Hilda - Cats

by Paul Kater

  All these things made for slow progress at first, but Esmee managed to keep her thoughts on what they had planned. She walked along the main street of the village, turned left and right to other streets.

  Hilda watched Esmee go along as William popped out of the room to find some things to snack on. Baba Yaga, in all her wisdom, had located a vacant chair and had un-vacated that. She sat in it and snored.

  "Good going, girl," the wicked witch commented as she watched Esmee go. "Keep heading towards the centre of the village, where most of the houses are. The person who is responsible for that cat woman is most likely to live there."

  Santera looked up and growled. Magda and Simi, who were with her, quickly glanced at each other. "Santera, what's wrong?"

  The original cat woman jumped up and walked to the window. She could not see anything outside in the darkness but she was restless suddenly. "Someone like me is out there," she commented, "you have to change me and get me outside."

  "Someone like you? What do you mean?"

  "A cat. A big cat. Like me. I feel her. Change me, Magda, I have to see her!" Santera looked at Magda in a pleading way. "Please? Not for long, just... I have to."

  Magda worried as she heard Santera speak. Too much changing had happened, and Santera seemed to be losing grip on who she really was.

  Santera slowly walked up to the half-witch, sparks in her eyes. "You will change me... now..."

  Esmee reached the market square. The rain had stopped falling. In fascination she looked over the area, the lights and sounds and smells all so clear and different and abundant compared to usual. Tomorrow there would be open market, everywhere stalls had been halfway erected already, carts with goods stood to one side of the square. The cat woman boldly crossed the open space, waving her way along the stalls and she looked over the carts.

  "What are you going to do, kiddo?" Hilda wondered as she munched away a chocolate cookie that William had offered her. There was a tray of them in front of her.

  The wizard sat next to Hilda, his fingers dark brown from molten chocolate, as he watched Esmee in the small crystal ball. "She is not going to plunder one of these carts, is she?" he hoped out loud.

  Esmee smelled the dried fish that was in a crate. She dropped to all fours, ran, leapt, and was on the wagon. The smell was even stronger there and she could already taste the fish.

  Then a rock clattered against the side of the cart and a scream startled the former flower witch. She lowered herself, growled and looked over the side, seeing a group of five people with torches and weaponry like pitchforks approaching her. Esmee turned and jumped off the other side of the wagon, but on that side a few doors opened and villagers appeared carrying candles and nightgowns.

  "Crappedy crap, William, I think we overshot our goal," Hilda said as she stared at the wizard. "We have to get her out of there before she panicks or gets hurt."

  "On it," William said. He dropped his cookie, grabbed the broom that was next to him and was out of the window mere seconds later. Hilda turned back to the crystal ball.

  Esmee growled and hissed as one of the villagers threw a stick at her. It was easy enough to evade, but the thought that these nice people would throw something at her was not understandable. She wanted to escape as quickly as possible, but a quick dash around the wagon taught her that the group of five had grown to over a dozen already, and that number was growing. And they were out to get her.

  One man, a large broad shouldered one carrying a torch and an old sword, screamed something inunderstandable and ran forward, aiming to stab Esmee with the sword. As he was almost upon her, she jumped up, vaulted over him and ran off, but the villagers had closed their ranks and made her stop. She could not jump again, as her landing had not been a good one. An ankle and a wrist hurt.

  Simi looked at Magda's face. The half-witch looked in pain, sweat suddenly pouring from her forehead. Simi closed her eyes and prepared for the pain that would come from giving away her energy.

  William on his broom raced over the forest as fast as he could. It would not take him very long to reach the market square, he knew, but every extra minute he needed would put Esmee in more danger.

  28. A close call

  Esmee meowed loudly, trying to tell the people that she was a good person, not someone to be butchered with pitchforks and spades, but the villagers did not take that sound the way she meant it. A handful of them charged towards her, making her run on her sore ankle, hide under a cart and even forced her to defend herself by lashing out with her claws. She had already gotten one man on a leg; he had hobbled off, cursing loudly.

  Several dozen were out in the market square now. It was Esmee's luck that they were not trained fighters; they were more hindering each other than supporting. Then there was movement in the back of the group of people. People were thrown left and right, growling and hissing accompanying their tumbling. Esmee heard what happened and her heart started pounding. Then her very sensitive nose caught a scent and she knew.

  Santera had run from Lindolf's house, as fast as she could. She could smell where her strange kin had walked, the scent was strong and easy to follow. As she reached the market square, she quickly understood what was happening.

  As the group of people was crowding around the stalls and carriages, Santera had jumped on a stall, then leapt from one to the other. She knew her sister was in serious danger, so Santera threw all caution in the wind and crashed her agile strong cat-body into the crowd. She fought like a mad cat, clawing her way through the crowd, making people fall over as she went.

  "William is already on the way, Babs," said Hilda after she'd explained the goings on to her bestest girlfriend.

