Hilda – The Challenge

by Paul Kater

Published by the author at Smashwords - Copyright 2010 Paul Kater

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Contents:

1. The challenge

2. Mountain view

3. Rocky mountains

4. And so we meet again

5. Flying business

6. Wine and dine

7. Household hassle

8. Making the rounds

9. Gerdundula

10. Bestest girlfriend

11. What to do with William?

12. Making things work

13. Mirror Lake

14. Splashes and books

15. Cookery

16. Low down couch

17. I'll make breakfast

18. Visits

19. Good old house

20. Wake-up call

21. It's alive

22. The village

23. Gurthreyn

24. Did I wand this?

25. It's magic

26. Empty your mind

27. I fly

28. Second nature

29. Protection

30. Things that go bahhh

31. Home improvement

32. Missing

33. Coffee

34. Power of books

35. Protect thyself (1)

36. Protect thyself (2)

37. Trip to Gurthreyn

38. Solo rounds

39. Responsibilities

40. The plan (1)

41. The plan (2)

42. The plan (3)

43. The action unfolds

44. The cook

45. And now it's our turn

46. Our turn

47. Eye-quill coordination

48. Books and magic

49. Meeting Lamador

50. The first challenge

51. The aftermath

52. Goose

53. Beginning the journey

54. Pegasus

55. King Herald

56. Back home

57. Shopping

58. Gurthreyn's Secret

59. Rock bottom

60. Gurthreyn once more

61. Message from the king

62. Howler

63. Ghost

64. Bustin' makes me feel good

65. No buts or maybe's

66. Challenge (1)

67. Challenge (2)

68. Challenge (3)

69. Scared of heights

About the author

Other books by this author

1. The challenge

A piece of paper went up in smoke. It had travelled over many miles and even more bows. The arrow it had been tied to was in a deplorable state as it reached the intended recipient of the note.

"They just don't get it," the wicked witched sighed as she picked up her tea-cup.

The goldfish did not react, they had heard this often enough and knew what was coming.

"They keep at it like the rabbits and each time they try to make me wild about the idea of becoming a Godmother. Me!"

The paper had carried the seal of prince Jordan and princess Snow-White and revealed that their fourth child had been born.

"Good luck with that menagerie," Hilda muttered, "I am not cut out to be a Godmother. We have plenty of witches available that are up for that task. But not me."

The witch took a sip of her tea. "Perhaps they should ask Magrat Garlick. Now there's a thought!" She laughed out loud at her own joke.

The goldfish frowned at each other. This was a new one, but they did not know Magrat.

Twok.

Hilda looked annoyed. "Another letter? Can't a witch get some peace and quiet in the morning..."

"This one is important," said the house. Since it had been painted it was much more talkative, and Hilda sometimes wished it would pipe down a bit.

"So now we're reading other people's mail, eh?" She hoisted herself to her feet and headed to the door. She gave way to the yawn, then opened the door and yanked the arrow out.

The door closed itself as she went back to the table. Hilda picked the paper from the arrow and started reading. As she reached the end of the note, she compacted her entire assortment of feelings about it into one word. "Crap."

The note was from king Herald, her longtime adversary. He had once more sent her a challenge, to get into the arena against Lamador, his sorceror. A challenge, as usual, to the death. And as usual, Hilda did not feel up to that. Death was interesting, but only if she herself was just indirectly involved.

"Now how am I going to handle that this time..." A challenge like this had reached her more than once already, and Hilda would not be Hilda if she did not try to think of a new way to counter it.

A dirtroad, in a place that many would consider no man's land. The road consisted mainly of sand, light brown, mixed with pebbles and rocks. On either side of the road there was the promise of grass, but it looked like a promise that nature could not keep. There had not been enough rain in the past weeks for anything but the trees to survive with relative ease.

The trees had suffered from the lack of precipitation also, as many of their leaves had turned yellow and were curling up, as if to protect themselves from the merciless sun that did not want to relinquish, not even for a day.

A man sat with his back against one of the trees. Sunlight was falling on the item in his hands. He was reading a large book, bound in leather. It was not merely large, it was also old. Originally there had been large letters on the leather, in gold foil, applied by hand as far as the man knew. Now there were only faint traces of the gold remaining, and only the difference in colour on the leather showed the words, as the influence of daylight had changed the leather's appearance where the gold foil had not protected it.

For the man that held it, it was a book full of power, as it talked about magic. That was one of the reasons why he treasured the book. It had cost him a lot to acquire it, and the magic in it had helped him come through many a difficult day and night.

He ate some of his food, he drank some of his water too. Before reading on however, he carefully cleaned his fingers. The paper that the pages were made of was old and many of the pages were already stained, he did not want to add to that. The book was too precious to get more smears. The words in the old book were hard to read, so he had to trace every line with his finger as not to lose the spot to where he had progressed.

The man moved his lips in silence as he read a magical spell that was in the book. With an uncertain grin and an unbelieving shake of his head he read the spell again and said it out loud. Then, with baited breath, he waited.

"I never thought it would work," he then admitted to himself, a grin following the words. "I am not made of the proper magical stuff for things like this. I'll have to contend myself with my own forms of magic, common as they may be."

Carefully he closed the book and took the silk scarf that he had bought especially for it. He wrapped it around the book and shoved the package in a leather pouch that was decorated with a few stars and pentacles. There was time for a little nap before he had to go on.

Hilda paced the room. There had to be a way around this challenge. Taking it on was not on her mind. The 'to the death' part still bothered her, for obvious reasons. Perhaps, she suddenly thought, the way to do this was by being creative with the message. It was written in a very compact way, which usually meant nothing more than it said. And exactly this could be turned into an advantage.

She tapped the paper, where it said 'to the death'. One thing was however not specified. It did not say whose death.

2. Mountain view

Hilda sat in front of her magical mirror and looked at the affairs that were happening in the kingdom of king Walt.

Walt himself had music playing and was watching his dancing wife. He never got enough of that, it seemed. The queen had gotten fed up with it long ago, actually on the same day that she had gotten her nice diamond shoes from Walt.

The seven dwarfs were working in their mines again as usual, with no more interruptions from aforementioned queen.

Johan, the mirror-maker was merrily making mirrors in his shop.

"Everything its usual boring self," she concluded. That was a good thing, as she had something pressing on her mind. The challenge.

A challenge was a very personal thing. It was not done to consult another witch on something like that, as that would be unfair towards the challenging party.

Hilda took her crystal ball and sat down to talk to her girlfriend, Baba Yaga.

"Hilly baby, what is the matter this morning?", the cackling voice rang through the room, as the ugly face of Baba Yaga appeared in the ball.

"I got challenged again."

"Oh dear. Same guy?" Baba Yaga looked worried, and with reason. Lamador, king Herald's sorcerer, was getting stronger and stronger. Each time he challenged Hilda it became more difficult for the wicked witch to get out of it alive and in one piece. The last challenge had almost cost Hilda her life.

"Yup. Lamador again. And again he specifically wrote in the note that it would be to the death. And from the excitement in the handwriting I sense that he means friggin' serious business this time. He wants my ass, Babs."

"Damn, girl, I wish that was all he wants. From what I heard he's not looking bad." Baba Yaga frowned. This was seriously bad news.

"Babs..."

"Yeah, I know, Hilly. Sorry, but a dirty mind is a joy forever."

Hilda could not help but chuckle over that remark. "And you know like no one else, I am sure of that. I hope I can call on you if there is something becoming more clear about the challenge, Babs."

"Of course, kiddo, just get in touch and we'll try to work something out. Maybe we can also shanghai Strega. I know she doesn't have a problem with bending the rules slightly concerning challenges."

Hilda felt good about that. Friends were just great. "Thanks, girlfriend. I'll let you know."

"Take care, Hilda." Baba Yaga's face was very serious when she ended the conversation.

The wicked witch got up and started pacing through her room again. The challenge worried her, much more than previous times.

Memories of the last one swam in front of her eyes, in technicolor and monophonic sound. The challenge had been set up in a labyrinth of dungeons, where black dragons, ghouls and all kinds of crawly creepies were going round. There would be nothing wrong with that of course, if the creatures would have hindered Lamador as much as Hilda. She, however, had been busy fighting off cartloads of them, while Lamador was sneaking up from behind, through a secret passageway that he had created (very illegal, that move had cost him four points).

It had been sheer luck that one of the black dragons had taken a running leap and misjudged its distance to get to Hilda. It had overshot its target, fell on the floor close to Lamador and its bulk had slammed the sorcerer into the wall before he could launch the fatal attack on Hilda. This had been the end of that challenge, as there were only a few bones in Lamador's body that had not been not broken by the surprise the black dragon had bestowed upon him.

Afterwards Lamador had sulked for weeks, as the dragon had not only broken most of the sorcerer, but also his favourite wand.

The judges had called the challenge a draw, Hilda remembered and became furious about that decision once again. She had clearly been on the winning hand, she was convinced of that. There had only been three more long corridors filled with unpleasant creatures she would have had to take out. And some twnety-four dragons. And a small army of ghouls. And Lamador, of course.

More and more angry about the whole thing, she grabbed a broom, charged outside and shot into the air as a raging bullet.

"Bye bye," said the house, "and be careful."

Less than a minute later Hilda was back.

"That was quick," said the house.

"Shut up, just forgot something," the wicked witch growled, ran in, grabbed her crystal ball, and ran out again stuffing the object in a pocket of her cloak. Then she flew off again, cloak flapping.

"She's really got it bad," the door mumbled, closing the door.

Inside the house, a cup with two goldfish on, disagreed with the house. "She needs it bad. We've been saying that for ages."

Hilda was not aware of the fact that she was the subject of discussion between her house and her teacup. She was heading for the mountains. And that in more than one way. Yes, she was on the run, but she was also going towards the mountains that were in the east of king Walt's realm. Nobody in their sane mind went there, as it was known that there be witches.

The joke was, of course, that there was only one witch in the mountains, being Hilda, and she had brought the rumour to life herself. She was not there full-time, but wanted that area as a retreat if she wanted to think. Or try out new stuff. Or, occasionally, sit there and be scared for a while. Now was one of these occasions.

She landed her broom on a high peak. The view from there, she knew, was breathtaking. The wind however was breathtaking too today. Not being a feeble little witch, Hilda magicked up a chair and was determined to sit and enjoy the mountain view, but before she could sit down, the wind had taken the chair away and was toying with it. Hilda stared at the object plummeting into the depths as it was on its very erratic course.

"Not a good start," the wicked witch tried to say, but even her words fell victim to the wind's playful mood. It obviously was smarter to find a location that would not eventually rip all clothes from her body.

It was a tricky lift-off, against the wind, but Hilda was practically born and raised on a broom. She made it to the lower plain, a shielded plateau almost a quarter mile long with steep rocky walls around it. Granted, the view was not as stunning here, but being able to breathe was worth the compromise.

She magicked up a new chair, one that remained in place. She sat down on it. Wiggled her behind a few times to make sure it was stable. Nodded.

Hilda popped out her wand and arranged for a table with some hot tea and cupcakes. There also was a small red cushion on which she placed her crystal ball. It was essential now. She was determined to contact a few people that might have tips for her.

The teapot had filled a cup for her and she picked it up. Sipping and thinking in silence, her eyes wandered over the rocks, the high peaks around. It was good to sit here.

Suddenly her crystal ball sang to her.

Curious who that could be, Hilda put down her tea and waved over the ball. "Talk to me," she invited the caller.

"Hello," a very sophisticated voice said as the emblem of a very prominent school for witchcraft and magic appeared in the ball. "I would like to know why Tommy has not reported in. His classes have started already."

The wicked witch grinned. "Well, maybe because I ate him," she said to the emblem.

"Oh. Really. How inconvenient. I will take this down and relay the information. Thank you."

The emblem faded and Hilda snickered. "Stupid person, not knowing how to contact someone." There could be no mercy for people like that.

3. Rocky mountains

"Bert? It's me, William. I am making tracks. If all keeps going as well as it does now, I should make it in time."

Bert Bantrey, bookshop-owner, was pleased to hear William's voice. "William, good to hear that. I am looking forward to seeing you again. As I said before, I have some real treasures here, you will be very happy to get your hands on them."

William Connoley was driving down the road, his face slightly burnt from the sunshine. The break he had taken, sitting in the sunshine and eating his lunch, had left its traces.

"I'll have a look after dinner, Bert, for now it is still quite a number of miles I have to travel. Would you care to reveal where or what we are going to eat?"

Bert laughed. "Of course, since you ask. There is a new Greek restaurant in town since a while, and I have been sampling their menu. It is exquisite, as is their wine chart."

That was William's cue to laugh, recognising one of the small vices of his friend. "Well, you'd better make sure you do not drink them dry before we've been there, Bert. I'll call you again when I am able to tell you more precisely when I will arrive."

"That's fine, William. We'll talk again. Drive carefully."

William grinned. Bert never changed.

Hilda had spoken to several witches. All fine women. She had spoken with the few warlocks she knew that might have tips for her. The list with ideas was well-filled, but she had not scratched away the double ones. Or the ridiculous ones. Okay, the ridiculous ones could stay for a while, as she was in a very strange situation once again.

As she read the list once more, a feeling of unease came over her. It was unease mixed with feeling underpowered. And that was a bad combination.

"Isn't there fucking no one who can help me?", she shouted out to the crystal ball. In a suddenly manifesting frenzy Hilda the witch jumped up from her chair and cast an enraged ball of magical fire towards one of the far steep mountainsides. "I can't face this crap alone!"

Her words were lost in the thunder that erupted from the rocks as her spell, cast in anger and fear, hit. The mere impact already made the mountain shake, but the blast of fire and magic that were comprised in the bolt had an even greater effect. Several hundred yards high, the top of the mountain trembled.

The pressure of the blast lashed back to where there was space. It did not mind that there was also Hilda who was not paying attention. The witch was pushed away as if she was a feather, as were the chair and the table including its contents. Cupcakes flew everywhere. The large pillar of massive stone moaned as chipped-off fragments weighing several tons came thrashing downwards, making the solid ground shake even more.

Hilda covered her head with her hands. This was no time to bring up a wand, because there simply was no time for that. "Umbrae!", she shouted, "give me friggin' umbrae!"

The odd combination of English and Latin decided that there was more need for action than for the drama of the delayed effect of the English. A protective layer of solid air formed around the witch, which brought the agonising rain of rubble and stones on her body to an end.

"Crap, crap, crappedy crap," Hilda cursed as she dared to lift her head and look at what she had wreaked. The work of the Angel of the Abyss would have been less devastating.

Just when she thought it was over, a roaring sound hit her ears. "Oh no," Hilda groaned. She did not know the sound, but it was loud enough to mean even more trouble.

Smoke billowed up and the roar changed a bit. Then a large 4x4 pickup truck shot out of the smoke, the man behind the wheel doing all he could to avoid the boulders that were in his way. The fast trip over the rocky plateau came to an end when the truck smashed into the rock on the other side of it. The roar ended.

Hilda had watched the roaring contraption with its large wheels and high speed do its slalom through the boulders. The whack that echoed over the plateau as it hit the granite side of the mountain made her squeeze her eyes. "Ouch. That must have hurt," she was certain.

The wicked witch remained on her belly, her eyes shut, her nose in the dust and her protective layer of solid air over her until she was absolutely sure that this strange wagon was the last thing that would happen.

As finally the sounds had gone back to the soft blowing of the wind, she removed the protection and got to her feet. She inspected herself. "Damn. Another tear in the skirt." She sighed. Then she looked at the cart. It was blue and silver. And huge. It stood proud on black wheels, in their centre what had been gleaming silver caps. Now they were mere caps, somehow hanging on.

Hilda frowned. There had not been a horse in front of it. Then her eyes became large: she remembered where she had seen such a thing before! It had been at that weirdest of times when she had been sucked into that insane world, where people did not recognise a witch if she spit them in the eyes!

"Impossible," she mumbled. Her wand appeared in her hand, as one could never be too careful with this kind of close encounters.

As she approached the vehicle, she saw that there were indeed glass windows everywhere around it. None of them allowed a peek inside, as there was dust all over them, and not a square inch of glass had remained unscratched. The front of the thing was very warm. Hilda used her wand on it, to cool it down. Then she slowly reached out to the handle of the door and pulled it. The door did not move. She pulled harder. The door moved just as little.

"Open up, you stupid thing," Hilda said, pointing the wand at the door. A few seconds later the door clicked out of its lock and slowly swung open. From inside the vehicle came a groaning, moaning sound. There was someone inside it.

Hilda carefully pulled the door open, her wand aimed and ready.

A man pushed himself up from the round thing he had been leaning against, moaning some more. Then he looked at Hilda.

Hilda looked at him. He looked at Hilda.

Two voices at the same time said: "You?!"

4. And so we meet again

The two gaped at each other for a while. Then Hilda asked: "How did you get here?"

William, who examined his nose and cheeks for broken parts, replied: "I was hoping you could tell me that." As his face seemed umblemished, he undid his seatbelt and carefully climbed from his truck.

The man looked around, to see where he had ended up. "Good grief, what happened here? Did I miss a stone-throwing contest of giants?"

"No giants here. Not anymore anyway," Hilda enlightened William, still staring at him in disbelief. "Now tell me how you got here, and why?" That also was something Hilda wondered about.

"How I got here..." William rubbed his face. "Hell if I know, Hilda. I really don't know. I was driving along in my truck" -he looked at the sad remains- "when all of a sudden the small crystal ball you left started singing. I can't call it anything else, it was singing. I tried to reach for it when suddenly there were loud sounds around me like explosions, lightning cracked all around the car and things went dark outside. Then all of a sudden I saw a faint light, drove on towards it and the closer I got, the faster the car went. I didn't have to a thing for that, it just drove itself. And then it shot out of that dark tunnel and I had to work the wheel like crazy to avoid those rocks back there." William sighed. "Could have saved me the trouble if you ask me."

"I did not ask you about trouble," Hilda remarked. Then she recalled something. "Oh no. Don't tell me..."

"Tell you what? I just told you-"

"Shut up," Hilda invited him to be quiet. She turned and ran back to where her table had last been. "Crappedy crap, where is it!" Frantically she looked around for her own crystal ball. It did not show itself.

The witch pulled out her wand as William scurried closer. "Come here, you."

"Okay, I am already here," William said, raising his hands just to be on the safe side.

Hilda whirled around and faced him. "Not you! Argh!" She shook her head and waved her wand. "Come here, ball!' She held out her hand, and a few seconds later the crystal ball freed itself from the rubble it had gotten buried under. It raised itself into the air, whizzed over to the witch and landed in her hand.

William stared at the hand with the ball. "My god, you really are a witch."

"Of course. What do you think made me disappear from your insane world? Breadcrumbs? Think again, William Connoley." Hilda tucked the crystal ball in her pocket and then used her wand to clean herself up and fixed the tear in her dress.

"William, are you hurting?" Hilda found it necessary to ask him, as he was clearly confused and very unaware how he had gotten here, to the real world.

William looked at the woman with the long grey hair. She had not changed a bit in all these years, he saw, where he had put on a few pounds and traded some of his brown hair for grey ones. "No, I think I'm fine." He looked at himself. His suit had taken a beating, but he was still reasonably presentable.

To his surprise, as he checked his shoes, he saw a cupcake. He bent and picked it up. "Do these grow here?"

Hilda quickly took it from his hand. "It's mine. I conjured them up." Then she saw his surprised and confused face again. "Sorry." She put the small cake back in his hand. "You can have it if you want."

William smiled. "Thank you." Politely he picked a few small pieces of rock out of it and ate it. "Holy Bejeebus," he said, "these are good!"

"I know. I take good care of myself," Hilda said, pride evident. "Uhm, what are you going to do now? I have a problem to handle."

William scratched his head. "I am not really sure. Looks like the truck is not going anywhere soon, unless you have a Ford dealership around who can get here."

Hilda stared at him blandly. "We have only regular things here. Cartmakers, wheelmakers, horsemen." She hoped she got through to him.

A feeling of discomfort crawled over William. The car was a mess. He didn't even want to consider what had happened to the engine, but from the looks of the front of the car it had been shortened by a considerable number of inches.

He took his phone and flipped it open. "No signal. Why had I already expected that..."

"What magic is that?", asked Hilda, peeking at the shiny device. "Can you kill people with that?"

William grinned. "You'd have to try very hard, Hilda." He put the phone away. "Maybe I ask stupid things, but can you fix the car for me?"

Hilda looked at William as if he had asked her for her virginity. Then she looked at the car. "That."

"Yes. That."

Hilda walked over to the car and looked at it. "What does it do?"

"You drive it. You sit behind the wheel, fire up the engine, shift gears, press the pedals and you go."

The wicked witch was intrigued, and looked at what William pointed out. "This is an insane cart," she decided. "There are three pedals, and you only have two feet."

"You don't press all of them at once."

Hilda gave him a contemptuous look. "Insane. And what makes it go? There is no horse. No mule."

"There's a big V 8 engine in the front," said William. He was not too technical, but he knew that.

"Vee ate..." Hilda sampled it on her tongue. "What is vee ate?"

The book salesman started to worry. This was not going well very quickly. "It is under there," he pointed, "but it is all cracked and wrung out of shape now. I can't open it."

Hilda snorted. "Such a big man. Abscindo obductio."

A blood-chilling sound came from the front of the smashed-up truck as the bonnet was torn away by an invisible hand. William became a whiter shade of pale as he saw and heard it happen.

Hilda could not look into the engine compartment and cast a slightly accusing glance at the owner of the scrapheap. A flick of the wand made her float up. "So, that is vee ate. Doesn't look like much, William. I'd put my silver on a horse if I were you."

"Does that mean you can't fix it?" The salesman felt all hope fleeting.

"Yes. Sorry. I have to have some idea of what it is in order to fix it. This is..." Hilda shrugged and shook her head. She was not happy with the situation, but she knew that she had to do something for William. He knew nothing and probably could do as much. She got her feet back on the ground, walked to the door of the truck and looked inside. She mumbled a few words and waited.

Some metal parts inside the car made it clear that they did not like to be ripped out of shape, but that was not Hilda's concern. A few moments later she turned to William and held out her hand. "Here. Yours." She held the small crystal ball that she had taken from the Swarovsky shop in the man's nutty world. "Good to keep that with you, trust me."

William accepted the precious little ball and with delight he saw that the tiny light inside it was still dancing. The ball had not even been scratched.

Hilda looked at how he gazed at the light, how his face relaxed and his eyes started to shine as he saw the bouncing light. "You like it, don't you?"

"Yes. I do. Very much. It is a precious reminder of our encounter. Our first encounter." William closed his fingers over the ball as he looked at the wicked witch. "When you had gone, I could hardly believe that you had been there, Hilda. But then I found this ball in the back of the old truck, and when I saw the dancing light, I knew it had to be true. And now you are here- I mean now I am here. You really haven't changed a bit."

Hilda frowned. "Let's get down to business, William. We cannot stay here. My goal for coming here has been blown. Your... thing there is not going anywhere. I guess I'll have to take you with me for now and then we'll see what we can work out." She snipped her fingers, and from somewhere the broom came running. "You got any stuff you want to take with you?"

William stared at the floating broom that had raced up to them. "Uhm, yes, I got a bag with some clothes with me."

"Get it out of your thing, then we'll go."

William went onto the back of his thing, and forced one of the metal crates open. The lid had taken a severe bashing on the trip from the real world to this funny place. He found his weekend-bag. "I hope this is not too big."

Hilda grinned. "Not a problem. Anything else?"

William jumped off the back of the picked, his bag in hand. "Nothing I need just now," he said.

"Right." Hilda took her wand. "Pocket-size," she said. Seconds later, the bag was indeed small enough to fit into a pocket comfortably.

"Holy Bejeebus.", said William as she pointed at it.

"Put it in your pocket, or wherever you like it, man. Don't give me that holy crap. I don't do holy crap, I tell you now. And don't forget that." Hilda conjured up a second broom and handed it to William. "Here. A ride you can depend on. Better than that no-good piece of junk you came here with."

Henry Ford would not have been happy to hear her statement, had he been able to hear it.

"Right," said William, eyeing the broom. "And how am I supposed to go about this?" He mounted the broom best as he knew.

Hilda let out a sound that is best described as utter despair. "Planning on flying backwards, are you? Here, let me show you." She mounted the broom, bristles to the front, and lifted off a few feet. "That is how it works."

William stared, again. "Not the way they told me how it works," he grinned. He turned the broom around.

"Okay. Hold on and don't wobble about too much. I'm not used to flying two people at the same time. I'll go slow at first."

William had no idea what to expect, only that there would be a very uncanny and uncomfortable feeling between his legs, that would make proper sitting a chore. To his surprise, there was nothing of that. It felt as if there was a soft cushion under his behind as the broom lifted him into the air. It did not feel unstable at all.

"Are you okay there?", Hilda asked from several yards higher up.

"So far, so good," William said. He did not dare to wave at her. Holding on to the broomstick with both hands did feel like the proper thing to do. After all, it was only a broomstick.

"Cool puppies," Hilda said with a grin. She found some bizarre pleasure in this. "Hang on then, we're going!" She started off the flight slowly, as she had promised. Gone for now were the anxiety and the fear about the challenge, the worries about how to get out of that alive. She had a new thing to entertain herself with, and that give her a thrill she did not have very often.

William at first only focussed on staying on the broom. The environment went by mostly unnoticed. After a few minutes already, however, he felt more confident. The invisible seat was stable and felt good, so he glanced up to Hilda a few times, who flew higher than he did for some reason. He also now dared to look around a bit, seeing the last bits of mountainous area fleet away beneath them. They were approaching a magnificent lake, blue as only in fairy-tales or photoshopped pictures. The grassy patches around it, interspersed with incredibly high trees, were greener than green. He saw herds of sheep, and people walking along with them in clothes that belonged in the Middle Ages, as they were not flying that high.

The shepherds did not notice the witch and her strange companion up in the air, or did not deem them interesting enough to react to. After all, there were more important things to do, like making sure the sheep were not drifting away from the herd. Sheep were important.

"We're going higher," Hilda warned William. It was necessary to avoid the high treetops. She was however a wicked witch. She got it exactly so that William's shoes hit the tops of the first trees they were coming over, making him squeal and grab hold of the broom again with a frenzy.

"Relax, nothing can go wrong," Hilda told him, but her laughter did not underline that statement.

5. Flying business

As they progressed, Hilda sped up the journey. Otherwise, she knew, it would be past dusk before they'd reach her house. While they were flying faster, talking had become more difficult, which was fine with Hilda. She pained her head about what had happened, and the complications that it would present while she was trying to mosey herself through the challenge bit.

William was getting more confident about the flying business and looked around freely now. They had passed over several small villages that all looked interesting. He would love to go there and see what kind of bookstores they had, if any.

He noticed that they were slowing down again as they sailed over a large forest area.

"This is the forest where most of the gnomes live," Hilda told him. She had dropped some altitude and was flying next to William now.

"Gnomes. Right." William did not grin or try to make a funny remark. He had seen so many things already that did not make sense, gnomes were easily added to that gallery.

"When we're past this, we're going to make a circle over the castle of the king and the mean queen," Hilda informed him, "although most of her meanness has left her by now, I guess." She chuckled and did not elaborate for William. That was okay for him though, he was curious to see a castle in a fairy-tale land. He had decided that that was where he had indeed ended up and was reaching acceptance with that.

The castle took his breath away. No picture in any book, in any artist's mind, could have equalled the appearance of this phenomenal white building, with its high towers, wide moat, large inner courts and giant flowerbeds.

The swoop they made around the castle did not go unnoticed. Walt, who was walking outside for a while, enjoying the last rays of sunshine, saw Hilda and the unknown guest. He waved at them. As he heard the shrieking, cackling laughter of the wicked witch, he grinned. It still was good to be king, and to rub elbows with that witch at times. He did wonder who the person on the other broom was. Perhaps, he thought, she had a visit from some warlock, as the man seemed very much at ease on the broomstick as well.

William did not wave at the king, as per explicit instruction of the witch. "We do not wave at people. People wave at us and we're the ones with the stuck up nose that don't wave back," she had told him. "I know you are not a witch, but you are not going to ruin my reputation because of that detail. Be warned." And so he was warned.

After completing a full round along the castle grounds, Hilda made the brooms set course to her house. She praised herself for having a few more rooms. At least that would not be a problem. A bed would be conjured up quickly enough. And a lock.

They approached the house. It's red roof was visible from far away, as the rays of the retreating sun appeared to set it on fire.

"Looks like your house is on fire," said William.

"Looks are deceiving. This is my house, I know how it can act at times. Here, have another cupcake."

William did not dare to ask and accepted the cupcake, a nice pink one. As all the others she had handed him. "Somehow you don't strike me as a person who'd go for pink, Hilda."

Her cheeks turned red, not pink. "Shut up. I have brooms to land," she tried to ward off his interest.

As there was a second broom, she did not attempt to land her broom on the green dot in front of the door. A gentle touch down, as if someone pushed a really big feather under his feet, was how they came back to the ground.

"This was the most incredible journey I have ever had," William said. "Thank you ever so much for this."

"Could hardly leave you there in the mountains, could I?", said the wicked witch. "Hey, any visitors worth mentioning?"

"Not really," said the house.

"Holy Bejeebus," muttered William who had not been prepared for a speaking house. It would not be the last thing he was not prepared for.

"Right," said the witch. "William, you can let go of the broom now..."

"What? Oh, okay." He let go of the broom that floated away from him and parked itself against the wall of the house. "Nice house you have here. Looks like brandnew too."

"Hah," said the house. "You wouldn't believe the pain in her ass I had to be before she painted me again."

"Uhm..." William was a bit lost for words as the house addressed him directly. "I doubt it was that bad."

The house did not find the man worthy to further talk to him for now, after that remark.

Hilda walked up to the door, took the two arrows from the doorjamb and walked into the house. William decided not to wait for an invitation, he had already understood that Hilda was not very much the kind for those. As he wanted to close the door, the house beat him to it. Just to make a point.

Hilda's broom, that had followed her inside, went to its regular place next to the fireplace.

William grinned as he saw it happen.

Two goldfish on the cup that was still on the large black table, curiously peeked around the rounding of their home and almost fell off it in surprise, as they saw a strange man in Hilda's house.

Hilda stood in front of her magical mirror, tapping her lip with an index finger. "Right. I don't get guests very often, so you may have to help me out here at times, okay? I know you will need a room to sleep. Got that. And a bed. Haven't got that yet, but that's minor business. Not sure what kind of stuff you eat in your fairy world, but you'll have to make do with what I can cook. And from that point on I am at a loss."

William had trouble fighting his laughter about her upfront way of acting. At least, he thought, you always knew what she was thinking: the witch had a charming way of making that clear. "Well, that is a good start. And if you want, I can cook something too. I'm not a bad cook if I say so myself. Just one thing I am curious about."

"Yeah?" Immediately Hilda was in battle-mode, hands on her hips and chin up in the air.

"Is there a mister Wicked Witch?"

Hilda's face went through several emotions as she worked on grasping what this strange person had said. The goldfish almost screamed with laughter, holding on to the cup with all fins they had.

"You mean if there is another man living in this house." Hilda got it. "Preposterous. Not only would there be no man who could live with me, but also I would be totally unable to have someone around in such a way. People get on my nerves as much as I get on theirs." She started to turn and head for the stairs, then looked back at William. "So don't you get any funny ideas." As she walked to the stairs she said: "Come on, I am not going to carry you."

William grinned once more and followed her up the stairs. It was a bit unnerving to him that the pictures of the people that were floating along the wall, turned their heads and followed him with their eyes as he passed them.

Hilda waited for him, in front of a door. It too looked freshly painted. "You can sleep here." She opened the door an entire three inches before it did not want to budge anymore. "Oh. Crap. Vacuus," she muttered and the door opened fully.

"As I said, you can sleep here." With her wand she made a bed, a small table and a chair appear.

The bed had fresh sheets and some kind of purple duvet on it. From somewhere William thought to hear a soft moan, as the house reacted to the purple. The table had a stack of candles on it, a small burning stick floated over the table, clearly to light the candles, and there were some books on it. The chair was empty.

"Anything else you need?"

William took the dice that had been his weekendbag out of his pocket. "My things, please." A moment later, he held his bag in his hand. "That's neat. I could do with a few tricks like that."

"Sure," Hilda snorted. "And who's going to teach you? You're not magical, William." Hilda laughed an extra cackling laugh as she walked to the door and into the hallway. "Down there is the bathroom and assorted other stuff. Don't make a mess or you'll be cleaning it with your own clothes. I'm going downstairs and make something to eat. I'll let you know when it's done in case you muck about here for too long."

The door closed itself. Hilda looked at herself. Perhaps she should change into something else.

William looked around the room. There were two large windows. No curtains. He looked outside through one of the windows and saw a lot of forest. There was something odd about it, but he could not put his finger on what was off. Well, with the place belonging to a witch, who would be surprised.

He opened his bag, took out his toiletries and left his room, in search of the bathroom "and assorted other stuff". Down the short hall he found four doors. This in itself was impossible already, as there was no way one could fit four doors in that limited space. Trying to imagine that there were actual rooms behind them, no matter how small, was asking for a headache. William did not ask that.

He was however not prepared for so many doors. "I wonder which one is the bathroom," he said to himself.

The house, taking pity on the man who had been tossed into this adventure, opened the right door.

"Holy Bejeebus," William said. "Thanks, whoever you are."

"You're welcome."

William then recognised the voice of the house. "Well, well, a talking house. Nice meeting you."

"Perhaps," the house said. Conservative as it was, it did keep its distance in the beginning.

William entered the bathroom.

White tiles with an occasional goldfish on them. A large white bathtub with two small golden plaques on it. One said "Full", one said "Empty".

Curious, he touched the Full plaque. Instantly the tub was filled with hot water, a nice scent rising up from the bubbles. "Jeebes," the book salesman took a shortcut. He dropped his clothes and got into the tub, enjoying the soak for a few minutes, and cleaning himself up so he felt decent again.

Then he climbed out of the tub and looked round for a towel. "Towel... towel..."

"I assume one is enough?", the house asked, as a thick dark blue towel materialised in William's hand.

"Oh, yes, by all means," William replied, drying himself as he wondered if the house could actually see him. With a grin he tapped the plaque with 'Empty' on it and the bath was not only empty but also clean and ready for the next customer.

A slight unease came over the traveller when he could not locate his clothes. "Hello, house? Where are my clothes?"

"In your room. Cleaned. Wear the others."

"Others?" William asked out loud but got no clarification, so he did his last bits of making himself presentable and then, with the dark blue towel wrapped around him, he quickly scooted into his guestroom.

6. Wine and dine

On the bed lay two stacks with clothes. One of them were his own, William quickly saw, and they were indeed clean. And repaired in some places where they had needed that since a while too. With fascination he looked at the garments on the other stack.

The thing that attracted most of his attention was a leather jerkin with pompous thicks shoulderpieces along the side. It was an amazing piece of work to see and hold. The stitchwork was unbelievably precise, the garment itself was made of the finest leather in two shades of dark brown leather, one a bit lighter, the other darker and leaning towards blood red.

Next item was a beige shirt. It had long sleeves and an wide neck that could be tied up with a thin leather strap.

Then there was a pair of grey-ish velvet pants, with a brown leather belt to keep it in place.

Next to the bed were his shoes and a pair of ankle-high brown boots, with fringes.

"Right. So that is 'wear the others'," William understood. "Probably more geared towards local fashion." With a grin he started putting on the exotic-looking attire, after putting on his own underwear. That was very much missing from 'the other' clothes, and he was used to that.

After he had finished dressing up, he looked around for a mirror. Alas. There was none. As his eyes went around the room for the second time, a soft singing sound reached his ears. He identified it as the sound of the crystal ball. Somehow that little gem had found its way to the table, the light in it dancing frantically.

William bent over to the shiny object and to his amazement he saw himself reflected in it. Despite the limited size of the ball he saw himself clearly. "Holy Bejeebus, you can do more than relay calls between worlds, can't you?", he grinned. Satisfied with his looks, he opened the door and found his way down the stairs.

Again the pictures looked at him as he went by. This time he looked back at them.

"Oh. There you are." Hilda looked at William as he came into the room. "Dinner's busy."

She had done something to her hair of which she hoped it was good, and wore one of her better burgundy red dresses, made of heavy velvet, with a nice round neck. The dress fell down to her ankles in long flowing lines. A slight touch of magic made it flow just a bit slower than usual, adding a wonderful dramatic effect to the fabric. The dress itself had a fascinating pattern of deep coppery red brocade on it, that appeared to be changing all the time, like a mosaic. She wore her magical necklace too.

As she sat at the table, William saw she was trying to do something unclear to a small piece of wood that had several holes in it. There was also some smoke coming from a few scorched places on it.

"Dinner's... busy?" William frowned at the strange combination of 'dinner' and 'busy'.

"Yup. You can go and watch it if you want, but it's boring. Kitchen's back there." Hilda pointed to an open door.

He nodded and started towards the kitchen, when Hilda said: "Hey."

William turned. "What can I do for you?"

"Nothing. You look good in that." Hilda nodded and went back to damaging the piece of wood. "Better than the silly stuff you wore when you got here."

Silly stuff. His expensive suit was instantly demoted to silly stuff. Okay, it wasn't Armani as that was over his budget, but... He shrugged. "Thank you," he said. Then, with a grin, he turned and went to have a look at the kitchen where dinner was supposed to be busy.

Dinner was indeed busy. A modern kitchen with all conveniences could not beat this one, even though there was no electric thing in sight. The stove was covered in pots and pans, spoons stirring the contents. A piece of meat hung over a fire and turned itself, as a wooden spoon kept pouring gravy over it so the meat would not dry out.

A set of knives were chopping up vegetables and in some places there were other utensils doing things that William had no idea of. He returned to the black table and sat down on a chair opposite Hilda. "Dinner is indeed busy. Very busy."

She nodded as she peered at the remains of the wood. "I am not used to cooking for more than one person, so I just took some guesses."

William grinned. It seemed to be about all that he did there. He watched Hilda as the piece of wood incinerated more and more. "What are you doing?"

"Magic. And it's difficult so shut up."

William complied with her order and just watched. He noticed the necklace, the one she had recovered from the hands of the motorgang.

Hilda slammed the wood on the table. "What are you looking at?"

William had never before heard someone talk in a way that made unease and being annoyed physically tangible.

The goldfish looked at each other and spread out, one to each side of the teacup, to see what would happen next.

Before William could reply, a large meat-cleaver flew through the room and landed smack in the middle of the table. He fell over backwards, crashing onto the hardwood floor, evoking a heartfelt 'oompf'.

"Don't exaggerate," Hilda said, "it's just that dinner's ready." With a snort she yanked the cleaver from the table, got up and went to the kitchen, returning with two plates of hot steaming food in her wake.

William was still getting up and putting the chair back in its rightful place. Again he stared, now at the plates that landed themselves on the table and forks materialising. "This is some fabulous household," he said, sitting down.

Hilda sat down, leaned her elbows on the table and rested her face on her fists. She looked at the man who had so suddenly appeared here. "I really wonder why you are here," she said. "I have enough on my hands already, so I hope you understand that I can't be a wonderful host for you, if you are hoping for one."

"I don't know why I am here either," William said. "I don't even know how I got here, or how I can go back. Bert will be rather annoyed too, by now."

"Bert?"

"The owner of the bookstore. I had a dinner appointment with him. Don't you remember him? You floored him with a big book, just before you came out to find me."

Hilda smiled a big, bright smile. "Oh, right. Him. Had forgotten his name. Was quite a whack I gave him, yeah."

They picked up their forks and as they were eating they reminisced about the time that Hilda had appeared in William's world, and how they had met in the coffee house at last. William had owned a large ancient book with spells that had enabled Hilda to return to her own world again, leaving the crystal ball she had created in William's truck. It had been the only tangible memory he had left from their encounter.

Hilda relaxed a bit. She had been tensing up more and more, with the unwanted and unexpected visitor in her house, but now, over dinner and through the talking, she was feeling less upset about him.

"William," she asked as they were well on their way through the food. "Do you want some wine?"

"I'd really like some, yes." He was instantly curious to what this world had to offer in wine.

Hilda nodded, made her wand appear, and with that she produced two glasses of wine. She shoved one over to him, and then magicked up a bottle of water to dilute her own.

"Why are you doing that?", William asked. Wine with water was like cursing in a holy place to him.

"I don't take well to much alcohol," Hilda confided. She almost whispered it, which was totally unneeded, as the goldfish as well as the house were already aware of this fact.

"Okay," William whispered and put a finger over his lips. "I won't tell anyone."

"No problem if you do, everyone knows already," Hilda whispered back and took a sip from her wine.

William tasted the wine. "Jeebus," he said, "that is a fantastic wine. Where I come from, you pay through the nose if you want to get a bottle that comes close to this."

"You think so?", Hilda asked, charging her plate again.

"Oh yes, I am certain." William took another sip in appreciation.

They finished their food, after which Hilda offered him another round. "There is plenty, I think. If you want two plates, that's no problem either."

"I don't want to be impolite, but no thank you. I am almost bursting at the seams," said William.

Hilda looked over the table to inspect him and his clothing, and decided he was exaggerating again. No signs of ripping in his clothes. "Okay." A flick of the wand later the plates were gone and the wine glasses were filled again. The wicked witch had already made a load of burning candles appear earlier, as darkness had taken over the outside world.

William looked at the woman with the long grey hair and the jet-black eyes, who sat there toying with her glass, staring into it. She had a pretty face, he had already agreed on that with himself long time ago. Not a ravishing beauty, but definitely pretty. He was fascinated by the way she expressed herself, sometimes hard as a rock, yet occasionally she struck him as uncertain or immature. But, he thought, that could come from her not having people staying that often.

The candlelight made her features look soft, so very unlike how she was.

"What are you looking at?", Hilda asked without taking her eyes from the glass.

"You."

"Don't."

"Why not?", William asked.

"I don't like it when people look at me. Not like that."

"Not like what?", William dared to ask.

"Like I am a person worth looking at for the looking. I am not. I am a witch, and I want people to look at me in awe. Or with fear. Not for..." She could not find the proper word, or didn't want to find it. "Just so you know."

"Fair enough," William agreed. "Maybe you want to tell me what's on your mind then? You've mentioned something like that a few times already, so it must be something big."

Hilda looked at him and sighed. She reached over the table and picked up a piece of paper from the small mountain that was there. "Here."

William took the paper, looked at the emblem, felt the consistency of the paper and wondered what it was made of. Then he read the calligraphically written note, all the way down to 'to the death'. "Oh, right. I would not feel too tickled with that hanging over my head..."

"I've had more of those before. Got out of them alive," Hilda said, trying to make it sound as if it was not a big deal.

"And yet you are worked up about this one," William said.

It was exactly the thing she did not really want any ordinary to know. But then, she reasoned with herself, William was not your average ordinary. He was, after all, the person who had been crucial in her returning home so many years ago.

"Lamador is a powerful sorcerer. Powerhungry even. And he's spending far too much time on becoming even more powerful. I don't know what drives him. It can't be king Herald, that guy's powerful and wealthy enough." Hilda filled their glasses again.

William rubbed his chin. As he moved, Hilda's eyes were glued to his hand for a moment, then she watched her glass again. "Has it appeared to you that perhaps this Labrador has gained power over king Herald, and that this king is only a puppet in the sorcerer's play?"

"Lamador. Not Labrador," Hilda said. She thought of what William had said. "You might have a point there," she nodded, "it would not be beyond Lamador to cast a spell over his king in order to expand his power even more."

She looked at William. "Is it warm in here or what?" The wicked witch touched her cheeks. "Ooh, very warm... I should go open a window or so..."

As she tried to get up, it was as if suddenly lead was delivered into her legs. She had to grab hold of the table so she could remain on her feet. "Oh, crappedy crap," she groaned. She had forgotten to dilute her last couple of glasses of wine and now she was paying for the price.

Hilda fell back in her chair and groaned some more. "All your fault," she said accusingly to William. "Without you I would not have drunk so much and talked so much and maybe found a problem to my solution- oh wait... that should be the other way round. I think."

The witch had for certain hit the bottle in the right way, which to her was the worst way imaginable: she was drunk.

Hilda shook her hand, hoping for a wand to appear. That could get the alcohol out of her. Alas, the alcohol had temporarily disabled her ability to summon the wand, so she was facing the ultimate catch-22.

"No... no... I don't want this..." She stared at William. "I don't want to feel like this, William. Make it go away, yes?" Again she struggled herself up from the chair, and this time she appeared to succeed, but attempting a step forward proved too daunting a task. Hilda stumbled and fell over the table, grabbing at anything that could give her some hold before she would slide down to the floor.

William had quickly reached out and caught her hand in his, holding her onto the table that way. He got up, holding her hand, and then wrapped an arm around her. He lifted the skinny witch up from the table and held her so she could stand up. It was obvious that without help she was not going anywhere but to the floor.

"No, William, you cannot hold me like that," Hilda muttered as she tried to pluck his arm away from her. She could just as well attempt to lift a mountain; her strength had left her completely. "I am a witch, you know, a very wicked witch."

"I think you are a very drunk witch at the moment, Hilda, and I should get you to bed," William calmly said. "So if you tell me where to take you, I'll make sure you get there safe and well."

"No! You cannot go into my bedroom!", she shouted, once more trying to free herself from the arm.

As the attempt failed again, she turned around in his arm, so she faced him. She put her hands on his shoulders. "Now listen- Oh... strong shoulders. Did you know you have strong shoulders, William?" She started giggling as she squeezed the man's arms. "You are strong, William, but you cannot carry a witch to her bed. No no no, you cannot- whoops!"

William had lifted her up in his arms and was walking towards the stairs. This was a tricky thing as there were no candles anywhere. Nor a lightswitch.

"Hello, house, can you supply some light here?", William gave it a try.

The house remained silent, and the book salesman took that as a no.

"Oh, lights," Hilda giggled as she let herself hang loose , sprawled in his arms. "Wheeee!"

She moved her hands a bit and suddenly colourful sparkles floated around them. It was not exactly the light William had hoped for but it would suffice to get the witch up the stairs.

"Hilda, you have to sit up a bit and put an arm around my neck," he said, "otherwise your head will hit the wall."

"Okay, okay," she mock muttered, pulling herself up on his arm. "But don't worry, I have a hard head William." Her speech was getting more and more difficult to understand. She snuggled against him, her arms around his neck, her head bobbing against his shoulder as he walked up the stairs. By the time he reached the small hallway on the top floor, Hilda was sound asleep.

"Great," William mumbled to himself, looking at the plenitude of doors that were still visible in the fading light of the sparkles that were dying away. "Which door..."

The house was not asleep. It opened the door to the bedroom of the wicked witch.

"Thanks," William whispered. He slowly went into the room, hit his knee against the bed and, having found it that way, he lay Hilda down. In a corner was a small floating stick with a single flame. William used that to light a candle.

With that light at hand, he straightened Hilda's dress as well as he could, pulled the covers over her after taking off her shoes, and then blew out the candle again. He left the bedroom, closed the door behind him quietly, and repaired to his own room.

All the strange events of the day kept him awake for a long time.

7. Household hassle

"I hate myself." Those were the first words that came from under the covers that were on the bed in Hilda's bedroom. They came, of course, from Hilda. They were spoken in a mere whisper, and even the whisper was too loud. "I hope this works."

A hand appeared. A wand appeared. A soft sigh of relief came from under the duvet. The wand was pointed downwards, a spell was murmured.

Seconds passed.

The covers were kicked away violently, something in which the witch was severely hindered by her dress. "I am going to kick that idiot out right now!"

Hilda, wrinkled clothes and hair rather in a mess, jumped from her bed, wand ready to fire. She stomped out of the bedroom and kicked the door to the guestroom open- to find the bed empty, the duvet folded back and the windows open. Fresh air and sunlight were streaming into the room. "Now what the hell..."

She looked around the room. William's clothes were still there. His bag was there. But the man himself was not there. It was quite difficult for Hilda to keep up her anger as the subject of it was not there to receive it.

The wicked witch turned and descended to the living room. As she was halfway down the stairs, there was the smell of fresh bread, fruit, flowers and tea coming up the same stairs to greet her. She stopped and looked at one of the pictures. It was an ancient image of a famous wicked witch, who on one occasion had not been wicked enough. Hence the picture.

"Do you know what's going on?", she asked.

The face in the picture looked apologetic.

"Urgh", reacted Hilda, and continued her journey down the stairs.

The sources of the smells she had already encountered were becoming stronger. As she stepped into the room, she came to a standstill, staring at the table. Bread, obviously warm and straight from an over. Flowers. Flowers?? A teapot floated over three candles to keep it warm. A basket of fresh fruit was on the table also.

William appeared from the kitchen, carrying a tray with something hot. He wore his new velvet pants and an apron that Hilda recognised, but she wasn't sure when she had seen it last. She had no idea where the oven mittens came from. "Hello, and good morning. Come, sit, a decent breakfast will certainly help you."

"You!", she snapped at him, pointing her wand at him, her mood temperature dropping to sub-zero values..

"Yes? Is something wrong?" William did not wait for her to continue; he walked on to the table and put the hot pot containing vegetables on the table.

"What's all this? What have you done? And what happened last night?" Hilda was especially worried about the latter, as there was a worrying amount of nothing that she could remember of it after a certain point. And even that certain point was rather uncertain and fuzzy.

William took off the mittens. "Okay, in that order: 'all this' is known as breakfast. A bit lavish perhaps, but your kitchen is a maniac when it comes to making food. What I have done is make it, as far as your kitchen utensils let me do what I wanted. You ought to teach them to back off when they are told to. And last night nothing happened, except that you got drunk."

"And?", Hilda demanded further explanation.

"And you almost fell, so I carried you to your bedroom and put you in bed."

"And?", she still wasn't satisfied.

"And then I went to sleep myself, hoping that you would not have a sore head this morning. Judging from how you are acting, that seems to be not the case."

"And that is all?" Hilda tapped her wand against her leg impatiently.

"That is indeed all. Now will you sit down for breakfast?"

"And how do I know that you are telling the truth?" Hilda was not one for believing everything just like that.

"Well, you don't. You'll just have to believe me." William pulled back her chair and waited.

The witch stared at him. "That is my chair."

"I know," said William. "I am just being polite. I'm holding it for you so you can sit down more easily."

"Leave my chair be. I can sit down by myself, thank you very much," Hilda grumbled. She walked to her seat with brisk steps and sat down, her mood not improving yet.

Her anger and frustration became overwhelmed by the sight and smell of the food that was on the table, and she watched the salesman like a hawk as he walked around the table and sat down himself. "You look ridiculous in that apron," she shared with him.

"You think so? I find it rather cute," he grinned, "never thought though that I would ever wear a yellow apron with bunny skeletons. But if you think it is ridiculous..." He took off the apron and hung it over another chair.

"William...", Hilda slowly said.

"Hilda?"

"You are not wearing a shirt."

"I know. It was too hot in the kitchen and I did not want to get stains on the shirt, so I took it off." William poured her tea.

"Oh." Hilda could not drag her eyes off his naked torso and blindly grabbed things on the table, almost burning her fingers on the hot veggies. "Crap!"

William frowned for a moment, then understood where the issue resided. "Oh, I see..." He got up, fetched his shirt and put it on.

"Oh..." Hilda sounded only slightly disappointed. The two goldfish on her cup grinned and the witch sucked her almost burnt fingers.

As they ate, Hilda's temper faded away with each fork-load of food. It was amazingly good. "You know how to cook," she said.

"I take that as a compliment," he said, "so thank you."

"Hm-mm."

As she had finished, she leaned back in her chair and looked at the man over her teacup. "I had every intention of kicking you out of the house when I got up," she said.

"Is that so? And what was- oh, I see. You thought dishonourable things of me." He winked at her.

"Yes. I did. Not sure if I should still do. I don't trust people just because they tell me to."

"Smart attitude, Hilda. I hope you believe me when I say you look charming?"

Hilda glared at him. "I look crumpled. And a mess. And you should have said so last night."

"I was going to, Hilda, but you did not let me. You were the one that said I should not look at you, which brought up the change of subject."

The wicked witch was caught in the corner and she knew it. She whispered a spell to the cup. Then she held it out and asked: "Can I have some more tea?"

As William poured her tea, the house announced: "There is an archer coming to the door."

Only seconds later there was a knock on the door that the archer had come to.

Hilda put down her cup and went to open said door, greeting the archer with: "What?"

"Here is a note for you, honourable witch." He held up a piece of paper. "And we would like our arrows back, please."

The witch muttered something under her breath. Then she flipped up her wand and made the basket with some two hundred arrows float to the archer, landing the basket in his arms and him consequently on his ass on the floor. "There you go." She slammed the door shut and returned to the table, from where William had witnessed the entire scene.

With a grim face she stared at the note. "Rats," she said, crumpled the paper into a ball and tossed it on her plate.

"Big problems?", William asked.

"No. About rats bugging someone. Do I look like fucking pest-control? One of those things that gets sent to every witch in the area. There's always a sucker that will fly out and help. And that's not me."

William drank his last bit of tea and thought about how Hilda had been when he had first met her. Then she was by far not the bratty boisterous person she was here. She had been afraid, tired, misunderstood and confused, back in his own world. The world she called insane.

Hilda jumped up. "I don't know what you are going to do now. I am going to change and take care of business." Without waiting for an answer, she bolted up the stairs again, her mutterings fading as distance increased.

"Holy Bejeebus," William shook his head.

"I heard that! And I don't want to hear that again!", Hilda yelled from up the stairs. She went into her room, closed the door and sat on her bed, staring at herself in the mirror. A strand of hair hung over her face. She blew it away, but that only helped for a moment.

In anger she turned to her pillow and pounded on that for a while, until she had lost most of her anxiety. "Damn, damn, what did you do bringing him here," she asked her image, panting away. "He's the last one I can have around now, and I'm stuck with him."

Hilda yanked open her wardrobe door, grabbed a black dress from it and slammed the door. She looked at her mirror image again and said: "Stupid witch. Argh!"

In her black dress she told herself to calm down. "Okay Hilda, play it cool. You're in charge, you're in control. He is an ordinary, nothing magical about him." Mentally armed like that she thundered down the stairs.

The table was cleared. William was in the kitchen trying to wash the dishes, but the brush and the water had their own ideas about that, with a drenched man as the result.

"Fine, suit yourself if you think you know better," he snapped at the precocious kitchen, threw the rag in the water and turned to leave. The rag flew out of the water and hit him in the neck, water and foam streaming down his back and shoulders.

William closed his eyes and sighed. "How is it possible that she can handle this..."

"I don't," Hilda said, who was leaning against the doorjamb. "I let it handle itself. That's what it's there for."

William picked the wet rag from his shoulders and dropped it on the sink. "Thank you for telling me. After the fight."

She grinned. "It was amusing to watch."

"You...", William said, half threatening.

Hilda flared up. "What, me?" She stood up straight, waiting for him to try something.

William grabbed the rag and pretended to throw it at her. With a shriek she shot away from the door opening, out of the line of fire. The salesman dropped the rag again and almost collapsed for laughter.

Fuming, Hilda came back into the kitchen. She had her wand in her hand and murder in her eyes. "You went too far," she hissed, William barely over his laughing. "This time you really went too far."

The spell that shot from the wand picked William up. She carried him into the living room and stuck him against a wall. It happened so fast that only then William understood what was happening. He also understood that his speech was cut off and all he could do was wait.

"You do NOT threaten a witch like me, do you hear that?", Hilda yelled at William. She pulled him from the wall and slammed him into it again. "And you do not laugh at a witch like me either, do you hear that as well?" He slammed into the wall again. "I am not one to be taken lightly, William Connoley, and every ordinary here knows that. It is about time that you learn that too."

She lowered him so his feet were on the floor and then she released the spell. William thanked her by crashing onto the floor as if there was no bone in his body. He was unconscious.

"Hey. Get up." Hilda pushed the man's shoulder with her foot. "Get up."

William did not move, for obvious reasons.

Hilda waited a little longer. Her eyes got large and she kneeled with the man, only then discovering that he definitely did not hear her. "Oh no, what have I done..."

Carefully she shook William's shoulder as she said his name, but William was temporarily out of order.

8. Making the rounds

Without taking her eyes from William's motionless body, she scurried to the table with the crystal ball. "Babs. Are you there? I need you. Now!"

"Hilly, what's up? You sound like there is a real problem."

"There is. There is a man in my house and-"

"What did you say???" Baba Yaga, Hilda's lifelong girlfriend, sounded scared, shocked and full of disbelief.

"There is a man in my house and-"

"Damn, girl! Who is it?" Baba Yaga now sounded as if she wanted to take the next broom over to see this for herself.

"He is unconscious, Babs, and I knocked him out. And now I don't know what to do with him."

"Uhm... can't you just put him outside?" The Russian witch always had a simple and useful solution at hand.

"No, I can't. Not this one." Hilda bit her lip and prayed that her girlfriend would not ask.

"Why not?"

Damn.

"Grimhilda... don't tell me that what I am thinking is what has actually happened..."

"Babs, listen, it is not what you think. He is visiting here and-"

"Whoa. Stop right there, Hilly baby. You have a MAN in your house. And he is VISITING. There are two things here that don't make sense already. Are you sure you're okay, Hilda?"

"Babs, please, I can't go into all this now. William is on the floor and he is not moving. I think he is still alive, and what can I do now?"

"Oh, he even has a name. My, oh my..." Baba Yaga gave her best cackle. Then she became serious, as she understood that Hilda really was having a problem. "If you can, get him on a bed. Feel if his forehead is hot, and if it is, cool it with a wet rag. And keep asking if he can hear you."

"Okay, I can do that. Thanks, Babs." Hilda waved the connection down and then took her wand again. Magically she lifted William and floated him up the stairs. She followed and opened the door to his bedroom, where she put him down.

"Right."

A wet rag appeared in her hand and she put that on his forehead. "Oh, wait." She took the rag and felt William's forehead. It was not overly hot, but she put the cloth back, just in case. Better safe than sorry.

"William. Can you hear me? William. Can you hear me? William. Can you hear me? ..."

Slowly William regained control of his awareness again.

"William. Can you hear me? William. Can you hear me? William. Can you hear me?", he heard someone say.

"I do. I hear you..." Carefully he raised his hand to the back of his head.

Hilda sighed with relief. "Man, you scared me!"

"Welcome to the club," William said, "I think I beat you to it though. Good god, you have hard walls in your house..." He lifted the cloth from his forehead and blinked his eyes against the light. Then he noticed where he was and smiled as he turned to Hilda, whose face still showed worry. "And this time you put me in bed. That makes us even, I think."

Hilda pouted for a moment, then stood up. "Looks like I can't leave you alone here." She flicked her wand and a set of new, dry and clean clothes appeared near his feet. "If you think you can, change clothes and come down. I have to go out and will take you with me." Then she marched out of the room and down the stairs.

William sat up. His head did contain a slight throbbing, but it was not too bad. He put on the clothes, that were quite different from the set he had just taken off. A long robe-like garment, deep blue with silver embroidery, black shoes and an equally black cloak with a hood.

Dressed like that the salesman went down the stairs, going slowly as he was not used to wearing something that resembled a dress so closely. The faces in the pictures all frowned as he went by, but he did not notice that as he kept watching his feet. He made it to the ground floor safely.

Hilda sat on the table, dangling her feet as she was waiting. Two brooms floated nearby in the room.

"Okay," she said resolutely, "let me have a look at you. We want you to look like the real thing, right?"

"I am sure, even if I don't know what real thing I should be," William said, wondering what would be coming.

"These are wizard's clothes. You shouldn't be wearing them, but since when do I care about rules." Hilda walked around him, nodding, tugging, prodding. "You're not fat enough to be a wizard, William," she concluded. "Proper wizards have sturdy bellies."

"Can't we say I am still in training?", William attempted, holding his belly. He was very happy with it the way it was.

Hilda snorted and said a few words in Latin. And then, no matter how hard William pushed, his belly grew. Not too much, but it was still considerable.

"Ehm, you will be able to take this away again, won't you?", he asked, pointing at his extra presence.

"Sure," Hilda said, satisfied with the way William now looked. "Come on, or we'll be running late."

"Of course. Where are we going?", William asked as he caught the broom that she made fly towards him.

"Making the rounds. Don't worry, usually it's fun."

"Usually?", William asked, Hilda was already out the door, so he just followed her.

"Have fun, William," said the house as the salesman got onto the broom. It was a bit of a struggle with skirts, but in the end it worked.

"Thanks, house." William waved at it, and got hold of the broom again just in time, as Hilda made them take off quick and steep.

"Oh, forgot: hold on!", she yelled at William as the brooms quickly gained altitude.

The wind rushed in their faces and made their hair fly. William noticed that his clothes were amazingly calm in comparison, only with some kind of wind they would flap a bit, but that was all. Probably there was some magic involved to make the ride more comfortable that way, he assumed.

As they had reached cruising altitude, Hilda slowed the brooms down and pulled up next to William. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. More than fine actually, this is a real thrill."

"Oh, right." She frowned for a moment. "Now, we shouldn't need to touch down anywhere, but if we do, I want you to pull the hood over your face, okay? No need to talk, I'll handle that."

William nodded, he was certain that Hilda knew what to say. "No problem so far."

"Cool puppies," Hilda said. "If someone asks who you are, I'll tell them you are a wizard from far away who is here on a visit. And that is not even a complete lie, as your machine is quite a wizard's mechanic." She laughed her cackling laughter at her own joke, while William stared at her. He was not sure how someone like Hilda was able to make such a horrible sound.

"First stop is always the castle," Hilda said. "Hang on, we're gonna go fast. Walt loves that."

"Walt? Whoa!!" They shot forward like on brooms out of hell. William hung on to the broomstick and saw that even Hilda had to hold on tight at this speed. Somehow this worried him.

They reached the castle in an amazingly short time. Hilda took them on a slalom through some of the high watchtowers. William worried again, this time about keeping his breakfast in place.

Hilda screamed and laughed as they shot past the windows of the castle, raced over the tops of the trees and flew around the main building a few times. The wicked witch brought them to a full stop with an elegant swoop, about four yards over the royal fountain. "Watch this," she said with a smile on her face. William would soon learn that this smile meant little good.

Hilda watched the fountain and the main door of the castle. "William, watch the door for me. When someone comes running from it, yell. And hold on to the broom."

William was already squeezing the last drops of fluid from the wood, but he tried. The door from the castle moved and he saw a foot coming out.

"Door!", he yelled.

They shot straight up, being followed by a big jet of water that did its best to soak them. From far and further below a voice yelled something and then laughter followed them. It mixed with Hilda's laughter.

At an altitude where the water could no longer follow, the brooms stopped their crazy ascent.

"Aaaaaahhh!!", Hilda screamed, throwing her head back.

William clasped his ears at the sound but laughed loudly, as the thrill of the race had cranked up his adrenalin level to new heights.

Hilda looked at him, her face shining from the excitement. "How was that?", she asked, looking deliriously happy.

"That, Hilda, was the best rollercoaster ride I ever had in my life," William praised her, "this was beyond awesome."

The wicked witch knew she was smiling way too much at him, but she could not help herself. "Come. We're going down." She was sparkling with the rush of the flight.

William nodded and pulled the hood over his head. Then they spiraled down to the lawn where the brooms touched down next to the fountain.

Walt stood with his hands on his back, already waiting for them at the side of the lawn. "Hilda, dearest wicked witch, I almost had you this time!", he gloated, twitching his toes and wiggling his eyebrows.

"Hi there, king," Hilda greeted him. "How's life? Still not sick and tired of the music?"

Walt laughed. "No, that is still all fine, thank you. I see you brought someone. Who is this friend who does not want to show his face?"

Hilda told him that the man in blue was a powerful wizard from faraway places who was travelling and passing by this kingdom. "So I thought I'd show him around a bit while he's here."

"Very nice. Very nice indeed. And does this wizard have a name?"

Hilda looked at William and whispered: "What do I say?"

William bent over to Hilda. "Tell him that we do not share our name, as a matter of precaution."

She nodded and repeated William's words. "See, people this powerful are always careful, king."

"Oh, certainly, I understand. And careful he should be, yes. I can see the power sparkling from his clothes," Walt said. "Well, it was wonderful to see you again. Next time you're getting wet, Grimhilda, believe me. I am getting better!"

"Hah, we'll see when it happens, king!" Hilda swung herself on the broom again and magically helped William to get on his mount in a graceful way. "See you next time."

William just raised a hand, and they were off again, in the air, heading for the few clouds that had gotten lost in the blue sky.

They flew along at a moderate pace. William had put down the hood. "That was fun. Really."

Hilda looked at him. And smiled. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"May I ask you why he called you Grim Hilda?"

"Grim..." Hilda wondered for a moment what he meant. "Oh! He is using my official name. Grimhilda. Hilda is only for friends."

William looked at her. "For friends. Do you consider me a friend?"

Hilda's face lost all cheerful expression, and adopted something that looked to William as guilt or sadness, but he could not determine it exactly as she turned her face away.

"I'm not sure yet," she said. "I did not want to tell you my real name when we first met. My official name, I mean. I needed you. I really needed you, as I was desperate. And I really hate feeling like that. You were the only one who could help me. A witch usually does not need help. Doesn't ask for help." She fell silent for a while, and William let her be silent. His experience with women was not that broad, but he could quite adequately pick up someone's emotions and feelings.

"Where are we going now?", he asked, helping Hilda again without her noticing it. He tried to get her into a more cheerful mood again.

"We're going to make sure the shepherds see us," she decided. "Scare them a bit, so they know it's me." She got an evil grin on her face that she shared with William. "If you liked what we did with Walt, you're gonna love this."

Hilda threw the brooms in a sharp turn and sped them up, setting course to some spectacular green hills. They passed over lakes and a forest with stunning black trees.

"Fun place," she said as she pointed down at the forest. "All kinds of really wild animals."

William took her word for it.

They flew in silence. Hilda's head was churning with more and more questions and puzzles, while William was enjoying the feeling of flight, the scenery and the incredibly clean air that they were going through.

When they came close to the area where the sheep and their managers were, Hilda dropped the brooms to just out of view of their targets.

"Best if you put the hood back on, William," she advised him. "We'll be going low. Also prepare for quick movements, and whatever you do, don't let go of the broom. Just follow that, and we'll have fun."

William loved the sparkle in her eyes. There was a real sparkle: it shone light blue and was shaped as a five-pointed star. He grinned and pulled the hood over his head. "I am ready. Let's roll, Hilda."

She cast a boyish, mischievous grin at him and they flew again, following the slope of the mountain. They came over the top, slowly moving forward, without a sound. The first herd of sheep was less than a hundred yards away.

Hilda did not want to scare the animals, just the people, so she made the brooms go higher. She located four shepherds together and pointed. William nodded and braced himself for anything. Suddenly his broom swept away from Hilda's.

She sent William to approach the people from the left, as she aligned her broom quickly so she'd be charging at them from the right. One or two of the shepherds would probably see them coming, but there were too many sheep around for them to run away.

Both brooms suddenly dropped to a mere few feet and picked up speed. William heard a soft buzzing sound coming from his broom and wondered if this was normal as he had never heard it before. He did not know that Hilda made it happen, and her broom made the same sound.

Not two but three shepherds saw a shape coming towards them, tearing through the air just over the sheep. It approached with an eerie buzzing sound. One pointed at it and said something to the others. As one they turned and wanted to run, seeing a similar shape shooting towards them from the other direction. They were locked in with sheep and tried to rush through them, but the animals could hardly move through the massive body of fellow-woolbearers.

"Down!", one of the men yelled, and the four ducked as well as they could, getting mouths full of wool and other parts of sheep.

Hilda and William reached the four that felt under siege. They both screamed, Hilda for fun and William for fear that something might go wrong after all, as their speed did not drop.

The two shapes missed each other in what seemed the width of a very thick hair. In fact, Hilda had made each broom shift just enough that nobody would have been touched, had the four remained standing. She was wicked, not evil. She just wanted certain people to think the latter.

9. Gerdundula

The two brooms met up over the top of a nearby mountain. Hilda kept them there for a while, clearly in view of the shepherds.

"And this is reassuring to them, you said?", William asked, his hood down again and still swallowing his heart back to where nature intended it to be.

"Yes, it is. They are truly witch-fearing people, and this little show once in a while makes them understand that they don't fear for nothing. They also know that they won't get hurt when the wicked witch is around."

They saw the group of shepherds frantically waving their arms, pointing at the two flying people. Obviously there was quite a discussion going.

Hilda nodded. "Okay, they're in the shouting stage. Work done, onwards then." Slowly the brooms lifted to the skies again. "We're going to the village now. See if things are in order there."

The flight to the village went smoothly, passing over a few hills, back in the direction of Hilda's house, more or less, as the location of the settlement was only a few miles from there.

William asked Hilda about the village.

William heard what she said and knew that she was not making things up. "You can be a very dangerous woman, Hilda," he remarked.

"Yes. I know." Hilda nodded. She looked at him, her face serious for a moment before a grin took over. "Maybe best to put the hood on again, William. We could go low again. I never know in advance, in the village."

He nodded. From under the hood he watched her for a while, until the village came into view.

Hilda's eyesight proved superior, the salesman noticed. She said something that sounded a lot like "Oh fuck", and then their brooms plummeted to almost street level. There was a man whipping a mule.

Hilda raced over him and grabbed the whip. "So, why is this?", she asked, tossing the whip to William who caught it with one hand.

"It is eating my vegetables, and what's that to you?", the man said. He looked as if a bath was something to beware of, his clothes probably would dissolve if ever they got seriously wet.

"Is this your mule?", Hilda asked.

"Yes, so?"

"And when did you feed it last?", the wicked witch asked without being impressed by the man's fists that he waved at her.

"I feed it when it works. And it does not work for me," the man unleashed his simple logic.

"Oh, right, very smart," Hilda nodded. "This mule is old. It can't work. And you should know that. You also should know that you should not try to sell stolen vegetables."

A small crowd had by now gathered, seeing the witch and the silent figure in blue hover over the dirty man. "Stolen vegetables?"

"They are not stolen!", the angry mule-abuser yelled.

"These vegetables are from a witch's garden," Hilda said, pointing at the basket. "I know her. And she is not into selling her things. So you have stolen them." Her wand appeared.

The crowd gasped, as they knew that wand and what it could do.

"And what do you think you can do with that stick?"

The dirty man was quite fearless, Hilda thought. Or entirely stupid. With a wry grin she thought of the people from William's funny world. He'd fit in there. "I'm going to fill in for my witch sister," she said.

The wicked witch held out her hand to William, who put the whip in it. "Offensio," she simply said, and the whip jumped down to its previous owner. With precision and system it started to beat the man that had previously used it on the mule.

"Someone take care of the mule," said Hilda and then she made the brooms take off again. As they hovered over the local pub, they watched how someone did indeed untie the mule and take it away. Hilda nodded.

The majority of people in crowd was watching the two shapes over the pub that hung there in apparent silence.

"They are wondering who you are," she said.

"How do you know? Can you hear what they say?"

Hilda grinned. "No. I know them and I know how they think." Then she looked serious again. "We should go check on Gerdundula."

The brooms swooped up and set course to the south.

"Gerdundula?" William did not believe his ears.

"Yeah. The witch whose veggies that guy had stolen. I must find out how he got them. It's not like her to let someone take her stuff. She's... rather possessive."

After a stiff flight, William's seating area was getting a bit numb despite the air-cushion, they reached a rather bizarre area. The trees around it looked as if they were made of metal. They were red and wide.

"Looks quite impossible to walk through there," he remarked to Hilda.

"Yup, that is what they're made for," Hilda confirmed. "As I said, she's kind of possessive."

After passing over the metal forest Hilda landed the brooms. "Walkies from here on, no flying allowed," she elaborated.

William was grateful for that. At least he could stretch his legs a big.

Hilda saw his face. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Not used to sitting on a broom for that long," William explained.

"Oh, heh, that's just some getting used to. Come." Hilda marched ahead, to a large and aggressive metal wall thirty yards high. She stared at it. "That's odd."

Before William could ask her what would be odd, Hilda stepped forward and disappeared through the wall. He was still convincing his mind that he had seen this happen, when she came back.

"Coming with me? It's just an illusion..." She took his hand and dragged him along until they were on the other side of what looked as a thick wall and was nothing at all.

Behind the walk-through wall lay a large garden. It had patches with fruit trees, patches with vegetables, and a small patch on which a simple wooden hut was erected.

"I don't like this," Hilda mumbled. She walked to the hut, wand in hand and William close behind her. "Gerdundula, where are you," she whispered.

William sensed something or heard something and wanted to warn Hilda, but he was a second too late. The door in the hut flew open and a dark brown shape cam charging out of it, crashing into the witch who tumbled to the floor. William, just far enough behind Hilda, was ready for the thing, whatever it was. The salesman was not a fighter, but the thrill of the broomstick-ride and the tension that hung around this place had worked him up quite well. He had a good swing at the brown shape and hit it full in where one would expect a face.

The shape's speed did not get slowed down by it, the impact also took William down, but the whack had definitely significance. After several yards the shape also tumbled down and remained motionless.

William got up and saw that Hilda was on her feet again also. "You okay?", he asked, rubbing his fist.

"Yeah." The wicked witch all but jumped on top of the brown shape that lay face-down on the path. She groaned as she pushed hard to turn it around. "Oh crap."

The man in blue joined her and looked at the face that his hand had had contact with. "What the hell is that?"

The creature that lay knocked out was some five feet tall. It was dressed in what looked like second-hand bear skin. This would make sense, as a bear would have been the previous owner. The face of the thing was crowned with dirty short black hair. It had big ears that stood from the wide tanned face as sails on a sailboat. The creature had a flat wide nose and a remarkably small mouth, around which there was hardly a trace of lips.

The lying victim was broadshouldered. It reminded William of the Incredible Hulk, but then in a miniaturised version. It was barefoot, its feet incredibly dirty with mud and sand.

"This is a Grizble. It is made. Nothing natural or normal about it." Hilda magicked a rope around the Grizble, immobilising it.

"And what, if you allow the question, is a Grizble?"

