Hilda - The Challenge

by Paul Kater

  William understood from her words that she did have second hand experiences. It was better not to ask now, he decided.

  "We're now halfway over Ringeholm," Hilda told him. "The number of arrows will get a bit worse from here on, so watch me and also watch for yourself. They seem to move the bows around, nobody ever knows where they are except their soldier-bosses."

  They spent an uncomfortable hour avoiding trees that were flung at them, and William was less and less eager to have a look at the bows that were capable of such a feat. He just wanted get away from this area as soon as possible and preferably in one piece, together with Hilda.

  Finally he noticed that Hilda relaxed. "Are we in the clear now?" His arms hurt from holding the broomstick, as the jolts he had it make were quite radical at times.

  "Yes, a few more minutes and we are in Herald's kingdom," she said. Hilda too was glad they had this behind them. Her arms also hurt, and she felt pity for William who was hurting much more. She knew that through the link. "If you want, we can land when we're there. Plenty of safe spots."

  "If you fly on, I fly on," he said.

  Hilda pulled her broom next to his. "Don't give me that, William. I know your arms almost fall off, so we are going down first chance we have. And I don't want you to say anything but yes or okay."

  "Yes. Okay. Sweetheart. Thank you for getting us through this."

  41. The plan (2)

  They had taken time to eat, drink and relax their arms. William had called it a very enjoyable way to refuel the brooms, and Hilda had ordered him to talk sense once again.

  "This area is still pretty safe, William," said Hilda. "People here are not too much under Lamador's influence as this is remote country, not interesting for a high-up sorcerer. Once we get closer to the big villages, he'll be more present."

  William nodded, understanding exactly what she meant to say. The plan was bold and they would go for it whilst in the lion's den, so that made it all even more tricky. Compared to Lamador, who had hundreds, if not thousands of Grizbles at his disposal, they were only two strong. But, as William had explained to Hilda, small numbers have the benefit of being able to disappear easily. Something she hoped was true.

  Rested and fed, they mounted their brooms again.

  The kingdom of Herald was very different from that of Walt, the land that William had gotten to know rather well. There were hardly any large forests. An occasional patch of trees, large areas that consisted of rocky plateaus, wide and fiercefully streaming rivers with high impressive bridges over them. Those were William's main impressions from the land they were flying over.

  "The rocky slabs down there used to be mountains," Hilda said, pointing at one of the areas. "Herald has this thing with using rock for homes. Most of the houses in this land are made of rock. They seem to make thinner slabs of it by sawing the rock up, but it is beyond me how they do that."

  William nodded. "I would not know how they do it here. I've seen documentaries about sawmills for things like that, but I doubt these exist here."

  "Saw mills. William. Please." She looked almost pained as she turned her face to him. "One of these illusionary things from your old world, right?"

  "Right. I won't mention them again."

  She looked as if she was about to give in. "We'll see."

  They approached the first larger village. It was larger indeed, at least six times larger than the one that Hilda lived close to. It wouldn't even be considered small in William's old world.

  "What do you think," asked Hilda, "should we go in here?"

  William thought quickly. It was not very close to Lamador and the king of this country, but it would give them an opportunity to get a feel for the way people here thought about the sorcerer. "Yes, let's go in."

  They swung their brooms downwards and landed a few miles from the village in a spot where there were some large boulders. There, out of sight, they hid their transports beneath a large piece of granite and changed into clothes that would not reveal who they were.

  "We may have to adjust the clothes a bit when we get there, I'm not sure if this will work for here. Long ago since I was here," Hilda informed William.

  "We'll have to chance it then," he said with a smile.

  After making sure the brooms were out of sight for ordinaries, they set to walking towards and then down the road to the village. The road was not really a road, it was merely a wide, worn away dent in the rock, evidence that there had been many thousands of feet, horses and carriages gone over this trail before. There were not many others going into the village and they did not meet anyone that was coming from there. The people they walked among were gentle, calm and friendly. One man with a horse and cart even offered them a ride, but they thanked him and declined. The walk was a welcome change to the hours on the broom. They learnt that the name of the village was Frad. Hilda was not aware of this having a special meaning, so they filed the name under general knowledge.

  Entering the village was interesting. For a reason the magical couple could not fathom, the trail split into two lanes, a wide one for the carriages and a narrow one for the pedestrians. There was a wall built over the trail with openings for each lane. Everyone went into the village through one of the openings.

  Hilda frowned as she looked at William. He shrugged, this was new for him also. After passing through the opening in the wall, Hilda stepped to the side of the path, pulling William along by a sleeve. "Isn't this silly? You can just as easily walk around the wall and enter the village like that. Nobody's here keeping watch, or counting people, or so."

  "I know. I am also puzzled about this. It really makes no sense." William looked along the wooden wall once more but he could not discover anything that would reveal a meaning for this construction.

