by Paul Kater
"Hilda!! You are there, finally! Where have you and your wizard been for so long? I heard all kinds of rumours about that strange person Griselda having disappeared, and that you are somehow involved in that?" The ugly witch sounded concerned about the wellbeing of her friend.
"You would not believe what we have been through, Babs," Hilda said. She told her friend all the things that had happened, what they had endured, and how glad they were to finally be back home again. As Hilda was talking, William was walking around, cleaning some things up.
Babs kept peeking as she saw the wizard walk along and suddenly had to interrupt Hilda's flow of words. "Hilly baby, now you have to tell me something. I see your wizard walking around, but what is that dark thing on his neck?"
"Huh?" Hilda looked at William, who had Obsidian Shadow draped over his shoulders. The cat lay there are calmly as if it was on a cushion in front of a fireplace. "Oh. That's Obsi."
Baba Yaga frowned. "Obsi? What's an obsi?"
"It's William's cat. We ended up bringing two black cats back here," Hilda explained. "His cat is Obsidian Shadow. And mine is called Onyx Grimalkin. Grim, come here, girl, and say hello to Babs."
Grim leapt up into Hilda's arms and was presented to the ugly witch, who stared at the black animal for a while. "Grimhilda has a cat. Now that is scary," Baba Yaga finally stated.
"There is nothing scary about having a cat, Babs," Hilda lectured, "cats are very nice and clean animals, and they are a witch's best familiar."
"Yeah, sure. I've come along without one fine for all my life," Babs cackled, "but you go be happy with your cats, Hilda. But now that Zelda has ended up somewhere in the hands of a strange creature that took her into a mirror, what are you going to do about her house?"
"Her house?" Hilda wondered what she had to do with Zelda's house.
"Yes. Someone has to release the magic from the house and dissipate it. Or take it in. If you leave it there, anything can happen. Do you want to take the risk that some lone wizard or magician comes along, assimilates the magic from the place and turns into a second Lamador?"
Hilda swallowed. That name still gave her a shiver. The powerful sorcerer that once had served King Herald was dead and gone now, but the fight she and William had had to put up for that was etched in her memory. "You're right. We have to do something about that. Quickly."
"Good girl," Baba Yaga said with a nod. "Stay in touch, Hilda. No running off and making your oldest and bestest friend worry where you are, can we agree on that?"
"I promise," said Hilda. "Unless there is an emergency."
"If there is an emergency, you have to let me know. Don't keep all the fun for yourself!" With that, Baba Yaga's face disappeared from the crystal ball.
"Does this sound like we are going out?" William asked.
"Yes, that is how it sounds," said Hilda as she draped Grim over her shoulders.
2. Zelda's house
As they were in the air, William kept wondering why the cats wanted to ride along sitting in front of them, on the bristles of the brooms.
"I would not worry about that, William," said Hilda in her usual approach. "At least this way we can keep an eye on them."
Grim, the cat on Hilda's broom, looked at the witch and did a soft meow. Then she looked ahead again. "I wonder what that was all about," Hilda muttered. "At least we're almost there."
Not much flight time later, they descended towards and touched down in front of Zelda's house.
"Hey house, have you heard already?" Hilda asked.
"Alas, yes. I have heard. News travels rapidly these days," the house said in its Italian manner of speech. "You were the last one that saw her, aren't you?"
"William and me, both, indeed. Sorry for the loss, I assume," said the witch, "but you may understand that I cannot put my heart in this. She did try to kill us a few times too many."
"Tried, eh? She never was very good at those things," the house commented. "A real softy, deep down inside."
"I wouldn't go that far," William frowned. He recalled large pieces of concrete flying at them. And big Nobbleback dragons. And humongous plants trying to eat them. Not really the work of a softy.
"Now, house, you're going to open up for us. You know Zelda's a goner, you know we had a hand in her going, so..."
"I am not sure if that is the way things go, madam Witch," said the house. "Are you certain that all legal implications have been considered- Oh..." The house was surprised as William opened the door. From the inside, just like the first time they had been there.
"No protection on the roof and the chimney, remember?" he said as he let Hilda and the cats in.
The house fell silent. It had no defense against this kind of intrusion. No offense either, which was a good thing, as Zelda's house was littered with all kinds of objects. Grim and Obsi carefully walked through the rooms, sniffing here and there, avoiding some places as if there was ice of fire. Hilda and William slowly walked around also, not certain what they were going to do when they found what they were looking for. And that was something they didn't know exactly either.
"I've never done this before," Hilda said, "so give me some time, okay?"
"What is it we're supposed to be doing?" William wondered as he picked up a small statue of what looked like a tree nymph. "This is pretty."
"Better put it down again quickly. They bite," said Hilda.