Hilda sighed, sat down on a garden stone and looked up at William. "It is like a cross between a baby troll and a leprechaun. Mean as you can think it up, they have some low-level magical abilities, and they are strong. So how it is possible that you managed to knock it out is beyond me."

"My hand agrees with you," William nodded as he sat down next to her.

"Grizbles are the messengers and bell-hops for Lamador."

William remembered the name. It was the sorcerer that Hilda was scared of. He looked at her and recognised traces of worry on the witchy face. In an impulse he put an arm around her and gently pulled her against him.

Hilda let him, as she rested her head against his shoulder. She sighed, closing her eyes. Then her eyes flew open, as she pushed him away and got to her feet quickly. "What do you think you're doing?!", she asked him sharply.

"Being friendly and supportive," William replied as he got up from the ground that her push had landed him on, "but it looks as if that doesn't agree with you very well." He patted his cloak, to free it from sand.

"Hmmf," Hilda retorted, unsure what to do about this.

The Grizble relieved her from the task of thinking about it further. It started to wiggle and grunt and tried to get the rope off. The latter did not work, though, as Hilda's magic had supplied a rope that was Grizble-safe.

"Well, well, look here," she said, standing over the dark creature. "I am sure you want to tell me why you are here."

The Grizble uttered some inexplicable sounds, it screamed and howled, as William came close to witness the whole thing.

"Never mind that," Hilda told him, her earlier anger forgotten again, "they always act like that in the beginning. Some design flaw in them, I think, as they never fail to calm down and get sensible after a while."

The Grizble tried to bite their legs a few times, screamed and wriggled some more, until it lay panting at their feet. "Turn me loose and no one gets hurt," it then threatened from its harmless position.

"Sure, but first you will tell me why you are here. And where Gerdundula is. You know, I'd love to kick him," she elaborated to William, "but it's the troll body that isn't inviting. It's rock hard and only hurts me." She turned to the grizble again. "Well, done thinking?"

The Grizble pointed it fiery red eyes at her. "Lamador is stronger than ever. He has the witch and will use her. And you will-"

They would never know what the creature was going to add to that, as its head exploded and its body went limp inside the rope.

"Is that a design flaw also?", William asked.

"No. This is seriously bad. Lamador listened in, I am sure, and did this. Crap."

"HAH!" A loud booming voice almost blew them over. A giant shape formed in the middle of a number of flowerbeds. It was twenty feet tall. It was a collosal man, wearing a blue robe and a purple hood. That was all that was visible of him. "YOU WILL DIE THIS TIME, GRIMHILDA. MY POWER IS BEYOND REACH NOW."

Hilda put her hands on her hips and looked up at the shape. "Get off it, Lamador. You are not making a good impression with all that showing off."

William stared at the giant apparition. He was not as bold as Hilda, but then he lacked her experience. And her attitude.

"AND WHO IS THIS UNMAGICAL WIZARD WITH YOU?"

That would be William, they both understood. Lamador was wizard enough to sense that there was no magic whatsoever present in the book salesman.

"This is a wizard from far away," Hilda persisted, "and his magic is unnoticeable to the likes of you."

"HA HA HA HA HA!" As the laughter rolled over the gardens and bounced off the illusionary metal wall, the giant shape evaporated, the sound of his laughing going hollow and vanishing with him.

"Holy Bejeebus...", William said.

"Yeah." Hilda agreed. "He's gotten scary."

They stood together, getting over the aftershock of it all, until Hilda turned and announced that she was going to have a look inside the hut of Gerdundula. William followed her. He did not want to get caught by that giant alone out there.

10. Bestest girlfriend

Gerdundula's hut did not make them much smarter. It bore signs of a fierce struggle, as just about everything inside was smashed to pieces.

"I told you she's kind of possessive," Hilda remarked as she went through the remains, looking for something.

William had looked around the hut also. It looked as if two tornadoes had been partying in there. Furniture had been reduced to less than their original components, whatever there had been of glassware and pottery was irretrievable as such. The floor was covered in shards and fragments. Also, and this broke his bookloving heart, he saw that there had been many books in the hut, now nothing more than scraps of paper in varying degrees of being burnt.

"Crappy damn." Hilda had found what she had looking for. In her hands she held two small pieces of wood, painted red with thin white spirals over them. They obviously had been connected once. "This is her wand. Or was."

"Can you fix it?", William asked, ignorant on the subject of wands.

"Fix it. A wand. I don't think so. Here." She pushed the two pieces in his hand. "Give it a try if you feel like it, and do let me know if you succeed." The wicked witch looked around the hut one more time. "I guess that's it then. This place is ravaged. Lost for witchdom too, all the magic's been taken from it. This sucks..."

Dragging her feet, she walked outside, leaving William behind in the devastation that had been the home of a witch called Gerdundula.

He watched her go and felt sorry for her. There was very much that she got on her shoulders all of a sudden. The challenge of this sorcerer, Lamador. His own appearance in this bizarre world. The fact that now Lamador had begun harvesting witches, to shake Hilda up.

William walked outside as he stuck the two pieces of wood in a pocket he had discovered in his blue robe, and closed the door of the hut behind him. Hilda was sitting on the large stone again, staring at something only she could see. The book salesman remained silent, giving her some space to cope with this all.

Hilda worried. She worried like she had never worried before. Lamador had taken Gerdundula, and it was obvious that he would extract all her magic from her and use that to build up his own. She dreaded to think what that would do to Gerdundula, beyond the fact that she would have lost all her magical abilities. A cold shudder ran down her spine. It was so very present that she physically had to shake it off.

Hilda looked at William, who had kneeled down to look at a plant that had attracted his attention. "No touching," she said. "It is dangerous. Best not to touch anything here." Hilda did not add what she suspected. Lamador was someone who would have left quite a bundle of nasty surprises here and there.

William rose and nodded. "Thank you for warning me." He walked over to Hilda and held out his hand.

Puzzled she looked at it and then at his face. "I have nothing for you."

William smiled briefly and then kneeled down before her, looking her in the eye. "You really don't get it, do you, Grimhilda? I just offer my hand to help you up. To show you that I want to do what little I can to help you, support you. You are apparently not used to that, which is fine. Maybe you'll get the hang of it."

Hilda's amazement grew with each word he said. "You are such an incomprehensive creature, William Connoley!", she exclaimed as she got up from the stone and looked down at him. "I can stand up when I want. I don't need support from you for that. This is my land, my world, I know what goes on here, and I say that we get out of here now. Okay? Now get up from the dirt, that is not a way to behave for someone in a wizard's dress. Act to your appearance, man."

William was overbluffed for a few moments, her change being so drastic, from helpless to appearing fully in control. He was even more surprised as she held out her hand to him, her face calm and unmoving. With a smile he took her hand and got up.

The witch felt his hand in hers. The strong hand. She saw his friendly face, the smile. A soft sigh fought its way from her lips and for a moment she felt- and then the moment was gone.

Her hand slipped from his and she turned. "Come. Time to go home and get something to eat. And this time I'm making it."

Women here were as incomprehensible here as they had been at home, William thought. He shook his head, suppressed his laughter about the realisation and walked after Hilda who was striding along with large steps.

They came to the illusionary metal wall. It was different, less solid. They both noticed it.

"See, the magic is already dissipating. In a day there will be nothing of it left." Hilda stepped through it, and William could see a faint shadow of her on the other side as she walked to where the brooms were waiting. Quickly he followed her, and moments later they were airborn, heading back to Hilda's house.

They were coming close to the house when Hilda hit the brakes. Both brooms hovered over the trees William had seen from his bedroom, the ones that looked normal and strange without being able to tell what was odd about them.

"Something's different there," said Hilda, "you stay here." She dropped to just over the treetops and slowly moved her broom towards the house.

"As if I have a choice," William grinned to himself as he watched how the witch worked her way towards her house. He was extremely impressed with her ability to handle the two brooms, keeping him where he was and also flying her own, her mind obviously geared to what would be the matter at her house.

To pass the time, he took the two pieces of the wand from his pocket and tried to fit them together. The two pieces remained two pieces, but at one of his attempts the broom he was on shuddered. Not sure if this was something he had done, he thought it best to put away the wood and watch Hilda's actions instead.

Hilda was as close to her house as she could without being seen. There was a broom outside the door. And it was not one of hers, which was unheard of. No witch would leave a broom like that near the door of another witch's house. She was in doubt what to do now. Facing another witch was not the problem. But leaving William where he was was not a solid plan then, as her attention would become to widespread, and he'd have an ungentle encounter with the earth. And it might also break the broom.

"You'd better be holding on," she muttered, as she made the other broom slowly move downwards and glide to where she was.

William remained silent, despite the slight startle he'd had when his transportation device suddenly started moving. As his broom pulled up next to the one of Hilda, she looked at him and put a finger on her lips. He nodded, and they gently went down to the earth. Hilda handed him her broom and pointed to the trees. He had to hide there, with the brooms. He nodded a confirmation and went to where she wanted him, doubting that his blue and black attire would keep him out of sight adequately.

Hilda did not seem to worry about that. She straightened her back, popped up her wand and marched towards her house. William felt sorry for the person inside that would have to answer to her. Hilda was in battle-mode.

The witch stopped at the door and looked at the broomstick that was so casually leaning against the wall. She grinned. "Damn you. I should have known. You are so frickin' curious."

"Hello, Hilda," said the house, "we have a visitor."

"I know," she said, her smile widening. The door opened and she went in.

"BABS!!", she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"HILLY!", Baba Yaga screamed at the same volume.

A cacaphony of cackling laughter followed, which for the uninitiated translated into an awful sound resembling death, destruction and the downfall of anything sacred. The two witches danced around, their shrieking seemingly endless until the welcoming ceremony these two had thought up so long ago was complete, leaving the area in an eerie silence.

William bravely stood behind his tree, hands over his ears to block out the worst of the audible havoc. As the pressure on his eardrums suddenly subsided he dared to breathe again and take his hands off his ears. He did keep them raised, in case the sound would happen again. It didn't. The next thing he saw happen was that Hilda came out of her house and beckoned him to come over, after which she quickly went into the house again.

William grabbed hold of both brooms and walked over to the house. He wondered about the odd broom that was next to the door, put the two he carried next to it and went inside. "Holy Bejeebus", he said. At the table with Hilda was the most hideous woman he had ever seen. Even his wildest and most creative nightmares could not conjure up something like that. She looked like a skeleton with skin and clothes on, had a big head with the occasional hair. The woman looked like one big wrinkle although her nose remained prominently visible.

"Well, that's him," Hilda said to the nightmare in black as she saw William. "This is William. William, please meet Babs, my bestest girlfriend. Or Baba Yaga as she is known to most."

The book salesman of course had heard, or rather read about Baba Yaga. There had been drawings of the witch in some of them, but none of them did any credit to her as she stood there in real life. He was too stunned and appalled to faint or run away. Instead he did the only right thing.

"Baba Yaga. I have heard a lot about you. Pleased to meet you." William did wonder if he should offer her his hand. He was not convinced she'd give it back.

"As long as it's only bad things, then I'm happy," the ghastly witch cackled, giving William the creeps. "Can't have people thinking good things about us, can we, Hilly baby?"

Baba Yaga sat down again. A kettle with tea flew in from the kitchen, closely followed by a tray of cookies.

"Come sit, William," Hilda said with a smile, patting the seat of the chair next to her. He took off the black cloak and then sat down, stumped by her sudden almost affectionate behaviour.

"This is the man I talked about this morning, Babs," Hilda continued. "This is who I knocked out."

Baba Yaga looked William over inch by inch. "Nice garb," she said, "but hardly what he's supposed to wear, is it? Not much magic in him. So where'd you dig him up?"

Hilda looked at William, a blush on her face. He understood that she had not told her bestest girlfriend about the strange visit to his world, so he winked at her. "Do you tell her, or will I tell her?"

Hilda's eyes became large for a moment. "I'll tell her. Just tell me when I forget something, okay?"

William nodded and got up to pour tea for everyone as Hilda started telling Baba Yaga about the strange happenings that she had encountered so many years ago. Baba Yaga's eyes probably also became bigger and bigger, but he was not able to discern them between the folds of her wrinkles.

When Hilda reached the point where it became clear that William had been the only person that could get her back to her own world, Baba Yaga asked him if he by chance was magical in his own world.

"No, I'm afraid not. I deal with books, not with magic."

Hilda then went on telling Babs about how she came back and how she somehow had brought William to their own world. "And since I got him here, I have taken him in and put him in a room. Of his own," she added a bit snippy.

This of course caused Baba Yaga to cackle again. "Well, that is quite an adventure you've been holding from me, Hilda," she said with a grin. "And now you have him here, what do you plan to do with him?"

William frowned. He was not used to be talked about as if he was not there, or a mere piece of furniture that had been acquired. Still he looked at Hilda, as he was also very interested to hear her answer.

11. What to do with William?

Hilda looked at Babs, then at William, then at her teacup, from where the goldfish looked up also, waiting for her answer.

"You make it sound as if I wanted to get him here," she said to Baba Yaga with a small pout, and a hint of accusation in her voice.

The Russian witch just smiled. "I say nothing. I ask a question and you are going to answer it. It appears to me that William would like to know also, Hilly."

William nodded, which earnt him a mean look from Hilda. "Careful, buster, there is enough room against the wall," she warned him. "And you are not going to stop me. It's only the dress, not the abilities you wear. Remember that."

William raised his hands as in defense. "Okay, okay, no need to get excited. I have seen what can happen when you get excited."

Baba Yaga screamed for cackling laughter. "I love the boy," she yelled out, "if you don't want him, I'll take him off your hands, Hilda!"

William's heart almost stopped beating. He would prefer death than be with Hilda's best girlfriend.

The wicked witch raised her eyebrows. Then she looked at William, as if she was examining him, seeing him for the first time. It felt to the subject under scrutiny as if Hilda was going over him even more thoroughly than Babs had done. "Nah, I'll keep him for now," was her conclusion.

William's heart took heart and resumed full responsibility for life again.

"I am teaching him to fly a broom," Hilda giggled then. "We were out doing the rounds this morning. And he keeps himself well on a broom." She had to give Baba Yaga the full account of how they had scared the shit out of the shepherds, to which the Russian witch treated William to a deafening and bloodchilling cackle again. It did not bother Hilda one bit, as her being a witch rendered her immune to the impact of it, contrary to what it did to ordinaries.

After she had calmed down, Baba Yaga looked at William. "You are probably not aware of the compliment she gave you just now, about keeping yourself on the broom, Willaim. Take it from me, you can't get much better from her than that."

Hilda seemed to ignore the entire remark. "So you see, I got a bit upset and that got me a guest in the house."

Baba Yaga nodded.

"And there is more to be upset about." Hilda told about the disappearance of Gerdundula and the visit of a giant Lamador in the garden there.

"Ouch. That is definitely worrying, Hilda," Baba Yaga agreed. "If he sends out his Grizbles like that. And you floored one?", she asked William.

He showed his red and partly skinless knuckles. "Yes. Still bear the medals for it."

Baba Yaga looked at Hilda. "And you let him walk around with that? After he caught the thing?"

Hilda looked guilty. "Yes," she admitted.

"Tsk tsk tsk..."

"Alright... give me your hand," Hilda said to William.

She did not need a wand. She murmured something, blew over his knuckles and the skin was healed, the red streaks were gone, as was the pain. "There. Good as new." She stared at the hand a while longer before she let go of it. Then she looked at the visiting witch again. "So Lamador is heavily on the prowl. He is taking witches out, probably to boost himself. And I'm- not very happy with that," she changed the ending of her words.

The ugly witch made the teapot go round for refills as she was thinking about everything that Hilda and William had told her.

"Hmmm..." After a while: "Yeah...", combined with some nodding of her head.

William looked at Hilda, his face all questions. She shook her head and and gestured him to remain silent.

Babs nodded again. "I think the solution is quite simple, Hilly baby. You asked for help and you cast magic. Then William came. So you got your help in that form. There must be something he can do, or that he knows that can help you."

A true unbeliever, Hilda stared at the other woman. "Please, Babs, go kid someone else and not me. I mean..." She took William's hand and held it up. "Is he going to whack Lamador in the face and decide the challenge that way for me?" She put the man's hand on the table again, forgetting to take hers off it. "I don't think so."

William stared at the small fine hand that calmly rested on his as Hilda kept talking with Baba Yaga.

Babs noticed it too, but did not make a remark about it. "I don't think that will be the way, Hilda. There's a fine challenge for you two, before the big one. Has Lamador already called a date and a place? No? Good, then you still have at least three moons to figure it out. And I am serious about that, Hilda. And that goes for you as well, William. Work on this. It must be worth it."

"You know that I value your opinion, Babs," Hilda said.

"Yes. That is why I came. You're not coming to get it, you're too bloody stubborn for that, so I thought I'd come by and shove it up your ass. As well as have a look at your mystery-man."

That triggered Hilda to quickly pull back her hand. "Yeah, that's you. Curious as a witch."

Baba Yaga and Hilda laughed again. William had seen it coming this time, and had his ears covered.

Babs then magicked up a very dusty bottle. It was not made of glass, but of something that looked like ceramic. The top did not have a cork, but was sealed with beeswax. "I think this calls for a little drink," the witch announced. "Too bad that Hilda can't take it. That is something you need to know, William, she does not react well to stronger liquid spirits. She waters things down, and for a reason. I hope you, as a man, can take it?"

"William, be careful," said Hilda. There was genuine concern in her voice, something that made him look at her.

"Maybe I can try a little bit, Baba Yaga," he said, and Hilda nodded. Little bit was good.

Suddenly there were three glasses, one with a very light rose and two empty ones that did not hold their state for long, as Baba Yaga chopped off the wax top and filled both glasses. And to the rim.

"A little bit," William grinned, eyeing the glass.

The witches raised their glasses. William joined them, and they toasted. Baba Yaga threw the contents of her glass in her mouth as if it were a sip of water. Hilda sampled her rose and judged it watered down enough. William tried the heavy red wine. It was thick as syrup and the smell already hit him in the face. He tried it.

"Gods!! When I drink that, you can order my coffin!" William got red in the face and had to put down the glass, as the powerful wine tried to burn itself a hole through him and into the ground.

Hilda handed him a glass of water and he drank that, which brought instant relief to his inner world. "Babs, that was mean."

The Russian witch giggled and waved over the glass. "It should be better now." As William looked at her with worry all over his face, she added: "Really. Trust me."

Just to be on the safer side, he also looked at Hilda, who nodded this time. "Witches," he sighed.

"Yes, and we'll keep reminding you!", grinned Babs.

"We?", Hilda whispered, frowning.

William missed that, and the glances that went over the table, as he was tasting the wine again, with his eyes closed. This time it was pure gold to drink. "Oh, now this is good," William told the world, that consisted of two witches.

"I'm glad you like it, William," Baba Yaga said. "Tell you what: you can call me Babs, and I'll call you Willy."

"Oh no, I am not a Willy type of person," William shook his head.

"You'll get used to it, Willy," said the ugly witch.

William knew there was nothing he could do to change this. No way he could go against a witch and win. Instead he said: "Hilda, weren't we going to eat?"

"Oh, crap, I forgot. You're right. Babs, want to stay for a bite?"

Baba Yaga scratched her head. "Maybe I should go. Still a good flight home, Hilly. On the other hand, flying on an empty stomach is not that great either."

"Right, that settles it," Hilda said, "you're staying and I'll make something real quick."

"Let me know if you need a hand," William said as Hilda left for the kitchen.

"I think I can handle my kitchen better than you, but you're welcome to join," she laughed as she stepped out of view. Her head turned around the door opening. "Although you did a good job on breakfast this morning. I have to say."

Babs looked at William. "You were in her kitchen? To make food? Man, you got nerves."

"Less of them now," William admitted, "some burnt out already." His reward was another glass of wine.

"Clear the table, it's coming!", Hilda yelled from the kitchen.

This was a new approach for William. He saw Baba Yaga quickly grab glasses and the bottle, so he saved his own glass and some other things that lay around. And not a moment too soon. Six large plates came sailing into the room and landed on the table, two for each person. One had something hot on it, the other a cold salad.

Hilda sauntered in then, with forks and knives.

"Holy Bejeebus, you've not been in that crazy kitchen for more than a minute," William stammered. "You give a whole new meaning to fast food."

Hilda handed the eating utensils around and sat down. "Sometimes you say the strangest things, William."

12. Making things work

Baba Yaga had left them, leaving the bottle as a welcoming gift to William. She had invited them over for a return visit, as that "might be refreshing for William, seeing the home of another kind of witch". They had heard her cackling laughter for quite a while as Babs had flown off.

It was late in the evening now, and they were sitting at the large black table. Both crystal balls were there. Hilda had her wand on the table also. They were trying to brainstorm about what Babs had said, that their working together had to be the key.

"I can't get it that she was so convinced about you being the solution to my problem," Hilda said as she sipped her water. She was not taking risks this evening. "I think it was just a stupid coincidence that you came here."

William was not certain of what he had to think of it. The explanation of Babs sounded logical, but logic was something else in this world. Bring in witches and logic bails out through the nearest window.

"I really wouldn't know, Hilda."

"Isn't there anything magical you can do? Not even the smallest, simplest bit like making my wand fly?" After all, a wand was loaded with so much magic that it hardly needed encouragement to fly.

William frowned. "Since when is that simple? I sell books, Hilda. I am engulfed in the magic of books, fabulous old books. Books that are handwritten, or printed by hand with woodblocks, bound in leather and still holding the smell of monasteries."

"Monasteries. Hah. No good for me now," Hilda said, and she was right. "Then what is it that you know that can help me? Do your handwritten books say something about going against a sorcerer who is not playing by the rules and about to beat the crap out of me? Or worse?" The witch looked tired all of a sudden, and desperate. "Urgh..." She sank her head on her folded arms that rested on the table. "I don't want all this crap, Wiliam. I want to fly around and do what I do best. Not stuff like this."

William felt sorry for the woman on the other side of the table. "I really wish I could tell you something to make you feel better."

Her face still on her arms, she asked: "Do you know how much it sometimes sucks having to do everything alone?"

William got up and sat down next to Hilda. He put an arm around her schoulders and pulled her against him, which, to his surprise, she allowed to happen. She even leaned into him. "Okay, I may not be able to do very much for you, Hilda," he said, "but for now you are not alone. According to Babs I am here for a reason. We both are looking for it, but I don't think we'll be able to figure that out this very evening. We still have three moons."

"Yeah," Hilda said, her eyes closed, "but it makes me nervous still. And what the hell are you doing?" Her voice did not change in volume or emotion as she spoke, it sounded as if the question was a logical part to her statement.

"I am holding you, so you feel you are not alone."

"Oh."

They sat in silence for a while.

"And what else are you doing?", Hilda asked.

William, his thoughts drifting over things that had happened, was pulled back to the living room and the witch that was still leaning into him. "Uhm... thinking?"

The witch slowly shook her head, her long grey hair spreading out over the blue robe William wore. "Something else. I can feel it."

The salesman wondered what she could mean. He did nothing special, just enjoying the feeling and holding her. "Is it something bad?"

"You'd know if it was bad, believe me. I don't handle bad feelings well..." Hilda purred like a kitten.

"Want me to put you in your bed?", William asked, with only proper intentions.

"Yes... NO!" She sat up, pushing herself away from him and stared at him. "No, no, you can't do that!" Her cheeks became so red that it was clearly visible even in the light of the candles on the table. Then quickly she got up and moved to the other side of the table, her eyes fixed on his face. "I mean, I know you can, but I don't know- No, you shouldn't."

The witch bit her lip for a moment. "I'm taking a bath and then I go to sleep." She kept looking at William, as if she wanted to will him to remain where he was.

"Of course, Hilda," the guest said, "if that is what you want then that is what you should do. I'll stay downstairs and read some of the books. Just let me know when you're done."

"Hmm. Okay. Just you stay down here. No peeking, or you're out of the house faster than you can think." Her tone was defensive, her heartbeat was high and she felt insecure and confused.

"Don't worry. I'll be good."

Hilda nodded and went up the stairs, mumbling and muttering.

William listened to her go until a door closed and the sounds that the witch made were cut off. Then he picked up one of the books that Hilda allowed him to read. He put a few candles closer by so he had enough light to read. "Right. What do we have here... 'Manifesting protection - an introduction'..."

Hilda sat in her bathtub, staring at the purple bubbles, soap making her hair stand out in all directions. "Suck an elf," she muttered. "Why doesn't he open up about his magic. He does something, the rat, and he says he's innocent." She threw her sponge in the tub, splashing water around. "I wish I hated it. Argh."

He had been so wrapped up in the book that he had not heard Hilda come down again.

"William, bathroom's free."

"Huh? Oh, thanks." He looked at her and smiled. She wore a bright red housecoat that hung to her ankles. Her hair was still damp, her face soft in the dim light that reached the bottom of the stairs. He noticed she was barefoot. "I'm almost done with this chapter. Sleep well, Hilda."

"Yeah, you too." She lingered at the stairs, a hand on the handrail. "And thank you for this evening." As if she was fleeing, she turned and quickly ran up the stairs, finding refuge in her room.

Soon peace and quiet descended over most of the magical house. Exception was Hilda's bedroom, where a witch lay tossing and turning and worrying.

Despite the early hour Hilda already sat in the room at the table when William came quietly down the stairs. She wore the bright red long housecoat again.

"Good morning," she said, turning her head to him as she heard him. "You're up early."

"Look who's talking," he grinned as he sat down opposire her. He was in the grey velvet trousers and the shirt. And barefoot.

Hilda had made tea already and without asking she poured him a cup. "You know, there is something from your insane world that I miss. It's that stuff you call coffee. I've tried to conjure that up a few times but it's never the real thing."

"You need the proper beans for it," he admitted, "otherwise it will be quite difficult."

"Beans..." Hilda repeated the word in disbelief and snorted. She looked out of the window and watched the sun rise.

"Why are you up so early? Habit?", William asked.

The wicked witch, not looking or feeling very wicked at that moment, shrugged. "Just happened. And you?"

"Just happened. And habit, somewhat." He got up. "I'm making breakfast."

She looked up at him. "Let me do that. It's safer."

"No way," he said, gently pushing her back on the chair as she wanted to rise. "I've survived once, I'll manage again."

"Bloody hell you will," she said, using a spark of magic to stand up despite his hand, "I'm the one who makes breakfast here, got that? This is my house, and you're the guest."

"And I'm the one who sees you slept terrible, so I'm making breakfast."

Argueing like an old couple they went to the kitchen. Hilda tried to block the entrance by putting herself in it, but William simply picked her up and sat her down on a sideboard after which he marched into the kitchen.

"Hey, you... you..." Hilda's flaring-up anger prevented her from finding the proper word. She jumped from the sideboard and ran after him, snatching the apron from his hands and holding it behind her back. "How dare you!"

"Easy," the guest in the house said as he tried to grab the apron from her. For that he reached behind her with both hands, catching her in his arms. As he did so, her arms were pressed against her sides, virtually immobilising her.

"You are NOT making breakfast!", she exclaimed. In a reflex she changed the apron into a rope as he took it. The rope flung itself around his wrists. "Ha, gotcha!", she gloated, knowing he was tied up.

It took William a few seconds to understand that his arms were indeed tied together. Then he grinned. "Looks like we got eachother, miss Witch."

"Crap," Hilda admitted. She was still caught in his arms, and because of the rope he could not let go of her.

"Like this we are not getting any closer to breakfast, Hilda, so if you just untie my hands," William offered.

"Oh, right, and then all this starts again, right? I don't think so." Hilda exhaled, making herself as thin as she could and dropped herself to her knees. Quickly she got up, her wand already in her hand. "Now you go sit down at the table, or I'll make you."

William, hands tied, grinned, watching her rather thin frame. "You'll make me?"

Her eyes became slits. Her wand pointed at his legs. "You will walk to the table and sit down."

"Oh, sure," William said. A few seconds later the grey velvet pants made him walk to the table and sit down. "Hey, you witch!", he yelled at her as he was on the way.

"And you'd friggin' better know it!", she called after him, a big fat grin on her face. This little victory had made her day. And the night too.

"I won," said Hilda as the plates with food floated towards the table. She gloated as she sat down, her face showing her winning.

"What are you waiting for?", she then asked as she was digging in.

William held up his tied hands, his face the questionmark that ... his silent request.

"Oh. Of course. Sorry."

The rope changed into an apron again and fell in William's arms. "Thank you ever so much," he said as he picked up his fork.

"You are most welcome," the witch grinned.

"Am I allowed to pour you some more tea, miss Witch?"

Miss Witch frowned as she looked at her cup. "Stupid fish," she muttered, then said: "Yes, please."

As William filled her cup again, he asked about her remark concerning stupid fish.

Hilda grinned and pointed at the two goldfish. "It's them. I suspect that they drink my tea at times. They're magical, you see."

William, who'd been worrying about his eyes, relaxed. "Oh, right. I thought it was me, thinking they moved about."

"Actually it is you," Hilda nodded. "They're curious about you, that's why they move about so much."

William stared at a goldfish that stared back just as much.

After breakfast Hilda said she'd have to go make the rounds again and invited William to come along. "That way I can keep an eye on you and make sure you don't get hurt," was her reasoning.

William wondered slightly about that. After all, being inside a house felt more safe than riding a broom. He forgot to include in that thought that he would be in a witch's house. A wicked witch's house.

As they were ready to kick off, she asked if there was somewhere special he'd like to go. "We're not doing the shepherds today, I don't want to be predictable," she elaborated.

"Not sure if it is too much of a detour, but I really would like to get some more things from the truck."

"Okay, I can do that. You're better at flying now, so we can go faster than the first time. What do you want to get there?"

"My books." William smiled.

"I see. Book seller. Can't be without your books. Not that anyone here would buy them, but you've got to have your books." She giggled a bit, then straightened her face and they left the ground.

"So, you think she's hitting on him?", one of the goldfish asked the house. "he's definitely getting to her."

"Hmmm," replied the house, "it does seem so, but the way they went about fighting this morning, I am not sure. He is really sweet on her though, I can tell."

"The silly witch just is out of practice too long and doesn't recognise the feeling anymore. Hah, she even thought he has magic!" The goldfish chased each other around the cup. "Bummer that she found out about the tea though..."

13. Mirror Lake

After the visit to the castle, without the fountain race ("It's all about not being predictable") they swooped over the village again. Nothing remotely interesting was going on there, so they were soon on their way to the third point to inspect.

"We're now going to Mirror Lake, so hold on. This is going to be one wild ride." She laughed her laugh, so William braced himself, and not in vain. The terrain that they flew over was not rough or difficult, but Hilda was in a boisterous mood and made the flight rough and difficult. She made them race over the tops of trees, and they got so close by mountains that a sneeze could make them crash into them. They sped just inches over the ground. The wicked witch had to correct their lack of altitude constantly, or their feet would be left behind somewhere.

"Holy Bejeebus!", William screamed as they dove into a piece forest at astounding speed. More than once he closed his eyes as he was certain that impending doom in the shape of a massive tree was upon them. But each time Hilda managed to maneuver them around, over and under branches and bushes.

Then they shot out of the forest and over an immense grassland that lay around a lake. The brooms slowed down. "Mirror Lake," Hilda said, pointing at the vast silvery expanse in front of them.

"We are still alive," William said.

"Of course. Grump. Well, if you can't take serious flying..."

Screaming with laughter Hilda's broom shot up into the air while William's slowed down to nothing and landed him on his feet.

"Jeebus," he said as he picked up the broom.

Hilda was pulling her broom into a looping and she was enjoying it. Her laughter reached all the way down, to where her guest was. The wind hit her face, her hair waved behind her and tugged at her head. Pressure from the G-forces she worked up was pulling at her as she pushed her broom to the limit. Then she toppled backwards, into the downward part of the looping, her speed increasing to something insane. She loved what she was doing and only at the last moment she yanked the broom up so it would not land her six feet deep into the grass.

William saw her go and was scared and awed at the same time by the impressive aerial stunt that she pulled off.

The wicked witch landed her broom next to William and jumped off. Her face was radiating, she was breathing heavily, her eyes had the blue sparkling pentacle in them again. "This was so good... I needed this..."

"You're a flippin' breakneck stunt-pilot, that's what you are," William said, relieved that she was on the ground again, but also deeply impressed with the witch. "Damn, you are good." He simply dropped the broom and pulled her into a hug, rocking her.

Spontaneously Hilda threw her arms around him and laughed, as the thrill of the looping and the speed were slowly leveling out in her body.

After a while, William carrying both brooms in one hand and the other around Hilda, they walked to Mirror Lake. Again, Hilda was leaning into him, her head against his shoulder and an arm around his waist. She was babbling over all kinds of things she had done on a broom, flying artistry, daredevil acts, stupid things and also about the time when she was still learning and falling.

"William, I would really like to teach you how to fly a broom," she said, "we could have so much fun together!" She looked up at him, her face still shining, the blue sparkle in her eyes again.

"I'd really like that too, Hilda." He meant it.

The witch lay her head against his shoulder again as she nodded.

The grassland ended. The large silver area started. Its surface was flat as a newly ironed sheet and reflected everything. It genuinely was Mirror Lake.

They stood at the shiny lake and looked out over it.

"This is brilliant," said William, his brain having difficulty coping with the view his eyes delivered.

Slowly, as if she was afraid to hurt him, Hilda crawled away from under his arm, bent down and scooped up some of the water. It lay in her hand as flat and solid as mercury. "Look, it is really like this, a mirror, every little bit." As she spoke, she elbowed her way under his arm again and raised her hand so he had a good view.

"And that is real water?"

"Uhuh, nothing more, nothing less, it's always been like this and nobody knows why. Isn't that shiny?" Hilda dropped the water on the ground and wiped her hand on her dress.

"And this is a regular part of the rounds?"

She grinned. "Not really. I just wanted to show it to you. Because it's so awesome. I wish I could make something like that."

"Something tells me that you tried, right?" William grinned as she punched him.

"Don't ask, okay? Just don't ask. Or you'll never fly again!" She dove downwards again, scooped up more water and flung that at William, after which the witch screamed for laughter and ran off as fast as she could. She had the benefit of having experience with running in a dress.

It was also something that hindered William dearly, as he was in his wizard blue and silver again. He did his best, but he knew it was a lost race from the start as he saw how Hilda took off. Heavily panting he let himself fall onto the grass as once again his legs got caught in the long robe, and lay on his back, enjoying the feeling, the freedom and the fresh air.

"So... what's the problem?" Hilda appeared in his view, bending over and looking down at him. "Are you too old? Are you in a severely bad shape? Are you sleepy?"

"I got caught", said William, "in the fold of the clothes." He lifted his legs a bit to demonstrate the problem. "So I thought I'd lay down and wait for the problem to go away."

"Hmmm. I could accommodate that of course," said Hilda, biting a finger for a moment. "But I'm afraid that it is still a bit too cold for that." With a mischievous grin she sat down next to him, her knees pulled up under her chin, her arms wrapped around them. "It's nice here, isn't it?"

"It is. Very nice." William sat up also, and gazed over the silvery surface of the lake.

After a while that they sat in silence, Hilda put a hand on one of his. "You are doing it again."

"What am I doing?" William was unaware of anything he would do to justify that remark. He did look at her hand on his at the moment she did that, it was something he had not expected.

"Your magic, William." She looked at him, an expression on her face that he had never seen before. "Your confusing magic. You are doing it and I don't know how to counter it. I don't even want to counter it because it feels so good. And I hate myself for... for... damn, I don't even know what!"

Her face shifted to showing anger a bit, then came back to the puzzled and distant look as if she could not decide.

"Hey, hey, calm down, little witch," William said, his soft soothing and deep. He put his free hand on hers for a moment.

Quickly she drew her hand away from him, holding it with her free hand, looking at his eyes. "Stop this, William. Stop it or tell me what you are doing to me," she whispered.

A shimmer of understanding seeped through to William's brain. "I think that I am beginning to see, Hilda. I really do. You know I have no magic." He let his fingers flutter through the air. She nodded, her face serious now. "What I do have, and that has grown over the days, is very fond feelings towards you. Five years ago we met. For only, what was it, half an hour? But that time has been etched in my memory. I thought of you almost every day since that day we met in the coffee house. The day you left my world, sitting in the back of the old truck."

Hilda nodded slowly, she did not want to rush him. She wanted to hear every word he said. She reached out and took one of his hands in hers again.

"And now, three days ago, my truck ended up here, in your world. You opened the door, and despite the weird happening I recognised you immediately. There was no doubt in my head if I was dreaming. I just knew who you were. And now..." -he weaved his fingers through hers- "...now I am getting to know you more and more. And I like you more and more. I think that is what you are feeling, and that it is what you are mistaking for magic."

She thought about his words. Let them ring through her head, analysed them, looked at them from every side she could think of. "That is what you think," she said. Slowly she nodded. Then she let his hand slip, got up and walked to the waterfront There she stood, her back to him, staring out over the silver mirror that was made of water. In her head she heard again what he had told her, about liking her. About thinking about her. And he had not laughed when he'd said it, or even grinned. He had been serious and honest. And he had kept the small crystal ball.

"William, do you have the crystal ball with you?", she asked without turning around.

"Yes, I do. Do you need it?"

"No. Thank you. Just wanted to know." Her heart pounded harder and louder. He had the crystal ball with him even now. And yes, he had recognised her. Just, she had to admit to herself, as she had recognised him the instant she'd seen him. There was a small voice in her head, talking much louder than she wanted it to, and she couldn't make it shut up. It told her that she had thought of William very often also. Even as she tried to argue with the voice that that had only been because he had helped her return home, the voice was unrelenting: you thought of him. And it also reminded her how she had felt the second her eyes had perceived him, despite the haunting feelings about the challenge.

"Damn it," she mumbled. She hated it when she could not win, and now she had even lost from herself.

William gave her the time he thought she needed. Then he got to his feet and walked towards her, making sure that she saw him coming. She remained standing where she was, also when he stood behind her and he put his hands on her shoulders.

"Are you feeling okay, Hilda?"

He saw her nod. She lifted her right hand, and put it on his hand that rested on her left shoulder.

"You know," she said, "I could throw you in the water now."

"Yes, I know, and you know that you would end up there also, don't you?"

She nodded again, and William just knew that the blue sparkle was in her eyes.

They stood there, close to each other, the tension growing as the stand-off near a gunslingers corral, each waiting for the other to make the first move. It was already determined that they were going to get wet, it was only a matter of time.

Hilda had an enormous grin on her face and she was grateful for her hair hanging over her cheeks so William could not see it. She was slowly getting ready to grab him and pull him into the water by making herself fall backwards into it.

William was getting ready to throw his arms around Hilda and jump in, lifting her as he did so.

The book salesman won.

14. Splashes and books

They came up again, gasping for air, spluttering, splashing and laughing. Hilda's shriek still echoed in William's ears.

The water was not deep, they could sit up and have head and shoulders over the water.

"That was not fair!", Hilda grinned, trying to brush her long wet hair from her face. Despite William's serious attempts to help, it did not really work. "I wanted to throw you!"

"No problem," he said and got up, offering her a hand. This time she smiled and let him pull her to her feet. Then they waded through the water and climbed onto the grass again.

William watched the water in the lake. There was not a wave in it, it lay as still as if nothing had happened, as if no one had splashed round in.

"Eerie, isn't it?", Hilda said who also looked over the water.

"It is, in a way."

Hilda leaned against him, her back against his chest. She hoped he would put his arms around her. Her hopes were answered, and she felt good. She didn't exactly know why, but this just felt good.

William smiled as he felt Hilda relax in his arms.

Hilda however was a wicked witch. Even when she slowly turned in William's arms and looked at him. She knew that he knew she was going to make them land in the water again, but this time it was the witch's prerogative to decide how it was going to happen. And she had set her mind to making it spectacular, even if that meant a draining exercise.

William watched Hilda's face and noticed the blue sparkles. "Your eyes have blue sparkles."

"Yes."

Then she made the two of them lift off into the air, only half a yard. Slowly they drifted over the water, as if a bit of wind was blowing them there. Hilda held on to William's blue, silver and wet robe as she was not sure how long she could hold this without her wand. Then, at the last moment, she made them swing around and they crashed into the water, William going in first, with Hilda on top of him.

He had known it was going to happen, and still she had taken him by surprise.

Again they came up, sputtering and laughing.

"You witch!", William laughed, splashing water to Hilda.

"Ah, you noticed," the subject grinned, sitting in the water as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. She got up. "I'm getting onto the grass and dry my clothes. If you want your stuff dried, you'd better follow me."

William followed her. He was curious to find out how she was going to do that.

Hilda wiped her hands on the grass. As William had a look of wonder on his face, she explained: "The wand hardly ever appears with wet hands."

"Oh, I see. Is that a general thing or just something for you?"

"No, everyone I know has a problem with that. Ah, there you are." The silver wand glistened in her hand. "Now let me see..." She pointed the wand at William. "Arefacio."

William still was wet. "Are you sure that thing is waterproof?"

"Oh, shut up and suck an elf, will you?" Hilda did not like it when someone questioned her professional abilities. "Arefactum. Hah, see? I can do this. I just hate Latin." She used the spell on herself also and then they both were dry.

Hilda however was not satisfied yet, and did a "Comptum cincinnatus" on herself, so her hair was in order again. "Sorry about that," she mumbled to William, and then she made their brooms come up to them. "I think we'd best get to the mountains now, to get your precious things."

Before she could get on her broom, William put a hand on her arm. "Thank you. For this great moment. It was really great to laugh with you."

"Hmm, yeah, I guess." Hilda had overpowered the little voice in her head and was back to her own distancing self again. "Come, hop on, we have a fast flight ahead of us."

William noticed the change in her and did not comment on it. So they got on their brooms and took off, Hilda setting their course to the spot where he had arrived in this interesting and fascinating world.

They landed almost on top of the truck. Hilda was feeling quite tired, as she had not slept well that night. The looping and the lifting-stunt at the lake had taken some out of her also, and now the fast flight to the mountains. That had made for a not too fabulous landing. She was secretly glad that William had not noticed it. She sat and relaxed on a big chunk of rock as William was going through his stuff in the truck. She hoped his pile would not be extremely large, they still had to fly back.

All that duo-flying of the last days was quite a bigger strain on her than she cared to admit, and she'd be damned before she was going to make a mention about it to him.

William took his time to select the books he wanted to take back. Of course there was the special book in the silk scarf. He had not forgotten it when Hilda had offered to take him along, but clothes and a safe place had seemed more important then. He decided on eight books. From the back of his truck he watched Hilda sitting on the rock. What a special creature, he thought, and such an amazing woman. He sat on his truck for a while, so he could sort out his head a bit.

It suited Hilda fine, it gave her time for the same.

"Well, looks like I am done," he said when he walked up to Hilda, a modest stack of books under his arm.

The wicked witch was secretly relieved to find he only had the eight books with him. "Are you sure that is all you want to take with you?"

"Yes, that will be all. Those are my most precious ones."

"Okay then. Best to put them down before I make them portable," Hilda grinned. "I might forget myself and include you."

Grinning, William put down the books and stood at what he hoped was a safe distance. "I would be curious what it is like to ride along in your pocket, Hilda."

She frowned at him for a moment, then grinned and shrunk the books.

William picked up the dice that remained of them. "Amazing, simply amazing." He slipped the books in the secure pocket, next to the crystal ball. As Hilda did not make any signs towards leaving, he sat down next to her and looked at the barren rocky landscape, with the large boulders, the cracked mountain walls.

"Do you miss your world?", Hilda suddenly asked.

William needed a while to consider her question. Life here, and arriving at this place, had been so overwhelming and filled with surprises that he had not had the time to wonder about that. He then reached a decision. "No. Not really."

Hilda nodded. "I think I understand. But can you explain it to me anyway?"

"I will try. Is it okay if I hold your hand while I talk?" William held out his hand and felt good when she put her hand in it. "My world is not bad. Work, fun, friends and things like that. But it is a solo trip nonetheless. I'm always on my own, since the people I meet are not the people I can connect to . Don't get me wrong, they are nice and friendly and helpful, but they are never what I could call my close friends. Except perhaps Bert, but he is an oddball if ever there lived one. Well, you met him." William grinned. He also felt Hilda's fingers closing just a bit tighter around his hand for a moment. "And now I am here, in this crazy world of yours-"

"It's not crazy!", Hilda threw at him. "Well, not to me. To me, your world's crazy."

"In this crazy world of yours," William repeated, "where everything is new, fascinating. And where you are." This time it was his turn to lightly squeeze his fingers a bit more for a second, and Hilda looked at him. "I can't say that I miss my world. The coffee perhaps. The murky monasteries where I snoop around for books. But if I had to choose, I would gladly trade that for you. Your world, I mean."

Hilda kept her eyes on the man next to her, his words making her heart beat faster again, the feeling of his hand in hers sending a rush into her blood. She noticed all that and still was distrusting herself. "When I hear you talk, I'd almost get the impression that you like it here. Even with me around."

Without any hurry, William raised his other hand and gently knocked the top of Hilda's head.

"Hey, go suck an elf, will you? Why are you doing that?"

"Just testing how thick your skull is. You really don't get it, do you?"

"Get what?" Hilda wanted to throw up all her defenses, but she couldn't. The way he looked at her, the calmness she felt while he was sitting there holding her hand, all that made it impossible to get totally angry and turn witchy bitchy on him. The tone of her voice apparently made that clear to William, as he did not react immediately.

The wicked witch lifted his hand up and folded her other hand around it. She then rested her hands, holding his between them, on her knee. "I do get it," she said as she kept her eyes locked on her hands. "I really do, William, because I have... I have missed you."

The book salesman looked at her, but her face was hidden from his view by the hair hanging down. He waited for her to go on.

"Damn," the witch muttered, "why is it so hard to say this? Why is it so hard to tell you that I am glad you are here, that I feel happy about it, that I am happy you are living in my house. I'm not good at saying things like that, William, because I am scared." She turned her head, so she could look at him. "Do you understand that?"

He gently squeezed her hand. "I'd be lying if I said I understand you completely, but I can understand that you are scared. You don't have to explain now if you can't, or are afraid to do so."

Hilda held William's hand even tighter as he spoke.

"See, I am scared too. Perhaps for some of the same reasons that you are. I really like you a lot, Hilda, and I am deliberatly avoiding stronger words now. The way things are now, it looks as if I am going to be around for a while, and I am glad that I can be around with you near. Near... and also close. I don't have the faintest idea what I am getting myself into, what more things this world of yours has in store for me. Or, dare I say, for us? But if I have to take on this world, you are the best person for me to do it with."

"Uhuh," nodded Hilda. "Some of that goes for me as well." A shiver ran down her spine, while there was no wind. In fact, a nice bit of sunshine was warming them. Suddenly suffering a shyness she had no experience with, she let his hand slip away. "Maybe, uhm, we should go home again now. I mean, you have your books, and we have talked and all that, right?"

The wicked witch did not wait for his answer. She hopped off the rock and made the brooms lift and wait for their riders.

William nodded. They had talked enough for now. He mounted his broom and looked at Hilda who smiled at him for a split second.

"Ready?" As he nodded, she made them fly up and with a wide circle got their bristles pointing towards her house.

15. Cookery

They had been flying in silence since their departure. As they were passing over a large lake, much different in colour than Mirror Lake, as Hilda suddenly turned to William. "I don't know if this is an appropriate question, William, but have you had female... uhm... friends in your world?"

William nodded. "Yes. There were a few ladies. Quite a while ago. Years." As he thought of it, he could with a sincere heart say 'many years'. "And how about you, if you want to share?"

She grinned. "I can share that, without a problem. There were or are no ladies in my life whatsoever."

William stared at her, then he nearly fell off his broom for laughter.

Hilda grinned widely as she saw how much her remark had thrown William.

"You might be surprised, but I was not actually asking about ladies in your life, Hilda. More about male friends. Boyfriends. And such."

She grinned again. "I thought so, but your reaction was worth the twisted answer. I've had a man, yes. But that is really long ago. Was not a nice ending, so I really don't feel like talking about that. Not now. Maybe another time."

William accepted that, without a moment's thought. "Of course."

After another period of silent flight, the house with the red roof came into view, and Hilda made them land less gently as she usually did.

William picked up his broom and hers also, as they remained on the ground. "Hilda, are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine, just tired. Sorry about the crash." She touched his hand for a moment, smiled a tired smile and walked to the door that swung open.

William shook his head. "Stubborn woman."

"I heard that, and you'd better get used to it!", he heard her yell from inside.

He laughed loudly and with the brooms in hand he walked to the door. He noticed three arrows next to the door. He shook his head, and pulled them from the wood, then he walked inside.

The door remained open.

"Hello, house? We're inside now," William remarked.

"I know," was the door's response. "Is there something wrong with your hands?"

"Nothing wrong with them, but they are full with stuff."

"Oh. Good point." The door closed.

William put the brooms near the fireplace and put the arrows on the table. He looked around but could not see Hilda.

"Bedroom," said the house. "I assume you are looking for the witch."

"Yes, I am. Thank you."

The goldfish silently followed the exchange, wondering why the house was getting so familiar with this strange ordinary.

As William went up the stairs, one of the fish asked: "Why are you talking so much to him?"

The house said: "I think he's okay. He's polite at least."

The door to Hilda's bedroom was wide open. William hesitated to go in, but then he saw Hilda lying on the bed, face down, cloak still over her shoulders.

"Holy Bejeebus," he muttered. "Should have told me you're wearing yourself out, dumb witch."

He undid the button and chain from her cloak, put it on the chair, and then he carefully picked her up, to put her on the bed in a more normal way.

"Uh?", she mumbled. "I'm not dumb." Then she sunk away in sleep again.

William stood by her bed and watched her for a few minutes. The wicked witch remained asleep, which put his mind at peace. He wanted to stroke her hair, but did not. He did not want to do anything that would wake her up.

He'd let her sleep until dinner was ready. Dinner. That would mean another battle with the loony-bin she called her kitchen. William repaired to his guestroom where he first changed into the more normal clothes Hilda had gotten him. If those got messed up, it would not be too bad.

"So, are you winning?"

The sound of Hilda's voice made William turn around. He let go of the spoon that did not want to stop stirring and saw the witch standing in the door opening. She wore her pink nightgown with the skulls and the brooms. She also laughed loudly when she saw William's front side.

"I have my answer," she snickered, "but do go on, I can do with some entertainment."

"Good to see you. Did you get some rest?" William almost instinctively ducked as he noticed a bowl flying to the stove.

"Hey, that was good!" Hilda sounded genuinely impressed. "Really, that stupid thing knocks me in the head at least once a month."

William nodded. "I sometimes feel I get the hang of this." A cloth folded itself around his neck. "Sometimes, see, it's the things like this that get to me." He undid the cloth, threw it on the worktop and said: "And now you stay there!"

"It helps when you put a kettle on it," Hilda advised him.

"Really?"

Shlop said the cloth, and William peeled it from his neck again. This time he held it in his hand until he had located a kettle. Then he put the cloth on the worktop and placed the kettle on it. "Warned you enough." The cloth made a few more attempts to fight itself loose, but it gave up after a while.

"Thanks, Hilda," William said with a wink. "Now, you go in. I'm getting there." He grabbed a large piece of cloth and picked up a hot iron pot. He put that on the massive granite table. The soupbowl that he had put there already started moving over to the other side.

"Don't tell me it has a problem with soup," William muttered, as Hilda watched with baited breath how he was going to handle that one.

"It doesn't. It's just hot stuff it doesn't like," Hilda informed him, feeling that she should assist him somewhat as he was obviously doing his best in her rather selfsufficient kitchen.

"Oh, is that all," William said, making Hilda very curious what he was going to do. He walked to a large cabinet he had discovered in the kitchen. He'd seen it another spot a few times, but for now it remained where it was. "Right, then."

William opened the top door of the cabinet and grabbed a small sack. Hilda stared as he did so. She knew what it was, and she was absolutely baffled that he had found it. Without a word William walked back to the granite table and dumped the sack in the large soup bowl. The bowl immediately stopped its evasive action, as if it suddenly was a normal, unmagical one.

The sack was ice cold.

"Now stop, William. Tell me how you found that thing," Hilda said as she walked over to him. "Nobody knows it's there!"

He turned to her and smiled, his face smudged with green vegetable streaks, a trace of tomato and some flour. "I banged my finger when I wanted to bang the chicken meat. The damned cutting board jumped away, I guess it took things personal. So I asked the house if there was something around to cool down my finger."

"And the house told you." Hilda looked around the kitchen, her hands on her hips again. "Is that so, house? Are you making things easy on him?"

"How about less difficult?", the house tried.

"Hmmm. I think you and I need to have a proper talk one of these days. Witch to house, you know."

"Hardly," said the house, "it's been so long ago that I am surprised you remember that exists."

As this conversation was taking place, William took the cooling sack from the stunned soup bowl and ladled the soup from the hot pot in it. The weight of the soup then prevented a further retreat of the bowl, hence all things soup were settled.

"Don't you go smart on me, house, after all I am the one that painted you a few years ago, remember?" Hilda walked round in the kitchen, trying to outsmart the house.

"And I am the one who had to bother you for it for some century. Remember?"

William put the soup bowl on the stove to make sure it was keeping warm. Then he tried to open the door of the oven to see how the chicken was doing, but the door would not yield to his pulling. He yanked the door a bit harder, and was warned not to do that again by a deep metalic moan that seemed to come from inside the oven.

"Do you think it is such a fun thing to paint you in the same boring colours every few centuries?", Hilda argued. "Why didn't you go for purple? The door will open when the stove thinks it's done, William."

"Oh, thank you." Shaking his head for the umpteenth time he got up and stood leaning against the cupboard, following the verbal battle between the witch and the house.

"Purple really is not a colour for a house," said the house, "we have had this discussion before. It is also the only real discussion we've had in the last six or so centuries, so I am refraining from saying it is a meaningful one."

William decided it was time to cut up the salad. He had found real salad, that did not move, talk or fly, and he was very excited about that. He picked it up, rinsed it in a bucket that always seemed to contain clean water and shook the water off it. Then he carefully approached the cutting board, the same one that had jumped away from him before.

"I'm going to use a knife, okay, but it's nothing personal. I'm the cook, you're the cutting board. It's as simple as that." The board remained where it was, as William looked for a proper knife. There were many knives. But not the one he had in mind.

"Next time, house, you are going to be purple in all colours of the rainbow," Hilda stated, proving that she had not slept enough, "and not matter what you say or do is going to change my mind. Got that? I am the witch and you are the house. It's as simple as that."

"Oh. Really. And do you already have an idea where you are going to sleep then? And where you will store your clothes?", the house threatened her, "because if you paint me purple, you've slept the longest time of your life under my roof."

"We'll see about that," spat Hilda.

"I need a salad-cutting knife," William said calmly, as not to upset anyone. Or anything. Something whizzed past his head. It touched his ear. It ended up in a wooden beam in the wall. It was a knife for cutting salad.

William closed his eyes, swallowed hard and breathed in and out a few times. He watched. The knife was still there. Carefully he examined his ear. It was still there, and there was no blood coming from it. "Holy Bejeebus, a knife-throwing house."

"Kitchen," said the house.

"Oh. Right." William reached out and was relieved the knife did not give him a hard time while he pulled it from the wooden beam. Also the cutting board cooperated, so after not very long the salad was cut up and in a bowl of its own. A bowl that had no visible problem with being filled.

During that time, Hilda and the house had taken their discussion into the living room and the stove door was banging wildly, making a racket that would have woken the dead.

"Alright, alright," said William who raced to the stove with a couple of rags to hold the cast iron plate with the chicken. His intentions were noble, but the door kept banging open and shut, making it impossible for him to get to the chicken. The book salesman was getting very fed up with this kitchen. He took one of the rags and slapped that agains the noisy door, really hard. "And now you cut it out, or you're going to be replaced by a campfire!"

It was not clear if the door had gotten tired of the banging at that moment, or if William's approach paid off, but the door opened and remained open. As William reached inside, the fire retreated so he would not burn his hands, and the chicken was out of the oven.

From there on it was a matter of cutting up the chicken into handy pieces, which was quickly done by a big cleaver that took honour in its trade. William stood by and watched as the sharp metal object went crazy for a while, delivering the chicken in chunks that McDonalds could only dream about.

The now tame soup bowl kept calm as William carried it to the living room and put it on the table. He saw Hilda sitting in her chair already, a disappointed look on her face. "What's wrong, Hilda?", he asked.

"Hmmf. Nothing."

"Really... you could have fooled me..."

"Argh, stupid house, that's all. Next time we'll paint it red, white and black." She frowned as she looked at William. "Now, honestly, those are not colours for a house, are they?"

"Don't ask me, honey, I'm just visiting," William bailed out and retreated to the kitchen for the rest of the food.

"Coward!", Hilda spat after him, but as he entered the kitchen he could hear her laugh, and a grin made itself comfortable on his face.

16. Low down couch

Dinner was done, the dishes had done themselves, which was a very convenient trait of the kitchen, and Hilda had watched how William had lit up the fireplace with some magical pieces of wood he had in his bag in his room.

William always had a box of matches with him, as these things came in handy in many ways. Even to light the fireplace in the house of a witch.

Lacking something more comfortable, they had put their dining-table chairs near the fire, with a large thick blanket over it, which was William's idea. Hilda had stared at what he was doing as he set the make-believe couch up, but as it was done she was surprised at how it looked.

"Is this how you spend evenings in your world?", she asked, "sitting on a chair with a blanket and looking at the fire?"

William grinned. "Not exactly. For one, I don't have a fireplace in the other world. I do have a television, but usually I am reading a book."

"Oh." Reading books was something she understood, but Hilda did ask about a television. It proved difficult for William to explain the concept, and when he started to compare it to a large crystal ball, she grinned loudly.

"Oh, come on William, first you tell me there are no magical people in your world, and now you insist that almost everyone has a magical ball in the house. You are not making much sense, dear man."

William nodded. "I was afraid of that. As I said, I am not a technical person. I just push buttons and hope things work."

"You are maybe not a technical person, but I think you are a nice person," Hilda said as she looked in his eyes. She did not turn red, she did not feel uncomfortable saying the words, and she surprised herself with that. "I have an idea," she then said, "come, get up for a moment."

Wondering what the witch had in mind, William got up. Hilda was busy moving their chairs apart and folding the large blanket a few times. She mumbled some Latin, repeating it in several versions until the spell took hold.

"Latin is not your strong point, it is?", William asked.

"No. I hate it," she told him. "But I got it this time. Now we can sit again." She proved it, by sitting down on the blanket that was hovering over the floor between the chairs. "It's much softer this way." Her face showed William that she was happy that she'd gotten this idea and that it worked. "Come, sit down next to me," she encouraged him, patting the space with her hand. "It's safe, really."

William shook his head, for a change. "You never cease to amaze me, Hilda," he said as he sat down. He was confident that this would hold, if she was able to keep him on a broom.

"That is good," she said as she took his arm and draped it over her shoulders. She sat very close to him. "I am not one for being predictable."

There was silence for a while, only interrupted by the cracking wood in the fireplace.

"Maybe there is something missing," Hilda frowned.

"And what might that be?" William was puzzled. This evening was going incredibly well, he thought.

"Oh! I know!" Hilda jumped up and went to fetch a few glasses. Unfortunately her magic had not yet fully recovered, so magicking up two glasses with wine was something she avoided, just to be safe. Another unfortunate thing was that she was a bit weary from the sleepless night and the busy day that had also gotten stacked full with emotions. As she went into the kitchen, her attention slipped away from the improvised couch, the blanket slipped from the chairs and went down to the floor, taking William with it.

Hilda returned with two glasses of wine, one watered down, one with wine of its original colour. "What are you doing on the floor?", she asked in wonder as she saw William sitting there.

"You went away, and the couch went with you," he remarked dryly, not making any attempt to get up.

"Oh..." Hilda blushed as she sat down on the ground with him. "Here. For you. Poured by hand."

The book salesman chuckled.

"Hey, no laughing at the resident witch, okay? I am not used to this, I told you that."

William put a finger over her lips. "Sssst. No more babbling about that, Hilda. Everything's fine. Very fine even. I count myself incredibly lucky to be here with you. And I really think you look cute in that nightgown."

Slowly Hilda raised a hand and took his finger. Just as slowly she stuck it in her mouth and held it between her teeth. She stared at him and he was entirely in the dark about what was happening or if he should do something. He did not dare to pull his finger back; Hilda's teeth were amazingly sharp. William felt how she flicked her tongue against his fingertip, only once. Then she let go of his finger.

"I could have bitten it off," she said.

"Yes. But you didn't. Why did you do that, anyway? Is it some magical practice?"

She shook her head, her hair flowing around her. "I was just curious what you taste like."

"You what?"

"I wanted to taste you. It is amazing how much you can learn from a person when you taste them. Here." She put her glass down and before William knew what was happening, she had stuck her finger in his mouth. "Well? Isn't that something?"

William took her hand and pulled her finger from his mouth. "It definitely is... different. I'm not sure if I get the deeper meaning of it, but it is interesting."

"Yeah, I know. I never got into that myself either. We all suspected that the witch who taught us that had a bit of an odd streak, or was a finger fetishist." The wicked witch picked up her glass of wine and sipped it, staring at the fire. "Aren't we silly to have the fire burning while it is not cold?"

"As far as I'm concerned, we can be silly all we want. Nobody's bothered by it, and I for one have always liked fireplaces. And burning it once in a while is good for the chimney too." William raised his glass and she touched it with hers, the crystal making a really nice sound.

The blue sparkle was in Hilda's eyes again. "You are a weird person, William Connoley. I really cannot figure you out. You always are different from what I expect. When I brought you to my house I was not sure if that was a good idea, although it was the only thing I could do. After all, now I know that I brought you here, to my world, even though I still don't know how I did that. I really was afraid that you'd get on my nerves within hours. And now you are here since more than two days and I still haven't changed you into something obnoxious. That is a miracle."

"Oh... and what would you change me into?", William asked as there was a pause.

She looked at him, her eyes large and shining. "See, you do it again. You ask the only thing that I would not have expected." She drank the last bit of wine from her glass.

"And now I am glad you are here, William. Really happy. It still scares me, because- well, just remember that it is so. I'll tell you when it's better, okay?"

"I am all fine with that," William said, who had already emptied his glass. "And I strongly believe that you should be in bed by now."

Hilda pouted. "I don't want to. It feels so good sitting here with you." To William's surprise she then put her hand against his cheek. "But you are right. I am really tired."

"Would you want me to put you in bed?"

Hilda considered that for a few moments. "Actually it is my turn now, to put you in bed. You did that for me this afternoon."

William sat on his knees and held out his arms. "Come here. We'll pretend that doesn't count as you had flung yourself on the bed already."

Hilda giggled. The wine, watered down as it was, had gotten to her head quickly as she was so bushed. She got halfway up and let herself fall in William's arms. The man caught her easily and stood up, holding her against him as she wrapped her arms around his neck, her head lying against his shoulder. Her soft breath touched the skin of his neck.

He calmly walked up the stairs and as he reached the small upper hallway, the door to Hilda's bedroom opened. He put her on her bed and took the bunny-slippers off her feet which made her giggle again. Then he pulled the covers over her and sat on her bed. "Sleep well, pretty witch," he said.

She smiled at him, her face small, worn out and pale in the flurry of her long grey hair. "Thank you, William." She was holding one of his hands.

He bent over and kissed her lightly on her cheek. When he looked at her again, there was the amazing blue sparkle in her eyes again.

"You sleep well also, dear man," she said as he got up.

"I will."

Hilda was asleep before he had left the room and closed the door.

17. I'll make breakfast

A minimal amount of awareness came into Hilda's head. She softly moaned, happy, warm and at peace. She shifted slightly, moved her arm a bit and listened to soft breathing and a heartbeat. The shadow of smile visited her lips for a moment, then she drifted back to sleep again.

Early morninglight was coming in through the windows. William woke up with the acute awareness that something was different. It did not imply that it was a bad thing, but different nonetheless. Something was on his chest. And something, or rather someone was lying next to him. There was a distinct smell about also, one he had gotten to know very well. This triggered a process that started with confusion.

He opened his eyes partly and looked. The next step in the process was puzzlement. He clearly recalled putting Hilda in her own bed, and now she was lying in his. Or... William slowly looked around the room, only moving his head. Yes, it was the guestroom.

A slight movement from his left side pulled his full attention back to the witch that had somehow gotten into his bed. She moved her head a bit, there was a bit of a tremble in her legs. One of them lay over his, and her left arm was resting on his chest.

The final step in the process came. Acceptance and enjoying the feeling.

After a while of snoozing, performed by both of them, Hilda slowly woke up for real. She smiled to herself, knowing that she had spent so much time close to William, and he had not noticed her slipping into his bed. Nor that she had first made the bed large enough for two people. She knew he was awake. "Good morning," she whispered.

As she had expected, he was not prepared for her to be awake already. It startled him a bit.

"Hey, good morning you too," William said, his voice not yet in agreement with the being awake part. "How nice a way to wake up like this."

"Yes," Hilda agreed. "I had to get up in the night, and I must have mistaken the door. But since I was here already, I decided to stay here." She enjoyed his grinning and turned her face towards his. "You're nice and warm."

"Glad to be of service, miss witch," William said as he looked at her. Her black eyes were the first thing he saw of her, and the happy smile on her face was the very next thing. "So, are you going to make a habit of this?"

She pulled a face. "Puh, as if I am going to tell you upfront. I don't think so." And then the happy smile was there again. "You'll find out in time."

"I can live with that," William said, pulling her closer to him for a moment.

"You are stronger than you look," the wicked witch commented, as she felt the pressure of his arm against her spine and ribs.

"I can say that of you also," William replied. "I have seen what you can do and endure, on that wicked broom of yours. I'm glad I did not have to ride shotgun yesterday, when you pulled that broom in the loop."

"Uhm... right... can you use words that make sense? You ride brooms or wagons, or horses or mules. What's a shotgun anyway? Oh, know what: don't even bother. It's far too early for that." She pushed herself up into a sitting position and studied William's face for a while, as he lay looking at her in return. Slowly, making sure he was fully aware what she was doing, she reached out and traced his face with a finger. She sensed his relaxed mood, his feeling good. She also sensed something deep down inside him, something she did not want to know about yet, so she withdrew quickly from that and focussed on the simple joy of touching his face.

William let her do what she did. The soft, light touch of her finger felt very nice; somehow it made him feel... special. Yes, that was the word.

After completing a second round over his face, during which he had closed his eyes, Hilda slowly let her finger slip away from William's cheek. "I'm going to make breakfast, William."

He opened one eye and watched her. "Need help with that?"

"No. But you can help eating it." Hilda got up, but with one knee still on the side of the bed, she stopped the getting up. She leaned over and lightly touched William's cheek with her lips.. Then, without a word, she left the room.

Hilda darted into her own room and quickly put on the red housecoat that reached down to her ankles. Then she stumbled down the stairs and headed into the dangerzone that was her kitchen.

As William came down also, he had given her some time alone, there was already a large pot of tea on the table. The cup with the goldfish was there; from it two faces stared at him as he approached the table and poured the tea.

"Do you like eggs?", Hilda yelled from the kitchen. The yelling was necessary as there were a lot of indeterminable sounds to overcome.

"I do, and what the hell are you doing in there? Do I have to come and rescue you?"

"No, everything is" -loud crash- "fine here. I just need to" -sound of a chicken being squeezed??- "get these eggs out."

William was debating with himself if he should have a peek into the kitchen, or if he should just trust things to be as she claimed they were. As a series of clashing sounds came from the kitchen, followed by "crappedy crap", he could not hold his curiosity.

Hilda had fired up the oven, to make some special bread. It was a recipe she had learnt from the same witch who had the thing with the fingers, but not everything that woman had been teaching was as silly as that. Some of the ingredients were happily popping and crackling behind the thick metal door.

There also was a particular kind of porridge she wanted to make. It was extremely good, once it was made, but the making itself usually was a problem as the porridge fought back once it reached a certain stage.

The eggs for the omelet she had in mind were the least of her problems. She simply magicked up a chicken and was ready to squeeze it a few times, making its eggs fall into a bowl. Before she got that far however, the halfway prepared porridge was trying to escape from its bowl. As a precaution Hilda had put a big lid on the bowl, but the porridge had started swaying back and forth so wildly that the bowl had started to move over the granite table and finally went over the edge, which accounted for the crash that William had heard.

The lid held, so Hilda did not worry about the bowl. It would scurry around the kitchen floor for a while longer, until its contents had gotten into the next stage which would solidify it and make it immobile. At least, that was the plan. As that part was out of her hands, she started to squeeze the magical chicken, dropping the eggs in the bowl. The chicken was not cooperative this morning... it had turned its eggs into stones, clanging into the bowl.

"Crappedy crap." That was something Hilda had not taken into account. And that was how the situation in the kitchen had come to be when William stood in the door opening, holding two cups of tea.

He frowned as he saw the bowl jolting over the floor, and his eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he saw the witch holding a chicken over a bowl with stones. And during all that, the continuous popping and banging of the bread being baked came out of the oven.

"I don't mean to be distrusting, but are you sure things are fine?"

"Yes, except for the eggs everything is going according to schedule. But it would be best" -she shook the chicken a few times, to convince it that proper eggs would be a really good idea now- "if you take the tea back inside. I'm a bit preoccupied now, as you may see. But really nice of you to think of some for me." She cast a quick smile at him, then addressed the chicken, promising it a very unpleasant end in a hot broth if it would remain so bloody stubborn.

William, his mouth slightly opened in stunned awe, saw six eggs fall out of the chicken. Onto the stones in the bowl. His mouth closed. His head shook a few times. Then he turned and walked away, back to the table. Perhaps the house had some new things to report.

Hilda had seen William leave. "Now see what you did," she scolded the chicken. "Now he thinks I'm an idiot in the kitchen." She grabbed her wand and threatened the animal. "One more of those tricks, and you'll be replaced."

The chicken looked at her with an air of invincibility and then disappeared from her hand.

Hilda looked at the eggs that were all over the stones. "Well, at least that's easy." A snip of the fingers later, the drippy matter of the eggs floated over the bowl, and she picked out the stones. Then the eggs fell back in, leaving her to pick out the shell. As she was working on that, she was humming a tune and thought how nice it was to be a real old fashioned cook. Not like these youngsters that abused magic for everything.

She picked up the wand, tapped the bowl, and voila, omelet. "That is how we do this," she nodded to herself, very satisfied. Then she picked up the runaway bowl. The porridge had gotten tired of running around the kitchen, so the lid came off, she sprinkled some raisins and apple chips over it and that was done also.

"Right then." She hardened her housecoat so it could take some impact. She put on the mittens and then went to the oven. It was time to take out the bread. "William, if you hear something loud, don't worry!", she yelled out, to reassure him. It had the adverse effect.

With her foot she kicked open the door to the oven and quickly reached inside, grabbing the tray with the bread. The fire in the oven retreated, as per plan. Some of the liberated ingredients, understanding that they now were free to roam, shot out of the bread, bouncing off the ceiling and walls for a few seconds. They always did with this bread. They also sounded like firecrackers going off.

William appeared in the kitchen again as if he had been shot from a crossbow. "What are you-"

By that time, the noise was over. Hilda looked at him. "Something wrong?"

"Uhm, no apparently not. I thought, with the noise and all that..."

"I had told you there could be some noise, William. Everything's fine, really."

"I guess." He did however not leave his post until she was done cutting the bread and preparing two large plates with everything she had been making. It was better, he thought, to stay here just in case.

"Well, since you are here, you can help me carry this stuff," she said with a smile, pushing the plates into his hands.

18. Visits

At the table, William pointed at three arrows. "Your mail, right? Two from yesterday and one from this morning."

"Yesterday? I never saw those," Hilda frowned.

"Hardly surprising, considering the fact that you were nearly in shambles when we came back and on your bed only moments later.

Hilda nodded, chewing her food. She held up a hand and the three arrows jumped into it. Quickly she untied the small pieces of thread and looked at the message that were brought in by what William considered special delivery.

The first paper got crumpled into a ball and was then tossed into the fireplace. "The rat idiot now sends messages to everyone that the problem is solved. As if I care."

As the wicked witch was reading the second message, her jaw stopped chewing. The way she stared at the paper, her face going rather expressionless, worried William, but he felt it would be best to leave her alone with her thoughts for a while. If she wanted to share this with him, he'd hear it.

Hilda lifted her eyes from the paper, to meet William's. In silence she handed him the message. He instantly recognised the fancy calligraphy, it was without a doubt written by the same person who had sent the original challenge. It read: 'Grimhilda. This is the official second invitation to the challenge. Do not forget about it, you are bound by the magic in your blood to accept this. I am setting the moment for our encounter to the third new moon from now. This will give you more time to become nervous, and allows me more time to enjoy the thought of this. I do hope you bring your false wizard along. Then there are two to witness your downfall.'

"He sounds like quite an arrogant prick, if you ask me," William said, "but if he is only half as powerful as you say he is, I'm afraid he has every right to be like that." He read the note again. "This really sucks."

Hilda nodded. "Elves are better," she sighed, slumping back in her chair. Her happy feeling of earlier that morning had left as if it had been an exploding balloon, just the noise missing. "I really have to start working on that, William."

"We have to," he affirmed. "Babs said so."

She smiled dimly, admiring his attitude, even if there was nothing he could do. He had no magic, no power to go against someone the likes of Lamador. The things Babs had said still made no sense to her, and although she was prone to believe that witchy sister, there was always a chance Baba Yaga the fearsome was wrong.

Hilda tossed the paper in the fireplace and then looked at the third note. "Oh, right, now that's more like it."

William curiously looked at her, across the table.

Hilda was able to smile at him for real again. "This is a note from a friend. Long time since I saw her, and she asked if I could drop in for a chat today. Does have a bit of a drawback though... she's very much against being crowded, so if I go there, I have to go alone. Would you mind staying here for the morning?"

"Not at all," William said. "You go make the rounds and see your friend, I have plenty of books here to keep me occupied."

Hilda felt relieved, and at the same time still burdened. Making the rounds with William was so much fun, he held himself so well on a broom already. But the visit to her friend would take her too far away from home to drop him off first. And would he really be able to stay fine in this house all the time she was gone? Well, there was only one way to find out.

