Hilda - The Challenge (17 page)

"That's not fair," the witch grumbled, "now I
have to get up. And no, you can't come with me. Not now." She slid
off the man under her and sat up on her knees. "But don't you dare
leave." She pointed her finger at him which made him grin.

"Don't worry. I'll be here. Just hurry."

She did.

Despite the comfortable bed, they decided to
go downstairs and face what was left of the day. It was not
surprising that there was not much of it remaining, and Hilda was
glad there had been no people calling at the door.

"Maybe," she said as she was reducing a
carrot to nothing, "I should put a spell on you. One that makes you
stay with me."

"Do you think that is necessary?", William
asked as he was scanning the table for something interesting to put
on his bread.

"Nah, I doubt that, but it could be
interesting," she teased him.

"Spontaneous is better, believe me," he
said.

"Probably."

Twok.

"Sounds like you have mail," William
remarked.

"Uhuh. It won't go away and I am not in a
hurry." She hadn't spoken the words or her crystal ball started
singing. "Why now?" She looked as if the sound caused her terrible
pain. "That's Babs. I have to talk to her, okay?"

"Okay, but if she can see you it might be a
good idea to put something on first."

"Uhm..." Hilda stared at her naked body. "You
have a point". She first kissed his cheek, then put on her red
coat, after which she walked to the ball and waved over it. "Babsy
baby, good morning!"

Babsy baby was silent for a moment. Then,
wondering what the heck was happening, she said: "Morning? Where
are you? It's well in the afternoon here, Hilda. Are you okay?"
Even William picked up the concerned tones in the shrill voice of
the Russian witch.

"Yes, I'm okay. Fine even. Not quite awake
yet, but that will settle itself. So, what's the reason for you to
call me this fine day?"

"Hilda, stop scaring me. Do I need to fly out
to you and check on you?"

"Oh, no need for that. William is checking on
me already." Hilda giggled.

Something Russian and incomprehensible came
from the crystal ball, followed by: "So it's true? He's still with
you? And all the other things?"

"What other things?"

"I heard that you want to ask William to
fight Lamador for you."

"I what? Who told you that bull, Babs? Come
on, you know me better than that. It's my challenge, my deal, I am
not allowed to bring in others. And I couldn't bring William in. He
is not magical. Crap..." Hilda felt her wonderful feeling fleet
from her as the subject of the challenge came up again.

"Calandra mentioned some things...", Babs
admitted.

"Urgh. She added the bits that I left out,"
Hilda muttered, "don't believe a thing she says. Yes, William is
still here, and I am keeping him here. Just for you: I think I love
him. And I don't want him in danger. Okay?"

"Okay, kiddo, but can you run that one thing
by me again? The bit where you say you think you... love him? Are
you certain that is what you wanted to say, or is sleep still
hugging your brain?"

William had put on his blue robe and stood
behind Hilda now, his hands on her shoulders as he peered at the
large ball showing Baba Yaga.

"Oh. I see. Sleep is not hugging your brain,
something's messing with mine." Baba Yaga knew that Hilda would
never allow someone to stand like that unless the wicked witch
trusted the other person blindfolded.

"Yes, I am awake. And I love him, Babs. Hey,
do you love me too?", Hilda asked William as she looked up at
him.

"I do, Hilda. I love you."

Baba Yaga looked at the two, trying to keep
her face expressionless. With the many folds and wrinkles, that was
not such a daunting task, but she did her best anyway. "Well, good
for you, guys. Willy, do understand that I am going to keep an eye
on you. if ever you do something to Hilly baby that I don't like,
you'll answer to me. Do I make myself clear?" The undercurrents in
her voice made her intent as clear as the crystal that Hilda's ball
was made of.

"You are clear, very clear, but I would very
much appreciate it if you would first ask Hilda if she doesn't like
it either," Willy replied.

Babs thought about that. "Yeah, I can see
reason in that. Okay, deal. If I worry about you I'll first get in
touch with her about that."

