by Paul Kater
"You know," Santera whispered as she rolled up her sleeves, "I think that the witches are here to take over power of the kingdom. They put the cat people up to all this, and they just have not managed to kill the king yet. They will try again, I am certain of that. And I know there are more people who think like that."
"But why would someone want to kill our king?" a farmer asked. He had always liked the king.
"There are always bad magical people," Santera whispered. "Remember that sorcerer Lamador? The one that put a hold on King Herald?"
Heads bobbed, the tale had run through all the kingdoms.
"And see here, what happened to me as there was the fight with the cat woman," Santera said as she showed the scratches on her arms, the marks that she had gotten from Obsidian Shadow and Onyx Grimalkin.
The marks, still very clear and raw, made the listeners gasp for air.
"There are also marks on my back," Santera informed them, "so you see how dangerous these creatures are."
One of the people around her had also been present at the talk that Oscar's wife had given, about not trusting the king. "So we have a king that is not doing the best for the people and a bunch of witches and the likes that want to get rid of him to take over?"
Santera nodded. "Yes, that sounds about right," she said after a few moments. "And they will probably make things worse for us..."
-=-=-
"Enough show?" Hilda asked Esmee as she had the door blink with false diamonds.
According to the castle witch, this would do.
Hilda returned the door to its normal state as William woke up the prince.
Jordan stared at the absence of pants, with unpleasantness already on his features.
"So, prince, how do you feel?" William asked.
"Painful," the man on the table admitted, his eyes still on his manhood. "Is it me," he then asked, "or is it really... bigger?"
"It may look somewhat bigger," William said, doing his best to keep a straight face. "Sometimes that is a result of the procedure. But it won't give you a problem, I can assure you that."
"Oh. Good." Prince Jordan eyed the ones present. "Was it necessary for everyone to be here?" he then asked. It was especially unnerving to him that Esmee the castle witch had witnessed all his somewhat undersized glory, although now it definitely looked more prominent.
"Yes, it was," William assured the prince, "but don't worry, no one will say a word about the proceedings. That is our code of honour."
"Ah, that's good-OOOWWWW!" Jordan had attempted to hop from the table and the magic for the pain had responded to that. He stood bent over for a while, sweat on his brow.
"Careful, prince," William cautioned the royal man a bit too late. "Here, go slow while you put this on." Baba Yaga had altered the royal pants to something much wider. "This will make sure you won't feel too much pain."
Grateful, Prince Jordan put on the garment. It almost felt to him as if the pain subsided a bit as he pulled the pants up. He'd look ridiculous in this tent, but rather that than the pain.
"So remember, no playing with it," said William.
"I know," Prince Jordan nodded, "I'll go blind then."
"No, it just will hurt insanely," William grinned.
"Are you sure?" Jordan's face showed genuine disbelief.
"Hmm, maybe it is just like that for magical people, so don't take chances."
Hilda muffled away a snort into her teacup. She could not help that some drops of it landed on her face.
26. The four
"Bring her back," Lindolf told Magda. "She is talking too much."
Magda looked in pain now, and Simi was not looking her best either. Their almost constant work to keep Santera under the spell was taking its toll.
When Santera finally returned, Lindolf sedated the young woman with a potion he had once gotten from a peddler from a faraway land. It knocked Santera out immediately, and he carried her to the bed, where he tied her to the chain that was bolted to the wall.
As soon as Santera had passed out, Magda slumped back into the chair and Simi fell over, almost exhausted.
"Now, this evening," Lindolf started, when Magda turned her head towards him. Her gaze told him enough. Nothing would happen that evening.
Without moving, Magda said: "I sometimes wonder why we are doing this for you, Lindolf. The three of us are more and more wasted after each trip we have Santera make, and you are not suffering from anything except more dreams of greatness. Do you understand how much you need us?"
Lindolf sat down and watched the exhausted witch breathe. It was true what she said. He needed these three women. Without them he was nothing but a normal merchant, be it one with a good business going at the moment.
It had all started many months ago, when he had accepted an old book as payment from someone who was severely in Lindolf's debt for simply not being able to pay his bills. The book look old and had a lot of gold print on it. The language in it was impossible to decipher for the merchant, so he had put it up for sale for the highest bidder.
Magda, who occasionally came to clean Lindolf's house, had seen the book and was immediately attracted to it. As she had touched it, it had called out to her. At least that was the way she had explained its effect on her. It seemed to scream at her.
Magda was a half-witch. Her mother had been a true witch, and her father was an ordinary who, after a few months of intense pleasure, had run off with another woman. Magda's mother had born the fruits of that short encounter several moons later, when Magda popped out. Her talents had never really developed; a result of the mixed genes from her parents. The book however had changed everything. Magda had sensed its magic. It was a strange, wild and unruly magic, but it boosted her abilities and she suddenly was able to do amazing things.
