Hilda - The Challenge

by Paul Kater

  William looked at Hilda and nodded. "I see that, but this treatment is still quite amazing."

  The witch put down her fork as she felt something from within William. "Perhaps, sweet man, you have forgotten that." She pointed at the door which was sealed magically. "Yes, this is better than a cell in a dungeon, but we are still locked in and very restricted in our doings. A golden cage, but still a cage."

  After dinner, they went looking for the proper things to wear for the meeting with King Herald and Lamador. The great sorcerer was bound to be present. To keep everyone in the belief that William was not magical, he put on ordinary's clothes, the grey velvet trousers and a green shirt. Simple footwear and a leather belt completed his outfit.

  Hilda had donned her magnificent red dress and tucked up her hair in an extremely complicated braided pattern. She had a purple cape around her which went stunningly with the red dress.

  After getting dressed there was nothing but for them to wait. They looked out the big windows to get glimpses of life in the city, but darkness was already creeping in, so their view was rather limited. That was about the same with everything they could do, so they were getting rather annoyed sitting around waiting.

  William knew it was all a psychology trick. Hilda knew they did it on purpose.

  Finally, darkness had spread thickly around the castle, the door opened and Gountar entered the room. "The king will see you now."

  Hilda, William right behind her, walked out the room, where an escort of four more men was waiting for them. These were new people, Hilda sensed that all of them were high-level magical. With all that protection around, the group started walking down the corridor and descended the stairs they had come up a few hours before.

  After a journey through a maze of corridors they were taken into a hall that was immense. William thought that a cathedral could be jealous of such space. Instead of the regular stone and marble, this hall seemed to be decorated with nothing but gold and silver. It was so overdone that it looked tacky.

  The two were brought to a couple of large thrones, also made of gold. They walked over a long white carpet, whiched like a thick linen mat, very soft and also sound-supressing. Gountar walked ahead of them and magically forced them to stop at a certain point while he walked on.

  "King Herald, Queen Warda, here are the two people you have summoned, to answer to the insults they made Tudris suffer from."

  "Tudris??" William let the name slip from his mouth.

  Gountar turned around. "You are not to speak unless spoken to."

  A bolt of energy reached William, which obviously was meant to seal his lips. He played along.

  Hilda looked at him and caught his near hidden wink. She nodded. She too was surprised to hear the name Tudris. So it wasn't Lamador who had felt insulted after all?

  "Show them to us," a surprisingly boyish voice said. Gountar stepped aside and gestured Hilda and William to come closer.

  They walked up to the thrones that were placed on a dais overloaded with gold and ruby ornaments. King Herald looked very young indeed, not a day older than twenty. His wife, Queen Warda, looked like seventeen. Hilda stared at the two in surprise.

  The royal highnesses wore burgundy red robes with dark blue patches. The red parts of the robes were covered with pearls. They looked rich, pompous and showed no taste at all.

  "Grimhilda. We meet again," the young king said, leaning forward slightly. "When was the last time... fifteen years ago, during the latest challenge?"

  "Yes, something like that," Hilda replied.

  William could not believe this. A king that was five at the last time Hilda met him? And he recalled that?

  "And now we meet here again, under rather unfortunate circumstances," said Herald. "Now, before we go further on that, do introduce me to the man you have brought with you."

  "This," Hilda took William by the hand, "is my friend. William Connoley."

  William remembered to stay in his mouth-sealed role just in time.

  King Herald whispered something to his wife, who giggled behind her hand. Very well-trained, many of his court that were assembled in the hall giggled or chuckled along with her.

  "Well, William Connoley, it is nice to meet you."

  William just nodded, then looked at Gountar, pointing at his mouth. Hilda sensed how William was grinning on the inside and could hardly suppress a grin of her own.

  Gountar made a noise, cast magic and William sensed it. That should free his speech again.

  "It is an honour meeting you, your majesty," said the wizard in hiding. "And the queen too, of course."

  Herald and Warda allowed him a nod, then Herald addressed Hilda again. "Interesting choice for a witch, to befriend an ordinary man."

  Hilda stood proud. "It is my choice. Nobody else's."

  King Herald nodded. "Well. Back to business..."

  As if the whole thing was rehearsed, Lamador and the man Tudris stepped from behind the two thrones. Lamador stood next to the queen, Tudris stood next to King Herald.

  Lamador's face was neutral as he saw the two. He just nodded at William and greeted Hilda in a very official way.

  Tudris clearly was having troubles to contain his anger when he saw them. "There they are," was the first thing he hissed, as he pointed at Hilda. "They are the ones that humiliated me. They need to be punished."

  King Herald raised his hand. "Calm, brother, we'll get to the bottom of this."

  "Brother?" Hilda as well as William were stumped by that little revelation.

  Herald looked at the two. "Yes. He is my brother. You did not know that?" The king looked at his brother. "You did not tell them?"

  "No."

  King Herald rose. "Idiot. You make so much noise over all of this?" He did not sound very friendly towards his brother. Then he turned to Lamador. "And you knew about that?"

