Hilda - The Challenge

by Paul Kater

  "Your magic is acting weirdly, William," she told him as they were sitting down for dinner that day. "Something pops up and you are not ready for it, while something simple just doesn't work yet."

  It was true. He was not able to light a candle yet, or move a sheet of paper over the table. And he did manage to make the hood of his cloak move over his head, which according to Hilda was far more complicated.

  He agreed with what she said. "I am sure it is as confusing to you as it is for me. Only I have an advantage."

  "Really? And what might that be?" Hilda stared at William.

  "I get to play, and you have to suffer the consequences."

  Hilda was flabbergasted. She dropped her fork, walked round the table and started slapping William over the head. "Magic is not something to play with unless you know what you are doing, okay? And any consequences that I may suffer, mister, will be reflected on to you. So you'd better be very careful with what you are going to do, did I make that understandable for your ordinary's brain?"

  William was laughing very hard, and he turned to Hilda as she had stopped her happy slapping, pulled her in his lap and wrapped his arms around her.

  "You're not supposed to laugh when I am slapping you, William," she pouted, "I am trying to get a point across."

  "Point taken, pretty witch. I just love it when you are getting so worked up over something." He then became serious. "Dear Hilda, I was teasing you. I am very much aware that wielding magic is not something to take lightly. I have seen some of the things you can do and I am seriously impressed. And frightened also. The ease with which you manage to get both of us in the air with the brooms and keep us there, it is amazing, to mention something."

  "See, you really are mixed up. Flying isn't that difficult, you just have to do it. Maybe tomorrow I'll try and show you. But with the likes of you I really worry about what will happen." The witch kissed the beginner that was in her care. "So... Do you want something more to eat? Or are we done here?"

  "I think we're done here. I also think that I am not yet done with you..." He lifted her as he stood up.

  "William? What are you planning?" Hilda already had a notion, as the link between them was becoming the perfect tattle tale.

  William just grinned. "You'll find out soon enough." Then he set course for the stairs.

  A few minutes later the goldfish agreed that Hilda had become much more relaxed since William was there to take care of the needs she had repressed for so long.

  The next day, as they were on their way home from doing the rounds, William asked Hilda about the magician Gurtrheyn. "What kind of person was he? Do you know much about him?"

  "Why do you want to know about him?" Hilda wondered about the question. "It's his labyrinth I am worried about, not the dead wizard himself."

  "In my world, pretty witch, it is known that if you get to know the person who built something, you understand the reasoning behind what he made. And that can be an advantage."

  "Oh. Right. Well, I don't know much about him. Sorry. I can tell you what I know when we're done with your training," she offered.

  "That's great."

  Hilda had drawn up a plan to train William in using magic. The plan was quite simple, basically it consisted of trying something and see what would happen. His ability was too fickle to follow any serious plan, so she had decided that this approach would be the best option. Or rather: gamble.

  "I have an idea," she said as they had just past the village. "I said that flying is basically simple, remember?"

  "I remember, yes." William already had a feeling of what was coming at him.

  "Why don't you try it while I hold you?"

  William now had the certainty of what was coming at him. "I somehow knew you were going to propose that."

  "And what exactly should I make of that reply? Are you afraid, William?" Hilda moved her broom closer to his, and touched his arm for a few moments. "No need for that, sweet man. I am here. I won't let you fall."

  "I know that, Hilda, but the idea is a bit... daunting."

  "Oh, shush, you. Just get the feel. Like you did yesterday when you wanted to move the broom left and right. Only now you want to keep it level and going forward."

  William's idea for trying to fly had their origins a bit nearer to the ground, but Hilda was right. She was there to catch him. "Okay... I will seriously do this."

  "Don't cramp up, William. It is really as easy as breathing. Or kissing...", she added with a smile. "Try to feel the magic inside the broom. Feel its life, and feel where it goes. Where you want to go." She kept talking to him, her voice being gentle, calm, even seductive in bringing his mind into a state of peace and attentive calm awareness. That would be a first step into sensing what he'd need.

  William let her voice lead him. His vision seemed to go a little out of focus and he let his senses take over. He felt the broom, the air, he saw the house where they were going in his mind and he felt Hilda close to him. William dared to relax as he let all that take him over.

  The feeling of his magic was faint, but it was there. He had learnt to notice it by now, although there were plenty of times that he missed it.

  Hilda kept a close eye on the man who was flying next to her. Her sensation of him told her that he was going in the right mental direction. William was letting go of the disbelief and the uncertainty. 'Yes, my dear man, you just need to will it without pushing,' she thought for him.

  The hold she had on him was firm. In fact the hold she had on her magic was firm, and that did the real work.

  She noticed a change in William as his magic flowed out of his core and into his veins. Almost with baited breath she watched the metamorphosis in him happen as he took control of the broom and the flight. She slowly started to let go.

  William discovered and embraced a new feeling. A tingling sensation that was going through him, and it seemed to envelope him, Hilda, the brooms. It was as a light that could not be seen, just felt, he decided, and smiled at the idea. He felt in control of the situation. He knew where they were going. And how they were doing it.