They finished eating and Hilda ran up the stairs to get changed. William had 'ordered' her to, he'd take care of the cleaning up. She was downstairs again very quickly. Changing, rushing and magic are a very happy combination.

"Now I'll try to come back as soon as I can," Hilda lectured William who had her broom at the ready for her, "and I'm going to miss you. If someone calls at the door, the house will let you know if it is safe to open the door or not. If nobody answers they'll know I'm out anyway, so that's easy." The witch was standing in front of him, her toes almost against his.

"Just you do what you have to, Hilda. No need to rush yourself for me, I'm happy here. More perhaps than I can tell or show you at this moment. So go and have your fun. And I'll make sure I'll stay near the crystal ball, okay? I dare say you can call me through that."

Hilda looked at him with big eyes. "You are smart!" She jumped up and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him wildly and shrieking in his ear for a short yet long enough moment. When she was on her feet again, she took the broom and said: "I'll check in when I am with my friend. It will be so great to do that, with you here." Her face was beaming bigtime and made William smile bigtime in return.

He pulled her against him for a moment. "Now off you fly, pretty witch. I'm going to watch you take off. And be careful out there, I want you back in one piece."

"Don't worry," Hilda said, basking in his hug even though the broomstick was poking against her ribs.

Then he walked her to the door, where she lingered for a moment, to look into his eyes once more. She felt a little bit more confident now, so she stepped outside and mounted her broom. After a short glance back at William, who was standing there, watching her, she kicked off and sped away.

William closed the door when he could not make out Hilda against the few clouds anymore. At that moment he remembered that he had never asked her to inflate his books!

"Holy Bejeebus," he called upon his favourite saint. "Don't tell me I am stuck with books on growing witch's herbs and the calming effect of certain mushrooms I have never heard of... If that is so, I'm going to need them!"

William slowly walked to the staircase and willed the books to be there. "Please let them be there, please please..." He reached the door to his room, pushed it open and saw his books lying on the table. A load worth several stone fell off his heart. "Smart little witch to think of that."

As he had all the time of the morning to himself, he first treated himself to a nice bath and then took his treasure of books down the stairs, together with his crystal ball.

Hilda did her round as she usually did, but Lamador's note kept gnawing at her. In a lesser degree it also bugged her that William was alone at her house, but she was sure that by now he would be safe there. He had survived two rounds in the kitchen and that was quite a feat for an ordinary.

The wicked witch was also surprised that the house had taken so well to him, and that was good. She just would like to know how he had done that, being unmagical.

As she had visited the castle, the king had not been out. He probably was busy with something. Hilda couldn't, for the life of her, think of anything in that direction, but strange things did happen, anyone knew that.

The broom swooped over the village. Everything was in order there. She took a moment to check on the mule they had rescued from the thieving clutches of the man who had stolen Gerdundula's veggies, and the animal was happy in its pasture, together with others of its kind.

Hilda then proceeded to pester the shepherds on the far south mountains, she had kind of neglected them. She had a number of really good moments there, taking the pressure of her mind for a while, but as she was flying further south to the house of her friend Calandra, she became silent again and worrying.

The south part of the kingdom was a magnificent area. The hills were much lower there, the trees more gentle and green and lush. There were not as many lakes as in the north where Hilda lived, but the area here was almost a labyrinth of meandering rivers and streams. The water came from the kingdom to the far south, from the high mountains where rain fell almost daily. In those mountains lived many witches and wizards that had a fulltime job keeping all that water out of their villages. Hilda was glad she lived in Walt's kingdom. Water was good for baths, not for work.

The view of the scenery relaxed Hilda. By the time she circled Calandra's house, she felt relatively at ease, and when she saw her friend come out and wave her down, she smiled.

Calandra was a typical very tall southerner. Short blond hair, pale skin, and very easy going on colours for her clothes. Mostly she'd wear green or brown pants, which Hilda considered very not feminine. Calandra's shirts were all white without a frizzle or frolic or anything joyous. Not even a necklace or so. But she did own loads of pretty thick coats, which was a prerogative for living this far south.

The two witches hugged and Calandra then all but dragged Hilda into her house.

"Hey, look at that! Cool puppies, Cal! You redecorated?" Hilda was amazed as she saw the stylish interior with red, white and black. "Really nice, suits you too."

"Well, you know," Calandra said with her thick southern accent, "sometimes a girl needs to have a change of colours, right?"

"Yeah, I know. I've been trying to convince my house about that, and guess what I get. Same old same old. Would you believe it threatened me to lock me out?!"

"You are kidding me? Oh, please, go sit down, sweetie, I'm gonna make us a good brew, 'right?"

Hilda nodded and sat down at the counter-like construction Calandra had put up between the living room and the kitchen instead of having a sensible wall there.

As Calandra was working in her kitchen, meaning that she stood watching how the kettle filled itself and put itself on a low fire, Hilda's mind drifted off again. Because of that, she missed the question Calandra fired at her. "Sorry, what?"

"Wake up, sleepyhead! I asked you what y'all had been doing!" The southern witch laughed loudly, making the walls shake and the windows rattle.

"Well, I've been busy with things, you know. Local rounds, playing catch with the king, bullying the local thieving guild. And lately I have a challenge pinned to my rear again."

"Yeah, I heard things of that nature," Calandra said as she put a mug the size of a modest soup bowl in front of Hilda. Calandra always liked to think big. "And how are you going to handle that?" The witch's face was serious and worried. Lamador's fame and aspirations were known everywhere.

"I don't know exactly," Hilda said. "Or better: I exactly don't know."

"Yeah, sucks, stuff like that. And the rest?", Calandra inquired.

"Rest? Isn't this bad enough?" Hilda stared at her friend in wonder.

Calandra sat down opposite Hilda. "Come on girl, don't give me that. I know I am far away down south, but I am connected remember?" She pointed at the insanely large crystal ball in her room. The thing was so large and heavy that only a slab of rock was strong enough to support it.

"Uhm?" Hilda really did not understand what Calandra was talking about.

Calandra frowned. "Are you telling me that they've been pinning fancy shit on my sleeve then?"

Hilda was now lost and had the face to prove it. "Who's said what? I don't have the foggiest idea what you mean, Calandra!"

Calandra was next in line to be lost. "Okay, so the line's been buzzing that there's nice tall handsome man living in your house. But obviously-"

"Who told you that?!", Hilda gave it away.

"Aha!! So it is true! And there you were, playing miss Innocent on me!" Calandra manifested another bout of shaking walls, and this time one of the windows did not survive.

"It's not... what you think." Hilda was not very pleased with all this.

"Oh, sure," Calandra snickered, "you find yourself a man for the first time in what is... I lost track of the number of centuries... and then it is not what everyone thinks."

"Everyone? How many know that William is living with me?", Hilda asked, a mild form of panic jumping at her throat.

"You'd better ask how many don't yet. If any." The remark of the southern witch did not make Hilda feel much better. "And it's William, is it? How interesting. Where did you find him? How long do you know him? And do you two have plans together?" Calandra leaned over to Hilda, eager to catch every little snip of information the grey-haired witch was willing to share.

"I am saying nothing. Nothing at all." Hilda folded her arms over her chest and pressed her lips together.

"Okay, girl, okay, I'm not complaining, you hear me? It's of course always the same problem, that if people don't know the facts, there are always some among the in-crowd that are filling in the details with what they -think- is going on. And then you might be worse off than spilling the word right now..."

"William is going to help me beat Lamador," Hilda allowed herself to reveal.

"Lamador? Don't get me wrong, Hilda, but you are not allowed to request magical help on a challenge..." Calandra shook her head, making her hair dance around her head.

Hilda wanted to be anywhere else. "That's all I am going to say."

"Okay, girl, that's fair. I heard you make a really neat couple on the brooms too. Blue suits him well, they say. Big wizard stuff, with the silver on the robes too." Calandra nodded appreciatively. "I could fall for a wizard." She winked at Hilda. "Or on one."

"Hmmpf," Hilda commented. "We did not fall, and he's not flying- oh crap."

"Now what was that, girl? He's not flying? But he wears the blue!"

"I gave that to him." Damn, shut up, Hilda, shut up!

"Oh. Right. Well, you know how safe your secrets are with me," Calandra said with a smile that would take half her head off had it gone just a bit wider.

"I was afraid of that," muttered the wicked witch, who felt a far cry from wicked at that moment.

Calandra seemed to understand that she should not pry more than she had already done. She had enough news to put out on the lines, first hand news. And perhaps she could improve its quality slightly before sending it round, but that was something for later. She changed the subject skillfully, babbling about her new interior and the problems that the wizards and witches further south had had with the water.

The atmosphere in the house of the southern witch improved rapidly, as Calandra maneuvered around the touchy subject to make Hilda feel better. After all, she knew, the wicked witch had quite a heavy load on her shoulders with the challenge from Lamador.

Hilda looked out a window and noticed that the sun had started its downwards trajectory already. "Cal, I have to go back home again now."

"Of course, Hilda, I understand. Quite a stiff flight you have ahead of you. Thanks for dropping by, hon, and don't be a stranger, okay?"

Hilda said goodbye, was forced to take a bag of real southern witch cookies along as Calandra had baked a few hundred too many in her new kitchen, and then finally she was on her way home again. For some reason she pushed her broom to go as fast as possible.

19. Good old house

"William, she is coming back."

"Oh, really? Good! Thank you, house." William pulled his feet under him and got up. He had been reading his books on the blanket that still was in front of the now extinguished fireplace.

He walked to the door and as he opened it, he saw Hilda slump down on the grassy patch. Not an elegant landing at all, he noticed. It was not far away from an emergency landing.

Hilda grabbed her broom and almost ran inside, quickly closing the door. Paranoia was creeping, but creeping very quickly. She leaned against the door, as if her weight would keep it closed much more securely.

"Hey, what's wrong?", William wondered about her strange way of coming in.

"They know," Hilda told him as if this would mean the world to him.

"Who knows, and what?" He looked a puzzle.

"The others. About us."

"I am sorry, dear witch, but you are talking in shorthand, so bear with me when I try to analyse this," William said. He put his hands on her shoulders, peeled her from the door and steered her to the large black table. "You are going to sit down, I'll fix you some tea and then-"

"No tea, I need a drink," Hilda surprised him.

"Oh dear." William had never heard her say that. She had not touched wine in the daylight before as long as he had been around, so this was worrying. "Okay, I'll go get-"

"That takes too long," she snapped, snipped her fingers and filled the table with glasses of wine. As she grabbed one (of the diluted ones of course), William held her hand, preventing her to drink it down. He knew he was taking a risk. A big risk.

"Maybe, before you drink yourself into a stupor, maybe there is something you want to tell me?" He spoke calm and kindly.

Hilda slapped his hand. "I need a drink, not a babysitter."

He let her drink and sat down next to her. He took one of the glasses that was not diluted. A quick count of the glasses told him that they both were in for at least five hangovers, if they were going to have a serious go at all that wine.

Without ceremony Hilda emptied her glass in one large gulp. This earnt her an astounded glance from William.

"Argh...", she then said. "Do you know you don't taste a thing when you drink wine like that?" She looked at the man sitting next to her, his brown eyes only paying attention to her. With a sigh she sat back in the chair, trying to relax. The alcohol she had just poured into herself started to work, calming her down.

"Do you want to have another one?", William asked.

"No! Do you want to get me drunk so you can take advantage of me?" She giggled.

"What do you think of me?" William asked, his face straight.

"Not sure, you know, but the idea is sort of exciting." The fast shot of alcohol was really getting to her. She stared at a second glass, picked it up to make sure it would not run away.

"Hilda, perhaps that glass is not a good idea," William tried, not sure if she needed some help to slow down her intake.

"Are you going to try and stop me?" Her wand appeared in her free hand. "See, I am not drunk yet. I can still do my magical trick." She looked at William and saw his worried face. A smile showed on her face and she put down both the glass and the wand. Then she turned round so she faced William and took both his hands in hers.

"I'm sorry, William, I am making a fool of myself, I know. But they all know about you already, and that scares me. Why do they all know about you while we are still getting to know each other?"

By now William had had enough time to add up the digits. "By they you mean your witch colleagues?"

She nodded. "From what Calandra told me, we are the big news all over the crystals." Then she quickly put a hand over her mouth. "I forgot to call you! I'm so sloppy... can you forgive me?"

The book salesman slowly took her hand from her mouth and rested it in his. "Don't worry, Hilda. I was sure you were busy with something. And you had inflated my books, so I had a good time reading."

The witch kept looking at him, but the expression on her face changed to one of incomprehensiveness. "Inflated your books? What do you mean? I had forgotten all about your books, William."

It was his turn to be surprised. "No, really, you haven't. See there, on the blanket? Books. My books. Big books."

Hilda resolutely shook her head. "Impossible. I have not done that, William."

"But," he then wondered with reason, "if you didn't... who did it then?"

Hilda frowned. "Did anyone come to the door while I was out?"

"No. I took a bath and then came down with the books to read. You can ask the house."

"It is true," the house confirmed. "He was in the bath. And he was in the room reading."

Hilda picked up her wand. "That's impossible, I tell you. Only someone with magic can undo the shrinking. They don't just pop back." She pointed her wand at one of the books. "Come here, you."

After a hesitation of a few seconds, the book calmly floated through the room, into Hilda's hand. William was surprised again. He found it hard to believe that she could actually hold the heavy book with one hand. But then, Hilda was magical.

The witch stared at the book, muttering things William could barely hear, let alone understand. Her hair fell around her face as she leaned towards the book, her wand hovering over it. She murmured a few spells, ordering the book to reveal the magical signature of the person who had undone the shrinking.

William stroked her head. "I'm going to fix a simple lunch," he said.

"Oh... right... No, let me," said Hilda. The wand flashed over the table. The wine disappeared and lunch was served. It was hardly a simple lunch. "Enjoy," she added as she kept working on the book that was not easily convinced to give up the secret.

William stared at the table in much the same manner as Hilda was staring at the book. He had thought he had gotten used to her use of magic, but the radical rapid replacement that happened in the blink of an eye put him back in his place. He was not sure if he would ever get used to it.

"Uhm... thank you," he said and started to eat. After a few minutes he peered under Hilda's hair. "Dear little witch, don't forget to eat, okay?"

"What? Oh. I guess you're right. The book isn't helping much..." She made it float back to the others, then got some food herself.

"Did you get anything from it?", William wondered.

"Yes, there was something. Very faint, hard to pick up. It also was very strange. I never encountered that before."

After a while, William asked: "Perhaps it was a powerful wizard or so that came flying over."

Hilda looked at him, a fork of food coming to a full stop halfway from the plate. She smiled. "See, that is so sweet about you. You really don't know about these things."

"Oh. Well, I just thought..." William blushed. He had been called many things in his life, but sweet was one of the things that was very very low on that list.

"Thank you for trying to help, William. You're really a wonderful friend. And.." She did not open up more; instead she quickly returned to finishing her lunch.

With the mystery of the books unsolved, they sat together and went over the pro's and cons of the challenge once more.

"So no outside help from magicians and the likes," William remembered.

"True. Unless they are invited, but who'd do that?"

He nodded. It made perfect sense. "And anyone can send a challenge to another."

"As long as both contestants are equal. So you could for instance challenge Johan the mirror-maker, or the man who sells fruit. Those are ordin- I mean, non magical people. Magical people challenge other magical people."

"Right, that makes sense also. And I don't mind if you call me an ordinary. If that is what I am."

Hilda then did something William would never have expected. She got up and pushed his arm to the side, after which she sat in his lap. "And that is why I am having a problem calling you that. You are not ordinary to me, William. You are very special."

Stumped about her action, he had put an arm around her without consciously noticing.

"Remember when I told you that no one can live with me, and that I can't have anyone around me in my house?"

"Oh, very clearly," he nodded.

"Well, it seems that I was wrong. Because I really like having you here. And if you would tell me that you were leaving, that would be terrible." She raised a hand and gently touched his cheek. "I don't know how you feel about it, William. But when I was gone this morning, I missed you."

He smiled. "You missed me so much that you forgot to contact me over the crystal ball."

"Oh, shush, you," she grinned, softly patting him on the cheek. "You just want to play with the crystal ball."

William then slipped both his arms around her and pulled her more tightly against him. "If you want to know how I feel about it, Hilda... I missed you too. It hurt me to see you fly off alone this morning, in my heart. Even though it was necessary."

The witch put her head on his shoulder, brushing her long hair back. "I'd rather have taken you along." After a few silent moments, she said: "This feels good." A flushing red travelled over her cheeks, but she was not going to take back her words, since they were the truth. "William?"

"Yes, Hilda?"

"Could you pretend I'm drunk?"

He didn't answer. Instead he scooped her up, got up from the chair and went up the stairs.

The house, very considerate, closed the bedroom door.

20. Wake-up call

It was evening and dark already when two pairs of feet slowly made their way down the stairs. The owners of the feet both carried a candle, to light their way.

Once in the living room, the witch in her long red housecoat quickly made a few additional candles burn. Then she turned to William, who was wearing the blue robe, and wrapped her arms around him. "Just tell me when you want to pretend I am drunk again. My love." She looked at him and smiled, her face relaxed, calm, beaming.

William looked at her face, feeling happy deep down in his heart that the worried tension had gone from her, if only temporary, and falling in love with that relaxed and happy face. He bent down the few inches that separated their faces and gently kissed her.

Hilda got all weak in the knees again from the sensation of their lips touching, the closeness of his skin, the scent of their lovemaking still on both of them.

"Don't worry, lovely woman, I'll remind you often enough," William said when they both had come up for air again.

Hilda slid her hands over his chest and around his neck. "I must be crazy. Falling in love with... you."

"An ordinary," he completed her sentence with a wink.

"Shush, you. I did explain to you that you are not ordinary to me, so please remember that. No teasing the resident witch, okay?"

He grinned. "Only a short while ago you did not seem to mind the teasing, resident witch."

"Argh, that was different!" She shook him by his shoulders as well as she could, her face showing mock despair. "Why did I get involved with you..."

Another kiss was more than enough answer for her. After finishing it, she said: "Are you hungry? I can get us something to eat."

"Would be nice, Hilda. Do you want me to help?"

"No. Just make yourself comfortable, I'll be fine. Witch, witch's kitchen, see the link?" She grinned and waited for him to let go of her. Then she slowly walked to the kitchen, from where she looked back at him and winked before disappearing from William's view.

The salesman looked around. "Right. Comfortable. I'd say something's missing for that in this room." He sat down at the table and looked for a piece of paper, but there was only the quill and the inkpot. "Hmmm..." William got up and looked in the fireplace. From there he picked one of the notes that Hilda had thrown in, flattened it and then began to make a crude drawing, using the quill.

"What are you doing?", Hilda asked as she arrived at the table carrying stuff that smelled incredible.

"I am trying to draw something," William said, "a couch. Something comfortable."

"Oh, nice, and what are you going to do with that?"

"Well, I could hang it on the wall, but that wouldn't be the proper thing to do. I am not sure if the resident witch would appreciate that," he grinned, wrapping an arm around her waist and giving her a hug like that.

Then Hilda sat down and as she started to eat, she made the paper slide over to her side of the table and looked at what William had been working on. "Looks nice. What would it be made of?"

William, to the best of his knowledge, explained the innards of a couch. The part with springs seemed to make things quite complicated, so he left those out after a few attempts and just explained how the seating experience would be.

"Leather? Would velvet work too?" Hilda looked at the drawing again.

"Yes, velvet would work."

Hilda looked at William, blue sparkles flashing in her eyes. William recognised the different pattern in them. They told of mischief. "Let me try something..." She whipped up her wand and pointed to a free space in the living room.

In the relative darkness of the room, William saw a beam of faint light jump from the tip of the wand. It reached the open space, balled up and seemed to explode. The result was a couch. Velvet. And purple.

"Something like that?"

"Goodness..." Plate in hand, William walked over to the couch and touched it. The soft purple velvet was smooth, inviting to be touched and sat on. The filling of the couch was perhaps a bit hard, but that, he knew, would only present a minor detail to Hilda.

Hilda joined him and watched him as he went around the couch and sat down.

"You magnificent witch," he said, "you are good. You are really good. Come, sit here."

She did. "Oh, yes. This is very nice. I'm glad you like it."

"I do. It was also amazing to see how you made it," William said, thinking of the faint light from the wand.

"Oh, thank you. Not that difficult when you know what you're going to do." Hilda sat back in the couch, rubbing her back against the soft, new piece of furniture.

After finishing their meal, they went back to bed. And eventually they slept.

The next morning. William had gotten up scarily early and wandered through the living room, while Hilda still lay sprawled over the bed, completely zonked out. He'd had wild and vivid dreams, woken up a few times and in the end had gone downstairs. He was afraid he'd wake up Hilda with his tossing and turning. "Perhaps the place is getting to me," he muttered, standing behind the purple couch, his hands resting on the fabric. "Really hope this witchcraft magic is not going to drive me mad." And he hoped he was wrong. After a short struggle with the kitchen he managed to get a glass of water and drinking that, he was feeling somewhat better and went back upstairs to join the witch.

"You went away," Hilda mumbled as she climbed over him, half asleep still. "You should not go away. You are mine. For keeps."

"But I came back," he whispered.

"Yeah," she nodded, her smile hidden under her hair. "Back."

Sleep came again, and this time it stayed with them for a few more hours.

"Are you awake?", Hilda whispered.

"I am," William whispered back.

"Good." The wicked witch kept whispering. "I want you to know that I was serious."

"About what?" He stroked her head that rested against his shoulder.

"About you being mine for keeps. I'm not letting you go away, William."

"In case you need to hear it from my mouth, sweet witch: I am not planning on leaving. Unless you come with me."

"Good. As long as we are in the clear about that." Hilda made herself a bit more comfortable on William and together they lay there for a few more minutes.

William then gently patted her behind. "Don't you have to go do the rounds?"

"You never listen, do you?", Hilda sighed, "what have I told you about predictability?"

"Oh. Right." And after a while, he added: "I think you are just too comfortable here and you don't want to get up."

"Oh, shush you, you know nothing." As he had to laugh about that comment, she slapped him on the arm: "Lie still, or you'll bump me off the bed!" And she started laughing too.

"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.

21. It's alive

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.

22. The village

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.

On the left side of the street were houses, all low. They had just the ground floor, but were stretched out along several rooms that lay along the street. The houses were all built in rough red brick, without exception. The windows in them were small, most of them without curtains, but all of them had shutters in a wide variety of colours. The chimneys blew out the smoke of the fires, and occasionally the smell of food that was prepared inside.

The street they walked on was no more than sand with slabs of stone here and there, to give the surface the appearance of being flat.

William hardly had time enough to take it all in and there weren't even people in the street to behold. Otherwise he would certainly have been overloaded with impressions. The street was picturesque and to him it was the way that old English villages in the late 1600s would have been.

They walked through the quiet street in silence, not disturbing its peace. The street ended in a left turn, as ahead of them was a low wall, made of almost black wood. The street they entered was comparatively lively. William saw at least a dozen people. Some were standing and chatting, some were walking to a destination only they knew.

Hilda walked in the exact middle of the street, William next to her. The brooms followed them. Their appearing in the street seemed to trigger a wave of mild disturbance among the people they saw. All eyes were drawn to them as by magic. How appropriate. They passed a few of them, who stepped back to give them all the space they might possibly need.

William had wondered a bit about Hilda's behaviour, it made her look as if she felt superior. Now, he understood, she was the village witch, and that made a difference. As they walked by the people, William looked at them from the corner of his eye. They looked well fed and healthy, and also clean. That was not exactly what he would expect from a village in the 1600s. He noticed that the men just stepped aside. They did not turn away, so there was no exaggerated sense of awe or fear, which made him feel better.

The silent couple walked on until they reached a group of children that had been playing with hoops and balls. Now they stood watching the witch and her mysterious companion, like the adults, but with far less reserve and more open curiosity.

"Hello," said a little girl holding a thing made of straw and rags that had to be her doll. She wore a skirt of thick black fabric and a shirt over it that had once been yellow. Most of the colour had faded and there were many spots on it. She had sturdy shoes on her feet. Her hair, light brown with strange dark streaks, hung down in two braids over her shoulders. The girl had a tanned, round face and brown eyes.

Hilda looked at the girl and grinned. "Hello little girl."

"Who is your friend?"

"He is a wizard. He is here for a visit."

"Can he fix my doll?" The girl held up the straw puppet.

"Uhm..." Hilda frowned. She had not prepared for something like this. The witch looked at William, her eyes sparkling blue again.

William stepped up to the girl and kneeled down in front of Hilda. He carefully took the puppet from the girls hand and held it up. He closed his eyes and hoped that Hilda would pick up his meaning. She was more than enough covered by him to do her magic without anyone noticing. Promptly the doll in his hands changed. It happened so fast and direct that it almost startled him, but he managed to limit his surprise to a small jolt in his arms. The straw was now covered by new fabric, giving the doll proper arms and legs again and a red dress.

To the people watching, it looked as if the change and the jolt were connected.

William handed the puppet back to the happy girl, who took the doll and quickly hid behind a larger boy, probably her brother.

From there, she said: "Thank you, wizard," treating Willliam and Hilda to a giant smile.

William nodded, a big smile on his face that was hidden from everyone's view. Then he looked at Hilda, who quickly winked at him. They walked on, the mumbling of people following them.

As they were out of earshot, Hilda whispered: "Damn, you handled that well! We're good together!"

"You're the one who's good, sweetheart," William agreed.

They reached the market square of the village, where a lively scene awaited them. Despite the late hour of the day, there was a lot of bartering, buying and selling going on. The people in the square were so engaged in their doing business that many of them did not even notice the witch and her faceless companion walk by.

At a certain point Hilda raised one hand just a tiny bit and she stood still.

William praised himself for paying such good attention that he caught her little gesture. They stopped walking almost simultaneously. He had no idea yet why they halted, but he was certain Hilda would clue him in soon. He was right.

"The boys with the cart... on the left," she slowly and calmly said.

He looked in the designated direction and saw five boys hanging around by a low cart on wooden wheels. The cart was still halfway filled with apples and what looked like vegetables. It was not clear if they belonged with the cart, or if the owner had walked off.

Then two of the boys, on some secret signal, walked over to a man who was selling fish while chatting with a couple of people, a man and a woman who both wore blue pants and ditto tunics. The two boys started chatting with the couple and the fish monger, diverting all attention to something on the fish cart. At the same time, the remaining trio of youths sauntered up to the apple cart and started filling their pockets and shirts with its contents.

"Let's have some fun," Hilda said, and the tone in her voice told William that the three and perhaps even all five boys were not going to forget this day easily. "Why don't you just walk over to the fish cart..."

William slowly walked to the fish cart and positioned himself in such a way that he could see the boys and the couple and also catch any cues from Hilda.

"Good William," she mumbled as she lifted an arm, hoping he would do the same. He did. Hilda prepared for dual action. She focussed and took a deep breath. She drew a lot of power from the memory of some great sex and then threw her magic.

At the fish cart two big fish jumped up and clung to the noses of the two boys playing distraction. The boys were quite amazed by this sudden vicious fish-attack and screamed as if they were being skinned alive. They tried to yank the fish from their face and screamed even louder as all they managed was to inflict more pain on themselves.

At the apple cart, two boys fell to the ground as each apple suddenly weighed more than seventy lbs, and the amount of apples they had stolen so far made it all too obvious that they were going nowhere.

The third boy had only stuffed his shirt with vegetables so far was spared the undignified downfall. He tried to run off. Hilda simply prevented that by shooting one of the brooms between his legs: the boy made a nose dive in the dirt of the market square and squealed like a pig, leaving some skin on the pebbles in the process. He was not the kind to give up that easily though, so he kicked at the broom and somehow managed to get upright again.

Hilda wished she had time to look at William, but this boy had to be dealt with first. Spraying magic with both hands, and slowly chanting spells, she walked up to the boy who had started to float. He was still kicking his feet around as if he wanted to run. As he saw the witch approach, he grabbed in his shirt and started throwing his loot at her. For the witch it was easy to make the vegetables float back up and run circles around the boy's head. The involuntarily airborne thief screamed obscenities at her while trying to hit away the food that was going around him, just out of his reach.

The action near the fruit cart had attracted a lot of attention, and Hilda decided it was time for a proper finale. Her hood had fallen off her head as she was looking up at the boy.

"You never learn, do you? That stubborn behaviour is very very sticky with you. Since you like that so much, why not let me add to that pleasure..."

A bucket materialised over the floundering boy and slowly tilted. Just before its contents was coming over the rim, Hilda stopped the bucket from moving and looked at William and his fish-bitten victims. What she saw made her almost lose her grip on the boy in the air.

William had waited for some support from Hilda, but had quickly noticed that she was very occupied with the threesome at the apple and veggie cart, so he had decided to take matters in his own hands. Literally. The two boys had staggered away from the fish cart, their fear turning into almost fullblown panic. They had stopped pulling at the fish by then, they just held on to the slippery smelly things.

The make-belief wizard had stepped up to the two boys as wizardly as he could and grabbed them by the collar of their shirts. With a deep voice he had whispered: "Hold still." The two stood as nailed to the ground. Wizard Connoley then prayed that his former boxing training had not gone to waste and that his muscles would hold. With a tremendous amount of willpower he lifted the two boys off the ground. Not far, but far enough to look impressive. The fact that he did not seem to touch them, the long sleeves of the robe falling far over his hands, added some more impact to the spectacle. A sudden surge of power came in him, Hilda's doing for certain, and he held the boys even higher.

Hilda the witch blinked a few times as she saw the two fish-faces hang from William's hands and grinned. She got a great idea. The bucket turned and its contents, a delicate mixture of honey and fish entrails, drooped all over the floating thief.

The boy quickly stopped his screaming. Each time he opened his mouth he was treated to more fishy parts.

Some of the bystanders raised their fists to the floating youth, promising Hilda that they would take care of him in a very specific way.

Hilda finished the show off by dropping the bucket on the boys head. Then she let him tumble over his two partners in crime, spreading the joy, the honey and the fish. After this feat she looked at William and made the two brooms shoot over to him. She walked towards the fish cart and maneuvered the brooms so that they stuck under the shirts of the boys, releasing their weight from William's arms that would by now hurt like crazy. Hilda was convinced of that.

William, who saw the brooms coming, held his head pointed at them, making it look as if he was the one that directed their movement. The cooperation of the witch and the book salesman was excellent.

As Hilda joined him, he slowly lowered his arms. Hilda made the brooms slowly rise at the same time, creating a magnificent dramatic effect that made many a person gasp for air.

Whispers and secretly pointing hands and fingers were all around them.

William let his arms hang down his sides, grateful that the weight was gone. His muscles had indeed taken a beating.

Hilda turned towards him, he turned to her at almost the same time. She nodded. He nodded also. She held out a hand, and he copied her movement. The two boys with the fish still on their noses dropped to the ground and the brooms flew to their owners and gently settled into the extended hands.

The owners of the apple cart stared at the two robed figures. "Thank you! Thank you for saving our merchandise!"

"Don't mention it," Hilda said, holding her head in a near regal way. "Just be careful with your backs when you pick up the apples."

William bit his tongue. He should not laugh.

The two boys who had acted as distractions were already in the hands of six very capable men. "Honourable witch, honourable wizard... What about these two? What about the fish?"

Hilda looked at William, the magnificent blue sparkles in her eyes, as if the witch was silently communicating with the wizard. Then she turned to the men. "The fish will rot away in time. They'll be fine then. Just..." She waved her hand in front of her nose. "You understand?"

William bit even harder.

A large crowd of people had gathered around them, keeping a respectful distance. Hilda walked ahead, William right behind her, and the crowd opened up a corridor through which they could leave. Stately they passed through the human gateway and walked away from the market place, turning into one of the more silentside-streets.

"Up up, and hold on," Hilda said and mounted her broom. William followed, and then they shot upwards. They flew low over the market square, people ducking as the brooms approached. Hilda cackled her laughter over the crowd and then she set course for home, pushing the brooms to an exhilarating speed, making sure the wind got hold of their clothes just enough to make the robes beat around their bodies.

23. Gurthreyn

They landed at the house.

"Ah. You are back," it aptly remarked.

"Yes, we are, and did we have fun!" Hilda hopped off her broom and almost pulled William off the other. She jumped up and hugged him wildly. "You were great there, sweet man! I am so proud of you!"

William held her close and twirled her round a few times until they both were dizzy. As he did so, he said: "I am proud of you, and grateful too. If you had not come to my rescue, I would have died, holding these guys up."

Hilda planted a big kiss on his lips. "You looked magical, William. Awesome." She let out a shriek and kicked back her legs, to express her excitement, holding back on the shriek so the man that held her would not be completely deaf for hours.

After another bear-hug, William put Hilda on her feet again.

"Come, let's go inside. This afternoon calls for a glass of wine!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him along, the brooms following them as usual. As they entered the door that already had opened for them, William took the by now two arrows that were sticking from the wood.

"Thank you, that is a relief," said the house.

"You're welc-" said William. That was all he had time for, as Hilda kept pulling at his arm.

"You know," said Hilda, "I am going to do this the old fashioned way. Such a great time calls for something special."

William wondered what she called the old fashioned way, so he put the two arrows on the table and followed her to the kitchen, to see what she was going to do.

Hilda went to the worktop and stared at the cupboards.

"Right... glasses..." She opened a door. No glasses. She snipped her fingers and there were two glasses on the worktop.

"Now... where did I put the wine..." A peek behind another door yielded no wine. Snip. "Ah, of course you were there," she said to the bottle in her hand. She then simply blew the cork away and filled both glasses. One with just wine and one for herself.

William quickly retreated and sat down on the couch, looking very surprised as Hilda came in with the glasses of wine.

"Here you are, sweet man, a glass of wine, all done by hand." She sat down next to him. "Did you have fun also?"

"Oh, definitely. I had a lot of fun. It was stunning to see you in action and how you can handle your magic." He kissed her cheek. "Thank you again for coming to my rescue."

"That goes without saying, but I would not decline another kiss," she said, the blue sparkles in her eyes again.

William was more than willing to acquiesce.

Hilda then put her hand on Williams arm. "I really was afraid that your arms would break, William, the way you held up these boys. But it looked great."

"I could not let you do all the work alone, could I? I loved the thing with the fish that you did on them." He laughed at the memory. "I wonder if the fish monger will make them pay for those fish."

"I don't know. These people always settle things like that among themselves. Not my business." Hilda sipped from her wine. "Hmmm." Her wand popped up and a moment later there was a very convenient table in front of the couch. She put her glass on it. "That's better."

William also put his glass on the table, which for Hilda was the green light to sit in his lap.

"You really find me very convenient to sit on, don't you?"

She nodded. "Yes. And to lie on also."

He laughed.

"What! No laughing at the resident witch, do you hear me? There is a severe penalty for that!"

"And what might that be?", William was curious to find out.

"Hmm. Kissing me would be a good start."

Gladly he took that part of the punishment.

"Ooohhh...", sighed the witch after a while, "I could get used to this."

William chuckled. "Maybe we should light some candles, otherwise I might be kissing the wrong parts of you." As he had expected, there were many blue sparkles in Hilda's eyes.

"I may keep you to that sometime," she grinned. Lazily she waved around, and light spread through the already darkening room as more and more candles lit themselves. She slipped off his lap and reached for her wine. "Now to the real world for a moment. Did I see that you took in some arrows?"

"You saw that, indeed, which surprises me," William acknowledged.

"Oh, shush, you..." With her wine in hand Hilda walked to the table and started to unfold the first message. "Oh, this is nice. I think. It is for us."

"For us??" William got up and went to see what she meant.

"Yes. Not sure if this is a good thing, but..." She handed him the paper. It was a note from Calandra, wishing Hilda and William all the luck together. As William read the first note, Hilda unfolded the second one and tossed the arrows in the basket.

"Oh... crap..." She dropped the paper on the table. "If ever there was crap, then this is it. I am now officially finished." She let herself fall onto the closest chair and drank down her remaining wine. "And I need another one..."

William frowned. "Go easy on yourself, sweetheart, what's the big problem?"

Hilda first downed the second glass of diluted wine, then she pointed at the paper. "That is the problem. See for yourself."

The note read: Grimhilda. I have decided on the location for our small encounter to take place. It will be held at the labyrinth of Gurthreyn. Do bring your false wizard with you. I will even allow him to help you. But know that if he does, he will suffer the same fate as you will.

"Does not look inviting," William said, putting the paper down on the table. "Hey, whoa, stop right there!" He saw that Hilda had conjured up a third glass of wine already and was aiming for her mouth with that. "I don't think that is the answer, Hilda."

The wicked witch looked at him as he kneeled down and took her free hand. "You don't know Lamador, William. And you don't know the labyrinth of Gurthreyn. That place is evil. Going there is like voluntarily stepping into your grave after digging it yourself. Now let me drink. I don't want to remember this note."

"If you are really set on drinking yourself silly, why do you take the diluted detour? If you want to have a painful head in the morning, then take this." He put his own glass in front of her. "And let me fill it up for you."

Hilda looked at the glass in obvious horror.

William took her face in his hands. "Hilda, listen. Getting scared is exactly what he wants us to do. And I am not going to let anyone do that to you, witch of mine, even if I have to learn magic myself, although I wouldn't know where to apply for a crash course."

Hilda put her hands over his. "You really would, wouldn't you?"

"Yes. That and more, if need be. Remember that I said I love you? That does not just mean fun and kissing and sex. That goes all the way for me. Because you matter."

"You are so sweet, William, but also so innocent about this world. You have no idea what you are up against," Hilda said, slowly shaking her head a bit.

"A good thing is that Lamador doesn't know either." William bent forward, touching foreheads for a moment. "Listen, woman. I am not going to sit by and watch you fall to pieces. Nor will I let you get yourself killed in a challenge with some oversized ego. No, listen," he added as Hilda tried to say something. He put a thumb over her lips for a moment, risking being bitten. "I am very much aware that he is powerful and he could wipe both of us away with a sneeze or so, but that is something we are not going to worry about now. That is something he will try on the third new moon from now, he wrote that himself. Until then we have time to prepare ourselves as much as we can."

There were no sparkles in Hilda's eyes. After a while she slowly nodded. "Okay. We'll try it."

"We'll do it," William corrected her. "Now you go and put these glasses of wine into the kitchen. And then we're going to bed and tomorrow..." He got up, taking her hands, and pulled her to her feet.

Hilda looked at him. "Do you know that you are doing it all wrong? I am the wicked witch. I should be the one with the big mouth and the ideas and heroic attitude."

"Perhaps," he agreed, "but there seem to be times that even wicked witches are a bit overwhelmed by events, and can do with some mental support."

Her smile told him that she was giving in. For now. "Very well... I do maintain that you're an idiot, William. But you're my idiot. And I hope that makes a difference." She picked up the glasses and walked towards the kitchen. Just before reaching that, she frowned and turned around. "Suck an elf... how come I take the glasses when you tell me to?"

"Must be my dazzling charm," William grinned.

"Is that so..." Hilda threw the glasses into the kitchen, one by one. There was no magic that caught them, the sound of shattering crystal was evident. "Must be my impulsive character." The witch walked to the staircase. "I'm going to lie in bed and won't go to sleep until you wrap me in your arms. I am telling you this, because that is how it should be. The witch is in, remember that." Satisfied that she had made a point, she marched up the stairs.

William grinned and put a hand on his special book for a moment, to find out if it would hit him again. It did not spark, it only wiggled a bit. As that was unusual, he picked it up. Beneath it lay the wand that had been Gerdundula's. Not in two pieces, but whole. He raised an eyebrow. "I thought she said..." With a shrug he picked up the red and white wand and put it on the book. It was too late for deep thoughts. He went around the room, blowing out the candles and then headed up to the bedroom, where Hilda was already sound asleep. He wrapped her in his arms anyway.

24. Did I wand this?

"Hey..." Hilda was awake. She also was tapping William on the arm.

"Hey what?", the victim asked without opening his eyes.

"Hey you. Wake up."

"Any good reason for that?" William felt drained for no reason at all. His attempt to put an arm around Hilda was easily warded off by the wicked witch.

"Yes, because I tell you to."

"Okay. I am awake. Speak." He held his eyes closed.

"Not like that, you won't."

A few moments later a small trickle of very cold water ran down William's neck. It took him the better of two seconds to open his eyes and jump out of the bed.

"Good. Now I know that is effective," Hilda said with a wicked grin. She held up what she had in her hand. It was the red wand with the white spirals over it. "I have a simple question, William. Who did this?"

"I really don't know, Hilda. I found it like that under my book before I came to bed and wondered about it as well. You had said it couldn't be done, so it stumped me also." The salesman was still rubbing his neck, the water had been icy cold.

"This wand woke me up, William, as it is screaming for an owner. I do want to get to the bottom of who put it together again, but for now I want to shut it up as it is driving me crazy. So I want you to adopt it." She held out the wand to William, who automatically accepted it, foggy-headed as he still was.

"Uhm, adopt it? It is a piece of wood, how can I adopt it?"

Hilda walked up to William and with one finger (and a bit of magic) she pushed him on the bed. She sat down on him, her legs on each side of his chest, and looked in his eyes. "This, my good man, is not 'a piece of wood'. It was, once. It now is a wand. It has magic. Okay? And I will help you in adopting it, but you will have to want it. So tell me, because I am getting very edgy about this and you do not want to have me around when I'm edgy. So say the word."

It was clear that she was in a PMS mood.

"Yes. I'd like to adopt it."

"Do you want this wand?"

"Yes. I want the wand."

"You'll have to keep it with you for the rest of your life. Protect it, so it will protect you." Hilda looked very serious now, there was not an inch of her that was relaxed, William sensed. This was, as one might call it, serious shit.

"I will do that. I'll protect it. With my life. As I would do for you."

"Hold up your hands..." Hilda's voice, so strong and direct before, was now a whisper. As William held up his hands, she slowly put the wand in his right hand, closed it around the red stick and folded his left hand around that. She then held both his hands in hers again as she slowly murmured things in a language that William had never heard. It sounded gently, dreamy, enticing and pleading at the same time.

The wand began to tremble. William knew that it was the wand itself, as he could not move his hands, Hilda's magic held them together, unmoving. A warmth spread through his palms, and Hilda knew it. This was a good sign, she knew, but she could not speak. It would break Williams attention, his concentration, and that was crucial at this point. The screaming of the wand faded from her awareness. A wand did not scream with sound for the ears. It would scream directly to the centre of being, from where magic came.

She relaxed a little, releasing the pressure on Williams ribs also. He would not notice, as his face, his entire Self was taken over by the power of the red wand with its white spiraling lines. It was merging with him, she knew. Everyone had a magical centre, and the wand was now engraving its signature into William's. She just had to hold him, guide him and the wand to merge, to be forged together.

The process was slow, but that was good, Hilda thought. The longer it took, the deeper the integration would be. Her magic would allow her to hold William like this for hours without becoming tired or cramped.

Time passed, and finally Hilda sensed that the more and more subduing sounds from the wand were fading, leaving nothing in her mind except herself, and the light sensation of William's presence. She would be tied to William in this way forever also, since she was the catalyst for the merging. She was irrevocably intertwined, and it felt good.

William would feel awful the rest of the day. She recalled her own merging with the wand she had, and how bad it had been at first, being introduced to that new and at first so strange power. And perhaps it would be even worse for him, a thought flashed through her mind, as he was not a magical person. Hilda had heard of ordinaries being bound to a wand before, and she had never heard of problems. It would be a waste of the power of the wand, but at least the local witches would have peace. A forging like this was only done if there was no other way to silence the wand than to destroy it, and that was the worst thing a witch could do. But that too had happened.

William was finished and empty in a way he had never been. He was barely noticing Hilda sitting on him, holding his hands. His mind was a whirlpool of stars, flashing lights, a strange power and vast expanses of nothingness.

Hilda felt him go limp, as his hands started to sag down on his chest, the wand still in them. Gently as she could, she lay his hands down. She wiped the cold sweat from his brow and sat down next to him. She pulled the cover over the man she loved, making sure his hands clutching the wand were free.

"Sleep, sweet man," she whispered as she kissed his forehead. "You've worked hard, even if you don't know it." Slowly she got off the bed, her eyes not leaving him. The wicked witch closed her eyes and located the feeling that was William and his wand. It was there, faint but available. She smiled. She'd know when he would wake up. On an impulse she took off her lemon-yellow nightgown with the golden stars, folded it up and put it under William's head. It might do nothing, but it made her feel good to know that something of her was close to him while she was taking care of business.

The witch returned from her round over the area. On purpose she had not done a shortcut, she also had not left out something. Things were well with William. She knew. It was a new experience for her, she had never been in a binding herself, only witnessed several. Often she had wondered what it would be like, what it would feel like, and now she had first-hand experience.

As she came in, she frowned as there was no new mail for her. But that also meant no oppressive notes from Lamador. Labrador, she grinned, recalling how William had called the man at first.

Her broom took its position by itself, and Hilda walked up the stairs. She knew William was well and asleep, but she just had to see him with her own eyes.

William still lay in bed peacefully. He had been moving a bit, her nightgown had shifted.

"Tsk tsk, sweet man, lie still," she grinned as she gently put her gown back where it belonged for now.

He stirred. And opened his eyes, slowly, as if there were dolmen on his eyelids. "Hey... pretty witch..."

"Shush, you. You must sleep," Hilda whispered, sitting down next to him and putting a hand on his hair. "You worked so hard, William..."

He groaned. "Where's the bloody truck..."

"What truck?", the witch wondered. She was glad that she knew what a truck was, having seen the scrapheap that William had arrived in.

"The one that ran me over..." William had never felt so shattered as he did at that moment. Even the trip through the mountain that had brought him here had been a joyride compared to this.

"I think, sweet William, that a truck running you over would not make you feel this bad. I'm sorry that you feel so bad, but by the evening it will be a lot better."

"Is it evening yet?"

"No. Try to sleep some more. I will bring you some soup later on." She sat down with him, put her hand over his hands that still were folded around the wand, and kissed his cheek. "I promise you will feel better soon. The wand will help you." At least, she hoped. She had no experience with ordinaries and wands, she just knew that it worked that way with wands and witches.

"Wand. Yes. Wand." He drifted away.

Hilda smiled, kissed him again and then went downstairs again, after changing into more homely clothes.

The witch was looking through William's book when there was a slight tugging in her feeling. William was waking up! She jumped to her feet, quickly went to the kitchen to get his soup and made her way to the bedroom again, where the former book salesman was surfacing from his trip down Sleepy Lane again.

The witch, feeling nothing like wicked at the moment, helped him sit up and made him eat all the soup that was in the bowl. It was a large bowl. "You have to eat it, William, it will help you get better too." She smiled as she noticed that he did not let go of the wand. He kept it in his hand, probably without even noticing it. That was good. It would help the forging and make the connection strong as possible.

"How are you feeling now?", Hilda asked her lover. He looked less shaken up already.

"Not sure if 'better' is the proper word, but less bad for certain. I didn't know you had it in you to be such a good nurse." He smiled.

"I don't. I just have to take care of you, after what happened. It is very exhausting."

"You know about it?"

Hilda told him what had happened, to what he had committed himself as he had agreed to adopt the wand.

"Holy Bejeebus."

This time she let him get away with it.

"That's, uhm, quite something." He lifted the wand and looked at it. And smiled at it. "So we're together from now on. Amazing." Very carefully he put the wand down next to him on the bed.

"It is best to hold it as long as you can, William," Hilda said, trying to put his hand back on the wand.

"I know, but I do have to get up now."

"No, stay in bed. Please."

"Sweet little witch," he said, his smile showing how tired he was, "there are certain things you should not do in a bed. And what I need to do is one of them."

"Oh. Right." Hilda blushed. "I'll help you to the door then."

As he was trying to get up, William found out that definitely needed to accept her offer. He would never have made it on his own: his legs felt like jelly. The fresh wand-owner was relieved to fall into bed again after the trip also.

"You' re doing really well, William," Hilda said, sitting cross-legged on the bed, facing him. It made her smile as she saw that he reached for the wand as soon as he was comfortable again. "I'll stay with you until you fall asleep again."

"Thank you. I'm still not sure how I feel," he admitted, "it's all... weird."

"Of course. You are playing with some magic now." She explained about the things she had heard of ordinaries being bound to wands. "So it is not the strangest thing in the world," she concluded. "You'll get used to having it with you. And it is nice for me to know how you feel and where you are."

William grinned, a bit uncertain. "So have you figured out yet how that wand got fixed? You told me it can't be done, yet here it is." He waved it through the air.

"Honestly, I have no idea. I've been thinking about it as I was going around this morning, but I have never heard of this happening before. But I was looking at your special book just now and it may have something to do with it. Although I would have to look at it more."

"Of course, feel free to read it. It may mean more to you than it does to me anyway." William stared at the wand for a few moments. "Do you think I can learn that trick you know, to make it appear and disappear?"

Hilda laughed. "That would be shiny, wouldn't it? I doubt it though. It's a magic trick, and involved magic from both sides, the wand as well as the bearer." She flicked her wrist and had her wand in hand. "Does look good when it happens, doesn't it?" Silently the wand disappeared again.

"Oh yes, that's why I asked," grinned William, a yawn opening up. "Oops... sorry..."

"Is okay, sweet man. Tell me if you want to rest, and I'll leave you in peace." Hilda conjured up two cups of tea. "This may help. And otherwise it's nice to drink tea together."

William couldn't agree more.

In silence they sat and enjoyed their tea and each other's company. Through the open window some wind blew in, bringing with it the chattering of birds and the smell of the forest.

William felt his eyes get heavy again. "I think I should close my eyes for a moment..."

Hilda grabbed his cup. He was gone again. She climbed from the bed and went to her living room, down the stairs. She'd read in the book until he would wake up. Or dinner time would come.

25. It's magic

Hilda's head jerked up from the book. She had sensed William, but... in a different way than before. The feeling was stronger now. Quickly she ran up to the bedroom, to find him sitting on the side of the bed, his feet on the ground. "William..."

He turned and looked at her. His eyes were large and his face showed puzzlement. "Look."

Hilda walked over to him and kneeled in front of him. "What's the matter?"

William raised his hands, they were empty. He moved the fingers of his right hand in a somewhat odd fashion, and there was a wand in that hand. Red and white.

Hilda stared. "That can't be. It just can't."

To prove she was wrong, the wand disappeared from William's hand as he moved his fingers. As he moved the fingers from his left hand, the red and white wand appeared there.

"How do you do that? You're not magical!" Hilda grabbed his hand that held the wand and looked at it, probed it with her magical ability and discovered no magic.

"I wish I knew, Hilda. Really. It just... happened." He took the wand in his free hand. "Here. Hold it. Maybe you can tell where this comes from."

"Are you sure? Witches usually don't hand their wands to another person."

"I should not be a witch, right? It must be safe. Here, take it."

Carefully Hilda touched the wand with a finger. It felt fine, safe. She took it from William's fingers and examined it. It had a new, different charge, she sensed, modified by the connection to William. But at the same time it felt amiable, as if the wand was at home with her as well as William. She flicked her wrist. The wand remained in her hand.

"Now let me try this..." William slowly moved his fingers. The wand left Hilda's fingers and was gone. A movement later it was in William's hand again.

"Shiny..." Hilda was entranced by what had happened. A flick of her wrist later she held her wand. "I am not having a good feeling about this, William, but... would you dare to hold this one?" Her heart beat fast and she felt sweat appear everywhere as William put his wand on the bed and slowly moved his hand to her wand.

"Are you sure, Hilda?", he asked.

"No. Not at all. But try it. I'll close my eyes." As she had done so, she felt how William touched and then carefully took her wand from her hand. Her heart moaned as the silver stick was taken from her, but nothing else seemed to happen. Hilda opened her eyes. William held the wand, and he was fine. She was fine. And her wand was also.

"I don't believe this..." She flicked her wrist and the wand was gone from William's hand. And after one more flick, she held it again. "I can't believe this, William. This is... this is..."

"Magic?", he helped.

"I'd almost think so," she nodded.

Their eyes locked for a while, sharing the moment and the inexplicable, until Hilda blinked and got to her feet again. "This may be a very stupid question now, but... do you think you're fit enough to come down to eat?"

"I think so," he said, "and otherwise I'll just magic myself down." He grinned.

"You are not even going to attempt such a thing, William Connoley. More witches than I care to remember killed themselves doing that. It is really a difficult thing, aiming for a place where you don't appear in a chair or a wall, do you hear me?" Hilda waved her wand in front of his nose. "I want you to promise me that you will not try that kind of thing."

"Okay, sweetheart, I promise." He looked around for some clothes. "I'll just put on the pants and the shirt."

"And I'll wait for you and stay close. You're still recovering."

Once down the stairs, Hilda planted William on a chair. His knees were still in the jelly state, he had discovered. His wand lay on the table, next to his hand, as he waited for Hilda to get food out of the maniacal space that made up her kitchen.

The food did him good. They talked about what might have happened. William reminded Hilda that the book had struck him with the tiny lightning. "Maybe that is what shook me up?"

"I don't know. At this point, sweet man, I am not sure of many things. We should not talk about this with others until we know a bit more, perhaps..."

"I like the sound of that," William agreed. "We'd better try to understand this ourselves."

Hilda nodded and cleaned off her plate. "Want more? There's enough." With a wry grin she added: "For a few days..."

William laughed loudly and asked her for half a plate more. He was feeling better already; as he had smelled the food he had understood how hungry he had been.

Hilda looked at him as he was attacking the food. "I'm glad you're eating. It helps you ground and stabilise."

"It's good food, so if it does those things also, it is a bonus. Dear god, I was so hungry..." He emptied the plate and then he had to decline an offer for even more. "No, thank you. Full, very full."

"Okay. Good. I am glad you're fine, William." She made the plates fly to the kitchen.

"You know, I would like to know a bit more about that place where this challenge is going to happen," he said. "Gurthreyn, was it?"

Hilda frowned. "I'm not really keen on talking about that, but I guess you should know a bit about it. I'll show you." She got up, took her wand and made it move her chair in front of the mirror.

"Ha," said William, who picked up his wand. He swooped his wand in the same manner that Hilda had done. The chair was not impressed. "Hmm... do you think this is broken?", he asked, looking at the wand.

Hilda grinned. "No, dear William, I think it is you who is broken. You know nothing of magic and how to wield it. Here, watch." She flipped her wand and the second chair moved next to her own.

"That is so amazing," said William, "if I could just do that trick..." He pointed his wand at the book and told it to come to him as he waved the wand. The book was even less willing to comply than the chair. It even seemed to mock his amateuristic attempt. "Well, fine," William grinned and sat down on the chair that Hilda had moved for him.

"Maybe I'll try to explain how to do it, William. Tomorrow, if you feel strong enough." She then made the mirror show the labyrinth of Gurthreyn.

William was presented a view over an enormous area. It looked gloomy, and the bleakness of the view was so intense that it gave him goosebumps. "Holy Bejeebus."

Hilda nodded. "It's bad."

The labyrinth of Gurthreyn lacked any colour except grey. Grey was there in abundance, all shades looking cold and hostile. There were hardly any plants or trees visible. The odd petrified tree, that was all. The labyrinth itself consisted of a gigantic walled space with a mindboggling amount of passageways. The walls along those were as high as the wall around the entire area.

"That is... scary," said William. "It would take almost a year of study to remember how these corridors are laid out."

"And you'd be wasting your time," Hilda told him. "It is not just big. It was constructed by a magician. The corridors are alive. They open and close passages as they like."

"Oh..." That was not the kind of labyrinth William was used to. "But..." He frowned and leaned forward to study the image in the mirror more closely. "If you were to levitate a bit so you can look over the walls..."

"Do you really think that a magician would forget about something like that, William?", she destroyed his hope. "That labyrinth is sealed tightly once the contestants of the challenge enter it. There is only one way to get out of it."

"By finding the exit," William understood.

"No. By winning." Hilda looked at him. "Only the winner comes out of it."

William was silent for a while. This had the makings of something lethal. "But what about the losers? How do they get out?"

Hilda shook her head. "They don't."

William started to grasp why she was so scared of the labyrinth. "That is..." He could not find a word for it.

"Yes. It is. You see what I mean." Hilda returned the mirror to its reflective state. "But it is good that you know what I am facing there."

The salesman looked at her and took her hand. "What -we- will be facing there. Okay?"

Hilda smiled ruefully. "Of course, sweet man. What we will face there."

William understood how she felt. He was bringing a few ideas together and stored them for later. He was sure there were things that could be done to tackle at least the labyrinth. Lamador, of course. was a problem of a different magicianitude.

The fresh wand-owner hugged the witch. "No need to worry before the time to do so comes, Hilda. Believe me, I have learnt that an attitude like that works best." He then got up. "I am getting us wine."

"You should let me do that, William," Hilda said as she got up also. "Remember what you've been through today."

"As if I could forget..." He pulled a face. The memory was still building as he knew he was still adjusting to the bonding. "I'll strike you a deal. I get the wine, and you help me."

"Plan," Hilda nodded. She took the arm he offered her and together they headed for the kitchen, ready to battle it for the wine.

After a successful expedition they found themselves on the couch again.

"Sweet little witch?", William asked.

"Hmm?", the sweet little witch said from behind her glass.

"Did it really never happen that a normal person became magical?" The thought did not leave him.

"I can't say never with absolute certainty, William. If it happened, then I have never heard of it."

"I see..."

"William?"

"Hmm?"

"How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good, I have to say. Not like I could run a marathon, but then I've never been able to do that. I do feel really fine." He looked at her face.

"Oh. Good. Do you think you feel well enough for..." Her eyes sparkled.

He grinned. "There is only one way to find out, isn't there?"

26. Empty your mind

William woke up, a bit confused. It was still dark. He felt Hilda lying against him, her breathing peaceful, her hair over his chest. Somehow she had managed to wrap both her legs around one of his. But that was not what had woken him up, he was certain of it. In the dark he held up a hand and twitched his finger. He felt the wand appear. At least that was still 'working', he thought.

"I could do with a little bit of light," he mumbled to himself.

A few seconds later a faint orange light came from the wand. It appeared so gently that William at first didn't even notice the light coming on. Then his heart skipped a beat as he stared at the tip of the wand where the light came from.

"Holy Bejeebus," he whispered, "put that out!"

Two seconds later the wand darkened again.

Hilda moved, throwing an arm over him, muttering something in her sleep. After almost an entire minute her restlessness settled down and she slept calmly again.

William made the wand disappear and remembered what Hilda had said about the connection she now had to him. He understood that she somehow had reacted to the magic that had happened. better not to play with that again while she was asleep. Better, he corrected himself, not to play with that again period!

In the darkness he stared at the invisible ceiling for quite a while before sleep took him into its arms again...

Hilda opened her eyes. William lay very close to her, holding her against him, his face buried in her hair. She let the feeling of being close to him and the safety that it implied wash through her for a while.

"Sweet man," she whispered, "what more surprises are you holding inside?" She was still amazed and also a bit scared of his ability to manipulate the wand. Maybe she should ask around a bit about that. Other witches might know of ordinaries that shared similar traits after being bound to a wand.

But then, she considered, that might trigger unwanted questions. She banished the thoughts from her head and snuggled close to William, looking at his face through the veil that her hair created in front of her eyes.

After a while she sensed inside her magical core that he was waking up and smiled at the feeling. It felt good, she had already decided. It provided her with a certainty she had never possessed before.

As William slowly opened his eyes, he saw Hilda's happy face. He slowly and gently brushed her hair aside. "Good morning, beautiful," he said, touching her nose with a finger.

"Good morning, also beautiful," she said, the thrill of his tender touch coursing through her very blood. "Do you feel good?"

"I feel better than good," he said, and kissed her. "And you?"

"My feeling just got better." She worked herself up on an elbow and looked down at the man that lay next to her. "I was just wondering what more secrets are bottled up inside you."

"Oh... I discovered one this night." William felt a bit of a fool. "I made the wand lighten up."

"You what?"

"I did... look..." The red and white appeared. "And then I said that I could do with a little light." Two pairs of eyes were fixed on the wand that remained as it was. "That's odd. Last night it worked."

"Well, last night you talked to the wand, now you talk to me. I don't have the habit to light up when you talk to me," Hilda explained.

"Are you sure?", William grinned. "Of course it depends on what I say, but..."

"No, no, don't try to change the subject," Hilda pointed at the wand. "Talk to it."

William looked at the wand. "I want light."

"Don't command it. It is a sentient... wand, not a piece of wood," Hilda said. "Watch." She whipped up her wand. "Some light." A few seconds later, the wand shone a light. "That's enough," she said, and the light went away again. "You have to feel along with the wand as you talk to it. Part happens in your words, part happens in the magical area of your body."

"Uhm. Right. Perhaps it is best if we go over this again after breakfast?", William asked.

Hilda kissed his cheek. "Why don't you try again. Just once. With your heart."

The kiss convinced him. "Okay." He looked at the wand. Felt it in his hand. Reached out to it and the connection that was there between them. "I need some light."

Seconds crept by as the witch and the beginner waited. A soft orange light came from the tip of the wand. Hilda shrieked.

"I still don't believe this, William," Hilda said as they were at the table downstairs. "You are doing magical things. You make your wand light up! Show me again!" She was amazed and excited beyond belief. in particular her own belief.

William grinned. He had shown his trick five times already and was tickled that the witch was so wild about it. "Some light," he whispered, his wand in hand, and the tip came to life again.

Hilda giggled, her face full of amazement as normally only a small child's could be. "This is amazing. William, before you know it you will be flying yourself. I am almost certain of that."

William extinguished the light and made his wand pop away. "I am not so sure, sweetheart, but it makes me happy that you seem to think so positive about it. I may be able to do this, but I am an ordinary, right?"

Hilda looked at him, very serious now. "I thought so. Really. But I am not so sure anymore. Give me your hand..."

He did as she asked.

Hilda looked at him. "Try to focus on your magic. Or better, focus on your wand and what you share with it. That is something you know."

To make it easier for himself, William popped the wand in his free hand and let his mind flow out to it, the way he had noticed worked best.

Hilda used the feeling spot she had to get through to William. If there was a way to reach what he held inside, this connection would be the best means to do that. But it did not tell her anything. It confused her to no end. There was this man, who had all the makings of an ordinary, and he worked magic. Not much, but it was magic, and that was definitely weird. And frightening, since he had shown this since only one day and he was already controlling it.

She let him have his hand back. "Shiny. And scary."

William let her words sink in. And had to agree.

"We'll go make the rounds together again today, yes? Do you feel up to that?"

William watched her face, trying to discern any worries or uncertainties. Then he said: "I am up to that. You are there too, right? Nothing can happen."

"I hope so," Hilda nodded.

They changed into their 'public appearance' attire. Hilda wore her red and black, William put on the blue and silver, and the black cloak.

As they walked out with their brooms, Hilda warned William again not to play or try something unannounced. "I have to know what goes on as I am controlling the flight. If you discover you can do something with your magic, you should not use it, just mention it."

"Trust me. We are going to be up there. I am not going to risks necks with nothing but clear fresh air between us and the ground."

"Good boy," Hilda grinned, "that is what I wanted to hear. Now let's see what happens if you get on the broom and just kick off."

It was obvious that nothing happened very rapidly. "I think I am doing something wrong," William grinned after hopping about a few times.

"Yes. I would say so," Hilda snickered. "Hold on. We're going for real now." But instead of hurling them into the air like she used to, she explained in detail what she did, so William had an idea what she was going through to make them lift off. He listened carefully and nothing more than that. The brooms hovered for a few moments and then lifted off and Hilda pointed them to the castle.

"Try to feel inside you," Hilda said. She kept the speed moderate, so they could talk. Even as she was scared of William's rapid change, she was also eager to see what would happen. As long as he let her control things, they would be safe. "Sense the connection, if you can, that goes to the wand and to me."

William did just that, but he could not locate anything that had a sign 'Hilda' hanging from it. Just the wand's presence was indelible. It was there to stay, growing clearer and stronger every hour. He slipped both hands around the broomstick. "Come on, broom, if you have anything to tell me, now would be a good time," he said, slowly.

Hilda looked at him, understanding what he was trying to do. As she was feeding magic into the broom, perhaps he could pick it up through the broom, as that was something he could see and touch. He was from a mostly physical way of life, after all.

William tried to empty his mind. He only wanted to feel the wind, the broom, the power that went through it. The power of the pretty witch with the big mouth and the beautiful eyes.

"I do not have a big mouth," Hilda said.

William almost froze on his broom. "What was it you just said?" He kept his eyes on the broomstick.

"I like what you said about me being pretty and my eyes being beautiful. But I really resent the remark about my mouth."

"Hilda... I did not -say- anything. It were thoughts."

The brooms slowed down to a crawl. "What? Thoughts? I picked those up as if you were talking directly in my ear, William. How did you do that?"

"I wish I knew. I tried to empty my mind and let my senses take over."

"Okay. Stop. This is weird," said the witch. "You were focussing, I could see that. But then you were talking to me. I just want you to do that again."

"I'll try. But it would be nice if we get back to speed again, I think that helped me."

Hilda grinned. "My pleasure." She pushed the brooms upto speed again. "But still, I don't have a big mouth."

William laughed. Then he focussed again, emptied his mind. Reached out to feel the broom, the wind, the motion. He sensed something else. As if there was electricity, except that it wasn't. He thought of the king's castle. Of the broom. Of the movement. Of moving slightly to the left, slightly to the right, and of Hilda's long hair.

"Uhm, William, what are you doing?" Hilda hit him on the arm to pull his mind out of the half-trance.

"What?" William looked at her.

"You were trying to move the broom, weren't you?"

"I am not sure. It just felt like it."

"Well... don't. Let me make this clear: I'm the one who'se flying here, okay?"

William nodded. "I'm sorry. It felt as if I was being sucked into something."

"You were sucked into my hair?" Hilda's experience held her on the broom.

William felt stupid and grinned sheepishly. "No, I was thinking of it. And you picked that up, it seems."

"Indeed. So, can you tell me now how you did that?"

William gave it his best shot. If he had to resort to childish or clumsy words, he did. Anything to make it clear to Hilda, because that might make it clear to himself as well.

The wicked witch listened with intent, not interrupting him, not laughing at words and sentences that seemed to go nowhere. She knew how impossible it was to explain something for which there were no words.

"So if I get this correctly," she repeated as William had ended his account, "there is something like a stream of something that you feel, and when you tap into that, like putting your finger into it, it is as if your thoughts come to me?"

"Believe me, I know it sounds insane, but that is the best I can do, Hilda."

"Don't worry about it. And grab your broom. There's the castle, and you know how we approach that."

Almost instinctively William grabbed hold as the brooms fell into something that would make rollercoaster riders envious.

Hilda tore both brooms low over the moat, scaring the life out of the local ducks and swans, shrieking her laughter over the castle walls. She then swooped them through the main gate. That way to enter the castle was infamous among the guards as they had to run for their lives (or so it felt for them) to make enough room for the witch. The fact that there were now two people on broom coming through made things even more lively for them.

Hilda was in a very cheerful mood, so she chased the two guards a little longer, making them fall on their faces as she pulled up just inches short of their helmets. Her cackle filled the courtyard of the palace, making several people come out of the building, including the king himself.

"Grimhilda!", he yelled, excited and looking happy. "Good to see you!"

"Hey, king, we chased them up a bit. They're getting fat and slow, you should see to that."

The guards sat on their behinds, panting and their faces still red.

"See, only a four hundred foot dash and they are finished. It is a shame, really."

William, who hovered slightly behind Hilda, realised that he had forgotten to pull the hood over his head. He could kick himself for it, doing it now would attract too much attention. 'I have to have that hood on,' he thought. The hood slid up his back, over his shoulders and then covered his head. William almost fell off his broom.

Hilda sensed a slight sensation through the bond she had with William's magic. It took her some effort not to glance back at him, instead keeping her attention with the king. She wished that whatever it was William had done, he would not do it again!

King Walt, during that incident, was looking at his men and talked to the head of his staff. The man was nodding as if he was trying to shake his head of, so Hilda considered him a person that lived up the king's ass.

"Hey king, have fun, we are going on again," she said, boldly interrupting the ruler of the kingdom.

"Sure, Grimhilda, thank you for the visit. And thank you, mysterious wizard."

For a moment it looked as if Walt would wave at them, but that was not done for a king with all the household and staff around.

Hilda slowly made the brooms lift straight up, because she loved the effect it had on the spectators. They never failed to keep watching until they almost strained their necks. Then slowly, almost majestically, she made them sail away from the castle.

Once they were at a safe distance and a proper altitude, Hilda turned to William. "So what were you doing back there? I sensed you did something."

"Yes, I did something. And I was somehow aware that you sensed it. No promise that it works again, but this is what I had down at the castle." He shoved the hood back. "Stupid, I know."

William closed his eyes, to free himself of distractions, and willed his hood back on his head. It took him a few tries, but then it worked.

"Suck an elf..."

William pushed back the hood again. "Indeed."

"I am not sure what to say, William, but shiny is very much in order here. It scares the hell out of me, but I am also... proud."

"I am with you on the scary end, sweetheart. Let's lay low on the proud part for now. I won't play again unless it is necessary. Too high up for that anyway."

Hilda smiled and maneuvered her broom as close to William's as she could. There she kissed him. "Come. We're doing the rounds."

27. I fly

They flew out to the village. William enjoyed that tremendously as now he recognised some places where they had walked, and where they had done their stunt on the market square.

As they passed over the square, William grinned. "Honey and fish bits. How did you think of that?"

"It just seemed the appropriate thing to do," Hilda grinned. "I have to make my reputation trustworthy, don't I? Besides, he did not have to eat it."

Some people on the ground were yelling something up to them, but the distance was too large, they couldn't understand a word.

"Come, we're going down. Hold on to your breakfast, I am going to make this a killer entree."

William wondered, was grateful that she warned him and held on for dear life. And not in vain. Entering a kamikaze-like roll, she made the two brooms plummet to the earth in a most sickening way. The tip to hold on to his breakfast had been a nice one, but as they saw the ground come closer in a gut-wrenching way, William silently wished she had also given him a tip on how to do that.

Whether it was his good health or mere G-forces that prevented him from throwing up, he never knew. The fact that they suddenly came to a halt only five feet off the ground gave him the feeling that his stomach just kept going down. Somehow the hood had remained on his head, and William was grateful. It would be too much of a show for the people to see a green-faced wizard.

Hilda had no difficulty at all. "What did you yell?", she asked the good people of the village.

"We wanted to thank you and the wizard, honourable witch, for what you did here the other day. These young men have been been making a nuisance of themselves for weeks, and nobody could handle them."

Hilda lowered her broom so she was at eye level with the speaker. "For weeks? And you never sent me a message about that?" She turned to William. "Did you hear that? It's full of stupid!"

The wicked witch treated the two men to a shriek of laughter that had the potential to turn hair grey.

"Next time something like this happens, you should let me know. Or do you expect me to show up here every day to see if you didn't shit yourself?"

"No, of course not, honourable witch! We'll send a message next time!" The two men seemed to shrink under Hilda's sharp words and gaze, but it was clear that they got the message.

"Very good. Anything else you have to say or give us?"

William was rather surprised to hear that. Give us?

The man who had been silent until then pushed the other to the side. "Yes, honourable witch. A wagon with vegetables and other food is on its way to your house already."

This really was a surprise for William.

"I appreciate that," Hilda said, nodding at the man.

The brooms went up again, not fast, showing ultimate control.

"Hilda, about that wagon..."

The witched looked at him. "Yes?"

"Do these villagers actually give you food?"

"Of course."

"Oh. I am probably missing something then."

Hilda took her time to look at him. "Perhaps," she then started to explain, "you have missed the part where I am not growing food in the lawn, and instead fly around fixing their things and solving their problems. That is my part of the deal."

Everything became clear to him instantly. William felt ashamed for not having been able to puzzle that out by himself. "I am really sorry. I should have understood."

"It's nothing, sweet man," Hilda smiled. "I understand. You came here less than a week ago, from your own world where everything is insane, and that world makes sense to you. Do you think I expect you to understand how my world works in such a short time? It is probably as strange to you as your world was to me. I didn't ride the things you do, like those men on their two-wheelers, and the horseless carriages like your truck, and here you are, flying a broom. Really, I understand."

William still felt like a first-class idiot for doubting something about the wicked witch. Granted. she wasn't the most diplomatic kind. but she had never been unfair towards anyone, as far as he had been able to determine. "Thank you. Still, I apologise."

"If you insist, I accept."

"Thank you." William was serious.

"Let's go on, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, Hilda made the brooms turn and they sped off through the air.

William did not try any tricks while in the air that day. There was a lot for him to think about, to get used to, now he was in such a state of transition.

Hilda told him that she was not sure what he should or could do, except practice his new-found magic to her directions, the way she had learnt to use it also. For her there was the challenge to cope with the erratic way William's magic was developing. She had been taught by several old and respected witches, and the way her magic had developed was similar to that of the other witches she had been with then.

"Your magic is acting weirdly, William," she told him as they were sitting down for dinner that day. "Something pops up and you are not ready for it, while something simple just doesn't work yet."

It was true. He was not able to light a candle yet, or move a sheet of paper over the table. And he did manage to make the hood of his cloak move over his head, which according to Hilda was far more complicated.

He agreed with what she said. "I am sure it is as confusing to you as it is for me. Only I have an advantage."

"Really? And what might that be?" Hilda stared at William.

"I get to play, and you have to suffer the consequences."

Hilda was flabbergasted. She dropped her fork, walked round the table and started slapping William over the head. "Magic is not something to play with unless you know what you are doing, okay? And any consequences that I may suffer, mister, will be reflected on to you. So you'd better be very careful with what you are going to do, did I make that understandable for your ordinary's brain?"

William was laughing very hard, and he turned to Hilda as she had stopped her happy slapping, pulled her in his lap and wrapped his arms around her.

"You're not supposed to laugh when I am slapping you, William," she pouted, "I am trying to get a point across."

