Hilda - The Challenge (42 page)

The man that was so feared by everyone halted
some five yards away from the three visitors, and looked them up
and down. As was to be expected, he all but ignored William as
there was no magic apparent around him.

"You." Lamador looked at Hilda. He lay all
the disdain he could muster in the one word, emphasising it with a
magical surge of superiority.

"Yeah. Me." Hilda stood up straight and
proud, her arm touching William's. "I thought I'd come and see how
you are. And make sure that you understand the rules of our
challenge."

Lamador let her wait for a response. Another
sure sign of contempt. "Challenge," he finally said. "You call this
a challenge." He looked around for a moment. "You make me come out
here... to this... place. I have to bring valuable people along,
people who have better things to do, to make life less cumbersome
in this environment. And you expect me to play along in this game
that is fit for ordinaries?"

"Well, it looks to me that you consider this
a proper challenge as well, your lordship," said William. It caused
a wave of disturbance through the crowd that had gathered around
them. An ordinary addressing the Great Lamador without being given
permission to speak. That was unheard of, in the last fifty or so
years.

Lamador looked at William, who was half a
head taller than the sorcerer. Magic sparkled around the man in
blue for a moment, and then he was taller than William. "And you?
Do you have a wish to die?" Lamador's voice was soft, silken and
threatening. A black wand appeared in his hand, the tip red hot and
pointing at William's chest.

William's heartrate went up a few
notches.

"I would not do that, Lamador." Baba Yaga
stepped between the wand and William. "You have agreed that
Grimhilda can bring him along in the challenge you sent her. She
has given you the free hand in bringing along someone to this one,
so harming him would be harming one of the contestants. I am sure
you do not want to deprive yourself the pleasure of your own
challenge?"

The tip of the wand slowly moved up until it
was on the level of Babs' face. Then the sorcerer lowered it again.
"I don't know what I have done wrong, that I have to waste my time
with you."

"We wonder too," said Hilda, taking courage.
"And I am sure that Gerdundula, Fidelma and Calandra are shaking
their heads over the same question."

"These names mean nothing to me." Lamador's
eyes however became slits for a few moments.

"They will," William said, stepping next to
Baba Yaga. "And just because you are so big, that does not mean you
can just mock everyone. You were invited here the official way. You
accepted it, since you are here. We'll see you tomorrow. On the
battle field. And remember, no magic. Bare hands and brains, that's
all. We play for points."

Lamador focussed on William only a few
seconds, but that was too long. Their eyes locked, then the great
sorcerer turned and walked away without another word.

"Come, guys, we'd better get back home," said
Baba Yaga, "looks like we're done here."

Hilda grinned as they walked to where they
had left their brooms. The four people from their reception
committee who had remained silent yet close, followed them,
probably to see they would indeed go away.

As their departure was watched, Hilda and
William had to put on a little play in order to get him airborne as
an ordinary. He exaggerated the wobbling on the broom a bit, hoping
it would look like the real thing. As they lifted off, Babs looked
back. "They're still staring, hold the pose." Only after they had
gotten away a good distance from the camp, William took to normal
flying again.

"That feels better," he said. Hilda agreed.
"Do you think we unnerved him?"

Hilda frowned. "I think he is feeling a bit
out of place there, which is definitely an advantage."

Baba Yaga said: "The way he stared at you,
William, bothered me a little. I am not sure if he will play by the
rules tomorrow."

"He did not look very happy, indeed. I share
your feelings, Babs," said the wizard-to-be. "I think that it is
time to go to the battle field and set up the spells that betray
the use of magic. They really will hold until tomorrow after the
challenge?"

"When cast by professionals, yes."

"Oh. Thank you."

Hilda screamed with laughter.

It was the crack of dawn. Hilda, Babs and
William were waiting at what was designated the entrance to the
playing field. They had already calculated that Lamador would not
show up on time, if only to annoy them. When finally the sorcerer
arrived, it was in a spectacular way, floating down from his broom
with no suppport of any kind. He then slowly let his broom descend
also.

