Hilda - The Challenge

by Paul Kater

  "Coming with me? It's just an illusion..." She took his hand and dragged him along until they were on the other side of what looked as a thick wall and was nothing at all.

  Behind the walk-through wall lay a large garden. It had patches with fruit trees, patches with vegetables, and a small patch on which a simple wooden hut was erected.

  "I don't like this," Hilda mumbled. She walked to the hut, wand in hand and William close behind her. "Gerdundula, where are you," she whispered.

  William sensed something or heard something and wanted to warn Hilda, but he was a second too late. The door in the hut flew open and a dark brown shape cam charging out of it, crashing into the witch who tumbled to the floor. William, just far enough behind Hilda, was ready for the thing, whatever it was. The salesman was not a fighter, but the thrill of the broomstick-ride and the tension that hung around this place had worked him up quite well. He had a good swing at the brown shape and hit it full in where one would expect a face.

  The shape's speed did not get slowed down by it, the impact also took William down, but the whack had definitely significance. After several yards the shape also tumbled down and remained motionless.

  William got up and saw that Hilda was on her feet again also. "You okay?", he asked, rubbing his fist.

  "Yeah." The wicked witch all but jumped on top of the brown shape that lay face-down on the path. She groaned as she pushed hard to turn it around. "Oh crap."

  The man in blue joined her and looked at the face that his hand had had contact with. "What the hell is that?"

  The creature that lay knocked out was some five feet tall. It was dressed in what looked like second-hand bear skin. This would make sense, as a bear would have been the previous owner. The face of the thing was crowned with dirty short black hair. It had big ears that stood from the wide tanned face as sails on a sailboat. The creature had a flat wide nose and a remarkably small mouth, around which there was hardly a trace of lips.

  The lying victim was broadshouldered. It reminded William of the Incredible Hulk, but then in a miniaturised version. It was barefoot, its feet incredibly dirty with mud and sand.

  "This is a Grizble. It is made. Nothing natural or normal about it." Hilda magicked a rope around the Grizble, immobilising it.

  "And what, if you allow the question, is a Grizble?"

  Hilda sighed, sat down on a garden stone and looked up at William. "It is like a cross between a baby troll and a leprechaun. Mean as you can think it up, they have some low-level magical abilities, and they are strong. So how it is possible that you managed to knock it out is beyond me."

  "My hand agrees with you," William nodded as he sat down next to her.

  "Grizbles are the messengers and bell-hops for Lamador."

  William remembered the name. It was the sorcerer that Hilda was scared of. He looked at her and recognised traces of worry on the witchy face. In an impulse he put an arm around her and gently pulled her against him.

  Hilda let him, as she rested her head against his shoulder. She sighed, closing her eyes. Then her eyes flew open, as she pushed him away and got to her feet quickly. "What do you think you're doing?!", she asked him sharply.

  "Being friendly and supportive," William replied as he got up from the ground that her push had landed him on, "but it looks as if that doesn't agree with you very well." He patted his cloak, to free it from sand.

  "Hmmf," Hilda retorted, unsure what to do about this.

  The Grizble relieved her from the task of thinking about it further. It started to wiggle and grunt and tried to get the rope off. The latter did not work, though, as Hilda's magic had supplied a rope that was Grizble-safe.

  "Well, well, look here," she said, standing over the dark creature. "I am sure you want to tell me why you are here."

  The Grizble uttered some inexplicable sounds, it screamed and howled, as William came close to witness the whole thing.

  "Never mind that," Hilda told him, her earlier anger forgotten again, "they always act like that in the beginning. Some design flaw in them, I think, as they never fail to calm down and get sensible after a while."

  The Grizble tried to bite their legs a few times, screamed and wriggled some more, until it lay panting at their feet. "Turn me loose and no one gets hurt," it then threatened from its harmless position.

