by Paul Kater
Back near the castle the three found a nice spot in the sunshine and sat down on a large couch that they made appear. They considered their options and the findings so far. There was not much to go on. Two plucks of hair, five paw prints of considerable size and heaps of bones. And of course the confusing bit about the creature being a cat as well as a woman. As they were talking, Esmee came outside and walked over to the three.
"Good morning," the blond witch said. There was some strange change about her: her dress seemed less pink. "My head hurts." Now there was a surprise. Esmee sat down next to Babs. "Did I really fly into that cage?"
"You sure did, kiddo," said the ugly witch. "Spectacular. I don't suppose you want to do it again to show Hilly and Willy, right?"
Esmee wanted to look daggers at Baba Yaga but decided against that. "No. I don't. Where were you this morning? I heard that cook was quite upset about something in the dining hall. Did you see anything strange?"
The three said they had not seen anything they had not seen before. Esmee shrugged. "Sometimes they are like that. People, I mean."
"Ordinaries," Hilda helped.
Esmee nodded. "Yes, them."
Hilda then told the flower witch about the things they had discovered that morning. Esmee quickly woke up over that strange news. "No, never heard of a cat that is also a woman around here. Nor anywhere else, for that matter." Esmee frowned as she thought about that again, but came up with nothing. "No. Never."
10. A strange meeting
As Esmee was being brought up to date on the findings earlier that morning, two people met in a shed. The shed was not on the castle grounds; it was about a mile from the nearby village. When the man entered the shed, making sure nobody had followed him, he found that the woman was already inside and waiting.
"I thought you would not come," said the woman.
"Magda, listen, I have many things on my mind. I have to tell people what to do and such. How did it go?"
The woman shrugged. "Nothing special. There is not much progress and something seemed out of control this night. As if there was a force interfering. I don't know what to make of that."
The man sat down on a block of wood. "But you can keep this up, right?"
"Lindolf, look, I know you want to expand your influence and I am grateful for all the energy you can supply me with, but I still say we have to take this slowly. All this changing business is hard work and wearing me out no matter what. I can keep this up, yes, but not at the rate you want."
"But the 'scaring the people' part? Are you ready for that soon?" Lindolf leaned over to Magda, as if that would make a difference.
"Soon. I think so. Once we're more stable, and that is starting to develop," Magda nodded. "In a few days I could try something in the village. I will need some small animals there though, somewhere we agree on in advance. I don't want to waste time looking all over the place."
Lindolf waved both hands. "No problem, really, I will have Jock put a crate of chickens wherever you want them. Just let me know when and where, and things will be prepared."
"Good." Magda got up and stretched her back. "Argh, I'm getting old and tired."
"Nonsense," said Lindolf. "You are a young, wonderful and strong woman!"
"I miss the 'beautiful' in that list, Lindolf," she laughed, "but you are not looking for a beautiful woman. Instead you come to me. Because I have what you want." She laughed even harder now, forgetting for a moment that the meeting should go unnoticed. "I'll send word to you when I'm ready."
"I'll be waiting," Lindolf said as he got up. "You should get some sleep, Magda, you look like you were up all night."
"I should kick you for that, Lindolf," Magda grumbled, "but I don't feel up to that. Yes. I need to sleep."
Lindolf nodded. "We'll meet again soon, Magda." Then he left.
Magda waited for a while and then she too left the shed.
11. A village trip
Hilda believed what Esmee had said. A person that also was a big cat would not go unnoticed. "Right. So bottom line is that we have only very little to go on. Several handfuls of bones, some hair and a few paw-prints of uber-cat size. Ideas anyone?" The assembled magical society remained alarmingly quiet.
From inside the castle a few children started wailing. Esmee groaned. "I wish I was not around, Hilda," she said, "when I am not around I don't have to come to the rescue..."
Hilda frowned. "I thought you like these kids..."
"I do. But not all the time. And not when they are in this howling mood..." Esmee stared at the castle and felt the urge to make her way into it, when Hilda said: "Well, we may have to make sure you are not around then."
Baba Yaga cackled and summoned her broom. Hilda's and William's came flying also. Esmee's blue eyes grew large. "You're not leaving me alone here, are you?" Babs muttered something about pink and then whispered a spell that made Esmee's broom fly up to them. The pink witch, surprise all over her, caught it. Her broom appeared to be chased by two black cats that sat down and looked up at their magical humans. Clearly they did not want to miss out on any action. Or the kids were too much for them as well.
"Up and away, folks," Hilda suggested. Four broomed shapes, two with furry navigators, flew off from the castle gardens.
"Where are we going?" Esmee asked.
"Away from the castle," was Hilda's simple answer. "We're going to snoop around the area a bit, looking for clues. Maybe go shopping in the villages nearby. You never know who you run into on nice days like this."
William looked at the sky. It looked like rain. His witch was incorrigible.