"Point taken, pretty witch. I just love it when you are getting so worked up over something." He then became serious. "Dear Hilda, I was teasing you. I am very much aware that wielding magic is not something to take lightly. I have seen some of the things you can do and I am seriously impressed. And frightened also. The ease with which you manage to get both of us in the air with the brooms and keep us there, it is amazing, to mention something."

"See, you really are mixed up. Flying isn't that difficult, you just have to do it. Maybe tomorrow I'll try and show you. But with the likes of you I really worry about what will happen." The witch kissed the beginner that was in her care. "So... Do you want something more to eat? Or are we done here?"

"I think we're done here. I also think that I am not yet done with you..." He lifted her as he stood up.

"William? What are you planning?" Hilda already had a notion, as the link between them was becoming the perfect tattle tale.

William just grinned. "You'll find out soon enough." Then he set course for the stairs.

A few minutes later the goldfish agreed that Hilda had become much more relaxed since William was there to take care of the needs she had repressed for so long.

The next day, as they were on their way home from doing the rounds, William asked Hilda about the magician Gurtrheyn. "What kind of person was he? Do you know much about him?"

"Why do you want to know about him?" Hilda wondered about the question. "It's his labyrinth I am worried about, not the dead wizard himself."

"In my world, pretty witch, it is known that if you get to know the person who built something, you understand the reasoning behind what he made. And that can be an advantage."

"Oh. Right. Well, I don't know much about him. Sorry. I can tell you what I know when we're done with your training," she offered.

"That's great."

Hilda had drawn up a plan to train William in using magic. The plan was quite simple, basically it consisted of trying something and see what would happen. His ability was too fickle to follow any serious plan, so she had decided that this approach would be the best option. Or rather: gamble.

"I have an idea," she said as they had just past the village. "I said that flying is basically simple, remember?"

"I remember, yes." William already had a feeling of what was coming at him.

"Why don't you try it while I hold you?"

William now had the certainty of what was coming at him. "I somehow knew you were going to propose that."

"And what exactly should I make of that reply? Are you afraid, William?" Hilda moved her broom closer to his, and touched his arm for a few moments. "No need for that, sweet man. I am here. I won't let you fall."

"I know that, Hilda, but the idea is a bit... daunting."

"Oh, shush, you. Just get the feel. Like you did yesterday when you wanted to move the broom left and right. Only now you want to keep it level and going forward."

William's idea for trying to fly had their origins a bit nearer to the ground, but Hilda was right. She was there to catch him. "Okay... I will seriously do this."

"Don't cramp up, William. It is really as easy as breathing. Or kissing...", she added with a smile. "Try to feel the magic inside the broom. Feel its life, and feel where it goes. Where you want to go." She kept talking to him, her voice being gentle, calm, even seductive in bringing his mind into a state of peace and attentive calm awareness. That would be a first step into sensing what he'd need.

William let her voice lead him. His vision seemed to go a little out of focus and he let his senses take over. He felt the broom, the air, he saw the house where they were going in his mind and he felt Hilda close to him. William dared to relax as he let all that take him over.

The feeling of his magic was faint, but it was there. He had learnt to notice it by now, although there were plenty of times that he missed it.

Hilda kept a close eye on the man who was flying next to her. Her sensation of him told her that he was going in the right mental direction. William was letting go of the disbelief and the uncertainty. 'Yes, my dear man, you just need to will it without pushing,' she thought for him.

The hold she had on him was firm. In fact the hold she had on her magic was firm, and that did the real work.

She noticed a change in William as his magic flowed out of his core and into his veins. Almost with baited breath she watched the metamorphosis in him happen as he took control of the broom and the flight. She slowly started to let go.

William discovered and embraced a new feeling. A tingling sensation that was going through him, and it seemed to envelope him, Hilda, the brooms. It was as a light that could not be seen, just felt, he decided, and smiled at the idea. He felt in control of the situation. He knew where they were going. And how they were doing it.

Hilda saw William's smile and that something was happening inside him. She had let go of him completely now, and he was still flying. Very very slowly she made her broom rise up, only a few inches. William followed. His smile widened, and the feeling it gave Hilda made that she started smiling also. She did not say a word, afraid that she would ruin the state of mind he was in.

William had noticed Hilda's broom rise and wanted to stay with her. His broom went up. He turned his head to look at the pretty witch, whose hair was flying wildly behind her, just because she wanted it to. "How am I doing? Am I doing something, should I ask?"

Hilda's smile remained as she replied. "You, William Connoley... you are flying a broom."

"I know that," he said, his eyes shining, "but-" It was then that he became aware of the actual meaning that her words carried.

He was flying a broom. He did it himself. Slowly he turned his head and looked at the bristles in front of him. The hands that held the stick. Again the feeling, the sensory light, was pulsating around him.

William took a deep breath and held his relaxed posture.

Hilda, flying on his left, tried not to tense up as she saw how William was slightly shifting. His broom gently moved to the right, creating an opening of almost five yards between them. The wicked witch was ready to throw her magic, but there was no need.

William had simply willed the broom to move. It had gently done what he wanted- no, what he had requested and hoped for. After the thrill of feeling the broom move to his wish, he looked at Hilda, his face competing with the sun in shining. He saw her smile, sensed a feeling of marvel, and then he closed the gap between them again, his eyes on the broomstick.

"Hilda..." In his voice sounded a slight wavering.

"William? Look at me, okay?"

He looked at her. "How does one land a broom?"

28. Second nature

Hilda had taken over the flying from William and had made sure that both reached the ground safely.

William's knees were shaking as they had gotten to terra firma again, but he was smiling, his face alight with what had happened. His broom was on the ground and Hilda in his arms, who was hoping that he would not break anything inside her.

When finally he let go of her and she could breathe with ease again, the witch grinned. "I'd almost think you liked this."

"And I think you are the mistress of understatements today, Hilda," William said. "This was mind-blowing. The feel of it. The awareness, somewhere far away, that I was able to keep a broom and myself into flight."

"I am glad that it went so well, sweet man." Hilda folded her arms around his neck. "But now we are keeping our feet on the ground again, aren't we? And I have just the thing to do for you to make that easy."

William was a bit surprised about that, but he followed her as she took his hand and started walking to the back of the house. There, in several neat piles, lay the vegetables, meat and other groceries that the villagers had delivered at Hilda's house. The 'payment'.

"This stuff all has to go to the storage room under the house," Hilda explained, "and I am so very happy that you volunteered to do that for me."

"Oh. I did, did I?" William frowned for a moment. Then he grinned, as he saw the sparkles in his witch's eyes. "Indeed. I think I did. If you can show me the way to the storage room, I'll be happy to move the stuff for you, sweetheart."

"Cool puppies," said Hilda. "Get your wand, you'll need that."

"Uhm? Oh!" William wiggled his fingers and the wand was there.

"Very good. Now remember this: scipio reserare cellarius occulum." Hilda had to repeat it for William a few times, until he got it right. "That should work. Now place the tip of your wand here." She pointed to a specific spot on the wall of the house, that looked as if it was scratched. "Then say the spell."

William did as she told him. Nothing happened. The house chuckled.

"Oh, shush you," Hilda said to her house, "he's new at this. William, it would help if you put the magic feeling into it a bit."

He nodded and concentrated on the feeling again, then let it loose and flow. "Scipio reserare cellarius occulum." A slight tremble went through the wand, he barely noticed it, but Hilda said: "That is how I want to see it."

She had picked up the tremble through their connection.

William's jaw lowered itself, without any magic, as he saw a part of the wall under the wand slowly dissolve, opening up a door of sorts. "Did I just do that?"

"Hmmm... did you see me do something?", Hilda asked, waving her empty hands. "Look, no wand."

"Right. Sorry. Beginner here," he apologised. Then he looked into the opening. There was a short staircase going into the darkness. "Goodness, some light there would be a good idea..." William stepped back instinctively as in the storage room several spots started to light up.

Hilda chuckled along with the house now. "You're getting better, William, but do pay attention a bit when you say something. Only use the magical intent if you need it. You have to practice switching in and out of it very quickly. It must become a second nature."

William made a moue. "It took me over thirty years to come up with my first nature. I guess you don't want to wait that long for the second, right?"

"Indeed, sweet man," Hilda said. She put her arm around his. "I'd say you have little less than three moons to get it under control. I need you, you know that." After that serious moment, which hung around them tangibly, she said: "So if you can now please move our food into the storage and close the wall again, I'm a happy witch."

William grinned. His wand disappeared and he walked over to the nearest stack of goods.

"Hey. What do you think you're doing?"

William turned to her. "Putting the groceries away?"

"And -how- are you going to do that?"

William picked up a crate. "Like this?"

"No."

William put the crate down. "Oh. I see. You want me to do this the hard way." He made his wand appear. "Any Latin you'd like to share for this?"

"Nope. I hate Latin. I just keep the wall under it so nobody will be able to steal things from me." Hilda made a chair appear and sat down. "Now, show me that you can do this, William. Work on your second nature."

William sighed. "Alright..." He pointed his wand at the crate. "Come on, follow the leader..." He turned to the open wall and walked down the stairs. Halfway down he grinned, turned around and was knocked in the head by the crate. "Crap!"

Hilda all but flew down the stairs. "William! What happened?!" Then she saw her sweet man rubbing his head, the crate still afloat near his head. "Stupid silly man. Never just stop walking when you have something in tow," she warned him a bit too late.

"Heck," he muttered, "I didn't know that thing was actually following me! Well, as it's here... Just put yourself in that corner then." William pointed with the wand, and the crate slowly slipped to its designated place, going at the same speed as William was pointing his eyes there.

Hilda clapped her hands. "That was very good! Now let me do something about this..." She waved a hand over the small bloody spot on William's forehead and it disappeared, leaving healed skin. "That is better."

William was a bit confused about everything, by now. "I don't get it... I was making fun with that crate and it flew behind me."

Hilda kissed his cheek. "Then you are in for a treat, because there are many more crates and bags. So you go and have fun with them, and I'm going to take a soak in the bath." Quickly she walked up the short stairs. "Oh, before I forget: you close the wall with 'scipio obscuro cellarius occulum.'." A shrieking laugh was all that he got from her as she disappeared from his view.

"Work on your second nature..." William stomped up the stairs and glared at the next crate. "You. Come here." The crate did not feel compelled to listen. "Oh, right. This is supposed to be fun." He walked to the crate and bent down to pick it up.

"No cheating."

The wizard in training turned to the house. "So now you are spying on me too, right?"

"I just follow the orders of the witch," it replied.

"Great." William walked to the chair that Hilda had left there and sat down on it. He considered that it would indeed be fun to see crates fly. It would save him a lot of walking up and down the stairs, and also prevent him from being whacked in the head again. With a grin he pointed his wand at the crate. "Amuse me... go to the cellar and stand next to the other one..." A few seconds long nothing happened, and wonder was already crawling up his ankles as the crate slowly rose and calmly floated into the cellar. As it had gone out of sight, William got up and checked where it stood. the crate had parked itself exactly where he had wanted it.

"Hot damn, this really works," he mumbled, staring at the wand. He sat down again, and one by one he made the crates and bags with goods float into the cellar. After managing that, he needed a few retries before he got the closing spell right, feeling like Ron Weasly from the Harry Potter books.

Satisfied and also quite drained again, as his body was not used to magical work, he made the wand disappear, patted the wall of the house and went inside.

"Honey, I'm home!", he called out.

"Honey, I'm glad!", he heard Hilda's voice from the top floor. "I am still in the tub. Getting all wrinkly."

"Oh grand," William said as he went up the stairs, "so I am doing all the hard work and you don't even have lunch ready for me?"

Her shrieking laughter was not as harsh on his ears as it used to be. He pushed open the door to the bathroom and grinned as he saw the purple bubbles. "Hey, sweetheart. Purple suits you."

She grinned. "I know!" She blew some bubbles to him, making them run around his head before they popped into oblivion. "The house told me you were really good and did not use your hands to put away the groceries."

William nodded. "I'm afraid the wand will have muscle-aches tomorrow."

The witch stared at him, not understanding a word of what he had last said. "Do I have to laugh now? Or worry?"

William grinned and shook his head. "Neither. Don't worry about it, sweetheart. I'll go and start some lunch. Make yourself pretty for me, will you?" He quickly moved away and closed the door. The piece of soap therefore did not bounce off his head. This time it was his laughter that shook the house up.

"You really did well, William," Hilda commented on the food they had enjoyed. "How are you feeling?"

"A bit... I'm not sure. One part is tired, one part is all energy and roaring to go."

"At least that part of you is behaving in a normal way," Hilda said, recalling how she had felt as she was learning all the magical things.

After they had cleared the table, Hilda made a serious attempt to explain a few theoretical things about magic. That did not exactly go as either of them had hoped. Hilda's perspective was that of a witch who had been living amidst magic all her life. William's was that of a book salesman from a world where magic was considered something from fairy-tales, or the stuff that magicians the likes of David Copperfield would perform: incredibly artful, but obvious trickery.

Hilda was getting more and more worked up and annoyed that all her efforts seemed to fall on deaf ears. William really tried hard, but most of Hilda's concepts simply had no basis in his knowledge.

"I am really sorry, Hilda, but this so called simple thing you mentioned just now means really nothing to me." They were looking at one of Hilda's books, one that dealt with basic magic and protection. The page spoke of using air as a protective layer to ward off incoming projectiles, and Hilda had demonstrated how simple it was to conjure that up.

The wicked witch groaned. "But you see how it works, don't you? I mean, you threw the arrow at me and it did not hit me, right?"

"Yes, I did, and it didn't, but that does not make it a piece of cake for me to copy the trick, pretty witch." William read the passage in the book again. "It looks simple enough. Umbrea. I can say the word, but..."

Hilda slumped back in her chair. "You need to use your imagination, William. Think of air coming around you and making a wall around you. There is no need to do it fast yet, it would just be very nice for me to know that you can protect yourself with that."

William tried again, but the paper ball Hilda threw at him hit his chest. Again. With a muffled grunt he picked it up and threw it back at her. It bumped off her protection. "I really don't get it. Maybe you should throw an arrow at me." He leaned on the table and studied the page again.

"I am not throwing arrows at you if you can't even defend yourself against pieces of paper." Hilda got up. "I'm going to watch the mirror. You, please, keep trying this. Okay?"

She took his hands in her face. "You're mine, William, and I aim to keep you for a very long time, so don't you get any funny ideas in your head about getting yourself killed because you can't defend yourself." Hilda pressed a hard kiss on his lips. Then she let go and sat down in front of her mirror.

No matter where she looked, however, she could not stop thinking about William's inability to handle protection. That was crucial. Not at the moment, but with the challenge coming closer every day...

29. Protection

The next morning. The couple was outside, ready to go do the rounds.

"Very well, mister Breakneck. If you want to try that, be my guest, but don't come whining when you fall on your face. See, that also is where protection comes in handy." Hilda stood looking at William, hands akimbo. He had announced that he wanted to try and lift off by himself. "And don't get me wrong when I stand to the side a bit, okay?"

William nodded, waited until Hilda had reached a place that she deemed safe and mounted his broom. This morning he felt well rested. He closed his eyes to sense the magic inside him, and once he had located it he let it flow. It was there, it lived inside him and it wanted to do things for him, William knew. He held the broom with both hands and made the magic go into it.

At first there was a mere slight tremble. Then the broom wanted to go and it told the wizard in training, who kicked off. The broom lifted William up. Until then everything was going amazingly smooth. There was just one detail missing: the soft and protective layer of air around, and most importantly, under him. The broomstick pressed hard into his genitals and pants-area.

William gasped for air, forgot to hold on to the broom, tipped over, and as he went down, the broom went up.

Had it been a contest, the broom would have won with ease. It shot up at least twelve feet with William's weight not holding it down, where William only fell three feet.

Hilda held back a scream, the fall had happened much sooner than she had anticipated. She squeezed her eyes for a moment as William hit the ground, declaring it an 'oompf'. The 'ouch' sounded just a bit later as the broom, lacking magical inspiration, came down to its lord and master that lay in a heap.

With all dangers gone, Hilda walked over to the fallen pilot. "Very subtle, William. This reminded me of a flying mallet."

"Since when do mallets fly?", the man in blue asked from his undignified position.

"Exactly."

William got the hint. He got up, brushed the sand and grass from his robe and picked up the broom. "I assume there is something you want to say to me?", he asked, knowing that she had every reason to have a go at him.

Hilda shook her head. "I think we're all in the clear now. I'll do the flying for now and you work on protecting your ass." The sparkles in her eyes emphasised her meaning: they were red.

As they were on their way, Hilda loosely remarked: "Really, William, protection is very imperative. Did you know that Babs is a master in that field? I could ask her over to help you." His inner reaction made her giggle. She knew now that she had a powerful incentive to make him work on it.

William was thinking about the idea of air compacting around himself. In physics-books he had read about compacting air, but that required large amounts of pressure. He was convinced that Hilda used another trick. No way that she would know about pressure and containers with air, like pressurised tanks.

"You are thinking about things of your own world, aren't you?", Hilda asked, her broom close to William's. She couldn't understand most of the things she sensed coming from him through the link. The link, she thought, that so far only worked one way.

"Yes, I am trying to think of things that might help me get this protection bit going. I am not making much progress with the air that you insist on."

"Yes, okay. That is good. At least you're busy with it. Maybe in a bit you can tell me what people in your world use for protection, but now you'd better play along. The castle is coming up and I have a feeling that Walt wants to play."

"I got the message, sweetheart, I'll sit back and you do the stunts."

"Cool puppies," said Hilda, a grin on her face. "Just you keep that hood on your head, and I don't care how you do it."

They swooped in over the moat again, this time Hilda made the brooms leap over the castle walls without stressing the guards, though. The guards, new ones at the gate but they had heard about the exercise theirfellows had already had, kept out of sight. Hearing about that was quite enough for them.

Walt, the king, was outside and sat on one of the low marble benches that surrounded the magnificent fountain. "Ah... there you are," he said as the two figures floated over the water-display. His face brightened at the sight of the witch and her silent companion. "I have been waiting for you... I have a new challenge,Grimhilda, and I feel that this time I will win."

Hilda leaned forward, resting an elbow on the bristles of her broom and putting a hand on the palm of her raised hand. "Is that for real, my dearest king? I am game, and so is my friend the wizard. But tell me... how does your wife like her dancing shoes?"

Walt's face clouded slightly. "Sometimes I have to tie her hands behind her back, she discovered that if she puts things in her ears, she does not hear the music and then she doesn't have to dance. But hey, we live and learn, don't we? Even she does."

Hilda caught the gleam in the king's eye and she knew he was all prepared to get them.

Walt's hand slowly moved to the white handkerchief that lay on the seat next to him. Then quickly he grabbed it and waved it while shouting: "Now, now, now!"

From behind shrubs men and women came running with buckets of water, and inside the castle someone was working like a sod to increase the pressure on the pipes that fed the fountain.

Hilda shrieked her laugh as she made the brooms jump upwards, while the water-bucket people tried to throw the contents of their carry-on vessels over them.

William had perceived the tension building up and all kinds of memories shot through his head. At the moment that Hilda made their brooms tilt upwards, a vision of an airshow floated in front of William's eyes, where he had once seen two jets revolve around each other while red and blue smoke came from something on their tail wings. The sudden rush, and the brooms lifting up straight made him apprehend that sensation. The magic that was waking up inside him was caught by the idea. Hilda sensed it also, picked up on the idea and shrieked even harder. As she made their brooms revolve around each other, William made coloured smoke trail from behind the brooms. Purple from Hilda's, yellow from his.

The cheers that came from below and the applause that followed were the icing on the cake that the thrill of the ascent had already provided them with.

"William, that was shiny!", Hilda exclaimed as they had reached the highest point of their climb. She looked back at the smoke that was being chased around by the wind, the yellow and purple mixing and making a stunning show before it disappeared. "How did you do that? Tell me later, we're going to stick our tongue out at Walt first."

They spiraled downwards, without smoke.

"Very nice try, king," Hilda said. "You almost had us there." It wasn't true, but she knew it would not hurt to flatter the king. After all, he was the king.

The brooms swooped around the fountain and then took off into the sky.

King Walt was satisfied. "Next time I'll get them."

"So, how did you get that idea with the circling and the smoke? That was so fabulous!" Hilda made a serious attempt to smile the top part of her head off.

"It was something of my world that sort of just popped into my head. A memory," he said. "And you picked that up quite well!"

"This was fun! We should do things like that more often." Hilda nodded to herself. "You made pretty colours, William. You used magic, you know. I am proud of you for that. If only you could make that more consistent."

"I'm working on that, Hilda. Not very fast, I know, but I do my best. And the fact that this little bitty worked just gave me a good idea. Coincides with your question from before, about how people in my world protect themselves."

Hilda picked up his underlying thought. "By using examples of your world, things you know."

"Precisely. I just have to find out what examples work..."

"Shiny. As long as you don't start experimenting up here, okay? It's a long way down."

William looked at the green earth and the trees below. "No kidding. I'm not going to do anything heroic up here, believe me." They were at least three hundred feet up in the air. "Where are we going after the village?"

"We could go visit the shepherds again. I know they are on a different slope today. Oh yes! Let's do that, I suddenly thought of the most wicked idea!" Hilda beamed at him, filling him in on her plan as they were approaching the village.

There was no market in the square that day. The village look a bit dull and dreary.

"Hood?", Hilda opted to William.

He winked at her, willed his hood on his head and was ready.

"We're going to slowly cruise some of the streets," Hilda told him. "Make them see us. I doubt there will be anything worth doing, unless we make something happen ourselves."

William just nodded, he knew they'd be fine.

Hilda dropped them into one of the streets and hovered them there for a while as she watched the few people who were walking along or working there.

They all knew Hilda the witch and greeted her and William. Nobody was afraid of the woman on the broom, unless they had something on their mind. Hilda had an uncanny gift to pick up on things like that.

Hilda floated them through the street and from there into another one. This second one had a lot of small workshops. Furniture was made, all by hand and beautifully made. William was disappointed that they could not stop so he could have a closer look.

Hilda looked at William for a moment and smiled. She sensed how he felt. They past the shop of the tailor and the seamstress, the house of the woman who cooked for the sick and the elderly and at the end of the street was the shop of Johan the mirror-maker. "We'll go in here," she said to William as they were out of earshot from anyone. "This is a nice person, he makes my mirrors."

Well-trained, William got off the broom and held it in his hand until he knew what Hilda was doing. She winked and simply put hers against the wall of the shop.

"Hello Johan, my favourite mirror-maker!" Hilda came in and it was impossible not to notice her. There were two customers in the shop, who respectfully backed away as the witch and her silent companion entered the shop.

"Honourable witch," Johan said, from behind his work table. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Nah, everything's fine. I just wanted my friend the wizard to meet you. This is Johan," she said to William.

"Hello, honourable wizard," Johan said. He did not come to greet William as he was working on a crucial part of a mirror.

William made a slight bow, keeping his silence. He hoped that was the appropriate thing to do. He had the time of his life, so to speak, to be in this little shop and see what was going on, to smell the real life of this town.

"My friend the wizard may be around for a little longer," Hilda told Johan, "and I thought that it would be good if you meet him. It could be that he needs a mirror in the future, so it makes things easier if you have seen each other."

Johan stared at the man in the blue robe and the black cloak, an equally black hood over his head. "I'm afraid there is not much I can see of your friend, honourable witch."

Hilda frowned without showing it. The man had a point there. Well, there was no harm in this, she decided. The witch turned to William and nodded slightly.

William did the best thing possible: he let the hood slide off his head by using magic. The two people in the shop gasped for air, they were not used to being near witches and wizards, so seeing magic used at such close range was something awe inspiring for them.

Johan, more used to special effects like that, nodded at the 'wizard'. "Good day, honourable wizard."

"Good day, Johan. It is good to meet you." William was at a loss how a proper wizard would address an ordinary he did not know, so he kept things a bit reserved and distant.

"Where he comes from," Hilda quickly pitched in, "the magical people are not so keen on telling others their name. He is still getting used to our village."

Johan nodded and William got the hint. "My name is William."

The two people in the shop whispered among themselves.

Johan stared at the two people and tried to shake his head violently without any witch or wizard noticing it. He knew that Hilda did not like it when ordinaries near her were whispering. The two people failed to notice Johan's gesture. Hilda and William didn't.

The wicked witch stepped up to the two people. "Sorry if I interfere. Is there a problem here?"

The tallest man looked at Hilda. "No, no, everything is fine, honourable witch."

"Really. You could have fooled me, the way you were whispering. Don't you know that it is very impolite to whisper with a witch present? Especially this witch?"

"Yes, we do, but-"

"Ah!" Hilda's voice became sharp as a razor. "You know! And yet... tsk tsk tsk." Her wand appeared. "I think it would be very good if you were to wait outside. Don't you agree, William?"

William decided to follow Hilda's lead and made his wand appear also, keeping a rather relaxed stance for now.

Hilda grinned. "And do let me give you a hand..." Her wand twitched a bit, and the man who had talked to her slowly levitated a few inches. She looked at the open door, and the man floated calmly to it. He suddenly found himself outside the mirror-maker's shop and he plopped on the street.

William did nothing but keep an eye on the other man. After all, he had done hardly anything. Well, he had done the whisper bit also.

Hilda turned to the other man. "See... I really have a problem with whispering people. Especially if they are talking about me or my friends. And as you were indeed whispering about William the Wizard, I can only do one thing."

The man felt an invisible hand grab him in the collar, lift him, and moments later he too stood in the street, next to his friend.

"Do call again," said Hilda, "but not when we're here."

The two whisperers stood outside the door for a few more moments, still not sure if this had really happened.

William, curious about the two, was focussing on them. Hilda sensed how he was not paying attention to anything inside the shop. Then there was a very rapid sequence of things that happened.

A strange sensation made Hilda look at William. William looked at the open door and lashed out with his wand. He knew that magic was inside him, it acted through him. He had an idea of what had happened.

"What?", Hilda asked in her direct way. She had sensed the jolt.

"Not sure..." William walked out the door, Hilda on his heels, leaving Johan wondering and stuck with his mirror.

The two men stood frozen in motion. The small man had his hand around William's broom, the tall man had lifted his foot to kick and probably break Hilda's broom.

William's hand, the one carrying the wand, trembled slightly. "I thought I felt their intent and just acted." It sounded as if he was apologising. He felt the power of the magic in his body, it permeated his entire being, and it held the two man where they were.

People appeared in the street, looking at what was going on near Johan's shop. Even Johan deserted his mirror as he noticed there were people gathering in front of his workshop. As he saw the situation, he cursed.

All this happened in less than twenty seconds.

"Okay. Nobody touch them," Hilda said, rather unnecessary. She removed her broom from the danger zone that was the large man's foot, and then she magicked William's broom from the smaller man's hand. "You can release them now."

William's sudden anger that was feeding the magic only subsided slowly. He was certain that a proper wizard would be much more in control. As the hold on them unbound, the two men started moving again, slowly at first and more normal as William's hold fell away. It had a dramatic effect which left a profound impression with the bystanders.

30. Things that go bahhh

The two men stared at the witch and the wizard. They stood with their backs against the wall of Johan's shop and kept their mouths shut.

"Very nice," Hilda muttered. "So now we have two people here who are not only disrespectful towards the local witch, but who also find some childish pleasure in destroying the property of the witch. And the wizard." Hilda turned to the large group of people that by now had assembled. "Do you want to take care of these people?"

A murmur went through the crowd. The people were aware that the two men would be better off if the villagers were to punish then, but that it would be awkward for them to punish the two as they had offended the witch.

"I thought so." Hilda turned to the two men again.

William had kept his eye on them, and his wand also, although he was not sure what he could do if the men decided to try and make a run for it.

The wicked witch slowly recited a spell, her wand pointing at the two men. Then she nodded, satisfied. "You'll know what people mean by 'I smell a rat'," she said. Hilda winked at William. "We're done here."

The gathering made space for them to mount their brooms, and they took off, leaving the village behind.

Once they were airborne and without a doubt out of hearing range, Hilda almost jumped William: "Suck an elf, William, how did you do that? How did you know that?"

"Do you believe me when I say I don't really know?"

"Hmmf. In your case I'll have to," she said, not happy with the reply. "That was one magnificent action, William. If you had done that in full control of magic, I would have been terribly proud of you."

"Oh, thank you very much," he grinned.

"Oh, shush you, I'm now just averagely proud of you, live with it." Her shrieking laughter sounded almost nice in his ears.

William then asked Hilda what she had mean with the 'I smell a rat' phrase. "It does not make any sense to me."

"Oh, that. Just petty stuff really. By the evening these two men will be smelling bad. And I mean really bad. Nothing like a small token of my not appreciation for what they tried to do. It is highly insulting if an ordinary tries to damage or take away the property of magical people, William, and don't forget that."

"Uhm, I think that there somehow is that awareness inside me. Not sure where it comes from, but when I noticed what they had in mind, I reacted before I could think. As if the wand was directing me."

"That, my sweet man, is impossible. A good wand will amplify you, but not direct you. The wand you have was Gerdundula's, and she would not let a wand direct her. What happened came from you, take my word for that."

"Hilda. I believe you. I have not doubted you so far, and there is no reason for me to begin now." William looked at Hilda and seriously wondered about something.

"What is it, William?" Hilda startled William slightly. She had sensed his unease through the link and reacted to it.

"The feeling that came over me. The thing I reacted to back in the village. Is that something brought about by magic?"

Hilda thought about the question. She had never wondered about things like that one, it had always been a part of her. "Maybe it is coming to your surface because of magic. I'm not really sure."

As they were going over possibilities and improbabilities that way, they were approaching the new slope where the shepherds were herding their flock of sheep.

Hilda brought the brooms to a halt. "I have to tell you my plan for them for the day. They always expect me, us now, to launch some kind of attack. They're always waiting for it, even if they soil their pants about each one. I have a different tactic for today, shake them up in a different way..."

She shared her plan with William, who couldn't help but love it. "That is so wicked, Hilda."

"Isn't it?" Her face radiated her being thrilled with the plan. "Give it your best, sweet man, I'll love you extra for it."

William pulled the hood over his head, with his hand this time. Then they slowly flew over the last hill-top that separated them from the sheep and their managers.

The sheep were all gathered near the bottom of the shallow valley. The shepherds and their dogs were having a moment to relax and drink something as they saw the two shapes slowly approach. As they did not anticipate anything happening fast, they were not in a rush to get on their feet. In fact, they knew that whatever they'd do, it would probably have minimal impact on the actions of the witch and her uncanny wizard companion.

Hilda and William slowly and silently circled the herd. They were rather high up and moved so slowly that hardly any of the animals reacted to their presence, and the ones that did just looked up and let out an annoyed baahhhh.

They came close to the group of people who were sitting near a small fire over which the kettle with tea hung from a rugged chain supported by an iron tripod. The men and women looked at the mysterious couple in silence. Some of the dogs jumped up and barked at the strange flying apparitions. One of them even walked along with them, looking up as if it was expecting something.

The shepherds talked among themselves. This was not the way the witch acted. Would there be something wrong? Or perhaps it was an effect of the wizard that was with her?

As the group was indulging in their guessing and discussing, William and Hilda completed their round along the herd of sheep. In silence they hung in the air, exactly opposite the camp of the shepherds that tried to be very inconspicuous about keeping an eye on them.

Hilda turned to William. "Let's go make pretty colours, my sweet man."

William grinned and felt mischief bubbling up inside him, something he had not felt for ages. He let his mind slide into a mood, envisioned something happen.

Hilda watched William's face and was delighted to see his grin slowly change into a wicked smile. "Oh, yes, that is the attitude," she whispered. Coloured smoke appeared behind their brooms, and she made them move over the herd of sheep.

In a slow slalom they passed over the sheep, William creating the coloured smoke and Hilda directing their course. The shepherds were now conspicuously watching the two, eyeing the smoke that spread out over the herd and not knowing what to make of that. Their surprise would come later.

After flying over the herd just once, the two brooms pulled up, the smoke stopped coming from the ends, and then the witch and the wizard left the valley.

The shepherds walked into the herd. To their shock they found that the smoke had not only been smoke. They had many sheep now with purple and yellow wool.

Hilda shrieked with laughter as they sped over the trees on the way back to the house. "Are you sure that the colour will go away again in a few days?"

"Hey, I'm still in training, I'm sure of nothing," William grinned. "I did have the intent for that. Maybe we can go back in a few days and have a look."

"Bad plan, William," the witch said. "It would make us look curious. It's better to have a look through the mirror and see if it worked."

"Oh, right, the mirr-aaaahh!!!" William had not intended to end his words like that, but his broom swept sharply to the side, shocking him. In a reflex he grabbed the broomstick with both hands and stabilised its flight path by pouring thoughts and directions into it. "Goddammit! What was that?!", he swore as he brought his broom back, next to Hilda's.

"That, sweet man, was your beloved little witch. And I have to hand it to you that you picked up this little witch-inflicted mishap quite nicely." Hilda grinned and blew him a kiss.

The man in the black cloak needed a few moments to get the deeper meaning of her words. "You threw my broom off course?"

"Uhuh!", Hilda nodded, happily smiling. "Was that cool or what?"

"I almost fell down. That's a new approach to cool," William frowned.

"But you're still flying, sweet man. Do you think I would have let you fall?"

"No, you wouldn't. I am sure of that." William nodded.

"Well, that's good. Come, we're going down." Hilda pulled her broom in a shallow descent, flying ahead of William and landing nice and gentle on the grass in front of the house.

William landed right behind her. "Thank you, sweetheart."

"Thank me? For what?"

"For making the landing a nice one."

Hilda grinned. And grinned harder, until she stood laughing, her broom bobbing next to her.

"Did I say something funny? Or do I have cream on my nose?" William wondered what her source of entertainment was.

Hilda caught her breath again. Still snickering she walked over to the man and hugged him. "You really didn't notice, did you? Since I shook your broom, you were in control of your flight. You also landed the broom yourself."

"You-... I-... What?" William had put his arms around Hilda and stared into her grinning face.

"Yes, you I what. Exactly. And you did that so well! Come, we'll fly again and this time you will fly by yourself. You can do it, William." Hilda had her hands on his shoulders, gently shaking him. "I had to shake your magic awake, William. And I will do that again, until you accept it fully as yours."

The witch sensed his uncertainty.

"Magic awake? But how? I mean, I don't feel any different, Hilda."

"You shouldn't feel different. That is the magic of it." Hilda frowned a moment, as she considered her choice of words. Then, with a wicked grin, she picked up his broom and pushed it in his hands. "Here. If you can get it up, you get to make love to me tonight." She giggled as she quickly jumped to her broom, hopped on it and scooted up into the air, way out of his reach.

William considered the object in his hands. One side of his mind was telling him that this was idiocy, that he would not ride a broom ever by himself. The other side though, the one that had experienced the thrill of the flight and longed for more, yelled at him not to listen to the unbeliever in his head, to get on the broom and fly, fly, fly! The unbeliever lost. William got onto the broom, grabbed the stick with one hand and felt the thrill of the lift-off inside him. The broom responded by making the feeling a reality, and he was in the air. Not as gracefully as Hilda managed, but he was in the air. He was sitting on the air-cushion. And he directed his broom to the witch overhead who was watching him come towards her.

Hilda knew that a gate had opened inside William. He was accepting his magic now. The way he got on the broom, the feeling she sensed inside him, and the relative ease that brought him in the air made her feel good. She waited until he was next to her, as she had a smile waiting for him, and a kiss.

"You are becoming a wizard, William," she said, after delivering the goods. "Come. We fly." She headed out, in front of him, leading the way.

Mere seconds later William followed her, not afraid, in control of the broom and the motion, only subconsciously aware of the small currents in the air around them and reacting to them. There was just the flight, the witch that he loved, the air and the wonderful new world below them.

31. Home improvement

In the days that followed, William's flying skills improved rapidly. He was also becoming more proficient in the use of magic in other areas, but still Hilda sometimes despaired at the erratic way his progress continued.

One night, as they had gone to bed, Hilda leaned her elbows on William's chest and looked at his face. His features looked very serene in the candle light, she thought. "I've been thinking," she shared with him.

"Oh god," he responded.

She slapped him. "Hey!" She kissed the spot on his cheek where she had hit him. "Maybe it would be the best thing to try and run off when the challenge is about to happen."

"And you think that will help?" William folded his arms around Hilda and gently pulled her down so her head rested on his chest.

"No. It won't. But it might buy us some time figuring out what to do about it."

"We still have over two and a half months to come up with something," William said as he stroked her hair.

"Moons, William, moons. When will you learn to speak properly- no, don't stop that, at least your hands know what to do. They have understood the magic."

He smiled as he heard Hilda purr like a kitten under his touch.

"You know, William, sometimes you scare me. Just a little bit of course," she said.

William grinned. "Of course." He did not want to hurt her ego nor her feelings.

"The things you do and say... some of them are very sensible. But some things, important things, it is as if you really can't understand them. The simple magic that you have so many problems with. The challenge and Lamador. They are not games, William. These are serious things." Again she basked in the gentle and simple attention of his hands, his presence and his warm body.

"I understand that, Hilda. I do, really. But unlike you, I am still new to this world, this life and everything that goes around. Three weeks ago I was selling books, driving around in a truck from town to town. Now I am living with a real live witch who is a wonderful person to me-"

"Am not. I just keep you because you know how to please me," she interrupted him.

"-and I am flying around on a broom while all kinds of new stuff is coming to me. The magic, I mean, Baba Yaga, king Walt, and yes, the challenge and Lamador." As he spoke that name, he felt how she twitched, if only slightly. "And I remember seeing him in Gerdundula's garden. Believe me, he scared me also."

"Oh. Good," the witch muttered against his skin.

"But I also remember Babs telling you, and me, that there should be a reason that I came here when you asked for help."

"Not that again, William. Please. She just said that because she felt she had to say something."

"I will believe that when you do, you witch."

Hilda leaned up on her arms again. She stared at him with her jet-black eyes. After careful consideration, she said: "I hate you." Then she lay down again. "Now continue pleasing the witch."

"Yes, my lady," he smiled and resumed his handiwork. It was not long after that he sensed Hilda was asleep. He rested his hands on her back, used magic to slip the covers over them and slowly he nodded off himself.

"William?"

It was more the soft warmth against his ear that woke him than hearing his name. "Yes?" His voice sounded broken and crackled from the sleepy state he arose from.

"I don't hate you."

A soft kiss on his cheek proved that statement.

"I'll make breakfast."

The comforting warm weight of the witch shifted away, then came back for a moment, followed by a kiss on his other cheek. After that Hilda left the bed for real. William wondered a bit about her behaviour, as he so often had done before. And this time too, he told himself to stop that. She was very much her own person: unpredictable, wild at heart and, once you got to know her, amazingly tender at soul.

The wizard under construction slipped out of the bed and made his wand appear. He thought of a housecoat, dark blue and velvet. It appeared and he smiled. The wand gone again, he put on the housecoat and slowly walked down the stairs.

"What did you do?", Hilda asked from the kitchen.

William grinned. He knew that she would know. That link she had with him was amazing. "I made a housecoat to wear before coming down."

"You did? What colour?!" Hilda came from the kitchen to look at his creation. "Oh!! Pretty!" Then she darted back into the kitchen. "Go sit down, this won't take long."

'A truer word...', William thought as he was passed by a few plates flying to the table. "Hey, kitchen witch, you are overdoing things!"

A chiming laughter from the kitchen was his reward. "I'll be right there with the tea."

William sat down and grinned. She had food done in the blink of an eye and tea was the hard part of breakfast.

Hilda came to the table, the teapot floating in front of her. "Hot hot, be careful," she warned him. Skillfully she filled the cups and made the pot land on a thick clay coaster.

Over breakfast, Hilda asked William if he had a problem with staying at home for a change. "I don't want people to think that I am in any way relying on you or so. They have to know that I am a solitary witch who handles her own stuff."

"Even when you are now living together with me." He winked.

"Well, you are not a witch, so in that respect I am still a solitary witch," Hilda said, making a point.

"I'll be fine here, sweetwitch," William nodded. "Just you go out and do the things you are good at. I have books here, and the house to talk to."

"If the house wants to be talked to," a low voice remarked.

"Of course, that is a requirement," William grinned.

Twok.

Something that was not a sound but more a sensation of discomfort or hindrance seemed to flash through the room momentarily.

"What was that?", William wondered.

"The mail," commented the house.

"I know that, but the feeling right after that?"

There was no reply, so William shook his head and pushed the issue to the side.

Hilda was ready to go. "Behave, okay?", she cautioned William, a blue twinkle in her eyes.

He put his arms around her and patted her behind. "I will. Don't worry. And you'll know when something is wrong."

"Yes, this is true," she nodded. "A very reassuring thought." After a last kiss she left the house.

William saw her speed off into the air, looking through the window. A thought surfaced again, one that had been in his mind for a while already. He went up into the bedroom of the witch and sat down on the bed. The wand appeared in his hand.

"Okay, house, I think we need to talk. House to man."

"Do we?", the house asked curiously.

"Are we having fun?"

The voice of the witch came from somewhere above him. William opened an eye, encountering darkness still. He lifted the book from his face and saw Hilda hovering over him, looking down. "Ayup, lots of fun, and with you there it's even better," he said.

"All right. I am convinced you feel the need to explain the change. And what's that thing you are sitting on? Or lying?" The witch landed her broom and curiously eyed the sunchair William occupied.

He got up from it and explained what the thing was. And also that it had taken him over a dozen tries to get it right as he had never taken a serious interest in the making of sunchairs. "But I think I have the trick down now."

"That's good," said Hilda who sat down in the chair, "if you make another one you can sit also. And while you are at it, you can tell me what that pole is near the door."

William already had his wand ready to make a new sunchair. "That is for the house."

"Oh. For the house." Hilda looked at William as if she assumed him to have gone slightly bonkers.

"Indeed. We had a good talk, and it told me that it is getting fed up with the arrows being shot into it. So I thought it would be a good idea to put up the pole, so the mail-archers can shoot their arrows in there."

Hilda stretched herself in the chair. "This chair is a really shiny idea, sweet man, but I am not altogether overwhelmed with the pole. It's in the way for a fantastic broom approach, for one. And are you going out to it when the weather sucks?"

"Okay, not such a good idea then," William said. He worked his wand, and another sunchair appeared.

"I want that one!"

The chair was purple.

William grinned. "I'll think of something else then, for the arrows. Perhaps just a wooden board they can aim for, that hangs next to the door."

"Yes. That's more like it," the witch said as she sat in the purple sunchair. She did not make it clear if she meant the board or the chair. "As long as it is purple." That too did not help William. "Looks like you've been biding your time, sweet man, your magic is much better already. Been going around the books? Or practicing? I sensed you were busy and having fun, made me grin too."

Hilda sat with her eyes closed, enjoying the sunshine on her face, patting the armrests of the sunchair.

"You know, if the magic wouldn't work out after all, you could get into business with these chairs. I'm sure many people would love them."

Willaim sat down next to her. "I don't think, sweetwitch, that we have to worry about the magic." He told her about the things he had been reading about, in her books as well as his own. The special book with the silk scarf was now making more sense to him, as his magical insights were expanding. Even Hilda's books, and those had been extraordinary to him at first, now started to become legible and understandable.

Hilda reached out and took his hand in hers. "I am glad about that, sweet man. So are you going to provide lunch?"

William provided lunch, they did enjoy it inside. As they sat eating, he told her about some of the things he had done and learnt in the morning, and she shared her experiences of doing the rounds.

Hilda looked at William. "There is something that you are not telling me. And don't play innocent, because I know this. And you know that I know, and I know that." She frowned for a moment, tracing back her words and nodding to herself. It fit and made sense.

"There is something I have not told you yet, that is a fact. It is a surprise and I hope you like it because it took me a lot of talking and persuasion."

"Oh? What's that?" Hilda was curious and sat up straight, her face shining. "Come on, tell me!"

William said: "I'll show you after lunch."

Hilda got up and held out her hand. "I'm done. Now show me." Her plate wasn't even half finished. As William looked up at her, she added: "You're done too, so you can show me. Trust me."

He could not resist the blue sparkles and got up. He took her hand and guided her up the stairs. "Now, the surprise will be best if you close your eyes."

"Close my eyes? Then how am I able to see it?" Her face betrayed doubt but she also was eager to find out what he had in store for her.

"Now it is your turn to trust me, Hilda. You close your eyes, I guide you and then I tell you to open your eyes again."

She sighed and closed her eyes. "This'd better be good. I don't like walking around with my eyes closed."

William opened the door to the bedroom and led her inside. "Okay. Look."

Hilda peeked through one eye, through both eyes. She turned round, taking in her bedroom. Her survey ended as she looked at William. "It's purple!!!" She jumped up and made a serious attempt to take William's head off, pretending it to be a hug. "How did you manage that? The house never wants something other than white, black and red!"

"It was a trade, a purple bedroom for no more arrows in the wall. That is why I put up the pole," William managed to squeeze out, tapping her on the shoulder.

"This is so shiny!", Hilda tooted in his ear, then planting a big kiss on his lips. "I'm not sure what you and the house have been talking about or so, but this..." Her eyes were almost more blue than their usual black.

"You know, I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed of witchcraft, but I have certain abilities that come in handy now and again," William smiled.

Hilda got her feet back on the ground and looked at him as in a daze. "Now you're talking gibberish again. I don't have a shed here, and certainly not one with tools. I have a wand, you see, that's enough."

Now William laughed out loudly, shaking his head about the fantastic convoluted interpretations of normal expressions that he was used to.

"Hey, no laughing at the resident witch!" Hilda slapped him on the arm, in a futile attempt to stay serious, but her happiness over the purple room made it impossible for her to keep a straight face.

"I hope you're happy now," said the house, as William was not able to speak for a moment.

"Oh! I am! Isn't he sweet?" Hilda grinned, wrapping an arm around William.

"I shall refrain from commenting on that. I can only state that he drives a hard bargain."

"I don't care about that, as long as the room stays like this. Also next time I paint you, do you hear me?"

The house did not respond. It had already agreed to that; it was below its dignity to make that promise again. "Someone is approaching the door," it said instead.

Hilda and William walked to the window, seeing indeed someone come closer to the house. It was one of the villagers, obviously.

"He looks not happy," William noticed.

"None of them are when they have to come here. Usually means trouble." Hilda quickly made her way downstairs, so she could open the door just before the visitor could knock. That always made a great impression.

William, wondering whose trouble it might be, followed her down but kept away from the door.

32. Missing

The man had walked all the way from the village, as fast as he could. His face was red, he felt warm and tired. But he had been appointed to go to the witch and tell her the bad news. As he finally saw the house, white and black and red, he was relieved to have made it. But also doubt crawled onto him. What if she took the news in a not so friendly way... He was not ready to leave this world and move on to the next one...

Thomas straightened his clothes, patted the green streaks from his dark pants as well as he could. Then he walked to the door, raised his hand and almost jumped back two feet as the door opened before he had touched it.

"Hi." The witch stood in the door opening, staring at him. "What's up?"

Thomas grabbed his cap from his head and, crumpling it between his hands, he stammered: "Honourable witch, my name is Thomas. I was sent here from the village, with a message."

"And that is?" Hilda, still jubilant over the new colour of her boudoir, was in a very good mood. "Just tell me, I'm not going to eat you."

Thomas wasn't all that certain, so he stepped back a bit more. "The sheriff of the village wants to inform you, honourable witch, that one of our young witches has disappeared. Her parents are very worried because nobody knows where she is. All her belongings are still in the house of her parents, there was no young man known that she would have eloped with, and we have tried to find her."

Hilda's cheerful mood dropped to something far below freezing. "A witch has gone missing?"

Thomas' cap was wrung out again. "Yes, honourable witch. So we hope you will help us find her."

"Go back to the village. We will be in the market square in an hour."

Thomas bowed and turned to head back.

"Hey. You look hot. Here is some water." Hilda held out a flask towards the villager, who cringed as he came close to the witch to accept the water.

"Thank you, honourable witch." Then he turned as if Baba Yaga was chasing him.

"Crappedy crap," said Hilda as she closed the door and looked at William. "Did you hear that?"

He nodded.

"We have to help them. The witches in the village are not dangerous, usually do herbs and love spells and that. Nothing big. But they are witches, and I feel bound by honour to help."

"I am with you, Hilda. Anything we have to prepare?" William did not waste time, and Hilda appreciated that.

"No, not really. Just make sure we look good, and wait for Thomas to get back and round up all the people who can tell us something."

The getting to look good was easy. The waiting was not.

They arrived on the market square. Thomas was there, as was the sherrif of the village, whose name was Alfred.

William flew behind Hilda, as she was the experienced one. They had agreed that he would follow in silence, and only talk to Hilda when she asked him something.

"And wiggle the link when you want to say something, I'll feel it," she had reminded him.

"Honourable witch, honourable wizard," Alfred said, bowing to them.

"Drop the titles for now," Hilda said, "let's get to the point."

"Oh, certainly." Alfred pointed at two people, a man and a woman. "These are Victor and Tessa, they are the parents of the witch who has gone missing. The witch's name is Fidelma, by the way."

Victor and Tessa told them when they had seen Fidelma last. "It was two days ago, when she said she was going to visit with some friends."

"The poets and all those, I guess," Hilda nodded.

"Indeed. Sometimes she is staying the night with one of her girlfriends, and then comes back home the next day, so yesterday we were not alarmed yet. But when we asked around yesterday evening, nobody knew where she had gone. Fidelma had left for home the same evening, they all told us, but she never came home."

Tessa started crying, her husband taking her in his arms for comfort.

"Where did she stay? And I want to know what path she would have taken home," Hilda said.

William was impressed with the way this otherwise so silly and wicked witch was taking charge.

The villagers led them to a house in the more silent streets of the village. That was where Fidelma had been visiting. The occupants of the house, a mother and her daughter, both said that Fidelma had left around dusk.

Hilda muttered a few things only she understood and flipped out her wand. William waited, not having an idea what she was going to do. Hilda tried to locate if there remained even the faintest trace of magic that Fidelma the young witch would have left behind. Wherever young and untrained witches go, they leave a trail of their magic.

She found nothing. "Too long ago," she muttered, "to crapping long ago. William, can your wand pick up something of a magical trail here?" Hilda had little hope that he could, but given the erratic way his magic bounced all over the place, he might actually get lucky.

William, his wand in hand, tried to find something. He relied on the wand entirely as he had no real idea what to look for. His results were the same meagre ones that Hilda had turned up: nothing.

They then followed the most obvious path to Fidelma's original goal, the house of her parents. The witch and the wizard in training kept their wands out, trying to find something that might give them a clue. At the turn towards the house, Hilda for a moment thought she noticed something, but it was there and gone and after that she could not pick it up anymore. That annoyed and disturbed her, but even those emotions were not good in finding the trail back. William plain found nothing.

The last thing they could do was to inspect Fidelma's room. In there they found plenty of magical traces, even William noticed vibrations there that could only be attributed to magical work. But those did not give them any pointers to what Fidelma had been up to. Her room was neat and tidy ("impossible for a proper witch", Hilda commented on that) and there was no sign of a struggle or a hasty leaving.

William looked around the room and noticed something. Something he had to ask Hilda about. Before he had to try anything, she had already picked up his feeling and stood close to him.

"I see no crystal ball," he whispered, "maybe that is some help? She may have it with her."

Hilda's expression changed to something that could be described as pride for a moment. "Very good, William, well observed. But witches like this have no crystal." Then she turned to the parents of the missing girl. "We are sorry that we cannot locate her this way, it has been too long ago. But we will ask around andlet you know if we find out something."

Tessa, Fidelma's mother, nodded, her eyes red from crying. Victor just stared at the magical couple and nodded. It was clear to everyone in the room that he was about to burst also, he just fought it until he was alone with his wife.

The searchers, magical and ordinary, left the house to give the worried parents some time alone and deal with their grief over the loss of their daughter.

William and Hilda got on their brooms. The witch told the sherrif that they would inform him about any news also. Alfred thanked them and then the villagers saw the couple lift off and fly away.

"We'll have to inform the witches that are around," Hilda told William. "The real ones, not the fluffy ones."

"The ones with crystal balls," William understood.

"Very good," Hilda nodded. "They may be able to help with this. But I have a strange feeling about the girl's disappearing..."

William looked at the wicked witch and he was worried that his notion was the very same as Hilda's.

Hilda looked at the wizard-to-be. "You think the same thing." She had picked up his thought. Lamador.

It would not surprise them if the wizard who had sent the challenge and who had taken Gerdundula from her home was now making his point even more clear. Reaching out and taking a flower-witch from the village that was so close to Hilda was a sign of him looking down on her in the most disdainful manner.

"I hate him," Hilda said. "He is making the challenge even worse this way, showing his superiority by taking people away. I wonder who will be next."

"If you knew, what would you do?", William asked her, thinking about it himself also.

"I wouldn't know, do you believe that? He'll either send an army of Grizbles or come over himself. Either way we're doomed. You and I together can take on several dozen Grizbles, but what if he sends a thousand? I am sure he can do that."

"But if you ask Babs for help? And this other one, that you went to visit a few days ago? Cassandra?"

"Calandra you mean." Hilda frowned. "That would not be decent. You fight your own battles."

"Decent? Is what Lamador does decent, abducting people as he chooses?" William almost let his broom slip as his anger about that remark flared up. "Whoops..."

"Be careful, you idiot!", Hilda snapped at him.

"I may be an idiot, but you are a twit if you cling to decency when your enemy is fighting a dirty war!"

"But I'll be a damned living twit, not a dead idiot!", Hilda screamed at William, her eyes flaring red.

"Is that so?", William yelled back at her, "what with the way Lamador is going about, you won't be alive much longer, remember? Three moons? Is that long enough?"

"Don't yell at me!", Hilda screamed.

"Then stop screaming at me!", William yelled.

The people that were working in the fields below had dropped their tools and stared up at the loudly arguing people that were floating overhead.

"Oh, you, go suck an elf!" Hilda was furious now and made her broom jump forward at a scary speed.

"Oh no, you won't," William muttered and sped up also. Alas, his brooming skills were majorly inferior to those of the witch, who had almost been brought up on a broom. As he was reaching a certain speed, there was a lack of experience and an overdose of unreasonable fright. Logically he knew that falling from this height at any speed would be lethal, but logic had nothing up against his basic instincts.

At a more moderate speed he headed back to the house. He was relieved that he could at least find that back, because flying a broom, he knew now, was one thing. Finding your way about from up above was a completely different ballgame. As he landed the broom without too much problems, he was already looking for Hilda's broom. To his uneasy surprise, it was not there. He looked around the house, and inside, but the wicked witch was not to be found.

"Dammit," he muttered. "Now what..." He stared at the sky . No flying witches. He thought of lifting off again to try and find her, but he was not certain if that was a good idea.

Meanwhile, Hilda had sped off and made a dive into the trees. She knew exactly what, how and where, and ended up safely on the forest floor. Her anger was flaring up, she kicked bits of fallen branches around and cursed William into anything bad.

"Who does he think he is," she told off one of the trees, "the guy can barely hold on to a broom and he is telling me about how to go against Lamador. Hah! Everyone knows that you play by the rules." Her rant went on until she got a tweak of severe worrying. It hit her so hard and deep that she stood still and stopped yelling.

Hilda looked around and bit her lip for a moment. All her anger was forgotten. William seriously worried about her! "Argh... that man is getting to me too much! Now he worries about me and I can't even ignore it! Crappedy crap!" She grabbed her broom, walked over to the only spot from where she could fly away and lifted off, heading for home.

The witch circled over the house. William's broom was there, against the wall, so he couldn't be far away. She landed, put her broom next to the one already there and entered the house. There she found William staring at his own crystal ball. "So, what are you trying to do?"

William had not heard her come in and jumped up as he heard the sudden sound. In a reflex his wand appeared. Then he saw who had come in. "Hilda!" He walked over to her, quickly, his wand disappearing. The emotion that flowed from him nailed her to the ground, so she was wrapped in arms before she realised what was going on.

"Hey, whoa, that's enough for now, okay? You had me worried sick when you couldn't find me!"

"No, really, how about that? I come home, you're not here. What should I do? Sit down and read a book?" William put his hands on her shoulder and held her tight.

Hilda looked at the hands.

William didn't care and held them where they were. "Hilda, please listen. I do not want another fight. You know how I feel about you, and I know how you feel about me. We're not seeing things about Lamador in the same way, but let's forget that for now, okay? Just for the evening."

"Hmmf," was her reaction. "And then what, tomorrow? We start this all over again?"

William's hands moved from her shoulders to her face. "No, silly witch. We will work out something that will work for both of us."

Hilda covered his hands with her own. "William, please, I don't feel-"

That was all she could say before his lips prevented her lips from saying more. After a while she started tapping him on the shoulder, and he broke the kiss. "Man, are you trying to suffocate me?" The blue sparkles in her eyes told him that she meant something entirely else.

"No. I couldn't.'

"Can't you try?", she asked, reaching up and locking her fingers behind his neck. "You know... when we were shouting at each other before... I never felt something like that before. That I would have someone who loved me enough to scream at me. Nobody dares that."

"Perhaps Babs does," William grinned as he lifted her up in his arms.

"Babs is different," she grinned. Those were the last words that were spoken in the living room, as soon after that they were in the bedroom. They did not come out anymore that day, leaving it to the house to close up.

33. Coffee

The next morning William and Hilda both woke up hungry. Not eating the evening before proved to be a dumb idea. Arguing about who was going to make breakfast, they came down the stairs. In the end they were side by side in the kitchen and breakfast was done very quickly.

Once at the table, William frowned at Hilda's teacup. "One of the fish is gazing at me again," he said.

"The other one is keeping its eyes on me," Hilda reported from her side of the cup.

"Any idea what they want?"

Hilda shook her head. "I know what I want. Some of that coffee of your world."

William nodded. "I could do with some of that too." A slight wrinkle travelled over his forehead. "You know... maybe... now I have this..." -his wand appeared in his hand- "...I might give it a try."

"I like that idea. I would also like it if you try it first." She smiled her sweetest smile.

"Okay."

"Let me help you," she said. A cup of hot water appeared before William. "It is easier to transform something than to make it materialise."

William grinned. He pointed his wand and thought of coffee. With cream. The liquid in the cup turned brown. Surprise on his face showed he had not really expected it to work. Carefully he took a sip. "Uhm... almost right."

"What's wrong with it?" Hilda already reached out for the cup.

"It looks like coffee. That's all." The stuff tasted like hot water.

Hilda grinned. "That is a problem, you have to consider every aspect."

"I'll try this again then..." William closed his eyes and let his mind drift back to the best coffee he had ever had. As he almost felt it in his mouth, he let his wand do the work. Seconds later the smell of coffee drifted up to his nose.

"Oh!"

The sound made him open his eyes. What he saw was Hilda holding the cup of coffee and smelling its contents, a blissful smile on her face.

She sipped some and then her face was a picture of happiness. "You made coffee!" She snipped her fingers and made a second cup with hot water appear. "For you," she said, smiling.

With a grin he repeated the process. This time it was easier, he found, and soon he too was enjoying some coffee. Real coffee.

"Oh! Finished already!" Hilda stared at the cup. She put it down in front of William. "Will you make me more?", she asked, batting her eyes at him.

He made her more coffee.

After breakfast and a lot of coffee, Hilda sat at her crystal ball and alerted all available witches in the area about what had happened to Fidelma. They all were shocked about what was generally accepted as Lamador's behaviour, but not surprised. Everyone promised to keep a lookout for the missing girl.

Without high hopes for the girl's return, Hilda turned to William who was at the table, reading a book. "Well, they know now. Some asked about you and me also. Urgh."

"And what did you tell them to that?" William had a suspicion.

"That it's none of their bloody business."

The wizard in training nodded. That was Hilda on high defense and also giving away that there definitely was something about her and William. "I assumed so much," he said.

"And what are you doing?", Hilda asked as she came over and leaned on his shoulder. "Oh, studying again. Good little wizard. Do you think you have time to come and do the rounds with me?"

"I am sure I can find some time for that," William grinned.

The flight around part of the kingdom was good. Nothing remarkable happened. They tried to find a few traces of Fidelma, but as they had nothing to start with, that was doomed to fail. They did try it though, as sometimes dumb luck could throw something in one's lap. Dumb luck, however, had a day off.

As they were on their way home, Hilda said: "You know, I am almost getting some confidence in you becoming somewhat of a wizard."

William almost dropped from his broom over this sudden and unexpected compliment from his witch. "Why thank you, sweetheart. I am glad that I am at least living up to the lower limits of your expectations."

She gave him the look. "Normal words, William. Normal words will do. But yes, I am a bit proud of your progress." Hilda allowed herself to think that perhaps the challenge might not be the total loss she had originally thought it would be. With William's help, the way he was improving lately, they might even last longer than just the time it took to enter the labyrinth. She was scared to share that with William though. She was afraid that he would start to feel too confident. It also worried her that she was actually beginning to rely on him. She was the witch who had handled her life herself all the time, and now...

"I really wish there were a library here," William sighed, after they had come home.

"Oh?" Hilda pushed herself into his lap. "Am I becoming boring already?"

William, his arms having a mind of their own and slipping around Hilda, shook his head. "No, you don't have to worry about that, sweetwitch. For now I am still tensing up when you jump around or so. You and boring do not go together."

"Good. I have to know that. Tell me that every day." Hilda pressed her lips on his forehead. "So why the library?"

"The labyrinth. Gurthreyn's labyrinth. It keeps bugging me that we know nothing about that place and the man who built it. Or designed it."

"Oh. That again. Didn't I show you? It is a spooky place, one that transforms itself." A shiver ran down her back, and she was unable to catch it.

William sensed it. "It must really be bad," he said as he pulled her closer for a moment.

"Yes." Hilda struggled herself from his arms and got up again. She did not want him to know she felt vulnerable about that. Not more than he already did, anyway. She sat down on the other side of the table. "There is a library."

William waited, his face showing what he hoped to be an invitation for her to go on.

"It is in the castle of the king. We could go there and have a look around."

"After asking him if it is okay, I assume?"

"No," Hilda said. "After telling him we want to have a look around."

"Oh." William was not used to that approach, but if it worked, why not?

"You really believe that will do some good, don't you?" Hilda rested her head in her hands.

"I do. I know about the power of knowledge in written things, when used in the proper way."

She considered his words. "Right. I suggest we change into something impressive then, and pay Walt a visit."

"Impressive stuff?" William wondered.

Hilda looked William over. She had supplied him with an amazing outfit. It was dark blue, leaning towards black. Again there was silver on it, in patterns that were confusing when looked at too long. It consisted of a kind of tunic with a jerkin over it, both the same dark velvet, and a very fancy kind of baggy trousers. The jerkin stood out as it had no silver embroidery on it. Black kneehigh socks and black shoes with silver clasps completed the outfit. Over his arm he held the black hooded cloak.

"Yes, you'll do just fine. How do I look?" Hilda turned around for him. She wore her favourite impressive bloodred dress that went up high to the neck. It had small white lacy frizzles around the neck. The dress looked as if it had a hoop at the bottom, or a stunning amount of petticoats. Her cloak was the same colour red.

"You look breathtaking, Hilda. Really." William meant it. He could look at her for hours.

"Shiny. Come on then, hop hop." She winked at him and walked to the opening door. Her broom came running after her, a trick William still had not yet mastered.

The dressed-up man stared after her as he held out his hand and made his broom fly into it. "Impossible," he grinned. "I'll never figure her out."

"Ohh!! He loves me!," he heard Hilda's voice chime as she picked up the feeling he had for her as it washed through him.

"And does that in any way affect you?", William asked as he came outside.

"Of course not," Hilda said, her nose in the air and her feet still on the ground. "I am the resident witch, remember?"

He took the resident witch in his arms and kissed her, disabling the unaffectable part of her for the duration.

"If you have messed up my dress, William, you will pay for it," she said when she was not affected anymore.

He looked at her. "Keep your cool, sweetwitch, you look fine."

She grinned. "Good. Come, we'll go see Walt. Maybe he has a bottle of wine for us."

"Uhm? Does he supply you with goodies also?" William recalled the cart with groceries that had been delivered by the villagers.

"No!! He is the king. He likes to give presents." Hilda flashed him a big smile. "His wine is so good, you wouldn't believe it. I sometimes drink it pure..." A blush appeared on her cheeks. "Come, hop, hop. Let's go and see the king about the wine -eh- the library."

They mounted the brooms and gently lifed off, floating away towards the castle.

Hilda did not feel like racing. Calmly they flew along, with her pointing out things in the area that she usually had no time for. "See the strange lump of stone over there? That used to be a fortress. I don't remember who built it, but I have heard it belonged to a very brave knight."

There were rivers with beautoful names like Troubled River and Moon River that had legends attached to their origins. They passed over a forest with black trees which was aptly called the Black Forest, and that also had a long story dedicated to it. Hilda gave him the telegram-versions of each, as they did want to make it to the castle that day, but William enjoyed the stories.

"I hope that someday you will have the time to tell me the stories the way they really are."

"Maybe. I am not such a good story-teller," she said, shaking her hair back and making it fly in the wind. "Oh, there it is."

William had already seen the highest tower of the castle appear behind the mountainous hilltop.

34. Power of books

Hilda threw William by landing in front of the castle gate, the official entrance. No harrassing guards, no screaming or flipping over walls. Instead of all the fun stuff, they walked to the guards, brooms bobbing behind them.

"We would like to see the king," said Hilda.

William had never heard her like that. He wondered what other surprises would be waiting for him.

"You're kidding me, aren't you?", the guard asked.

"No. We want to see the king, and if you don't find a way to announce us, we'll handle that ourselves. Suck an elf, the guards here aren't only out of shape, they also appear to be severely retarded." She pushed her way past the man with the partly iron outfit.

William bit away a snort and followed Hilda without a word, leaving behind the guard who was trying to grasp what had just happened.

Hilda had been to the castle many a time. She did not head for the main entrance of the large building, where another couple of tin men were standing, watching the two ominous figures approach. The witch turned into a small path that led along the side of the immense building and then put her broom against the wall. "You can leave it here, it will be safe."

William saw her push open a small door, something that more appeared to be a servant's entrance than a door fit for a person of standing. It was however without a doubt that Hilda was flexible when it came to things like this.

The door led them into a tiny room from where a door gave them passage into the castle.

"Just follow me and look like you know what you're doing. Or put the hood over your head," said the witch.

"And you?", he asked as he pulled at the hood.

She grinned. "I know what I'm doing."

They entered the castle, which was yet another new experience for William. The long hall with its polished marble on the floor and large and mostly ugly paintings on the wall; servants walking around minding their own business.

William stopped and gazed at an extraordinarily hideous painting that showed nothing but black streaks and grey blots. Hilda joined him. "Fucking ugly, isn't it? Is made by one of the Repressionists. I really don't know why they waste paint on stuff like that. Come."

They walked down the seemingly endless hall, to end up in another one. There was a staircase at the end of that one, which they ascended. William followed the witch to a set of double doors of insane height. She pushed them open and walked into an empty room.

"Crap. He moved again. I hate it when he does that." Before William could even think a question, she turned to him. "Shush you. I still know what I am doing."

"What are you doing here?" The voice belonged to a servant in a red coat, white trousers and a round face.

"We are looking for the king." Hilda looked him up and down. "And you are going to take us to him."

"Am I?" The servant obviously had different plans, but as he saw the wand appear in Hilda's hand, his priorities got reshuffled. "Of course I am. Please, if you will follow me, honourable witch..."

The man in red and white led them down the stairs, back through the corridor they had come down from and then knocked on a door. "Ehm, sire, are you in there by chance?" With a stupid grin he looked at Hilda and the hooded man in the black cloak. "He sometimes isn't in there."

"And I'm not now either," the voice of king Walt echoed through the hall as he came walking up to them. "Grimhilda, dear witch, welcome to the castle. And William the wizard, you too are most welcome here!"

After this welcome Walt waved the helpful servant to follow him and then ushered the magical visitors into a cathedral-like space that he called the sitting room. The servant received the ungrateful order to quickly get some glasses of wine from the cabinet in the far wall.

The three sat down in sumptuous chairs made from mahogany, on cushions made of white silk. The woodwork was craftfully carved, showing magnificent shapes of either exotic or fantasy-creatures. William hoped the latter.

Then Walt asked to what he owed the visit of two such distinguished visitors.

Hilda looked at William, allowing him to take the lead.

William explained that he was interested in the labyrinth of Gurthreyn. "I have heard things about it," he told the king, "and I hope there are some things in writing about it in your library. In which case I also hope you will allow me to see them."

Walt nodded. "Gurthreyn. Yes. I've heard of it. Nasty place, nasty place. Not too many people are fond of places like that."

The servant arrived and brought the wine. He was only slighty out of breath; he seemed to be in good shape. No wine had spilled from the glasses either. After serving the king and the guests he retreated back to the corridor.

The witch and the semi-wizard toasted to the king and sampled the wine. Hilda made sure she would be able to fly back on her own powers, of course. William noticed it and winked at her. The wine was, as Hilda had already said, fabulous.

"Well now," Walt said. "The library. Of course, a wizard of fame like yourself, who knows an outstanding witch like Grimhilda, is welcome to peruse the royal library as long as you want. I am sorry that I cannot offer you a librarian. Some mishap regarding the queen that caused him to leave my services. But if that is not a bother then I will call a servant to show you the books."

"That would be no problem at all, sire," said William.

"Good, good." Walt clapped his puffy hands and the servant appeared again.

"Sire?"

"Show these good people to the library, will you? And do give them a few bottles of wine. It must be dusty down there."

"Very well, my king." The servant made a bow and waited.

The 'good people' got up, glasses in hand, and thanked the king for his hospitality and cooperation. Then they followed the servant to the basement where the library was located.

William was like a kid in a toy store. The number of ancient books, scrolls and manuscripts was enough to fill Hilda's house twice.

"I will bring you some wine," the servant promised, and disappeared quickly.

"He must have a problem with books," was Hilda's sharp observation. "So, sweet man, where do you want to start? Plenty of books, but without a librarian this is a little on the plentiful side, isn't it?"

William savoured a sip of wine and then stole a kiss from Hilda, as they were alone in the library anyway. "Let's find out if the librarian understood his trade," he then said.

"If there is a system in this," William groaned after several hours, "I don't even want to know how it's set up. The man's brain must have had much less consistency than that of an orangutan."

On the table in front of him lay two scrolls, ancient things, that mentioned the labyrinth of Gurthreyn. Hilda had walked around the library lots of times and she was reaching the stage of terminally bored. William knew that it was time to hurry. "I wish I could take these with me," he sighed. "The writing is difficult to read."

"Then take them. Walt won't miss them."

"I can't. That's stealing."

"We'll bring 'm back later, does that sound good? And otherwise you copy them." Hilda whisked her wand over the table and there were four scrolls. "See, simple. You really have to a lot learn, William. Now I really hope we can go home soon, I'm getting fed up here."

William grinned. "You are good, lady. You are really good."

"I know," she grinned. "Can you take those and the bottles, or do I have to shrink them?"

"Hmmm..." William looked at the two scrolls and the four bottles. The servant had been overzealous. "Let me try something..." His wand appeared and a gleam came to his eyes.

Hilda giggled.

He magicked two large pockets in his cloak and made the bottles disappear in them. A simple magical field kept them from banging into each other. He then stuck the scrolls next to the bottles. "I think this will work."

Hilda considered him. "Nice. It lacks elegance, but it gets the job done. Cool puppies, now let's go."

They found their way out of the library and the castle. They exited at a different place than where they had come in, which confused even Hilda for a moment. Then she mumbled something in Latin and soon their brooms came dropping from above.

"Being king is probably good, but being a witch is really better," she grinned as they mounted. "Ready to go?" She did not wait for an answer, but kicked off and lifted to the heavens, William close behind her.

As they were heading home, William pulled his broom next to Hilda's. "Thank you, Hilda, for getting me there in that library, and sitting it out."

"Oh, yeah, you know, I know that you mean well even if you do strange things and say funny things. I help you, you help me, and that way it gets easier for both of us, right?"

"All too true. We're going to make this work." William felt good about the situation.

"Yes, and you're making dinner and I am going to drink another glass of wine."

William laughed and this time did not lose control of the broom. He was definitely improving.

Days came and went. The couple was flying the rounds mostly together. Despite their efforts, there was no trace of Fidelma, which was not surprising to either of them. Hilda was a bit more in touch with her witchy colleagues and friends, while William took time off each day to read the Gurthreyn scrolls. He made notes, compared the information on the two scrolls (which was often contradicting) and after little over a week he had worked all through them.

On the magical side he was not nearly as fast to progress. Hilda occasionally despaired as again he was not able to do some of the most simple and basic things. "Protection, William, protection! When will you understand that, when will you be able to protect yourself?"

His mind however had been more occupied with Gurthreyn than protection. It was imperative though, that he get that bit under his belt also, so now he used as much time to work on that as he had done working on the scrolls.

Hilda was talking to Baba Yaga over the crystal ball, while William was outside working on his skills. The more than occasional oompf's and thuds told her that he was not really making much progress.

"I really worry about him in that respect, Babs," Hilda confessed. "He is doing pretty good in many other ways, scares me in some even, but this protection thing is a puzzle for him. And nothing I do or say seems to help, he's just too pigheaded to understand."

Baba Yaga nodded. "I hear you, Hilda. Has he ever had the need to protect himself in his previous world?"

"Not that he mentioned," Hilda said.

"Sounds like an interesting person then. Let me tell you something..." Baba Yaga and Hilda talked a bit, and Hilda liked what Babs had to share.

35. Protect thyself (1)

William stared at the hostility-emitting trees beneath them. They were on their way to Baba Yaga's hut, a stiff flight and therefore the longest that William had made so far.

"Are you sure we're in the right place?", he asked. "These forests look as if they don't want anyone here."

"That's because they don't," Hilda confirmed with a big smile. "Isn't that shiny?"

Shiny to William had so far meant something else, but then, one was never too old to learn.

"We're not far now, so you can relax. You've done well on the flying, William." Hilda patted him on the arm gently, as not to break his concentration. A crash in these woods was not like plummeting down at home, many of the leaves on the trees wererazor-sharp. "Now do remember to always approach Babs' hut from the front, where the door is. Otherwise it might attack you."

