Hilda and Zelda

by Paul Kater



  Hilda and Zelda

  by Paul Kater

  The fourth book in the “Hilda the Wicked Witch” series.

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  Other books in this series:

  Contents:

  1. Dragon attack

  2. Nobbleback

  3. Here, dragon

  4. Good little witch

  5. Terrorists

  6. Curfew

  7. Goo

  8. Out cold

  9. Crash

  10. Find a witch

  11. The Winklers

  12. Have a drink

  13. Shedding

  14. Let's be concrete

  15. This stinks

  16. Thanks for the fish

  17. It's an art

  18. Witch meet

  19. Taskforce

  20. Recruits

  21. Gunfire

  22. Talk-off

  23. Theo

  24. Zed and Ted

  25. Weirdos

  26. Meeting Rick

  27. Books

  28. Witches Meeting (1)

  29. Witches Meeting (2)

  30. Hospital

  31. The plan

  32. Here comes trouble

  33. Let's party

  34. Thriller

  35. Cat on a stick

  36. Finishing up

  About the author

  Books I published

  1. Dragon attack

  Once upon a time there was a witch who, by a freak coming together of incidents, had been pulled into our world. After many a strange adventure, she met a man who had a certain book that enabled the witch to get back to her own world.

  Years later, another freak incident brought that same man to the world of the witch. The man became a wizard and they formed a magical bond. As a team they fought a battle, a challenge, in the ominous labyrinth of Gurthreyn. And won.

  -=-=-

  Hilda watched the giant as he put the last dragon back in its pen. "And please, next time watch them more carefully, will you? Ordinaries are not too thrilled when dragons start trampling over their villages."

  "But he did not mean any harm," the giant tried to make things less bad.

  William shook his head. "Go and tell that to the villagers who are out of a house now."

  "Oh, yes, I'll do that!" The giant's face lit up like a giant christmas tree.

  "No, you won't!", Hilda exclaimed. "William, please remember that giants and sarcasm don't go well together."

  William moved his broom next to Hilda's again. "Will do. It's so easy to forget."

  Hilda grinned. "Yes. I know." And she was not going to tell why she knew. It was too embarrassing.

  The magical couple made a safety tour around the area, to be certain that all dragons were once again safely tucked away in their den. Finally they were satisfied. They said goodbye to Archibald the giant and turned their brooms to their home.

  "I really, really hope things will calm down a bit," Hilda complained. "We're spending more time on the brooms than in bed lately and I don't like that development."

  William nodded. "I know what you mean. Now it was the dragon escape. Last month we had the unicorns, and I don't even want to go back to the fake Pegasi."

  "Don't. Please don't. We are going home, we eat and then we sleep for a year," Hilda agreed with him.

  They crossed the village that had been partly flattened by the dragons

  "Maybe we can go and help these people rebuild some of their buildings," William thought.

  "We don't. This is their work. We did our job, we got the dragons." Hilda was determined, and William sensed it also through the bond. He was glad she was so clear about it.

  They got home, so tired that they could hardly see straight. They did not bother with the kitchen; Hilda magicked up some food and then they headed for bed...

  -=-=-

  "I don't want to wake up... The year hasn't passed yet," Hilda complained as she stretched her arms out. It was inevitable, though. She was awake. "Hey, are you awake too?"

  William felt the prods in his side. "What? Awake? What's that?"

  "Good. You're here too. At least I'm not alone in my misery," Hilda mumbled as she crawled against William who put an arm around her.

  "Go back to sleep. We still have eleven months and three weeks to go."

  "Yeah, sure," Hilda muttered, "and I'm going to believe that."

  They both grinned, but decided on a while longer in bed.

  As they were up finally, Hilda frowned. "This stupid running around after dragons destroyed my ability to sit and be relaxed."

  "I hope we have some time to get that back, sweetwitch. Here, more coffee for you." As William said it, the crystal ball started chiming. "I'll get it..."

  Hilda blew him a kiss.

