by Paul Kater
of witchcraft is it then that you do?" Some pebbles floated in front of her.
"We serve the Mother Goddess," Vivian snapped at the woman in black. "And you will release Andy from whatever it is you did to him. Right. Now."
Hilda was close enough to hear Zelda's laughter about that request. Zelda did not notice the other real witch coming closer, as she was so occupied and amused by Vivian and her friends.
"Andy, step away from that woman!", Gladys said, her voice as strong as she could make it.
Andy simply looked at her and smiled, not making any attempt to step away from Zelda.
Zelda looked at Gladys. "Pathetic little witch..." She pointed her wand- and was knocked over.
The women of the coven, and also Andy, tumbled to the ground as well, as that started shaking as if an earthquake suddenly happened. Before anyone could get up or react to the situation, a giant female form appeared and walked into the circle. She stood as tall as the highest tree in the forest. She wore a black leather dress adorned with large brass buttons and carried a sword in her hand.
One of the women on the ground quietly muttered something, staring at the apparition in disbelief.
The tall woman pointed her sword at Zelda, the tip only inches from the witch's chest. "You will not call one of my ladies pathetic, you puny little creature," the enormous shape said. "You may think a lot of yourself, but your magic is worthless in this circle."
Zelda opened her mouth to say something, but the large blade slapped her cheek. It was a loud slap, Zelda's head jerked, and the metal left a clearly visible mark on the pale cheek.
"No talking until the Mother allows that!" the giant woman said. "You will pack up your miserable self, release all magic that you brought here, and go back to the land you came from!"
Zelda stared up at the enormous woman, keeping an eye also on the whereabouts of the giant sword. Her cheek still burnt from the slap, and one was very certainly enough. As the tip of the large thing came towards her face, and the monstrosity said "Well?", she snipped her fingers to release Andy.
The man noticed where he was and scrambled to his feet to get away from the evil woman. In his hurry to get away, he did not pay attention to the enormous female warrior that loomed over them all.
"And now you go," the apparition calmly said, the tip of the sword slowly swaying in front of Zelda's face.
The evil witch, totally flabbergasted by this, got to her feet and slowly walked backwards, away from her oversized adversary. The giant remained in place. Zelda looked back and found she was close to the trees where she had left her broom. In a last attempt to wield her attitude she flung a bolt of magic towards the large woman and then disappeared between the trees, into the darkness.
The giant shape caught the magical bolt on her sword and it jumped off it. In a trajectory that would be the envy of any professional baseball player, the magical ball swirled to the side and hit Tory in the stomach. The woman who had just gotten to her feet doubled up and collapsed.
"Crappedy crap!"
The giant woman disappeared as Hilda and William released their combined magic and came running into the circle. They reached Tory first. Hilda quickly pulled her wand over the woman and mumbled a stream of Latin. William did what he could to keep the other women away, so Hilda could do what she did best.
Vivian tried to get close to Tory, but William held her back. "Don't try it, Vivian, or I will use magic to keep you away. Hilda needs space and peace for this." That made her back off just enough.
"Okay William, I'll stay here. Now, while Hilda is doing what she's doing... can you tell my why you made your interpretation of the Mother Goddess look like Xena the Warrior Princess?"
William shrugged. "I am not too current on Mother Goddesses, and I decided we needed someone that looked impressive."
"Well, you got that right," Jennifer nodded.
Tory groaned.
"Ah, good. She makes sounds," Hilda commented. "Now lie still, sweetie, you've been hit badly. I've done what I could, the rest will have to happen by a doctor or so. You do have those here, right?" The witch pointed that question at William.
"We do. Not sure if they can do something about magical inflictions, but we can get her to the local hospital. That is, if Zelda dear has not shut that down as well."
"No. The hospital is still operational," Jennifer said, "I live quite close to it. But how are you going to get her there?"
Hilda smiled and put a finger on Tory's forehead. Slowly the injured woman's head fell to the side. She was asleep. "This way she feels nothing. She will sleep for quite a while. William, brooms?"