With him were three other people. A man and a
woman who would function as judges, together with the local witch,
and a man who would be Lamador's assistant in the challenge.

Lamador looked at William and Hilda, who for
the occasion were both dressed in pants, simple shirts and good
shoes. The shoes were the handiwork of William, who had done a lot
of hiking in his previous world. He had experience with shoes for
forests.

"You two look preposterous," Lamador snorted.
He handed his wide blue robe to one of his judges. Underneath it he
wore what looked like a long sleeved babydoll. He had a belt tied
round his waist so the fabric would not be in his way too much. His
companion wore a similar outfit.

"You look lovely," said William with a
benevolent smile. It earnt him a very dirty look, but as the rule
was that there was to be no magic, that was all Lamador could
do.

"Let's get this over with," the sorcerer
grumbled. He felt humiliated.

One of Lamador's judges, the woman, unfolded
a piece of paper. "Very well. The rules for this challenge are as
follows. The two contestants, or in this case their teams, will
enter the forest in a place of their choice. The aim is to hit the
other team with items found in the forest. For each hit on either
member of a team, a point will be rewarded to the other team. The
challenge will continue until one of the teams calls for an end, in
which case the other team wins, or until the sun has reached its
highest point. In that case the team with the highest number of
points will win. If both teams have gained the same number of
points at the end of the challenge, winner will be the team that
first reached their highest score." She looked at everyone. "Is
this clear?"

"Yes," said Hilda.

Lamador, his face a good match for bad
weather, nodded. His companion nodded also.

"It is, and thank you for being so thorough
about it," said William politely. He knew that this would anger the
sorcerer, which was exactly what he wanted to achieve.

The woman smiled at him, but that was slammed
away as Lamador threw an angry glance at her. "Oh, there is
something more," she then said, "the part about the judges."
Lamador's mood, already reaching freezing, became more glum.

"The judges are allowed to travel through the
forest on foot or on broomstick, but are not allowed to use magic
for the benefit of the members belonging to either team."

"Or to the disadvantage of the other team,"
Hilda added. "A small thing, but an interesting one."

"Yes. Now, if all contestants have understood
the rules, then please proceed to a place from where you prefer to
enter the forest and then the challenge will start."

The judges stood together and watched the two
teams walk off.

"Not too smart of Lamador to stick to his
colours," whispered William to Hilda as they walked along, avoiding
twigs grabbing at them. "Blue is quite easy to spot in a forest."
The camouflage gear they were wearing would make them close to
invisible in the forest. Hilda had tied a brown piece of cloth
around her long grey hair, so it would not get caught in bushes and
also would not be very visible.

"Yes, that is true, but I have to agree with
him that we look preposterous," Hilda whispered back.

They reached the place from where they wanted
to enter the battle field and looked at where the judges were. The
judges waved at them, the signal that they could enter the forest
and start the challenge.

William and Hilda stepped into the forest and
walked straight ahead for a while, until they found the small white
mark they had left on one of the trees. That was, they knew, the
exact centre of the 'field'.

In silence they stood and waited, listening
for sounds that would tell them where Lamador and his team mate
were. Hilda sensed that overhead the judges were already patrolling
the area.

William then pointed. He had heard something,
so they walked ahead.

Lamador and his assistant, a man by the name
of Tudris, stomped through the woods. They both hated the place and
wanted to get away from it quickly. Despite that they knew that
they had to compete in as fair a game as possible.

"If I get my hands on them, they will mourn
the moment they thought of this stupid challenge," said Lamador.
"Now what are you doing?" He saw Tudris pick up a few pieces of
wood.

"We are supposed to hit them with something
we find in the forest, great sorcerer," the man said. "And this is
what I find in the forest."