  Lamador calmly looked his king in the eye. "I did not feel I was the one to introduce your brother as the king's kin."

  Tudris tried to push around King Herald. "But you said-"

  "Silence, you fool. Do you know what you are causing by all of this?", Herald turned back to his brother.

  As all this was going on, Hilda kept her eye on the great sorcerer. There was not a trace of emotion on the man's face, but Hilda just knew that there was something wrong in the picture that she saw. This all could not be because of a mistake that some idiot ordinary brother of the king had made.

  A quick check on what William felt told her that he was thinking along the same lines, only he was slower with that as he was not so well versed in these things.

  Meanwhile, the play continued. Tudris kept arguing with his brother, Herald kept trying to put Tudris back in his place, and Lamador just looked at the proceedings between the two. Finally, as if he was the ruler of the kingdom, he stepped in and separated the two.

  "We need to talk about this in private," Lamador said with a calm and deep voice. Placing a hand on the shoulder of each of the two men had the effect of a switch being flipped. Immediately they both calmed down.

  "Yes," Herald agreed, "you are right, of course."

  Hilda as well as William saw Lamador's lips move shortly. After that, King Herald turned to the two people whom he had summoned. "It seems that all this is based on a very unfortunate mistake, Grimhilda. I do owe you an apology. Please remain here overnight, with all the privileges of a royal guest, so you can journey back to your home tomorrow, well rested and fed."

  That was all. As Lamador guided not only the two brothers, but also Queen Warda away from the dais, Gounar the soldier-magician stepped up to Hilda and informed her in short words they should follow him. Again William went unacknowledged. The wizard in hiding just tagged along, pretending he was a separate entity belonging to Hilda. Which wasn't even that far from the truth.

  So they retraced their steps to the large staircase and found themselves in their large and rich suite again. There was no magic in place this time to keep them secured inside, but Hilda w
as aware that there was a mage-soldier stationed in front of the door.

  "I think we should make the difference this time," she muttered, and she sealed the door from the inside. "Right. This way we are in control of who comes in, not they."

  With a few glasses of wine, they retreated to the bedroom. Once snuggled up together, Hilda said: "You also got this funny feeling about the charade they put up, didn't you?"

  William nodded. "Yes. It was too bizarre to witness. As if Lamador were playing with his puppets."

  "Zakly..." Hilda sipped some of her diluted wine. "I got the feeling that this whole thing was set up by Lamador just to show us the power he has. To scare us. Still have that feeling too."

  "I'm sure of it by now." William kissed her cheek. "He is showing off how well he can play his king. And queen. And even the joker."

  "The joker?"

  "Yes. Herald's brother. That man is a joke if ever I saw one. He was meek as a lamb at our challenge, something to push and shove, while Lamador was the great invincible whatever. Here Turd- I mean Tudris suddenly acts as if he is offended to the extreme and goes against his brother, the king."

  Hilda snickered for a moment. "Yes, you're right. It smells like a rat's ass, don't you think?"

  William looked at his witch. "I may not want to know where you have put your nose, young lady."

  Hilda was about to take another sip of her wine. She made it jump in the glass as she snorted loudly over his remark. "Now see what you made me do," she pouted, holding up the glass, wine dripping from her nose.

  "Oh, poor witch," said William. Helpful as he was, he licked the wine from her nose.

  The witch stared at him, speechless for several seconds, her mouth slowly opening as the surprise wore off. William grinned, magicking their glasses away. Then he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her long and deeply.

  56. Back home

  The next morning, the castle woke up to an alarmed cry and very soon after that there were sounds of loud trumpets.

  William and Hilda flew out of bed. They were immediately awake and understood that this was not a regular morning call. As they came into their living room, they heard the sound of feet running through the corridor and someone asking questions to the guard in front of the door.

  Then there was a knock on the door and a voice asking permission to enter. The way the question was put made it clear that the answer was 'yes' at any rate. Hilda undid her magic seal and opened the door. It was, as they had already expected, Gounar.

  "Have you left this room in any way overnight?" He did not waste time on social graces, so there was something very bad at hand.

  "No," said Hilda. "Your man at the door can vouch for that side, and the magical seals on the window, as you may check, are still there. We have the habit of sleeping at night. What happened?"

  Gounar checked the seals at the windows, to be certain. Then he turned to Hilda. "The king's brother was murdered last night. His servants found him early in the morning. You are to remain in your rooms until further notice." The soldier-magician did not wait for a response. With long strides he left the suite, the door was closed and the couple were left to their own limited devices.

  Hours passed in which they did not hear anything. Repeated questions asked to the guard, through the closed door, did not make them any wiser as the guard was not informed about anything either.

  Someone came to bring them breakfast. The same person came to bring them lunch. And still there was no news about the background on Tudris' death, nor any information when they could leave for home.

  "I have a faint feeling that they will never catch the person who did it," said Hilda.

  William looked at her. "You mean..."

  The wicked witch nodded. "I'd be surprised if it weren't so. Tudris was useful to get us here and annoy us, and that's it. It's scary."