William was not quick enough: the statue suddenly moved, quickly, and the small figure bit him in the finger. "Holy Bejeebus!" He almost dropped the object. It took a slap on the small head before the miniature nymph let go of William's finger, after which she was quickly placed back on the shelf she'd come from. She growled at him for a while as he rubbed his finger. "Really something for a softy," he commented to no one in particular.
"William, I found it!" Hilda called out from a small room that Zelda obviously had used as a storage room.
"Good grief, what a mess," William precisely defined it as he came in. The two cats had trailed along after him, and sat down right outside the room, their tails neatly curled around their paws. "And what did you find here?" He looked around and saw nothing that would entice him to stay here long.
"In here is her source of magic. Can't you feel it?"
William held out his hands. "No. Nothing. I just think it smells very strange here. But that's not it, right?"
The witch glared at him. "You're not born magical. It's in things like this that it shows, William."
"And in the fact that witches and wizards don't sense my magic," William confirmed. "I know. So please, what is it that you sense here?"
"Magic. Big fat magic. This is her source."
"Oh. I uhm... don't see."
"I'll explain later. Now we have to absorb her magic. It is rightfully ours, as we defeated her."
"Right. And how do we go about that?" William asked.
"I'm not sure. I've never beaten a witch in such a way before, so I am pretty new at this too," Hilda reminded him. "I told you."
Onyx Grimalkin and Obsidian Shadow tiptoed into the room and jumped up, into the arms of their unsuspecting magical humans.
William stared at Hilda who was staring at him. "Now what's that supposed to mean?" As they looked at each other, the two cats meowed, then purred. The next thing William and Hilda were aware of was that they both were on the ground. Without their cats, but with a very tingling feeling all over. "Now what's that supposed to mean?" Maybe this time he got an answer.
Hilda pushed her hair from her face. "Wow." She got up and waved a hand around. "It's gone."
William got to his feet. "What's gone? The magic?"
"Yes. Here, nothing left!" Again the witch waved her hand.
"So where'd it go?" He knew that was a stupid question.
"Tell me how you feel."
"I knew that was a stupid question." William looked at the two black animals that were sitting just outside the smelly room again, as if they had not moved. Four yellow eyes, bright a
s if there were little lights burning inside them, looked up at the two people. Grim then meowed. The cats got up and walked off.
"Something tells me we should follow them, William," Hilda said as she took his hand and pulled him out of the room. They followed the two cats, who directly walked out of the open door and away from the house. As the magical couple stepped outside, they instinctively grabbed their brooms and stood where the cats sat.
It was as if the house had waited for them to get out. Slowly, almost thoughtfully, the roof started to cave in. As that was going, the door fell out of the walls falling down. It took a few minutes for everything to collapse. After all the falling had completed, Hilda, William and the cats had turned grey by the dust clouds washing over them.
"Now that was weird," William said, rearranging the grey matter on his face with his hands.
"The magic held it together. We took the magic, so..." Hilda slapped her dress, making dust dance around her.
William nodded. The pieces of the puzzle did fit, with some force applied. As a try he flipped out his wand. "Sheesh." It was there faster, more swiftly than usual. "Did you see that?"
"What?" Hilda had been paying attention to Grim and Obsi, who were sauntering towards the destroyed house again.
"Pop your wand, Hilda."
She did. "Suck an elf. That's... different." The witch stared at William and his wand. "This will take some getting used to, William. We'd better be careful for a while, until we know what else happened to us."
"Do you think we should clean this up?" William pointed at the house. "It looks nasty if we go home and leave this place as the mess it is."
Hilda shook her head. "Not to worry, sweet wizard. The people in the nearby villages will come here soon enough, and use the remains of the house for building material. They'd be offended if we were to do something about it."
William nodded. It made sense. He chuckled as he realised that he was adjusting to this world just fine. Crazy things here made more sense than normal things in his old world. "What do you think they are doing?" He was referring to the two cats who were patrolling the area of the collapsed house.
"I don't know," said Hilda, "but I do think we should be going home now. There's nothing more for us to do, I'd say."
William agreed. They called their cats as they mounted their brooms. Hilda and William both grinned as they saw how quickly and gracefully their pets came and leapt on their front row seats. Swiftly the magical ones made the brooms rise up into the air and started on their way back home.
"It feels different," said William as they were flying.
"It does." Hilda had noticed it also. The change was slight, but present. As if there was one hundred and five percent of magic inside her. "It feels just strong enough to make me feel drunk."
William laughed, making Obsi look at him for a moment. "That does not take much, sweet witch."
"Oh, hush you." She wanted to say something snappier, but then she pointed downward. "Look, there."
