in thought. Then he looked at the princess and said: "No. I'm
sorry. The procedure went well. He knows there would be some pain
involved, but there is not much saying how long that will last.
Depends on the character of the man, really."
Snow White looked at her husband. "I
understand," she then said. "I hope it will be better soon. He's
really in pain sometimes."
Jordan blushed as he said that he did keep to
the instructions that William had given him.
"I'm sure it will all be fine and dandy
soon," William tried to assure Snow White.
"I do hope so, honourable wizard," said Queen
Daphne, "it is not done for a royal descendant to walk around like
he's been on a horse for too long."
Baba Yaga grinned openly.
"Have you been able to do something about the
cat woman?" King Louie asked. "Making my son walk like a duck is
one thing, but that is not what you were asked to come over
for."
"We're getting there, your royal kingness,"
said Hilda. "Last evening we were able to establish a form of
contact with the cat woman She was in fact cooperative. And we are
quite certain that she is not acting on her own."
"Oh. Good, good," the king said. "I am glad
you are making progress. Can't have people go scared over something
like that, can we?"
Esmee had remained silent during the talk,
devouring food as if she had not eaten for a very long time.
William had noticed that awkward behaviour of the young witch. "And
Esmee has been very instrumental in making the contact, sire," he
said. Somehow he felt the need to make Esmee be seen as more than
she had been regarded upto now.
"Good, good," the king said again, "I am
pleased to hear that."
The rest of breakfast passed by without more
interesting things, but Baba Yaga, William and Hilda kept wondering
about the strange behaviour of Esmee.
As the four magicals took over a lounge as
their conference room, Babs turned to Hilda and William. "Next time
you are doing the beast with two backs, make sure your bed is
floating or so. It was really obnoxious to have to listen."
"Goodness, was it that bad?" William asked,
but Hilda patted him on the arm. "Let it be, William, she's just
jealous."
Baba Yaga made a sound that cannot be
described. Hence it will remain undescribed.
Lindolf had really tried to be calm and
friendly when he had come in to explain his plans. The women had
not taken it so well though. Magda had chewed his arse because of
what he wanted Santera to do so. Simi was very much opposed to the
idea; while assisting with all the cat woman magic she had not been
able to do her normal things and she started to feel very bad about
that. And the young woman, Santera, had once again tried to attack
him. All he had left from that was a nasty scratch on his forehead,
but still, it was not the way things were meant to go.
-=-=-
"I have a new idea," said Hilda as she jumped
to her feet and startled Grimalkin who dropped to the floor.
"If it is another 'make Esmee a cat' idea, I
do not want to hear it," the young witch grumbled. "Make yourself a
cat and get beaten up, that way you know how much fun it is. And do
wait until it rains." She was still offended by that.
William kept silent, he did not want to get
caught in this crossfire. Esmee was different since she'd been a
cat and he still wasn't sure how different, and why different.
"No, no, don't worry about it," said Hilda.
"I do need a volunteer to accompany me to the forest."
"Are you planning something dangerous?"
Hilda's best girlfriend asked.
"No, it is so boring that it is nice to have
some company. I want to go that burnt-down shed and see if the lock
is still there, the one that kept the door closed."
Three pairs of eyes looked at her
questioningly.
"I suddenly thought this: if the lock is
still there, there is a good chance that the person who owned the
key to it still has the key. And we could hex the lock so it will
guide us to the key." Hilda looked at her friends, waiting for
their thoughts on her plan.
"Now that's a plan I like," said Baba Yaga.
"Why don't you two hump-birds fly along and leave me and my protegé
here in peace for a while? No need to hurry, either. And please
take your furballs with you when you go."
"Babs, I love your diplomatic way of
expressing yourself," William said as he picked Obsi from his knees
and stood up. He draped the cat over his shoulder and offered Hilda
his arm. "Care for a romantic flight over the forest,
sweetwitch?"
"Why certainly, sweet wizard," she said as
she settled Grimalkin on her own shoulders. Then, arm in arm, the
couple walked out the door.
"Do you think we can make it rain?" Esmee
asked Baba Yaga after the door had closed.
-=-=-
Magda went to the kitchen of Lindolf's house.
"Lindolf, we need to speak. We all think this is going too far.
Your plan started quite innocently, but everything you told us now
is just insane. You want us to attack the king again!"
"Yes," Lindolf said, feeling very much at
ease. "And this time it can't fail. We only have a small team, but
that is our strength."
"You can count me out, Lindolf. And Simi is
ready to step away also."
The man nodded as he sat down. "Of course.
But then you will face charges of theft. There's a certain old book
that's been missing for a while, you know."
Magda stared at him. "You can't. You
wouldn't. But Simi-"
"Simi," Lindolf interrupted her, "will be
seen as an accomplice to the theft. Nobody has seen her for many
days, nor have people seen you outside lately. It will be very easy
to get a posse on your tails, Magda, and what do you think will
happen to thieves that steal a valuable book?"
The half-witch stared at him in horror. "You
would do that." She knew he would.
"Of course," Lindolf said as if he had just
told her about the weather. "The book so far has only been valuable
with you around, as you can do things with it. If you walk away, I
will make sure the valuable book will be tied to you and Simi."
"But then Santera will-"
"-will be easily dealt with, an unfortunate
last victim of the ferocious cat woman who then mysteriously
disappears." Lindolf smiled at the woman. "So I think there is no
problem at all."
"I think you forget something," Magda said.
"But I will stay."
"Good witch," Lindolf praised her, "and I
forgot nothing."
Magda hoped he was wrong.
-=-=-
Hilda and her wizard landed their brooms as
close to the burnt-down shed as they could. The last stretch was an
easy walk and they found the place exactly as they had left it the
last time. Hilda poked through the ashes and soon the lock and the
chain were in her hands.
"There is a good start of things," she said,
feeling satisfied. "I do hope that this idea is going to work."
"It is a good idea, Hilda. At least it is
something we can do. Sitting around and waiting for the others to
make their next move is hardly going to get us somewhere."
The two black cats sauntered around the area
as if it belonged to them, but came bouncing back to their magical
humans as soon as these seemed ready to leave.
"I never thought I'd have a cat," Hilda
confided in William.
"Nor have I," the wizard said. "And I had
never guessed I'd have a witch."
Hilda's response was: "You do not have a
witch. No one has a witch. The witch chooses, my dear wizard.
Remember that." She looked him in the eye. "But I am glad you would
like to think of me that way, and proud that you dare do that." She
knew he did, she sensed it through the bond they shared, but at
times it just was a good thing to say.