They flew over the forests that lay around the castle, when Grimalkin suddenly started meowing, her tail twitching as she stared down. "Stop, people," Hilda said as she did just that. "What is it, kitty cat? Did you see something to play with?"
"Marrrrw!" was the response she got. Slowly the magicals flew back until Grim's tail twitched again, and this time Obsi joined in, scratching at the bristles of William's broom. They descended to the ground, where the two cats leapt from the brooms and ran off. Four brooms were put against a tree and their owners walked after the cats. Only a few dozen paces into the forest, the two cats were sniffing at the floor. William brushed away some ferns and floor-crawling greens.
"Crappedy crap. Did she see that all the way from up there?" Hilda was truly amazed. The two cats had led them to another paw-print. As they went around the area a bit, they discovered more prints. There was quite a trail of them. It started, for some odd reason, just off a gravel path that according to Esmee was frequented by travelers and salesmen with their carriages. The prints led down into the forest quite far where they suddenly stopped, as if the creature that had made them had flown off or evaporated.
"This has to be the same creature," William said. "If there's a nest of them, then someone should have seen them by now. Especially if it's a flying kind of uber-cat."
"Unless they can become invisible," Baba Yaga pointed out. William had not considered that option.
"Whatever they are, they don't seem to shed their hair easily," Hilda pointed out. She had tried to find more bits of hair, but with no success. "Two scrawny bits of it, both from the castle garden, that's all we have." The four magicals tried to locate more evidence, magical or visible, but there was nothing for them to find.
Hilda picked up Grimalkin and stroked the black head. "Good girl, at least we now know that the creature gets around a bit." That was true; they had gone quite far from the castle already. They walked back to their brooms and soon they were over the trees again. After some cruising and keeping their eyes on the two cats, they decided that this was not going to deliver anything better, so Esmee took the lead and set course towards the village.
"Oh, uhm, please, when we get there, could you try to be a bit calm? The villagers know only me as the witch," Esmee asked them as they approached the spread-out collection of houses that with some imagination could be called a village. Baba Yaga laughed. It made
Esmee worry, with reason.
Their appearing in the middle of the village caused moderate commotion. Within half a minute everyone that was in the houses near the village square had come outside and stared at the four. Most of the assembled gapers were women and children, only a few men were there and most of them were old. William and Hilda picked up their cats and put them on a shoulder. Esmee took all their brooms and took them to one of the people in the street. "Would you please take care of them for us, while we are here?"
As the woman she had addressed nodded, Baba Yaga turned to Hilda and William. "We should do something about that too. No respect, I'm telling you."
"Looks to me that our Esmee has plenty of respect for the people here," William couldn't resist. His remark made Baba Yaga laugh so loudly that within fifteen seconds the entire square was empty again, save Esmee who looked back, wondering what was going on. She returned to her three companions, broomless.
"Are you sure our brooms are safe there, Esmee dear?" Baba Yaga asked.
"Oh yes, no need to worry about that. I know these people, they are always very kind to me. At least, until now," Esmee frowned. She hoped her reputation would not suffer too much from the presence of the three that were here with her.
"Now take us to the shops and the good places, girl," Hilda said, patting Esmee on the arm. She was so good in creating a false sense of safety.
Esmee smiled happily, and as she chattered about the wonderful people of the village, the produce they brought forth on their fields and the great things that were available in the shops here, Hilda, William and Babs looked around and hoped to find anything that could be a clue to finding the strange creature. They visited several shops too, one with herbs and spices that had Hilda's interested, and one with fabrics where the owner tried to sell some pink fluff to Esmee. To his surprise she declined and bought something burgundy red, stating that it would look great as a new cloak. Baba Yaga displayed a big and satisfied smile. The shop owner did not interpret it as such and gave Esmee a big discount on the material, hoping they would leave the shop quickly before other customers were scared off.
As they roamed the narrow streets, the cats walking by themselves, Babs stated that they'd get somewhere yet. Hilda and William understood that she meant Esmee, Esmee responded that they'd just have to stay close and no one would get lost. Her comment invoked quite some amusement among the three, and she laughed along. They reached a large area that seemed somewhat lost between several groups of houses. "This is the marketplace," Esmee shared with the others. "We have a market here every week."
"A market. Astonishing. And what do people market here?" Hilda asked.
Esmee worked down a list of vegetables, fruits and meats as if she had studied for it. Or worked in the market for far too long.
"So no large cat creatures, eh?" Baba Yaga.
Esmee stopped and stared at the ugly witch. Her face showed that she was really thinking; then a giant grin was on her face. "Oh no, you almost tricked me, Baba Yaga, but you don't get me that easily!"
Babs laughed. "She's good, she's good," she said, looking at Hilda and William. The two almost died laughing. Magic helped them to keep a straight face.
In the market area, six men were working to load crates on a cart. "Oh, look, there's Jock," Esmee said. "Jock! Hello!' She waved frantically. Her companions frowned and wondered what they were up for now. "Come, I will introduce you to Jock," the mostly pink witch said as she briskly walked off towards the cart.