"Yeah, you mentioned that about a dozen times, I think I'll remember," he grinned. Hearing that the flight was almost over did him good. His bones were getting restless.

Finally it was there: the end. Of the flight, that is. Hilda had told William to fly behind her and watch what she was doing. The tone in her voice had made it clear that this was very important. He did as he was told, and in a very weird pattern they then flew among the trees, on a trajectory that did not make any sense. But then, they were going to see a witch. That concept threw any notion or need of sense out the window.

The couple ended up on the short path that led to Baba Yaga's garden. The fence around it was now painted bright yellow and ash grey. The skulls on the sticks were orange this time.

"She's been creative again," chuckled Hilda.

William, even while prepared for the skulls, had to swallow a few times when he came face to bony face with them.

"William, your broom?" Hilda was already standing near one of the four giant chicken legs. Holding the brooms up, she asked the hut: "Could you hold these for us?"

The leg lifted a toe and Hilda shoved the brooms under it. The toe clamped the brooms to the ground, and the witch patted the big foot. "Thank you."

The door swung open. "HILLY! WILLY!"

Hilda screamed for joy, William cringed. He was not a Willy kind of person. Hilda hugged the ugly witch and then it was William's turn, and he had no real option to refuse. After the experience he decided it was not as bad as he had imagined, but he had not been far off.

Baba Yaga let them into the hut and treated them to tea and her personal interpretation of scones. They were like the real thing, only severely larger. Hilda and William shared one and felt as if they had eaten enough for the rest of the day.

Meanwhile, the ugly witch fired questions at William about how he thought he would protect himself. He had no real answer to any of the questions, for him defense and protecion were all rather theoretical and academic issues.

"Oh, really. Well, by the time you go home, you will think differently." Babs cackled, very satisfied with herself.

"You are not going to hurt him, are you?", Hilda asked.

"Oh, no. Not me. And if he handles himself well, he won't be hurt badly either," the ugly witch grinned.

That did not make William feel all that well about it. "When you say 'not me', does that imply you have recruited alternative means to hurt me?"

"Hilly, I've got to hand it to you, you fished up a clever boy," Baba Yaga nodded.

Hilda frowned. "What did you do?"

"Oh, nothing lethal. Grey elves." The Russian witch said it as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.

"The big ones or the little ones?", Hilda then asked. Her face showed some concern, and William was not certain if that was something good.

"The big ones. For now. But first we'll try and talk some sense into him, despite his cleverness."

Again William had the uneasy feeling that had had been demoted to furniture. The two witches together had that one down to an artform.

"So, Willy," the ugly witch made him cringe inside again. "Do you like pain?"

"No. Of course not."

Babs looked at him. "Hmmf. 'Of course not'. So easily said. Some people- but I digress... Good. Now we have that established, you should be aware that pain can come on many different levels. Hmm. Can you think of some?"

William was not prepared for that. "Well, physical obviously. And mental. Emotional."

"How about magical?", Baba Yaga asked.

"I guess so, although I am not sure what to expect by that." William felt an uncanny sensation crawl over his shoulders and he was certain it had a right to be there.

"Oh, don't worry. You'll know when we're done here," Babs did not make him feel at ease. Then, at a speed he had deemed impossible for the witch opposite him, she lashed out and hit him hard on the cheek.

His wand appeared in his right hand as his left hand touched the burning cheek.

"Good reaction, only too late and too shallow," Baba Yaga nodded. "Hilda, you may want to go for a walk, or do something fun around the garden. This might become a bit painful to watch."

"I'll stay for now," said the wicked witch, "and I promise not to interfere. Sorry, William."

"Right then. Willy, come over here with me." The witch stood in the centre of the hut where there was some limited open space.

William was not sure if that was a good idea, but as they had come all this way for this, he had no viable alternative.

"What do your people use to protect their body?", Baba Yaga asked him. Her eyes were probably directed straight at him, but he couldn't tell for the folds of her skin.

"Well, in the old days there were suits of armour. Something that works now would be the outfit of a football player," he thought out loud.

"Good. Good. Can you conjure that up?" As he hesitated, Babs offered that she could provide some material to change; that would be easier than materialising something out of nothing.

A little later William looked at a heap of... stuff. He envisioned the garments he remembered, pointed his wand, and what he wanted was there. The two witches looked at the helmet, the shirt with the broad shoulders, the padding. In relative silence he put it on and looked at his protection teacher. "This would be it, more or less."

"I see what you mean," Babs said, and kicked him in the shin. "Not very adequate yet."

William nodded, the helmet bobbing on his head as it missed straps to tighten it. He took the helmet off, added straps to it, and after a few tries made sturdy leather pants that could take a beating. Or a kicking. Dressed like that and feeling like a complete idiot, he stood and looked at the witch.

"Good, good. A bit cumbersome to put on, but this at least will work against many physical unarmed attacks." She suddenly had a dagger in her hand and slipped that through the shoulderpadding, pricking William's skin. "See? And this little thingy isn't even the sharpest tool there is."

William got the message. "This stuff is not going to do a lot of good, it is?" He wanted to take some of it off again, but his teacher stopped him.

"The clothes are not good, but the concept, the idea is. If you can think of this stuff and add to it that it is inpenetrable, then you've made quite a step forward."

William frowned from under his big Yankees helmet. "Right. That is where I have stranded before."

"William, how do you make the broom fly?", Hilda asked him.

Baba Yaga turned to her for a moment, but said nothing. The question was good.

"Well, I just connect with it and let it know where I want to go."

"Ah!" Babs nodded. "That is good. Connect with this outfit, these strange clothes, and let them know what you want from them."

William closed his eyes and imagined the feeling for the broom. Slowly he worked his way through the feeling, shifted it to the clothes, and then he sensed a change in their presence.

He opened his eyes and saw a small grey object race towards him. It looked like a ladybug, but was taller and fatter. Thin wings carried the five inch long apparition through the air, and did so at an incredible speed. It bumped into him. The impact was silent and massive, but he did not feel it. It was as if the grey elf, as that was what it was, bumped off his shirt without really touching it.

The elf did not give up though. It attacked again and again, hitting William four, five, six times in different places. It did not get to him, as long as he held his screen of massive clothes up. Suddenly the elf disappeared.

With a grin William turned to the two witches and then a solid whack in the back threw him on the floor. A combined attack of four grey elves and him dropping his protection were the reasons for that. He looked up from the floor. "That was not good, was it?"

"I am glad you noticed that." The Russian witch got up again. "Do not drop your protection until you are certain you can. Wear it like a favourite shirt. Now, get up and do it again."

William started to get up but was whacked down again by the witch. "Ouch, damn. That hurt!"

"It should. Did I say you were safe?"

Hilda got up and left the hut. "I'll come back later." She knew that Babs did the right thing, but that did not mean she was happy to see William get the crap kicked out of him.

"No," William admitted. So he reinforced his clothes and then got up. This time Babs whacked him again, with a bolt of energy. It threw him through the hut and landed him against a wall, but it didn't hurt. He got to his feet and stared at the witch, wishing that his feet would hold against another such attack. He was hit from the left by three of the four grey elves. He did not really feel them, but their presence did draw his attention away from Baba Yaga, who banged him with another jolt of power. It made him stagger on his feet, but he remained upright.

"You learn fast, Willy. Just now, understand that you should focus on the place where the most danger comes from." Something that William recognised as a smile formed on Babs' face. The reason for that were the four arms that suddenly materialised from the wall behind him and folded themselves around him, pinning him to the wall in a very professional manner.

"That is not fair," William protested. "Walls don't have arms."

"Are you sure?", the witch asked him. "Sure look like arms to me, Willy. And they will hold you there until you think of something to get away from them." Baba Yaga took a book, sat at the table and seemed to have forgotten about William altogether.

The magic William used was enough to keep the arms from squeezing him, but he had to think of something, and decide on that fast too. Trying to understand what it was that held him did not bring him anything. The magic of the witch was strong, strange. He'd have to counter it with something that would come from inside him, not with something logical or sensible.

"Are you having fun?" Babs did not even look up as she asked him.

"Loads," he replied, making her laugh.

The arms squeezed a bit harder. He knew it. He'd have to figure out something fast; this situation could not last. Then an idea shot through his head and somehow into his magical core. The wall behind him dissolved and the pressure of the arms made him shoot backwards out of the hut. He had anticipated that in the fraction of a second he had for it, and somehow he managed a backward roll and land on his feet. In an impulse he shot at the wall with his wand, closing it up again. Only then he stared at where he was and what had happened.

A shriek from inside the hut told him that Babs was at least as surprised as he was. It also made Hilda come running back to the hut.

"William?"

He grinned a stupid grin. "I got out."

The door opened and Baba Yaga appeared. "Damn, that was good, Willy! Instead of fighting the arms you found a way out. Botch job on fixing the wall, but I'll take care of that."

A small storm of grey elves appeared and all dove onto William, bouncing off his protective sphere. His reaction was to throw even more at them, and many of them smashed into the trees that were around. A slight sensation of paranoia was taking over and he was ready for more. Baba Yaga, as far as he knew now, was the enemy and she was really out to get him.

Of course, she wasn't, but her attempt to get him into a proper mood had finally worked.

Most of the elves that had been slammed into the trees sat on the ground, rubbing their heads and looking a bit surprised. Hilda and Babs knew that these elves could take a beating, so they did not worry about them.

Babs raised her hands. "Okay, William, calm down now. I am not going to get to you for now, until I declare the show on again."

William nodded and dropped his protection. He was however shaken up enough to keep his finger on it, so to speak, so he could pull it up at the slightest sign of menace. From whatever side that might come.

"Fine. Now come in and we'll get some food on the table."

William walked over to Hilda, took her hand and together they walked to the hut. Following another impulse, as they went inside, William patted the wall. "Sorry for the hole."

The two witches frowned. He really was learning quickly.

After having something to eat, William took off the football attire, and they discussed his progress. Baba Yaga was satisfied, but she urged him to keep close to the feeling. "An attack can happen at any time. A challenge is called out, but any idiot can have a go at you. And don't take that lightly, William, an ordinary can shoot an arrow at you and you have to be prepared for that as well. Keep the feelers out all the time. It has to become a part of you."

William nodded. "Like radar 24/7."

"I'm sorry Babs, he often says strange things like that," Hilda apologised for William.

"Whatever works for him," said the Russian witch.

The afternoon went by with William practising drawing up the protection as fast as he could. At first he was granted some time to just get the hang of it. Then the ugly witch tied a funny-smelling cloth around his face and the real challenge for the wizard to be started.

"You will stay here in the garden, Willy," she said. "There are some surprises coming at you from now on, and you will not know when, from where or from whom. Remember that there also can be good things, so try to distinguish them from the real attacks. This is the real thing, here is where you can make points."

William wondered what points they would be and where he would cash them. But that of course implied he'd get some. And so far he was staring into the dark, literally. William held a finger on his protective cover the way he had managed to adopt it, envisioning it as the football attire, with the difference that now he was not wearing it. It also gave him more space to be agile.

Small grey elves now joined their larger family members. Hilda and Baba Yaga were sitting on one of the stone benches in the garden, rocky slabs on stacks of skulls, waiting to see what was going to happen.

The elves did not charge at William immediately. The larger ones, who would be up first, waited to make the man uncertain, nervous. Nobody knew what was going on under the grubby cloth on William's face. Even William wondered about that. There were images of things flashing before his eyes, things he hoped he'd never meet for real.

Then there was something coming at him. He pulled at the energy, to bring up his protection, but he was too slow: the grey elf whacked him in the butt and flew off again, laughing loudly. William cursed under the cloth. He had felt it coming and his response had been curiosity, not safety.

"No cheating, William. Drop the cover." Baba Yaga really kept a magical close eye on him.

With a sigh he dropped his protection, still wrapped in darkness, his hands slightly extended in front of him.

Another elf hit him, and a third. And each time he was just a fraction of a second too late. Each time he missed the blink of the eye, the moment that his consciousness kicked in and wanted to play along. That was, he understood, his Achilles heel. He should switch off his thinking, like on the broom. Just do it. As he wanted to sigh, the cloaking of magical energy flew over him and he heard a soft but distinct "urgh". Then the sound of clapping hands, and Hilda's voice announcing that he got one. Well, that made one out of four.

The elves intensified their charges, and the smaller ones, less painful but a lot faster, also started to add to the entertainment.

William managed to ward off most of the larger elves, but the small ones were just too fast for him, and he was getting tired also, so in the end it was a mere bombardment of elves on him until he brought up the protection and just did not drop it anymore. He felt as if he was black and blue all over.

Baba Yaga called off the elves and thanked them for their support. They stated that they'd had a blast of a time and buzzed off into the black danger they called home.

William took the rag from his face. Even that was punched by many an elf and showed red spots.

Hilda was already walking towards him and hugged him. "You did great, William. Well, sometimes."

"Ouch. Thank you," he replied. "If ever I get my hands on them again..."

"You'll have to learn to be faster then," Babs cackled.

They went inside again, had more tea, and Hilda magicked William's spots away. He was feeling much better after that.

"So, what are you kids doing? Want to spend the night here, or do you want to pop back home?", the ugly witch asked.

"Well, with William tired as he is, I think staying over would be the best bet. It's late already, and I am not sure if I can keep two people in the air on a long fast flight like this," Hilda confessed.

"I understand, Hilly. Okay then, I'll make the guestroom up for you. Consider yourself guests of Baba Yaga!" Babs got up and shuffled through the room, disappearing behind a tiny door.

"Don't make such a face, William. She's nice and you know that. And she loved the company." Hilda, who sat next to the wizard-to-be, rested her head against his shoulder. "And it is nice to be out here with you."

William agreed.

Babs returned in record time. Magic did speed up preparing rooms.

36. Protect thyself (2)

The next morning they all were up bright and early again, after a refreshing night of sleep.

Babs had told Hilda and William they could fool around what they wanted as the room was soundproof, but neither of them really believed the ugly witch, no matter how nice she was.

The attacks this time did not come from elves, but from Babs herself. She made pebbles fly to William, and twigs, and other small stuff. After the third hour William was sweating all over, but he was making large steps in developing his protective abilities. All the small stuff they threw at him, because Hilda was now in league with her bestest girlfriend, was warded off by William. The man, his eyes covered again, stood waiting, now fullly attuned to the magic that lived inside him.

Baba Yaga held up a hand, to make Hilda stop throwing stuff at William. She had a test in mind, if William now passed that, he was doing well. The Russian witch used her wand...

A rather large chunk of a branch from one of the black trees rose up from the ground. It was covered in twigs with sharp leaves. The block of wood did not fly towards the waiting blindfolded man as fast as the pebbles, but it had still a considerable speed. If it were to hit William, he would certainly suffer the consequences. Faster and faster the branch flew.

William sensed and reacted. His protective cover did not appear: it just was there. The branch, coming from his left side, crashed into the layer of magic, hesitated for a moment and then dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.

"Holy Bejeebus," he muttered, ripping off the blindfold. He stared at the chunk of wood. "You witch! You could have killed me!"

Baba Yaga got up. "Yes, but I didn't. And you had an active part in that. You caught it and you stopped it. You did well, Willy. Time for tea and a bath for you. And fresh clothes."

William saw Hilda's shining face, and the blue sparkling in her eyes, and that made everything worth the while.

Over tea and a serious amount of undoubtedly unhealthy cookies, they talked about William's progress.

"I am sure that you'll become a fine wizard, William," Babs said, "just keep up the practice until it is part of you. And you, Hilly baby, keep testing him. Never let him drop his guard. Well, almost never." She laughed a shrieking laugh that made the walls shudder.

Hilda grinned and winked at William. He grinned back at her, as suddenly something deep inside him took over and his shield was there. The wizard looked shocked, the wicked witch surprised, and the ugly witch looked satisfied.

"Good boy."

In the most unexpected moment, Baba Yaga had cast a bolt of energy to William. It would not have damaged him, but a nice little trip to the floor would have been the least promise that the energy held.

William felt slightly shattered. Not because his protection 'mechanism' had worked, but that Baba Yaga had been able to blast him with such power while she was laughing and her mind was seemingly somewhere completely else. His amazement was written out on his face, because both witches grinned.

"Remember, William, this was just in jest. This can and will happen in a serious fight, and then it might be raining attacks, without delay. Remember. And remember well."

William was shaking from the sudden happening and needed both hands to hold his teacup. "Yes. I'll remember. I'll probably have nightmares over it too."

Babs chuckled. "Never hurt someone."

The rest of the morning, they talked about different types of magic one could use for protection, and after a good lunch Hilda and William left for home again. They thanked the ugly friendly witch.

William had gotten over his fear of hugging the woman. "Thank you for the time and the lessons, Babs," he said, and he meant it. He had found all kinds of hidden powers and treasures of knowledge in these days, his confidence had grown.

Baba Yaga patted him on the arm, as she could not reach his shoulder. "Take care. Of yourself, and the pretty one. I'll drop by again and come see how you are holding yourself. Remember, I gave her instructions on how to make your life miserable, and she's going to keep to that."

William grinned. "I'll never forgive you."

"Good. Now go and fly off. And mind the triangular leaves, they're not only sharp but also poisonous."

"And now she tells me," William grinned.

"Guess how you can protect yourself against them." Baba Yaga chuckled, then she waved at Hilda who was already waiting on her broom. William mounted his broom also, they waved back at the dear ugly witch and then William followed Hilda through the maze of branches, on the safest way out of the forest. He had his protection around him, to be safe, and just because he could.

"She is an interesting person," William said as they were flying well over the trees.

"She is, yes, and maybe she will become your best girlfriend also," Hilda said with a big smile.

"Oh, no. There is already someone on that position, and she is going to stay there."

"Oh? Who is- Oh!" Hilda smiled even bigger.

Chatting about the happenings of the past day, the trip home went rather quickly. So quickly even that they decided to swing by Walt's castle. Because, William now knew, it was all about being not predictable.

Their house was silent and waiting for them. Several arrows stuck in the purple board, and William picked them off it as they went inside.

Dividing responsibilities as they should, William went to make dinner, as they had gotten in quite late, and Hilda checked the messages.

"Nothing exciting on the arrows," she said as she trotted into the kitchen where William was making an improvisation on lasagna, lacking the proper ingredients. Whatever he did, magic only went along a certain stretch, so the lasagna turned out acceptable but still a far cry from the real thing.

For Hilda the taste was quite a surprise and she liked it. William refused to make it 'every day', as she requested, which earnt him a pout but also some understanding and a lot of bargaining. They settled on twice a week.

"If the magic business doesn't work out after all, you can start a restaurant," Hilda had a bright idea. "I'd come and eat there every day!"

"And I would be doing that next to making and selling sunchairs," William grinned.

"Of course! People can lay in the sun after eating at your place." Hilda had a solution for everything.

Time progressed... and suddenly there was the new moon. Hilda had been restless all day long, scared of the event. She had told William how she was feeling. He had taken her in his arms many times that day, trying to ward of the uneasy feeling of the witch, but instead of that, her feeling had rubbed off on him and at midnight they both sat outside the house, on the sunchairs, their wands in hand to supply some light.

There were a few candles burning in the house, but those were barely bright enough to show the outline of the windows. Crickets were making a terribly loud noise in the former silent area where the house was. The night air was nice on their skin, still carrying some of the warmth that the sun had left behind.

Overhead, the sky was without clouds. The Milky Way, even if it looked a bit odd to William, had all its stars on display. They seemed so large, so closeby, in this world that was so clean and fresh and - dangerous in mysterious and magical ways.

"It's eerie," she said. "Usually I like this time of the moon. But now it is..."

William nodded and reached out, touching her hand. "The first of three, I know." The short conversation they'd had that afternoon was still replaying in his head.

As if she picked it up, Hilda said: "You were serious, weren't you, to go to the labyrinth and have a look around?"

"Yes. And I still am. I am convinced Lamador will do so as well. Wouldn't even surprise me if he has done it before, and keeps coming back. Knowing the territory always gives you an advantage."

"Yes, it must." Her mind flew back to the last challenge. That had been fought in another labyrinth. "Lamador decided where the previous challenge was done also. And he did not play according to the rules then." She told him about the secret passage the sorcerer had illegally created and how sheer luck in the form of a dumb, bouncing black dragon had saved her and made the challenge end in a draw.

"A dragon..." William looked at Hilda, holding up his wand to see her face in somewhat better light.

"Yes. What's so special about a dragon?"

"Uhm, well, for me the fact that I have never seen one before, for instance. They don't exist in my previous life, as far as I have found."

She shrugged. "They're heavily overrated. They're big, clumsy most of them, and don't give a damn if they squash you by accident. Or intentionally."

"Right. Another thing where protection comes in then." William made a mental note to self about dragons and other unknown creatures. He did not want to know yet in what range of sizes he'd have to expect these beasts.

Hilda looked at William. "You know..." She gave her words some more thought. "Perhaps we should go to have a look at the Labyrinth of Gurthreyn tomorrow."

"You know, woman, sometimes you have marvelous ideas."

Hilda looked at William. Her mouth formed the word 'liar' without sound.

William winked. Equally soundless he said 'I love you'.

37. Trip to Gurthreyn

Two figures dressed in black stepped out of the house. It was still early in the morning, sunlight had not really spread out its rays. The crickets had left the premises a while ago, the brightest stars were the last in packing their bags. A peculiar mist hung over the field that separated the house from the forest. The trees were a black shape, looming, almost menacing in the strange morning light.

"Are you ready?", asked the smaller of the figures.

"Yes. Ready as I can be," William replied. He eyeballed the strange packs that were tied to their brooms, holding all kinds of stuff including the food and water they might need during the tip. Hilda had assured that the load would not make any difference for flying.

"Good. Then we go."

They mounted their brooms and took off, setting course to the east where the labyrinth of Gurthreyn was located. They were in for a long flight. They passed over the queendom of Raghuna, a very mild queen who had remained neutral as long as Hilda could remember.

At first the landscape reminded them of the area where Hilda lived. There were forests and flowing hilltops with grass, and several lakes, although none of those were as special as Mirror Lake. The further they came, however, the surface beneath them changed. Slowly it all became more brown and yellow, looking like tundra or desert-like grounds. Also something of a chill became apparent in the air.

Hilda pointed out a long line of watchtowers along the border of the queendom. "That is a very stable line of warning and defense. Raghuna has like an army of soldier-mages that guard the boundaries of her land."

Soon they had left the queendom behind them and they were flying over literally a no man's land. There were no roads, no towns or villages or people. Just the odd herd of wild animals roaming the area.

"This land connects to the land where the labyrinth is," said Hilda. "The influence of the next land is so severe that no one wants to live in the adjacent lands."

"So there is an enormous ring of unused land around the labyrinth, if I understand you?", asked William.

"Most of it is land, yes. On one side there is a sea. But we are not going there, it is too far for one trip and there is hardly any food there either, so I've heard."

William nodded. "I understand."

After another long stretch over the uninhabited country that became more and more barren and desolate, Hilda announced that they were approaching the vicinity of the labyrinth. "Can you feel it?"

"Yes. I now understand what you meant earlier." Even while there was nothing they saw of their destination yet, all the hair on his arms and in his neck seemed to stand up.

Hilda looked at him. "Yes, I feel that you do." The link that flowed from him to her had already betrayed his unease before she asked him. "We are getting closer. Just so you know. The place is heavily guarded with magic, so ordinaries don't go near it. They wouldn't stand a chance of getting out of it alive. When we enter its inner circle, you will feel it. I hope it doesn't make you want to throw up."

William looked at Hilda. Her face was serious and looked like stone. He feared that she was prone to the throwing up bit, since she mentioned it so explicitly. Moving his broom a bit closer to hers, he put a hand on her arm for a few moment. "We're here together. We'll be fine, okay?"

"Yes. We will." She smiled, but William missed even the slightest of blue sparkles in her eyes.

The look of the land beneath them became more and more dismal, grey, repelling and cold. Hilda felt a shiver run down her spine as they progressed. William understood more and more that the reputation of this place was founded on fact. The uninviting views, the total absence of green and flowers and animals was blatant.

"Here it comes," Hilda said.

It was clear to William that she was referring to 'the feeling'. The moment they would enter the inner circle of the labyrinth. The feeling came like a thunderstrike. It did not build up, it was acute and strong, making him feel as if his gut was ripped out of him, leaving him with a hole inside him and a nauseating feeling. Yes, the feeling of wanting to throw up, he thought, was the only way to describe this.

Hilda's face, not the most tanned already, turned even paler as they hit the strong magical wards of the labyrinth. She had held a magical protection around herself for this moment, otherwise she was afraid she'd pass out. It had almost happened once, and she was not certain if William was able to hold both of them in the air as he was also going through this.

As suddenly as the feeling had jumped them, it left again. The effect of the entry into the circle had perhaps only lasted mere seconds, but they both felt as if they had been through a wringer for quite a while.

"Okay, that was no fun," said William. His stomach was more or less back where he expected it.

"There is more coming," Hilda said, her face expressionless.

In front of them lay the labyrinth of Gurthreyn.

The ground ahead was grey. William would not have deemed it possible, but there was soil, and it was grey. It lay in what looked like layers, lighter shades of grey on top, darker shades of grey further down. It had to be a trick of the light, or an illusion, because despite the impression of layers, the surface was flat, dull and uninviting.

Only a few hundred yards further, there were walls. High walls, like they had already seen in the mirror. Now however, that they were approaching the actual place, it became evident how high and thick the walls were. Several yards thick, at least twenty yards high and in places even higher.

The two people on broomstick came to a halt to observe the immense area that made up the labyrinth of Gurthreyn. The grey rough walls seemed to go on forever, in each direction.

"Holy Bejeebus... how big is that thing?"

"No one knows. They tried to measure it, but it defies measurement. It changes itself, modifies itself." Hilda stared at the colossus. "Last time I was here, this wall was wider, and the left part was higher."

"Can we get closer?", William asked.

"Yes. We can go in there also. It is not charged for a challenge, so it is relatively safe."

"Uhm, 'relatively' safe?" William did not like the background sound in that one word.

"Yes. The labyrinth is considered a living entity and sometimes it has a temper. It doesn't happen often that someone dies in there, or gets wounded though. Not when it is at peace like this." Hilda, for some strange reason, felt less worried and scared as she was explaining this to William. It diverted her mind from her emotions and that helped in making the place less eerie.

Taking on the role of tour-guide, Hilda started moving forward.

William was right there with her. He remembered how she had tried to drink herself into a stupor when they had first discussed this place, so his admiration for her grew in leaps, seeing how she was doing now.

As they moved around the outer wall, they passed by the odd petrified tree they had also seen in the mirror, in the safety of Hilda's living room. It was much larger than William had thought. He directed his broom to fly over the tree, and estimated the top to be about seventy yards high. The grey branches and the immense grey trunk of the tree seemed to depict death if ever he had seen an image for it. It felt depressing, and suddenly he had an enormous desire to leave this place and speed back to the lush and gentle environments in the kingdom of king Walt. He joined Hilda again, instead.

"Spooky, isn't it?" She had picked up his urge to run away.

"Eerie is not even coming close, sweetheart," William said, avoiding to look back to the immense tree.

At a quicker pace they circumvented the gigantic place. Then Hilda led them to a specific place. From a distance they saw what looked like a small gate that would allow entrance to the labyrinth. They touched down close to it, and from that viewpoint the small gate was an impressive double-door gateway, twenty yards high, twenty yards wide. The doors were made of a dark metal. There was large grey symbols on them, William recognised them as magical symbols. He had seen them in some of Hilda's books. Their meaning had escaped him.

"Well... welcome to Gurthreyn, William." Hilda's voice was flat. She too would rather pack up and leave, but they were here to inspect the place. They had not flown for so long, crossing many kingdoms and a queendom, to return home without doing what they had come for.

They put their brooms against the wall. Hilda explained: "We can't take them in here. Won't get through the doors. Which stinks. But that's how it is."

They stared at the huge doors for a while longer. Then Hilda took her wand and touched one of the massive metal contraptions. In utter silence the door swung open. Had it made noise, creaking and screaming, it would not have been so bad. The silence in which it happened made the feeling of ultimate discomfort only larger, more severe.

William and Hilda stepped through the opening. There was a feeling around as if the air had gotten thicker, as if it had taken on the quality of lead in how easy it was to walk through it.

"Use magic to get through it," Hilda warned William. Using magic helped. Once they had entered the main corridor along the outer wall, William faced a tremendous fright. He looked up at the wall and that did not want to acknowledge to his brain that it ended somewhere. The rough grey structure seemed to go on forever, even stab through the grey clouds in the sky.

Then he looked at Hilda. "I am sorry if ever I gave you the idea that this is not so bad, Hilda. This -is- bad. We've been in here just a minute or so and it already scares the jeebus out of me."

"Don't worry about that, William. Just keep yourself together." Hilda had sensed how he was feeling inside, and that worried her more than his doubting her. He had not known, and that was understandable. Nothing than being in this place would prepare someone for the feeling. She took his hand, as much for his peace of mind as her own. Being together and physically feeling that made the labyrinth less threatening.

"Do you want to walk in here for a while?" Hilda squeezed his hand. "Nothing can happen now, please remember that."

He gently squeezed back. "I know. Because you are with me."

"No. Because you are with me," Hilda countered.

William turned to the witch. "No way. You are here, you have been here before, and that makes it better for me."

She stared at him. "Come on, don't make jokes, okay?"

"I am not making jokes, Hilda."

"Hmmf. Don't count on me being the hero, okay? I am just as scared here as you are."

William looked at her again and then pulled her into a hug. "I guess we're both not too thrilled about this place then."

Hilda nodded inside his hug, slipping her arms around him. "I'm glad you can hold me, William."

They just stood there for a while, but somehow it made a world of difference. Once they let go, they locked hands and fingers and walked along the endless wall. For some reason they both knew deep inside, the environment was less frightening.

The couple reached an opening in the wall to their left. The outer wall, on their right side, was as rough and grey as ever. They looked into the corridor that lay on the left side. It seemed to end after a mere thirty yards, but as they were watching, the back of the corridor came towards them. This did not happen in silence. A loud grinding and croaking sound accompanied the huge mass of stone and rock on its journey forward. The wall stopped just three yards from them.

The sound of the wall moving was still ringing in their ears as Hilda and William walked on. William had the feeling that he now understood how an ant would feel in a shoebox. Or perhaps in a box of a more impressive size.

As they walked on again, William noticed that the floor under his shoes was not straight and even, even if it looked like it. It felt as if he was walking on pebbles. When he mentioned that to Hilda, she frowned.

"The floor is flat and stable, William. Is there something wrong with your shoes?"

They checked, but his shoes were in perfect condition. And yet, walking felt to him as if he was moving over something that was next door to a slippery surface. Hilda didn't understand it, and even when she tried to adjust the feeling for him by adding to his magic, it did not make a difference.

"Maybe you are affected in a different way because you are not from here, William. We could go back and fetch the brooms. Perhaps that is easier."

"Uhm, you know, when we go back then it is to go away from here, Hilda. This place is getting under my skin in entirely the wrong way. As long as we're on the move, I'm fine, but...phew..." He let out a sigh that told the rest.

Hilda nodded. "That's okay. I think we're doing well, though. It was a good idea to come here. Maybe...", she swallowed hard and made sure she was willing to say what she was about to say, "maybe we should come back here a few more times before the challenge."

William nodded. "Yes. Perhaps that helps to make the place feel less daunting. That would be a good thing, and really, I am sure that Lamador does that also. If he can go in here and not feel affected just like that, then he is really someone to be extremely scared of."

Hilda wrapped her arm around his and held herself close to William. "He is anyway, William."

"But we have the scrolls about the magician who designed this place," he smiled, showing more confidence than was inside him. Hilda knew that also, but said nothing.

They had been standing still. They did not know if that was the reason, but suddenly they both felt that it was time to leave. Not really in a hurry but definitely motivated to get out of the looming corridor, they made their way back to the giant double doors. Without waiting or stopping they grabbed their brooms, mounted them and lifted off. As they sped up, they did not look back. Without anyone seeing it, the large door slowly and in silence closed itself.

38. Solo rounds

The moment they saw that the colours of the landscape were changing, they both felt less pressured. Even as there were only dull brown and yellow streaks in the grey, it was a sign they were leaving the oppressive area of the labyrinth. They passed through the magical barrier, which again left them with a sickening feeling, but that was no more a problem. Things could only get better again from there on, and once they had reached the point where they felt safe and able to really breathe deeply, Hilda suggested they'd land and eat the food they had brought along.

The packs from their brooms also held simple fold-up chairs and table that William had conjured up before they left, these to Hilda's surprise.

The spot they were in was quite the desert, but the air was clear and not pregnant with daunting magic. The chairs and the little table came in handy, the food and water (which was quickly transformed into tea) tasted fantastic.

Hilda had even magicked up a little fire. "I know it looks a bit silly, but I like to have a fire going already," she had grinned as William was wondering why on Earth she would do that. "Also, in the desert, I know that, it gets cold very quickly."

"Well, that is something we share then, in my old world that is the same thing. But only when the sun is setting."

Hilda nodded. "Same here."

It was only then that William looked around and noticed that the sun was already well on its way to the rim of the Earth. Only an hour at best before it would disappear. "HolyBejeebus," he muttered. "Where did time go?"

Hilda, tossing some more wood on the fire, said: "When you're inside the labyrinth you never know what happens outside. Today time decided to make a run for it. We can't possibly fly all the way back home now."

"Okay... so we are sleeping here. In the desert." William bit his sandwich and looked at the surroundings. There was a lot of nothing.

"Yes. Isn't that cute?" Hilda poured them some more tea, and then whipped up her wand. "Now, let's see..." She made some moves with her wand that were too fast for William to trace. It reminded him of a Zorro movie he had once seen. The difference was that Zorro just left a rough Z in clothing and Hilda's action made a funny little tent appear. There were no lines to hold it up, no visible sticks or poles that held up the canvas of the tent, but hey, who needs those things when you pack magic?

"Now that is convenient," William said. "Not sure if it is large enough for two people, though."

Hilda grinned, blue sparkles in her eyes. "I am sure we can work something out, sweet man."

When night fell, they worked something out.

The next morning, the tent had collapsed on them. Hilda and William had been exerting their energy and focus on things other than keeping their sleeping space intact, so they had to laugh about it when they woke up, and getting the tent back in shape was simple.

They didn't hurry getting up, so when they finally were on their way home, a good chunk of the morning was already behind them. The air was still fresh, and as they were going in the right direction their moods were a lot better and lighter than the day before, when they were heading towards the labyrinth ofGurthreyn.

They crossed over the queendom of Raghuna and finally made it to the kingdom of Walt again. From there to the house in the forest seemed a mere jump.

"Oh, William!", Hilda cried out all of a sudden.

"What's up?"

"I have a most shiny idea!" Hilda smiled from ear to ear. "When we come home, I am going to take a long hot bath, and you are going to fly the rounds! Alone! How does that sound?"

"You are serious about this, aren't you?", William asked.

"Of course! And you can take as long as you want, doing the rounds. It will give me time to become all warm and pink and wrinkly."

William grinned at the thought. "You got yourself a deal. I want to see that when I come back."

Hilda let out her famous shrieking laughter, scaring some farmers beneath them.

The wizard-to-be felt amazing however. The fact that Hilda entrusted him with doing the rounds meant something. "I will change into my blue best though, before I leave again," he said. "People know that by now, I think that is a good thing to keep up for now."

Hilda nodded. "Good thinking. They'll know it is you that way. I can't wait to get home..."

The last leg of the journey was a short one, and they were glad to get off the brooms. Hilda and William together took care of the luggage they had stashed onto the broomsticks. William made the most of his time by stretching himself as much as he could before he was off again.

Hilda had dashed off to the hot tub when he had changed his clothes.

"Hey, witch," he said, knocking on the door, "behave, okay, while I'm gone."

"I will! And William?"

He opened the door, finding Hilda surrounded by purple bubbles and steam from the hot water. "Yes, sweetie?"

"I think we did well back there. And I love you. For doing the rounds after this long ride home."

"Only for that?" William faked a moue.

"Of course! Now get going or you have to make dinner too!" She splashed a handful of pink water at him, that he easily warded off magically and threw back at her.

Grinning, William walked down the stairs, while he heard Hilda laugh in her tub.

As the man in blue walked out the door, Hilda relaxed her knees. The yellow toy dragon she had been holding out of sight for William popped up, covered in purple bubbles. She picked it up. "Ah, there you are. Naughty dragon, hiding where you did!"

She closed her eyes and let the feeling of William in through the link. Doing it that way, she was very aware of him. A smile appeared on her face. "He's proud, my sweet man," she told the dragon without looking at it. "He is so proud that he is allowed to fly alone now."

His exhilaration when he took off came through to her also, and her smile deepened. "I'm proud of you too, William," she whispered.

William had for himself decided where he would go. He was able to find the castle and the village without a problem, as those were the fixed stops on the rounds. He also wanted to visit Mirror Lake once more, the strange silver lake that never seemed disturbed. It had made a profound impression on him, and the memories of the silly splashing were too good not to follow up again.

His approach of the castle was not as bold as Hilda would have done. Not as fast either. He did make the complicated slalom through the forest of towers though and was thrilled that he managed that flawlessly. There was no one in the garden or near the fountain. Of course, he was later than usual, so the king was probably busy with kingly affairs.

Still, William hovered near the top of the fountain, just for the thrill of it, challenging the fates on his own. He let his mind drift, deciding he would entirely trust the magic in and around him to make him respond.

Hilda sat upright in her bathtub, with baited breath and sparkling eyes.

Something happened. The door of the castle moved. William knew. His magical instinct had expanded and grown. As the first inches of water were coming up from the highest point of the fountain, his broom was already moving upwards. The water touched the end of the broomstick, lapped at the tip of his cloak, but he was up and away, out of the reach of the water. He laughed. And he let his magic enhance his laughter, making it boom over the area. It was so loud that he was almost shocked by it himself.

"Squeeeee!", yelled Hilda. She threw the dragon in the air. For a moment it wore something blue.

William knew he had outrun the water and spiraled down to the king who had run out and was gazing upwards.

"Wizard William," he said, "where is Grimhilda?"

William dropped his hood back, using magic. "The witch had other things to do, so she asked me to make sure that things are well. Are things well, king Walt?"

Walt grinned and nodded. "Things are well, William. More than well, as I almost had you!"

"That you did, king," William admitted. "You are improving every time."

"One day, William, one day I will have both of you, dripping wet!" Walt's face showed his joy with the mere thought of it.

"We will celebrate that day, king Walt. And for now, I wish you a good day." William put the hood over his head and flew his broom off, at the highest speed he dared. Not as fast as Hilda could do, but still considerable for someone who was in training for about a month.

"He loved that," Hilda told the dragon and kissed it on its snout. Then she lay back in the water, heated it up again and waited.

William felt good. The first stop had gone well, very well. His adrenalin level had risen on the ride straight up from the fountain chase, and it refused to come down. With wide swoops, as if he was testing the handling of a car, he made his way to the village, keeping an eye on the area in case there was something that required attention, or even intervention. Nothing of the kind was there though, so he reached the village that lay calm and peaceful in the mild afternoon sun. He hovered over the market square for a while, remembering the first action he had participated in while Hilda had wielded her magic with the vegetable thieves. The smile on his face was hidden from the people walking by beneath him.

"Oh, he still remembers that," Hilda said to the dragon. "I didn't know it made him feel so good about knowing me. Do you feel good about knowing me too? Hmm?"

William set course to the more busy streets in the village, where lots of people were now engaged in their shopping and selling. He thought for a moment about floating through one of the streets so people could see him, but he was not certain if that was a good idea at this point.

"Do it, William, do it," Hilda whispered, hoping she could encourage him through the link, even if he did not sense her through it. "Just go to the street, show yourself."

William slowly glided downwards, dropping into a calm spot in the street. What had given him the push, he didn't know. He did enjoy having done it, slowly flying through the street on his broom. He looked left and right, taking in the sights of the people and the stores, the goods in the stalls, the smells and the sounds. People looked at him and nodded, greeted him and made sure he could pass through everywhere.

At the end of the street he looked left and right. Left was very busy, right was relatively calm. His first impulse was to go right and avoid the bustle, but then, if something were to happen it would be in the busy part. So he turned his broom to the left.

"Good boy," Hilda nodded, her head against the cushion that she had stuck between the tub and the wall, her eyes closed, and the dragon floating snout down among the purple bubbles.

A man who was trying to lift the lid off a large barrel was pushed by his mate who did lookout. "Stop. Bad news."

"What? The witch?" The question came in a whisper.

"No. The wizard," the lookout said.

"What's worse," the thief whispered, "witch or wizard?"

"What the hell do I care," said the lookout, "I'm out of here, you wait and find out if you want." He disappeared in the crowd.

William floated up to the man who apparently had a problem lifting the lid from a barrel and for a moment was tempted to help him with some magic. Then he rethought and decided that the man had to handle his own.

The thief, his hand still on the lid, saw the hooded figure on the broom hover in front of him. He knew that the eyes of the magical person were on him and he did not dare to move. The thief knew that the man's gaze could burn right through him. He had heard of things like that happen, and now he was facing a similar fate.

"Next time," William said with a magically enhanced voice, "you will be dealt with." Then he flew on through the busy street.

The thief wet himself.

William left the street and then the village. He raised his broom up high into the air, content with how he had done in the village and found his way to Mirror Lake. He slowly soared over it, looking down at his reflection. There were a few people sitting near the waterline. He decided not make any sudden moves, there was no reason to upset them, he thought. Or was there...

"Spoilsport," Hilda muttered.

Something inside him stirred, rummaged in the box with wicked streaks and served up a grin to his face. In a wide circle he reached the grass and then the broom with the hooded figure jumped forward. William raced his broom over the people, at a height he could certainly not touch anyone. The screams and shouts made him laugh his booming laugh and then he shot up over the trees, heading for the by now certainly pink and wrinkly witch. The people would not forget him.

Hilda had a big grin on her face as she climbed out of the tub and tapped the 'empty' plaque.

39. Responsibilities

William came into the house, holding his broom in hand.

Hilda sat at the big table, a large pot of tea hovering over a candle, a big smile on her face as she saw him come in. "Hello, wizard. How did you go?"

After putting his broom away and taking off the cloak, he sat down. "Thank you," he said as Hilda poured him tea. "I think it went well. I outran Walt's fountain, went through some streets in the village and scared some people at Mirror Lake. Oh, this is really nice tea."

Hilda, supporting her face with her hands, elbows leaning on the table, stared at him with a dreamy smile. "I'm glad you had so much fun, William."

"Yes, it was fun, indeed. With you there too it is better, but this was... special." He winked.

Hilda saw that he was sporting much more confidence about his abilities now. Amazing, after such a simple trip out alone, she thought. "So you actually went and scared people?"

William grinned, a blush spreading over his features. "I just couldn't help myself. I think you are rubbing off on me or so, I would never have done this in my previous life."

Hilda got up and walked around the table. As usual, she squeezed herself between the table and William. She put her hands around his face and kissed him. "Good for you, sweet man," she then said. "It's about time that you loosen up a bit more about all this. the ordinaries have some responsibilities and some fun. We have the big responsibilities so we should also have the big fun."

William looked in her black eyes. There were no sparkles of any colour, so she was very serious. And he understood what she meant. The work of the local witch was not just flying around and doing crazy stuff by challenging the king and his fountain. It also consisted of locating evildoers, taking care of them in a way that they were not harmed (but that might depend on the situation), and handling a lot of issues around the village. Like trying to find the flower-witch that had disappeared, Fidelma. "Yes, I understand that," he said. "I really do."

"I know," she said, and kissed him again.

He slipped his arms around her. She smelled nice and heat seemed to radiate from her. "How long did you stay in that tub?", he asked, and she giggled.

"Very very long."

They sat like that for a while, enjoying each other's presence, until a singing chime sounded through the room. Hilda looked up, frowning. "Ah, please, not now..." She slipped off William's lap and walked to the crystal ball, while William poured the both of them some fresh tea.

"Hi Drago, what's up?", he heard Hilda say. He had never heard of someone called Drago.

"What?!" Her outcry was so loud that William almost slapped his tea from the table. He turned and looked at Hilda, whose red housecoat back was turned towards him. "No! That can't be true!" Hilda turned and beckoned him to come over, which he did.

"Drago, this is William. Tell him what you just told me."

William saw a black face with even blacker hair in the ball. The eyes of the person were red, his teeth scarily white in his black frame. "William," the face said with a short nod, "someone has taken Calandra from her house. I went to visit her and she was not there. It seems that she was taken by force, telling from the state of her house."

The wizard-to-be looked at Hilda who was already staring at him. They both had the same idea of who had done that.

"Any signs of Grizbles?", William then asked Drago, which got him an appreciative look from Hilda.

This seemed to surprise the black man. "No," he said after thinking about it, "not that I noticed anyway. I do have to admit that I didn't pay much attention to that. I can go back there-"

"No, Drago, don't. It is much further for you than for us," Hilda interrupted him. "William and I will see that we go over there tomorrow. I wish we could do that now, but we've already done a long flight today, and then William went to do the rounds after that-"

Drago's eyebrows flew up. "You let him do the rounds?"

"Uhm, yes? Why not?"

"Calandra mentioned something about you and him, and him not being a magical person, so I wondered..." Drago's face changed into a frown. He wondered if he should better have left that unsaid. "Uhm..."

"Technicalities, Drago, technicalities that don't matter now, okay? Point is that she disappeared also and-"

"Also? What do you mean 'also'?" Drago's expression changed again. His face was like rubber.

Hilda told him about the flower-witch Fidelma that had gone missing under mysterious circumstances. "First her, and now Calandra. We suspect that this is all Lamador's doing. I suppose you've heard..."

Drago nodded. "Yes. We all know about it. Lamador is not exactly keeping this a secret, Hilda. And now I also understand the question about the Grizbles..."

Hilda and William nodded.

"Good luck, both of you," Drago said, "I'm afraid you will need it. Let me know if there is something I can do to help."

"Thanks, Drago," said Hilda as the black face vanished, leaving the crystal ball.

"Drago is a warlock. He and Calandra are close friends," the witch explained to William as they returned to the table, William sitting on his chair and Hilda sitting in his lap again. "They are really close. Not like us, but good friends." She started fidgeting with a button of her housecoat.

William knew that this latest news was highly disturbing his little witch, and with reason. It unnerved him also. He had no real experience with Lamador, save the encounter with the huge image in Gerdundula's garden. He put his hand over the one from Hilda that tried to amputate the innocent button. "That is not going to solve things, sweetheart. We have to find a way to make Lamador feel the way we do."

Hilda looked her man in the eyes. "Sure. And how do you plan on doing that?"

William smiled and pulled her against him. He whispered in her ear, and as he spoke, her face became stage to a host of expressions that were chasing each other around it.

"That is the most outrageous, crazy, insane and impossible thing I have ever heard," the wicked witch said as he was done talking. "Damn it, it might actually work!"

As evening had come and they had found their way to bed, Hilda lay on top of William and looked at him. "About that plan of yours... are there more people in your old world who think in such strange ways?"

He smiled as he slipped his hands under her hair and slid them over her back. "Trust me when I say that this plan is not at all considered insane there."

"Hmmm - oooh yes that's nice don't stop - I mean, so you are one of the more sane and- aaaaahhhhh do that again - coherent people that lived there?"

William grinned as she tried to comment on two different things at once. He did not stop his handiwork though, as she requested. "I'm not sure if many people would call me coherent and sane back there, but I do know there were many who were far less stable."

"Aaahhh...." Hilda lowered her head on his shoulder and decided that this was a good moment to attempt a change into putty.

"Are you somewhat comfortable?", William asked, playing the innocent one.

"Uhuh...", she breathed heavily in his neck, "as long as you go o-ohhhhh...."

He took the responsibility and went on. This was one of the really good ones.

40. The plan (1)

In the days that followed, Hilda and William did the rounds together constantly. They had gone to look at Calandra's house and indeed found footsteps of Grizbles. That made it clear Lamador had his hand in Calandra's vanishing.

They enjoyed flying together, and it made William more and more certain of his grasp of the broom. Hilda thought up challenges for him to perform while they were in flight, and some of them were pretty severe. He had to learn how to keep in flight while doing magic that required lots of attention.

After the rounds they spent a lot of time on preparing all things for the plan that William had brought up. They had one and a half moon of time to put it all into effect, and stage one was arriving very quickly.

"Are we all set?" William looked around, trying to remember everything they had worked on. "Nothing forgotten?"

"No, I am certain we have everything, William." Following that, she went to check the closet where they had stored their gear and made sure for the fourth time it was empty. "See, told you." Secretly she was glad she had taken that last look.

"Good." William picked up the two dice that were on the floor and slipped them in his hidden pocket. He sealed it so the two itty bitty objects could not fall out. "Then we're ready to move out."

Hilda nodded. "House, be good, okay? We should be back in three days at the most."

"Yes, yes, I know. You have not stopped talking about it the last weeks so I know everything about it."

"As long as you keep your- ehm... don't say a thing to anyone, okay?" William said.

"Don't worry. Who wants to talk to a house anyway..."

The couple went outside, the brooms floating along behind them. Hilda closed the door. "Okay William, better step back a bit more."

She took her wand, said a spell, and the giant amount of chains and padlocks materialised around the house again.

"Holy Bejeebus," William said as he saw the incredible size of it all.

Hilda grinned. She snipped her fingers, and the sign appeared in her hand. "Hmmm... not all correct now," she mumbled. She moved the wand over it and put it on the main padlock. "Right, we're clear. Let's go."

The two mounted their brooms and flew off, leaving the house encapsuled in iron. The sign said: "The witch (and wizard) is out."

"I must say, William, that this is the weirdest approach to a challenge I have ever taken," Hilda said as they were on their way. "I hope I am not regretting this."

"What is your alternative?", William asked, his face serious.

"Oh, shush you. I am still the witch in charge, remember?" She threw her hair back and her eyes flashed blue. Her laughter was music to William's ears.

"I love you, you wicked witch," he grinned and pulled her close to steal a kiss from her.

"Hands off, you," she grinned, "I am in charge of navigation as you don't know where we have to go. If someone does the grabbing and groping, it's me." And she proved that immediately.

The landscape beneath them slowly changed. The hills slowly flattened, but the grassy areas remained, as did the forest. The only change in those was the slightly more reddish colours that came into the leaves.

"The trees will get more and more red, the more we get west," Hilda explained. "It appears to be something in the soil that makes them turn the colour of rust."

William nodded. He had heard of things like that happening before. "So first we get to the kingdom of Lorn, right? A friendly one."

"Yep," Hilda confirmed, "that's a piece of cherry pie. And after that we have to make our way along the borders of Ringeholm and Oxfern. Each of them don't like Walt and his ways, flying is forbidden there, so we may have to do some fancy flying to avoid the people who will be shooting at us."

"Yes, you mentioned those." William went over her words in his mind. "They have the terrible bows that can take out a flying witch."

"Yes. Not too bad because they are slow to load and not very accurate, but still it is best not to get one of those suckers in your eye. Or anywhere else."

William wondered about bows that were powerful enough to fling a large arrow up several hundred yards into the air. The prospect of meeting them filled him with eagerness, awe andalso a healthy dose of fear.

Not long after that, they came past a long thin silvery line. The River For Lorn, William remembered. "Very nice view, it is like a silver strip."

"Yes, it's nice from up here. They drown their death convicts in it," Hilda said. "But they drag them out again after some days, otherwise the water will go bad."

"Oh. Uhm. I see." Suddenly the river looked very different to William. Hilda did not appear to be affected in any way. Well, the convicts probably deserved that fate, he told himself and tried to forget the remark the witch had made.

The trees by now had turned completely red.

"Hilda, would it be possible that we go lower for a few moments? I'd love to see these trees up close," said William.

"Sure, we're fine here," she smiled and dove down, shrieking her laughter as the thrill got to her. William laughed as he followed her.

The trees were red. No doubt possible. The leaves looked like they were on fire, with many shades of red, from burgundy to bright red. The trunks of the trees and the branches too were more rust-coloured, brown-red, but everything about the trees was affected by the substance in the soil that coloured all plants.

"It is really amazing," said William as they were gaining altitude again. "I've never seen trees that red, and in my old world some trees would turn very red in the autumn."

"Yes, it's cute, isn't it? It could have been cuter though," Hilda sighed.

William looked at her and grinned. He did not need a link to her to know what she meant.

The witch looked at him. "What?"

"Purple," was all he said.

"Yes!" Her face outshone the sun for a moment. "Now that would be wicked!"

They kept joking about trees and entire forests in all kinds of colours, and that way they had crossed the kingdom of Lorn rather quickly. Just before they were to reach the twoneighbouring problem spots, they found a good spot to land and have a quick lunch. There was water from a natural well, cool and refreshing. Soon they were airborne again, Hilda in the lead as she knew the route.

At first the trip went without a problem. There were no large bows, no arrows coming for them, and the trees turned back to normal tree-colours after a while.

Suddenly, after little over an hour, Hilda said: "I see a few. Careful. I think they've seen us also."

"How can they distinguish us from birds at this altitude?", William wondered out loud.

"They have wizards and witches down there too, dummy. They use their magical powers to scan the skies."

William could slap himself. That was so logical, he should have been able to figure that one out himself. "And the no flying here? Does that have to do with some aerial attack or so?"

"Yes. A dozen or so centuries ago Ringeholm had dragons, they used to fly them around everywhere. Then an insane Marshall assembled a small squadron of some three hundred dragons and - oh crap, there they come."

At first William was puzzled and looked around for three hundred dragons. Then it occurred to him that Hilda had spotted something coming from the ground as she made a swoop with her broom.

William looked down and also saw something coming at them. "Holy Bejeebus!" He yanked his broom to the side as something the size of a small tree was on its way to him. It missed him by at least twenty yards, but the sight of that thing coming was highly impressive.

"Okay, it is obvious to see why these things are hard to load up," he muttered, "but a direct hit of one of these babies will take you out of commission permanently."

Hilda maneuvered her broom closer to his again. "See what I mean?"

"Oh yes, and you did not exaggerate one word," William said. "Perhaps flying a bit faster would be an option."

"No! Don't even think of that. Going fast usually gives them even more reason to believe we have hostile things in mind and we don't. At this moment the arrows are shot by ordinaries, and that is how we want things to be. When they suspect bad things, they bring in the magical people, and I don't want first hand experience of what they do with these things."

William understood from her words that she did have second hand experiences. It was better not to ask now, he decided.

"We're now halfway over Ringeholm," Hilda told him. "The number of arrows will get a bit worse from here on, so watch me and also watch for yourself. They seem to move the bows around, nobody ever knows where they are except their soldier-bosses."

They spent an uncomfortable hour avoiding trees that were flung at them, and William was less and less eager to have a look at the bows that were capable of such a feat. He just wanted get away from this area as soon as possible and preferably in one piece, together with Hilda.

Finally he noticed that Hilda relaxed. "Are we in the clear now?" His arms hurt from holding the broomstick, as the jolts he had it make were quite radical at times.

"Yes, a few more minutes and we are in Herald's kingdom," she said. Hilda too was glad they had this behind them. Her arms also hurt, and she felt pity for William who was hurting much more. She knew that through the link. "If you want, we can land when we're there. Plenty of safe spots."

"If you fly on, I fly on," he said.

Hilda pulled her broom next to his. "Don't give me that, William. I know your arms almost fall off, so we are going down first chance we have. And I don't want you to say anything but yes or okay."

"Yes. Okay. Sweetheart. Thank you for getting us through this."

41. The plan (2)

They had taken time to eat, drink and relax their arms. William had called it a very enjoyable way to refuel the brooms, and Hilda had ordered him to talk sense once again.

"This area is still pretty safe, William," said Hilda. "People here are not too much under Lamador's influence as this is remote country, not interesting for a high-up sorcerer. Once we get closer to the big villages, he'll be more present."

William nodded, understanding exactly what she meant to say. The plan was bold and they would go for it whilst in the lion's den, so that made it all even more tricky. Compared to Lamador, who had hundreds, if not thousands of Grizbles at his disposal, they were only two strong. But, as William had explained to Hilda, small numbers have the benefit of being able to disappear easily. Something she hoped was true.

Rested and fed, they mounted their brooms again.

The kingdom of Herald was very different from that of Walt, the land that William had gotten to know rather well. There were hardly any large forests. An occasional patch of trees, large areas that consisted of rocky plateaus, wide and fiercefully streaming rivers with high impressive bridges over them. Those were William's main impressions from the land they were flying over.

"The rocky slabs down there used to be mountains," Hilda said, pointing at one of the areas. "Herald has this thing with using rock for homes. Most of the houses in this land are made of rock. They seem to make thinner slabs of it by sawing the rock up, but it is beyond me how they do that."

William nodded. "I would not know how they do it here. I've seen documentaries about sawmills for things like that, but I doubt these exist here."

"Saw mills. William. Please." She looked almost pained as she turned her face to him. "One of these illusionary things from your old world, right?"

"Right. I won't mention them again."

She looked as if she was about to give in. "We'll see."

They approached the first larger village. It was larger indeed, at least six times larger than the one that Hilda lived close to. It wouldn't even be considered small in William's old world.

"What do you think," asked Hilda, "should we go in here?"

William thought quickly. It was not very close to Lamador and the king of this country, but it would give them an opportunity to get a feel for the way people here thought about the sorcerer. "Yes, let's go in."

They swung their brooms downwards and landed a few miles from the village in a spot where there were some large boulders. There, out of sight, they hid their transports beneath a large piece of granite and changed into clothes that would not reveal who they were.

"We may have to adjust the clothes a bit when we get there, I'm not sure if this will work for here. Long ago since I was here," Hilda informed William.

"We'll have to chance it then," he said with a smile.

After making sure the brooms were out of sight for ordinaries, they set to walking towards and then down the road to the village. The road was not really a road, it was merely a wide, worn away dent in the rock, evidence that there had been many thousands of feet, horses and carriages gone over this trail before. There were not many others going into the village and they did not meet anyone that was coming from there. The people they walked among were gentle, calm and friendly. One man with a horse and cart even offered them a ride, but they thanked him and declined. The walk was a welcome change to the hours on the broom. They learnt that the name of the village was Frad. Hilda was not aware of this having a special meaning, so they filed the name under general knowledge.

Entering the village was interesting. For a reason the magical couple could not fathom, the trail split into two lanes, a wide one for the carriages and a narrow one for the pedestrians. There was a wall built over the trail with openings for each lane. Everyone went into the village through one of the openings.

Hilda frowned as she looked at William. He shrugged, this was new for him also. After passing through the opening in the wall, Hilda stepped to the side of the path, pulling William along by a sleeve. "Isn't this silly? You can just as easily walk around the wall and enter the village like that. Nobody's here keeping watch, or counting people, or so."

"I know. I am also puzzled about this. It really makes no sense." William looked along the wooden wall once more but he could not discover anything that would reveal a meaning for this construction.

"Excuse me," a woman asked. She had seen the two talk. "Is there a problem that I might help with?" The woman wore a knitted cap which once had been really white. Her hair was hidden underneath it. Her face was friendly and round, its tan told the couple that the woman spent a fair amount of time outside. Her clothes were remarkably close to what Hilda was wearing, a grey shirt, a wool cardigan and a long wide skirt, made of some thick brown fabric.

"Perhaps," William said, to Hilda's shock. "We were wondering about this wall and why it is here."

The woman nodded. "Yes, so do we. King Herald had decreed that there had to be more art in the land, so he ordered artists from several countries to produce pieces of art, put them where they thought the things would look best, and that is what happened. Since then we are looking at this wall. An ugly thing, isn't it?"

Hilda nodded.

William nodded also. "I wonder why nobody goes around it."

The woman looked at him. "Why should they? The road into the village goes there, which is much more convenient to walk on. Now, I hope you will allow me leave. Enjoy your stay here." With a nod the woman walked on.

The two looked at each other. Nothing to say against that, so they mingled in the crowd and proceeded deeper into the village.

The streets of the village were immensely wide compared to the village at home. The average width was twenty feet. Everything looked clean and orderly. There were hardly people in the street, all the shops and pubs were so large that there was no need for trade in open air.

William shook his head. So sad, he thought, the place looked too clean. Somehow an image of a city under ultimate control came to his mind, the likes of which he had seen in science fiction movies. Movies where some stuck-up dictator type was exerting his power down to the moment and place people would use the bathroom.

They came by a pub.

"Should we go in here?", asked Hilda.

"Sure. This one is as good as any other. It is a really strange place here," William said, to which Hilda nodded.

"It is much different since I was here last. But that is a while ago."

"And how long would that be, then?", asked William as he held the door for her.

"At least 180 years," the witch told him as she stepped into the pub.

"Uh-what?"

But Hilda was inside already, not hearing William's surprise.

The pub looked nice on the inside. It was a real pub, be it just a bit too large to be cozy. There were tables with chairs, all made of grey-green wood. The proprietor had gone through a lot of trouble, putting a candle on each table, and even a small vase with some flowers on most of them. The floor was the inevitable and everpresent rock, which made sense. You could not get a cheaper and more rugged floor than that, and it was easy to clean also.

Hilda and William moved through the pub. There were not many customers at that time, most tables were empty. They chose to sit at a table that was close to the domicile of the proprietor who came to them, asking what he could bring them. As he was almost lyrical about the ale his pub carried, they both ordered a glass of it. When the man had left them, William asked if Hilda would be fine with the beer.

She wiggled her nose and grinned. Of course she would be fine.

The pub owner brought them their glasses. As there was little business, he was eager to strike up a conversation with the two people who were clearly new to the area. "You picked a fine day to visit," he said, "the weather has not been to good over the past days. May I ask what brings you to our village?"

William explained that they were travelling, and that they happened to come by the village. "As it looks very nice here, we really could not pass by without a visit."

"Yes, we are living in a very nice place," the barkeeper said, smiling. "There are several nice spots to visit here also. We have the oldest museum dedicated to the kings of the country. Well, almost the oldest." He made his eyebrows bounce, he was obviously proud of the fact.

"I am one of the caretakers of the museum."

Ah, that explained a lot.

"If you care to visit, you can tell the person at the door that you know Liam. That, of course, would be me."

"Of course," William nodded and took a sip of his beer. "And I must congratulate you on your ale, Liam, it is very good!" And it was.

"Thank you, sir. The museum is right down the street, on your lefthand side-"

"Hey, Liam, start moving your feet, man, our glasses are dry! We are desperate for a refill!" That cry informed Liam of impending doom, so he wished Hilda and William a nice day and quickly made off to the table from where the emergency was about to happen.

"Too bad he was called away, he was very informative," Hilda mumbled in her glass. She knew that William would be able to hear her though.

He nodded. "Maybe we should have a look in that museum. You never know..."

After finishing the beers, Hilda's thoroughly watered down, they left a few silver coins on the table, wished Liam a good day and left the pub.

"Nice man," William agreed.

They walked along the street. Nobody minded them or asked them anything, it was clear that the people from this village were used to having strangers around. They looked at the shops and what there was on display behind the windows. Hilda drooled over some of the dresses, but walked along after not too much pressure from William.

"We can always come back here again," he said, "and then you can look and try them all on if you want."

Hilda clung to his arm. "I hope you're right."

William understood what she meant.

They reached the museum. It was impossible to miss. The street, empty except for the people, suddenly was almost littered with large signs that pointed out with arrows and large words that the passers-by could find the museum of the royals to their left.

"Looks like we managed to find it," William grinned as he steered them towards the entrance.

There was a young man at the entrance to the museum. He had a face that reminded them of a mouse, small and pointy.

"Hello," said William, "we would like to visit the museum. Liam told us it is here."

"Oh. Did he. Two silvers."

"Two silvers, for a look at your dead kings?", Hilda flared up, "do you think that's for real?"

Mouse-face stared at her as he stepped back. "One of them is still alive," he tried.

"Brent. Let these people enter the museum."

Mouse-face startled and looked around to the man that came out of the building. "Gio, you are here."

"Yes, and by the looks of it that is a good thing. You are the scoundrel still, Brent. One more time and you will be on report. Then you can kiss your occupation goodbye."

Mouse-face shrunk as if a basin full of too hot water was poured out over him. He nodded and tried to become even smaller.

"May I be of assistance?", the man that mouse-face had called Gio asked the magical couple.

42. The plan (3)

Gio showed Hilda and William around in the museum. It wasn't a very impressive tour, as there were a full one painting and one statue per king that had ruled here, and the number of kings was quite limited.

The last room though was of particular interest. The room with the images of king Herald.

As they entered the room, the surprise was solid. Two paintings. Two statues.

Gio grinned. "I am sure you were not prepared for that."

Hilda's eyes were glued to the statue of a person wearing blue clothes and a white mask. William felt how she tensed up.

"This is king Herald," Gio pointed at the stone man in the scarlet uniform. The king looked quite small compared to the sorcerer that was standing next to him. The difference was almost a head.

"I see you are surprised that there are two statues. Well, that was by special request of the king. He, and our land too, owes so much to his powerful sorcerer that he ordered a statue and a painting made of the high Lamador, to be placed with his own image."

It was what Hilda had already been afraid of. William felt her tremble and put an arm around her shoulders, holding her tightly against him.

"Ah, I see the young lady is a bit terrified of the sorcerer. Yes," Gio babbled, "he is quite an overwhelming figure, even when just present in stone like this."

"Have you met him then?", William asked Gio.

"Met him? The high Lamador? Oh no, sir, he would not come to this village, a small nothing. No, the high Lamador will not go out of the capital and will stay near the king as much as he can, to ensure the king's safety." Gio snickered at the thought of Lamador coming to this place and shook his head.

William refrained from asking more questions. He was certain they had seen enough. Hilda was already gently pushing him, she wanted to leave, so they thanked Gio for guiding them around and quickly left the building. Outside they saw Brent again, the mouse-face, who was keeping to the side of the building, hoping the two would not see him. Alas, they did.

As Hilda and William walked away, the wicked witch snipped her fingers that were invisible under William's arm. A lot of agitation suddenly arose in the street and the couple turned round to see what it was. William seriously wondering, Hilda as she wanted to see the result of the snip. They were in time to see Brent bending down to pull his trousers back up. Laughing, they walked back to the large wall with its openings, and made for their brooms.

"It is really bad here," William noted as they were in the air again.

"Yes. Worse than I thought even. And you were right, William, he is using the king to play his games. If the king even allows his court sorcerer to have a larger statue than he has himself, then there is something very wrong." Hilda felt really uncomfortable, the more as she sensed a similar thing coming from William. But in a way it assured her that he was with her, also in that sense. He was not going to do foolish things, she was certain of that.

They flew on, not speaking much, until the capital came near. And a capital it was. It was white, so white that it hurt their eyes as the sunshine hit the giant white buildings that were in front of the even more giant mountainsides.

A wide web of roads, paths and trails was weaving itself together with one destination: the capital of king Herald's kingdom, Heraldion.

This was not a village. This was a city of serious dimensions. Even from the distance that there was between it and Hilda and William it looked huge.

"There it is," Hilda said to hide her nerves. She was not at all happy to see the place. It meant only one thing to her: Lamador. And that spooked her to no end.

They had landed their brooms several miles from the city and it felt to them as if they were in the middle of a street inside it. There were no ordinaries near, they had searched for magical people and found none either, so they were reasonably certain that their arrival so far had gone unnoticed.

Hilda looked at William. "We've come this far, let's get it over with." There was a bit of doom in the tone of her voice.

William understood, as this was literally stepping into the lion's bedroom. He touched her cheek. "We'll be fine. I don't think that Lamador will believe that we are doing this. He's gone through a lot of work to make everyone afraid of him, and it worked. So we're going to do the unbelievable thing here." He winked at the wicked witch. "Ready to do the unbelievable?" He held out his hand.

She hesitated. Then, with a feeble smile, she took his hand. "I don't know why I love you, William. You are so crazy at times that it scares me. And yet I hear what you say and somehow it makes sense." She squeezed his hand. "Just stay with me and nothing will happen to you, okay?"

William smiled. "I'm not going to let you out of my sight, Hilda."

They walked towards one of the trails that led to Heraldion and after an hour they had mingled with and merged with the crowd that was moving towards the city.

The approach towards Heraldion was more normal than getting to Frad, the first village they had visited. The web of roads they had seen was not exactly fixed on one point where they could get into the city. There were many side-trails and tracks that spread out. Carts with goods, large groups of people, they all seemed to know where they wanted to go, diverting from the large main street that led onwards. Hilda proposed they'd follow along one of the smaller, less busy tracks, but William shook his head.

"We are now hiding in the crowd. Nobody sees us. This is really the best way to do this."

Hilda sighed, as a bulky man pushed against her, trying to head on faster than the crowd allowed. It took her a lot of self-control not to whip up her wand and give him a piece of her mind. After all, they did not want to be discovered, and not reacting to this insult was the way to go.

They still progressed at a decent speed, and only half an hour after being sucked into the group of people wanting to enter the white city of Heraldion, they passed along the first white houses. The city was entirely open, William saw, nowhere were guards or soldiers. It made him feel at ease.

"There are lots of wizards, witches and warlocks going around here, so be careful what you do," said Hilda, "they walk around in ordinaries' clothes like we do, so it is hard to discover them. They're good and can hide their magic for someone like you who is not experienced."

That made him feel ill at ease.

Heraldion was magnificent. Entirely different from Frad, there were stalls on every street, places where they could sit to look at things, plenty of options to eat and drink the most exotic things in outrageous colours and shapes.

The houses were not all white, as they had looked from a distance. The roofs and top floors were white, but the sections on the ground floor had been painted in all colours of the rainbow, making the walk through the streets a very joyful one. They gazed at the colours, the signs that invited people in, mentioned events that were taking place in several parts of the town. It was a real big city atmosphere, thought William.

There were people about from many areas, Hilda recognised many of them. Some were even from king Walt's country, traders that were here for the continuous big market, as she pointed out to William.

"Want to see the market?" She remembered where it was, as she had been in this city a few times before. Before there were challenges and Lamador.

"Would be interesting," said William who almost forgot that they were here for a purpose and not for merely enjoying the sights. "And it might give us a good starting point for the plan."

Hilda nodded, her face overshadowed for a moment. "Yes. The plan." Being in the middle of Heraldion it seemed to her that the ideas William had brought up had less chance of succeeding than a broom trying to fly off on its own.

The giant stream of people was already heading for the big market, so it was very easy to get to it, they only had to go with the flow and get out of it in time. The closer they came to the market, the higher the level of noise became, and also the smells that jumped their senses became more and more varied. William was flabbergasted at the sheer amount of different scents his nose was able to discern as they were drifting along the street that led to the giant market place.

The market place was oval shaped. Every square yard was used, to accomodate stalls, tables and low carts with goods. The organised chaos that reigned there was a slight shock to William and even Hilda.

"Crappedy crap, it's gotten even worse than the last time I was here. They made it larger also," Hilda muttered. She pulled William along with her as she stepped out of the river of bodies that kept moving along.

"Going anywhere special?", he asked as he was taken by surprise.

"Yeah. Away from that crawling madness." Hilda looked around, trying to find a place even further away, but the pavement that they stood on was littered with tables, chairs and people. It looked as if there was no escape possible.

"What about that then?" William nodded to a place that looked like a restaurant. Over it hung a large banner informing the world that it was "The Great Lamador". "I'd say they have a special affection with their sorcerer." He slipped his arm around hers and started working his way by the neverending flow of people.

"William, we can't go sit there!", Hilda hissed, trying to hold him back in vain.

"Why not?"

"Because it's... it's... well, just because." Hilda pouted as she did not want to come up with the proper word.

"Do you have another suggestion?", William asked her as they were pushed and shoved by people who wanted to get past them.

"Depends on what you have in - oompf - mind. Hey, watch it okay?" Hilda yelled after someone very rude, but the person pretended to be deaf.

"How about sitting down and eat something? So far we've had a glass of beer, and I can't function on that."

Hilda was hungry also. They had come a long way, the afternoon was progressing nicely already, and there -was- food on the tables of 'The Great Lamador'.

"I hate you, just remember that," she said as she pushed herself past William and located a table as far from the crowd as possible. She dropped herself on a chair and immediately a whiff of food from the kitchen attracted her attention.

William sat down also, and he too looked into the establishment from where the smell of food came.

A woman, dressed in lightblue shirt, skirt and shoes, her black hair trimmed very short, came to their table. "Hello, dear guests," she said with a professional smile, "welcome to 'The Great Lamador'. What can I bring you?"

Hilda looked up at the young woman with a frown. William located a funny feeling in his peace of mind, Hilda looking like that usually was not a good sign.

"What food and drink do you have?"

William let his tension escape. This was good. For now.

The waitress summed up the goodies that the kitchen and the bar had for sale. Hilda then ordered a cup of tea and a chicken Great Lamador. William also ordered tea, and the ham Great Lamador. It was not possible to order any food that was not Great Lamador in this place.

The lightblue waitress returned rather quickly with the two cups of tea. Before she could rush off to another table, William asked her: "Could you please tell me why this restaurant is called the Great Lamador?"

The waitress smiled. "Certainly, sir. The owner of the restaurant has been married to a niece of no one else than the Great Sorcerer himself."

"And that is all?" William wondered.

During the entire talk he had with the woman, Hilda tried to make herself invisible. How could this man that she valued and loved so much be so silly and talk about the enemy so leisurely? Why was he attracting so much attention? Weren't they here in secret? All these and many more thoughts ran through Hilda's mind and she had the biggest fight with herself to appear calm and interested in the people walking by. None of whom, by the way, seemed in the least bit interested in any of the people at the tables.

"Mareeta!", someone yelled from the insides of the Great Lamador. The lightblue clad waitress, hearing her name, excused herself and sped off.

"I don't understand you," hissed Hilda to William.

"Relax, everything is going fine," said William, who actually felt very relaxed. Too bad that Hilda had not gotten the details of the plan, but that would straighten itself out. He was certain.

Mareeta came back, carrying large plates with food and a bowl of salad. "Enjoy," she said as she placed everything on the table very skilled. Then she was away, off to assist the next customers.

The food was excellent, as was the tea.

"I really don't know what you are doing, William," said Hilda in the quietest voice she could.