  "Excuse me," a woman asked. She had seen the two talk. "Is there a problem that I might help with?" The woman wore a knitted cap which once had been really white. Her hair was hidden underneath it. Her face was friendly and round, its tan told the couple that the woman spent a fair amount of time outside. Her clothes were remarkably close to what Hilda was wearing, a grey shirt, a wool cardigan and a long wide skirt, made of some thick brown fabric.

  "Perhaps," William said, to Hilda's shock. "We were wondering about this wall and why it is here."

  The woman nodded. "Yes, so do we. King Herald had decreed that there had to be more art in the land, so he ordered artists from several countries to produce pieces of art, put them where they thought the things would look best, and that is what happened. Since then we are looking at this wall. An ugly thing, isn't it?"

  Hilda nodded.

  William nodded also. "I wonder why nobody goes around it."

  The woman looked at him. "Why should they? The road into the village goes there, which is much more convenient to walk on. Now, I hope you will allow me leave. Enjoy your stay here." With a nod the woman walked on.

  The two looked at each other. Nothing to say against that, so they mingled in the crowd and proceeded deeper into the village.

  The streets of the village were immensely wide compared to the village at home. The average width was twenty feet. Everything looked clean and orderly. There were hardly people in the street, all the shops and pubs were so large that there was no need for trade in open air.

  William shook his head. So sad, he thought, the place looked too clean. Somehow an image of a city under ultimate control came to his mind, the likes of which he had seen in science fiction movies. Movies where some stuck-up dictator type was exerting his power down to the moment and place people would use the bathroom.

  They came by a pub.

  "Should we go in here?", asked Hilda.

  "Sure. This one is as good as any other. It is a really strange place here," William said, to which Hilda nodded.

  "It is much different since I was here last. But that is a while ago."

  "And how long would that be, then?", asked William as he held the door for her.

  "At least 180
years," the witch told him as she stepped into the pub.

  "Uh-what?"

  But Hilda was inside already, not hearing William's surprise.

  The pub looked nice on the inside. It was a real pub, be it just a bit too large to be cozy. There were tables with chairs, all made of grey-green wood. The proprietor had gone through a lot of trouble, putting a candle on each table, and even a small vase with some flowers on most of them. The floor was the inevitable and everpresent rock, which made sense. You could not get a cheaper and more rugged floor than that, and it was easy to clean also.

  Hilda and William moved through the pub. There were not many customers at that time, most tables were empty. They chose to sit at a table that was close to the domicile of the proprietor who came to them, asking what he could bring them. As he was almost lyrical about the ale his pub carried, they both ordered a glass of it. When the man had left them, William asked if Hilda would be fine with the beer.

  She wiggled her nose and grinned. Of course she would be fine.

  The pub owner brought them their glasses. As there was little business, he was eager to strike up a conversation with the two people who were clearly new to the area. "You picked a fine day to visit," he said, "the weather has not been to good over the past days. May I ask what brings you to our village?"

  William explained that they were travelling, and that they happened to come by the village. "As it looks very nice here, we really could not pass by without a visit."

  "Yes, we are living in a very nice place," the barkeeper said, smiling. "There are several nice spots to visit here also. We have the oldest museum dedicated to the kings of the country. Well, almost the oldest." He made his eyebrows bounce, he was obviously proud of the fact.

  "I am one of the caretakers of the museum."

  Ah, that explained a lot.

  "If you care to visit, you can tell the person at the door that you know Liam. That, of course, would be me."

  "Of course," William nodded and took a sip of his beer. "And I must congratulate you on your ale, Liam, it is very good!" And it was.

  "Thank you, sir. The museum is right down the street, on your lefthand side-"

  "Hey, Liam, start moving your feet, man, our glasses are dry! We are desperate for a refill!" That cry informed Liam of impending doom, so he wished Hilda and William a nice day and quickly made off to the table from where the emergency was about to happen.

  "Too bad he was called away, he was very informative," Hilda mumbled in her glass. She knew that William would be able to hear her though.

  He nodded. "Maybe we should have a look in that museum. You never know..."

  After finishing the beers, Hilda's thoroughly watered down, they left a few silver coins on the table, wished Liam a good day and left the pub.

  "Nice man," William agreed.

  They walked along the street. Nobody minded them or asked them anything, it was clear that the people from this village were used to having strangers around. They looked at the shops and what there was on display behind the windows. Hilda drooled over some of the dresses, but walked along after not too much pressure from William.

  "We can always come back here again," he said, "and then you can look and try them all on if you want."

  Hilda clung to his arm. "I hope you're right."

  William understood what she meant.

  They reached the museum. It was impossible to miss. The street, empty except for the people, suddenly was almost littered with large signs that pointed out with arrows and large words that the passers-by could find the museum of the royals to their left.

  "Looks like we managed to find it," William grinned as he steered them towards the entrance.

  There was a young man at the entrance to the museum. He had a face that reminded them of a mouse, small and pointy.

  "Hello," said William, "we would like to visit the museum. Liam told us it is here."

  "Oh. Did he. Two silvers."

  "Two silvers, for a look at your dead kings?", Hilda flared up, "do you think that's for real?"

