Hilda - The Challenge

by Paul Kater

  "This is spooky." William scratched his head. Then he reached inside a pocket and took out a scroll he had taken along.

  "Why did you bring that? Do you think it will tell us how to get rid of this bad feeling?" Hilda shook her head.

  "I am hoping for something even better," said William as he studied the scroll. "It says here that the magician Gurthreyn was keen on hiding things. Maybe we have found something that is hidden here."

  "Oh, really. Come on, William, this labyrinth has been here for so many centuries I have lost track. So you really think people have not gone around this thing looking for something like that?"

  "How can you find something if you don't know what you are looking for?", William asked her.

  Hilda tried to get back with a really snippy answer, but she could not come up with one. "So, what does that paper say?"

  "The magician Gurthreyn," William read out loud, "is known to make things disappear in his workings. These things are of many kinds. Objects are least of his interest. He hides ideas, magic, gestures. You can find them by not looking for them, but luring them, enticing them."

  Hilda looked at William. "Hides magic and ideas? Care to explain that to me?"

  "I wish I could. I just read what is written, and I feel that something is here. As do you." William took his wand and slowly moved it around. "Yes, something's here, for certain."

  Hilda frowned, but also moved her wand. And she too sensed the twitching again. Staring at the wall told her nothing. "Luring. Enticing. How do you entice a wall..." Then she raised her eyebrows, as if she was listening to something. "Of course... not the wall..."

  To William's surprise, Hilda lowered her broom until she was standing on the ground, the daunting wall towering over her. He went downwards also, hoping to find what she wanted to do. The bond did not reveal anything about that.

  Hilda's face showed concentration and wonder when he arrived. She was actually smiling, which was something William would not have expected of her. Not here, next to the wall of this gloomy labyrinth.

  "You are good, do you know that?" Hilda looked at her wizard. She was serious, she meant it. He knew. "Give me your hand."

  He reached out, automatically with his wand-hand. She took it, with her wand-hand, and then there was a very strange experience. It felt like an explosion of white light in their heads, shared through the bond. Inside the explosion they heard laughter. There also was a feeling of... teaching. Of power. Something embedded itself in their magical core and then the light was gone.

  "Now what the hell was that?" William stared at their hands, still locked together. His new necklace felt hot around his neck.

  "Yes, mine too," said Hilda. "As I said, it increases your magic. It also seems to allow new magic to enter you. I've never felt this before. It feels..."

  "...raw," William completed what she was saying.

  "Yes. This feels raw. Exactly." Hilda took a string of her necklace in her hand. "It still glows."

  William checked his necklace. The amber shone brightly. "Unbelievable. And how did that happen?"

  "William, please remember that I am the one who asks the trick questions, okay?"

  The wizard grinned. "I'll remember that." He looked around. "Now is it me, or..."

  "Nope. Not just you. I feel it too. Less fright here..." Hilda patted the big wall. "There is something in here that spewed its gut into us. Know what? Maybe that scroll reading stuff isn't such a bad idea after all. Maybe we can find some more of these trickster things as we go around."

  As they lifted off again, the necklaces cooled down to body temperature quickly. They completed the search around the large outer wall, but no more magical surprises were in it. At least not the ones they could pick up.

  By the time they had done the whole round, it was about to get dark. They were still adjusting to the feeling that they were not so oppressed by the environment of Gurthreyn's labyrinth.

  "I think we should better make our way back to find a good spot to camp for the night," Hilda said. "It's less creepy, but still a far cry from inviting."

  William agreed, so they did not bother about getting off their brooms and shot away to where they felt safe for the night.

  The next morning they were awake very early. Rain was tapping an undecided rhythm on the roof of their tent and they lay listening to it for a while.

  "It's amazing, all of this," said Hilda. She held William's hand. Her fingers slowly stroked his fingers and there was a faint smile on her face.

  "Yes, it is indeed, but perhaps you can be more precise what you mean?" William had picked up her awe but there was no real indication of what she was thinking about.

  "Well... you and me. I had never thought this would happen. The way I entered your crazy world, by accident. Then coming back here by your help, with that book. And you coming here, through the rocks. And now we are... together."

  "Yes. That is almost incredible. And yet we did it. We're here. Together."

  William's wand expanded the tent to a size where he could sit up. He looked at the face of his witch and stroked along her long grey hair. "You're a darned pretty woman, Hilda. I don't know what it is, but to me you look more and more attractive every day."

  "That's because of you, I think. I'm not doing anything special. Well, except for all the great special things I do, of course."

  Her words made him grin. As he lay his palm against her cheek, she closed her eyes and gently pressed her face against his skin, deepening the feeling and sharing that with him in every way she could. They basked in each other's company for a while longer. Then, as all good things end (but can start again), they got up and prepared for the next trip to the labyrinth.

  They got closer to the large grey place. It looked as aggressive and unwelcoming as it had the day before, but something had changed. They both sensed it, not so much as something they knew, but as if it were deeper inside them.

  "Our magic has changed," Hilda decided as they got off their brooms near the looming gates.