"Sweet woman, I am gathering information," he said, "and don't you love that salad. I really wish that I knew what they do to it."

"What?", asked Hilda.

"Do you really want to know?", asked Mareeta who came sailing by with a few large glasses of beer. After delivering them, she came back to the table of the magical couple.

Hilda glared at William for a moment, wishing she was able to magic herself away. Far away. To her house, for instance.

Mareeta sat on down on a chair at their table. "You know, this is a bit of a secret, so you should not tell anyone..." She looked around for new customers, but there was nobody requiring her services. "The cook was a pupil of the great sorceror. He has all kinds of magical tricks he can do with the food to make it taste as the best thing ever. He learnt that in the kitchens of king Herald's castle." Again Mareeta looked around. "He does not tell anyone why he got kicked out of the castle. But that's fine. We have a good cook because of that."

Four women, obviously ladies who sold things on the grand oval market, occupied a table. Mareeta took that as her cue and left the magical couple to their food.

"We have what we want," said William, and smiled.

43. The action unfolds

"You speak riddles, William. We have food and a talkative waitress. Is that what we want?" Hilda shook her head, ate the last bits of food and then sat back, her teacup in hand. "I thought we were after something entirely different, but if you say we have what we want, then we can go home again, can't we?" She'd like that more than anything.

"Almost, sweetheart," said William. He had finished eating also. "There are a few small things we need to arrange, and then we can go."

Hilda looked at the wizard-to-be. "Why can't I understand you, William? Can you one day try and explain that to me?"

"That, my sweet witch, is because I am from another world, one that has more devious things and mean streaks than this one. I'll teach you some."

"I am wicked. Not mean." She sipped her tea, her eyes obtaining a slight red shine for a moment.

"Hilda, please trust me," William said, taking her free hand and kissing it. "We'll be out of here in a jiffy if things go according to plan."

"Plan. Your plan. Why did I ever believe that. But well, go and do what you have to. The sooner it's done, the sooner we're on our way home."

"We'll go back soon," he promised. "Now come with me, I need your help. Just nod and look the smart person you are, okay?"

Hilda sighed. "There is nothing you can do without me, is there? I'll come, and I'll hold your hand if I need to."

William grinned and then together they walked into the restaurant. William followed his nose to the kitchen. Apparently it was a normal thing to do here, since nobody asked them where they were going. In a dark corner he stopped walking, quickly flipped up his wand and changed a few pebbles he had picked up somewhere into pieces of paper.

"Just hold that," he said to Hilda, handing her a piece of paper.

"Now what is this..." She sounded tired of this game.

"I have no time to explain it all, but it is a prop in the play called bluff," he said. Then he put his hand at the small of her back and gently pulled her along as he entered the kitchen.

There were four people working in the kitchen. Three were busy cutting up fruit, vegetables, meat and fish. The fourth, sporting a mocking look and a wand, sat on a table, directing the movements of pots, pans and spoons on a giant stove with at least 12 burners.

All four looked at the door where the two strangers had just entered.

"Good day," said William, holding up his piece of paper. Hilda saw it and followed his move. "We are Smith and Jones, Health and Safety department. I assume you were notified we were coming?"

All four people in the kitchen stopped their work. The flunked sorcerer almost dropped the spoons he was holding afloat. "Uhm, no?"

William faked a heavy sigh. "Not? That is the third today that they failed to inform. I am very sorry, folks. Bureaucracy is against us, as always."

Hilda stared at William and was dumbstruck by the way he went about and was talking. Their names were not Smith or Jones, and she had never heard of a thing called 'Health and Safety department'. She saw how he walked into the kitchen as if he owned the place, stunning the cooks and- then she saw the light. The play called bluff. Finally the pieces fell together and a smile appeared on the witch's face. She understood bluff.

Hilda marched into the kitchen also, circling the large stove and approaching the man who was chopping up vegetables. She shoved her paper in the face of the man, stating: "Health. And safety." She looked over the worktop. "How do you clean this?"

The man put down the knife and was about to open a storage closet under the sink, when she pointed at the stove. "How safe it that? Looks dangerous to me."

"Oh, it is very-", the man started, aborting his dive to the small door.

"Do you have rats here?", Hilda asked, not letting him finish what he started to say.

"No, miss, we don't serve rats."

As Hilda was tormenting the cook's assistant in charge of the veggies, William walked through the kitchen also, ignoring the sorcerer-gone-cook and asked one the fish-cleaner if there was a proper way to leave the kitchen in case of a fire.

"There's door," the man pointed.

"Indeed," William nodded, "there is a door. But does the door open?"

The fish-cutter looked at the cook, who frowned and was lost over this strange invasion also. The fish-man walked to the door and pushed it. It opened. He turned to William. "Yes. It opens."

William walked out the door. He found himself in a small courtyard where a few chickens ran around. There was a pen with some pigs, a goat was tied to a pole near a water well. Most of the yard was fenced in, but there was one opening that led out of the yard, and presumably into a street.

"Does that lead to a street?", he asked the fish-man, pointing at the opening.

"Yes, sir. I walk through there every day when I come to work. Can I go back to my fish now, sir?"

"Yes, you go to you fish, and be careful with your hands. The knife looks pretty sharp to me." William was entirely in his role and suppressed his grins as he heard how Hilda was making life miserable for the three men in the kitchen. He almost felt sorry for them.

Upon returning into the kitchen, he saw how Hilda was using a questioning tactic on the man in charge of the meat that would have made a KGB officer proud.

"So you say you use this knife to cut pork AND beef?" Hilda had a big knife in her hand, the tip floating precariously close to one of the man's eyes. "Don't you think you should at least wipe it off before you start using it on another kind of meat?"

"But I do wash-"

"Silence! I am here for the health and the safety, so I will tell you what to do!" Hilda was enjoying this. "You will wipe off the knife before you use it on different meat. Is that clear?"

"Yes, miss." The poor man was bending over backwards to avoid contact with the knife. He knew how sharp it was.

"Good." Hilda clapped the knife on the table. "And remember that." She looked over to where William was, hoping that he would appreciate how well she was doing.

"Miss Jones, can you step over here?", said William, looking at her.

"Sure, miss Smith," she replied, realising her mistake and shrugging it away.

William as well as the sorcerer he was standing next to frowned. Hilda joined them.

"Now to you, sir. Can you please step outside with us for a moment?", said William, pointing to the open door that led out to the yard.

"But I have the food to attend to!", the magical cook said, "I can't leave here."

Hilda waved her paper in the man's face. "Health and safety come first, do you hear me? What kind of cook are you if you can't even keep a few spoons going without looking at them? Come on, man, listen to miss Smith." She had decided that persisting would work best. "Hey, folks, you keep an eye on the spoons, okay? Safety is important."

Hilda took the sorcerer by the arm and with her usual absence of diplomacy dragged the surprised man from the table and out the door. William, more than only a bit surprised, followed the two out into the yard.

Hilda held on to the cook. "And now what?", she asked William.

"Do you know boxing?", miss Smith asked the sorcerer.

"No. What is boxing?"

"Good." William nodded, made a fist and aimed. A few seconds later the cook and also the spoons fell down. Only the cook was caught and carried off into the narrow corridor that would lead to the street. Halfway through it, William lay down the knocked-out cook and used magic to change some of the man's clothes into ropes to tie him up. As he was working on that, he said to Hilda: "Can you get our brooms here?"

"Yes, but do you want to fly out of here?"

William hoisted the cook on his shoulder. "Come, move, these guys in the kitchen won't wonder forever why the cook is not coming back." As they went on and reached the luckily very silent street, he continued: "If this man can use magic without raising attention, I assume we can do that too. And on broomstick it is much faster to get away than on foot."

"Yes, smart man, and what will you do with your... cargo?"

"Well, I had hoped that you would come with a marvelous plan, resident witch."

"Oh. Thank you, but this is not my residence, so..."

William slowly saw the back-end of his plan fall to bits and crumble into nothingness. If there was no way out then the whole thing would go pear-shaped.

Hilda took pity on William. "Just you keep the cargo quiet," she said, patting him on the arm. "I'll think of something. Quickly too."

William hoped it was a good thing she would think of.

Hilda walked ahead a few steps and saw a side-street. "In here," she ordered.

As they walked down that street, William asked if Hilda couldn't just shrink the cargo, the way she had done with his luggage.

"Nope, sorry, that only works with things," Hilda shattered his hope. "But I have the next best solution here."

William stared at her. She stood next to a horse that was waiting in front of a cart. "So we'll just..."

"...borrow it," the wicked witch completed his words. "Now throw that guy in the back, keep him quiet and let's go."

William unloaded the man into the cart and climbed in the back also, while Hilda got up on the front and took the reins.

"Do you know how to handle that?", William asked as he watched Hilda go about all that.

"Just you mind the cook and hold on. I'll take care of this." She sounded very confident, and that was worrying William. But it was the best option.

Hilda slapped the horse with the reins and it started pulling the cart. They moved out of the street. Hilda seemed in full control of the horse as well as their location, because without hesitation or faltering she maneuvered the horse and the cart through the city, also through the more busy parts.

It took almost an hour, but finally they left the city and the crowds. Still relaxed, Hilda let the horse go along, making sure they would get to the spot where they had left the brooms.

The sun was getting into setting as they arrived where they wanted to go. William unloaded the man who was still unconscious. He worried a bit about that, because he was sure that his punch had not been a hard one, but Hilda reassured him.

"These people can't take much. Too much of the soft life, you know. Pretty convenient also, it is nice and quiet that way. So, sweet man, have you thought of a way to take our man along yet?"

William had, and he thought the idea was pretty spiffy too. "Yes, I'm afraid we'll need some boards from the cart though..."

He started to work on his plan, as Hilda watched what he was putting together. First he lay the two brooms next to each other. At the front and back he attached two boards, so the brooms and boards made a square. Then he attached one board in the middle, in the length of the brooms, so the whole construction looked somewhat like acatamaran.

"Now, if we put our man on the centre board, and tie him to it, with ropes under his arms and over his legs, we should be able to airlift him out of here."

Hilda stared at the contraption. Walked around it, pulling and jarring it. "You know... this might actually work. Provided our passenger remains calm."

William smiled. "If we inform him that he will be offloaded immediately once he starts making trouble, I am sure he will cooperate. Unless these people who are trained by Lamador know how to fly without a broom."

Hilda shook her head. "Without a broom they only fly straight down." She stood with William and put her arms around him. Looking up to his face she smiled. "You know, I never doubted that your plan would work."

William pulled her close. "You, miss Jones, are a terrible liar."

"And you, miss Smith, are the best friend I have ever had."

Although it was late already, they decided it was best to tie up their prisoner and fly off as far as they could, away from Heraldion. It was a bit tricky to lift off, but once they were in the air it went quite well. They found that they had an advantage as they had been flying along together so much.

As they were going along, the cook woke up. "Where am I? And who are you?"

"At the moment you are with us, about one hundred yards over the ground, so you'd better lie still," Hilda informed him. "As to who we are: we are the people who are taking you away."

"But you can't take me away!", the cook yelled, trying to get loose by yanking the ropes.

"Hey, friend," said William, "did you hear what the witch said? We are high up. One hundred yards is far down, and you might regret the touching down part of the fall, so you will just lie still. And you are mistaken: we -can- take you away. The fact that we are doing it right now should be proof enough."

"I learnt my magic from the Great Lamador," the cook tried. "I can take you on, both."

"Yeah, sure, that is why you work in a kitchen, spinning spoons," said Hilda. "Go ahead and try if you want. Two against one. I like odds like that."

The cook understood that he was massively outnumbered. "I object to this treatment. If Lamador hears of this-"

"But that is just the plan," William interrupted the man, "he has to know about this."

"You people are insane," said the cook.

"He is," Hilda confirmed, "I'm local."

44. The cook

The cook, whose name was Bilgar, remained calm as long as they were in the air. Plain common sense told him that he would remain more alive that way. William had offered to loosen the ropes, at the same time tilting the strange flying contraption slightly. The demonstration convinced Bilgar that the ropes weren't such a bad idea after all.

It became too dark to fly on with a good feeling, so Hilda took charge and landed the broomaran. They had flown quite far and had touched down on a desolate mountain meadow in Ringeholm. It took a bit of thinking how to keepBilgar safe, as it was obvious he would try to run off during the night with both Hilda and William asleep. Taking turns in sleeping was not the way to handle this, as they would have to be very awake the next day, flying their construction over the land that had arrows the size of trees flying at them.

William was making a small fire and fixing some food, while Hilda disarmed the cook by making him hand over his wand.

"William, look at this thing," she giggled as she held up the exaggerated big stickI'd almost think he is trying to make up for something."

Bilgar blushed, which was not visible in the dark, but still it made him feel vulnerable.

"Now, Bilgar," said William as a kind of stew was simmering in a black pot that floated over the fire. "Are you going to try and escape? It is a hell of a long walk back to Heraldion, you know that. Lots of nasty animals on the prowl also, out here, which would not invite me if I were a cook. I'd be using them for a meal, not becoming theirs."

"I am not listening to you, you are not a magical person," the cook retorted. "One magical person can sense the magic in another, and there is nothing around you. It's the witch that does all the work."

"Oh, really," William said. "Well, it looks as if you saw through our little ploy. Too bad in a way, but we got you anyway. " He turned to the fire with the floating pot again, shielding his front from Bilgar. He popped up his wand and whispered something. Hilda sensed what he was doing.

A shadowy shape of impressive size moved along the camp, just outside the reach of the light that the fire cast. A grumbling sound reached the three people that sat near the fire.

"What was that?" Bilgar asked, nervously looking at the disappearing shape, the grumble also fading.

"Oh, probably one of the beasts that roam around here. No problem as long as we keep the fire burning, they don't like fire," Hilda pitched in.

"Remarkable that this one even came so close," said William as he handed a plate of food to Bilgar and then one to Hilda.

The cook stared at the small mound on the plate. "What is this?"

William grinned. "Well, since it has no proper name, we'll call it food."

Hilda was already shovelling it inside her, and said she liked it.

Bilgar, clearly used to more refined dishes, ate it as if there were sharp sticks in it, but he did finish what he had been given.

William leaned back to the fire, to add some wood to it and made another shadow roam around their small circle. Bilgar stared at the shape. This time it was less big, William had made a lion, including the growl.

Hilda and William lay down to rest.

"But what about the fire?", Bilgar asked. "What if it goes out? Won't the animals then come closer?"

"Yes, there's a chance of that," Hilda agreed, "maybe one of us wakes up and puts more wood on the fire. Can't promise that it's me, I am really tired." She snuggled up to William. "Oh, Bilgar? I put a nice little spell on the brooms for tonight. If you want to try and fly off, do warn me. I really want to see you try. Sleep well." The sound of a hyena-like animal came from afar.

Bilgar lay down, close to the fire and the stack of wood Hilda had inflated from the luggage they carried. The sound spooked him.

The next morning, Hilda woke up William by gently shaking him. As he came around, Hilda pointed to Bilgar who was still with them. The cook was sleeping, in a sitting position, a piece of wood in his hand. The fire was still burning, the stack of wood almost depleted.

"That last howl you made last night really frightened him," the wicked witch whispered in William's ear.

"That I made? I thought you did that," he whispered back, confusion on his brow.

"I didn't." Hilda sat up and looked around while worry wandered within her.

The environment however was peaceful, quiet, serene even. They had landed on a high mountain. The view was stunning: to the north there were giant forests, with enormous trees, brown and red. To the south lay a great plain with several settlements, dark brown blots in a sandy painting of many shades of yellow. To the west, where they had come from, the grass-covered mountains continued their rising and falling, while to the east the land of king Walt was waiting for them. It was also the direction that presented most danger to them. The trip down here had not been too bad, but now the brooms were stuck together and they had a passneger, although the two were quite certain that Bilgar would not give them a lot of problems.

Hilda made some food and tea while William woke up the sleeping cook. "Bilgar, food. We're leaving soon.

"What? We're still alive? Good!" The hostage told William he had stayed awake through most of the night, feeding the fire so the animals would not be feeding on them.

"Good show, Bilgar. Here's your breakfast. No delaying, we're about to go up and away."

Soon they were indeed up and away. Bilgar had insisted on being tied to the broomaran. The first leg of the trip went without many incidents as it was still nice and early and not many guards were on their stations yet, or so it looked. After about half an hour though, William saw the first small tree being shot at them. Good thing about this one was that it was aimed poorly, even Hilda was ashamed of it.

"There is no challenge in avoiding something like that," she muttered.

"What's going on?", asked Bilgar who was trying to see what was going on.

"Shut up," the other two told him. More humongous arrows were coming at them, and those were aimed much better so they needed all their attention to stay clear of the large objects.

"Come on, tell me what happens!", Bilgar demanded, making wild movements. For some reason he was keen on watching impending doom come closer. It also meant that Hilda and William had loads of problems keeping the brooms with the added wood in a stable flightpath.

This time the link from Willaim to Hilda came in handy as it had never done before. The wicked witched nodded, said: "I got us", and then William let go of his broomstick and whacked Bilgar into oblivion.

Shaking his hand, he said: "Damn, cooks have hard heads." Then he was back in the race of avoiding the big arrows.

Some of the moves they had to make with their broomaran were so violent that the wood that held Bilgar complained loudly. At one time a ominous cracking sound made the both of them swallow.

"This is not good," said Hilda, "this is very much not good."

Somehow they managed to make it to the kingdom of Lorn without being shot down, and there they could breathe easy again.

"Want to stop and chill for a moment?", William asked Hilda.

"Yes, a stop would be a good plan, although I can't understand why we would call up a cold wind. I'm not that hot, you know."

"Okay, I'll explain that later. Let's find us a nice place to touch down."

Ironically enough, the place where they landed their broomaran was near a family of shepherds who looked at the strange construction touching down. The shepherds came closer, to have a look.

William whopped Bilgar another one, to make sure the cook would remain unconscious during their time on the ground.

"Good day," said the woman that was in the small group of shepherds that approached them. "We hope you can forgive our curiosity, but we have never seen a flying arrangement like yours before. Will you accept some water, and bread and cheese?"

Both Hilda and William were grateful with the simple food. It tasted great, and with Bilgar enjoying small stars or so, there also was not commenting on it.

The shpeherds saw the unconscious cook strapped to the boards, but did not dare ask the reason for this awkward way of transportation. After all, these were magical people, and they had their own rules and standards for doing things.

As they were getting ready to fly on, William had the feeling he should pay the shepherds some money, if only one silver piece. Hilda picked his intention up and said: "We thank you for your hospitality."

The shepherds smiled. "It is always our pleasure to share what we have. We wish you a good day."

"Thank you. You too," said Hilda, wiggling her eyebrows at William who understood. No paying. It would be offending to the nice people.

The magical couple lifted off again, Bilgar still in the land of sorcery dreams. The passage over the kingdom of Lorn was calm and quiet, the red soil and trees a welcome sight and a promise that they would be home soon.

Bilgar had regained his awareness again and was complaining about a sore back, sore arms and sore legs. On William's friendly request if he should put him out of his misery once again, the captured cook responded with a growl and remained silent. Hilda sensed that the man applied some magic to make his stay on the wooden board a bit more comfortable, which was fine with her.

45. And now it's our turn

After landing the broomaran, they untied Bilgar. As the cook rubbed his wrists, he looked around. "So this is where you live. Very nice area. Bit quiet though, I guess."

William undid the excess boards from their brooms and Hilda removed the chains from the house.

The house let out a sigh of relief. "You really took your time, didn't you?"

"Oh, how cute, an ancient talking house!", exclaimed Bilgar.

"Who's this?" The house was not eager to allow entrance to someone that called it 'cute'. After all, standing came with age.

"This is in some weird way family of Lamador," said Hilda.

Bilgar frowned as he heard that. "Who told you that? And I was family. His niece divorced me."

"Good for her," said Hilda.

"That is a nasty remark, witch," said Bilgar.

"I know. But I'm good at that. So now off with you." She shoo'ed him away with her hand.

"What?" Bilgar stared at her, then at William, not understanding a thing.

Go. Leave. Go home to Heraldion, or wherever you want to go. Oh, here, you may need this." Hilda took his large wand from her pocket. She waved her own over it a few times, then handed it back. "It won't be any good for big magic for a week, but at least you have your big wand again." She had a big smile on her face as she talked, making William grin.

"Do you know what the punishment is for magical castration?", Bilgar said as he stared at his wand that was rendered mostly inoperative.

"Do you think we care?", asked William who stepped in front of the angry cook sorcerer.

William was a lot taller and wider than the cook. "What we care about is the way your big sorcerer is abducting witches from this country. And if he thinks he is the only one who can do that - well, I think we have just proven that we can take people away also. And we hit home, on the side of his family. Divorced or not. Now you go away, unharmed. Contrary to what your big Lamador does to the less powerful witches he kidnaps."

Bilgar put his fists in his sides. "The Great Lamador would never do something like that! I know him."

"Sure," said Hilda, "you know his nice side, since he does not want to get into trouble with his family. We know of at least three witches he took away. We don't know what became of them so we fear the worst."

"How can you know they did not leave by themselves?", Bilgar demanded to know, his in-law family pride taking the lead.

"We found a Grizble at one of the places. A young witch did not return home after an evening with friends. One was taken from her home with force, the house shows that. Signs of voluntary leave, right?"

"I don't believe that." Bilgar looked angry at the accusation, even if it did not involve him directly.

"Believe whatever you like. But now you are free to go home. Heraldion is that way, I suggest you first head to the village and find a place to sleep. Perhaps there is someone who can take you along on a cart tomorrow," said Hilda.

Bilgar was close to fuming. "You take me from my kitchen, knock me out, tie me to a piece of wood and drag me over 3 countries to send me home after this? Are you insane?"

"As I already said, I am local," said Hilda, "and William here is the insane one. But he is very good at it. So now you know it all. This is all you will get to hear, and therefore I advise you to walk to the village quickly because the darkness here falls fast and we are not going to tell you what scary animals live in the forests here."

William put an arm around Hilda's shoulders, and standing together like that they saw the dismayed sorcerer walk off.

"Bilgar? The village is that way," Hilda corrected the man, who looked back in anger where she was pointing and then changed course.

"Are there scary animals in the forest?", William asked.

"No." She chuckled, turned around and they went inside, their brooms following them.

When the door had closed, Hilda wrapped herself around William and rested her head against his shoulder. "You are really insane, William. And what worries me is that I like it. We dragged that man over three countries just to let him go again. And it was fun, despite the Ringeholm soldiers shooting at us. And the crappy place to sleep."

They went to get some food from the kitchen and turned in early. Eventually, they slept...

With the remains of breakfast still on the table, William studied the original challenge Hilda had received. "I'm not going to use that style of handwriting," he declared. "My own paw will have to do, and otherwise he'll have to hire a specialist."

"That's fine, William. He'll be able to read it." Hilda stared at the tip of the quil as William was writing on the piece of paper that lay in front of him. It was obvious that he was not used to writing this way, she grinned, but he gave it his best. He had messed up several bits of paper already, to get the hang of it, and now the writing was for real.

As he finished, he blew over the still wet ink and handed the paper to Hilda. "That should be it. What do you think?"

Hilda looked at the paper. "To the sorceror Lamador," she read out loud. "Shouldn't that be Great Sorcerer?"

"No way," replied William, "this way we tell him without words that we don't find him so great."

"Oh. Right." Hilda looked at the paper again. "Through this official note I challenge you to a duel on the next dark moon, in the forest where the witch Baba Yaga lives. You are free to bring an aid with you. The challenge is for points, not for lives. Signed, nothing."

With a frown she took the quil and signed her name under it. Then she looked at William. "Why do I have the feeling that I have just signed my own death cerfiticate?"

"Because you still don't trust the plan, sweetwitch," William said. "He can bring an aid, but he is probably so full of himself that he won't."

"He won't need to," said Hilda.

"Don't forget, Hilda, that he does not know the terrain, and we do. Well, you do, I do just a bit. We're fighting on our terrain, even if it doesn't look like it. He won't have time to prepare much as we set the time for the challenge so tight."

"He'll be very surprised about this challenge," Hilda nodded, "I have to give you that. He'd never expect that."

"Which is what we are aiming for. We take the lead away from him for new, and do all we can to unnerve him. Anything that gives us an edge on him."

Hilda nodded. "Yes, you told me before. I hope that you are right, William. This has never been done before as far as I know. And I know a lot about this stuff."

The goldfish on her cup looked at the two magical people, then at each other. This was puzzling even to them.

The magical couple got ready to do the rounds. As they walked outside, Hilda touched William's hand. "You know that you deserve these colours now, don't you?"

William looked at the clothes. He had worn the blue and silver so often that he didn't really realise what the colours stood for.

"You've progressed well, my sweet man. I have no problems calling you a wizard now. You're not all great and fabulous, but you make a pretty decent wizard all the same."

"Oh. Wow. Thank you." Willia knew that Hilda was not throwing compliments like that around easily, so this meant quite a great deal to him.

"No need to thank me," she said as she mounted her broom. "You did all the work. And you listened to me. That is remarkable."

Before William could ask her why it was so remarkable, she was already in the air. He kicked off and followed her.

"I have a very silly plan," Hilda shared with him as he had caught up with her. "I intend to let Walt win today, if he's there."

"You mean..."

She grinned. "Yes. The weather's nice, the sun is warm, we'll be dry so fast. It will be fun, and it will make his day also."

"Well, that's fine with me." William was in the mood for some silliness also, so they both hoped the king would be ready and waiting for them. They were not disappointed.

Calmly they hovered over the fountain, looking for the door to move through which the king would come running to see the attempt. William quickly mumbled a spell.

They saw or sensed the water coming. They saw the door move.

"Not too fast," said Hilda, as the water from the fountain came up to them.

Walt was out the door and his hands went up in the air as he saw the sprays of the fountain engulf the two floating figures that were over the marble assembly.

Hilda and William flew up as they were getting soaked by the water jetting from the pipes. It chilled them, it was colder than they had expected, but it was a thrill nonetheless. They sped up to get away from the water as they heard Walt yell and scream. The couple was laughing too as they swooped out of the water's way and dropped down to the ground.

"You got us, king," said Hilda.

"Yes! See! I told you I'd get you some day!" Walt was almost dancing for joy. "And I'll get you again, some day."

Leaving the king in a fabulous mood, they flew off, on the way to the village. They knew they had done a good deed.

"Good thinking with the spell, William," Hilda complimented him. She had sensed his shock as he realised that the note with the challenge was going to get soaked also, and had heard him mumble a protection spell to keep it dry. "One day you'll be a proper wizard."

"Thank you. I hope I will be able to live up to your hopes," he said.

"You'd better. Or I'm going to come after you," Hilda said, her face straight.

"That sounds nice," he grinned.

"You know that you are terrible, don't you?" Too bad, she thought, that a hug in flight counted as irresponsible acrobatics.

They reached the village, landed in the market square as that had most space, and then William followed Hilda to the house where the archers were taking in notes to be distributed.

"Oh, hello, honourable witch," the administrative archer said, "long time since we have seen you. And welcome, honourable wizard," he added, noticing William. "How may we help you?"

"We have a note that should be sent," Hilda said. She looked at William.

"Oh, right." He brought the note up and handed it to the administrator. "To the attention of the sorcerer Lamador, at the castle of king Herald."

"Okay..." the man was scribbling something on the shaft of an arrow, rolled the note around it and handed it to a second person who wrote something down on a piece of paper.

"Two silver pieces," said the writer.

"That'll be two silver pieces then," said the administrator.

"Suck an elf," Hilda muttered, "rates went up a lot since I last was here." She grabbed into a pocket and counted two silver coins. "I could go bring it myself for that money."

"But not as fast," grinned the administrator.

"If that were a bet, I knew where my money would go," said William, slipping his arm around Hilda. The smile on the administrator's face disappeared.

They left the archery office.

"Nice of you, telling him off, sweet man," Hilda said, collecting her broom from the wall. "Come. We do rounds and have fun. And then we have to talk to Babs about what you- we are planning."

46. Our turn

"Are you both out of your witching minds?" Baba Yaga stared at them from inside the crystal ball. "You sent a challenge to Lamador? And you want to settle that here, in MY forest?!"

Hilda understood that it would take some explaining to make the Russian witch see their side of the idea. "Yes. You got all that right, except us being out of our minds."

"Run that by me again? Didn't you just tell me you went to Heraldion and snatched someone who was related to Lamador?

"Yes. We did that. We just told you." Hilda nodded. "And we sent him home again, unhurt."

"Willy... I don't recognise my girlfriend. What the hell did you put into her? No- don't even answer that. I suddenly remember that I don't want to know that. Forget I even asked."

William pinched Hilda's butt. She slapped him.

"That's my girl," Baba Yaga muttered who only saw Hilda's move. "But still you are strange folks. You send this powermonger a challenge for the next dark moon, which is close. You want to mess things up in my forest, to make it worse. And to top it off, you are telling me about it and want to know when you can come to set up some... goodies?"

"Yes," the two said at the same time.

"You two..." The ugly witch shook her head. Then the magical couple made out, among the wrinkles, the expression Babs claimed was a smile. "I love your brazen disregard for how it's done. Get your hineys on brooms and come over whenever you want. You're always welcome here!"

Hilda grinned. "If we hurry, we could make it over there today... But I don't feel like hurry. We'll drop by tomorrow, okay, Babs?"

"Sure, Hilly baby, I'll have tea when you get here."

After the call to Baba Yaga, they tossed who would make dinner. William won, so Hilda had to wait until he was done. The result was good though. William was making friends with most objects in the kitchen. The only thing that remained a hazard was the oven. Perhaps it had a masochistic streak in it, that it wanted to be kicked ever so often.

They spent most of the evening writing down lists of things they wanted to take along to Babs' forest, and also how they would set up the goodies they had in mind. As they were busy on their snide plans, Hilda or William got another new plan for a goody, so the list was amazingly long when they finally ended their hard work.

"We may have to enlist some more witches to get all that in place," said Hilda as she looked over the stack of sheets they had filled up with ideas and plans.

"I am sure we can get the best ones set up already. No need to worry about the whole list now, sweetwitch," William said.

Hilda, who had settled in his lap again, put her arms around William's neck. "You are one crazy person. And you have crazy ideas. I hope they are crazy enough to shock Lamador."

William's hands rested on her hips. "I hope so too. We'll make them work. You and I together."

"And we have to hide from him that you are magical," Hilda added. "That might be difficult however. Although no other magical person so far has sensed magic in you, and that's a good thing." It was clear that this was something that worried her, at least occupied her mind. William being not magical in other people's view was one of their trump cards.

"You know what?", said William, "We'll get drunk. Well, at least have a glass of wine, and we'll toast to our victory."

Hilda looked at him, her eyes shining blue. "Yes, that's a good idea. And I'm getting one like yours! No water."

"Uhm, perhaps you should be careful. You know what you're like. One whiff of a barmaid's apron and you're singing like a sailor," William warned her.

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

Later he carried her to bed. She was singing.

"William...," the witch whispered, "wand..."

He gave her his.

She used it on her head. "Oh... that is better... I should not drink wine like that again. And it's all your fault, and you know that. Here..." She slapped the wand on his stomach.

"Oompf. Thank you, dear." He made the wand vanish. "You have a remarkable singing voice, you know that?"

"Oh, shush you. You make breakfast." She rolled on her side, turning her back to William. Her hair became a grey veil over her face and shoulders. "Let me know when it's done," she mumbled.

William grinned soundlessly and got up. He went down, to the kitchen, and prepared a solid breakfast. They'd need it for the flight to Baba Yaga's territory. Then he came up to the bedroom, where Hilda was still curled up, on her side.

He nodded and placed a well-aimed slap on her bottom.

She shot up, staring at him. "What?!"

William smiled. "Breakfast is ready. You wanted to know, right? You did not say how, so I improvised" Then he escaped from the room. A pillow flew through the room as the wicked witch yelled after him.

Not much later Hilda came down and sat at the table. "You hit hard," she complained.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you," William said.

"You didn't. It was kind of different to wake up like that." She giggled. "But don't make a habit out of it, okay?"

"Promise."

Somewhat later they were outside, in travel clothes, brooms at hand. Hilda showed William how to conjure the chains around the house, but as he tried to make them appear, it did not work. He frowned and did not feel too good about that.

"Don't worry, sweet man. This is a different kind of magic. You may not be ready for it yet."

He watched how effortlessly she put the tremendous amount of iron around the house.

"Ready. Come, we're off."

They mounted their brooms and lifted to the skies, brooms turning into the direction of Baba Yaga's home.

The flight was long, but compared to what they had done to harass Lamador it was a joyride. Once they had arrived, Babs had indeed tea waiting for them, and also their guestroom was prepared already.

The wrinkled witch was still amazed about their plan, but screamed about the beauty of its boldness.

"So the points you mention are gathered by 'getting to the other participant'. And how do you intend to 'get' to Lamador?", Baba Yaga asked.

"Anything that is not lethal or damaging goes," explained William. "We just want to shake him up, unnerve him. Think of anything, buckets of water falling from trees to whacking him in the behind with a piece of wood. The sweetness of this all is that magic will not be allowed, and we will have people here that will watch the duel. Use magic and you lose."

"That is the most insane kind of challenge I have ever heard of," said Babs, "a duel between magicals without using magic."

"But Lamador will have to accept it," said Hilda. "If he refuses, then he can't expect me to show up for his challenge. He'd be dishonouring me."

Babs nodded. "That is how it works, yes. Still, I wonder how you will get out of this. Knowing him, he will not give in that easy."

"Well, either way around we will have to face him," William said. "He made the mistake of allowing me into his challenge with Hilda, knowing nothing about me, which is good. By not using magic, there is only a minimal risk that he will find out how I have changed."

"You are devious, William." Baba Yaga handed the tray with cookies around again.

Hilda clung to William's arm. "Isn't he sweet?"

"I'll leave that decision up to you, Hilly baby. Looks like you made it already, so I am not going to argue with you. Now, what's the plan for today?"

"We want to look around your forest," said Hilda who wanted to be in charge. "Get to know the area, decide on where we will stage the challenge, things like that."

"Yes. That and have the advantage of knowing our way around," grinned William.

Baba Yaga's cackling laughter bounced off the walls and shattered a window.

After tea, they went out and got airborne. Baba Yaga took the lead and directed them to a rather remote part of the forest that she lived in.

"Not many peope come here," she said. She could have saved herself the trouble of mentioning this. If ever there had been a more inhospitable piece of forest, Hilda nor William wanted to know about it. This place was so evil, dismal and gloomy that they both had the urge to turn around and go away. Fast.

William shivered as he looked down at the dark, waving mass of branches. It felt to him as if they were trying to lure him down. It was spooky to see, there more as there was no wind.

"You have... interesting places here, Babs," Hilda commented dryly. The view gave her the shivers. "How do you get to the floor?"

"Using magic and brute force," the ugly witch explained. You have to slam an opening somewhere using magic and then throw yourself through it quickly. The trees here are sentient and will make it hard for you to land. It's not too bad once you get the trick down, though." Baba Yaga lowered her broom, staying just out of reach of the waving branches. With magic she created an opening somewhere that looked safe.

Hilda and William saw how she simply dopped herself into the hole that seemed to suck her in and eat her up. They looked at each other.

"You want to go first?", asked William. "I yield to seniority."

"You are just a coward," Hilda snorted.

"Yes, I admit to that. This place scares the willies out of me. But let's do this together. I'll see you down there."

Hilda nodded. They lowered their brooms, summoned their wands to be on the safe side, and punched holes in the foliage. Once the openings appeared, they let themselves fall through, the way Baba Yaga had done. The trees tried to catch the two figures, but more from luck than wisdom on the side of the couple, the trees missed. Only inches from the forest floor, the brooms came to a halt.

William tumbled from his broom, not prepared for the strange final of the maneuver. But he had made it.

"Tired already?", asked their guide. "Come on, Willy, there are sights to see and places to discover."

William got up but fell down again as he had not seen that a long twig had wrapped itself around one of his ankles already. "Holy Bejeebus, is this forest out to get us?", he grumbled as he kicked himself free.

"Yes. Did you notice?"

This message from Baba Yaga made him feel most unwelcome.

"Mount the brooms, stay off the floor."

"Uhm, Babsy baby, perhaps you missed the bit that we do not want to use magic in the challenge here?" Hilda however hopped onto her broom, as there were things trying to crawl up her legs.

"No, I heard you, but you said 'no magic', not 'no flying a broom'." Baba Yaga looked at her girlfriend.

William almost fell off his broom as he heard that. "Babs, you have been in the trade for a bit too long perhaps. How does one fly a broom without magic?"

"Can I hit him?", Baba Yaga asked Hilda.

"No. He's mine. Get one of your own."

The Russian witch glared at William. "You are lucky I love this girl as my sister. Otherwise you'd be in trouble."

47. Eye-quill coordination

They completed their tour around the area that Baba Yaga had in mind. Most of it was less hostile than the part where they had landed, as in that it was possible to walk around there without the need to beat off twigs and shrubs all the time.

Back in the hut with the chicken legs, Babs served more tea and more cookies. "So you are happy with the patch. That's good. I may be able to work out a bit of a preparatory spell for it while you are gone again. If Lamador can play things dirty, he's at the right address for more."

"Oh? What are you planning then?" Hilda nibbled a cookie, stared at it and handed it to William. "Yours."

Babs watched the strange exchange of the cookie, then snapped out of it. "Oh, just a little thingy. I think it would be helpful if the forest calms down a bit when one of you two is there. In a radius of, let's say, three feet?"

Hilda's eyes sparkled blue. "You have the most ingenious ideas, Babs. I love you for that. Do you really think you can pull that off? It's quite an area."

"I said I'd work on it, okay? What was wrong with that cookie?"

"It was not sweet enough," Hilda said as she let her finger soar over the plate with cookies.

"They're all the same, Hilly baby..."

"And now they are the same sweet, Babsy baby..." The two witches laughed, William feeling a bit out of place at that moment.

In front of him were an ink pot and a stack of paper. He had asked for that, as he wanted to write down a few things that he had thought of. He held the quill in his hand, grinning at the exchange between the two witches.

"Willy, what's that?" Baba Yaga pointed a boney finger with a long finger nail at his hand.

"Hand. Quill. Why?"

"Why are hand and quill together?", the ugly witch asked.

"Because I want to write, perhaps?" William had a suspicion what would come next.

"And while you are magical, why do you write the ordinary way?"

He carefully put down the quill. "Because that is the way I have been writing most of my life, Babs."

"Yes, I see. But that life is behind you now, Willy, so grow up and write like a wizard. No touching the quill, no dipping the quill into the ink. It's easy. Even I can do that." Baba Yaga's laughter bounced around the hut again.

Hilda proved to be little help to him too at that moment, as she turned her chair and sat looking at him, her face straight and her eyes flashing blue.

"I don't believe this," said William as he reached for the quill again that moved out of his reached.

"Write like a wizard, William," said Baba Yaga, who made the feather float in front of him.

William drew in a lot of air and let it out very audibly. "Witches," he said. He held out a hand, made his wand appear and started writing with that.

A deadly silence fell in the hut as the two witches stared at the man writing.

"What...", was all Baba Yaga could bring up.

"And he always does things like that," Hilda said, a blissful smile on her face. "You never know what he will do next. Isn't that sweet?"

"It would drive me wild," Baba Yaga said, turning her tea into something a lot more potent and downing that in one go.

"Yes. That happens too," Hilda agreed, "but the fact that he manages that time and again... I really admire that."

"Do you, now?" William looked to the side, at his witch. He winked. Then he looked at his wand, used magic to clean the tip and made it vanish. "Just for that little revelation I will make a fool of myself and try to write like a wizard."

Baba Yaga filled her teacup again, with the same potent drink. "The man is insane. And the woman is not far behind him."

William grinned and looked at the quill that still danced in front of his face. Gently he took control of it and sensed how Baba Yaga let him do so. The quill was very light, it trembled as he moved it.

Hilda looked at him, as he slowly brought the feather down to the paper and started scraping the tip over it. "You need ink, sweet man," she said.

"Yes, it looks that way. So how do I do that, when it is so simple that even Babs can do it?" He was stumped.

Hilda grinned. "You make ink at the tip, that's all."

"Oh. Right." William stared at the tip of the quill. Then he looked at the witch next to him. "I now fully understand your problem with the engine of my truck."

Baba Yaga frowned, she was obviously missing a few large chunks of the puzzle, but Hilda almost fell from her chair laughing. "Finally!", she yelled out.

The Russian witch shook her head. "She's not behind him anymore. She passed him. She's gone."

Hilda calmed down a bit and then explained to Babs that William had asked her to fix something in his vehicle. "And I don't know how that works, so I can't fix it. And now he discovers that he does not know how to make ink since he doesn't know what goes in it."

baba Yaga laughed. "He comes to his senses. Good. That is important. He would be only half a wizard without that insight. But still he is insane to me."

The two witches explained to William how he could make ink. The fact that they all shared magic made that a lot simpler than actually having to work on the ingredients.

After ruining three sheets of paper with large blots of ink, he sighed and said: "Maybe I have to train this some more. This is micro-magic."

Babs looked at Hilda and shook her head. She didn't even need to say it anymore. "You go and work on this outside, Willy, while us girls talk serious things. I don't need you messing up my fine table with a small river of ink. Please?"

That probably was the best thing. William took his paper outside and grinned as he heard laughter thunder through the house. "Serious things. Yeah, right."

They spent the evening sitting around a big fire that floated in the middle of the room. William was stunned by the abilities of Baba Yaga. She was not a looker, but in the category of doer she was amazing.

The two witches were telling stories of things they had seen in their lives, and things they had done. There were plenty of tales about dragons, and the way the two witches talked about them made William curious about those beasts, but at the same time he wished that the first one he saw would be in a safe distance.

Hilda then told Babs about how they had travelled to king Herald's kingdom and the whacky way in which they had brought Bilgar back.

"You did what? You built a carrying thing on two brooms? And that worked?" The wrinkly witch sounded seriously impressed.

"Yes. Well, I had to convince Bilgar to lie still a few times-"

"Hahahaha," Hilda laughed, "you should have seen that. He punched him and Bilgar went bluh..." Hilda threw herself back in the chair, sprawled out, her tongue hanging from her mouth for a moment. "It was so funny to see!"

"Don't tell me that Willy now already has such control over flying a broom that he pulled that off," said Babs.

"No, I did not," William said. "Hilda took over the flying while I silenced Bilgar."

"Silenced. I like that." Babs grinned. "I really like that."

The chatting went on until late in the night, and finally they all went to sleep...

Morning came. Hilda slowly woke up. Very slowly. With her eyes closed, she reached for William. She could not find him. "William?", she whispered, but that did not bring him back to her either. She leaned up on an elbow, brushed most of her hair to the side and looked at the empty spot."William?" A frown was on her face for a moment. Then she was awake enough to sense him, through the mysterious link. He was outside. Practicing his hands-free writing and not making too much ink.

Hilda smiled. "Good boy. But bad boy for leaving me alone, too." She got out of bed and walked to the window in the main room, from where she saw William. He sat on one of the flattened skulls, the paper and the quill floating in front of him, both objects wobbling tremendously.

"Hold the paper, dumb person, that is so much easier," Hilda mumbled.

William remained a dumb person for a while longer. Then he seemed to understand. But even with the paper steady on his knees, the writing was not working out.

Hilda slipped into her housecoat and walked out to where William was sitting.

"I'm trying," he said as he saw her approach. "And good morning."

Hilda kissed his cheek. "Good morning. I should slap you for leaving me alone."

"Will that help me write better?", William asked her.

She stared at him. And laughed. And then said: "Please, never change, no matter how dumb I find you. I love it when you make me laugh with these remarks."

He grinned, the quill still wobbling in front of him. "As you see, I am wasting paper."

Hilda examined the stack of paper in his lap and saw that he spoke the truth. "I can't believe that this is so difficult for you. It is just like writing with your hand, just without using your hand."

William stared at the witch the way she had stared at the paper. "Just like writing with your hand..." He turned his attention back to the quill, took a fresh sheet of paper and set himself to writing. Like usual, just without his hand. The quill lowered to the paper and started moving. At first it was shaky, as if a drunk spider was trying a waltz on the wrong music, but after a few lines of rubbish, the writing became more stable, and at the end of the sheet of paper it was actually legible.

"Did you manage that just because of what I said?" Hilda was amazed.

"Yes. Once you said that, it dawned on me that I should feed my feeling of the movement to the magic that goes to the quill. And then it is - uhm - well, not exactly easy, but at least it works."

"Yes. That works. And now you got the trick down, I demand satisfaction. I am cold and you will have to come in with me and see if you can make me warm again." She held out her hand, which William gladly took, and they went inside. As the door of their room closed, the owner of the hut muttered something about impetuous youths.

48. Books and magic

Thoroughly warmed up, Hilda stretched herself, putting one of her arms over William's face. "Oh, I feel good now. I could do with more, but I'm afraid that Babs would not appreciate that."

"Hmmffmm," replied William.

"What was that, sweet man?" The wicked witch leaned on an elbow and looked at him.

"I tried to say that I think you are right."

"Yes, she is!", a voice came from the other side of the door, "and you'd better get your lazy parts out of the bed because there is food and beverage waiting." Baba Yaga stomped off extra loudly, muttering about young folk making lots of noise in the middle of the night, straining all four legs of her hut. She did go on for a while longer, but Hilda and William did not understand that.

They did get their lazy parts out of the bed and into some clothes, after which they presented themselves for breakfast.

"You two are terrible," said the ugly witch, "it's a good thing I am deaf or I would have been awake all night."

Hilda screamed for laughter, William was entirely puzzled by the contradiction in her words. He let himself be pulled to the table by Hilda.

After breakfast, Hilda and William collected their things. "We may have to come by again, before our challenge," Hilda said, "we should be very aware of the forest."

"I wouldn't bother," Baba Yaga said. "It changes itself, so there's little point in coming over. It even confuses me at times. The only thing relatively stable is this here, where I live."

William frowned. This was relatively stable. Okay.

"Well, kids, have a nice flight home, do give me a yell when you got there okay?"

The three exchanged hugs and then Hilda and William mounted their brooms and headed for home.

The house was glad to see them, once the chains were gone. "You have missed some company," it reported.

"Oh, really? Who wanted to see us?"

"Hmmm. See would be the least of your problems," said the house. "It was a small regiment of soldiers that wanted to take you away."

"Soldiers?" William was surprised that someone would send soldiers to capture a witch.

"Magical soldiers, William," Hilda enlightened him, sensing his confusion. "Herald has friendly ties with Ringeholm and Oxfern, both of whom have legions of soldier-magicians. And when a horde of those march through Lorn, there are not many in that kingdom stupid enough to try and stop them."

"I see..." William boggled at the idea of a legion of soldier-magicians. Even a dozen would be bad.

"The good news is that they left without shooting too many arrows in me," the house proclaimed further. "There probably was not enough visible of me, thanks to the chains."

"This is something you must remember, William. The house was glad it was chained up! There's a first!" Hilda laughed, pulled six arrows from the wood, and they went inside.

Each arrow carried the same message. Lamador was shocked about the invitation to the challenge, as this could not be taken serious. But he accepted.

"I wonder why they shot six arrows with the same message," said William as he magicked up two glasses of wine.

"Uhm, sweet man, isn't it a bit early for that?", Hilda asked. She did take the glass with the diluted wine though, before he had the option to make it go away.

William took his glass and toasted with her's. "We'll decide about that after drinking, I'd say. The fact that Lamador accepted our challenge means something."

"Oh? And what does it mean?", asked Hilda after taking a good sip.

"I'll let you know when I find out, okay?" William took a healthy swig from his wine also.

"Well, at least he takes us serious," said Hilda. "I'll talk to Babs and let her know we've arrived."

William raised her glass to her and sat down at the table, opening his valued precious book. It made him relax, looking at the scribbly writing and the pictures. As he paged through the book, there was something wrong. No, not wrong, he corrected himself. Different. He just wasn't sure what it was.

Hilda returned to the table. "What are you looking at?"

"Not sure, it just looks as if it tried to make sense to me."

Hilda picked up his wine-glass and put it out of his reach. "I'm afraid, William, that this was indeed too early for you. When you came here first you said you could only read one out of every twenty or so pages, and now that page starts making sense to you? I mean, I can read this because I am a witch. I am magical."

They looked at each other.

"Oh... suck an elf... you are becoming more and more magical too..."

William nodded. He held out his hand and his wine-glass floated to it. "I'll drink to that, Hilda."

They spent the remainder of the morning going through the book. William managed to decypher one of the spells that were in it. It was a simple one, to recolour flowers, but Hilda was amazed that the book salesman turned wizard could actually read it.

"Gimme," she said then, pulling the book towards her. Quickly she paged through it, until she reached a page that was almost at the end of the book. "Can you see what this says?" She pushed the book under his nose again.

William scratched his nose. "Well, that looks like an S... That could be a T..." It was obvious that the page Hilda had selected was still a few steps too high.

"Too bad. I really would love to know what is written there," Hilda pouted, "I can't read that either."

"Which means?" William looked at Hilda and touched her hand for a moment.

"Means that we both don't know," she grinned. "But who knows, maybe the book keeps it up to make more sense to you. And when you can read it, you can tell me."

"Sorry, sweetwitch, but somewhere in that, there seems to be a flaw in your logic. You've been able to read a lot of this since the first time you saw the book, while I could merely read the nursery rhymes and look at the pictures. And now you tell me that I may be able to read things that you can't?"

"Sure." Hilda saw his wondering face not getting any less wondered. "Okay, listen carefully. You are making the big mistake again. You talk about logic. Now logic is a wonderful thing, but do not try to substitute that for magic. Magic is an entirely different beast. It compares to logic like a brick does to a blackbird." Hilda frowned at that comparison, but as William did not seem to mind, it was fine with her. "I'm a witch. A wicked witch, born and raised. You are... uhm... well, you are not born and raised a witch. I do things, you do things. And magic assists us in doing what we do, and enables us to make us do it as well as we can."

"Oh. I see. I didn't know that," said William.

"Neither did I," said Hilda in response, "I just made that up, but it sounds pretty convincing, doesn't it?"

William looked into her eyes. There was no red, no blue. Just black eyes. He had no clue if she was joking, being serious or anything else.

"Remember that I am a wicked witch, William. It is inside me." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Now someone has to go do the rounds. Do you want to come with me, or do you want to stay here and spend time with your book?"

He knew she was asking that without wickedness. "I'm coming with you."

She smiled, blue sparks in her eyes.

In the days that followed, they worked on their plans concerning their challenge. William convinced Hilda that it would be a sign of fair play to write up the guidelines for their challenge and send those to Lamador.

"But why? That way he can prepare himself!" Hilda shook her head. "If ever I heard a stupid thing, it's called fair play. He doesn't do that either."

"Hilda, you are just wicked. You need to learn about some other techniques."

"Do they involve magic, flying or sex?"

"No."

"Sorry William, but why should I bother then?"

"Because perhaps we want to win this challenge and unsettle our friend Lamador?"

"Hmmf. Really no...?" She looked at him, her face a question mark.

"Before and after, okay?"

"Yes! Let's start with the before!"

"Hilda..."

They started with the before.

Inbetween the before and the after, Hilda lay on William, a happy smile on her face. "So what are these techniques you were blabbing about? I warn you, make it interesting or I will fall asleep on you and you will have to lie still until I wake up again."

William could think of a worse fate, but tried to tell Hilda a thing or two about bending the rules. He had written the rules for their contest in such a way that for an untrained reader of writing by an ordinary, the whole thing looked simple and unambiguous. But, he explained, there were little things here and there that could also be interpreted in another way. "I put that on paper quite flexibly," he said.

Hilda frowned and tried to find a hole in his reasoning. "I don't really get this. You were not lying when you wrote the paper, right? Still, now you tell me that the paper isn't exactly telling the truth?"

"It is telling two truths. One for the people who expect nothing but the obvious truth, one for us. And we can take advantage of that."

"I hope you are not going to tell me everything in detail, because then I will fall asleep on you." In preparation, the wicked witch closed her eyes and tightened her hold on William's arms.

"I won't. Just trust me on this one."

Hilda nodded. She wiggled herself into a slightly more comfortable position, did her kitten purr, and relaxed. The wicked witch was quickly bored that day, William decided.

49. Meeting Lamador

The days that separated them from the first dark moon came and went. Fast. It felt as if magic was toying with time.

Hilda and William had flown to Baba Yaga's hut a day early, so they could relax from the flight. As they arrived there, Babs told them that Lamador and quite a contingent of his followers had also arrived, and were camping somewhere not too far away, in a forest patch that did not act like her own piece of land did.

"He's been a good neighbour," the ugly witch commented. The three were sitting in the sunshine that miraculously made its way down through the thick layers of branches and leaves. "He's stayed off my yard."

"Has he come to see you?", Hilda asked. It would surprise her if the sorcerer had done that, but it never hurt to make sure.

"No, he stuck to his own for now. I've seen his camp as I was messing about in the air a bit. Decided not to piss him off by making it rain there. Doesn't make things any better, and he'd stop it in a moment again." Babs looked at the couple. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"We plan on going to see him," Hilda said, stumping Baba Yaga.

"You WHAT?"

"Just a courtesy call," grinned William.

"So you are crazy, right? Did that happen lately, or have you always been like that and you just managed to hide it?" Baba Yaga shook her head. "Do you know how he is going to react?"

"No, not really, but as it is our challenge," said Hilda, "he is honour bound not to harm us."

"Lamador and honour." Baba Yaga made a sound that did not convey much respect. "Maybe I should go along, as I am your referee and judge on fair play."

And so the trio mounted their brooms. William was wearing ordinary's clothes, and they made itlook as if Hilda was guiding his broom, so Lamador and his companions would not be alarmed. It was unthinkable that they would sense William's magic. If the two witches could not detect it, neither could the sorcerer. Magic was there or it was not.

Lamador's camp lay in an open spot in a rather normal stretch of forest. There were giant tents, but William was certain they were a lot more sturdy and comfortable than your average camping utitily. There was much colour and abundance in the camp, colours like yellow, blue and green prevailed. In several spots there were fires burning, and everywhere in the camp there were people busy with things.

Their approach had been spotted of course, so there was quite a reception committee waiting for them. Lamador was not in sight. That did not surprise them.

It was a group of four, three men and a woman, all magical people. Hilda wondered if Lamador would have any non-magical folk with him. Two of the men wore the brown of Earth Mages, the woman was in blue, signifying her abilities in the air, and the last man was in plain grey. He could be anything.

"You are the witch who challenged the Great Lamador." The words were spoken as an accusation, by one of the men in the long brown robes.

"Yes," said Hilda. "That must have surprised him."

The man disregarded her. "And you are the ordinary that has been seen around her."

"You make it sound like a bad thing," said William. "My name is William Connoley. And who are you?"

The man in brown clearly considered any further interaction with William below his dignity, as he turned to Baba Yaga. "And you?"

"Your part-time neighbour and their judge. Baba Yaga."

The man nodded and walked off.

"Nice chap," William mumbled, "really would like to go out with him some evening and have a few beers." He had sensed a lot of magic around the man.

"William. Shush." Hilda was not sure if it was a good thing to chat about like that.

The three remaining people that made up their escort did not say a word. They didn't even seem to notice the three guests. Some commotion happened near one of the large tents. It was about the largest of them, with lots of magical marks on it. It had to be the tent of their adversary in the challenge. Lamador's.

After a while the tent opened and someone strode out. This was really striding. The majesty beamed off this person. William would have believed that this was king Herald, had he not seen the paintings and statues of the king and his sorcerer in Heraldion.

Lamador was followed by the man in brown, who kept a respectful distance. People moved to the side as the great sorcerer approached and passed by, as if they were driven aside by a bulldozer. The Great Lamador wore a deep blue robe with gold stitchwork on it. There were dragons and moons on it, and some strange creatures that William did not recognise. On the man's head lay some kind of square blue cloth with small white pompoms on the ends, making the sorcerer look quite ridiculous.

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.

50. The first challenge

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.

There was incredible tension between the two men. Hilda quickly glanced at Baba Yaga, who could not pull her eyes away from what was going on. She could not believe it, that William was challenging Lamador this way, confronting him with something that was so stupid and simple, and yet so humiliating for the great sorcerer to have fallen for this.

Lamador then dropped his hand. There was no more pointing finger. "You are going to regret this," he said to William, then brusquely turned and walked off. Tudris followed his leader.

The two judges assigned by Lamador looked a bit forlorn. "It looks like you won," the woman said. "I hope you enjoy the winning." Slowly she and her fellow judge flew off.

The three stood in the forest where now some form of peace returned. Hilda dropped her remaining twigs. "I am not sure if this was such a good idea, now."

Baba Yaga nodded in silence.

"Well, it happened," said William. "Not much we can do about that. i'm sorry I dragged you into this."

Hilda slipped her hand into his. "We were in it together, sweet man. At least we can say we beat Lamador once."

He kissed her dirty cheek. "We did."

Baba Yaga worried. "You know he is going to kill you on the next meeting, right?"

"No. He is not. He is going to be careful with us." William said it full of confidence. "Lamador now knows that he does not know what to expect from us together. This show has taught him that much."

"You two scare me," said Babs. "Come, let's find your brooms and go back. Get you cleaned up. You two look like a mess."

51. The aftermath

"Can you wash my back, please?" Hilda looked at William, who was also in the bathroom of the hut. The bathroom was far too large for the entire hut. The bathtub itself already was, and still somehow it fit.

"Of course, just don't drop your hair on me, okay?"

Hilda's wet hair was floating over her head, the waterdrops falling down into the tub like a fountain. "Of course not. You still get your turn to clean yourself up."

William sat down on a low stool behind the tub, hoping the four legs would remain standing where they were now. The bathtub had moved about a few times already, and he did not feel like chasing after it. He took the washcloth that hung from the side and started washing Hilda's back and shoulders.

"Ah, yes, that is good. A bit lower please... yes... ooohhh..." She groaned with pleasure and asked him to go on, even though her back and shoulders were clean. He didn't mind.

"Aren't you getting a bit too much fun out of this, sweetwitch?"

"Too much? No, William, no. There can not be too much of this, believe me. I promise I'll wash your back also, okay? Just go on a bit longer..."

He sat back and made the washcloth go over her back.

"Hey, not fair! That is not the same thing, William Connoley. Be a man and do your duty!"

William grinned and scrubbed her back one more time.

By the time he was in the tub (it had similar convenient 'empty' and 'full' plaques as had the one at Hilda's house), Hilda got in it again, together with him. She sat in his lap, holding him close, making somewhat of an attempt to wash his back.

"I was really scared in the forest, William. Lamador could have hurt you very badly." Hilda stopped her washing movements and looked in his eyes. "I was very very afraid then."

"Nothing happened, Hilda." William pulled her against him, feeling her skin warm against his own. "I was afraid also. But I did not want to show it. And I am glad you didn't either."

They sat together like that for a while, until Hilda shivered. "I'm getting out of here. Your water is getting cold!"

"Well, so much for the backrub," William pouted as he winked at Hilda.

She laughed, wrapped a large towel around herself and disappeared into the living room of the hut.

William finished quite quickly after that and tried not to wonder about the bathroom.

Babs had 'thrown something together' that should serve as lunch. It looked thrown together also.

As they were digging in, the ugly witch asked them what their next move was going to be. "I would be very careful for now," she said. "Lamador is extremely pissed off at the moment."

"Well," Hilda said, "we do have to get back home again, and deal with things there. You know, the regular things that go about. Teasing the king, knocking up some naughty villagers."

"I miss something in that short list," said Baba Yaga.

"Such as?"

"Trying to get to the other side of the world?"

"He'd find us there too, I'm sure," said William as he took a something from a plate. He looked at it.

"Don't look. Eat," was Baba Yaga's advice, and she demonstrated how to do it. William noticed that she closed her eyes while putting the ominous black something in her mouth. Alas, he had held and seen the black object too long. He shook his head and put it back.

Hilda grinned.

After the exotic lunch, Baba Yaga asked them if they wanted to stay a bit longer, or head for home straight away.

"I want to go home," said the wicked witch, "but I do want to be certain that Lamador and his army have left already. And no, you are not getting on a broom to have a look," she added for William.

Babs said they should give the group a few more hours to pack up and leave, and then she would go out and have a look.

That sounded like a sensible thing. As they waited, Babs told them about her new artistic exploits. "I am trying to go into surrealism now."

Hilda frowned. "What's that?"

William groaned. "If it is the same thing as what I know, I don't want to know."

Baba Yaga laughed her laugh, making the windows rattle. "I doubt it will be the same, Willy." She got up and brought an old teacup back to the table. "See, this is a real teacup."

William already feared what was going to happen. Visions of the art of Salvador Dali swam already in front of his eyes.

Baba Yaga put the cup on the table, made her wand appear and muttered somethin in Russian. The cup seemed to deflate itself and reduced that way to a two-dimensional object. From one side it still looked like the teacup, but from the side there was absolutely nothing that remained visible of it.

William was impressed. Dali had only done this on canvas. This witch did it for real. When looking at the cup from the front or the back, they could even pick it up and put it down. From the side however, there was nothing. "I really had not expected this, Babs," William said.

Hilda looked at the cup from all sides also. "Yes, nifty, but what's the point? The only advantage I see is that you can stick more of them in your cupboard, but then you would be preparing for shitloads of company, and I am not going to do that."

Baba Yaga laughed. "It is not yet something that I would do with all my things."

"And why not? It looks shiny!"

"Well, as I said, I am getting into it. Making the stuff flat already works, but I have not quite figured out yet how to undo that, so you can actually use the cup again."

"Oh. Yes. That is something to take into account," nodded Hilda who sat nibbling a cookie.

Babs threw the flat cup away and talked some more about the surrealism thing she was now pursuing. Time passed by and she then got on her broom to check the surroundings. One of them in particular.

When she came back, she was able to report that the group of Lamador had left, but that they had left rather a big mess in the area where they had stayed.

Hilda and William felt responsible for that. "We'll go by there and clean things up. It is because of us that they were there, so we should do that."

Babs then said they'd go there together and take care of the place. So the group of three flew out to the former campsite.

The view was heartbreaking. Lamador had definitely not taken his loss well. Trees had been broken in two, most of the grassland was burnt black, and there was a stack of waste that seemed impossible for a group that had been there for only a few days.

Baba Yaga and Hilda started to restore the trees, as far as they were still in a shape to be saved. William did what he could to turn the grass back to green and alive, although some patches were so severely burnt that he could not do a thing but only remove the black matter.

They worked for hours, and when they were done the sun was already setting, but the area looked presentable again. Hilda did her trash compacter trick and William took the handful of dice with him so they could toss the stuff away.

With a sigh, later, they stretched their legs as they sat down outside the hut on its large chicken legs. Hilda had magicked up glasses and a large pitcher of ice cold wine. The idea was great, but William frowned at the light blue liquid.

"Are you sure that is wine, sweet woman?"

"Sure. Don't like the colour? You can have yellow too. Or green..."

"No, no. Blue is fine." He did not say it with a lot of vigour, but Hilda blamed that on the hard work they all had done that afternoon.

She handed him the glass. "Here you go, sweet man."

"He is an insane man, Hilly, a very insane one. But despite that, I have to admit that he has spunk, standing up to Lamador the way he did." Babs accepted a glass also. "Well, you two idiots, here's to you, and may we all live happily ever after."

They all toasted and enjoyed the nice chilled wine. William made a tray of sandwiches and that way they spent a reasonably nice and relaxed afternoon together. There still was, however the gloomy shadow of the challenge gone so terribly sour hanging around them.

The talks died out after a while, and they sat quietly together, until the time to go to sleep came. That evening that moment arrived quite a lot earlier than otherwise.

The next morning Hilda and William said goodbye to Baba Yaga and set off for their journey home. Over a large lake William dropped the dice that were the trash Lamador had left behind.

They came back to their house. At least there everything was in order. On the flight over they had already agreed that they'd change into their normal clothes and do the rounds. At least that routine made things a bit better for them.

As the days passed, they managed to forget the nasty experience somewhat.

One day they came back from the rounds and discovered a man sitting near the house. There was an animal with him that tried to get away all the time.

After they had landed their brooms, they met the man who was fighting to hold on to a goose.

"Good day, honourable witch," said the man, "honourable wizard. My name is Alfred Esop. I hope you can help me."

"Maybe, if you tell us the problem," Hilda said, eyeing the goose.

"You see," said the man, "this is the goose with no golden eggs."

Hilda looked at William, then back at the man. "I doubt this is the only one."

The man stared at the witch as if she had turned purple. "Honourable witch, this is the only one!"

Hilda scratched her head. "Either you are losing it, or I am. And I am not losing it. Am I losing it, William?"

"Can't say that I have noticed that around you..."

The goose-holder was starting to panic a bit. "But please, if you can, help me. This is the goose that had golden eggs, but they are not golden anymore. Actually there is nothing egg-like coming from it anymore."

"Oh. You mean that." Hilda considered the goose again and still did not find it very appealing. "William, do you know anything about geese?"

"Yes, I do, but that is kitchen-related, and I don't think this one is ready for that yet." William saw how the goose-owner flinched.

The goose did not like it to be the centre of all this attention, it tried once more to escape from Alfred's hold, making feathers fly around.

Hilda flipped up her wand and touched the goose with it. "Dormio." It went limp, fallen asleep at the witch's request. "Right, now that has calmed down a bit, let's take it inside and see what we can do with it." As they went in, she muttered that someone should open up a place to heal animals.

The good goose-owner picked up his coat and followed the magical couple inside. His lower jaw became heavy for a moment as he saw the two brooms find their place on their own. Then, on Hilda's word to put the sleeping goose on the table, he snapped out of it.

Hilda walked around the goose, not detecting anything special about it. "So it worked fine for a while and suddenly it fails to lay eggs?", she asked, to buy herself some time.

"Yes. The last egg came out just fine, about twelve days ago. Since then, nothing. I have travelled four days to get here."

"Four days? I am sure there are wizards or witches closer than that!", Hilda said, who had just opened a book, trying to find something about geese. "Why did you come all the way here?"

Alfred sat down on a chair, uninvited. "I have tried to get to them, but they all thought I was crazy. Geese, they say, don't lay golden eggs. Well, this one did, until a while ago. And I did not have a spare egg to show them, so they just laughed at me and sent me away." The man looked at the wicked witch. "So if you want to laugh at me, go ahead. Then I'll pick up the goose and leave again."

52. Goose

"Do you have more geese, or is this the only one?", William asked Alfred.

"This is the only one, sir."

"And I guess you checked with other goose-owners if there was something similar happening with their geese?"

"Uhm. No. I am not much into social gatherings with people that have ordinary geese." Alfred's cheeks coloured red.

Hilda nodded. "I know what you mean. I have issues with ordinaries also. Let me check my books. I may have something I don't know about."

She walked off towards the large amount of shelves that carried even larger amounts of books and went over the titles on the backs. "Mushrooms. Nope. Dragons. Hardly. Handpupp- uhm, no." She peeked at the two men at the table, hoping they had not caught the last bit. If they had, they did not respond to it.

As Hilda went through her library, William looked at the goose a few more times. He had never really had the opportunity to look at one, so here was his chance. "Animals can be fascinating, can't they?"

"Yes," said Alfred, "very much so. I could write a book about them."

"It would be good. That way we would have a book on geese also," William grinned. It got him a strange look from Alfred who wondered if he had ended up in entirely the wrong place.

Hilda came back with a book in her hands. "This is the only thing I can find on birds. No many things goose-specific though, and nothing at all about geese with golden eggs."

"What did you find out from it?", asked William.

"Well," the wicked witch said as she looked in the book again, "the most obvious reason for a bird to stop laying eggs is that it's dead. But this one isn't."

Alfred looked at the goose on the table. It was still breathing, and waking up from Hilda's sedative. "Indeed. It isn't. And I really would like it to stay that way."

Slowly the goose sat up and looked around at the people in the room.

"How do we fix you?", Hilda asked the big bird who stared at her without a hint to a reply.

It honked at her.

"If that was meant to be insulting, you succeeded, buster." A wand appeared, ready to counter a next insult.

Alfred however had jumped up and gazed at the goose as that wiggled its tail feathers. Another honk, and it got up. Beneath it lay a golden egg.

"Suck an elf," said Hilda.

"Holy Bejeebus," William agreed.

"An egg!", said Alfred.

Hilda looked at the book. "Somehow I don't think that bringing this book over made that happen. Anyone an idea or a clue? It wasn't me, even if I would love to have done this."

William took the book and looked at the page Hilda held open. "Hmmm... it says here that geese don't lay eggs when there's snow."

"Snow? We have snow lately," said Alfred. "A while ago some weather-mage has moved into our land and he was doing all kinds of things with the weather. Now there is a lot of snow and he has a problem getting that cleared away."

Hilda grinned. "I think we have the answer. Your goose just needed to defrost its rear end so now the eggs can come out again."

Alfred Esop was so amazingly relieved that his goose lay its golden eggs again that he completely forgot himself and hugged Hilda tightly for a moment. "Thank you, thank you ever so much!"

"Uhm, yeah, I guess that's okay. So you're fine now?" Hilda stepped closer to William to avoid another hugging. Hugging was good, but she would be the one to take the initiative. Not some stray goose-holder. Even if the goose lay golden eggs.

"Say, Alfred, do golden eggs make good omelets?", Hilda asked.

Alfred, his goose in his arms already, looked puzzled. "I really wouldn't know. I've never tried that. I just sell the eggs." He looked at the golden egg that lay on the table still. "You can have that one. For curing the goose."

"Well, I didn't actually - uhm - but okay. Thank you for that."

They showed Alfred out, and as the man was walking away to the forest path that led to the village, they heard the goose honk a few more times. Apparently there was a line of eggs waiting to be unleashed.

The magical couple grinned, as they tried to imagine how Alfred was going to handle the goose and the eggs it would lay on the way to the village.

"Do you want a golden omelet?", Hilda then asked. "I am curious what that will turn into."

"Sure, why not? Let's crack it and see."

They repaired to the kitchen together. William wanted to witness this as much as Hilda, but he left the honour of breaking the egg to her.

The skillet hovered over the fire. Hilda had tossed a lick of butter in it and a wooden spoon slowly stirred it around. She held the egg in both hands and cracked the shell on the side of the frying pan. It broke as one might expect of an egg. Its contents slid into the hot melted butter and spread out over the metal. That was not all that spread. As the innards of the golden egg moved around, a horrendous sulphur based smell spread throughout the kitchen, making both Hilda and William pull funny faces and say "eeew". Despite this disappointment they kept watching the skillet. The egg was slowly colouring. Brownish black.

"I'd say there is something that smells bad about this egg," Hilda commented.

"Yes, and it lacks things in the looks department also..."

Hilda took the pan and poked at the solid layer at the bottom with the wooden spoon. It sounded suspiciously like some kind of stone. "Care for an omelet with a crunch?", she asked William.

"Not really...", William said.

"Smart man. I thought so too." She flipped up her wand and a moment later the pan was good as new. And empty. "We'll find something else for lunch."

Later that day they also noticed that the golden shell, once cracked, became some kind of ugly lead-coloured gunk. William wrapped it in a piece of paper and discarded it. "So much for golden eggs. Nothing good comes from that."

They had decided to take the afternoon off. No going anywhere, just sit in the sunshine and do a whole lot of nothing.

The couple was doing a mighty fine job of that when the peace and quiet was rudely disturbed by a horseman that came racing up to them and stopping his speedy journey in a cloud of dust as he forced his horse to a halt.

"Honourable witch and wizard," the man said as he jumped off his steed, "I have a message from the king."

"Oy, no arrows?", William asked, looking up from his sunbed.

Hilda laughed, then turned to the rider. "What is it the king wants of us?"

He handed her a large scroll. "This is for you, he said. And it is important. And if possible, I have to wait for your answer."

Hilda raised her eyebrows. "Then it is really urgent." She checked the seal, as even a witch can't be too careful, then tore it off and looked at the message. "Crappedy crap."

William sat up. That sound meant problems. "What's up?"

"King Herald asked Walt for our extradition."

"He what?"

"It seems that we have offended a diplomatic blah-blah official of his court. Lamador's been crying, it seems. Which surprises me, as he usually handles his own affairs." Hilda rolled up the paper. "Looks like we have to go see Walt about this. He's only doing his duty, so we'd best help him."

"I understand." William started to get up.

Hilda was on her feet already and said to the rider that they would arrive at the castle as soon as they could. The man nodded, got on his horse and raced off again. "Show-off," she muttered and flattened the cloud of dust he left behind him. "No need to hurry, William, we should give him some time to deliver the message."

Grinning, they went into the house and changed into clothes that looked more official and up to their status. A visit to the king warranted that.

They had a cup of tea and then got on their brooms and headed for the castle. Hilda did not feel like messing with the guards, so they simply landed their brooms in front of the large fountain and waited there. They had been seen, as usual, so someone would come and pick them up.

A group of guards approached the magical couple. "Uhm, honourable witch, would you please come with us? You too, honourable wizard?"

"Sure, lead on and we'll follow," said Hilda.

They were taken through the long corridors of the castle until they reached a cozy little salon. It was painted all white, the floor was made of white and grey marble and had large, probably handmade red carpets on it. There were a few small paintings on the far wall, with images of lakes. A small white table carrying a colourful vase with white flowers stood in each corner.

Walt was standing in front of a window, hands on his back, staring outside. The leader of the guards announced their arrival, after which the king turned and smiled.

"Welcome, Grimhilda and William, please sit down. Can I offer you something?" He waved at some chairs, and sat down himself.

William asked for tea, as did Hilda, which was arranged speedily. Walt sipped a glass of orange juice.

"I guess you saw the note, right?" King Walt did not look happy. "I'm not sure what you did, though. Can you explain something about this?"

Hilda and William told him about the challenge, and the way they had taken their revenge by challenging Lamador in return.

"Right, I can see what made you do that. And I like the way you folks think. Really." Walt toasted them with his orange juice. "But it looks like you angered someone in a very intense manner. And Herald asked me to send you over so you can be punished for that. That's the part I don't really like so much."

"Nor do we, King", said Hilda. "Punished? Just because we did something he was not prepared for? That is a low trick."