  Hilda saw William's smile and that something was happening inside him. She had let go of him completely now, and he was still flying. Very very slowly she made her broom rise up, only a few inches. William followed. His smile widened, and the feeling it gave Hilda made that she started smiling also. She did not say a word, afraid that she would ruin the state of mind he was in.

  William had noticed Hilda's broom rise and wanted to stay with her. His broom went up. He turned his head to look at the pretty witch, whose hair was flying wildly behind her, just because she wanted it to. "How am I doing? Am I doing something, should I ask?"

  Hilda's smile remained as she replied. "You, William Connoley... you are flying a broom."

  "I know that," he said, his eyes shining, "but-" It was then that he became aware of the actual meaning that her words carried.

  He was flying a broom. He did it himself. Slowly he turned his head and looked at the bristles in front of him. The hands that held the stick. Again the feeling, the sensory light, was pulsating around him.

  William took a deep breath and held his relaxed posture.

  Hilda, flying on his left, tried not to tense up as she saw how William was slightly shifting. His broom gently moved to the right, creating an opening of almost five yards between them. The wicked witch was ready to throw her magic, but there was no need.

  William had simply willed the broom to move. It had gently done what he wanted- no, what he had requested and hoped for. After the thrill of feeling the broom move to his wish, he looked at Hilda, his face competing with the sun in shining. He saw her smile, sensed a feeling of marvel, and then he closed the gap between them again, his eyes on the broomstick.

  "Hilda..." In his voice sounded a slight wavering.

  "William? Look at me, okay?"

  He looked at her. "How does one land a broom?"

  28. Second nature

  Hilda had taken
over the flying from William and had made sure that both reached the ground safely.

  William's knees were shaking as they had gotten to terra firma again, but he was smiling, his face alight with what had happened. His broom was on the ground and Hilda in his arms, who was hoping that he would not break anything inside her.

  When finally he let go of her and she could breathe with ease again, the witch grinned. "I'd almost think you liked this."

  "And I think you are the mistress of understatements today, Hilda," William said. "This was mind-blowing. The feel of it. The awareness, somewhere far away, that I was able to keep a broom and myself into flight."

  "I am glad that it went so well, sweet man." Hilda folded her arms around his neck. "But now we are keeping our feet on the ground again, aren't we? And I have just the thing to do for you to make that easy."

  William was a bit surprised about that, but he followed her as she took his hand and started walking to the back of the house. There, in several neat piles, lay the vegetables, meat and other groceries that the villagers had delivered at Hilda's house. The 'payment'.

  "This stuff all has to go to the storage room under the house," Hilda explained, "and I am so very happy that you volunteered to do that for me."

  "Oh. I did, did I?" William frowned for a moment. Then he grinned, as he saw the sparkles in his witch's eyes. "Indeed. I think I did. If you can show me the way to the storage room, I'll be happy to move the stuff for you, sweetheart."

  "Cool puppies," said Hilda. "Get your wand, you'll need that."

  "Uhm? Oh!" William wiggled his fingers and the wand was there.

  "Very good. Now remember this: scipio reserare cellarius occulum." Hilda had to repeat it for William a few times, until he got it right. "That should work. Now place the tip of your wand here." She pointed to a specific spot on the wall of the house, that looked as if it was scratched. "Then say the spell."

  William did as she told him. Nothing happened. The house chuckled.

  "Oh, shush you," Hilda said to her house, "he's new at this. William, it would help if you put the magic feeling into it a bit."

  He nodded and concentrated on the feeling again, then let it loose and flow. "Scipio reserare cellarius occulum." A slight tremble went through the wand, he barely noticed it, but Hilda said: "That is how I want to see it."

  She had picked up the tremble through their connection.

  William's jaw lowered itself, without any magic, as he saw a part of the wall under the wand slowly dissolve, opening up a door of sorts. "Did I just do that?"

  "Hmmm... did you see me do something?", Hilda asked, waving her empty hands. "Look, no wand."

  "Right. Sorry. Beginner here," he apologised. Then he looked into the opening. There was a short staircase going into the darkness. "Goodness, some light there would be a good idea..." William stepped back instinctively as in the storage room several spots started to light up.

  Hilda chuckled along with the house now. "You're getting better, William, but do pay attention a bit when you say something. Only use the magical intent if you need it. You have to practice switching in and out of it very quickly. It must become a second nature."

  William made a moue. "It took me over thirty years to come up with my first nature. I guess you don't want to wait that long for the second, right?"

  "Indeed, sweet man," Hilda said. She put her arm around his. "I'd say you have little less than three moons to get it under control. I need you, you know that." After that serious moment, which hung around them tangibly, she said: "So if you can now please move our food into the storage and close the wall again, I'm a happy witch."

  William grinned. His wand disappeared and he walked over to the nearest stack of goods.

  "Hey. What do you think you're doing?"

  William turned to her. "Putting the groceries away?"

  "And -how- are you going to do that?"

  William picked up a crate. "Like this?"

  "No."

  William put the crate down. "Oh. I see. You want me to do this the hard way." He made his wand appear. "Any Latin you'd like to share for this?"