  The rain was still falling, and politely fell two feet away from them, as the couple had put up their magical umbrellas. Inside their cones of dryness they walked up to the doors again.

  The massive constructions that held out the nosy people that were not impressed by the threatening atmosphere were closed. Hilda looked at it, as much in awe of them as the first time she had visited them, brought out her wand and touched one of the doors. Slowly, without a sound, it opened for them. "Remember, walk in magic, William." She took his hand and together they entered the maze of huge moving walls.

  They immediately noticed that the walls had been biding their time. The interior of the labyrinth looked entirely different from their previous visit. Instead of the long corridor that led them along the outer wall at first, there now was a short stretch they had to walk straight ahead, ending in a split where they had to choose to go left or right. Both passages looked equally short so the two stood and wondered what would be best to do.

  William took out his wand. "It worked once. Might as well try it again," he said as he also took the scroll in hand.

  Hilda nodded. Not much later they proceeded, both wands held out as antennae, to pick up the slightest sign of anything that the magician Gurthreyn might have left along their route.

  They had been walking for an hour and had found nothing. William sighed.

  "Do you know how big this labyrinth is, William? When you walk through it and the walls stand still, you can go around here for maybe two weeks. So this short time does not count for anything substantial."

  "That is a lot of ground to cover, sweetwitch... if only we had our brooms here."

  "We can't take our brooms in. The gate won't allow that." Hilda stopped walking and looked at her wizard. "I told you that before, didn't I?"

  "Yes... you did..."

  "William. I don't like it when I feel these things coming from you... You are not- You are. Crappedy crap."

  William held up a hand. He
wanted his broom. And waited.

  Outside the thick walls of the labyrinth of Gurthreyn, a broom trembled, then lifted itself up. It rose up along the high wall and wavered for a few moments as it was higher than the wall. Slowly the broom pushed itself through the magical wards that were over the massive stone wall and then it sped towards the waiting hand.

  "William! You did it! You got your broom in here!" Hilda clapped her hands in excitement. "Of course I knew you could do it. So, how did you do it?"

  William told her what he had done.

  "Oh. Is that all..." Hilda held up her hand. A few minutes later she had her broom in her hand and a blue sparkle in her eye. "Do you know that we may be the first people in centuries to have a broom in here? Let's see if they actually work." The wicked witch mounted her broom and lifted a few feet in the air.

  59. Rock bottom

  Flying inside the walls of the labyrinth was difficult, they found out. The corridors were barely wide enough to fly next to each other, the corners were sharp, and the heavy layers of magic made it quite a chore to progress. But it was by far faster than walking.

  The magical couple spent most of the day in the long and winding corridors of the labyrinth, but nowhere did they find a trace of anything that might give them a clue about the magician Gurthreyn.

  "I think we should go back now, William. Coming here this morning was not so bad, but now the place is getting on my nerves again."

  William agreed. "Yeah. We've been here far too long. There is no way that we can discover everything that's here. At least you found that spot yesterday. Coming here was not so bad indeed."

  "You found it. I sort of unlocked it. And you got the brooms here," Hilda said as they stopped their flying. "That might be helpful also, as I cannot recall there being a rule that you can't bring your broom in during a challenge. Nobody ever did as they are not allowed in through the gate. Going around the gate is fantastic!"

  "Beginner's luck, I am sure," William grinned. "So, which way to the exit, honourable witch?"

  "What do you mean? I thought you were keeping track of where we are..." Hilda frowned as she looked at her wizard. "If you now tell me that you didn't..."

  The fact that they probably had gotten lost hung between them. Neither wanted to actually say it, as that would make things very uncomfortable. Not that it would make their situation in any way less worrying.

  "I assume this is the moment that one of us has to say that there is a backup plan," said William.

  "Backup plan? Did we have any kind of plan then?" Hilda was genuinely surprised by William's words.

  "Right. This is the wrong script," William muttered. "So that leaves but one option."

  "William. What are you going to do?", asked Hilda as she sensed some kind of disgustingly male determination.

  The wizard's reply showed in his action as he rose up along the wall.

  "William! Come down here! You don't know-" The words got stuck in Hilda's throat as she saw how easily he sailed upwards and slowly moved over the wall. Apparently something as simple as flying upwards was the best thing to do, even here. She followed him upwards. As soon as she arrived at the level over the wall, she too was grabbed by the magical layers that washed over the labyrinth, but with slow persistence, as she sensed William using, she was able to move ahead and fly to what looked like the closest wall.

  "William?" Hilda tried to speak but it was as if she got a mouthful of invisible syrup. Not a sound came from her mouth. She also could not speed up to get closer to William, so all there was to do for her was to just slowly cruise on until she got stuck in the same wash of energy that had already grabbed William. It was the strong magical ward that protected the outer wall.

  They were stuck. There was no way to move forwards nor backwards. Even releasing their magic did not help, the wards kept them exactly where they were. Slowly despair seeped through the link, both ways.