  William nodded. He understood why she did not wanted to speak Lamador's name out loud. The whole castle was loaded with magic, so it would be very reasonable to assume there was something to alert him if his name was mentioned. Especially now.

  Boredom had come to take them over, and had left again as it had gotten bored itself from the atmosphere in the suite, when finally the door swung open. It was not Gounar, but one of the lesser, non-magical soldiers who came in.

  "I bring a message from the great sorcerer," he said. "It is time for you to leave. Your carriage and your men are already waiting for you. You are to follow me, so there is no delay in your departure." It was obvious that the man was instructed by nothing less than a drill-sergeant.

  Hilda nodded and in silence she shrunk their luggage, after which William slipped that in his pocket. "Did anyone find out who the killer is?", she asked the soldier as they walked out of the suite and down the corridor.

  "No, he has not been found yet. But we will find him." The soldier also had been instructed to remain impersonal.

  When they arrived at their carriage, they were greeted by Captain Lambert and the rest of the group. No trace of Lamador, or King Herald and his spouse, Queen Warda. The soldier who had taken them out of the castle handed a scroll to Hilda, the text of which cleared them of any accusation that was made against them previously.

  The trip home went uneventfully, unless a thunderstorm was to be considered an event. Once they had left the land of King Herald, they dared to talk about their thoughts concerning the murder of Tudris.

  "I am convinced that this is all a setup of Lamador's," said Hilda, "as a display of force what he can get away with. Sort of in front of our faces even."

  William understood. It filled him with a very unpleasant feeling all of a sudden, about the upcoming challenge. If Lamador was the kind to be so bold and brutal with the brother of his king, then he would not hesitate to pull even worse tricks on them.

  Hilda reached for his hand and squeezed it. "It seems that you are beginning to learn about Lamador at a very rapid pace now, my sweet man."

  "Am I that obvious?", William asked.

  "I have that feeling thing inside me, remember?" Hilda snuggled up to him, allowing him with all kinds of pleasure to wrap an arm around her. "And I am glad about that. It is good to be with you."

  William nodded. "Yes, it is good to be with me, I agree."

  "Oh, you!!"

  Captain Lambert, who rode along next to the carriage, worried about the strange noises that came from its inside which were accompanied by some serious rocking of the vehicle. He wondered if he should halt the convoy to see what was happening...

  The carriages and the horses clattered into the palace yard. Messengers had gone ahead already, informing King Walt that the two honourable magical people were on their way, cleared of all accusations.

  William, and even Hilda, was impressed by the reception that was waiting for them. There was a large musical band, which surprised William as it seemed to have more members than he had seen in the whole land so far. A long line of tables was put out, all laid very nicely, laden with food and glasses. The king himself and also the queen were there. King Walt had arranged for the musical band to be quiet for a while, so William could meet his wife. No music meant she'd be able to stand still, as the magical shoes were as ever on her feet and not going anywhere else.

  The guards who had been in the escort were all treated as heroes, their comrades making an honorary row to welcome them back. The carriage that transported Hilda and William was welcomed in the same manner, which was quite the experience for the wizard.

  "Don't show them that you are tickled purple, William," Hilda warned him. "We're magical, we are supposed to be used to this."

  "Are you?", William asked her.

  "No, of course not. What are you thinking?" Hilda grinned. "I am just a great actress. Watch me."

  The carriage stopped and someone came running to open the door for them. They left the carriage and were led up to where King Walt and his wife were waiting to officially welcome them back into the country. Hilda later commented on that,
that she thought the whole thing a bit silly as they flew in and out of the country quite a lot and nobody ever seemed to notice that.

  King Walt welcomed them back and introduced them officially to his wife, Queen Velma. Of course, Hilda already knew her better than she cared to, but not to disappoint the king she played along. Queen Velma was quite calm and reserved, trying to hold back her displeasure at once more seeing the wicked witch, who had so effectively hindered her so proficiently in dealing with King Walt's daughter.

  William tried to be as calm and relaxed as he could, although the entire spectacle drew his attention to all places at once. After the official part was over, the queen walked off as quickly as she could, because she was certain that Walt would not hold the music off much longer. She was right: the last yards into the castle she crossed dancing, much to the delight of Hilda and the king.

  Then the guests were asked to tell the king about what had happened and how they had managed to return, as the original letter from King Herald had sounded very threatening. On the way home they had already decided that it would be best if Hilda were to handle that one, as it was bound to come up. The audience gasped for air at all the right moments, as Hilda told about the confrontation with the king and his brother, and also as they learned about the untimely death of Tudris.

  King Walt did not ask anything about the challenge they were facing still, as that was not something that had to be discussed or even mentioned in public. That was witchy business and it ought to stay that way.

  The feast that ensued made all the hassle and unpleasantness of the past week fade to the background, and in the evening Hilda as well as William were very glad they were brought to their house by carriage again. Flying would have been highly risky as wine had been flowing liberally. Hilda had done her best to water it down; at a certain point she had even started doing that for William. There were however glasses that slipped through the watering down process as the party progressed...