by Paul Kater
"Are you in a hurry?" Hilda asked.
"Not really," Snow White admitted.
"Good. I'll get her down after looking at the bones. Give her some time to cool off. She's not going anywhere." A snip of her fingers later Dinna was silently squirming. "Much better, don't you agree?"
Esmee's eyes almost popped out of her head as she got up, staring at Dinna. William took Obsi and got up also, following Esmee and Hilda out the door.
Snow White kept telling Dinna how everything would be alright, while Roderick tried to lift the lead sword.
-=-=-
Esmee seemed frightened of Hilda as they walked through the castle, and through a side door into a small garden. The pink witch kept William between herself and the grey haired witch.
"Something wrong with me?" Hilda asked. "Do I smell bad?"
"No, no... it's just..." Esmee tried to find the right words.
"Oh. You're scared of me. Why don't you say so." Hilda shrugged. "Now stop being scared for a while and show us some bones."
That proved to be very easy. As Esmee walked them along a hedge, they found two carcasses close to it. Bare to the literal bone. "It's getting closer," the flower witch mumbled.
"What's that?"
Esmee pointed at the bones. "We've never found bones so close to the castle. So it gets closer."
Obsi and Grim jumped down and sniffed the remains of a chicken. Hilda picked up one of the larger bones and looked. "Yup. Eaten raw. And here..." She pointed at clear scratch marks. "Someone with a good set of teeth. Weird teeth too." Not clarifying her words, she picked up Grimalkin and looked at the cat's teeth. Then she nodded, putting her cat down again.
"Say sweetwitch, what are you doing?" William asked.
"Look." She almost shoved the chicken bone in his face. "See these scratches? They're fresh. And they look like the marks of cat teeth."
William then understood what was troubling her. The markings did indeed look like cat teeth marks, but they were too large. Hilda picked up a bone from the other carcass, it had been a rabbit. That carried the same scratch marks.
William noticed that some of the larger chicken bones had been snapped in two. "Wow. Must have been some cat to do that..." He looked at the ground for marks of a large cat, but the floor was laid in with tiles. Tiles did not hold marks.
Esmee turned pale. "Do you mean there is a really big cat out there somewhere?" She clutched her pink pouch at the risk of breaking her wand.
"Are you going to wet yourself, Esmee?" Hilda asked.
The blond stared at Hilda. "No. I think not."
Hilda looked at William. There was pain in her gaze. "Esmee. Can I use your crystal ball? You do have a working crystal ball, right?"
"Uh, yes, I do." There was more nervous fumble and clutch.
"Take us to it. Please. And you do not have to worry about a big cat. There is no big cat, okay? It's all fine." Hilda sounded convincing enough for Esmee, who visibly relaxed. William knew better.
"Yes, yes, of course!" Esmee hurried ahead, glad that she could go back to the safety of the thick walls of the castle. No big cat would be able to follow her in there.
Nothing could have prepared Hilda and William for the room they were entering. There was soft plush on the ground, in red and white concentric circles. The walls were a light shade of pink. The ceiling was plain white. The witch tried to ignore the large colourful vases with large feathery flowers in them.
"I'll go and find the crystal ball," said Esmee. She almost disappeared in one of the closets.
"Find?" Hilda mimed at William. He shrugged and tried to ignore the colours and objects in the room. Not looking at the floor was a prerequisite to survive here, he thought.
It took a while, but finally Esmee came out of the closet, holding a black box. A rather small black box. "Here it is!" Proudly she handed the box to Hilda.
The witch opened it, took the velvet pouch from it and slipped the ball in her hand. She frowned as she looked into it. "A baby ball. When did you use it last?"
Esmee coloured a shade of red that did not go well with the walls. "In class..."
"In... class..." Hilda spoke with a coldness that made each word fall down and shatter on the floor, despite the carpet. "Someone hold me back..."
William put a hand on her shoulder. "Easy, witch. She can't help it."
"I know... I know..." Hilda took a deep breath. "Okay. I will charge this one and use it. No problem. Really. No problem. And William, maybe you can go and pick that obnoxious kid from the ceiling. Esmee will be glad to show you where that is."
Esmee was more than happy to get away from her own room. "Yes, William, come. I am sure that little Dinna will be glad to be on the ground again." She resisted the urge to tug William's sleeve.
Before he left the room, William asked who she was going to call.
"Babs."
"Ah." He nodded. Then he followed Esmee, a smile curling his lips. The pink witch would have another surprise.
Hilda sat down. The two cats lay down near her, their eyes on the ball. She spent a while pumping energy into the ball, until it shone brightly in her hand. "Now let's see if this thing will dial out." She took her wand. Murmured something. And waited.
"Hilda!" the voice of Baba Yaga tore through the room. "How sweet of you to call!"
"Hi Babs. We have a strange creature here, around Snow White's castle. The one of King Louie, remember the place?"