William agreed. "I would first want to see evidence of this, and if possible hear some witnesses or so."

Hilda and Walt looked at the former book salesman.

"What are you talking about, William? We have to go there and tell them Lamador's lying through his teeth." Hilda shook her head. "Sorry, King, he sometimes has these moments of not making any sense at all."

"Then what is the plan? Go there, walk into the lion's den and be eaten?" William got up and paced the room.

"William, sit down. I will explain this to you later," said Hilda.

King Walt looked at the witch. It sounded odd to him that a wizard would not know how things were done in the magical world. But then, he thought to himself, this wizard was strange in more than one way, so probably things were done differently where he came from. The witch would iron it out.

William sat down. "Okay. I'll leave it to you. For now."

King Walt looked relieved. "So, you will go there? Should I send an escort of guards with you to make a bigger impression? You know I value you and I don't want anyone to think differently."

Hilda thought about that offer. "That might be a good idea. We can travel slow then and think about things on the way. Yes, thank you for that, king."

"Very good. Would a group of twenty-four be enough?" King Walt sometimes liked to deal with things pragmatically and swiftly.

"That many? Would look good though..." Hilda grinned.

William had a very undetermined feeling about all of that. Going to Lamador and his king over some dumb accusation, with a bunch of guards that probably were useless against any halfway decent witch or wizard? He wondered if he would ever understand this world.

Hilda and Walt talked about the arrangements of when they were going to go to king Herald's country and how the transport would be arranged. There would be luxury carriages, plenty of food and water, and Walt would make sure they had all the necessary letters of reference with them to assure a free and safe passage through all the lands they had to cross.

After dealing with all that, the two magical people were escorted to the main entrance again. Not because they were considered dangerous, but it would prevent them from getting lost. Walt walked along with them.

"I'll miss you while you are gone," he said, "it is very entertaining to try and hit you with my fountain. So if only for that, I hope you will return soon."

"It won't be us that will delay our return, king," said Hilda. "In three days we'll be here and leave with the guards. No telling what will happen from there on, but we will just hope for the best."

Walt nodded and insisted on shaking their hands, something he would not do in a normal situation. "Take good care," he said. Then he watched as they got on their brooms and flew off towards their house. "Remarkable people," he mumbled to himself. "Very remarkable people."

53. Beginning the journey

On the way home, Hilda turned to William. "I don't like this at all," she said. "There is not much time anymore before the challenge Lamador set us. Me. Us. Whatever. And now this. It won't give us much remaining time to prepare for it."

William agreed. "We may not even have time to go to Gurthreyn again. Not a place you go to for fun, but to see it and get accustomed to the feeling helps. To some extent."

"Hmm... if you put it like that, I am not sure that going to Lamador is such a bad idea." Hilda looked serious. "But we will take things one at the time. Good thing we have a few days before we leave, we can look at what we want to take with us."

Once home, they sat down and Hilda explained about the way that this whole extradition thing worked. "I get the feeling that you think this is some kind of prison deal, William. It isn't. Yes, Lamador is certainly angry about what we have done. And he wants to show that. After all, he is the Great Lamador, and he wants to piss us off with this. He'll start throwing accusations at us and we have to counter those."

"And what is the worst thing that can happen?", William asked.

Hilda's face turned gloomy. "They throw us in prison."

"Right. I see. And it is not a prison deal, right?" William wondered about that detail.

"No. In a prison deal you get thrown into prison without the option of defending yourself."

"That sounds bad. Not the way I am used to. Well, used to. Uhm, know. You know what I mean." William felt like a fool, stammering and blundering through his words.

"Are you upset, my sweet man?", asked Hilda, wrapping her arms around him.

"Does it show? I thought I was getting a grasp of this world of yours, and then this happens. Makes me feel like I am back to square one."

"You're not. You can do magic, William, and that is good. For me, anyway. And the best thing is that others don't sense that in you, which is extremely good."

"I wonder what good magic will do us if they are sticking us in some dungeon. I'll bet you that they won't have ordinary guards there." William still felt very bad about the whole trip to see king Herald and the sorcerer they had humiliated so terribly.

"William. Stop it. Shush you." Hilda put a finger over his lips for a moment. "You are not making things better with all that, okay? It is hard on me as well, I have to deal with it also."

William looked into her eyes and twitched his lips so she would remove the finger. "You're right. I'm sorry. It became a bit confusing and... much."

"Okay. I can understand that. When I think of how I felt in your world after a few days. I was going insane there." She rested her head against his shoulder. "And so far you have not gone mad yet. There still is hope for you."

"I'm glad we're not giving up, Hilda." He held her for a while.

"Come. Let's find some things to take along for the trip. Books and such." She grinned at him.

They started to gather things together.

Several days later, a carriage halted at the house of the wicked witch. The driver looked a bit nervous, it was not every day that he was sent to pick up a witch and a wizard. And he had already been sweating as he tried to imagine all the things they would be bringing along. He had heard stories about witches...

"There is a cart in front of me," the house announced.

Hilda and William were drinking coffee as they heard that. "Well, that is nice, to send a cart over."

Hilda peeked out the window. "Shiny, that is a whole carriage!"

William picked up the three dice that were their luggage and the stack of books they had prepared to have handy at all times, then they walked outside.

"Honourable witch, honourable wizard," the driver said, hat in hand. "King Walt has asked me to come and collect you, and your luggage."

"Oh, the luggage is all taken care of," said William, patting his pocket.

"Uhm." The driver tried to keep a straight face. Hilda putting the chains around the house made that impossible for the good man.

As she finished up, she looked at the driver. "Is there a problem?"

"Uhm. No. Uhm."

"Come, William, we'll go sit in the carriage and at some point the driver will take us to the castle." She pushed him to the carriage and they both got in.

The driver slowly trotted after them, occasionally looking at the house and the chains. He climbed to his seat and made the horses turn the carriage, after which they rode off, to the castle.

The carriage was very comfortable, which was a good thing. The ride to the castle took quite a lot longer than by broom.

"How many days do you think it will take like this before we get to where we are going?", asked William.

"I am not sure, but with so many soldiers along also, it will take three days, for certain. Brooms go faster than carriages and such." Hilda rested against him. "Sorry, sweet man."

After a long time of bobbing on the road, the carriage pulled into the castle yard, the hooves of the horses making a sudden noise as they pulled their load past the thick entrance wall.

"Sounds like we're there," Hilda grinned. "Do you bring the luggage?"

"Sure. Do you take the books?", William asked.

"No way! I'm the girl, you're the boy!"

Laughing they exited the carriage as it had come to a halt.

The yard was full of carriages and soldiers. It was a bit unsettling for William, seeing so many people were involved in getting them to Heraldion in one piece.

King Walt appeared from somewhere, a dim smile on his face. "Welcome. Good to see you." He then frowned as he saw the driver step from the carriage. "No luggage? It should be on top, somewhere..."

William shook his head. "All we need is in here." He patted his pocket again.

Walt frowned as he looked at the clothes. "You witches and wizards..." Then he addressed Hilda. "Dear witch, as you see I have kept my word. These are twenty-four reliable men who will make certain that you will reach your destination safely. Messengers have been sent ahead already, with papers announcing your passage. I have taken the liberty of making reservations for the night in a few renowned stations along the road."

"Dear king, we do thank you for your kindness," said Hilda. "You are going through far too much trouble for us."

King Walt raised his hands, shaking his massive head. "No, no Grimhilda. The things you do for us are worth tenfold what I can do for you now. Just make sure you come back again. I want to hit you with the fountain again."

Hilda grinned. "We'll do what we can, King Walt."

He nodded, then waved at the leader of the escort, Captain Lambert, and introduced him to the witch and wizard. "These are the people you will accompany, Captain, take good care of them, they are valuable assets to the kingdom."

The captain nodded. "Our lives for their lives, my king." He bowed, then turned to the valuable assets. "Would you then please board your carriage? We have a long way to travel."

Hilda and William walked back to the carriage and, with a new driver on board, the small convoy rattled away from the castle, towards the kingdom of Lorn.

After many hours and plenty of short breaks, it had already gone dark, the group halted near a large farmhouse annex something William called a hotel. It was equipped as a resting place for travellers, and Walt's messengers had done their work well, rooms were already waiting for them, as were hot baths and meals. The soldiers first wanted to sit apart from the magical couple but they then simply sat among their guards, which made the entire seating arrangement quite easy.

Hilda and William wanted to go for an evening walk, just the two of them, but the king's orders were rather strict. After walking for about ten minutes with twelve guards behind them, they gave up and went to their room.

"I hope you do trust us enough to sleep alone here," William said to the three guards that went along to their bedroom door.

"Oh certainly, honourable wizard," one of the men said. "One of us will just remain here guarding the door. We're taking turns. Sir."

The magical duo sighed. "Alright. Have fun."

They closed the door and prepared for bed. Silently. As they lay next to each other, Hilda whispered: "I don't feel comfortable like this. I don't like having someone standing outside the door."

"I'm afraid their only alternative is that one of them stands in the room."

"Grmbl," said Hilda. She put an arm around William. "Mine to keep," she whispered and kissed him on the cheek.

"Gladly," he whispered back, and smiled.

After a while they fell into a disturbed sleep.

The next morning they awoke early.

"Did you sleep any good?", William asked as Hilda sat up and rubbed her face.

"Horribly. We should have brought our own bed," she yawned. "Would have fit easily."

"Yes, no problem. I have big pockets," William agreed. "Too bad we can't fly back and pick it up."

"Should have brought our brooms," Hilda nodded. "This is a drag. Takes so long..." She dropped herself back on the bed. "Can't we just go home and stay there, and join the soldiers a day later? Flying over is so much better."

As William wanted to respond to that, she put her hand over his mouth. "I don't want to hear it, okay?"

He nodded soundlessly.

"Good. Get up then?"

He nodded again.

They got up and after packing their belongings into the three dice again they went downstairs, where breakfast and the small batallion were waiting for them. Not long after that, the convoy was underway again, crossing the land of Lorn and arriving near the border with Ringeholm in the evening. There was another resting place prepared to cater to their needs, and another night went by with bad sleep and a guard by the door.

The morning brought rain. It followed them into Ringeholm, but the kingdom of Oxfern would have been just as wet.

"So what was it with Ringeholm. No unidentified flying witches, right?", William asked Hilda.

"Indeed. If you want to fly here, you need to go through a mountain of papers. Takes the whole thrill out of the flight, really."

"Or laugh at the rules and get trees thrown at you," William remembered.

"Yup." Hilda giggled as she recalled Bilgar's face, waking up on the broomaran with giant arrows being shot at them. "That was quite a trip, wasn't it, when we went to get Bilgar."

William grinned also. "Yes. That was some form of exciting."

They sat in the carriage, listening to the rain and decided that was not exciting at all.

"I have an idea," said Hilda. "I want to do something about this noise. And help our brave soldiers a bit."

"And that would be?", William asked, very interested in any way to lift the boredom.

Hilda popped out her wand. "You too," she said and explained what she wanted to do.

With the both of them holding their wands, they joined forces and sent out a magical umbrella that reached over all the men and carriages in their caravan. As soon as it was in place, the rain was simply diverted to fall to the sides of the path they were travelling over. It did not take long until Captain Lambert pulled up his horse next to the carriage with the valuable assets, and thanked them for shielding them from the rain.

"It is most unpleasant to ride in," he said, "so thank you, on behalf of the men!"

Hilda grinned. "You're welcome. It gives us something to do."

But the rain left, and the need for an umbrella left along with it, so it was back to sitting and riding.

Hilda leaned out the window and shouted for Captain Lambert, who came riding up to them quickly.

"Is something wrong, honourable witch?", he asked, concern ringing in his voice.

"There certainly is. You are outside in the open air, and we are stuck in this shaking box. I don't want to be in here, so I'll strike you a deal. You find a few men on horseback that want to sit here for a while and we'll ride the horses for that time."

"Oh. Uhm." Captain Lambert was quite unprepared for that request. The king had not given him any orders for situations like this one.

"I am going to stop this carriage otherwise," said Hilda. Her tone made it clear that she was very serious, and Captain Lambert was picking up on that expertly.

"I'll see what I can do for you, honourable witch," he promised and rode off to talk to some of the men. It did not take him long to find two men who wanted to hand over the reins of their horses to the magical people.

The convoy came to a halt, to enable the switch of passengers and riders. As Hilda and William got out of the carriage, the wizard whispered: "Nice plan, but I have never sat on a horse before."

"Don't worry. It is just like flying a broom," said Hilda. Blue sparkles were in her eyes and William knew that mischief was not far. He saw how Hilda swooped herself on the horse, the way she got on a broom. Only difference was that the horse was a bit higher. He followed her example and miraculously ended up on top of the horse.

Hilda smiled widely and as the caravan started to move again, the two horses walked along out of habit. The pace was not fast as the carriages held everyone back.

Hilda looked for Captain Lambert, who was very close to them, to be sure things were fine. "Captain Lambert... is it okay with you if William and I go up and ahead a bit, to look around?"

"Of course not, honourable witch. Peter and I will accompany you," the captain said.

"That is very kind of you, Captain," Hilda said with her sweetest voice, "you can come with us as far as you can, of course."

Captain Lambert warned Peter who was not far behind him, and the two soldiers rode up next to Hilda and William. "Whenever you are ready."

54. Pegasus

Hilda was ready. William was a few moments later, as he had already understood what the wicked witch had in mind. Her mentioning that it would be "just like flying a broom" had said enough.

The witch, more used to riding a horse than William, made hers go faster. William's horse followed, as did the two soldiers. Then Hilda's shrieking laughter made the soldiers cringe and William grin. He sensed how she wielded her magic, her wand in her hand. He flipped up his own wand and cast a spell around the horse he was hovering over, and then two of the four riders calmly lifted off into the skies.

The two soldiers saw it happen and at first they did not really understand what they were seeing. Once the brutal fact had registered with them, they both started shouting that the two magical honourables should get down again for their own good and safety.

Hilda laughed, as did William. They felt good being out of the cart and in the air, wind in their faces and hair. "We'll be back again, don't worry," Hilda yelled down at Captain Lambert. "Just proceed, we'll catch up with you!"

Captain Lambert and Peter pulled the reins, stopping their horses. The entire caravan behind them came to a halt also as everyone peered at the two shapes on horseback, that flew higher and higher.

"What do we do, Captain?", a few men asked.

"You heard her," their leader sighed, "we'll proceed. And hope and pray that they won't get shot down. And Peter, next time I offer to escort a witch or wizard or so, kick me where it really hurts, okay?"

"My pleasure, sir," grinned Peter. He looked back and waved his hand. "Come on, gang, onwards. They'll come back."

With rattling noises, the small group started moving again.

In the air, Hilda and William flew side by side. Their horses were probably amazed by the difference in level, but they did not comment. They seemed to enjoy their sudden freedom and ran like mad trying to go even faster. To no avail.

"Ooooh, this is good," Hilda cried out, "I was going insane there. Maybe we should go ahead a bit more and- oh crap."

The ground crews that kept watch for unannounced flying visitors were awake and they had seen the two riders in the sky. As a result, a small tree in the shape of an arrow was fired at them. As they were high up and still far away, it missed by several hundred feet, but still the warning was clear.

"Maybe we should turn back and see- crappedy crap."

There were three more arrows coming their way, and this time the distance to them was worrisome.

"We'll go down and ride back to the carriage," William said. Hilda nodded, and they both dropped their horses to the cobblestone road.

"Such a shame," Hilda pouted, "we were having such fun. And we weren't even bothering anyone."

William laughed, leaned over and kissed Hilda on the cheek. "When you're right, you're right."

Her eyes flashed blue. "Am I ever not right?"

"Yeah, right," said William.

Before Hilda could question him on that, the soldiers had caught up with them.

"Honourable witch and wizard," said the captain, visibly agitated, "would you please not do that again?"

"You, Captain, are no fun. A spoilsport." Hilda hopped off the horse and handed it back to the original rider who had emerged from their carriage.

William let the other rider take over the horse he had been flying and grinned at Captain Lambert. "Can't help it," he said with a wink. Then he grabbed Hilda, threw her over his shoulder and with her screaming at him he walked to the carriage. The soldiers did not dare to laugh, afraid of any consequences.

"Was I convincing?", Hilda asked as they were in motion again. She grinned. "That was a bit of a surprise for me, you carrying me off, so some of the screaming was real."

"You did well, little witch." William hugged her. They had conjured some wine and toasted to each other. The trip out on horseback had been a good one. It would be their last one, they knew, so they were going to keep the memory.

They arrived at the border to king Herald's land, crossed it without problems and proceeded inland a while, until they reached a road station just past the town of Frad where they had been before, the town with the strange open wall that everyone had to walk through.

The resting place was off the main road a bit, hidden in a forgotten patch of woods. The travelling group was happy about that, as the view of nothing but rock was very mind-numbing. After dinner, where they all sat together again, the guards were again talking about the deal with the bedroom door. Whether or not they would be allowed to sit on a chair in front of it, as all night standing got them sore legs. Captain Lambert agreed on the chair, so that was easily done.

William and Hilda had been plotting though, and retreated to their room quite early. They waited until things in the corridor had calmed down and their guard would be halfway asleep, or at least on his nodding way over there.

"I think he's gone," said Hilda who was listening at the door, a smile on her face.

William nodded and, using his wand, turned their two chairs in two brooms. "Looks good like this?"

"Very nice, will do for an evening," Hilda said as she picked up one of the brooms and balanced it on her hand. William took the other as Hilda opened the window. They were on the upper floor. Not high, but high enough to break a neck when falling down.

They mounted their brooms and lifted off, first in the room to get a feel for their new rides, then they shot out of the window, making the thin curtains flap for a while.

At least there were no inhibitions, or trees shot at them here. They could fly and be free for a while, alone without the ever-present soldiers. As darkness had unfolded itself over the land, they enjoyed their solitude even more. The light of the half moon lit enough of the area for them to see where they were. They raced over the stone plains, sprayed water around as they flew mere inches over the surface of a lake.

After a good deal of unleashing their energy in flight, they lay together, on an elevated rocky platform overlooking a sea of boulders that had probably come down from a nearby slope long ago.

"I feel alive again, William," said Hilda, her hand over his.

"So do I. This is what we have to do."

"It is what we're born for," Hilda agreed. It made William smile, hearing how naturally she included him in the experience, the idea. "Too bad we have to go back to the resting place, before they miss us."

William sat up and looked at her. "We can stay here for the night. Wake up early and fly back. No one is going to get the idea in their head to wake up a witch in the middle of the night, right?"

"Unless there is an emergency," Hilda said, nodded.

"And usually you create the emergency, so they should be all fine," William grinned.

"You flatterer," grinned Hilda, pulling his sleeve to make him lie down again. From that position it was much easier to snuggle up to him and kiss him. "I think you have just convinced me that your idea is a good one."

Using magic, they pulled a comfortable and warm cover over themselves and that way they fell asleep.

The next morning, as the sun was rising, they woke up. Stiff, from lying on the hard rock, but happy that they had escaped from their watchers. They got up and flew back to the place where their bed was waiting for them, unused.

Their return did not go as unnoticed as they had hoped: several of their guards were already up and about, checking on the horses, so there was a bit of disturbance as they shot into their bedroom.

After the two had had quick baths and cleaned their clothes, they went to eat and then the journey was on again. Today, they knew, they'd reach Heraldion.

As the town that was their destination drew near, the magical couple fell more and more silent. Hilda stared in the small crystal ball that William had brought with him, he was paging through his special book. Suddenly there were some voices coming in from the outside and the carriage stopped moving.

"Now what," William mumbled. Hilda was already out of the carriage by then, and he followed her.

Captain Lambert was talking to a quartet of riders that had come from Heraldion. "No," he said, "you can not take them away from us. We have an obligation towards our king to see to their safe arrival and return. I understand your orders but they do not supersede mine."

One of the four, clearly the leader as his trousers were covered in golden chevrons, stared past the good captain. His eyes seemed glued to Hilda.

"Careful with that one," she whispered to William, "he's magical."

William nodded. He had already sensed the magic that was radiating from the man on the horse.

"You two will come with us," the rider barked, drawing his sword. He pointed it at Hilda. "I am serious."

"Wrong," said Hilda. "You four are coming with us, and if you don't like that, go back to Lamador and cry on his shoulder. We were summoned by King Herald, not by one of his doormats." She prepared for an attack from the man who held the sword. She was certain that he used that as a wand.

Venom all but dripped from the rider's eyes. "You are going to regret your words, witch." The man's voice was cold. Ice cold. "We are going to take this whole troupe into the city of cities." He tucked the sword away again and barked commands to the three that were with him. "And you two, get back inside the cart!"

Hilda ignored the man completely and walked up to Captain Lambert. "Captain. Thank you for being the man you are," she said. Then, after a glance at the barking man, she turned and slowly walked back to the carriage.

As soon as they were seated, the convoy went ahead again. The barking leader tried to push Lambert into going faster, but the captain was steadfast and maintained the speed they had held for most of the journey.

An hour or so later, after Heraldion was well within view, the carriages and horses clattered into town. The streets seemed to empty themselves of people: the oncoming mass of horse bodies did not give reason to believe that they would stop for anyone. It was only as they approached the castle of King Herald that their speed dropped to a mere trot.

Hilda and William were ordered to exit their carriage before going inside the castle walls. It was clearly an attempt to humiliate them, making them walk inside as people of low importance. They had however discussed that option already, Hilda bringing it up as she was well versed in things like those. As they had talked about this, they had also called up Captain Lambert and told him to inform the other guards that William was to be seen as a non-magical person. That message was of course a strange one for the guards but they would do as Hilda asked. After all, she was a witch, and witches were known for being obsessively opposed to anything normal.

The witch and her companion found an insane amount of Herald's soldiers around them. Hilda insisted that Captain Lambert and his men were to accompany them as well, or she would not walk on. The magical, harsh leader of the Heraldic men cursed her and tried to make her move on magically, but her power combined with that of William kept her standing where she was. Grudgingly he gave in and allowed their own guards to come along.

Hilda grinned. This little trick had shaken up the bullying magician, Gountar, quite a bit.

He had not expected her to counter him that forcefully. His somewhat increased respect showed immediately in the way he treated her. "Grimhilda, please enter the castle."

Hilda frowned as he only named her and did not bother about William, but decided that this was probably a beneficial thing and let it slip. They walked along, with their legion around them.

William looked at the armed men everywhere. Men with lances, swords, bows and arrows and men with nothing but chain mail. These unarmed ones, he assumed, would be magicians or wizards. Good to know that Herald had a truckload of those around.

55. King Herald

The magical couple was taken to a rather secure wing of the castle. The security clearly showed through far too many soldiers everywhere. Gountar and his horde took them to a nice suite where they could freshen up and rest.

"The king will call for you towards the evening. Dinner will be brought to your chambers. Do not attempt to leave the room. Lights in this wing will be extinguished magically." After that shorthand message he and many of the others paced away. A servant was left in charge of housing Lambert and his men.

Captain Lambert wished the witch and the wizard a good evening. "I hope we will see each other again soon, getting ready to go home."

"I second that, Captain," said Hilda. "We'll do our best."

The captain saluted her and William, then the group followed the servant.

There were a mere four guards remaining in the corridor, and they were clearly waiting for Hilda and William to go into their suite so they could lock up.

They went inside. The door closed. No sound of a lock being moved. Hilda checked the door and nodded. "Magic." William took the dice from his pocket and Hilda inflated their luggage. Then they had a look around the quarters they were assigned to.

They had their own large bedroom, with two separate beds. Hilda looked at that construction and shook her head. "That's never going to work... we can't stay afloat all night to be together..." She took her wand and fixed the error. "That's more like it."

William appreciated her wandiwork. The bed was wide, looked very comfortable too. It was made of wood, painted as white as the outside of the castle was and had fine carvings along the side. The pillows and covers were red and looked as if they were made of satin, although the fabric was different to the touch.

Then they had a look at the bathroom, which was quite large. Everything seemed marble or at least very much like it, laid out in beige tones. Red thick towels lay waiting to be used. That got the seal of approval too, as did the living room they had at their disposal.

The living room offered three large windows that looked out over the city, Heraldion. The windows were closed and not meant to be opened. Thick carpets in brown and green lay scattered over the floor, with a large stone table and six stone chairs in the centre, three chairs on each side of the table. All of them were dark grey with light grey streaks in the stone, and everything was polished to a shine. Everywhere they found low stone tables with a large candle on it.

"At least this is all nicely in place." William had discovered a stone box that turned out to be a bar. There was water, he found several kinds of wine and some bottles that he was not sure of.

Before indulging in the goodies that the royal apartments had to offer though, they first retreated to the large bath and enjoyed a long soak together. By the time they emerged from their water antics, a large amount of food had appeared on the stone table in the living room.

"Magical room service," William grinned as they saw the treats.

"At least the king here knows how to treat guests," Hilda said as they charged the food. It was delicious.

"It's an interesting way to treat people who have insulted a high-ranking diplomat from here, though," William thought out loud. "Somehow this strikes me as odd."

"Well, you have to consider that so far Herald's only heard one side of the story. That is why we are here."

William looked at Hilda and nodded. "I see that, but this treatment is still quite amazing."

The witch put down her fork as she felt something from within William. "Perhaps, sweet man, you have forgotten that." She pointed at the door which was sealed magically. "Yes, this is better than a cell in a dungeon, but we are still locked in and very restricted in our doings. A golden cage, but still a cage."

After dinner, they went looking for the proper things to wear for the meeting with King Herald and Lamador. The great sorcerer was bound to be present. To keep everyone in the belief that William was not magical, he put on ordinary's clothes, the grey velvet trousers and a green shirt. Simple footwear and a leather belt completed his outfit.

Hilda had donned her magnificent red dress and tucked up her hair in an extremely complicated braided pattern. She had a purple cape around her which went stunningly with the red dress.

After getting dressed there was nothing but for them to wait. They looked out the big windows to get glimpses of life in the city, but darkness was already creeping in, so their view was rather limited. That was about the same with everything they could do, so they were getting rather annoyed sitting around waiting.

William knew it was all a psychology trick. Hilda knew they did it on purpose.

Finally, darkness had spread thickly around the castle, the door opened and Gountar entered the room. "The king will see you now."

Hilda, William right behind her, walked out the room, where an escort of four more men was waiting for them. These were new people, Hilda sensed that all of them were high-level magical. With all that protection around, the group started walking down the corridor and descended the stairs they had come up a few hours before.

After a journey through a maze of corridors they were taken into a hall that was immense. William thought that a cathedral could be jealous of such space. Instead of the regular stone and marble, this hall seemed to be decorated with nothing but gold and silver. It was so overdone that it looked tacky.

The two were brought to a couple of large thrones, also made of gold. They walked over a long white carpet, whiched like a thick linen mat, very soft and also sound-supressing. Gountar walked ahead of them and magically forced them to stop at a certain point while he walked on.

"King Herald, Queen Warda, here are the two people you have summoned, to answer to the insults they made Tudris suffer from."

"Tudris??" William let the name slip from his mouth.

Gountar turned around. "You are not to speak unless spoken to."

A bolt of energy reached William, which obviously was meant to seal his lips. He played along.

Hilda looked at him and caught his near hidden wink. She nodded. She too was surprised to hear the name Tudris. So it wasn't Lamador who had felt insulted after all?

"Show them to us," a surprisingly boyish voice said. Gountar stepped aside and gestured Hilda and William to come closer.

They walked up to the thrones that were placed on a dais overloaded with gold and ruby ornaments. King Herald looked very young indeed, not a day older than twenty. His wife, Queen Warda, looked like seventeen. Hilda stared at the two in surprise.

The royal highnesses wore burgundy red robes with dark blue patches. The red parts of the robes were covered with pearls. They looked rich, pompous and showed no taste at all.

"Grimhilda. We meet again," the young king said, leaning forward slightly. "When was the last time... fifteen years ago, during the latest challenge?"

"Yes, something like that," Hilda replied.

William could not believe this. A king that was five at the last time Hilda met him? And he recalled that?

"And now we meet here again, under rather unfortunate circumstances," said Herald. "Now, before we go further on that, do introduce me to the man you have brought with you."

"This," Hilda took William by the hand, "is my friend. William Connoley."

William remembered to stay in his mouth-sealed role just in time.

King Herald whispered something to his wife, who giggled behind her hand. Very well-trained, many of his court that were assembled in the hall giggled or chuckled along with her.

"Well, William Connoley, it is nice to meet you."

William just nodded, then looked at Gountar, pointing at his mouth. Hilda sensed how William was grinning on the inside and could hardly suppress a grin of her own.

Gountar made a noise, cast magic and William sensed it. That should free his speech again.

"It is an honour meeting you, your majesty," said the wizard in hiding. "And the queen too, of course."

Herald and Warda allowed him a nod, then Herald addressed Hilda again. "Interesting choice for a witch, to befriend an ordinary man."

Hilda stood proud. "It is my choice. Nobody else's."

King Herald nodded. "Well. Back to business..."

As if the whole thing was rehearsed, Lamador and the man Tudris stepped from behind the two thrones. Lamador stood next to the queen, Tudris stood next to King Herald.

Lamador's face was neutral as he saw the two. He just nodded at William and greeted Hilda in a very official way.

Tudris clearly was having troubles to contain his anger when he saw them. "There they are," was the first thing he hissed, as he pointed at Hilda. "They are the ones that humiliated me. They need to be punished."

King Herald raised his hand. "Calm, brother, we'll get to the bottom of this."

"Brother?" Hilda as well as William were stumped by that little revelation.

Herald looked at the two. "Yes. He is my brother. You did not know that?" The king looked at his brother. "You did not tell them?"

"No."

King Herald rose. "Idiot. You make so much noise over all of this?" He did not sound very friendly towards his brother. Then he turned to Lamador. "And you knew about that?"

Lamador calmly looked his king in the eye. "I did not feel I was the one to introduce your brother as the king's kin."

Tudris tried to push around King Herald. "But you said-"

"Silence, you fool. Do you know what you are causing by all of this?", Herald turned back to his brother.

As all this was going on, Hilda kept her eye on the great sorcerer. There was not a trace of emotion on the man's face, but Hilda just knew that there was something wrong in the picture that she saw. This all could not be because of a mistake that some idiot ordinary brother of the king had made.

A quick check on what William felt told her that he was thinking along the same lines, only he was slower with that as he was not so well versed in these things.

Meanwhile, the play continued. Tudris kept arguing with his brother, Herald kept trying to put Tudris back in his place, and Lamador just looked at the proceedings between the two. Finally, as if he was the ruler of the kingdom, he stepped in and separated the two.

"We need to talk about this in private," Lamador said with a calm and deep voice. Placing a hand on the shoulder of each of the two men had the effect of a switch being flipped. Immediately they both calmed down.

"Yes," Herald agreed, "you are right, of course."

Hilda as well as William saw Lamador's lips move shortly. After that, King Herald turned to the two people whom he had summoned. "It seems that all this is based on a very unfortunate mistake, Grimhilda. I do owe you an apology. Please remain here overnight, with all the privileges of a royal guest, so you can journey back to your home tomorrow, well rested and fed."

That was all. As Lamador guided not only the two brothers, but also Queen Warda away from the dais, Gounar the soldier-magician stepped up to Hilda and informed her in short words they should follow him. Again William went unacknowledged. The wizard in hiding just tagged along, pretending he was a separate entity belonging to Hilda. Which wasn't even that far from the truth.

So they retraced their steps to the large staircase and found themselves in their large and rich suite again. There was no magic in place this time to keep them secured inside, but Hilda was aware that there was a mage-soldier stationed in front of the door.

"I think we should make the difference this time," she muttered, and she sealed the door from the inside. "Right. This way we are in control of who comes in, not they."

With a few glasses of wine, they retreated to the bedroom. Once snuggled up together, Hilda said: "You also got this funny feeling about the charade they put up, didn't you?"

William nodded. "Yes. It was too bizarre to witness. As if Lamador were playing with his puppets."

"Zakly..." Hilda sipped some of her diluted wine. "I got the feeling that this whole thing was set up by Lamador just to show us the power he has. To scare us. Still have that feeling too."

"I'm sure of it by now." William kissed her cheek. "He is showing off how well he can play his king. And queen. And even the joker."

"The joker?"

"Yes. Herald's brother. That man is a joke if ever I saw one. He was meek as a lamb at our challenge, something to push and shove, while Lamador was the great invincible whatever. Here Turd- I mean Tudris suddenly acts as if he is offended to the extreme and goes against his brother, the king."

Hilda snickered for a moment. "Yes, you're right. It smells like a rat's ass, don't you think?"

William looked at his witch. "I may not want to know where you have put your nose, young lady."

Hilda was about to take another sip of her wine. She made it jump in the glass as she snorted loudly over his remark. "Now see what you made me do," she pouted, holding up the glass, wine dripping from her nose.

"Oh, poor witch," said William. Helpful as he was, he licked the wine from her nose.

The witch stared at him, speechless for several seconds, her mouth slowly opening as the surprise wore off. William grinned, magicking their glasses away. Then he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her long and deeply.

56. Back home

The next morning, the castle woke up to an alarmed cry and very soon after that there were sounds of loud trumpets.

William and Hilda flew out of bed. They were immediately awake and understood that this was not a regular morning call. As they came into their living room, they heard the sound of feet running through the corridor and someone asking questions to the guard in front of the door.

Then there was a knock on the door and a voice asking permission to enter. The way the question was put made it clear that the answer was 'yes' at any rate. Hilda undid her magic seal and opened the door. It was, as they had already expected, Gounar.

"Have you left this room in any way overnight?" He did not waste time on social graces, so there was something very bad at hand.

"No," said Hilda. "Your man at the door can vouch for that side, and the magical seals on the window, as you may check, are still there. We have the habit of sleeping at night. What happened?"

Gounar checked the seals at the windows, to be certain. Then he turned to Hilda. "The king's brother was murdered last night. His servants found him early in the morning. You are to remain in your rooms until further notice." The soldier-magician did not wait for a response. With long strides he left the suite, the door was closed and the couple were left to their own limited devices.

Hours passed in which they did not hear anything. Repeated questions asked to the guard, through the closed door, did not make them any wiser as the guard was not informed about anything either.

Someone came to bring them breakfast. The same person came to bring them lunch. And still there was no news about the background on Tudris' death, nor any information when they could leave for home.

"I have a faint feeling that they will never catch the person who did it," said Hilda.

William looked at her. "You mean..."

The wicked witch nodded. "I'd be surprised if it weren't so. Tudris was useful to get us here and annoy us, and that's it. It's scary."

William nodded. He understood why she did not wanted to speak Lamador's name out loud. The whole castle was loaded with magic, so it would be very reasonable to assume there was something to alert him if his name was mentioned. Especially now.

Boredom had come to take them over, and had left again as it had gotten bored itself from the atmosphere in the suite, when finally the door swung open. It was not Gounar, but one of the lesser, non-magical soldiers who came in.

"I bring a message from the great sorcerer," he said. "It is time for you to leave. Your carriage and your men are already waiting for you. You are to follow me, so there is no delay in your departure." It was obvious that the man was instructed by nothing less than a drill-sergeant.

Hilda nodded and in silence she shrunk their luggage, after which William slipped that in his pocket. "Did anyone find out who the killer is?", she asked the soldier as they walked out of the suite and down the corridor.

"No, he has not been found yet. But we will find him." The soldier also had been instructed to remain impersonal.

When they arrived at their carriage, they were greeted by Captain Lambert and the rest of the group. No trace of Lamador, or King Herald and his spouse, Queen Warda. The soldier who had taken them out of the castle handed a scroll to Hilda, the text of which cleared them of any accusation that was made against them previously.

The trip home went uneventfully, unless a thunderstorm was to be considered an event. Once they had left the land of King Herald, they dared to talk about their thoughts concerning the murder of Tudris.

"I am convinced that this is all a setup of Lamador's," said Hilda, "as a display of force what he can get away with. Sort of in front of our faces even."

William understood. It filled him with a very unpleasant feeling all of a sudden, about the upcoming challenge. If Lamador was the kind to be so bold and brutal with the brother of his king, then he would not hesitate to pull even worse tricks on them.

Hilda reached for his hand and squeezed it. "It seems that you are beginning to learn about Lamador at a very rapid pace now, my sweet man."

"Am I that obvious?", William asked.

"I have that feeling thing inside me, remember?" Hilda snuggled up to him, allowing him with all kinds of pleasure to wrap an arm around her. "And I am glad about that. It is good to be with you."

William nodded. "Yes, it is good to be with me, I agree."

"Oh, you!!"

Captain Lambert, who rode along next to the carriage, worried about the strange noises that came from its inside which were accompanied by some serious rocking of the vehicle. He wondered if he should halt the convoy to see what was happening...

The carriages and the horses clattered into the palace yard. Messengers had gone ahead already, informing King Walt that the two honourable magical people were on their way, cleared of all accusations.

William, and even Hilda, was impressed by the reception that was waiting for them. There was a large musical band, which surprised William as it seemed to have more members than he had seen in the whole land so far. A long line of tables was put out, all laid very nicely, laden with food and glasses. The king himself and also the queen were there. King Walt had arranged for the musical band to be quiet for a while, so William could meet his wife. No music meant she'd be able to stand still, as the magical shoes were as ever on her feet and not going anywhere else.

The guards who had been in the escort were all treated as heroes, their comrades making an honorary row to welcome them back. The carriage that transported Hilda and William was welcomed in the same manner, which was quite the experience for the wizard.

"Don't show them that you are tickled purple, William," Hilda warned him. "We're magical, we are supposed to be used to this."

"Are you?", William asked her.

"No, of course not. What are you thinking?" Hilda grinned. "I am just a great actress. Watch me."

The carriage stopped and someone came running to open the door for them. They left the carriage and were led up to where King Walt and his wife were waiting to officially welcome them back into the country. Hilda later commented on that, that she thought the whole thing a bit silly as they flew in and out of the country quite a lot and nobody ever seemed to notice that.

King Walt welcomed them back and introduced them officially to his wife, Queen Velma. Of course, Hilda already knew her better than she cared to, but not to disappoint the king she played along. Queen Velma was quite calm and reserved, trying to hold back her displeasure at once more seeing the wicked witch, who had so effectively hindered her so proficiently in dealing with King Walt's daughter.

William tried to be as calm and relaxed as he could, although the entire spectacle drew his attention to all places at once. After the official part was over, the queen walked off as quickly as she could, because she was certain that Walt would not hold the music off much longer. She was right: the last yards into the castle she crossed dancing, much to the delight of Hilda and the king.

Then the guests were asked to tell the king about what had happened and how they had managed to return, as the original letter from King Herald had sounded very threatening. On the way home they had already decided that it would be best if Hilda were to handle that one, as it was bound to come up. The audience gasped for air at all the right moments, as Hilda told about the confrontation with the king and his brother, and also as they learned about the untimely death of Tudris.

King Walt did not ask anything about the challenge they were facing still, as that was not something that had to be discussed or even mentioned in public. That was witchy business and it ought to stay that way.

The feast that ensued made all the hassle and unpleasantness of the past week fade to the background, and in the evening Hilda as well as William were very glad they were brought to their house by carriage again. Flying would have been highly risky as wine had been flowing liberally. Hilda had done her best to water it down; at a certain point she had even started doing that for William. There were however glasses that slipped through the watering down process as the party progressed...

"Okay, so now we are going to do this together, William," said Hilda. They were standing in front of the chained-up house. "Let's see what we can do here."

They both were swaying on their feet. The carriage had dropped them off and left. The magical couple had created several dozen floating, light-emitting balls that hung around them. Even witches and wizards need some light, after all.

William, grinning like an idiot, pointed his hand at the iron mass like Hilda did. Wands did not want to appear in the hands of drunk magical ones, to avoid incredible disaster. "Okay, sweetwitch, got that. Now what, before I fall over?"

Hilda giggled, holding on to William as she was far from sober as well, and therefore in for a bad morning. "Now you will the iron away. Just go make it poof and away and - well, you know!"

"Oh, you mean like..." - William waved his hand - "...poof."

The house was still covered in iron chains.

"No, silly man, like this..." Hilda waved her hand. "Poof."

The house was still covered in iron chains.

"That's what I did," William muttered, "you know nothing." He tried it again, with the same result.

"Well, at least I know more nothings than you do, silly man," Hilda flared up. She snipped her fingers and the iron chains were gone. "See? Now you apologise and you have to carry me inside."

"Okay, okay, I will apologise for carrying you inside," William agreed, picking her up as he spoke.

"That's better," Hilda mumbled, folding her arms around his neck and treating William to a wet and sloppy kiss.

With a proper amount of effort William made it to the door that opened by itself. The house refrained from comments. It was certain there would not be responses it could take seriously, so better to forego the whole thing until perhaps the morning after.

After a lot of stumbling and laughing from inside the house, the night finally attempted to settle over the magical location, ignoring the floating bright globes that the witchy couple had forgotten to extinguish.

57. Shopping

"Wand... need wand..."

Several moments later: "Ahhhhh... Never, never again. Help me remember." Even more moments later: "Hey, did you hear me?"

"Urgh... stop trying to kick me out of bed..."

"Get your wand, William, that can fix the hurting head." Hilda promptly felt sorry for kicking him. Magic and alcohol did not mix, and it was obvious now that magic was taking a more prominent place in William's being. He had not gone through this before, and was going through the mother of all hangovers.

William's hand appeared over the covers. His wand appeared. "And next?"

Hilda pointed the tip of his wand to where his head probably was. "Now just ask for the pain to go away."

"Okay..." A few seconds of nothing. "Holy Bejeebus. It works." William sat up and grinned. "You're amazing."

"Just you remember that, William Connoley." Hilda winked, and let herself fall back on her pillow. "So I have done the good thing. Your turn now. Food. Lots of it."

William laughed as he saw her self-satisfied face. Before he could get up though, she grabbed his arm.

"Stop. Lots of good morning kisses first. Goes so well with breakfast."

William agreed, so it took a while before they were drinking tea and eating assorted goodies.

Suddenly Hilda said: "I guess you're right."

"Eh? Right? I didn't say anything." William looked across the table without understanding her remark.

"No, but you thought something and I am afraid you are right."

"Oh. Right. It's the feely thing, isn't it?" William understood and shivered. How she did that was uncanny. The fact that Hilda grinned over his new feeling did not make him feel any better.

"I'm sorry, William, I won't tease you any more. But not any less either."

Her laughing made him feel good again. He loved it when she laughed. "So you agree then. We should pay another visit to Gurthreyn."

"Yes. The first time together was scary. I think going there again will help. Somewhat." Hilda slowly continued eating after that.

They went out to do the rounds together, as by now had become usual. This time the shepherds were their target of mischief again. Hilda and William worked together to make all sheep float away from their field and put them down again about half a mile away. The shepherds were thankful they got off so easy this time. The time they had ended up with coloured sheep had been a less funny one, even though the magical ones had arranged to make the colours wash off. After a while.

"So when do you think would be a good time to go to Gurthreyn?", Hilda asked as they were lazing a bit in the sun, on their sun chairs.

"Hmmm... a good time... I have a distinct feeling that there is no such thing as a 'good time' for that. But in a few days would be good, I reckon. After we rest up from this weird trip to Heraldion."

Hilda nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Resting is good. I feel lazy... could you snip your fingers for more tea?"

William sighed. "Lazy witch..." He snipped his fingers and their cups were refilled. "I hope that's to your liking, your witchiness."

Hilda glared at her cup. "Are you sure that's the same tea I had before?"

"Hardly, dear. That's inside you already."

The wicked witch cast a nasty look at William. "You are lucky I love you. People have died for less."

William grinned, patted her head and said: "Good witch, no grumping. Just drink tea and enjoy sunshine, okay?"

Hilda magicked up a big smile, closed her eyes and nodded. "Will do. So pipe down."

Her comment caused the opposite: William roared for laughter after that, and she lay laughing at least as hard.

The house sighed, while the goldfish on Hilda's cup were lost for words.

Over the next few days, William kept studying the texts about the magician Gurthreyn, trying to come up with clues about the man and the place. Sometimes he'd read passages to Hilda out loud. Maybe she would hear something in his words that he kept missing. But she didn't. The only reaction it evoked from her was a sigh and the question why on earth he was bothering with all that, as so far nothing had come out of it.

"William, you start to worry me."

"And why is that?" William paged through the scrolls again.

"You're obsessed with Gurthreyn."

"I want to be prepared. That's different."

"Sure looks the same to me, William."

"Looks can be deceiving, my lovely little Gurthreyn."

For a moment Hilda stared at him, then burst out laughing. "Damn you, stupid wizard, even though I sensed you were going to tease me, I fell for that and was going to hurt you!! Arrgh!!" She ran over to William, who was sitting at the table, and started batting him over the head, screeching as a real witch.

William laughed as he tried to ward off her avalanche of hits. Even though they were not hard, there were very many of them, as Hilda was a very agile person with perfect eye-hand coordination.

"And now I demand that you put that stuff aside and come with me. We're going to the village, for some shopping."

"We go... shopping?" The utterly mundane concept of shopping had so far never crossed Hilda's lips, nor had it William's mind.

"Uhuh. Come on, sweet man, I am sure you are familiar with the concept?" Hilda frowned, looking at him. "You must have gone shopping in that insane world of yours."

"Of course. But I have been here since months now and you have not once brought up shopping in that time. Please allow me to be confused for a moment."

"Certainly," Hilda smiled, "but now the moment has passed, so you are ready to come with me. Hop hop."

"And do we need to dress up for that?", William asked.

"No need, and really no use either. People will recognise us anyway."

They went outside, brooms in floating tow.

"Now, house, you be good. We won't be gone for long, I guess, so no need to chain you up. Okay?" Hilda patted the wall next to the door.

"You have never done that before," the house remarked.

"What?" Hilda frowned.

"Touch me like that. It is nice."

"Don't be silly, I did nothing." Hilda shook her head and mounted her broom.

"And you two have fun. Maybe you can bring me something pretty," said the house as William also got onto his broom.

"No promises there, okay? And I am certainly not going to look for it!" Hilda laughed as they flew up and raced over the treetops.

"Sure, be that way," commented the house.

"Wanna bet she's going to bring you something? I'm sure her boyfriend will persuade her," said one of the goldfish on the teacup.

"I don't take bets. I'm a respectable house."

"Should I just wait to see what we are going to shop for?", William asked as they were flying.

"Well, you can ask," grinned the witch as she did some very wild slaloms around treetops, "but I can't guarantee an answer. After all..."

"Yes, I know, you are unpredictable." That part of her was very predictable.

"You got it! Wheeeee!"

William was sure she would do a cartwheel in the air if that were in any way possible.

Soon they reached the village. William did not know if she had aimed for it, but the market square was doing booming business again. Hilda and William came in calmly, not making any grand entrance, which surprised the wizard-to-be a bit. After all, the witch had been very boisterous and bold on the way over here.

Using magic, of course, they clung their brooms to the roof of one of the houses that were opposite the market place. Hilda said that the people here were used to her doing it, and they even considered it an honour if their house was chosen to carry the broom of the witch.

"Something with status or good luck, whatever. I can't really be bothered," the witch explained, but her expression told William something different and he grinned quietly.

They walked into the market square. As usual, almost, the people that noticed them would move aside, giving them all the space they might possibly need. Again though, William noticed that none of them showed any fright of them. Most people greeted them politely too.

Hilda went over to a stall that had beads and started to rummage through the collection. "Wrong, wrong, wrong, crappedy crappy wrong, wrong..."

William wondered why the lady who owned the booth did not ask if she could help. The woman instead seemed to completely ignore the snooping witch. The beads-lady looked at William only once, smiled at him, and then went about her business.

"Oooh, look!" Hilda held up a black bead. "Isn't that shiny?"

"It's a black bead, Hilda." William pointed at it. "See? Black."

"I know! That is why it is so pretty. It's jet!" Hilda looked at the bead as if she was falling in love with it. "A jet bead. Perfect. Now come and help me find a few amber ones. They are rare also."

"Amber. Okay. I hope this is all going to make sense to me someday, but for now I will help you."

Together they went over the beads, picking, looking, judging and putting back. The more that William and Hilda went through the beads, the more people seemed to be attracted to the bead stall.

"Here, did you see this one?", William said. He handed her a black bead.

"Jet!" Hilda beamed. "You're great!"

The result of their hours of searching was six jet beads and eight amber ones. Hilda was as happy as a child with their loot. They paid the woman a silver coin, which according to her was far too much, but Hilda waved all her comments aside.

They collected their brooms from the house, under the scrutinising eyes of a group of children, and flew off.

"So, are you now going to tell me what you want to do with these beads?", William asked. "My back hurts from standing bent over, so I think my question is reasonable."

Hilda grinned. "And you expect me to be reasonable because of that?" She flew her broom close to William's and patted his arm. "I'll tell you when we get home. And I'll show you too."

"Show me? Okay, now you made me curious."

"Oh, shiny! I love it when I can make you curious!" She laughed loudly. "And I will also take care of your sore back, William. You are really a darling to spend all that time with me, picking out the beads."

Once they came home and the brooms had put themselves away, Hilda took William up the stairs and into one of the rooms that he had not been in before.

"Come, look." She walked to a small table that had an insane amount of boxes and jars on it. Without hesitation she picked out three of the boxes. One of them contained nothing but jet beads. The next box was filled with amber beads. And the last box contained three necklaces. Each one was made of jet and amber beads.

William did not ask, he knew she was going to explain about this all.

"See, jet and amber are important things to a witch. They increase your magic." She reached inside her dress. "I am always wearing one."

"Yes, I have seen that, but somehow I had never made the connection. Not knowing it is jet and amber." He reached out and touched the beads that were still warm from her body. "Very nice."

Hilda closed her hand over his fingers that still held her necklace. "I usually never let anyone touch that, William, and not at all when I am wearing it. But you are not just anyone. That is why I have been working on this..." With her free hand she took a specific string of jet and amber beads from the small box. "I made this for you. I have charged it with the magic in the light of the full moon and I think it is ready now for you to wear it."

Slowly, with a feeling of surprise all through him, William let go of the beads between his fingers. "You made something for me?"

She nodded. "Yes. Since you are now close to being a full wizard, it is time for something-"

William heard that there should be more words, but waited until she somehow was ready to say them. The way she was and felt to him now was very different from the bouncy witch he had been shopping with.

She held up the necklace with both hands. It was rather short compared to hers. "I know you are not used to this, William. Well, I'm not either." Hilda grinned, William grinned along with her. "And this is probably the entirely wrong place for it, but..." She reached for his hands, holding them, that way making it four hands holding the necklace. Then she looked in his eyes. "William... do you want to be my wizard?"

At that point something opened inside William. The one-way connection that had gone from him to Hilda since so long now worked the other way as well. He felt how she felt about him. How much she appreciated him being there, her love, the thrill of seeing what he was doing. He knew that this, what she asked now, was stronger than a marriage. This was bonding on a very intimate level.

Hilda sensed how the link opened and poured herself into it. William had to know how she felt, fully and completely, so there was no holding back. He also had to see the fear she felt when thinking about him one day perhaps leaving her.

'I love you, William,' she said, without words, 'and I want to forge this bond with you. You are free to say no. You are free to say yes. Will you be mine? Will you let me be yours?'

William felt as if he was nailed to the floor. His entire being was frozen at that point. All there was for him was the presence of Hilda the witch, the feeling of her hands holding his, and the totality of feelings that she allowed him to experience.

'Hilda,' she heard him say in the same wordless manner, and then an avalanche came rushing into her awareness. It carried his feelings for her and almost threw her off her feet. Then, equally silent, she heard: 'Yes. I will be yours. And you will be mine.'

Then they were standing in the room again, holding hands, the necklace as braided through their fingers.

Hilda smiled, carefully. "Thank you, William."

"Silly witch, it's me who has to thank you." William then let her put the necklace around his neck.

"There. You are pretty now." She kissed him. "And pretty wizards make wonderful dinners for clever witches."

58. Gurthreyn's Secret

They had been flying for a long time again. They had already crossed over the queendom of Raghuna and were not far from Gurthreyn.

Since their bonding, which had happened so strangely and suddenly in the room where Hilda had her beads and necklaces, their relationship had gotten tighter in a most tremendous way. Understanding had grown in leaps. It had surprised them that, with the bond open in both ways, they were talking to each other even more. With the bond, William at least had expected that they would not need to talk so much, but the opposite proved true.

Now they saw the beginnings of the area where the labyrinth of Gurthreyn lay. With mixed feelings of fright and determination they approached the massive structure.

"Do you want to fly around it again?", Hilda asked.

"Would be a good idea," William said. "I am convinced there is something around the side that has to tell us something. We just need to find what it is."

"And where. And there's a lot of where, William."

"Then we'd better get started..."

They flew around the impressive wall. William insisted on having his wand in hand the whole time. For what, he did not know.

The trip around the labyrinth was a long one. Hilda was getting bored and William knew it. By the time they had gone past only half of the wall, he was ready to call it quits as he did not want Hilda to suffer any longer.

"No, William, we are going to do this- what was that?" Through the bond she had sensed a twitching in William's wand even before he did.

The two brooms halted.

"Where did this happen?", Hilda asked. "We were not going that fast..." She got her own wand and then slowly they tracked back.

Their focus on the wands, they floated along the large looming wall. Its depressing presence seemed to be less now they were paying attention to something else than the atmosphere that made the place such a bad one to be.

"Found it! Found it!" Hilda waved her wand. As she did, William found the spot also. "So, what do we have here?"

They stared at the rough grey wall. It gave them the eerie feeling that it stared back at them, in an accusing way.

"This is spooky." William scratched his head. Then he reached inside a pocket and took out a scroll he had taken along.

"Why did you bring that? Do you think it will tell us how to get rid of this bad feeling?" Hilda shook her head.

"I am hoping for something even better," said William as he studied the scroll. "It says here that the magician Gurthreyn was keen on hiding things. Maybe we have found something that is hidden here."

"Oh, really. Come on, William, this labyrinth has been here for so many centuries I have lost track. So you really think people have not gone around this thing looking for something like that?"

"How can you find something if you don't know what you are looking for?", William asked her.

Hilda tried to get back with a really snippy answer, but she could not come up with one. "So, what does that paper say?"

"The magician Gurthreyn," William read out loud, "is known to make things disappear in his workings. These things are of many kinds. Objects are least of his interest. He hides ideas, magic, gestures. You can find them by not looking for them, but luring them, enticing them."

Hilda looked at William. "Hides magic and ideas? Care to explain that to me?"

"I wish I could. I just read what is written, and I feel that something is here. As do you." William took his wand and slowly moved it around. "Yes, something's here, for certain."

Hilda frowned, but also moved her wand. And she too sensed the twitching again. Staring at the wall told her nothing. "Luring. Enticing. How do you entice a wall..." Then she raised her eyebrows, as if she was listening to something. "Of course... not the wall..."

To William's surprise, Hilda lowered her broom until she was standing on the ground, the daunting wall towering over her. He went downwards also, hoping to find what she wanted to do. The bond did not reveal anything about that.

Hilda's face showed concentration and wonder when he arrived. She was actually smiling, which was something William would not have expected of her. Not here, next to the wall of this gloomy labyrinth.

"You are good, do you know that?" Hilda looked at her wizard. She was serious, she meant it. He knew. "Give me your hand."

He reached out, automatically with his wand-hand. She took it, with her wand-hand, and then there was a very strange experience. It felt like an explosion of white light in their heads, shared through the bond. Inside the explosion they heard laughter. There also was a feeling of... teaching. Of power. Something embedded itself in their magical core and then the light was gone.

"Now what the hell was that?" William stared at their hands, still locked together. His new necklace felt hot around his neck.

"Yes, mine too," said Hilda. "As I said, it increases your magic. It also seems to allow new magic to enter you. I've never felt this before. It feels..."

"...raw," William completed what she was saying.

"Yes. This feels raw. Exactly." Hilda took a string of her necklace in her hand. "It still glows."

William checked his necklace. The amber shone brightly. "Unbelievable. And how did that happen?"

"William, please remember that I am the one who asks the trick questions, okay?"

The wizard grinned. "I'll remember that." He looked around. "Now is it me, or..."

"Nope. Not just you. I feel it too. Less fright here..." Hilda patted the big wall. "There is something in here that spewed its gut into us. Know what? Maybe that scroll reading stuff isn't such a bad idea after all. Maybe we can find some more of these trickster things as we go around."

As they lifted off again, the necklaces cooled down to body temperature quickly. They completed the search around the large outer wall, but no more magical surprises were in it. At least not the ones they could pick up.

By the time they had done the whole round, it was about to get dark. They were still adjusting to the feeling that they were not so oppressed by the environment of Gurthreyn's labyrinth.

"I think we should better make our way back to find a good spot to camp for the night," Hilda said. "It's less creepy, but still a far cry from inviting."

William agreed, so they did not bother about getting off their brooms and shot away to where they felt safe for the night.

The next morning they were awake very early. Rain was tapping an undecided rhythm on the roof of their tent and they lay listening to it for a while.

"It's amazing, all of this," said Hilda. She held William's hand. Her fingers slowly stroked his fingers and there was a faint smile on her face.

"Yes, it is indeed, but perhaps you can be more precise what you mean?" William had picked up her awe but there was no real indication of what she was thinking about.

"Well... you and me. I had never thought this would happen. The way I entered your crazy world, by accident. Then coming back here by your help, with that book. And you coming here, through the rocks. And now we are... together."

"Yes. That is almost incredible. And yet we did it. We're here. Together."

William's wand expanded the tent to a size where he could sit up. He looked at the face of his witch and stroked along her long grey hair. "You're a darned pretty woman, Hilda. I don't know what it is, but to me you look more and more attractive every day."

"That's because of you, I think. I'm not doing anything special. Well, except for all the great special things I do, of course."

Her words made him grin. As he lay his palm against her cheek, she closed her eyes and gently pressed her face against his skin, deepening the feeling and sharing that with him in every way she could. They basked in each other's company for a while longer. Then, as all good things end (but can start again), they got up and prepared for the next trip to the labyrinth.

They got closer to the large grey place. It looked as aggressive and unwelcoming as it had the day before, but something had changed. They both sensed it, not so much as something they knew, but as if it were deeper inside them.

"Our magic has changed," Hilda decided as they got off their brooms near the looming gates.

The rain was still falling, and politely fell two feet away from them, as the couple had put up their magical umbrellas. Inside their cones of dryness they walked up to the doors again.

The massive constructions that held out the nosy people that were not impressed by the threatening atmosphere were closed. Hilda looked at it, as much in awe of them as the first time she had visited them, brought out her wand and touched one of the doors. Slowly, without a sound, it opened for them. "Remember, walk in magic, William." She took his hand and together they entered the maze of huge moving walls.

They immediately noticed that the walls had been biding their time. The interior of the labyrinth looked entirely different from their previous visit. Instead of the long corridor that led them along the outer wall at first, there now was a short stretch they had to walk straight ahead, ending in a split where they had to choose to go left or right. Both passages looked equally short so the two stood and wondered what would be best to do.

William took out his wand. "It worked once. Might as well try it again," he said as he also took the scroll in hand.

Hilda nodded. Not much later they proceeded, both wands held out as antennae, to pick up the slightest sign of anything that the magician Gurthreyn might have left along their route.

They had been walking for an hour and had found nothing. William sighed.

"Do you know how big this labyrinth is, William? When you walk through it and the walls stand still, you can go around here for maybe two weeks. So this short time does not count for anything substantial."

"That is a lot of ground to cover, sweetwitch... if only we had our brooms here."

"We can't take our brooms in. The gate won't allow that." Hilda stopped walking and looked at her wizard. "I told you that before, didn't I?"

"Yes... you did..."

"William. I don't like it when I feel these things coming from you... You are not- You are. Crappedy crap."

William held up a hand. He wanted his broom. And waited.

Outside the thick walls of the labyrinth of Gurthreyn, a broom trembled, then lifted itself up. It rose up along the high wall and wavered for a few moments as it was higher than the wall. Slowly the broom pushed itself through the magical wards that were over the massive stone wall and then it sped towards the waiting hand.

"William! You did it! You got your broom in here!" Hilda clapped her hands in excitement. "Of course I knew you could do it. So, how did you do it?"

William told her what he had done.

"Oh. Is that all..." Hilda held up her hand. A few minutes later she had her broom in her hand and a blue sparkle in her eye. "Do you know that we may be the first people in centuries to have a broom in here? Let's see if they actually work." The wicked witch mounted her broom and lifted a few feet in the air.

59. Rock bottom

Flying inside the walls of the labyrinth was difficult, they found out. The corridors were barely wide enough to fly next to each other, the corners were sharp, and the heavy layers of magic made it quite a chore to progress. But it was by far faster than walking.

The magical couple spent most of the day in the long and winding corridors of the labyrinth, but nowhere did they find a trace of anything that might give them a clue about the magician Gurthreyn.

"I think we should go back now, William. Coming here this morning was not so bad, but now the place is getting on my nerves again."

William agreed. "Yeah. We've been here far too long. There is no way that we can discover everything that's here. At least you found that spot yesterday. Coming here was not so bad indeed."

"You found it. I sort of unlocked it. And you got the brooms here," Hilda said as they stopped their flying. "That might be helpful also, as I cannot recall there being a rule that you can't bring your broom in during a challenge. Nobody ever did as they are not allowed in through the gate. Going around the gate is fantastic!"

"Beginner's luck, I am sure," William grinned. "So, which way to the exit, honourable witch?"

"What do you mean? I thought you were keeping track of where we are..." Hilda frowned as she looked at her wizard. "If you now tell me that you didn't..."

The fact that they probably had gotten lost hung between them. Neither wanted to actually say it, as that would make things very uncomfortable. Not that it would make their situation in any way less worrying.

"I assume this is the moment that one of us has to say that there is a backup plan," said William.

"Backup plan? Did we have any kind of plan then?" Hilda was genuinely surprised by William's words.

"Right. This is the wrong script," William muttered. "So that leaves but one option."

"William. What are you going to do?", asked Hilda as she sensed some kind of disgustingly male determination.

The wizard's reply showed in his action as he rose up along the wall.

"William! Come down here! You don't know-" The words got stuck in Hilda's throat as she saw how easily he sailed upwards and slowly moved over the wall. Apparently something as simple as flying upwards was the best thing to do, even here. She followed him upwards. As soon as she arrived at the level over the wall, she too was grabbed by the magical layers that washed over the labyrinth, but with slow persistence, as she sensed William using, she was able to move ahead and fly to what looked like the closest wall.

"William?" Hilda tried to speak but it was as if she got a mouthful of invisible syrup. Not a sound came from her mouth. She also could not speed up to get closer to William, so all there was to do for her was to just slowly cruise on until she got stuck in the same wash of energy that had already grabbed William. It was the strong magical ward that protected the outer wall.

They were stuck. There was no way to move forwards nor backwards. Even releasing their magic did not help, the wards kept them exactly where they were. Slowly despair seeped through the link, both ways.

The light was fading. There was hardly any real sunlight around the labyrinth of Gurthreyn, but the light that was there was disappearing, and it went rapidly. The only two objects that were still immobile over the outer wall of the construction were Hilda and William, who by now both were becoming seriously desperate. They couldn't even talk to each other to try and think of something. They just... sat there.

Darkness came closer. Hanging over the wall it would have been a breathtaking view, were it not for the fact that they had long since lost interest in their environment. The fading of the light seemed to go step by step, crawling away from the black cluster of nothingness that was coming closer. As the void without light started to fold itself around them, it added a completely new dimension to their fears. At first they saw entirely nothing anymore. There was a blackness around them that was complete.

Their only comfort was the link. They knew they were together. In this situation even feeling each other's distress was a form of mental solace. Hilda as well as William had lost all track of time. It was very late, they both knew that.

William was almost dozing off in his invisible dark prison, as he suddenly felt a jolt of emotion coming from Hilda. It was quite a shocked emotion, but it was for one much different from the despair. He looked automatically in the direction where he suspected her, although in the darkness he had not seen her for a long time. It was however that movement, that turning of his head, that showed him what had triggered the shocked reaction in Hilda.

Below them were lights. The lights moved in a rather unsteady way and seemed to randomly float through the corridors below, which had changed position several times during the period they had been hanging there while there still was light. The lights, white or very pale yellow, did not shine bright enough to see if there were people with them. Or anything else. People might have been good. Anything else would be highly doubtful.

As the lights were moving, they were still far away from the spot where the magical couple hovered in limbo, a strange soggy sound reached their ears. It was unsettling as there was nothing to be seen that was connected to the sound which kept getting louder. Hilda deducted from this that the source of the sound was getting closer.

William also heard the strange noise and looked around in vain for what might cause it. The sound suddenly seemed to be upon him.

Hilda sensed a shock coming from William. Despite the ward preventing her to talk, she tried to scream his name, as she was certain something terrible had happened to him. The feeling that came through their bond frightened her. William was feeling helpless, she sensed, and as the sound came closer to her, Hilda tried to fight her hand free and summon her wand. The viscous, immobilising magic held her in its menacing control. At that moment the sound reached Hilda.

It felt as being thrown forward by a giant hand.

Hilda lost her balance, almost lost her grip on the broom. Suddenly she was free of the magic that had held them in place for so long. It shot through her that this probably was what had frightened William so severely. It was then that she understood that she was falling down. There was no more magic from the labyrinth that held her up, so she had to quickly provide her own, or find out what it was to fall on a rock-hard floor after a fall of at least 20 yards. She managed to get herself on the broom and level herself. "William!!!"

"Hilda! Where are you?"

"William, you shiny wizard, are you okay?" Hilda did not dare fly anywhere, it was too dark. She didn't know where she'd end up, and hitting the wall of the labyrinth was the very last thing she needed now. "William, I am going to land the broom now and then make a light with my wand. I hope you can find me that way!"

"I am on the ground already, Hilda. Damned good idea with the wand."

Hilda stopped her descent and scanned for anything that might betray where William was. Suddenly a small tip of light glowed and soon after that there was a nice circle of light, with William in the middle. He sat on the ground, one of his legs bent in a rather abnormal way. "I see you, William, I'm coming." Swiftly, now she had a point of reference, she swooped downwards and landed in the light that William had conjured.

Hilda dropped the broom and kneeled down. "Are you hurt, William?"

"I think I broke my leg. The stupid sound threw me and I was almost on the broom again before I hit rock bottom."

Hilda bit her lower lip for a moment. "I'm really sorry, William..."

"Yes, so am I." That was the last thing he could say before a bolt from Hilda's wand knocked him out cold.

"I did say I was sorry, sweet man," Hilda apologised to the unconscious wizard. She slowly straightened his leg and after that she used her magic to repair what was broken. She let William sleep as she delved into her deep pockets. "Here come the emergency rations..."

Several minutes later she had inflated some dice that turned into firewood, food and a small tent. As all that was done, she woke up William.

"Oh, god, what hit me?", he asked as he got up.

"That would have been me, sweet man, and again I am sorry. But it had to happen."

"Oh. Have to remember never to pick a fight with you." Then William noticed the absence of pain in his leg. "Did you fix me?"

"That too was me, indeed, and for that I am not sorry."

"You are amazing." William looked around and saw the fire, the food and the small tent. "So where did that all come from? Let me guess. That was you."

"Never leave home unprepared for things like these, William." Hilda took a small piece of wood and tossed that on the modest fire. "We'll have to spend the night here, although I'd rather not. But in this darkness there is no way we can find back to our other camp."

William fully understood that. "Do you have any idea what happened just now? One moment we're stuck in magic quicksand over the wall, and the next we're being tossed out, like someone is cleaning a carpet or so."

"Maybe," Hilda said with a sudden bit of insight, "that is exactly what happened."

"And what makes you say that, dear witch of mine?"

"Well, considering the fact that the magician Gurthreyn was such a prankster, if we can believe the scroll you have with you, it would make sense that the quicksand, as you call it, is part of one of his jokes. Magicians are usually honourbound not to kill people, so there would have to be something to release people that get caught." Hilda took a bowl that was floating over the fire and handed it to William. "Here. Eat."

"Thank you. But wait, didn't you tell me that people who get lost in the labyrinth usually don't get found anymore?"

Hilda nodded as she was eating from the other bowl she had taken from the fire. "True. But those are the sorry souls that get caught in there during a challenge. During a challenge something is changed here, a handful of magical people know how to do that. So this is... different."

In silence they finished their food, extinguished the small fire and then they retreated into the tent. Close together they lay, until a restless sleep came over them.

60. Gurthreyn once more

"Hilda. You are in my dream."

"No. You are in mine. And you know I love you, but this is insane. Now go back to your own dream."

They found themselves standing on a lawn, wearing their best magical outfits. It was a large lawn, and it had walls around it. Grey walls. About twenty yards high. There was light that looked like sunshine, only there was no sun. There was rather a lot of nothing overhead.

"Such an unexpected pleasure," a voice behind them said.

The magical couple turned around; the sting of a wasp could not have made them move faster. They saw an old man in black robes. The large silver chain that hung around his neck stood out against the black of his clothes. His head was bald, he had a long light-grey beard that hung down to his belt. His eyes were large and blue. He was almost as tall as Hilda and twice as round. That still did not make him fat.

"Who are you?", asked Hilda.

The man folded his hands for a moment and smiled. "I think that should be fairly obvious, don't you agree?" He raised an eyebrow, hoping that they would understand whom they were talking to after this bit of information.

"No. You can't be. You are not the magician Gurthreyn." Hilda shook her grey mane. "No way."

"And why can I not be Gurthreyn?" The bald man did not move a muscle to make a large grey wall appear behind him.

"Because the magician Gurthreyn died centuries before I was born," said Hilda, "and even for magicians there is the rule that dead is dead." She put her hands on her hips and waited for the man's response.

"Yes, you are very right with that," the man nodded, "there is a rule for that. But..." -another wall appeared, this time behind William and Hilda- "...that does not mean that one has to play by the rules. I, for one, hardly ever did. You can read that in the many things that were written about me. Well, the few true things, I should hasten to add."

"Hilda, before you go overboard like your good little self, do look at the walls, okay? They are the same as in the labyrinth." William put a hand on her shoulder, trying to get her attention. For him it was not so strange that a dead magician was suddenly appearing. After all, he had seen far too many strange things here already to wonder about something like this.

She shook William's hand away. "Leave me, William, I did tell you to get out of my dream, didn't I? Now, if you are Gurthreyn, why then don't you show yourself, like anyone?"

The bald man who claimed to be Gurthreyn laughed shortly. "A witch of the true blood. Does not believe it until the very truth is thrown in her face."

William grinned.

"Very well then." The man in the black robes raised a hand shortly.

Grey walls appeared around Hilda, a moment after William had been moved to a spot away from where the walls emerged.

"Oh, so this is funny, right?", said Hilda. "And you think that is going to- Oh. Crappedy crap, why won't this go away?"

"Simply because perhaps I am stronger than you are?" The man seemed very relaxed about the predicament of the wicked witch. Suddenly there were two chairs, one near William and one near the bald man. "You can sit down if you want," he nodded at William. "This might take a while, if she is of the kind that I suspect her to be."

Strange and worrying sounds came from inside Hilda's walls. "Oh. Fantastic." Fireworks sprayed over the walls. "So that's not going to do it either." A loud bang, followed by smoke and coughing. "What is this crappedy crap? This usually gets me out of everything!"

William felt very uncomfortable as he heard and felt how Hilda was working herself into a slight frenzy to get out of her prison.

"Oh, wait, tricky trick of my love..." There was silence for a while. "What is keeping that thing..."

"If you are waiting for your broom," the man in black said to the walls, "I suggest you make a chair appear. Your broom might take a while to make it here. It would be good to think in years, actually."

"Years?" Hilda and William said it at the same time.

"Yes. When I do a bit of masonry, it should last for a while," the man said. "After all, I am Gurthreyn." After a movement of his hand the walls around the witch vanished, showing Hilda all black and dusty from her attempts to free herself. "You look rather done in."

"Yeah, and no thanks to you," said Hilda as she cleaned herself with her wand. She walked to where William was sitting.

"It appears that you still do not believe that I am who I claim to be. Look around you. This is the area of the labyrinth. My labyrinth. Just cleaned up a bit now."

William had conjured up a chair for Hilda and pulled her down on it. "Sit. And quiet."

"What?"

"Sit. And quiet. Three simple words." William looked at Hilda, and something in his eyes made her remain seated and quiet.

"Thank you," said Gurthreyn the magician, as it was really him.

William felt suppressed steam through the bond but managed to ignore it.

Gurthreyn looked at his visitors for a while. "You two are amazing. I have never met people so stubborn as you. Getting stuck up there." Gurthreyn pointed in the general direction of one of the walls, and chuckled. "I have to hand it to you, the way you got your brooms in was very impressive. Nobody ever did that before."

"You seem to know a lot about this place," said William.

"Of course. I built it. The scrolls are right about that. Lots of garbage in there of course, but that always happens when they suspect you're dead. And I am not going to stand up and argue with them. But that is not the reason I have brought you here."

"Now, please, wait a moment." Hilda stood again and was not quiet. "You brought us here?"

"Of course. You are sleeping, that is the best time to visit me."

The scenery around them changed and they stood in the small tent where they saw themselves lying, asleep.

"Uhm... this is creepy." Hilda looked at Gurthreyn. "How do you do this? And why?"

They were back in the large walled yard that was the labyrinth, only with the labyrinth part missing somehow. There was a table with food, wine, fruit and chilled water.

"I just wanted you to see that you are really asleep and well. No need to worry, you are taken care off. The magic of the wards extends out to your little tent."

William sat down. "Yes. Of course. You take us to us to show us that we are sleeping. Something tells me that I should not have wine, but heck, I feel like I need it."

"Please do have some. It is excellent. I have made it myself, many years of practice." Gurthreyn held a glass in his hand. "And for you, Miss Witch, there is no reason not to try it." He had already noticed Hilda's suspicion against the wine.

"My name is Grimhilda. And this is William." She surprised William by suddenly opening up so much.

The bald man got up and bowed. "I am pleased to meet you. I am, as you already know, Gurthreyn."

William felt he should get up and bow also. Hilda's push through the bond was clear enough about that.