"Hey! I am stil here, you know!" Hilda waved
her arms. "No need to talk about me as if I am somewhere else!"

Babs' eerie cackle bounced through the room,
and William could not help laughing either.

"Hey, shush you!" Hilda pretended to bang on
William's chest with her fists. As she had her back turned to the
crystal ball, she was laughing also, and ended up in a hug from
William.

"Right, I see that it is time for me to stop
watching before you take this too far. I value my crystal. Take
care, guys." The face of the ugly witch disappeared.

The couple spent the day doing close to
nothing. Hilda felt obligated to check things at least through her
mirror. William sat with her as she showed him parts of the kingdom
he had not seen before.

"Goodness, it is so beautiful here," he said
as the image showed mountains, lakes with long beach-like shores
and ancient castles.

"It is, indeed," Hilda said. "It's weird
though... Now you are here and you tell me it is so pretty, I can
see it again. It's all so... normal for me."

"Unfortunately that happens all the time,"
William agreed. "Let's try to remind each other to see the good
things."

"Good idea, but remember that I am a wicked
witch. I only reserve that right for you, William. Others won't
hear things like that from me."

"I can live with that."

Hilda started looking at all kinds of things
then that did not mean anything to William. People, murky places
and what looked like haunted houses came by.

"Would you mind if I skip this? I'll be at
the table with my book."

"Sure, I can't assume that everything I like
fascinates you as well." She brushed his cheek with her lips, just
before he got up. Hilda watched her lover pick up the special book
with the silk scarf as he headed for the table. "I like the scarf,"
she grinned. "Can I trade you another one for it?"

"Make me an offer," William grinned and sat
down. Something poked him and he jumped up again, reaching into the
pocket where the problem maker apparently was. He found the two
parts of the wand that had belonged to Gerdundula the witch. As the
memory of the overturned house flashed brightly through his head,
he put the two pieces of the wand on the table, shaking his head
for a moment.

"What's the matter?" Hilda had seen him shake
his head.

"I was thinking of Gerdundula," he explained,
sitting down and opening his book.

"Hmmm... better try to think of something
more entertaining... her fate is depressing..."

In silence they continued what they were
doing, Hilda examining the kingdom through her mirror, William
reading his treasured book.

"So, what is that precious book you are
reading?", Hilda asked after her curiosity had been satisfied. She
leaned on William's shoulder and looked at the pages he was
studying.

"It is a book about magic," he told her. "I
just love the paper, the print, the drawings and the way the spells
are written down."

"Lemme see!", Hilda said as she squeezed
herself between William and the table, sitting in his lap at ease
once he had moved the chair back a bit. The wicked witch was more
interested in the texts themselves than the paper they were printed
on.

"Where did you find this?", she asked after
looking over the open pages. Slowly her finger traced the line of
one of the images, it was a flower that probably had never existed,
except in the mind of the illustrator.

"It was in a monastery," William said, "in a
chest somewhere in a basement. The monastery was not in use anymore
as the rumour went round that there had been witches living there
at some time. I doubt that they were real witches, but I suspect
that they left the book there. There were other books there also,
but this one appealed to me so much that I took this one."

"Shiny. You should have taken more of them.
This is a fascinating book. It feels alive."

William frowned. "Alive? Anyway, there were
more people there, so I could only get one of the books. I was
lucky to be in the first wave, so this one was still there."

Hilda paged through the book. "Amazing," she
mumbled, her mind fully absorbed by the text and the illustrations.
"Can't be real."

William felt left out a bit, but he watched
her face as Hilda skimmed through the book, at times stopping her
fast going through the book to read a page or a passage.

She looked at him, turning in his lap and
putting an arm over his shoulder. "You picked the best book of the
lot."

"What makes you say that?"

"It's alive. I can feel it. Here..." She took
one of his hands and placed it on the page that she had studied
only moments before. "Do you sense it?" With anticipation she
regarded his eyes as he tried to concentrate on the page. If he
sensed something, she knew, it would show in his eye first.