Lamador sighed. He looked at the smears
Tudris had on his hands from the pieces of wood. Shaking his head,
he magicked up a piece of wood and floated that behind him.

"Great sorcerer, we are not-"

"Shut up, I know that. But no one is going
to-"

"One point for the time of Grimhilda the
witch, unauthorised use of magic by Lamador," a voice from above
said. A cackling laughter accompanied the cursing of Lamador.

Hilda heard Babs laughing and that made her
grin. "This must mean something good."

William winked at her and kneeled down. He
picked a handful of small bits of bark from the ground and stuffed
them in his pockets. A few more twigs and pebbles later, he was
satisfied. He watched how Hilda also grabbed handsful of stuff from
the floor. Her face was one big smile as she got up again.

The sound of someone cursing reached them.
"Another good thing," whispered William.

They stood still, looking for signs of blue
and listening for more sounds. Their waiting was rewarded quickly.
Hilda saw the movement of their two adversaries first and hissed to
William.

"Right. Now do the thing we practiced," he
whispered. They each went to another side of the trail they had
been standing on. Lamador would probably come down this way, as it
was the easiest passage. Hilda as well as her friend seemed to be
devoured by the bushes and low trees.

Lamador and Tudris came down the path. "I
wonder where they are." Lamador actually kept his voice down as he
had understood some of the game now. They did not move fast and
tried to check every inch of green and black they encountered.
There were however many of those inches, so it was easy to miss one
or two.

Hilda sensed the presence of all judges over
them. She also heard the whispers of Lamador and Tudris. The two
men did their best by now to be quiet, but did a lousy job. She saw
them pass by, counted their steps and then slowly got up. Calmly
she reached into her pockets and threw two hands full of bits and
pieces against the two sorcerers.

At the same time, William got up and started
bombing the two with his collection of bits, twigs, bark and
pebbles.

Lamador turned to William, his eyes shooting
fire. Never before had he been insulted in such a way by an
ordinary. And here was one that stood grinning as he threw out a
load of dirt from the floor over him, the Great Lamador.

The magical shields that hung everywhere
through the forest protected William from the fierce attack Lamador
launched on him. Hilda held her breath as she saw the bright amber
shoot from Lamador, but it was neutralised by the screen far before
it could get to her lover and friend. Still, her heart pounded in
her throat as she saw that Lamador was not giving up and tried to
pierce the shielding.

The anger of the great sorcerer was so
intense that he might actually have succeeded in that, were it not
that all three judges dropped down to the floor and blocked his
fire.

"Lamador!!", Baba Yaga shrieked, scaring
William. "Stop that!"

The other two judges were not feeling
competent to scold their master, but Babs did quite the job. She
got off her broom and whacked Lamador in the behind, with
force.

This was enough of a shock to the great
sorcerer to break of his attempt to kill William. The fire fell
away as he jerked around to look at who had slammed him like that.
"I should terminate you for that."

"But you won't. There are too many witnesses,
Lamador, and you cannot terminate us all. And you know that." Baba
Yaga looked at the two other judges and at Hilda who had come out
of her hiding place.

Lamador was angry. Very angry. He knew they
had him cornered.

William also stepped out now and looked at
the sorcerer. "You did not obey the rules, Lamador. I move that you
be disqualified."

A deadly silence fell.

"You..." Lamador could hardly speak because
of the shock and the inner rage that this ordinary's words had
brought about.

"William, perhaps you should stand behind
Babs and me," Hilda said, tugging his sleeve.

"I think he lost," said William. Somehow he
did not feel afraid of this man in his blue dress, who had smudges
of the wood and pebbles all over him. Everyone was aware however,
that Lamador was volatile now, as the sorcerer was barely managing
his frustration.

Lamador pointed a finger at William. "You
tricked me. You made a fool out of me."

"I did not. We played the game by other
standards. That is not trickery." William calmly stood before the
fearsome great Lamador and looked him in the eye.