At first she had not told Lindolf about it, but when he found out when he had a serious buyer for the book. Luckily, or perhaps it was a wicked twist of fate, Magda had been in the house and had screamed "No!" when Lindolf wanted to close the sale. She had told him about the book after throwing a hysterical fit that drove the buyer away. She also told him that she did not have the energy to sustain the magic, but the book had told her that an adequately strong other person would be good, if this person gave his or her energy willingly.
Lindolf was very interested and had asked Simi, a woman he knew, to help in an experiment with Magda. Simi had been intrigued by the possibilities, and told Lindolf that she was feeling amazingly good after a session with Magda. This amazing new source of power had triggered him to try a few simple things, like putting a few competitors out of business, getting a few others killed and more kid stuff like that. As this had not proved to be a problem, he had conceived his devious plan to remove the king from his position and make the kingdom his own.
That was when Santera had come into the picture. Magda had learnt from the magical book that she could invoke a shapeshifting into someone who was willing to let that happen. Santera had been influenced by Lindolf to participate in the magical play and the cat woman had been born. It all had looked amazingly simple. Santera had gone through the forests catching rabbits and squirrels, and then Lindolf had become bolder and sent her onto the castle grounds to kill chickens and rabbits there.
And then these three other magical people had shown up, crossing his plans with so much vigour that he had started to hate them terribly.
"When can we do some more?" Lindolf wanted to know.
"Not today," Magda said.
"And not tomorrow," Simi added. "You people are killing me. I plan on not helping anymore if you keep this up, Lindolf. I am already a wreck every time I go home, I can't even do my daily chores anymore after something like this."
"But think of the riches we'll have once our plan has succeeded!" Lindolf tried to make the two women enthusiastic again. "The gold and silver and the gems."
"Good luck having fun with those when we're all dead," Magda groaned as she hoisted herself from the chair. She took th
e book and held it to her chest, as if she was trying to make it a part of herself.
Lindolf did not like that idea. At least not knowing that this happened before his plan was completed. "Okay, I agree, we've been doing a lot lately. We'll give it a while before we send Santera out again. I understand the problems."
"About time," Magda said. She was swaying on her feet a bit and in need of sleep and food, and not particularly in that order. "We need something to eat, Lindolf. Get us something."
The man was not used to be ordered around like that, but for now he had to accept it. He knew that anything stupid would make his plan collapse, so he went down to the kitchen to find the women something to eat and drink.
When he returned, Simi scolded him for putting Santera to sleep. "She needs to eat too, you know."
Lindolf grumbled something, took a small bottle and put a drop of its contents on Santera's upper lip. A few moments later, the young woman's eyes fluttered open. The first thing she noticed was the chain on her wrist.
Santera made a grab for Lindolf's face, hoping to take out an eye or so, but she was too tired and he was too quick. She resorted to cursing him down to the deepest and most painful pit, preferably before he died.
"Calm down," he said, "I woke you up so you can eat something. Promise you won't try to kill me when I bring you something?"
Magda told Santera to accept the food, as she needed it at least as badly as she and Simi did. Santera grudgingly said Lindolf would be safe. Somehow, even while she was chained to the wall, it gave her a feeling of power over this man and his plans.
Lindolf left the three women alone, assuring them that he would come back soon. As soon as he was left, Santera demanded that Simi would take the chain off her. "He treats me like a wild animal," Santera complained, rattling the iron.
"Well, the way you assaulted him, you have given him reason for that," Magda said. "But yes, Simi, you can free Santera."
Soon the three sat eating, Santera on the floor as far from the bed with the chain as she could be. "How long do you think we have to keep doing this?" the young woman asked. "I want out of this. I want my life back, and not spend every night prowling the village as a big cat. It's scary."
"Why is it scary?" Simi asked.
Santera explained that it was becoming harder for her to distinguish what part of her was human and what part was the cat woman "I want to be all human again," she said as she licked her fingers, "and have a husband and children and a normal life."
"Not sure if any of us will be able to have a normal life after this," Magda thought out loud. "Not as long as Lindolf keeps going on with his plan."
"But when we walk out on him, he can do nothing!"
"Wrong. He knows too much about us," said Simi, "and if we walk away, he will have enough ways to make us solely responsible for all that happened. Would you like to be accused of attempting to kill the king?"
Santera's face grew dark. "Then we'll kill Lindolf."
27. Cat woman
The assembled magicals strolled through the castle gardens, trying to come up with a new plan. "I doubt that creature will show here again soon," said Baba Yaga, "it knows it's being hunted now. I suggest we take the cage apart again. It's really an ugly thing."