William looked. "A stork. That is so neat. I don't recall seeing one here before."
"You haven't. They are very special." Hilda looked closely where the stork was flying to.
"Really? Why's that? Do they bring babies?" William grinned.
"Yes." Hilda was serious.
William stopped grinning. "You're kidding me, right?" He knew she wasn't. Their link told him so.
"No. I am not. And I want to know where that bird flies to. Come, let's follow it."
They changed course and went after the stork.
3. Follow that stork
"What's so special about storks here, Hilda?" William asked. "In the other world there are stories about storks delivering babies, but those are just that. Stories."
"Well, they're not here. If you see a stork, that means a woman is pregnant. And not just any woman. A witch."
"Oh. That's serious."
"Precisely. That is why I want to know where the bird's going to."
The stork dove down to a small village in a field, merely a gathering of some fifteen houses. The houses looked as if they had been tossed into a meadow more than that someone had given some thought to where they should be.
"Oh no." Hilda did not elaborate on that. William suspected he would hear more soon enough, so he did not ask.
They swooped down after the baby-bringer, which they found perched on the roof of the house that lay somewhat away from the other houses. That had to be where the witch lived. The house was painted bright yellow. It had dark brown beams around the windows, and from them hung jolly colourful flower baskets. The roof was pitch black which made the bird stand out clearly. An oval red door completed the first impression of the house.
"Lorelei?" Hilda called out as they had landed.
After some moments the door of the house opened. A belly came outside, followed by a woman who clearly had problems keeping her balance. She had curly short brown hair, brown eyes, and was dressed in what could best be described as a gipsy's dress. "Suck an elf. It's Hilda. And her wizard."
"Suck your own elf, Lorelei! How did that happen?" Hilda pointed at the immense belly the witch sported.
"I am sure you know how that happens, silly witch," Lorelei grinned. "Do you want to come in? I have problems standing lately."
That was not a big surprise. The two who had just flown in entered the house, and were sat down on a large orange couch. There Hilda introduced William and Lorelei to each other. The two cats had slipped inside and vanished.
"We saw this stork flying and decided to follow it. Crappedy crap, Lori, who did that to you?"
The pregnant witched grinned. "I have asked that myself a few times, and I am still not sure. That is why I decided to first get the child and then see if it looks like someone I know."
William was not prepared for this liberal an approach to things. It was either the additional magic he'd received, or the simple fact that he bit his tongue, but he managed not to appear too surprised.
Hilda nodded. "Best way to go about it, indeed. Would be good if the Dad is a magical one. That would make for a more balanced kid."
Lorelei nodded. "Yes, indeed. I think there's fair chance of that though. But I am such a lousy hostess. Can I magic you up some tea or wine or so?"
"Wine might not be a good idea," William said, "we still have to fly home."
Lorelei studied William's face for a moment. "Oh. Right. Hilda and wine. I remember." She waved her hand and then there was tea for everyone. "Cookies?" There were cookies. "Pickles? Or pie?" Those appeared also, together with roasted chicken legs and and bowl with raspberries.
Hilda reached for a chicken leg and a pickle. "Oh, that smells good," she grinned. William frowned at his witch for a moment as he worried about her choice of food.
Lorelei went for the same snacks. William was happy with a piece of pie and the sudden appearance of Obsidian Shadow in his lap.
"Oh, what a cute kitty!" Lorelei chimed. "Where did you get that from?"
As Hilda and William told her about the adventures in William's world, Onyx Grimalkin also showed herself. She even allowed Lorelei to scratch her head.
"My, you two get around, don't you," Lorelei said as she went for a cookie. "First all that with Lamador and the Labyrinth of Gurthreyn, and now this." As Hilda looked a bit surprised, Lorelei explained that Baba Yaga had told all about the problems with the magician of King Herald.
"I didn't know Babs was part of the local gossip circuit," William showed his surprise.
The two witches grinned. "We all are. It is how news gets around, William."
"It's just that some spread the news, and others usually are the news," Lorelei added, winking.
Grim squeezed herself onto Hilda's lap, almost disappearing from view against the black clothes except for two bright yellow eyes that kept watching everything.
Lorelei asked why Hilda and William were in the neighbourhood. They told her about the magic they had taken in from the house. "Oh. Yes. I've
heard of that. So that really works? How does it feel?"
"Nothing special, once the tingling has gone," Hilda explained. "It does come as a bit of a shock."
"Well, you still look good, so the shock did not leave any marks on you." Lorelei grinned as she popped a few raspberries in her mouth and reached for a pickle.
"So when is your child due?" William tried to pitch in.
"Don't really know," Lorelei shrugged, "when it's ready I guess. Never had one before, and they're all different. I know from my mother that I took little over a year."