  "Sure, but first you will tell me why you are here. And where Gerdundula is. You know, I'd love to kick him," she elaborated to William, "but it's the troll body that isn't inviting. It's rock hard and only hurts me." She turned to the grizble again. "Well, done thinking?"

  The Grizble pointed it fiery red eyes at her. "Lamador is stronger than ever. He has the witch and will use her. And you will-"

  They would never know what the creature was going to add to that, as its head exploded and its body went limp inside the rope.

  "Is that a design flaw also?", William asked.

  "No. This is seriously bad. Lamador listened in, I am sure, and did this. Crap."

  "HAH!" A loud booming voice almost blew them over. A giant shape formed in the middle of a number of flowerbeds. It was twenty feet tall. It was a collosal man, wearing a blue robe and a purple hood. That was all that was visible of him. "YOU WILL DIE THIS TIME, GRIMHILDA. MY POWER IS BEYOND REACH NOW."

  Hilda put her hands on her hips and looked up at the shape. "Get off it, Lamador. You are not making a good impression with all that showing off."

  William stared at the giant apparition. He was not as bold as Hilda, but then he lacked her experience. And her attitude.

  "AND WHO IS THIS UNMAGICAL WIZARD WITH YOU?"

  That would be William, they both understood. Lamador was wizard enough to sense that there was no magic whatsoever present in the book salesman.

  "This is a wizard from far away," Hilda persisted, "and his magic is unnoticeable to the likes of you."

  "HA HA HA HA HA!" As the laughter rolled over the gardens and bounced off the illusionary metal wall, the giant shape evaporated, the sound of his laughing going hollow and vanishing with him.

  "Holy Bejeebus...", William said.

  "Yeah." Hilda agreed. "He's gotten scary."

  They stood together, getting over the aftershock of it all, until Hilda turned and announced that she was going to have a look inside the hut of Gerdundula. William followed her. He did not want to get caught by that giant alone out there.

  10. Bestest girlfriend

  Gerdundula's hut did not make them much smarter. It bore signs of a fierce struggle, as just about everything inside was smashed to pieces.

  "I told you she's kind of possessive," Hilda remarked as she went through the remains, looking for something.

  William had looked around the hut also. It looked as if two tornadoes had been partying in there. Furniture had been reduced to less than their original components, whatever there had been of glassware and pottery was irretrievable as such. The floor was covered in shards and fragments. Also, and this broke his bookloving heart, he saw that there had been many books in the hut, now nothing more than scraps of paper in varying degrees of being burnt.

  "Crappy damn." Hilda had found what she had looking for. In her hands she held two small pieces of wood, painted red with thin white spirals over them. They obviously had been connected once. "This is her wand. Or was."

  "Can you fix it?", William asked, ignorant on the subject of wands.

  "Fix it. A wand. I don't think so. Here." She pushed the two pieces in his hand. "Give it a try if you feel like it, and do let me know if you succeed." The wicked witch looked around the hut one more time. "I guess that's it then. This place is ravaged. Lost for witchdom too, all the magic's been taken from it. This sucks..."

  Dragging her feet, she walked outside, leaving William behind in the devastation that had been the home of a witch called Gerdundula.

  He watched her go and felt sorry for her. There was very much that she got on her shoulders all of a sudden. The challenge of this sorcerer, Lamador. His own appearance
in this bizarre world. The fact that now Lamador had begun harvesting witches, to shake Hilda up.

  William walked outside as he stuck the two pieces of wood in a pocket he had discovered in his blue robe, and closed the door of the hut behind him. Hilda was sitting on the large stone again, staring at something only she could see. The book salesman remained silent, giving her some space to cope with this all.

  Hilda worried. She worried like she had never worried before. Lamador had taken Gerdundula, and it was obvious that he would extract all her magic from her and use that to build up his own. She dreaded to think what that would do to Gerdundula, beyond the fact that she would have lost all her magical abilities. A cold shudder ran down her spine. It was so very present that she physically had to shake it off.