  Mouse-face stared at her as he stepped back. "One of them is still alive," he tried.

  "Brent. Let these people enter the museum."

  Mouse-face startled and looked around to the man that came out of the building. "Gio, you are here."

  "Yes, and by the looks of it that is a good thing. You are the scoundrel still, Brent. One more time and you will be on report. Then you can kiss your occupation goodbye."

  Mouse-face shrunk as if a basin full of too hot water was poured out over him. He nodded and tried to become even smaller.

  "May I be of assistance?", the man that mouse-face had called Gio asked the magical couple.

  42. The plan (3)

  Gio showed Hilda and William around in the museum. It wasn't a very impressive tour, as there were a full one painting and one statue per king that had ruled here, and the number of kings was quite limited.

  The last room though was of particular interest. The room with the images of king Herald.

  As they entered the room, the surprise was solid. Two paintings. Two statues.

  Gio grinned. "I am sure you were not prepared for that."

  Hilda's eyes were glued to the statue of a person wearing blue clothes and a white mask. William felt how she tensed up.

  "This is king Herald," Gio pointed at the stone man in the scarlet uniform. The king looked quite small compared to the sorcerer that was standing next to him. The difference was almost a head.

  "I see you are surprised that there are two statues. Well, that was by special request of the king. He, and our land too, owes so much to his powerful sorcerer that he ordered a statue and a painting made of the high Lamador, to be placed with his own image."

  It was what Hilda had already been afraid of. William felt her tremble and put an arm around her shoulders, holding her tightly against him.

  "Ah, I see the young lady is a bit terrified of the sorcerer. Yes," Gio babbled, "he is quite an overwhelming figure, even when just present in stone like this."

  "Have you met him then?", William asked Gio.

  "Met him? The high Lamador? Oh no, sir, he would not come to this village, a small nothing. No, the high Lamador will not go out of the capital and will stay near the king as much as he can, to ensure the king's safety." Gio snickered at the thought of Lamador coming to this place and shook his head.

  William refrained from asking more questions. He was certain they had seen enough. Hilda was already gently pushing him, she wanted to leave, so they thanked Gio for guiding them around and quickly left the building. Outside they saw Brent again, the mouse-face, who was keeping to the side of the building, hoping the two would not see him. Alas, they did.

  As Hilda and William walked away, the wicked witch snipped her fingers that were invisible under William's arm. A lot of agitation suddenly arose in the street and the couple turned round to see what it was. William seriously wondering, Hilda as she wanted to see the result of the snip. They were in time to see Brent bending down to pull his trousers back up. Laughing, they walked back to the large wall with its openings, and made for their brooms.

  "It is really bad here," William noted as they were in the air again.

  "Yes. Worse than I thought even. And you were right, William, he is using the king to play his games. If the king even allows his court sorcerer to have a larger statue than he has himself, then there is something very wrong." Hilda felt really uncomfortable, the more as she sensed a similar thing coming from William. But in a way it assured her that he was with her, also in that sense. He was not going to do foolish things, she was certain of that.

  They flew on, not speaking much, until the capital came near. And a capital it was. It was white, so white that it hurt their eyes as the sunshine hit the giant white buildings that were in front of the even more giant mountainsides.

  A wide web of roads, paths and trails was weaving itself together with one destination: the capital of king Herald's king
dom, Heraldion.

  This was not a village. This was a city of serious dimensions. Even from the distance that there was between it and Hilda and William it looked huge.

  "There it is," Hilda said to hide her nerves. She was not at all happy to see the place. It meant only one thing to her: Lamador. And that spooked her to no end.

  They had landed their brooms several miles from the city and it felt to them as if they were in the middle of a street inside it. There were no ordinaries near, they had searched for magical people and found none either, so they were reasonably certain that their arrival so far had gone unnoticed.

  Hilda looked at William. "We've come this far, let's get it over with." There was a bit of doom in the tone of her voice.

  William understood, as this was literally stepping into the lion's bedroom. He touched her cheek. "We'll be fine. I don't think that Lamador will believe that we are doing this. He's gone through a lot of work to make everyone afraid of him, and it worked. So we're going to do the unbelievable thing here." He winked at the wicked witch. "Ready to do the unbelievable?" He held out his hand.

  She hesitated. Then, with a feeble smile, she took his hand. "I don't know why I love you, William. You are so crazy at times that it scares me. And yet I hear what you say and somehow it makes sense." She squeezed his hand. "Just stay with me and nothing will happen to you, okay?"

  William smiled. "I'm not going to let you out of my sight, Hilda."

  They walked towards one of the trails that led to Heraldion and after an hour they had mingled with and merged with the crowd that was moving towards the city.

  The approach towards Heraldion was more normal than getting to Frad, the first village they had visited. The web of roads they had seen was not exactly fixed on one point where they could get into the city. There were many side-trails and tracks that spread out. Carts with goods, large groups of people, they all seemed to know where they wanted to go, diverting from the large main street that led onwards. Hilda proposed they'd follow along one of the smaller, less busy tracks, but William shook his head.