After those formalities, and the spreading of some liquid joy in glasses for Hilda and William, Gurthreyn sat down again. "Very well. Now let me inform you why I have brought you here while you are enjoying your well-deserved sleeps. I have seen you two here a while ago. When you, William, were definitely not a magical person. You returned though, which is remarkable already, and this time William is definitely magical. And there also is this very special bond between you, on a magnitude that does not happen very often." The magician sipped his wine. "Hence my interest."

"Just that? Isn't that a bit of a narrow basis to tell us you are alive?", William asked.

"I am curious why you both came back for a second time. And I am intrigued by the change in you both." Gurthreyn raised his glass to them and sipped another time. "So now you have time to explain all this."

"Oh, right. That's neat. Well, we're done quickly then, since we don't understand most of it ourselves." Hilda raised her glass to the famous magician and drank it down in one gulp. It refilled itself.

William caught the idea quite rapidly. He explained as much as they knew about his coming here, and how he somehow was turning into a magical person. He raised his glass and sipped. Done talking.

Gurthreyn looked at him. "You have a special book? Can you show it to me?"

William shook his head. "It is not exactly the first thing I pack when I come here."

Hilda grinned. "He is still in training, Gurthreyn. There is so much to still teach him." Then she turned to her wizard. "William, pay attention to what I am showing you..."

William looked at her. Suddenly she held her teacup in her hands. Including the goldfish that were darting around. "Nice. So how did you do that?"

"Magic, William. Just magic the image over. We're asleep, so none of this is real-"

"I do object," said Gurthreyn, taking the opportunity to drink again.

"-so the book does not have to be the real thing. Just try it."

William frowned, but somehow it made sense to him. As there was some much already that defied explanation, he simply held up his hands and wanted his book. And so he had his book. "Holy Bejeebus. It works."

"Of course it works," Gurthreyn commented, "you are a magical person. You should be able to do this. Especially here." He had gotten up and was by now standing with William. "Would you mind?" He held up his hand, waiting for the book William was holding.

"Of course not." William put the book in the man's hand and watched what was going to happen.

Gurthreyn opened the book and paged through it. "Hmm. Yes. Ah. Really. Oh?" He went on with these loose utterings for a while. Then he closed the book and handed it back. "Very interesting. How did you get it?"

William explained how he had gotten the book, in the monastery.

Gurthreyn nodded. "Very powerful place where you got it from. The best piece of the place too, so you were lucky. It affected you all the time you had it. That is why you could help the witch."

"What? How do you know that?" Hilda looked at the magician who grinned and patted the book.

"It told me. It speaks of a witch bringing in a mystery magician after going to his world. Well, William definitely is a mystery magician, although he strikes me as a wizard, I have to say. Now, would you like to share with me why you have come over for a second time? And do not to tell me that you like it here. You can't. I have made certain of that. This is not a likeable place."

Hilda looked at the magician. "It was William's idea. We are facing a challenge here in half a Moon."

61. Message from the king

Gurthreyn frowned. "And from where have you gotten that strange idea? Do you think that scaring yourself more will make the scare go away?"

William nodded. "Indeed. That was the original idea. And from what I see now, it works. In another way than I had thought, but it works."

Gurthreyn looked at the wizard in training. "Interesting. This means there is something I will have to adjust to the labyrinth, as this is not a good development. If more people get this idea, my peace and quiet here is gone. But that is something for later. A challenge. They are still doing that silly stuff then. And someone challenged the both of you?"

Hilda, who was holding William's hand for a moment, nodded. "Well, Lamador challenged me. When he learnt that William is with me, he sent a humiliating note that William was allowed to help me in the challenge."

Gurthreyn frowned. "Why would he invite a wizard to fight him together with a witch? He sounds very convinced about himself. Lamador is known for his ideas, even here, but deliberately tipping the scales like that..."

"Oh, Lamador invited William when William was still an ordinary. He was not a wizard then. That happened later."

"Is that so?" Gurthreyn stood up from his chair, leaving his glass suspended in the air next to it. "Do stand, wizard William..."

As William was still getting up from his seat, Gurthreyn cast a bolt of energy. William responded so quickly to it that he could have handled three of those in the blink of an eye. The spell was deflected and shot towards the grey wall behind the famous magician. By the time the spell had been absorbed by the stone, Hilda's shriek still sounded.

"Holy Bejeebus."

Hilda stared at William, then at Gurthreyn. "Why did you do THAT?", she challenged the magician. "That was dangerous!"

"Not at all, Grimhilda. You are asleep and safe. I cannot harm you this way. And I would not either, as you are my guests. I just wanted to know the amount of magic this wizard already possesses and can wield. I was not aiming at hurting him."

"You surely managed to fool me!", Hilda snapped at the magician, her wand in her hand. "Nicely done, by the way, William. The training really paid off."

Gurthreyn raised an eyebrow. "Training?"

Hilda informed the magician about how Baba Yaga had set up the rather rigorous training for William to learn how to protect himself.

"That is interesting, I say. A wizard who only develops himself here and needs help with the simple things. All kinds of things are possible, evidently..."

"And then there is his idea with the scrolls too. I still feel sorry that I laughed at him because of that." Hilda sat down again, picking her wine from the air and sipping from it.

This of course prompted Gurthreyn's question and William's answer on how he had learnt to develop an idea about a person by reading about him.

"You bring along very interesting ideas, wizard William. I may have to go about and see what people have written about me and change things that I don't appreciate. If one person thought of this, there will undoubtedly be others to follow. Things like that are inevitable."

"That sounds like a daunting task, Gurthreyn," said William.

The magician shrugged. "I have time. It was very nice to talk to you. I wish you a very peaceful night, and will look out for your next visit, which will probably happen on the next new moon." He raised his glass to them and was gone.

"William..."

"Huh... yes?"

"I had a weird dream."

"Tell me about it."

"You were in it. And the magician Gurthreyn."

"And a table of food, and wine. And my book. And you behind a wall. I know."

"Crappedy crap. So it was a real dream."

"Afraid so."

Hilda pondered the happenings of the night. Or at least the ones she thought had happened. "He was good, wasn't he?"

"Yes." William knew she was talking about Gurthreyn. The man had been impressive.

"I vote that we go away." Hilda snuggled up to William. "Do I convince you?"

"Oh yes, you convince me. You have a way for that," William grinned as he hugged her close.

"Hey... I did not plan on that! But it feels nice. I could stay here for a while longer if you keep that up."

At that moment a loud thunderclap sounded over the labyrinth, making the small tent shake, as well as the ground on which it stood.

"Hmmpf," said Hilda. "I think someone is trying to tell us that we should not overstay our welcome."

"I think he is just jealous," William grinned and hugged her again, after which another thunderbolt danced over the labyrinth.

"We'd better leave, William. I like a bit of atmosphere, bit this is just overdone."

The magical couple crawled out of the tent, where Hilda did her shrinking trick while William removed the fire and the other traces that they had been camping on the labyrinth grounds. After a last check they grabbed their brooms, kicked off and flew away just a bit faster than they would normally do.

Behind them, over the labyrinth, laughter could be heard. But not by them.

They reached their original camping spot and only there they took the time to get something to eat before they flew on home. This had turned into a trip they were not easily going to forget.

"Do you think this magician was there for real? Or did we just get so scared there that we had his spirit haunt us?", William asked as they were packing up their things.

"I don't know. I have never encountered something like that before," Hilda said as she shrunk the last bits of luggage.

William picked them up and slipped them into his pocket. "It was absurd. You and me in a dream together. Talking to each other. And remembering it."

"What do you mean, absurd? Don't you dream of me and like it?" Hilda put her hands on her hips, being her own lovely self again.

William burst out laughing, then wrapped her in his arms. "Of course I do, silly witch. You are always with me." Through the bond he sent a flow of love. "But the way this thing happened, last night. That was... quite different."

Hilda let him hold her, smelling the scent of him. She nodded. "Yes. It was."

After standing like that for a while, they decided it was a good moment to leave, and head for home. The flight home was uneventful and went smoothly.

"Do you think we should make a bit of a round when we get back?", Hilda asked William. "Awful lot of flying, but still..."

"Yes, it would be good. We have to make sure they remember us, don't we?"

Hilda nodded. "Good. We'll head out again then, after dropping off the luggage and cleaning ourselves up a bit."

Soon after that little talk, the house came into sight. Nothing had changed during their absence. Hilda removed the chains, William collected the mail-arrows and they headed inside. Hilda took first turn in the bathtub as William fixed a quick meal. After eating, William took over the bath for a while. Hilda sat with him, going through the messages.

"Bullshit, bullshit, not interesting, bullshit, oh!"

"Oh?", William asked from among the bubbles.

"Very oh even," Hilda confirmed. "Message from Walt. Seems there is a strange thing going on in his palace and could we please come and check it out. Sounds like a plan for the afternoon."

"After, or instead of the rounds?"

"Instead of," Hilda said, "this is the real work. That comes first. So hurry, we have work to do!" Laughing, she walked out the door.

William noticed that her protective powers were amazing, the spunge he flung at her bounced back and hit him in the face.

As he came down, refreshed and redressed, Hilda had their brooms already waiting. "Come on, hop hop, it's off to Walt we go." They mounted and took off to the skies, pushing the speed quite considerably. It was not a good thing to keep a king waiting for too long.

Without the need for much protocol, they landed their brooms in the castle courtyard. A guard that was protecting the door seemed to be shaken up by their sudden landing. Clearly he had been in a nodding and dozing state.

"Halt, who goes there?", he wondered even though that was very obvious by the appearance and clothes of the people standing in front of him.

"Is the King in?", Hilda asked without telling the guard who was going anywhere.

"He should be, I have not heard that he left," the guard said. He banged on the door. A few seconds later a servant appeared.

"Ah, honourable witch and wizard! Do come in and follow me. King Walt is anxiously awaiting your arrival." He let them enter the castle and then took the lead to guide them to where the king was to be found. The further they came into the castle, the stranger things started to look. There were shattered vases in many places, as well as people with big blobs of cotton sticking from their ears. The more cotton there was, the more serious the looks on their faces, the magical couple noticed.

"Now what is this?", asked Hilda as they were walking along at quite a fast pace. "Any faster and I will get my broom in."

"I am sorry, honourable witch, but the King really wants to see you quickly." The servant obviously did all he could not to break into a run.

Finally they arrived. King Walt and also Queen Velma sat at a table, glasses of wine in front of them, a plate with chicken legs in front of the king. The faces of the two royals were remarkably pale. There were wads of cotton lying on the table...

"Your majesties...", said the servant, then stepped aside so Hilda and William could step into the lounge.

"You came!", said Walt, his face showing relief.

"Of course. What's the problem here? We see everyone running around with a face like there's been fifty days of bad weather, and cotton in their ears."

King Walt took some cotton and handed that to the couple. "You will learn to appreciate it," he said. Doom and gloom were fighting over priority in his voice. "It's bad."

Then there was the howl.

62. Howler

Queen Velma screamed, going for the cotton as if it were the best thing in life. The sound of her screaming was drowned in the howling though; Hilda and William just saw her mouth move. Walt also grabbed cotton and stuck it in his ears.

The howl sounded as if wind on steroids were raging through corridors and echoing through large halls. It went on for almost two minutes. William as well as Hilda considered the sound definitely unpleasant to hear. They handed the cotton back to King Walt.

When the noise had subsided, Hilda asked: "Now what was that?"

Queen Velma stared at the two, terror pouring from her eyes.

"We don't know. That is why we called for your help. You have to find out, because it is driving us insane," said Walt, plucking the cotton from his ears again. "This is getting so bad that I even feel sorry for my wife."

"Okay, looks like we have us a job, William," said Hilda. "When did this start?"

"It started three days ago," Walt began to explain. "At first it was not that bad, and everyone thought it was a case of the wind howling. But it got louder and louder, and also more frequent. We can't sleep anymore. It goes through the whole castle but not to the outside."

William frowned. "Then why don't you put up tents outside and remain there until the problem is solved?"

King Walt gazed at him as if William were a ghost. "Tents. Outside. I don't even know if we have tents."

The howling started again.

"Eerie sound, isn't it?", Hilda asked William, who nodded.

"Yes. Very annoying. We should go and find out what's causing this."

They waited for the howling to end, wished the king good luck in finding tents and then set out into the long halls and corridors. Somewhere they found a sort of small couch where they sat down and waited for the next howl to start. They did not have to wait very long.

As the sound started jagging the nerves of the ordinaries that were still without cotton, the magical ones drew their wands and started walking around as if they were dowsing. Hilda took pity on the poor people that were trying to keep the sound out with their hands and magicked up many bags with cotton for them. Before they could find anything useful, the howling stopped again.

"I get the distinct impression that it is not here. Not on this floor," said the witch. Must be in the cellars or the dungeons. Come, let's find the king and ask him if he's had people check there."

The king was able to tell them that there had not been people checking the lower levels of the castle. "Suppose something is there!", he said, fear beaming from his face.

"Uhm, yes, wasn't that the reason why we are here?" Hilda rubbed her nose. Before she could say more, the howling started again and Walt made himself deaf using cotton.

"Let's go down a level and see if we can find the source of the problem there," Hilda proposed. William nodded, and once again they left the royals to their personal agony.

After some searching they found an entrance to the lower floor of the building.

"Darkish," Hilda noticed. "We should take a torch or something. You never know how much we need the wands to actually beat something up."

"You think of everything, don't you?" William magicked up a torch.

"Of course. I am the resident witch, remember? I have to be good." She tossed him a ravishing smile and then turned to the stone staircase.

They descended slowly. There was a heavy silence hanging in the darkness. The shadows, cast by the flickering torch, danced over the walls. Then the howling started again. It was without a doubt louder than on the ground floor where they had heard it first.

"Comes from down here somewhere," Hilda nodded. "Funny smell here too. As if something old has been out in the open for far too long."

A sudden gust of wind extinguished the flame on the torch.

"Well I'll be danged," said William, lighting the thing again. At that moment the howling also stopped. "I doubt that my saying that caused it to stop."

Hilda laughed. "I am convinced of that, dear man, but it certainly was funny!"

They reached the bottom of the stairs. To the left and right they saw a long corridor, torches burning in regular intervals.

"Now that is odd," William muttered. "Why did our torch go out and these remained lit? I'd almost think that there was something down there that deliberately went for our torch."

Hilda raised her hand. "Ssshh.." She pointed her wand into the left corridor.

William saw how hard she was concentrating on something. The bond made that even more clear. The amount of energy she was putting into it was scaring William; he had no idea that such a small woman could harbour so much power.

"Something's here. Or was here recently." She sounded very certain. Slowly the witch turned to the other corridor and probed that with all the energy she had at her disposal. It almost seemed to sparkle around her in the relative darkness of the place where they were. Then, suddenly, a faint smile appeared on her face. "I think I got it." She started walking, William close behind her as he had no clue what she had done, was doing or even was going to do.

"Oh yes, I got it," said Hilda as she started walking faster. Suddenly though, she stopped. "Oh... crap..."

Something appeared to come from inside a wall, it looked like a shadow, and it came towards them very fast. Somehow, as it was right in front of them, it seemed to come to a dead halt, and then they were treated to a howling sound so loud and forceful that it literally blew them off their feet. Hilda toppled over, William got blown against a wall and fell down along that. The howl continued for a while longer, and this time, as it was coming from so close, it actually hurt their ears. Then the shadowy shape fell silent again and disappeared into another wall.

As Hilda got up and slapped dust and other irregularities from her dress, she grinned. "Ha, see, I got you!"

William also got to his feet. "It somehow looks to me that it got us, sweetwitch."

"Puh. It wouldn't have if I hadn't gotten it first. I'm sure of that. I think." The witch walked to the part of the wall where the shadow had disappeared into and knocked on it. "Hey, come out. I want to talk to you."

Whatever the shadow was, it did not respond to the name Hey. It remained invisible.

"Well, at least we now know what's causing the noise," said Hilda, a satisfied look on her face.

"We do?" William felt a bit left out of things.

"Sure, we do. It's just a ghost. Nothing more."

"Oh. I see. Just a ghost. So who you're gonna call?" The joke was lost on Hilda.

"Dear William," she said as she turned to him and folded her fingers behind his neck. "We are called for this, remember? There was this chubby man with the crown that sent us a message about it. Does that ring a bell?"

"Yes, it does. You have a talent for making things so understandable for me." William folded his arms around her and lifted her up just far enough for their lips to touch.

That was the moment that Hey had selected to make another appearance. The shadow shot from the wall, forced itself against them and howled them to the ground once again, blasting their eardrums. It was a relief for them when finally the howling ghost stopped its noise and whooshed off into a wall again.

Hilda, lying on top of William, shook her head. "Damn. That was loud." She got to her feet. "Lying comfy there, or shall we go up again and tell the king what we found?"

"You, witch, are terrible," said the wizard as he rose from the floor.

"I know. And you love me for that." She looked at him. "Don't you?"

"I'll tell when we're upstairs again, is that a deal?" William looked over his shoulder, to where the ghost had disappeared. "Not really ready yet to be a ghostbuster."

"Okay. Come. Up we go then."

Hand in hand they went up the stairs, after William had picked up the torch he had dropped at the first assault of the ghost.

As they had exited the cellar, Hilda turned to William. "Okay, now tell me."

He put his hands lightly on her shoulder, and then the howling started again. "Yes, I love you for everything you are. And I am glad we're away from that cellar."

"So am I. But we'll be going back there to get that ghost and talk some sense into it. Now, however, we'll go find the king."

As they walked down the long corridor, the howling started again.

63. Ghost

They found King Walt alone in the room where they had left him. As they came in, he took a bunch of cotton from one ear, to check if there was no howling.

"You are back. Did you catch whatever it was?"

"Nope, not yet. But we did find out what it is. It's a ghost. A rather unhappy one, I think, he sounds quite lonely. Have you ever had problems with ghosts before?", Hilda came straight to the point.

"Ghosts? We have no ghosts here! This is a castle!", the king exclaimed. At that point the howling started again, so he quickly put his cotton in place again.

When it was over, Hilda waved at him and nodded.

"As I said, we have no ghosts here." King Walt sat down and offered the magical couple a chair.

"Well, looks like you got one now, King," said William. "We saw it up close. It's there alright."

"What we don't know is how it got here," Hilda added. "Did anything change here, recently? Did new people come to the palace? Have you opened doors or such that have always been closed?"

King Walt was very quick in slapping the cotton in his ear again as the howling started.

"This is not going to get us anywhere fast, Hilda," William commented. "I think we should go outside and try talking to him there. This howling is affecting him too much."

Hilda nodded. "I'll tell him we have to go outside once our ghost pipes down again."

As the ghost stopped its wailing, their suggestion was accepted by the royal man and they moved to a small spot in one of the gardens, where a tent-like construction stood.

"Right. This is better. So, did you open anything?", Hilda repeated her question.

"Not that I know of. But I don't know what all the people here in the castle are doing," King Walt confessed. "Somehow there seem to be more and more people here, they're all busy with something, and who knows where they come from."

"Does not sound like anyone's in control of this place, does it?" William shook his head.

"Velma is in charge of most things personnel," Walt said. "Ever since she's had the shoes, she's become more helpful around the house. I have to say that for her."

"I see. I think we should have a word with the queen then. Perhaps she knows something..." Hilda frowned.

More and more people came into the yard and the gardens, as word had spread that outside was the place to be for the moment. People were actually building some tents, even though these would hardly offer enough space for all the servants and other people who had their duties in and around the court.

The queen was located quite quickly. She was outside in a garden also, staying away from the large building with the horrible howling still going off at short intervals.

"Queen Velma?" Hilda walked up to her. "We have to talk with you."

The queen was not used to direct approaches like this, but from magical people she had to accept it. They were different. Dangerous.

They asked her about the staff in the palace. About new people, strange people, unpredictable people.

"Oh my," said the queen. "I am afraid I can't help you with all those things. I tell Walt that I am taking care of this, but I generally move all that complicated stuff to Marigold, who then shares the work with Brea, Gordon, Nelson, Theobald and Lisette."

"God help us all," said William. He dreaded an even wider web of people who were all doing the same thing as the queen. They might end up searching a haystack in which no needle of significance was buried.

Hilda blinked a few times. "No deal there, William. We do things ourselves. We're going back and see if we can talk some sense into this one."

"If we can find it."

Hilda grinned. "That's not a problem. It will find us. Thanks, Queen Velma. Enjoy your stay here." She got up, took William by the sleeve and dragged him along. "Let's go and do it. Another performance of the magical and powerful."

They entered the now nearly empty castle. Their footsteps bounced off every wall as they found their way to the cellar. There, torch in hand, they opened the door and walked down the stairs again. The occasional howl of the ghost had not bothered them very much as they had gone through the long corridors, but here, in the lower level, there was an almost solid, tangible feeling of threat. There was also a howl again.

The ghost raced past them, jumping from one wall to the other, as it made its terrible sound.

Hilda looked at it go as the ghost went slaloming through the corridor, jumping from wall to wall as it went further away from them. She shrugged, and to William's surprise she took her wand and made a table and two chairs appear. "Can you make us the coffee? I really could do with some," she said as she smiled and sat down.

William sat down, got his wand out and made a big pot of coffee, and with it 2 cups, sugar and cream. "Here we go. I doubt that we will make the ghost happy with a cup."

Hilda laughed as he poured them a good cup of the dark stuff.

There was silence in the corridor for a remarkably long time.

"Do you think the smell of the coffee chased it off?", William asked.

"No way. Ghosts can stand smells that even you and I can't. I think that what we're doing is working."

"Oh, hey, that's great. What are we doing?" The wizard would really like to know, since he was part of it.

"We're making it curious."

"Oh, of course." William was puzzled. How would making a ghost curious help them catch it?

"Who said anything about catching it?" Hilda had become very proficient at reading their link. "We'll first make it curious. That is enough to begin with."

"Okay. And if it is not getting curious?", William asked.

"Then we have to switch to the second plan," Hilda smiled.

"Which is?"

"Yours."

"Uhm. I'd drink to that, but then I need something stronger. A lot stronger." William emptied his cup and poured fresh rounds. "Still no peep." He was served right then and there.

The ghost popped into existence next to him and howled in his ear.

"Holy Bejeebus," said William, whose protection had jumped in this time and protected his ears. "What kind of behaviour is that to welcome visitors." He stared at the fuzzy shape that disappeared into the wall behind him a few heartbeats later.

"I think we got him," Hilda whispered and winked. "And I would like a cookie too."

"She would like a cookie." He waved his wand. A box of cookies appeared. "Here we go. Cookies."

Hilda opened the box. "Oh!!! Chocolate!!! Good thing that ghosts don't eat chocolate cookies."

A howl echoed through the corridor, but this one was less convincing than the previous ones.

"Did you hear something?", Hilda asked her wizard.

"Hear? What? No, must have missed it," William played along. "More coffee?"

"Oh, yes. Please." Hilda held up her cup, and the ghost appeared again. It did not howl. It just seemed to observe what these silly people were doing in its corridor.

The ghost floated at about two yards distance from the table, close to the wall. It almost looked as if it wanted to make sure it had a getaway spot.

Hilda and William knew it was there, they just did not pay any attention to it. They drank more coffee and almost cleaned out the box of cookies, and all that time the ghost hovered near them. Then Hilda looked at it. "Oh. Look. A ghost."

William looked at it too. "Really. A ghost. Amazing. Want me to make more coffee, or should we go? Or do you have another suggestion?"

"Well, he's not adding much to the conversation, so we could just as well pack up," Hilda shrugged.

The ghost howled. Somewhat.

"As I said, he's not adding much to the conversation." Hilda got up. "Can you take care of the furniture?"

"Of course." A swing with a wand later, the chair, tables and coffee stuff were gone. William held out his hand, and together they walked up the stairs. A thundering howl followed them, and the ghost shot up and down the corridor like crazy.

"So, what was all that acting?", William asked after they had returned to the ground floor of the castle again. The howls of the ghosts were almost continuous now.

"I wanted to anger it." Hilda patted the door. "And it looks like we succeeded." A big, satisfied smile was on her face.

"Great, so now we have an angered ghost in the cellar. And the next logical step in this is?"

"We leave it there for a while, and then we go back. It won't have a clue how long we were gone. Ghosts have no sense of time. And then we'll see if it wants to talk."

"Talk. The ghost."

"Yes," nodded Hilda, "you catch on very quickly, William." Tiptoeing, she kissed his cheek. "Come, let's go for a walk and look at the bad paintings here."

The couple returned from their walk quite quickly. The amount of bad paintings was more than they could take. There was the occasional howl from the ghost, but that was hardly impressive anymore.

"Gods, I wonder who has such a taste," said William, "most of that is an attack on the eyes."

Hilda nodded. "I know. It's interesting to see how much garbage is produced. So, ready for another ghost meet?"

"Sure. I ain't afraid of no ghost," William giggled.

It earnt him a frown from Hilda who then opened the door. They went down the stairs again, this time not needing a torch. They'd been here before.

The ghost was nowhere to be seen. It howled once in a while, but kept itself hidden.

"Hey, ghost! Come out where we can see you. We need to talk." Hilda magicked up two chairs, on which they sat down. "We're not leaving until we've talked to you. And you'd better make it snappy or we're going to make things really hard on you."

William wondered if she was referring to his non-existing second plan.

64. Bustin' makes me feel good

They waited. And waited quite a while, their only source of entertainment being their chatting and the howls of the ghost that did not show up.

"Not really snappy, is it?", William commented.

"As I said, ghosts have no sense of time. We'll just wait."

A loud howl later the ghost hung before them, again at a safe distance.

"Well, look who we have here," Hilda took control of the situation. "I'd love to ask you to sit down, but that would be a bit odd."

"There are only two chairs," a hollow voice said.

William tried to keep his surprise under control but failed miserably. He did leave the talking to Hilda, that evidently was the safest thing to do.

"Right..." Hilda made a third chair appear.

The ghost went and hovered over that. "Thank you." It seemed to wait for more.

"So, what brought you here?", Hilda asked as if she was talking to someone she had not seen for a while.

"An opening," was the simple and hollow answer. Then the ghost howled again, be it moderately loud. "I take it this annoys you. I mean to annoy."

"I must say that I have heard nicer sounds," Hilda agreed. "Now, what opening brought you here? This is the King's Castle and he's a bit ticked off with the sound you make."

"Oh. That is good." The ghost howled full force for a moment. That probably was its way to tell the world how pleased it was.

"Actually that is not good, because a ticked-off king is not good for the people. And ticked-off people are very bothersome to deal with, which in turn will anger the king even more."

The ghost rose up from the chair and bobbed down again. "And all that because I am here?"

"Quite, yes."

A loud and long howl was theirs to not enjoy. "I had no idea that my presence here would have such an impact. I am happy here, this is a good ghosting place."

"Crappedy crap, you don't get it, do you?", asked Hilda. "This is not the place for you to be, ghost. You had your own place to howl, and you got here by accident. Now you will show us where that opening was that you came through, and you will go back through it."

"No." The ghost sounded very determined. And even more hollow. "My old place was no fun. People were not scared of me there."

"So it is scaring them that you want, not annoying them," William pitched in.

"The scaring comes after the annoying," the ghost replied.

"I beg to differ. You seem to be uncertain of what you want. You first claimed annoying, then you claimed scaring and now you claim both," argued William.

Hilda stared at her wizard, not really understanding what he was getting at, but since he had the ghost's attention, she sat back and let him have a go at it.

The ghost was silent for a moment. "But isn't scaring a higher level of annoying?"

"It is definitely not. I have worked with books and language for many years, and there is no book that I have found which would underwrite your statement. Annoying people will in the end make them nervous and break down. If you scare people, they will in the end either get used to it or turn against you."

"Ah." The ghost sounded now mostly hollow. It seemed to become unstable a bit, more and less opaque.

Hilda now got William's meaning. He was trying to confuse the ghost. "I agree with the wizard," she told the ghost. "And you don't want to be there when people turn against you. That is when they bring in the heavy artillery, like witches and wizards. Now, you may have gathered that we are a witch and a wizard. What does that tell you?"

"Uhm... that the people are scared already?" The ghost clearly had problems coping with being questioned like this.

"No, dumb ass," William said, "they are getting smarter. You won't get away with the same old routine over time. People understand by now that all they have to do is call in the help of wizards and witches to deal with a ghost. They hire the ghostbusters, as it were."

"And that's us," Hilda said, "and you see that it works when they call us."

"It does?" The ghost was losing ground by the minute. "I am still here, am I not?"

"Yes, you are," William confirmed as he got up. "The question is: for how long..." He drew his wand and conjured up a set of weird looking utensils. He just did his best remembering the objects he had seen in the Ghostbusters movie long ago. "Perhaps you care to know what these things are."

The ghost hovered away from the chair and hung over the assembly of strange things. "Do I need to know?"

Hilda grinned to herself. So far they had managed to keep the ghost from howling for quite a while already, and whatever it was that William was doing: it worked!

William tried to feed Hilda some information about the fake equipment as he was explaining about what looked like a mutilated vaccuum cleaner. "See, this thing is what we use for Slimers."

"What are slimers?", the ghost asked.

"I beg your pardon? You don't know what Slimers are? The silly round ghosts that spit around slime and other goo? We have this magical tool to simply suck them up. Once they're inside this, they can't escape." William patted the vaccuum cleaner. "Good thing, works perfectly."

Hilda got up as she wanted to join in the fun and grabbed another device. It looked like the cup of a giant blender. "This is what we have to put the small ones in," she told the ghost.

William stood back and watched Hilda go on, biting his tongue to keep from laughing.

"See, the smaller ghosts, as you probably know, are not that fast. So we only have to wait for one to zoom by" -she took the lid off the cup- "whack it over the ghost" -in a fierce and fast movement she whacked the cup over the ghost- "and close the cup." Which is what she did. Then she stared at the transparent cup. "Suck an elf. It worked." She shook the cup a few times. A faint howl came from it as the ghost was frantically moving around.

William was totally flabbergasted. "How the hell did you do that?"

"Not sure. It looked like a good thing to try." The witch held up the cup. "See, we warned you." She looked at William. "What are we going to do with it?"

"Good question. How about we give it to the king, as a present? I don't know if it is a common thing for a king to have his own ghost in a... blender."

"Shiny!! Let's go and do that!" Hilda grinned a wide smile. She watched how William made all the strange equipment disappear, including the three chairs, and then they walked up the stairs again, and down the long corridor that took them to the courtyard.

Many eyes followed them as Hilda carried the big cup to the king. "King Walt, we have your ghost. Here it is, all yours." She put the cup on the table, in front of the chubby royal man.

"That is... the ghost?" The king picked up the cup and reached for the lid.

"I would leave that on, King," William said, "unless you want to be the first king with a ghost in his garden. They're pretty hard to catch."

Quickly King Walt put the cup down. "Yes, I thought the same. I was just making sure the lid was on tightly." He blushed for a moment. He got up and thanked the witch and the wizard. "I will see to it that a proper compensation will be brought to your home, dear magical people. And thank you ever so much for this speedy operation. It is definitely not pleasant to be a king when you have to sit... there." He pointed at the small seat that had probably hurt his extensive royal rear quite a bit.

The witch and her wizard remained near the castle until the entire staff had entered the castle again. They then went inside with the king.

"The ghost told us it had come in through some opening. It is probably a good thing to let some good people check the cellar and make sure that there are no openings left that should not be there," Hilda warned the king. "Otherwise there is no saying what will come through that opening next."

"Yes, yes, my thoughts exactly," King Walt nodded as he handed them both a glass of wine. A servant offered them a tray with a choice of handmade chocolates.

"Oh, chocolate!" Hilda grabbed a handful and happily munched away.

William took one and was happy with that.

"I am really grateful that we have such a fine working relationship, dear witch and wizard," Walt said as he lowered himself on a comfortable couch.

They chatted for a short while longer, and then the magical couple left the king, fetched their brooms and made for home.

65. No buts or maybe's

The days after catching the ghost went by rapidly. The couple was preparing for the challenge which now was coming close.

"Today we have to pack up and go there, William." Hilda lay in his arm, close to him. She enjoyed the feeling of closeness and the strength in his arm with which he pulled her even closer to him for a moment.

"Yes. I know. We did all we can do, I think. And we can count ourselves acquaintances of Gurthreyn."

"As if that helps," the witch snorted.

William doubted it too. The experience of meeting the magician had drifted to the back of their memories, and they both considered it a very strange kind of dream by now.

As they were getting up and ready, the sound of trumpets rang through the air.

"The king is here," said the house. "And he did not come alone."

"You don't say..." William peeked out the window. "Good grief. Looks like he brought half the country."

"Don't exag- Crap, looks like he brought half the country," Hilda said as she looked out with him.

As they were dressed already, they stepped outside. One does not keep a king waiting.

"Dear honourable witch and wizard," said King Walt from inside the carriage. "We thought it only proper to come to you on this day and inform you that we wish you all the magic you need to make this challenge a favourable one."

Before either of the two could say something, the trumpeteers blew their hearts out, and the crowd started cheering like crazy. It left the magical couple completely flabbergasted. A relatively small delegation of the enormous amount of visitors came to them, to personally wish them well. There were about ninety people in that group.

After a few hours the horde left the area again; they heard the trumpets' sound long after the group had gone.

"Shiny, wasn't it?", said Hilda.

"This was... wow." William had an arm around her shoulders. "I'd never have expected that."

"No, really. This was quite a surprise." Hilda looked up at her wizard. "My hands hurt."

William took her hands and kissed them. "Better now?"

"No, but it feels nice. Could you do that again?" Blue sparkles flew from her eyes.

With a grin, he kissed her hands again.

"Thank you. Now we should get ready to leave, sweet man."

It did not take them very long. They had been preparing for a while already, their luggage had been pre-shrunk even. With brooms in hand they left the house and Hilda put the large iron chains around it. She mumbled something extra and William was a bit worried as he sensed her feeling through their bond.

"We are coming back, Hilda."

The witch stared at her house. "I hope you are right, William. This is just in case. If we don't make it, then in five years the chains will disappear."

"You must come back sooner. I do not want to be chained up for five years," said the house.

"I know," Hilda said with a nod. "We're going to do our best. Five years of chains is not good for your paint."

William was a bit surprised. Did he just hear her brave and boisterous witch sniff away a tear?

As she turned to him, nothing showed of it. "Come. Let's go."

They mounted their brooms and flew away. They had decided, a few days ago, to make a detour to the castle, but as the king was still on his way there, they looked for the caravan that was going there. That was quite easy. They flew low over the crowd and along the carriage, raising a few hundred people to cheer again, and then they turned their brooms toward the east.

The couple had planned plenty of stops, so they would not arrive at the labyrinth totally exhausted. It took them a full two days, in which they did nothing remarkable, but they spent a lot of quality time that way. The challenge hung over them like a tangible thing, and they did their best to to ignore it.

In the afternoon of the second day, they passed through the magical field that separated the labyrinth of Gurthreyn from the rest of the world. They had been expecting it, and yet again, as happened with their previous visits, they had their load of nausea hitting them by surprise.

The large terrain outside the actual labyrinth looked peculiar. There were tents, people, horses and brooms. Lots of banners with the sigil of King Herald were put everywhere, but the lack of wind made the banners look remarkably pathetic as they hung down listlessly.

Despite the large number of people on the grounds, there was hardly anything one could hear. The magic that reigned over the fields dampened almost everything from sounds to moods.

The labyrinth itself, with the high grey walls, looked as uninviting as ever. The massive iron doors were closed as usual. High up, out of reach of the most depressing layers of magic, there were magicians and witches cruising over the daunting walled area, making sure that there were no stranger things happening than what had been recorded throughout history. Big solid walls that moved by themselves were not considered strange things here.

As Lamador, the magician of King Herald, had called for the challenge, the court of his king was responsible for supplying quarters for the adversaries. For that reason there was a large tent set up a bit away from what could be considered a village of citizens of Heraldion. The tent was simple in its looks, brown and red.

That was the view presented to Hilda and William as they finally approached the place where they would be doing the duel with Lamador.

"I don't know about you," said William, "but that whole circus down there just looks wrong."

Hilda agreed. "It is the way Lamador travels. Big. Pompous. Attracting attention. Let's go down and see what they have lined up for us."

The two brooms did not make a nice and elegant swoop to the ground. Instead, because of the thick and heavy magic there, it was as if they were plowing through mud. Hilda was now again flying the both of them, to keep everyone ignorant of William's abilities. She steered them to the brown and red tent. She knew the layout of the camp and the rules, so that had to be their place.

First thing they did was go into the tent, to unload their luggage. The tent's inside was strictly functional, there was nothing lavish about it. William put the handful of dice on the ground, Hilda did her trick and then the wizard put away the boxes and cases. "Right, that's out of the way. And now?"

"Now we're going to see Lamador. He will probably gloat and try to intimidate us, so be prepared for that. He's a real prick in things like that." Hilda thought back to the latest challenge. Intimidating was not even the word then. Humiliating was more like it.

The couple left the tent. They had agreed that William would be wearing the wizard's clothes. Lamador had seen William in those before, at the house of Gerdundula, so that should not be a surprise. William also had the notes with him in which Lamador had written that he was allowed to participate in the challenge. Just to be absolutely sure.

The tent of Lamador was again unmistakable. The largest, the richest in stuff added to it, and thanks to the area, just as depressing as everything else.

William had a thought, but decided to put that on ice until he was alone with Hilda again. They stopped in front of a layer of guards that had the ceremonial task to protect Lamador, which in itself was ludicrous. Lamador was much more capable of taking care of himself than any amount of soldiers dressed up in uncomfortable and relatively useless battle dresses.

"Who goes there?", one of them asked.

"Yeah, don't you wonder," Hilda said. "Who would come to this tent, in this forsaken place? Do we need to spell our names out for you? We can do that, if you need that."

The guard looked very annoyed. His mood wasn't sublime to start, and this answer did not make things better. He muttered something under his breath. Hilda as well as William were certain that it was something quite unflattering at their address, but they could not care less. "I'll tell the great Lamador that you are here."

"Yes, you do that," Hilda said as the man paced off. "Idiot. I hate all that ritualistic nonsense."

"Easy, Hilda, don't get overly excited. We're doing well, I think, let's keep our cool." William wanted to put his arm around her, but in this situation it would not be the wise thing to do.

The guard, with a disgruntled face, reappeared. "The great Lamador will see you now."

Lamador was seated on a throne that was larger and more richly decorated than the ones they had seen in the castle of King Herald. It looked wrong, bad, corrupted. The man himself was dressed in what looked like pure gold, which had to be a magical illusion.

Hilda signalled to William not to be impressed by all this, using their bond. William wasn't. He was adverse of all those overdone things.

"Well, well," Lamador sneered. "You dared to come. And you brought your friend with you too. And he is still dressing as a wizard too, how amusing. Why didn't you do that when you visited us in the castle?"

"Would that have made any difference?", Hilda asked. She willfully ignored all the scorn and allegations in Lamador's words.

"No." The word came out hard. Lamador had not expected that response. Then he got back to his balmy and disgusting gloating. "So you are really willing to sacrifice him as well, Grimhilda. Have you explained to this man what will be waiting for him? And", he grinned, "I do not just mean me."

"William is well aware of what will happen here," Hilda told the man, "and he offered to help me in this. As you agreed to already, in your notes."

William brought out the pieces of paper. "We have brought them along, just to make sure there is no confusion about this point. Maybe there is some kind of judge or referee that would like to check them, to make sure of the legal validity of these small bits of evidence."

Lamador frowned. "An ordinary that speaks without being spoken to. How... fascinating. But of course, you are free to participate in the challenge, William. You did not bring along a bow and arrow, by chance? Or a big hunting knife? I know that ordinaries prefer such weapons. Rather childish, but then, one does as one knows." Lamador chuckled, looking around at his staff.

"We are not interested in bows and knives, Lamador," Hilda said. "He asked for judges. Are there any around? We want this cleared, not to be the subject of your jokes."

"Oh. The little witch is barking." Lamador pretended to show fear. "Call for Bregan and Nultos!"

The two people mentioned appeared mere seconds later. Bregan was an ancient classic mage. He sported a long white beard and equally long white hair, proudly wore a pointed hat with stars on it. His black clothes made the white of his hair even whiter. Nultos was a young black woman, a witch. Her short black hair was spikey as it pointed everywhere. She wore yellow robes.

"Here are your two judges," Lamador said, acting as benevolence itself.

William showed them the papers and the two new arrivals declared with loud voices that they had seen the papers, that they had verified the seal of Lamador, and that William, consort of Grimhilda the witch, was allowed to assist her in the challenge. No buts or maybe's.

66. Challenge (1)

The first meeting with Lamador was over. Hilda and William walked through the camp, looking at everyone and everything Lamador had brought with him.

"He surely needs a lot of junk to feel comfortable, doesn't he?", William commented as they passed along all the tents. So far they had seen at least two hundred people, most of them magical. The ordinaries in the camp were of an amazing amount of disciplines. Cooks and cleaners, but also people who could make new reins for horses and at least two blacksmiths.

They thought of their small tent they had used on their visits over here. So much simpler and more convenient.

"It shows how much power he has," Hilda said. "Everyone in the magical trade knows that this is wrong, but he is so powerful that nobody dares to argue with him or point out all this."

"We'll point something out to him tomorrow, Hilda." William now did not hold himself back and put his arm around her. Hilda, in response, slipped her arm around his waist.

The two people from King Walt's country attracted a lot of attention. Despite that, the people in the camp did not feel confident enough to approach to them, or even just say something. So deeply rooted was their fear of the great Lamador.

Only when they reached a large tent where they could eat did people speak to them. Nothing but polite phrases, but at least there was something.

The food was amazingly good. Hilda explained to William that it was probably prepared by magical people. "Lamador won't accept less, I am convinced of that. He wants to be tough and hard, but all that life in the castle with King Herald has made him softer than he cares to admit."

They reminisced about the challenge they had called in the forest. Lamador had not looked very much at ease, and also then he had brought along an amazing entourage to feel at home and comfortable.

After eating, the magical couple retreated to their tent. Resting for the big event of the following day would be the smart thing to do, but the atmosphere around them, the strange muffled sounds and the unfamiliar scents kept them awake.

Hilda cast a spell to make a screen of silence around them but for some reason that did not want to take hold very well. "Crappedycrappy magical garbage that's around here, that's what it is," she muttered, hiding her face against William's chest. "If Gurthreyn was real, maybe he could fix this noise bit for us."

The noise bit remained unfixed, so they heard the sounds of the camp, even though they were not even that close to it. Finally silence descended over the camp. Huge walls moved inside the tall walls of the labyrinth."Go suck an elf."

The man blowing the trumpet did not have a preference for elves. He blew his tune again.

"I hate this part," Hilda muttered.

"Want me to conjure a knife and end this torment?" William asked.

"Does not make for good public relations. But the idea is tempting," Hilda said.

They lay in silence for a while as the trumpeteer had ended his reign of terror.

"Today's the day, William."

"I know, sweetwitch. And we are going to kick some Lamadorian ass."

"Yes. That's the plan. I hope he is willing to let us." She cuddled up to the warm body of her wizard and felt his love flow to her.

"I doubt that he's willing, but we're going to make him. We are two, he is one."

"And he is powerful. The 'great' bit in his name is not just a fancy word, remember that, William."

"I know." William kissed her forehead. "But we have the initial advantage of surprise."

Hilda crawled on top of William. "I hope that will do us good." She kissed the tip of his nose. "Remember, William. Protection, protection, protection. That is important."

The trumpeteer had found more courage and started his racket again.

"I will go out and hurt him," William stated, "public relations or not."

"You can't. I am lying on top of you and you like that better than a trumpeteer. Unless I am very mistaken." Hilda rested her head on William's shoulder. "I love this..."

After a while the trumpeteer started his third serenade.

"Three. We have to get up and prepare." Hilda's voice was flat. "Urgh." She let herself roll off William and got up. The wizard followed that cue.

They had breakfast in their tent; it was delivered to them by two women. After that they dressed for the challenge, placed their brooms on the right side of their tent and walked to the large gates in the looming wall.

"I would not be surprised if the drama-queen is late," Hilda mumbled to William. And indeed, when they were at the gate at the designated hour, there was no trace of Lamador yet. They did not have to wait long, but just long enough.

Lamador was carried to the gates, sitting in a chair. There were six men handling the large and evidently heavy thing, and the sorcerer did not seem to be bothered by that at all. After being lowered to the ground, he got off the chair. "Ah. You are here. The witch and... him."

Hilda wanted to fume and was ready to try and hurt the man, but William's calm disposition and his hand on her arm held her back. She did not like it when her wizard was insulted in such a way.

"Yes, we are here. And you're late," William said calmly.

Hilda looked at him. It was not proper for an alleged ordinary to address a sorcerer like that.

Lamador stared at William, uncertain if he should just reduce him to a heap of dust or let it pass.

William saw the tension in the man's face and was not certain if that remark had been a smart move. He was ready to try and counter a strike by the sorcerer, whatever might happen. But nothing happened.

"It just gave you a little longer to live," Lamador said. He allowed one of his servants to take his long wide cloak from his shoulders. "It looks like you are ready to face your doom."

The judges, Bregan and Nultos, had arrived just in time to hear that remark. "Great Lamador, it does not comply with the rules of a challenge to influence your adversary in such a manner. Officially you should apologise."

William gently squeezed Hilda's arm. "That's quite alright. We have the advantage that we are indeed ready to face our doom. Too bad the great Lamador is not ready to face his."

"How dare you!" Lamador's wand was in his hand before the words had left his lips, and he flashed it in front of William's face.

"I dare because I looked at the rules for a challenge," William said, calm and flooding that feeling through the bond to Hilda. "You are not allowed to hurt a participant of the challenge until the official starting signal. And I have not heard or seen that."

Nultos, the black witch, nodded. "He is correct, Lamador. You are out of line." She did not seem happy to have to say that, but the rules of the challenge were as they were. And Lamador had to swallow that.

The great sorcerer made his wand disappear. His face displayed anger. "Let's get this started then, and let's get it over with. I do not want to be here."

William held back another remark. He had prodded the feelings of the man enough, and it was obvious to him that Hilda did not feel good about this.

The two judges asked Hilda and William if they were ready also, and they confirmed that. "Very well. We will proceed to the gates."

The small group started walking. As they approached the solid iron gates, the two doors started opening. It was amazing to see them move, without a sound, as if an invisible giant were opening them.

The judges had their brooms brought to them. "We officially announce the challenge that the great sorcerer Lamador has called against Grimhilda, the witch. As Lamador has agreed, the man William will be allowed to enter the challenge as well, at the side of Grimhilda. Are there questions about this?"

Nobody raised a hand or a voice.

"The challenge will go on to the death. This is mentioned in the original challenge. The Great Lamador has graciously stated to spare the life of the man William."

The three challenge-fighters did not twitch a muscle.

"The people in the challenge are not allowed to carry their brooms inside the walls of the labyrinth. There are no other rules. If all this is clear, the people in the challenge will now enter the labyrinth. The judges will take position over the labyrinth. As soon as the judges are ready, a red flash will signify the start of the challenge."

That was all that had to be said. Bregan and Nultos mounted their brooms and lifted off, as the three contestants slowly walked into the area that made up the labyrinth.

It did not look anything like the previous times that Hilda and William had visited.

Lamador started running away from them, down the corridor that was straight ahead.

Hilda took William's hand and they walked to the left, which was the only alternative. They kept their eye on the sky as far as that was visible. The red flash would tell them the challenge was on. Hilda popped up her wand. William followed her example.

"Sweetwitch, I love you."

"I love you too, William."

Then there was a bright flash that set the entire labyrinth aflame for a moment. The challenge had started.

67. Challenge (2)

Lamador did not waste time. That was something that became clear to Hilda and William very quickly. Big rainclouds formed over the labyrinth and a solid wall of water was streaming down. They quickly cast protection around themselves so they did not get soaked, but the water around them was rising at an alarming rate.

William waved his wand and a small rubber boat came into existence. He lifted Hilda into it. "Sit and don't do funny things unless you want to fall out." He got into the boat himself.

Hilda stared at the dinghy and touched it. "This is shiny! This is something from your crazy world, isn't it?"

"It is. There's something good everywhere," he grinned. "Now, what will we do next? We'll have to find Lamador before he finds us."

Hilda nodded. "Let's first see if we can play a bit here." She looked at the flood of water that was lifting them higher and higher. "Right..."

William had no clue what was right in their situation, but he trusted Hilda.

The wicked witch had located the side of their boat where the water was rising slower. She was convinced that was the side where Lamador would be to keep dry. "How do you move this thing? That way."

William used his wand to make the boat move, as Hilda gave him directions. Unfortunately their path was suddenly blocked by a wall that had moved itself.

"Crappedy crap," Hilda muttered. "That is not good." She threw magic around and all the water disappeared, making their boat flop down to the ground.

"Holy Bejeebus," William said as they got up. "You can do that?!" He was seriously shocked at the amount of water that had vanished. This cast an entirely new light on the powers of the witch.

From somewhere an explosion sounded, and that somewhere wasn't even very far away.

"Looks like we are not far away from Lamador," William remarked.

"True," Hilda nodded, "but with this everywhere" -she patted the wall- "it makes little difference."

A wall started moving. The couple turned to see what was revealing itself in the new corridor. To their surprise they saw Lamador standing there, his back towards them. He was obviously oblivious of the wall moving. Through the bond, Hilda managed to orchestrate a mutual action. Raising their wands, a ball of vicious energy and fire emerged and shot at Lamador.

Tremendous blasts and fireworks flew as the ball hit the shielding that the sorcerer erected around himself at the last moment. The impact of the ball was so huge though, that it threw him to the ground and made him roll over a few times. As the sparkles of the ball dissipated, Lamador got up and looked at the two who still had their wands aimed at him. For a moment he looked as if he did not understand what his eyes told his brain. Then it dawned on the great sorcerer. "You..."

Lightning fast he drew his wand and started weaving a giant spiderweb between himself and the magical couple, his piece de resistance being a nine foot spider that crawled from the web and started its run towards Hilda and William.

William tried to destroy the web, but Lamador had the advantage of experience, he was just too fast in spouting his magic.

Hilda fired at the spider. She slowed it down but was unable to stop the approach of the beast. It had long extra arms protruding from its ugly skull-like head. At the end of the arms were big, sharp hooks that moved independently from each other. A slash of either one of them would leave very uncomfortable marks. It would also make for cut off limbs.

William joined Hilda in firing at the animal, which then at least stopped it. "Make a pit!", he yelled at Hilda, who reacted immediately. She aimed her wand at the rocky floor in front of them and magicked a pit twenty feet deep and twenty feet wide. William then stopped blocking the spider's approach. The beast shot forward as there was no more resisting force and skidded into the pit. As it was still falling, William aimed his wand and made large steel spears stick up from the bottom. The spider was impaled on at least a dozen of them.

By the time Hilda had slashed through the spider's web, Lamador had disappeared from the corridor already. The end of the corridor had sealed itself off by that time, so there was no other option for the couple than to turn back.

"I think this is the moment where we should try to bring our brooms in, Hilda."

She nodded. "Would give us the advantage of speed, indeed. Let's try it, but not for too long. We have to keep moving, before Lamador plays another trick on us."

They summoned their brooms, holding up their hands. The two brooms shot up from the tent where they had been waiting. Once they reached the walls, their speed dropped to a mere crawl as the magic around the labyrinth was more forceful and thick during the challenge.

The floor under their feet started shaking.

"Crappedy crap, William, they're not coming through. We have to do something." Hilda pointed her wand at the floor and blasted magic into it, diverting the tremors so they were not hindered by them. "Come, the mess is coming from there."

William followed Hilda as she ran towards the place where the artificial earthquake seemed to originate from. The closer they came, the more the floor behaved as a rollercoaster. It made it almost impossible for them to walk on; it looked as if someone was shaking the ground like a carpet.

William grabbed Hilda's arm and pulled her into a side corridor where the ground was unaffected by the violent shaking, even when the walls were tilting dangerously because of the strange movement of the surface. "Brooms," he said, and they summoned their brooms once more.

The brooms inched their way through the almost slime-like magical layers.

"Stop!", Hilda exclaimed. The floor they were on had started to shake also, so it was time to evacuate that temporary shelter as well. Jumping from one spot to the other, they left the corridor. The large area they reached was not moving. Neither were they. Lamador had cast a spell to solidify the air there, and the magical couple was caught inside it.

"Can you hear me?", William asked.

"I can. I wish I could move though," Hilda replied.

"Yes. This is bad stuff." William pained his brains, trying to remember anything from the physics books he had read about air. "The only way I know to make air this compact is to put it under a lot of pressure. That means he must be using a lot of power to keep this thing in place. Which in turn means he is quite occupied with this. I guess there are two things we can try."

"William. What are you talking about?"

"Physics and action versus reaction."

"I would suggest that you think of a fast reaction, because on the far end of this thing I see fire." Hilda struggled to get her wand in position. It wore her out but she managed it somehow. With a tremendous show of force the witch created water that was forming a shield between William and herself, and the blue and red flames that slowly were approaching as they slowly ate their way through the heavily compressed air.

"Hilda, you're brilliant!"

"I know, but you have lousy timing finding that out now! Do something!"

"Get that waterscreen as thick as you can."

"Oh, great, thank you for the vote of confidence. Do you have any idea how hard this is in this situation?"

William started to help her generate the waterscreen, which made quite a difference. When the screen was half a yard thick, he said: "Now let's fight fire with fire."

"What?"

"I'm starting a fire on the other side of the waterscreen and will push that away from us. If you can spare a push or a spark, please help me," said William as he ignited the air beyond the waterscreen.

"Be careful, William, please, don't boil my screen unless you want to cook us!"

William fought the pressure of the air as the witch joined forces with him. The fire caught and they convinced it to head towards the fire that was coming their way. The waterscreen started shimmering as the layer that was closest to their fire began to heat up.

"Crappedy crap, William, I love you but I am not sure why at this moment!" Hilda sensed, through the bond, that he was struggling.

William pushed and fed the fire, as he also tried to generate a layer of ice on the waterscreen.

"You do the fire, I'll freeze! Great plan!", Hilda tried to scream as she pumped magic into the waterscreen to make it as cold as possible. It came out a loud mutter but that was fine.

Their actions worked. The counter-fire approached Lamador's flames that suddenly stopped burning as there was nothing more to burn for it.

With a simple push, Hilda made the iced-over waterscreen fall away. It hit the ground and shattered in one thousand and seventy-three pieces.

The thin layer of compressed air was not a big problem now as that was already dissolving because of the magic they had been slamming through it, so less than a minute later they stepped out of the also dissolving block of air.

"Hey, Lamador!", Hilda yelled out. "Nice try!"

A few hundred yards away sat a sorcerer, panting. He felt betrayed. The man William was not a mere ordinary. This air-trick should have done them in. Instead it had worn him out more than he had expected as there had been far more resistance than he had assumed. And they had gotten out of it alive.

"Too bad that these walls block every magical person from locating other magic," Hilda said. They were summoning their brooms again, and again there was not much movement in these objects as they tried to get over the wall.

"It should not be too easy, really," a voice said. Both Hilda and William looked around to where it came from.

"Gurthreyn??"

"At your humble service. I wonder if you would like some tea or another refreshment."

"That's very kind of you, but we're in the middle of a challenge to the death," Hilda said.

"Oh yes, I know. You told me a few weeks ago. I am sure we can create enough of a diversion to make sure your adversary will not miss you." The magician smiled and the three of them were in the large open area again that they had been in before. There were three chairs, a few tables laid out with all kinds of food and drink. "Do take something and relax for a moment."

Flabbergasted, the magical couple walked around the table. Hilda took some fresh fruit, William settled for tea and a small cake. Then they all sat down.

"You know, somehow this feels like cheating," said Hilda as she was munching on her grapes. "We should be fighting, not sitting here."

Gurthreyn smiled. "I am sure you feel like that, Grimhilda, but in fact you are now doing what the adversary did constantly. He is not only using his own powers against you. He uses the magic of at least six others also, and he is draining them. A few of them are so far gone that they will not survive. And there is no way to reverse this or save them after all."

In the labyrinth, Lamador was doing heavy duty battle with two copper-coloured dragons that blocked both ways from the corridor he was in. Nothing he did made any difference, his magic just seemed to bounce off the two dragons that sat there, looking at him, taunting him with their silence.

"Six others?" Hilda sat up and stared at the magician with the bald head and the black robes.

He nodded. "I do not know them, but there are four witches involved and two minor wizards."

"So we basically are fighting seven people?", William asked.

"Not exactly, as they are not physically present in the labyrinth, but you could say you are fighting at least four others."

Hilda stared at the famous magician. "And he was going only against me... He'd have finished me."

68. Challenge (3)

The copper-coloured dragons disappeared. Lamador was almost shocked to find them gone. There had been no trace of magic when they appeared nor when they left. "Damn you, Grimhilda, you will pay for this!", he shouted. It angered him that there was no reply. He threw fierce lightning bolts around that bounced off the walls and through the corridors.

"So you see," said Gurthreyn, "you are not cheating in the challenge. You are now just paying back. In a slightly more comfortable way than he does."

"But I think we should go back and deal with him," said Hilda. "He is now killing people that are innocent. We can save them, perhaps."

"If that were possible, dear witch, I would have chosen a different approach. Unfortunately, there is no hope for most of them." Gurthreyn sauntered back to his chair with a new glass of wine. "I suggest that we let your adversary work down his energy on the walls until he is at a decent level of power to be a fair match. That is good for the energy in the walls, and more fair to you."

"Sounds like a plan, really." William got up and went to fetch a glass of wine. "You want some wine too, Hilda?"

"Yes, I want. Sheesh, this is quite something," the witch said. She leaned back and made herself comfortable. "Do you know what Lamador is doing now?", she asked the bald magician.

"Yes, the walls tell me. He was doing interesting things with lightning. Very creative, I must say, they would fry anyone in their path. He is now walking around. He seems angry."

"Hah, that does not surprise me," said Hilda, "he's out for blood and so far the only thing he got was the surprise that William is not as ordinary as he feels."

"I saw that little event with the spider. I appreciate things like that. His compressing air act was quite good, though." Gurthreyn emptied half his glass. William wondered about the liver of that man.

Lamador had by then found himself caught in a small space. A wall had snuck up behind him, closing off the short corridor he had inadvertently walked into. He uttered very nasty words, knowing that he would have to wait for any of the walls to move again so he could get away. And that would give the witch and her treacherous wizard an advantage. He had decided that he hated William. The man had pretended to be an ordinary. The spider should have gotten to them and they had finished that as if it weren't there. And he still pained his brain about how they had gotten out of the solidified air blob.

"You should really try some of the fish," Gurthreyn said, pointing at the centre table where a large selection of seafood was waiting to be eaten.

Hilda looked at William. "This is the weirdest challenge I've ever been in." Then she got up and picked up a plate with shrimp and sauteed mushrooms. "Ohh... this is really delicious." She slowly licked her fingers.

Lamador sat in a corner of his thick-walled prison, staring at the grey floor in front of his feet.

William nibbled several kinds of cheese from a small tray and sipped some more red wine.

The judges that were racing over the labyrinth were puzzled. They could only find Lamador in his distressing situation, the other two had disappeared.

Gurthreyn looked up. "Your referees are becoming impatient. Perhaps now is the time that you re-enter the labyrinth and bring the challenge to an end."

Hilda looked at the plate with the shrimps. She had not finished yet. She shrugged and put it on the table, where William also put his remaining cheese.

"Good luck," said Gurthreyn and they were in the labyrinth again.

A wall moved. Lamador was free again. He jumped to his feet, his wand at the ready and his mind raging to get the two traitors and finish them for good.

Hilda and William gave the getting of the brooms a last try. It was the last pull the brooms needed.

"Looks like we are in business," Hilda grinned as they mounted their brooms.

One of the judges was flying overhead and noticed that. It was Nultos, the black witch. She grinned and decided to forget seeing it. She hated Lamador's guts and anyone who was going against him got the edge from her.

Hilda and William started flying through the corridors. The magic that was everywhere was holding them back, like the first time, but that was in this case an advantage. It prevented them from going too fast and hitting surprises.

"Grimhilda!"

They heard Lamador's screaming. The man sounded not happy. Hilda took her broom up to about ten yards. William followed her. They turned a corner.

Lamador was walking through the corridor, very angry that there was no sign of the two he wanted to crush. He had spent far too much power on nothing and he knew it. The witches and wizards he had drained energy from were close to dead and now mostly useless. He had to get to them fast and mercilessly.

Hilda and William saw the great Lamador walk under them, oblivious of them hanging over his head. They saw how his wand was sparkling as he was angrily throwing magic around. Hilda thought of Gerdundula. Of Calandra. And of Fidelma, the flowerwitch from her village.

William sensed her anger and how she was building up magic. He merged his power with hers and suddenly there was a big block of metal around Lamador. Large sharp pins stuck out of the walls and touched his clothes, making it impossible for him to move unless he seriously wanted to hurt himself. He could not raise his wand either.

Hilda maneuvered her broom to a place where he could see her. His eyes shot fire as he saw her flying, but she could easily ward that off.

"You have been playing unfairly, Lamador," the witch said, her wand pointed at the great sorcerer who was not so great at that moment. "You have taken away friends and drawn their magic from them. You have also taken others, and done the same thing. You are a disgrace to the magical community."

"I am the most powerful sorcerer of all times!", Lamador hissed as he tried to make his metal shell go away. His attempts were in vain, as Hilda and William kept a constant flow of magic going into it. And at this moment, with Lamador so relatively weak, they could easily keep that going.

"You, witch, will regret this. Once I have taken this metal thing away, you will suffer for this insult!" Lamador made a movement to add force to his words. A pin scratched through his clothes and a small red spot welled up from his skin. The great sorcerer stared at the wound. He was so shocked about this that it took him more than a minute to realise that he could close the wound.

William, hovering behind the trapped magical man, noticed that it took Lamador quite some effort to heal himself. Calmly he flew his broom forward and positioned himself next to Hilda. Without a word he stared down at the sorcerer.

Lamador, once he had healed himself, looked up at his captors. Seeing William made him even more angry. "You too, you will regret all your messing with my person. Just let me get free."

"You are more than welcome to get yourself free, Lamador," said Hilda. "We'll just sit here and watch you do it, if that's all the same to you. Maybe we can learn something from you."

William grinned, appreciating the words and how they were spoken.

Lamador stared up at them, standing still. He closed his eyes, diving deep inside his magical core. His ability to draw magical energy from others also allowed him to draw magic from the environment.

"I don't know what he's doing, Hilda, but he is trying something," William whispered.

The witch nodded, she had noticed it also. She held her wand pointing at Lamador.

Lamador reached the spot in his magic where he wanted to be. With a tremendous act of force he made his magic stream in it. And it worked.

A few yards in front of Hilda something materialised. It did not go fast, but it was obviously a human shape. As the shape took form and became more clear, Hilda reached out for William's arm. "William," she whispered, her anger and power fading away. "That's Gerdundula..."

The body of the witch, who was already dead, hung in front of them, as in a mock salute. Then Lamador released the magic he needed to keep the body in the air. The remains of Gerdundula fell to the ground where they hit with a sickening thud.

"Hilda." William slapped her arm, quite hard, as he lashed out towards Lamador who was digging into his magical core again. William hit Hilda again, to make her snap out of her state of terror over what had just happened.

William made a bucket of fish intestines appear over the great sorcerer and poured that downwards. It was enough to keep the man from pulling the next trick he was planning, at least for a while.

As Lamador was spluttering and gasping for breath, his flow of magic interrupted, Hilda blinked her eyes. "You are going to regret ever laying a hand on her, Lamador," she said as she lowered her broom, her wand raised. "And you will not lie anymore either."

"I have never lied!", Lamador cried out as he tried to make the metal pins bend away from him. William's power countered his attempts.

"Oh yes. You claimed to be the greatest. You are not. We met the greatest, and he would use you as a mop."

Hilda looked at the broken body of her friend. "Gerdundula... this one's for you." She drew power from wherever she could muster it. A few moments later, the metal pins started moving, stabbing through Lamador's body. The great sorcerer fought back at them, but in his weakened state he could not fight Hilda's and William's combined power. The pins took long before they all had pierced the sorcerer. He was dead before the tips of the metal reached the opposite walls.

"Holy Bejeebus." William looked at the mess that hung in the metal block. "I am never going to pick a fight with you, Hilda."

The wicked witch looked up at her wizard. "You can never make me that angry, William."

Bregan was hanging over the spot where the decision had been made. He signalled Nultos to join him and together they descended to where Hilda and William were.

Bregan looked at what they had wrought. "This is... quite disgusting," he said.

Hilda looked at the man and pointed at the body of Gerdundula. "And how do you call that? I'm afraid there are more witches and wizards like that. He did that."

Nultos looked at the two people who had been in the challenge. "Bregan, I think we can say that the challenge is over."

Bregan nodded.

"I'll go and flash the blue light," Nultos said, and without waiting for anything, she raised her broom. Soon after that a bright blue flash spread out over the labyrinth.

69. Scared of heights

Hilda and William slowly flew upwards. Bregan stayed in the corridor with the metal block, to "properly discard of it".

The magical couple pushed through the magical field over the labyrinth and then slowly flew over the large area, to their tent. They felt tired, drained and sick.

"William?"

"Yes, Hilda?"

"Did I do the right thing? I was so angry. He had hurt me and my friends so much."

"It wasn't just you, Hilda. I was there with you. I could have stopped you. He tried to drown us, he sent that spider after us and tried to burn us alive. He kidnapped your friends and did a score of other things to hurt you. And me. He had it coming. If not through you and me, then through someone else. You could have taken longer to kill him. I think it is okay the way it went."

"Still I feel dirty, William."

They landed their brooms. Many people had gathered near their tent already, and voices were buzzing all over the place. An applause rose over the terrain as the two set foot on the ground again and propped their brooms up against the tent.

Nultos also landed her broom. "Following the rules of the challenge, we will have to wait for Bregan to join us, so we can officially reach the end of the challenge."

All talking stopped and people started murmuring among each other.

"I hope Bregan hurries. Lamador's dead. Not much to do there, I think." Hilda sat down on one of the chairs that had been brought for them. William sat down next to her.

A servant from Lamador's court, one had to call it that, came to bring them glasses of water and wine. As they were drinking the water down, suddenly a loud voice rang over the grounds around the labyrinth.

"BEWARE!"

Hilda and William jumped to their feet, looking at each other. It was the voice of Gurthreyn! Why would he warn them?

The crowd that had gathered around the tent built up a slight panic and started dispersing, looking around for what there would be to beware of. It came from above.

A large rectangle of metal, containing sharp spikes, was plummeting downwards, to the spot where the magical couple was standing. Beams of fire and ice, burning needles and poisoned metal streamed downwards from it. An eerie shouting accompanied the attack. Hilda and William jumped each to a side, avoiding the fierce flow of nastiness that came down on them.

The tent was ripped to shreds in a matter of seconds. The same thing happened to several unfortunate bystanders.

Hilda was on her broom and in the air a flash later, William was on his broom seconds later. The rectangle, still vomitting its stream of death, slowly turned to where Hilda was flying. She was however much faster than whoever it was that controlled the immense metal slab. "Bregan??", she cried out when she saw the judge of the challenge controlling the metal board from his broom.

That, she knew, was impossible. Bregan was not the kind of mage who could or would do such a thing.

William had also circled around the board and spotted Bregan. "Bregan! Stop that!", he yelled. All that did was that the board was now changing its course to point at William. The stream of fire, ice and poison tore at the ground as the slab moved. Luckily there were no more people there to get hurt, everyone on the ground was running towards what they considered safety.

Nultos and a few other magical people had gotten onto their brooms also and were approaching the man who controlled the board and its firepower. Wands drawn and pointing, there were at least six others coming up.

Hilda and William also had their wands in hand. William made his broom roll and tumbled out of reach of the deadly beams just in time.

"Why did you wait that long, stupid idiot!", Hilda screamed as she saw her wizard spin around and come back up.

Nultos screamed something, and the power of four wands hit the board, while two attempted to take out Bregan, who kept holding on and seemed to work like a maniac to turn the board that was slowly falling apart.

"You will pay for this!", the man behind the metal board screamed. It was not Bregan's voice. It was Lamador's.

Hilda joined forces with Nultos and fired all she had left at Bregan who now seemed to be Lamador. Nobody knew where the man took the magic from, but the bolts that were aimed at him all seemed to bounce off him.

Suddenly William's voice, amplified by magic, boomed through the air. "Hold your fire!"

All the magical people that were charging at Bregan stared at the man in blue who was coming up from below. He was at a direct course towards Bregan. And there was no wand in his hand!

"William! No!" Hilda screamed, but he did not seem to hear it.

Nultos and all others also saw that William was not going to slow down, so they stopped whatever it was they were throwing at Bregan and the huge metal contraption. The contraption that now was slowly turning towards the blue-clad wizard that was shooting up like a missile.

Mere seconds later, William hit the magical protective shell that was around the madman on the broom. He crashed into it with his own magic on full blast, his protection shaped as the head of an axe that slammed in and through the magic of Bregan/Lamador. He knew he would have only one chance for this Kamikaze act.

His broom shuddered as the force fields clashed and then Bregan's broke. William's speed made him bang into the man, breaking the broom. Bregan stared at him. William saw Lamador's madness pouring from his eyes, and then the mage was tumbling down to earth, followed by the metal board that now no longer was powered.

Nultos and someone else raced after Bregan's tossing body, attempting to catch and save him.

Hilda made her broom shoot to where William hung in the air. The wizard was hurting badly, as the pieces of Bregan's broom had hit him in the ribs, as had the man's body. "William..." Moving her broom close to his, she touched his hand.

He looked at her and smiled. "Did I get him?"

Hilda nodded. "Yes."

"Lamador was inside him," said William. "I saw his eyes."

"William, my sweet man... are you okay?", Hilda asked.

"Yeah. Mostly. Let's go down first, and I'll let you check me." He managed a grin.

"William, just you hold on to your broom. I will get us down." Hilda sensed, through the bond, that he was close to falling apart.

William just nodded and let her fly them down to the ground, to where their tent had been. Once they reached the ground, there were many hands waiting to take care of the witch and the wizard. The challenge had taken a lot out of them already, and this latest feat of air battle had been just enough.

They were more being carried than walking to another tent, when Nultos caught up with them. "Bregan is dead. Even in death Lamador made more victims. I don't know how he did it, but I am glad it is over now."

Hilda just nodded, her heart a heavy black lump. She and William were taken to a tent, put on a bed, and then the dim light of day that hung around the labyrinth disappeared.

A man was sitting on a chair, he got up when he noticed the witch had woken up. He asked her if she was feeling well.

"Yes. Mostly," she said.

"There is food and water, and also the luggage that was salvaged from your tent. Not everything is here, it burnt in the flames."

Hilda nodded and looked at William. Someone had put a bandage around his chest.

"The wizard has a broken rib, and we do not want to heal someone who cannot give us permission," the man said.

"Heal him," Hilda said as she reached out and touched William's cheek. "He is my wizard. You have your permission."

"Very well." The man brought out his wand and healed William's injuries. "Is there something more we can do for you?"

"No, thank you. I'll just wait for him to wake up," Hilda said, not taking her eyes off William's face.

The magician bowed politely and left the tent.

William woke up. "Tell me I'm fine."

"You're fine, William. Someone fixed your broken ribs. Come, eat something." Hilda kissed his cheek.

They slowly got up and sat at the table.

"I still feel bad, you know," Hilda said as she was having a go at a chicken leg.

"That shows you are a good witch, sweetwitch," William said. "Good people should not have to do things like that. I didn't feel happy about it either, but the alternative was that he was killing us. And he would not have had any qualms about that."

"Yes. I know that." Hilda dropped the bone on her plate and sipped from her diluted wine. "Well, it is done. We are alive."

"We are. And that feels good, at least."

"So you've been dead before?" Hilda frowned.

"No, I have not."

She grinned. "Good. We'll finish up eating then, and pack up. Nothing more to do here for us."

William nodded. In silence they finished eating and then they dressed for the flight back home. Hilda shrunk the luggage, William slipped it in his pocket and they stepped out of the tent.

There was a small group of people sitting there, waiting for them. One of them was a pale-looking young woman with long black hair, black eyes and serious bags under her eyes.

Hilda stared at her. "Suck an elf," she muttered as she kneeled down with the young woman. "You must be Fidelma the flower witch."

The pale woman smiled a faint smile and nodded. "Yes."

"You survived!" Hilda pulled the young witch into a hug.

Fidelma nodded. "I'm the only one," she whispered.

Tears rolled over Hilda's cheeks as she looked up to William. "She lives. We're going to take her home, William, and make her parents happy."

Nultos got up. She had been waiting with the group. "You are free to go home now. The challenge has ended and you have won. We have repaired the broom of the wizard. We will take care of everything here." The black witch nodded and then turned and walked away.

Hilda got up, as did Fidelma. "Do you think you are strong enough to fly with one of us?", Hilda asked.

F idelma nodded. "If that means I can go home, I am strong enough. " She showed a brave smile. "But can you please not fly too high? I am a little scared of heights."

William grinned as he held out Hilda's broom.

"She's riding with you, William," Hilda decided.

William grinned again, hugging Hilda.

They mounted the brooms, Fidelma sitting in front of William. A loud cheer rose up from the camp as they lifted into the air. After circling the camp and waving at the people that now no longer had a sorcerer to serve, they turned their brooms towards the kingdom of Walt and flew off. Not too high.

###

About the author:

I am an IT consultant who loves reading and writing.

I've been an amateur-author since years, writing SciFi, Fantasy and lately also Steampunk. My home is in the Netherlands.

I hope you liked "Hilda - The Challenge".

Note on the artwork:

Original artwork of Hilda the Witch created for the author by Miss Victoria Smith from Bristol, for which she deserves everlasting gratitude.

Other books I published:

Hilda, the wicked witch (Smashwords, July 2010)

Hilda – SnowWhite Revisited (Smashwords, September 2010)

If you want to connect with me online:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/pagan_paul

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/paulkater

My website: http://www.nlpagan.net