Hilda - The Challenge

by Paul Kater

  The witch returned from her round over the area. On purpose she had not done a shortcut, she also had not left out something. Things were well with William. She knew. It was a new experience for her, she had never been in a binding herself, only witnessed several. Often she had wondered what it would be like, what it would feel like, and now she had first-hand experience.

  As she came in, she frowned as there was no new mail for her. But that also meant no oppressive notes from Lamador. Labrador, she grinned, recalling how William had called the man at first.

  Her broom took its position by itself, and Hilda walked up the stairs. She knew William was well and asleep, but she just had to see him with her own eyes.

  William still lay in bed peacefully. He had been moving a bit, her nightgown had shifted.

  "Tsk tsk, sweet man, lie still," she grinned as she gently put her gown back where it belonged for now.

  He stirred. And opened his eyes, slowly, as if there were dolmen on his eyelids. "Hey... pretty witch..."

  "Shush, you. You must sleep," Hilda whispered, sitting down next to him and putting a hand on his hair. "You worked so hard, William..."

  He groaned. "Where's the bloody truck..."

  "What truck?", the witch wondered. She was glad that she knew what a truck was, having seen the scrapheap that William had arrived in.

  "The one that ran me over..." William had never felt so shattered as he did at that moment. Even the trip through the mountain that had brought him here had been a joyride compared to this.

  "I think, sweet William, that a truck running you over would not make you feel this bad. I'm sorry that you feel so bad, but by the evening it will be a lot better."

  "Is it evening yet?"

  "No. Try to sleep some more. I will bring you some soup later on." She sat down with him, put her hand over his hands that still were folded around the wand, and kissed his cheek. "I promise you will feel better soon. The wand will help you." At least, she hoped. She had no experience with ordinaries and wands, she just knew that it worked that way with wands and witches.

  "Wand. Yes. Wand." He drifted away.

  Hilda smiled, kissed him again and then went downstairs again, after changing into more homely clothes.

  The witch was looking through William's book when there was a slight tugging in her feeling. William was waking up! She jumped to her feet, quickly went to the kitchen to get his soup and made her way to the bedroom again, where the former book salesman was surfacing from his trip down Sleepy Lane again.

  The witch, feeling nothing like wicked at the moment, helped him sit up and made him eat all the soup that was in the bowl. It was a large bowl. "You have to eat it, William, it will help you get better too." She smiled as she noticed that he did not let go of the wand. He kept it in his hand, probably without even noticing it. That was good. It would help the forging and make the connection strong as possible.

  "How are you feeling now?", Hilda asked her lover. He looked less shaken up already.

  "Not sure if 'better' is the proper word, but less bad for certain. I didn't know you had it in you to be such a good nurse." He smiled.

  "I don't. I just have to take care of you, after what happened. It is very exhausting."

  "You know about it?"

  Hilda told him what had happened, to what he had committed himself as he had agreed to adopt the wand.

  "Holy Bejeebus."

  This time she let him get away with it.

  "That's, uhm, quite something." He lifted the wand and looked at it. And smiled at it. "So we're together from now on. Amazing." Very carefully he put the wand down next to him on the bed.

  "It is best to hold it as long as you can, William," Hilda said, trying to put his hand back on the wand.

  "I know, but I do have to get up now."

  "No, stay in bed. Please."

  "Sweet little witch," he said, his smile showing how tired he was, "there are certain things you should not do in a bed. And what I need to do is one of them."

  "Oh. Right." Hilda blushed. "I'll help you to the door then."

  As he was trying to get up, William found out that definitely needed to accept her offer. He would never have made it on his own: his legs felt like jelly. The fresh wand-owner was relieved to fall into bed again after the trip also.

  "You' re doing really well, William," Hilda said, sitting cross-legged on the bed, facing him. It made her smile as she saw that he reached for the wand as soon as he was comfortable again. "I'll stay with you until you fall asleep again."

  "Thank you. I'm still not sure how I feel," he admitted, "it's all... weird."

  "Of course. You are playing with some magic now." She explained about the things she had heard of ordinaries being bound to wands. "So it is not the strangest thing in the world," she concluded. "You'll get used to having it with you. And it is nice for me to know how you feel and where you are."

  William grinned, a bit uncertain. "So have you figured out yet how that wand got fixed? You told me it can't be done, yet here it is." He waved it through the air.

  "Honestly, I have no idea. I've been thinking about it as I was going around this morning, but I have never heard of this happening before. But I was looking at your special book just now and it may have something to do with it. Although I would have to look at it more."

  "Of course, feel free to read it. It may mean more to you than it does to me anyway." William stared at the wand for a few moments. "Do you think I can learn that trick you know, to make it appear and disappear?"

  Hilda laughed. "That would be shiny, wouldn't it? I doubt it though. It's a magic trick, and involved magic from both sides, the wand as well as the bearer." She flicked her wrist and had her wand in hand. "Does look good when it happens, doesn't it?" Silently the wand disappeared again.

  "Oh yes, that's why I asked," grinned William, a yawn opening up. "Oops... sorry..."