"How could I forget that wedding, Hilly? Didn't we have a scream there?"
"Really." Hilda grinned as she thought back. "Now, there is a house witch here, but there's not much to be done with her."
"Why's that?"
"She wears pink."
"Suck an elf... a flower witch. Did you make her faint already?"
"Yup, flower witch, and no, she's still on her feet because William held me back. Do you have time to pop over here and help look for whatever's going around? I think William and I could do with an extra wand, and the hand to wield it."
"Hilda, I am so honoured. I'm coming over first thing tomorrow if that's soon enough."
"Sure, that's fine. We'll be here, waiting for you. Oh, do you like children?"
"Properly cooked and garnished, yes." Baba Yaga laughed.
"I'm serious, Babs. Snow White already has five and a sixth one on the road."
"Good grief. Sounds like others than you need help too. I'll be seeing you tomorrow, girlfriend."
"Take care, Babs." Hilda grinned as the ball went dark again. Things were looking up.
-=-=-
The next morning Hilda and William were up very early, to patrol the garden. Esmee was with them. They found new bones with the same gnaw-marks. And again, no footprints. As if the creature that had done this was making sure to not leave traces.
"Obviously this visitor comes by in the dark. Looks like we'll have to spend a waking a night. I hope Babs makes it in time."
Esmee peered at her company. Hilda and William had told her about the new witch they had asked to come over and she did not like that one bit.
After the survey of the garden, they went inside, and as they were having breakfast, Hilda suddenly looked up. "Babs is coming!" They left their table and rushed outside.
Esmee the flower witch had enough magic inside her to sense witches and other magical creatures approach. As it was her task, she hopped onto her pink broom and sped upwards to the wrinkly gray and black creature that was approaching on broomstick.
Hilda prodded William. "This will be interesting."
"Hello, stop please?" Esmee was determined to make this a good show.
Baba Yaga stopped. "What? Oh, you're the pink one. That means I'm at the right place. Hilly and Willy are expecting me."
Esmee looked at the old witch in horrified fascination. She looked like a million years old. "There is no one called Hilly or Willy here, so if you could please go away..."
Baba Yaga frowned at the young blond. "Why do I even bother," she mut
tered. A wand and a flick of the wrist later, Esmee was tied in a magical spell and was dragged along as the old witch had her in tow. "Oh, there they are!" Babs sped up her broom, hardly paying attention to the shaking and swerving that Esmee had to endure. "Hilly! Willy! I'm here! And look what I brought you."
Hilda and William were almost on their knees. Tears of laughter streamed from their faces as they saw how Baba Yaga held up Esmee as if she were a freshly caught fish on a magical line. They took Esmee over from Babs and freed her from the magical sling the old witch had cast around her.
Esmee was very shocked by this treatment. "I do not want to see you anymore today!" she exclaimed, tears in her eyes, and quickly ran inside.
Babs got off her broom. "She doesn't do welcomes very well, does she?"
Hilda shrugged. "She may wisen up yet. At least we'll have our hands free. Do you care for some food?"
After hugging her friends, Baba Yaga appreciated the offer; after all, she had been flying most of the night.
6. Princes and Princesses
Six guards came running into the dining hall, lances at the ready. They positioned themselves around the table where the three magical people were eating.
Hilda raised an eyebrow, William looked up and Baba Yaga muttered: "Not that again" for an unknown reason.
"Make way for the king!" someone shouted. Hilda and William looked at each other. The three of them, the few servants and the guards were the only ones in the dining hall.
Two of the guards shifted somewhat and the king stepped up to the table.
"Hello, King Louie," Hilda said, looking up at the man, "to what do we owe this honour?"
Everything about King Louie was big. Even his hair. His black hair was short, but it came out short in an amazingly big way. His beard was made of the same hair. Short, and big. "Grimhilda. I was alerted that there is an ugly witch in the castle that challenged our house witch."
"Oh." Hilda looked at William. "Have you seen an ugly witch?" William shook his head. "Babs, you?" Baba Yaga also shook her head, sending the thin streaks of her remaining grey hair flopping. "Can't say I did."
King Louie stared at Baba Yaga. "Good grief."
"Oh, you may not know Baba Yaga," Hilda said. "Babs, this is King Louie, King Louie, this is Baba Yaga, our dear friend and my best girlfriend, who came all the way over to help us find out what the problem is with your little animals."
Baba Yaga rose up to her full limited length. "Seriously a pleasure to meet you, your Majesty."
"A dear friend, eh?" the king said, taking in Baba Yaga one more time. "Hmm. In that case I assume it is good that she is around. Welcome to the castle, honourable witch." He nodded an acknowledgement to Babs. After all, even royalty knew how to treat magicals. "I will make sure everyone gets to know you are here. If there is anything we can help with, Prince Jordan or Princess Snow White are the ones you should talk to." The king started to turn, then looked at Hilda and whispered: "And please, don't make our house witch more insecure than she already is." He nodded a goodbye and walked off. After a few moments the guards dropped their aggressive stance and marched out of the dining hall, their armour rattling as they went.