  Hilda looked at William, who had kneeled down to look at a plant that had attracted his attention. "No touching," she said. "It is dangerous. Best not to touch anything here." Hilda did not add what she suspected. Lamador was someone who would have left quite a bundle of nasty surprises here and there.

  William rose and nodded. "Thank you for warning me." He walked over to Hilda and held out his hand.

  Puzzled she looked at it and then at his face. "I have nothing for you."

  William smiled briefly and then kneeled down before her, looking her in the eye. "You really don't get it, do you, Grimhilda? I just offer my hand to help you up. To show you that I want to do what little I can to help you, support you. You are apparently not used to that, which is fine. Maybe you'll get the hang of it."

  Hilda's amazement grew with each word he said. "You are such an incomprehensive creature, William Connoley!", she exclaimed as she got up from the stone and looked down at him. "I can stand up when I want. I don't need support from you for that. This is my land, my world, I know what goes on here, and I say that we get out of here now. Okay? Now get up from the dirt, that is not a way to behave for someone in a wizard's dress. Act to your appearance, man."

  William was overbluffed for a few moments, her change being so drastic, from helpless to appearing fully in control. He was even more surprised as she held out her hand to him, her face calm and unmoving. With a smile he took her hand and got up.

  The witch felt his hand in hers. The strong hand. She saw his friendly face, the smile. A soft sigh fought its way from her lips and for a moment she felt- and then the moment was gone.

  Her hand slipped from his and she turned. "Come. Time to go home and get something to eat. And this time I'm making it."

  Women here were as incomprehensible here as they had been at home, William thought. He shook his head, suppressed his laughter about the realisation and walked after Hilda who was striding along with large steps.

  They came to the illusionary metal wall. It was different, less solid. They both noticed it.

  "See, the magic is already dissipating. In a day there will be nothing of it left." Hilda stepped through it, and William could see a faint shadow of her on the other side as she walked to where the brooms were waiting. Quickly he followed her, and moments later they were airborn, heading back to Hilda's house.

  They were coming close to the house when Hilda hit the brakes. Both brooms hovered over the trees William had seen from his bedroom, the ones that looked normal and strange without being able to tell what was odd about them.

  "Something's different there," said Hilda, "you stay here." She dropped to just over the treetops and slowly moved her broom towards the house.

  "As if I have a choice," William grinned to himself as he watched how the witch worked her way towards her house. He was extremely impressed with her ability to handle the two brooms, keeping him where he was and also flying her own, her mind obviously geared to what would be the matter at her house.

  To pass the time, he took the two pieces of the wand from his pocket and tried to fit them together. The two pieces remained two pieces, but at one of his attempts the broom he was on shuddered. Not sure if this was something he had done, he thought it best to put away the wood and watch Hilda's actions instead.

  Hilda was as close to her house as she could without being seen. There was a broom outside the door. And it was not one of hers, which was unheard of. No witch would leave a broom like that near the door of another witch's house. She was in doubt what to do now. Facing another witch was not the problem. But leaving William where he was was not a solid plan then, as her attention would become to widespread, and he'd have an ungentle encounter with the earth. And it might also break the broom.

  "You'd better be holding on," she muttered, as she made the other broom slowly move downwards and glide to where she was.

  William remained silent, despite the slight startle he'd had when his transportation device suddenly started moving. As his broom pulled up next to the one of Hilda, she looked at him and put a finger on her lips. He nodded, and they gently went down to the earth. Hilda handed him her broom and pointed to the trees. He had to hide there, with the brooms. He nodded a confirmation and went to where she wanted him, doubting that his blue and black attire would keep him out of sight adequately.

  Hilda did not seem to worry about that. She straightened her back, popped up her wand and marched towards her house. William felt sorry for the person inside that would have to answer to her. Hilda was in battle-mode.

  The witch stopped at the door and looked at the broomstick that was so casually leaning against the wall. She grinned. "Damn you. I should have known. You are so frickin' curious."