William did not grin, but to hear Baba Yaga talk about ugly always was a wonderous thing. He did agree, the cage was of no use anymore, so they walked over to it and disassembled it, at first much to the delight and then to the shock of the gardeners. The cage had damaged the lawn considerably.
One of the green-fingered men dared ask if the witches could please repair that damage. Hilda frowned. "Nature will do that, and you can pitch in. Take pride in your craft, man, we have better things to do."
Esmee chuckled at the face of the gardener. "And while you're at it, do remove all those iron bars. They are an eye-sore," she added to Hilda's words.
The four walked on, still unsure of what their next step would be to find that cat woman "It is remarkable that nobody saw her lately. Do you think she is hiding somewhere?" William wondered.
"Maybe," said Hilda, "but I get the feeling that this is not just a cat woman doing things on her own. That shed, burnt down and all, with the strange magic, that is tied into all this. Has to be."
"Do you have evidence?" William wondered.
"No. It's because I say so," Hilda explained. "Cat women don't just appear from out of nowhere."
"Except in Catzachstan," Baba Yaga reminded the wicked witch.
"Yes, true, but that's far away from here, and these women hardly ever leave their country. It's safer for them that way."
William and Esmee exchanged glances, they both had never heard of Catzachstan but it sounded an interesting place. "So if this cat woman is sent by someone, it is obvious that this someone has a plan. What else would be the reason?"
"See, that's why I keep him around," Hilda told Babs. "He thinks at times. Yes. There has to be a plan. And I think I know how to provoke a reaction from the controlling person..."
"Really?"
"Really. And you three are going to help with my little plan."
-=-=-
"That looks amazing, Hilda." William's respect for his little witch grew some more again.
"It's a nice job," Baba Yaga agreed, pleased with what Hilda and she had wrought.
"I'm quite satisfied too," Hilda nodded.
Obsi and Grim lay on the bed, staring at the cat woman that stood in the room. "Mrrowww," said Esmee. It was obvious that she was not so impressed, the more there she had not had any say in deciding who was going to be turned into a cat woman
"Don't try to speak, Esmee," said Hilda, "you can never be sure what you're saying, and it is dangerous to anger other cats." She turned to the two cats. "So what do you think? Will she do?"
Esmee was eyeing herself in the mirror and was impressed as well as abhorred with what she saw. The two witches had turned her into a red haired cat woman, complete with fluffy tail. And the tail responded to what she wanted it to do. Her hands had changed to paws, as had her feet. She could easily stand on her hind legs, but walking gave her some balancing issues. On all fours there was no problem, but from that position the world looked all wrong.
"Right then," Babs said as Grimalkin walked around Esmee and rubbed her head against Esmee's legs, "looks like we did a decent job. Let's turn this cat back into a witch. We'll be able to switch her into cat again this evening, for when she's going out."
Hilda and Baba Yaga did their magic thing, while William held up Esmee's dress, ready to magick it around her as soon as the cat-disguise had gone. It worked quite well.
-=-=-
Esmee felt miserable as she was going through the forest. No pleading had helped her: she was going to walk to the village. As a big cat, not on a broom. And it was raining. The flower witch had never been a big fan of rain, but her catlike appearance brought out the dislike larger than life. She went through the undergrowth for a while, hoping that the rain would not reach her there, but that proved to be a bad idea: she got caught in the dense plant life and had to fight herself free a few times.
Hilda, William and Babs followed Esmee's progress through the revived crystal ball of the flower witch. "She's not doing a really good job, is she?" Babs commented.
"How often have you been a cat to do that?" William asked her, which earnt him a very disapproving look. And coming from Baba Yaga, that made him instantly forget any other smart remark he had up his wizardly sleeve.
Esmee in that time had discovered how to run on all fours. It was a very strange experience: the world was much higher now, as she was not used to it, her head bobbed and made what she saw quite dizzying, but she was going faster than she had ever run before. Also she picked up so many other things; smells, sounds and vibrations she'd never sensed. And rainwater. Soon she reached the village.
Hilda and the others watched how Esmee kept to the dark parts of the streets as she went through the village. It was what they had ag
reed on, Best for her to get used to being there in her current form for a while.
"What's that shaking she does?" Hilda wondered. William laughed and explained a bit or two about cats and getting wet. "Oh. I see. She will hate us for that, right?" William nodded. "Good."
As soon as Esmee felt more safe, and she had found streets that were deserted (which was easy as it still rained), she got up on her hind legs and walked along the street. Esmee worried as she started her stroll; she felt naked as she was only 'dressed' in cat hair. Also the long tail was giving her fits at times as it got caught between her legs. She had not much experience in twitching it, or keeping it in the air like the two cats of Hilda and William. And holding her tail was no option as she had not hands.