"I hope they don't do that every morning," Baba Yaga commented, "all that metal jerking tends to get on my nerves." William snorted. He was absolutely certain that Baba Yaga was the first person who had abandoned nerves. "So, what's the plan?" the old witch asked.
Hilda told her about the findings of the day. "If you want to see for yourself..." Babs wanted to, so they went outside again. As they walked around in the garden, Esmee looked out the window of her room, which gave her perfect view of the garden and the three magical people.
"It's not fair," the witch in pink complained to the yellow flower in her hand. "I do what I can, I put all my soul in what I do, and they are so... unsophisticated. I am sure they don't appreciate beauty. They are rough. Uncivilised. Wild. I think they are dangerous. They should not be allowed to wield so much magic." Recalling the feeling when Babs had roped her in made her shiver.
A wailing sound from some of the children made her put the flower back in the vase, and quickly she went to Snow White's rescue Yes, the children were wild and rough also, but they were but children. Esmee could handle children. As long as they did not carry wooden swords. Or tried to stab her with the pointy parts of their crowns. Or came on three strong.
-=-=-
Baba Yaga sniffed the air. "Nothing there," she said. "Must have been too long ago." They looked at the bones and not found anything different about them.
"And there is no feel of magic around either," Hilda said. She had been dowsing the area with her wand.
"But there is hair," William pointed. The two witches came closer. The wizard had found a patch of hair stuck in the thorns of a rose bush. The hair was light brown., short and straight.
Hilda lifted the patch from the bush and studied it. "Looks like cat hair."
Babs agreed. "Must have been some cat though, considering where the hair stuck."
"Really," William nodded. "Not many three foot cats around, usually. But we could ask around, maybe they're more common here than at home."
Grimalkin meowed, as she stood up against Hilda's leg. The witch bent down, holding the hair to her nose. Grim took her time sniffing the stuff. Then she sneezed and walked off.
"Don't tell me your cat is allergic to cats," Baba Yaga snickered.
"Not sure," Hilda wondered, "she's not shown signs of that with Obsi around."
Babs looked at her best friend. "Obsi. Grim. Those are really the names you call them by. And they respond. You two are even sillier than I had hoped. Do you think I should have a word with that wizard of yours? Looks to me that this is his doing, as you started going all funny after he arrived."
William grinned a big grin. In some distorted way he could interpret Baba Yaga's words as praise.
Before Hilda could respond, another meow made the witches look around. This meow had sounded very different, almost... calling for attention?
The three magicals walked to where Grim had disappeared to. "What's up, Grimalkin?" Hilda said as she kneeled down with her cat. Grim sat in the middle of a footpath that looked as if it would lead out of the garden. The witch picked up her cat and hugged it, making Baba Yaga shiver. Babs could shiver in an audible way.
"Does she do that often?" she asked William.
"All the time," he confirmed.
"Egads."
William grinned as he kneeled down to have a closer look. There had to be a reason that Grim had warned them. "Oh, look..." He picked another fluff of hair from a bush, this one on a lower branch than the first one they had found. It was the same kind of hair, though. "Looks like it came from the same- uhm- intruder."
Baba Yaga took the hair and slowly rubbed it between her fingers. Her wrinkled face made it impossible to tell if she was actually looking at it. "Yes, I'd say so. It's not from the same day though."
William stared at Babs. "How do you know that?"
The ugly witch turned her head towards the wizard, almost shoving the cat hair in his face. "How is it that you don't?"
"There is only one Baba Yaga," William grinned.
"Bollocks," Babs stated.
"So whoever or whatever it was has been here more than once," Hilda concluded. "Looks like we did not get up early enough then, William."
The wizard nodded. "I foresee a long day. One that will last until next morning." Hilda nodded.
"Good," said Baba Yaga. "If you young folk stay up, I'll go to sleep. You can wake me up when something interesting happens."
William muttered something about old and young as he and Hilda gathered their cats and went back inside, looking for Snow White. They had something to report now.
The trio walked along the corridors and got lost. A servant who responded very well to "hey you" was recruited to take them to the chambers of Princess Snow-White and Prince Jordan.
"I'd almost think that t
his place was designed by Gurthreyn," Hilda mumbled.
''Meow,' Grimalkin agreed, making Hilda wonder how her cat knew about that sorcerer.
"I have not seen moving walls yet," William remarked.
"Not yet. Just wait," was her answer.
The servant knocked on a door. There was screaming behind it. "Sounds like they're in," Hilda said as the servant knocked again. "Hey you, are you new here?"
The servant scowled. "No, honourable witch, why?"