  "Oh... hello handsome wizard," a sultry voice came from the call as he took the call.

  Hilda shot from the table to the crystal ball and pushed William aside. "Mary-Belle, no going after my wizard. You know we are bonded and you should keep your hormones in your pocket when you call us."

  "Tut, tut," the blue-haired witch said, as she fanned herself with her fingers. "Touchy? Possessive? PMS? Or are we having a more general confidence crisis?"

  "I just want you to know what I just told you," Hilda said. "What I always tell you, so I think the problem is with you, not with me. Now, what do you want?"

  "My, we're really touchy today. Well, fine, have it your way. There's something funny going on with Zelda. She's not answering her ball, her closer circle has no clue where she is."

  "Zelda? Hmmm. I never have much contact with her. She's weird. But I guess we can go over to her place today and have a look." Hilda frowned. "Thanks for letting us know. And bag those hormones, Mary-Belle, William's mine and I don't share."

  Mary-Belle stuck out her tongue and then her image vanished in a puff of orange smoke.

  "Who was that, and who is Zelda?" William found those very valid questions.

  "Mary-Belle is a floozy. She's always after men and never seems to be able to keep one. Well, with her attitude that's hardly surprising." Hilda did not elaborate on what attitude that was. "Zelda... nutcase. Always goes around in black stuff, pretends to be the most magnificent thing since witchcraft. Oh, she does good things too, but the way she does them..."

  William glanced at his witch. "Care to clarify that one?"

  "Okay, small example if you make me more coffee. Zelda works a place not too far from here. Once they had an infestation of rats. Now that's something simple to deal with. She however turned the rat colony into flying rats, like bats, but bigger. And they torment the villagers at least twice a night. Stuff like that. Nasty stuff. But the people in her village don't complain. It's hard to get a good witch."

  "And they are probably scared of her," William assumed.

  "Yeah. That too. Looks like we have more work piled on our neck, William. No sleeping for a year." She pulled a face.

  "Let's first finish eating. We can go there later, I think. If this Zelda person is gone for a while, a few hours won't make much of a difference." William had refilled Hilda's coffee cup.

  -=-=-

  They were on their rounds. Hilda had suggested to handle that first, and then, instead of annoying the shepherds, they'd head over to Zelda's home.

  William noticed that Hilda was not her boisterous wild self that morning. There was no teasing King Walt, no frightening the villagers. "You are tired, Hilda. Are you sure this trip to Zelda's house
is a good idea?"

  "We have to, William. Yes, I'm tired, but you are as well. So don't tell me, okay?" She smiled at her wizard.

  "Okay, sweetwitch."

  "Crappedy crap." Hilda looked behind them. "We have company."

  William looked back also. "Holy Bejeebus. Don't tell me Archibald messed up again."

  "Archibald messed up again. Dive." In their quickly reducing wake, two dragons came up on them.

  At the moment they dove and split up, the two dragons were almost on top of them. Luckily for the magical couple, these dragons were very very large and also very very sluggish in their aerial movements. They overshot their targets and worked hard to turn around.

  "Suck an elf," Hilda grumbled, "this is hardly what we need. If I get my hands on that giant, I'm going to whoop his ass so that he can't sit for a week." She already had her wand in her hand and hung in the air, waiting for William to join her and keeping an eye on the dragons.

  The two large animals had finally completed their turn and now were building up speed again.

  "William... where are you...", she mumbled.

  "Right here," he said as he swooped up next to her. "What the hell do these beasts want here? They are not supposed to be here."

  "I know. Split and charge from behind."

  Hilda and William fell away sideways, making room for the dragons to pass them without harm once again. It was as if an aircraft carrier were rushing by. The magical couple, well versed in the art of dragon-catching, pulled round and started following the dragons that were flapping their mighty wings to turn. The magical people knew that this maneuver was the best moment to get to the dragons as the animals would not be paying much attention to their tails. Turning fast in full flight was a task for these big beasts.

  Wands drawn