  "Is okay, sweet man. Tell me if you want to rest, and I'll leave you in peace." Hilda conjured up two cups of tea. "This may help. And otherwise it's nice to drink tea together."

  William couldn't agree more.

  In silence they sat and enjoyed their tea and each other's company. Through the open window some wind blew in, bringing with it the chattering of birds and the smell of the forest.

  William felt his eyes get heavy again. "I think I should close my eyes for a moment..."

  Hilda grabbed his cup. He was gone again. She climbed from the bed and went to her living room, down the stairs. She'd read in the book until he would wake up. Or dinner time would come.

  25. It's magic

  Hilda's head jerked up from the book. She had sensed William, but... in a different way than before. The feeling was stronger now. Quickly she ran up to the bedroom, to find him sitting on the side of the bed, his feet on the ground. "William..."

  He turned and looked at her. His eyes were large and his face showed puzzlement. "Look."

  Hilda walked over to him and kneeled in front of him. "What's the matter?"

  William raised his hands, they were empty. He moved the fingers of his right hand in a somewhat odd fashion, and there was a wand in that hand. Red and white.

  Hilda stared. "That can't be. It just can't."

  To prove she was wrong, the wand disappeared from William's hand as he moved his fingers. As he moved the fingers from his left hand, the red and white wand appeared there.

  "How do you do that? You're not magical!" Hilda grabbed his hand that held the wand and looked at it, probed it with her magical ability and discovered no magic.

  "I wish I knew, Hilda. Really. It just... happened." He took the wand in his free hand. "Here. Hold it. Maybe you can tell where this comes from."

  "Are you sure? Witches usually don't hand their wands to another person."

  "I should not be a witch, right? It must be safe. Here, take it."

  Carefully Hilda touched the wand with a finger. It felt fine, safe. She took it from William's fingers and examined it. It
had a new, different charge, she sensed, modified by the connection to William. But at the same time it felt amiable, as if the wand was at home with her as well as William. She flicked her wrist. The wand remained in her hand.

  "Now let me try this..." William slowly moved his fingers. The wand left Hilda's fingers and was gone. A movement later it was in William's hand again.

  "Shiny..." Hilda was entranced by what had happened. A flick of her wrist later she held her wand. "I am not having a good feeling about this, William, but... would you dare to hold this one?" Her heart beat fast and she felt sweat appear everywhere as William put his wand on the bed and slowly moved his hand to her wand.

  "Are you sure, Hilda?", he asked.

  "No. Not at all. But try it. I'll close my eyes." As she had done so, she felt how William touched and then carefully took her wand from her hand. Her heart moaned as the silver stick was taken from her, but nothing else seemed to happen. Hilda opened her eyes. William held the wand, and he was fine. She was fine. And her wand was also.

  "I don't believe this..." She flicked her wrist and the wand was gone from William's hand. And after one more flick, she held it again. "I can't believe this, William. This is... this is..."

  "Magic?", he helped.

  "I'd almost think so," she nodded.

  Their eyes locked for a while, sharing the moment and the inexplicable, until Hilda blinked and got to her feet again. "This may be a very stupid question now, but... do you think you're fit enough to come down to eat?"

  "I think so," he said, "and otherwise I'll just magic myself down." He grinned.

  "You are not even going to attempt such a thing, William Connoley. More witches than I care to remember killed themselves doing that. It is really a difficult thing, aiming for a place where you don't appear in a chair or a wall, do you hear me?" Hilda waved her wand in front of his nose. "I want you to promise me that you will not try that kind of thing."

  "Okay, sweetheart, I promise." He looked around for some clothes. "I'll just put on the pants and the shirt."

  "And I'll wait for you and stay close. You're still recovering."

  Once down the stairs, Hilda planted William on a chair. His knees were still in the jelly state, he had discovered. His wand lay on the table, next to his hand, as he waited for Hilda to get food out of the maniacal space that made up her kitchen.

  The food did him good. They talked about what might have happened. William reminded Hilda that the book had struck him with the tiny lightning. "Maybe that is what shook me up?"

  "I don't know. At this point, sweet man, I am not sure of many things. We should not talk about this with others until we know a bit more, perhaps..."

  "I like the sound of that," William agreed. "We'd better try to understand this ourselves."

  Hilda nodded and cleaned off her plate. "Want more? There's enough." With a wry grin she added: "For a few days..."

  William laughed loudly and asked her for half a plate more. He was feeling better already; as he had smelled the food he had understood how hungry he had been.

  Hilda looked at him as he was attacking the food. "I'm glad you're eating. It helps you ground and stabilise."

  "It's good food, so if it does those things also, it is a bonus. Dear god, I was so hungry..." He emptied the plate and then he had to decline an offer for even more. "No, thank you. Full, very full."

  "Okay. Good. I am glad you're fine, William." She made the plates fly to the kitchen.

  "You know, I would like to know a bit more about that place where this challenge is going to happen," he said. "Gurthreyn, was it?"

  Hilda frowned. "I'm not really keen on talking about that, but I guess you should know a bit about it. I'll show you." She got up, took her wand and made it move her chair in front of the mirror.