  "Hello, Hilda," said the house, "we have a visitor."

  "I know," she said, her smile widening. The door opened and she went in.

  "BABS!!", she screamed at the top of her lungs.

  "HILLY!", Baba Yaga screamed at the same volume.

  A cacaphony of cackling laughter followed, which for the uninitiated translated into an awful sound resembling death, destruction and the downfall of anything sacred. The two witches danced around, their shrieking seemingly endless until the welcoming ceremony these two had thought up so long ago was complete, leaving the area in an eerie silence.

  William bravely stood behind his tree, hands over his ears to block out the worst of the audible havoc. As the pressure on his eardrums suddenly subsided he dared to breathe again and take his hands off his ears. He did keep them raised, in case the sound would happen again. It didn't. The next thing he saw happen was that Hilda came out of her house and beckoned him to come over, after which she quickly went into the house again.

  William grabbed hold of both brooms and walked over to the house. He wondered about the odd broom that was next to the door, put the two he carried next to it and went inside. "Holy Bejeebus", he said. At the table with Hilda was the most hideous woman he had ever seen. Even his wildest and most creative nightmares could not conjure up something like that. She looked like a skeleton with skin and clothes on, had a big head with the occasional hair. The woman looked like one big wrinkle although her nose remained prominently visible.

  "Well, that's him," Hilda said to the nightmare in black as she saw William. "This is William. William, please meet Babs, my bestest girlfriend. Or Baba Yaga as she is known to most."

  The book salesman of course had heard, or rather read about Baba Yaga. There had been drawings of the witch in some of them, but none of them did any credit to her as she stood there in real life. He was too stunned and appalled to faint or run away. Instead he did the only right thing.

  "Baba Yaga. I have heard a lot about you. Pleased to meet you." William did wonder if he should offer her his hand. He was not convinced she'd give it back.

  "As long as it's only bad things, then I'm happy," the ghastly witch cackled, giving William the creeps. "Can't have people thinking good things about us, can we, Hilly baby?"

  Baba Yaga sat down again. A kettle with tea flew in from the kitchen, closely followed by a tray of cookies.

  "Come sit, William," Hilda said with a smile, patting the seat of the chair next to her. He took off the black cloak
and then sat down, stumped by her sudden almost affectionate behaviour.

  "This is the man I talked about this morning, Babs," Hilda continued. "This is who I knocked out."

  Baba Yaga looked William over inch by inch. "Nice garb," she said, "but hardly what he's supposed to wear, is it? Not much magic in him. So where'd you dig him up?"

  Hilda looked at William, a blush on her face. He understood that she had not told her bestest girlfriend about the strange visit to his world, so he winked at her. "Do you tell her, or will I tell her?"

  Hilda's eyes became large for a moment. "I'll tell her. Just tell me when I forget something, okay?"

  William nodded and got up to pour tea for everyone as Hilda started telling Baba Yaga about the strange happenings that she had encountered so many years ago. Baba Yaga's eyes probably also became bigger and bigger, but he was not able to discern them between the folds of her wrinkles.

  When Hilda reached the point where it became clear that William had been the only person that could get her back to her own world, Baba Yaga asked him if he by chance was magical in his own world.

  "No, I'm afraid not. I deal with books, not with magic."

  Hilda then went on telling Babs about how she came back and how she somehow had brought William to their own world. "And since I got him here, I have taken him in and put him in a room. Of his own," she added a bit snippy.

  This of course caused Baba Yaga to cackle again. "Well, that is quite an adventure you've been holding from me, Hilda," she said with a grin. "And now you have him here, what do you plan to do with him?"

  William frowned. He was not used to be talked about as if he was not there, or a mere piece of furniture that had been acquired. Still he looked at Hilda, as he was also very interested to hear her answer.

  11. What to do with William?

  Hilda looked at Babs, then at William, then at her teacup, from where the goldfish looked up also, waiting for her answer.