Jock turned out to be a very simple man who had been forgotten to come in on the day that 'smart' was handed out. Actually, he had been absent most days that beneficial traits were available. It did look as if he spent all that time in the place where muscle was distributed. The man was enormous in size. He seemed to care about Esmee a lot, too. She walked up to him and almost disappeared from view as he wrapped his impressive physique around her. "Esmee," he said slowly but clearly.
Esmee spoke just as slowly as she introduced the people who were with her. Jock nodded as she mentioned their names, then he bent down and petted the two cats, very tenderly. "Cats," the big man stated and he looked up to Esmee, a happy smile on his face. Obsi and Grim allowed the man his time to pet them.
The pink witch then introduced the trio to the other men who had continued loading the cart. Without big Jock's help that went a lot slower. One of the men asked why they were there, and Hilda explained vaguely that they had been called over to help with something at the castle.
"Oh. Something that our witch can't handle then, is it?" The man, only half Jock's size, positioned himself next to Esmee, as if he wanted to protect her from something. He had been introduced as Charles. "Just so you know, our witch is the best witch in the area."
"I am sure," said Baba Yaga, "but sometimes even the best of the best need some help. Look at your man Jock, for instance."
Jock was happily stacking things onto the cart. Charles frowned. "He don't need no help."
"Oh yes, he does," Babs said.
"What do you mean?" Charles did not look at ease all of a sudden.
"Jock is good at what he does, but what he can do is limited, right?"
Charles nodded. "Yeah. He needs us to tell him what- Oh... I see."
Esmee again had the desire to look daggers at Baba Yaga, but held herself back. "I think we need to move on now," she said instead.
Babs looked at Hilda and William and shrugged. They said goodbye to the men, Esmee was hugged by Jock again and then they walked on. Once they were away from the market square and far from any people, Esmee turned to Baba Yaga. "I would appreciate it, Baba Yaga, if you would not make me look like a fool any more. Please?"
"Finally," Baba Yaga said. She popped up her wand and some chairs. "Sit." Esmee sat. "Wrong, get up." Esmee got up. "You don't get it, do you?"
Esmee looked at Hilda and William, her whole face shouting 'HELP'.
12. Now listen
Baba Yaga sat down. "Sit."
"No," Esmee said, her face glowing red as she did so. "I want to know why!" Her lower lip trembled as she realised that she was challenging this ugly but powerful witch.
"Good girl. Now sit down and I will tell you." When Esmee sat, Hilda arranged for some cups of tea, while Baba Yaga started talking. "Esmee, child, you need to smarten up. What is the worst thing you've come across in your life?"
Esmee told them about the children of Snow White and Jordan. About finding frogs in her bed. And about a ghost in a closet that she'd had to remove with magic.
Baba Yaga nodded. "Yes, that all sounds blood-chilling, Esmee. I have bad news for you though; the thing we are looking at now is even worse than all that you just mentioned. We seem to be facing a woman who can turn into a cat of tremendous size. Not something like the kittens we have here." The kittens meowed in protest but were ignored. "So we can't afford to do the nice and pretty thing, Esmee. If that creature comes storming at you, you have to slam it, not ask if it wants some tea."
"But maybe it-" Esmee started. Then she changed her mind. "No, probably not."
"Good girl. Remember the lesson we did earlier? Use your magic when you have to. We'll make sure your magic will be pumped up to something usable and help you to keep that under control. But people have to understand that you are not someone that will be happy with a flower when you need a hammer." Here Baba Yaga wondered for a moment where she was going with that statement. "What I mean to say is that you have to be clear and don't accept just anything from anyone. Not even from me, unless it's clear that the situation calls for it of course."
Esmee stared at Baba Yaga. "Not even from you? But you are..."
"Yeah, I know, I'm big and bad and powerful and all that. I know. But that does not mean that I am always right. We all know things, but only when we toss these things in a cauldron and stir it together, we share that knowledge."
Esmee nodded. "But I see no cauldron," she then said. Hilda and William were convinced that Baba Yaga's eyes would roll now
, even when they weren't clearly visible. They braced for a minor explosion. Just before something else could happen, Esmee started laughing and got up. She popped out her wand and made a cauldron appear. It was a tiny one, but it was there. She picked it up and handed it to Babs. "Here is a present for you. I really understand what you mean. Well, at least I think I do."
Baba Yaga held the small cauldron up in her wrinkled hand. The lower part of her face showed what they all knew to be a smile. "This flower witch may actually learn something after all," was all she said, but Hilda and William understood the significance of her words. Then it started to rain. William slapped a magical umbrella over them; the two cats ran for cover under it.
"Seems to be a good time to go back," Hilda said as she looked at the skies where more and darker clouds were moving in. As they walked back to the house where their brooms were kept safe, William wondered if they should do another night watch.