  "No matter what, I am going after him and help," said the old witch as she made her broom jump to the window. "We all are in this, I have to go help my protegé." And then she was out the window, picking up speed as she went in pursuit of the wizard.

  Esmee found courage from somewhere. If the other cat woman was able to fight her way to Esmee, Esmee should be able to fight her way out of there as well. Using all four limbs she fought, clawed an scratched at anything that was in her way. Her sudden ferocity surprised many a villager and in the wink of an eye there was some space around the cart she was under. Esmee crawled away from it and with a strong jump she was on it again. She let out a terrifying sound. She managed that with ease, as she was terrified.

  Santera was still making her way through the crowd. To her surprise there was a sudden movement away from her, as the people seemed to step aside to let her through. On all fours, her tail lashing, she shot forward. She saw the other cat woman on the cart.

  Esmee felt a sharp pain in her side. Someone had crawled up to the cart and now was standing, poking her with a sharp stick. She slapped at the wood, yanking it from the man's hand. Before she could attack him, he had run off already. Then she clearly heard someone shout "Down! Down! From cart!" There was an urgency in the sound that made her react promptly.

  Simi felt faint. The amount of energy that Magda drew from her was beyond belief, Simi could not understand that either of them were still conscious. Whatever was going on around Santera, it had to stop soon, or they'd both collapse.

  "Come on, flyboy, faster," Baba Yaga yelled at William as she caught up with him.

  "What the hell are you doing here?" William yelled back, "weren't you sleeping?"

  "I was. Now I'm here to help so shut up and fly!"

  Santera saw Esmee part jump, part fall from the cart. Esmee landed her her feet and looked at Santera. A jolt of amazement and also of awe flowed through the young witch.

  "Suck an elf," Hilda said, "two of them. That's awesome."

  "With me!" Santera meowed. She did not wait to see if Esmee had understood. Quickly she dove under the cart, to reappear on the other side. She had noticed that there were fewer people there, and that group also was less courageous and bloodthirsty.

  Esmee appeared next to her 'sister' and noticed the least defended par
t of the square. "There," she growled, dropped on all fours and started running, Santera almost literally on her tail.

  "Dammit," William cursed as he and Babs reached the village. They could see the amount of people that was in the market square from the number of lights.

  Hilda almost bit her finger as she had another chocolate cookie. She considered going out to the village also.

  Two large wild cats leapt towards the people. That was a sight fearsome enough for most to stand aside. That created a passage wide enough for Esmee and Santera to go through and leave the market square, but the people on the other side of the cart now streamed past it and started the hunt.

  Esmee winced almost every time she landed on her painful wrist or ankle. This race should not take much longer, or she'd have to give up and be caught by the villagers.

  "Esmee!" a familiar voice screamed. It was Baba Yaga.

  "Wait!" Esmee called out to her cat sister.

  "No!" was the reply, but still Santera turned into a dark alley. There the two cat women hid in the shadows. The mob had not seen them jump away; the angry people ran past the alley.

  Esmee watched the cat woman next to her, and saw how she was looked over also. "Who are you?" Esmee asked, "and why are you scaring people?"

  Before Santera could reply, two dark shapes on brooms plunged down. There was light coming from sticks they held. One of the two, Santera understood that they had to be real witches, grabbed the other cat woman The other person, the strong arm told Santera that it had to be a man, grabbed her round the waist and then the two lifted off, upwards.

  Santera did not want to be taken away like that. Scared she lashed out to the arm that held her. A surprised cry escaped from the man's lips as he let her slip. She landed on her four paws, on top of a roof. Santera knew where she was and quickly disappeared in the darkness.

  "Did you see that?" William asked Baba Yaga as he healed the deep cuts that the cat woman had left in his arm, "she scratched me to escape!"

  "It's dark, wizard, and I am carrying a cat woman myself. Sorry that I did not take some time to watch you. Better luck next time."

  -=-=-

  Back in the castle, Hilda and Babs undid the cat-spell on Esmee and fixed the hurting wrist and ankle. They felt bad that things had gone so pear-shaped, even when Esmee had told them that it was all fine.

  "We were so good together," the young witch beamed, "jumping and running and clawing and growling! It was amazing to see her."

  The others agreed. Even Hilda, who had only seen the other cat woman in the crystal ball, had been impressed by the creature.

  "She spoke to me, too," Esmee continued, "after she saved me and got us out of that. Only a few words, but she talked."

  "No name, I suppose," said Baba Yaga, something that Esmee confirmed.

  "I had just asked her who she was and why she was doing that when you two came," she said.

  "That was you?" William asked surprised. "I only heard some muffled meows."

  "Whatever," Esmee said as she flexed her fingers to test the healed wrist. "I know she understood me."