"Sorry... I don't feel it," he said, feeling
disappointed. "I wish I could, but there's nothing."

Hilda shrugged. "It was worth the try. I
could see you did not catch it. But it is nice that you tried it,
sweet man." She kissed his cheek. "It's witchy stuff, after all.
But take care of that book. It is alive."

"You keep saying that, but what do you mean
by that? That it's magical?"

She shook her head, making her hair fly. "No.
Not magical, but something that has the same charge. Argh, I wish I
could explain this to you. It is the difference between a flower
you picked from its stem and one that is still growing in the
soil." Hilda looked at him, hoping that these words would make him
understand. She saw they didn't.

She sighed. "Too bad... it is such a special
thing to sense, my dear. But I have an idea. Let's go out and fly
around a bit. To get out of the house and clear our heads."

William was game for that. Hilda went to
prepare herself for flight as she was only wearing her housecoat.
William looked at the book again. "Alive," he said, closing the
book and touching the leather cover. "I wish it was alive enough to
fix that wand." The book responded by cracking a tiny streak of
lightning between the leather and his hand. "Ouch!"

"What?!", Hilda yelled from her room.

"The book just tried to electrocute me!"
William stared at his palm where a tiny black mark was visible, the
result of the uncanny discharge.

"It tried what?", asked Hilda as she came
bolting down the stairs. "What's with your hand? How did you do
that?" She saw the black mark also. William explained what had
happened.

"Suck an elf," the witch frowned. "That is
quite a special way of it to tell you it's alive. At least you felt
it well," she grinned, her wicked streak popping to the surface.
She touched the leather. Nothing happened. "It's still alive, so
you did not kill it," she winked. "Come, poor hurt person, I'm
going to turn you into a fly-boy!"

They got hold of their brooms and went
outside for a bit of late afternoon flying.

"They're going to be amazed," Hilda chuckled
as they lifted off, "I usually don't fly about this late!" Her
shrieking laughter mixed with William's ordinary's laugh.

The flying trip had been a relaxed one. No
speeding, no wild tricks, just the wind in their faces, the sweet
scent of flowers from the valleys below and the thrill of flying
along with birds. Hilda had told her companion in flight that she
liked to fly with the birds, as it was something that gave her a
very peaceful feeling.

They had flown in silence for a while, each
consumed by their own thoughts, when Hilda suggested they could
land near the village and walk through it for a change. "I
sometimes do that, to shock them, " she replied to his unspoken
question. "It is so much fun to see the ordinaries act when the
wicked witch is suddenly walking in their streets."

"Then let's do it," William said, winking at
her before he pulled the hood over his head. "I'll be the silent
mysterious wizard again."

"Good boy. Another reason to keep you," she
chuckled as she turned the brooms and set course to the small patch
of oaks where she intented to land. "Hold on, we'll have to squeeze
through the branches, so this could become a bit rough."

Her warning was not in vain. The branches
were full with leaves and despite the slow descent, there was a lot
of tugging at their clothes. Hilda uttered a few curses that were
new to William, and impressive too, as her dress got ripped.. When
they were on the ground at last, he checked her clothes and found
where the mishap had taken place. She quickly repaired the
problem.

"I don't want to show myself with torn
clothes," she said.

"I know, you have a reputation to keep up."
William grinned.

"Indeed. But I should be all fine and shiny
again now, so let's go and baffle them with our brilliance." She
kissed him and showed him a dazzling smile. "That's for you, since
it would look weird if we walk hand in hand in the village."

William adjusted his hood so his face was in
the dark, and then they went into the village, the brooms floating
behind them as a bonus.

"Show off," William whispered.

"Shush, you." Hilda grinned. "Just watch and
have fun."

The first street they came in as they entered
the village was rather a silent one. The right side of it was lined
with low trees of a kind William had never seen. The trunks were
grey-ish green, the bark was very rough as if someone had dragged a
plow through it. The size of the trees was amazing also, the
smallest looked as if it measured four feet in diameter.