  The light was fading. There was hardly any real sunlight around the labyrinth of Gurthreyn, but the light that was there was disappearing, and it went rapidly. The only two objects that were still immobile over the outer wall of the construction were Hilda and William, who by now both were becoming seriously desperate. They couldn't even talk to each other to try and think of something. They just... sat there.

  Darkness came closer. Hanging over the wall it would have been a breathtaking view, were it not for the fact that they had long since lost interest in their environment. The fading of the light seemed to go step by step, crawling away from the black cluster of nothingness that was coming closer. As the void without light started to fold itself around them, it added a completely new dimension to their fears. At first they saw entirely nothing anymore. There was a blackness around them that was complete.

  Their only comfort was the link. They knew they were together. In this situation even feeling each other's distress was a form of mental solace. Hilda as well as William had lost all track of time. It was very late, they both knew that.

  William was almost dozing off in his invisible dark prison, as he suddenly felt a jolt of emotion coming from Hilda. It was quite a shocked emotion, but it was for one much different from the despair. He looked automatically in the direction where he suspected her, although in the darkness he had not seen her for a long time. It was however that movement, that turning of his head, that showed him what had triggered the shocked reaction in Hilda.

  Below them were lights. The lights moved in a rather unsteady way and seemed to randomly float through the corridors below, which had changed position several times during the period they had been hanging there while there still was light. The lights, white or very pale yellow, did not shine bright enough to see if there were people with them. Or anything else. People might have been good. Anything else would be highly doubtful.

  As the lights were moving, they were still far away from the spot where the magical couple hovered in limbo, a strange soggy sound reached their ears. It was unsettling as there was nothing to be seen that was connected to the sound which kept getting louder. Hilda deducted from this that the source of the sound was getting closer.

  William also heard the strange noise and looked around in vain for what might cause it. The sound suddenly seemed to be upon him.

  Hilda sensed a shock coming from William. Despite the ward preventing her to talk, she tried to scream his name, as she was certain something terrible had happened to him. The feeling that came through their bond frightened her. William was feeling helpless, she sensed, and as the sound came closer to her, Hilda tried to fight her hand free and summon her wand. The viscous, immobilising magic held her in its menacing control. At that moment the sound reached Hilda.

  It felt as being thrown forward by a giant hand.

  Hilda lost her balance, almost lost her grip on the broom. Suddenly she was free of the magic that had held them in place for so long. It shot through her that this probably was what had frightened William so severely. It was then that she understood that she was falling down. There was no more magic from the labyrinth that held her up, so she had to quickly provide her own, or find out what it was to fall on a rock-hard floor after a fall of at least 20 yards. She managed to get herself on the broom and level herself. "William!!!"

  "Hilda! Where are you?"

  "William, you shiny wizard, are you okay?" Hilda did not dare fly anywhere, it was too dark. She didn't know where she'd end up, and hitting the wall of the labyrinth was the very last thing she needed now. "William, I am going to land the broom now and then make a light with my wand. I hope you can find me that way!"

  "I am on the ground already, Hilda. Damned good idea with the wand."

  Hilda stopped her descent and scanned for anything that might betray where William was. Suddenly a small tip of light glowed and soon after that there was a nice circle of light, with William in the middle. He sat on the ground, one of his legs bent in a rather abnormal way. "I see you, William, I'm coming." Swiftly, now she had a point of reference, s
he swooped downwards and landed in the light that William had conjured.

  Hilda dropped the broom and kneeled down. "Are you hurt, William?"

  "I think I broke my leg. The stupid sound threw me and I was almost on the broom again before I hit rock bottom."

  Hilda bit her lower lip for a moment. "I'm really sorry, William..."

  "Yes, so am I." That was the last thing he could say before a bolt from Hilda's wand knocked him out cold.

  "I did say I was sorry, sweet man," Hilda apologised to the unconscious wizard. She slowly straightened his leg and after that she used her magic to repair what was broken. She let William sleep as she delved into her deep pockets. "Here come the emergency rations..."

  Several minutes later she had inflated some dice that turned into firewood, food and a small tent. As all that was done, she woke up William.

  "Oh, god, what hit me?", he asked as he got up.

  "That would have been me, sweet man, and again I am sorry. But it had to happen."

  "Oh. Have to remember never to pick a fight with you." Then William noticed the absence of pain in his leg. "Did you fix me?"

  "That too was me, indeed, and for that I am not sorry."

  "You are amazing." William looked around and saw the fire, the food and the small tent. "So where did that all come from? Let me guess. That was you."

  "Never leave home unprepared for things like these, William." Hilda took a small piece of wood and tossed that on the modest fire. "We'll have to spend the night here, although I'd rather not. But in this darkness there is no way we can find back to our other camp."

  William fully understood that. "Do you have any idea what happened just now? One moment we're stuck in magic quicksand over the wall, and the next we're being tossed out, like someone is cleaning a carpet or so."

  "Maybe," Hilda said with a sudden bit of insight, "that is exactly what happened."

  "And what makes you say that, dear witch of mine?"