  "Nope. I hate Latin. I just keep the wall under it so nobody will be able to steal things from me." Hilda made a chair appear and sat down. "Now, show me that you can do this, William. Work on your second nature."

  William sighed. "Alright..." He pointed his wand at the crate. "Come on, follow the leader..." He turned to the open wall and walked down the stairs. Halfway down he grinned, turned around and was knocked in the head by the crate. "Crap!"

  Hilda all but flew down the stairs. "William! What happened?!" Then she saw her sweet man rubbing his head, the crate still afloat near his head. "Stupid silly man. Never just stop walking when you have something in tow," she warned him a bit too late.

  "Heck," he muttered, "I didn't know that thing was actually following me! Well, as it's here... Just put yourself in that corner then." William pointed with the wand, and the crate slowly slipped to its designated place, going at the same speed as William was pointing his eyes there.

  Hilda clapped her hands. "That was very good! Now let me do something about this..." She waved a hand over the small bloody spot on William's forehead and it disappeared, leaving healed skin. "That is better."

  William was a bit confused about everything, by now. "I don't get it... I was making fun with that crate and it flew behind me."

  Hilda kissed his cheek. "Then you are in for a treat, because there are many more crates and bags. So you go and have fun with them, and I'm going to take a soak in the bath." Quickly she walked up the short stairs. "Oh, before I forget: you close the wall with 'scipio obscuro cellarius occulum.'." A shrieking laugh was all that he got from her as she disappeared from his view.

  "Work on your second nature..." William stomped up the stairs and glared at the next crate. "You. Come here." The crate did not feel compelled to listen. "Oh, right. This is supposed to be fun." He walked to the crate and bent down to pick it up.

  "No cheating."

  The wizard in training turned to the house. "So now you are spying on me too, right?"

  "I just follow the orders of the witch," it replied.

  "Great." William walked to the chair that Hilda had left there and sat down on it. He considered that it would indeed be fun to see crates fly. It would save him a lot of walking up and down the stairs, and also prevent him from being whacked in the head again. With a grin he pointed his wand at the crate. "Amuse me... go to the cellar and stand next to the other one..." A few seconds long nothing happened, and wonder was already crawling up his ankles as the crate slowly rose and calmly floated into the cellar. As it had gone out of sight, William got up and checked where it stood. the crate had parked itself exactly where he had wanted it.

  "Hot damn, this really works," he mumbled, staring at the wand. He sat down again, and one by one he made the crates and bags with goods float into the cellar. After managing that, he needed a few retries before he got the closing spell right, feeling like Ron Weasly from the Harry Potter books.

  Satisfied and also quite drained again, as his body was not used to magical work, he made the wand disappear, patted the wall of the house and went inside.

  "Honey, I'm home!", he called out.

  "Honey, I'm glad!", he heard Hilda's voice from the top floor. "I am still in the tub. Getting all wrinkly."

  "Oh grand," William said as he went up the stairs, "so I am doing all the hard work and you don't even have lunch ready for me?"

  Her shrieking laughter was not as harsh on his ears as it used to be. He pushed open the door to the bathroom and grinned as he saw the purple bubbles. "Hey, sweetheart. Purple suits you."

  She grinned. "I know!" She blew some bubbles to him, making them run around his head before they popped into oblivion. "The house told me you were really good and did not use your hands to put away the groceries."

  William nodded. "I'm afraid the wand will have muscle-aches tomorrow."

  The
witch stared at him, not understanding a word of what he had last said. "Do I have to laugh now? Or worry?"

  William grinned and shook his head. "Neither. Don't worry about it, sweetheart. I'll go and start some lunch. Make yourself pretty for me, will you?" He quickly moved away and closed the door. The piece of soap therefore did not bounce off his head. This time it was his laughter that shook the house up.

  "You really did well, William," Hilda commented on the food they had enjoyed. "How are you feeling?"

  "A bit... I'm not sure. One part is tired, one part is all energy and roaring to go."

  "At least that part of you is behaving in a normal way," Hilda said, recalling how she had felt as she was learning all the magical things.

  After they had cleared the table, Hilda made a serious attempt to explain a few theoretical things about magic. That did not exactly go as either of them had hoped. Hilda's perspective was that of a witch who had been living amidst magic all her life. William's was that of a book salesman from a world where magic was considered something from fairy-tales, or the stuff that magicians the likes of David Copperfield would perform: incredibly artful, but obvious trickery.

  Hilda was getting more and more worked up and annoyed that all her efforts seemed to fall on deaf ears. William really tried hard, but most of Hilda's concepts simply had no basis in his knowledge.

  "I am really sorry, Hilda, but this so called simple thing you mentioned just now means really nothing to me." They were looking at one of Hilda's books, one that dealt with basic magic and protection. The page spoke of using air as a protective layer to ward off incoming projectiles, and Hilda had demonstrated how simple it was to conjure that up.

  The wicked witch groaned. "But you see how it works, don't you? I mean, you threw the arrow at me and it did not hit me, right?"

  "Yes, I did, and it didn't, but that does not make it a piece of cake for me to copy the trick, pretty witch." William read the passage in the book again. "It looks simple enough. Umbrea. I can say the word, but..."