The wizard was already on his feet and held out his hands: the two brooms rushed up to him. He sat on his broom and pulled his wand. "I'll carry her, Hilda," he said.
The witch got up and nodded as she got on her own broom. Tory's silent body seemed to freeze as William the wizard slowly formulated a spell. Then she started floating up until she lay in an impossible way on the broom, in front of him. Calmly he rose up and was quickly out of sight.
"You go home," Hilda said. "I will follow William, and we will come back to clean things up here."
"You go, Hilda," said Vivian, "we will close our circle and clean up. We are used to doing things like this in the dark, and we will find our way home with one of the torches. Thank you for taking care of us. And Tory."
"Of course." Hilda was touched by the strange witches that had such trust in her and William. "We'll come back to visit you soon, Vivian. And remember the pebbles, when there is a problem."
Vivian nodded as the witch sped off into the darkness, following William by the link they shared. "Well, ladies, Andy... Let's get to work here."
They got to work.
In that time Hilda had caught up with William who did not fly very fast. He was very careful with Tory, as she was extremely vulnerable in this state. "Are you doing okay with her?" she asked, worriedly.
"It's fine so far," William replied. "The hospital is not far away now. Hope with me that Zelda stays away until we've delivered her there."
"I don't sense her. She's far away."
"Good."
They flew on in silence, Hilda on the lookout for a witch, William carrying Tory, until the hospital came into sight.
"I'm going to warn them," said Hilda and sped off.
"You-" William started, but held the rest of his words back. She couldn't hear them anyway. He arrived at the hospital a few minutes later. To his surprise two paramedics held open the doors of the emergency exit so he could fly into the building without the need to do difficult things with Tory's stiffened body. He proceeded slowly.
"William, over here!" Hilda popped out of an examination room and waved at him. "You can't fly in there, so you have to put her on the ground."
Within moments, the corridor filled up with people, medical and patients. They kept a respectful distance from the strangely dressed woman and man, but also kept their eyes on the woman who seemed to hover on the broomstick.
William slowly and carefully landed the broom and guided it to the floor. As soon as Tory lay there, three people in white rushed up with a stretcher and lifted the motionless body onto it and then the stretcher was quickly pushed into the room where Hilda had appeared from.
"I told them you were coming," said the witch simply, standing next to William, grateful for the arm he put around her.
"I can tell. Do I want to know how you told them?"
"No."
"I thought so."
"Then don't ask dumb questions, wizard."
William grinned and squeezed her tight for a moment.
"Come. We have to explain to the doctor about her current condition," she then said. She looked at the assembled people who were still staring at them. "And you? Don't you have something better to do? Be sick or heal or something?"
A soft murmur went through the group, but there was hardly a movement of people who decided that g
oing back to being sick was a smart plan at this moment.
Hilda turned towards them, hands on her hips. William sensed what she was up to and wanted to warn her, but he was too late.
"BOO!!"
Only one window cracked, and that was probably far gone already.
Something metal and large clattered to the ground from inside the room where Tory was, so Hilda and William rushed in there, missing the sudden mass-evacuation of people in the hall. Hilda's boo did have an effect.
30. Hospital
William and Hilda woke up in a soft bed. A warm bed also. It was such a remarkable thing these days that Hilda found it necessary to state how she felt.
"William. It's warm."
"It is. Nice."
"Yes." She turned around, making quite the procedure of it.
"Sheesh, lie still witch. I can't believe it."
"What is it you can't believe, wizard man?" Hilda veered up somewhat and draped herself over the man who had changed her life so much.
"That a skinny witch like you can shake the bed so much," he informed her.
"I am not skinny," Hilda insisted.
William put his hands around her waist. His fingers almost touched. He said nothing.
"You just have very big hands," Hilda decided.
They were in a guest room in Gladys' house. Gladys had come to the hospital, together with all the others of the coven, to learn how Tory was doing. The coven members had found Hilda and William half asleep on chairs in the waiting room and Gladys had offered them the room. At first the magical ones had declined the nice offer, as they were afraid it would be too dangerous,