  -=-=-

  Santera came into the room where Magda and Simi were. As soon as she entered, her catlike appearance fell away from her, leaving her naked. She was still panting from the fight and the run. Slowly she walked to the bed and lay down, pulling the covers over her.

  Simi let go of Magda's hands and tumbled to the ground. "You safe?" she managed to ask. It was a relief to hear Santera confirm that. "You almost killed us," Simi said, not expecting an answer.

  "We're going to be hurting tomorrow," Magda moaned, shivering as the magic dissolved around her.

  "Tomorrow? Already there," Simi whispered just before she passed out.

  Magda looked at Santera. The young woman was bleeding from several cuts. The half-witch hoisted herself to her feet and tended to the wounds as well as she could. "Please, never do that again," she muttered to the sleeping woman in the bed. Magda decided that they would not tell Lindolf about this, unless he noticed the wounds on Santera and started asking questions about them.

  29. Is that Esmee?

  The rain had started falling again when William and Hilda retreated to their bedroom. Babs had sent them off; she would sit with Esmee through the night to make sure the young witch was unaffected by the long time of being a cat woman Hilda had tried to take Obsi and Grim with them, but the two cats did not want to leave Esmee's room.

  "Do you think Esmee will be fine?" William asked his witch as she lay down on top of him.

  "I can't think that. I can just hope that, William," she said as he wrapped his arms around her. "I am sure she's been shaken up by all of this. I know I would be." She gasped as his hands slid over her bottom. "You always seem to know where your hands should be, wizard."

  Thunder rumbled, and the department of lightning started to throw bolts around while the magical couple advanced in their lovemaking. No matter who was on top, the lightning and thunder always were able to top that, but the climax came when a large lightning bolt hit the castle, making everything in it shake for a few intense seconds.

  "Crappers, Hilda," William said, as they lay in each other's arms, "that was the best bang ever."

  Hilda nodded, her hair a tangled mess around both of them. "No matter how much lightning rocks the castle, William, you rock me the best."

  Baba Yaga stood in front of the window as the lightning struck. She was blown through Esmee's room and landed on the ground, after a cunning detour against the wall. "Suck an elf," the ugly witch muttered as she somehow managed to stand up again.

  The lightning had bounced off the window sill. It had jumped onto the metal stand that had held a few large sunflowers, in the days that Esmee still was a genuine flower witch. After examining the stand, the lightning had decided that the large copper bed with the witch was its final destination, so it had leapt over to that, shocking the bed and its sleeping occupant.

  Grimalkin and Obsidian had already located safer quarters as the lightning hit. They were on top of some bookshelves and saw how Esmee was picked up and thrown down on her bed again.

  Baba Yaga was on her feet again, but she had not seen how Esmee's body had bolted upwards as the high-powered flash had slammed through the bed. "Suck the proverbial elf," she mumbled as she saw the mess that Esmee's blankets had ended up in. With some magic Babs corrected that. Then she settled into the comfortable chair again to continue her wake. A few minutes later both witches were asleep. The two cats curled up where they were and called it a day also.

  -=-=-

  The next morning came with a lack of rain. Thunder and lightning had left also, in search of places where their work was more appreciated.

  A knock on a door woke a few people inside the room that the door was in.

  "What!" Baba Yaga was not on her best this morning.

  Carefully the door was opened and a servant peeked around it. "I'm sorry," he started.

  "Not nearly as much as when I'm done with you," Babs informed him. "What do you want?"

  "Princess Snow White," the man said, "wonders if the witch Esmee is able to come and help with the children."

  Baba Yaga pointed to the bed. "Ask her yourself."

  The servant cast a glance at the bed and noticed a lack of liveliness from the figure in it. Without a word he closed the door, successfully escaping Baba Yaga's wrath.

  "Come to think of it," the ugly witch muttered, "she's very silent." Babs rose from the chair and shuffled over to the bed. "Hey, wake up you." She prodded Esmee for a while, until life seemed to be restored inside the young witch.

  "Ouch, ouch, ouch," Esmee groaned. "What happened? Is this a normal feeling after being a cat?"

  "I don't know, but you seem to be alive. That's good." Babs brushed the little hair she had to the side. "Maybe an idea to get up and find something to eat. And collect the horny couple. They've shaken up the castle with their humping. A miracle they're still accepted here."

&nb
sp; Esmee, feeling as if a train had hit her (had trains existed in her world), crawled from the bed and put on some clothes. Everything about her hurt. "Yes. I can do with some breakfast..." She walked to the door, that swung open, and she went into the corridor.

  Baba Yaga frowned as she watched the open door. "Stylish," she mumbled. "A new trick for that kid, but I like it." She headed out after the kid.

  William and Hilda were surprised by a knock on the door also.

  "If you've had enough of each other, care to join us for breakfast?" a voice rang through the door.

  Hilda stared at William. "That sounded like Baba Yaga. And as Esmee."