Hilda - The Challenge Read online

  "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 acti
on 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.