  "Ha," said William, who picked up his wand. He swooped his wand in the same manner that Hilda had done. The chair was not impressed. "Hmm... do you think this is broken?", he asked, looking at the wand.

  Hilda grinned. "No, dear William, I think it is you who is broken. You know nothing of magic and how to wield it. Here, watch." She flipped her wand and the second chair moved next to her own.

  "That is so amazing," said William, "if I could just do that trick..." He pointed his wand at the book and told it to come to him as he waved the wand. The book was even less willing to comply than the chair. It even seemed to mock his amateuristic attempt. "Well, fine," William grinned and sat down on the chair that Hilda had moved for him.

  "Maybe I'll try to explain how to do it, William. Tomorrow, if you feel strong enough." She then made the mirror show the labyrinth of Gurthreyn.

  William was presented a view over an enormous area. It looked gloomy, and the bleakness of the view was so intense that it gave him goosebumps. "Holy Bejeebus."

  Hilda nodded. "It's bad."

  The labyrinth of Gurthreyn lacked any colour except grey. Grey was there in abundance, all shades looking cold and hostile. There were hardly any plants or trees visible. The odd petrified tree, that was all. The labyrinth itself consisted of a gigantic walled space with a mindboggling amount of passageways. The walls along those were as high as the wall around the entire area.

  "That is... scary," said William. "It would take almost a year of study to remember how these corridors are laid out."

  "And you'd be wasting your time," Hilda told him. "It is not just big. It was constructed by a magician. The corridors are alive. They open and close passages as they like."

  "Oh..." That was not the kind of labyrinth William was used to. "But..." He frowned and leaned forward to study the image in the mirror more closely. "If you were to levitate a bit so you can look over the walls..."

  "Do you really think that a magician would forget about something like that, William?", she destroyed his hope. "That labyrinth is sealed tightly once the contestants of the challenge enter it. There is only one way to get out of it."

  "By finding the exit," William understood.

  "No. By winning." Hilda looked at him. "Only the winner comes out of it."

  William was silent for a while. This had the makings of something lethal. "But what about the losers? How do they get out?"

  Hilda shook her head. "They don't."

  William started to grasp why she was so scared of the labyrinth. "That is..." He could not find a word for it.

  "Yes. It is. You see what I mean." Hilda returned the mirror to its reflective state. "But it is good that you know what I am facing there."

  The salesman looked at her and took her hand. "What -we- will be facing there. Okay?"

  Hilda smiled ruefully. "Of course, sweet man. What we will face there."

  William understood how she felt. He was bringing a few ideas together and stored them for later. He was sure there were things that could be done to tackle at least the labyrinth. Lamador, of course. was a problem of a different magicianitude.

  The fresh wand-owner hugged the witch. "No need to worry before the time to do so comes, Hilda. Believe me, I have learnt that an attitude like that works best." He then got up. "I am getting us wine."

  "You should let me do that, William," Hilda said as she got up also. "Remember what you've been through today."

  "As if I could forget..." He pulled a face. The memory was still building as he knew he was still adjusting to the bonding. "I'll strike you a deal. I get the wine, and you help me."

  "Plan," Hilda nodded. She took the arm he offered her and together they headed for the kitchen, ready to battle it for the wine.

  After a successful expedition they found themselves on the couch again.

  "Sweet little witch?", William asked.

  "Hmm?", the sweet little witch said from behind her glass.

  "Did it really never happen that a normal person became magical?" The thought did not leave him.

  "I can't say never with absolute certainty, William. If it happened, then I have never heard of it."

  "I see..."

  "William?"r />
  "Hmm?"

  "How are you feeling?"

  "Pretty good, I have to say. Not like I could run a marathon, but then I've never been able to do that. I do feel really fine." He looked at her face.

  "Oh. Good. Do you think you feel well enough for..." Her eyes sparkled.

  He grinned. "There is only one way to find out, isn't there?"

  26. Empty your mind

  William woke up, a bit confused. It was still dark. He felt Hilda lying against him, her breathing peaceful, her hair over his chest. Somehow she had managed to wrap both her legs around one of his. But that was not what had woken him up, he was certain of it. In the dark he held up a hand and twitched his finger. He felt the wand appear. At least that was still 'working', he thought.

  "I could do with a little bit of light," he mumbled to himself.

  A few seconds later a faint orange light came from the wand. It appeared so gently that William at first didn't even notice the light coming on. Then his heart skipped a beat as he stared at the tip of the wand where the light came from.

  "Holy Bejeebus," he whispered, "put that out!"

  Two seconds later the wand darkened again.

  Hilda moved, throwing an arm over him, muttering something in her sleep. After almost an entire minute her restlessness settled down and she slept calmly again.

  William made the wand disappear and remembered what Hilda had said about the connection she now had to him. He understood that she somehow had reacted to the magic that had happened. better not to play with that again while she was asleep. Better, he corrected himself, not to play with that again period!

  In the darkness he stared at the invisible ceiling for quite a while before sleep took him into its arms again...