Hilda - The Challenge

by Paul Kater

  "Well, considering the fact that the magician Gurthreyn was such a prankster, if we can believe the scroll you have with you, it would make sense that the quicksand, as you call it, is part of one of his jokes. Magicians are usually honourbound not to kill people, so there would have to be something to release people that get caught." Hilda took a bowl that was floating over the fire and handed it to William. "Here. Eat."

  "Thank you. But wait, didn't you tell me that people who get lost in the labyrinth usually don't get found anymore?"

  Hilda nodded as she was eating from the other bowl she had taken from the fire. "True. But those are the sorry souls that get caught in there during a challenge. During a challenge something is changed here, a handful of magical people know how to do that. So this is... different."

  In silence they finished their food, extinguished the small fire and then they retreated into the tent. Close together they lay, until a restless sleep came over them.

  60. Gurthreyn once more

  "Hilda. You are in my dream."

  "No. You are in mine. And you know I love you, but this is insane. Now go back to your own dream."

  They found themselves standing on a lawn, wearing their best magical outfits. It was a large lawn, and it had walls around it. Grey walls. About twenty yards high. There was light that looked like sunshine, only there was no sun. There was rather a lot of nothing overhead.

  "Such an unexpected pleasure," a voice behind them said.

  The magical couple turned around; the sting of a wasp could not have made them move faster. They saw an old man in black robes. The large silver chain that hung around his neck stood out against the black of his clothes. His head was bald, he had a long light-grey beard that hung down to his belt. His eyes were large and blue. He was almost as tall as Hilda and twice as round. That still did not make him fat.

  "Who are you?", asked Hilda.

  The man folded his hands for a moment and smiled. "I think that should be fairly obvious, don't you agree?" He raised an eyebrow, hoping that they would understand whom they were talking to after this bit of information.

  "No. You can't be. You are not the magician Gurthreyn." Hilda shook her grey mane. "No way."

  "And why can I not be Gurthreyn?" The bald man did not move a muscle to make a large grey wall appear behind him.

  "Because the magician Gurthreyn died centuries before I was born," said Hilda, "and even for magicians there is the rule that dead is dead." She put her hands on her hips and waited for the man's response.

  "Yes, you are very right with that," the man nodded, "there is a rule for that. But..." -another wall appeared, this time behind William and Hilda- "...that does not mean that one has to play by the rules. I, for one, hardly ever did. You can read that in the many things that were written about me. Well, the few true things, I should hasten to add."

  "Hilda, before you go overboard like your good little self, do look at the walls, okay? They are the same as in the labyrinth." William put a hand on her shoulder, trying to get her attention. For him it was not so strange that a dead magician was suddenly appearing. After all, he had seen far too many strange things here already to wonder about something like this.

  She shook William's hand away. "Leave me, William, I did tell you to get out of my dream, didn't I? Now, if you are Gurthreyn, why then don't you show yourself, like anyone?"

  The bald man who claimed to be Gurthreyn laughed shortly. "A witch of the true blood. Does not believe it until the very truth is thrown in her face."

  William grinned.

  "Very well then." The man in the black robes raised a hand shortly.

  Grey walls appeared around Hilda, a moment after William had been moved to a spot away from where the walls emerged.

  "Oh, so this is funny, right?", said Hilda. "And you think that is going to- Oh. Crappedy crap, why won't this go away?"

  "Simply because perhaps I am stronger than you are?" The man seemed very relaxed about the predicament of the wicked witch. Suddenly there were two chairs, one near William and one near the bald man. "You can sit down if you want," he nodded at William. "This might take a while, if she is of the kind that I suspect her to be."

  Strange and worrying sounds came from inside Hilda's walls. "Oh. Fantastic." Fireworks sprayed over the walls. "So that's not going to do it either." A loud bang, followed by smoke and coughing. "What is this crappedy crap? This usually gets me out of everything!"

  William felt very uncomfortable as he heard and felt how Hilda was working herself into a slight frenzy to get out of her prison.

  "Oh, wait, tricky trick of my love..." There was silence for a while. "What is keeping that thing..."

  "If you are waiting for your broom," the man in black said to the walls, "I suggest you make a chair appear. Your broom might take a while to make it here. It would be good to think in years, actually."

  "Years?" Hilda and William said it at the same time.

  "Yes. When I do a bit of masonry, it should last for a while," the man said. "After all, I am Gurthreyn." After a movement of his hand the walls around the witch vanished, showing Hilda all black and dusty from her attempts to free herself. "You look rather done in."

  "Yeah, and no thanks to you," said Hilda as she cleaned herself with her wand. She walked to where William was sitting.

  "It appears that you still do not believe that I am who I claim to be. Look around you. This is the area of the labyrinth. My labyrinth. Just cleaned up a bit now."

  William had conjured up a chair for Hilda and pulled her down on it. "Sit. And quiet."

  "What?"

  "Sit. And quiet. Three simple words." William looked at Hilda, and something in his eyes made her remain seated and quiet.

  "Thank you," said Gurthreyn the magician, as it was really him.

  William felt suppressed steam through the bond but managed to ignore it.

  Gurthreyn looked at his visitors for a while. "You two are amazing. I have never met people so stubborn as you. Getting stuck up there." Gurthreyn pointed in the general direction of one of the walls, and chuckled. "I have to hand it to you, the way you got your brooms in was very impressive. Nobody ever did that before."

  "You seem to know a lot about this place," said William.

  "Of course. I built it. The scrolls are right about that. Lots of garbage in there of course, but that always happens when they suspect you're dead. And I am not going to stand up and argue with them. But that is not the reason I have brought you here."

  "Now, please, wait a moment." Hilda stood again and was not quiet. "You brought us here?"

  "Of course. You are sleeping, that is the best time to visit me."

  The scenery around them changed and they stood in the small tent where they saw themselves lying, asleep.

  "Uhm... this is creepy." Hilda looked at Gurthreyn. "How do you do this? And why?"

  They were back in the large walled yard that was the labyrinth, only with the labyrinth part missing somehow. There was a table with food, wine, fruit and chilled water.

  "I just wanted you to see that you are really asleep and well. No need to worry, you are taken care off. The magic of the wards extends out to your little tent."

  William sat down. "Yes. Of course. You take us to us to show us that we are sleeping. Something tells me that I should not have wine, but heck, I feel like I need it."

  "Please do have some. It is excellent. I have made it myself, many years of practice." Gurthreyn held a glass in his hand. "And for you, Miss Witch, there is no reason not to try it." He had already noticed Hilda's suspicion against the wine.

  "My name is Grimhilda. And this is William." She surprised William by suddenly opening up so much.

  The bald man got up and bowed. "I am pleased to meet you. I am, as you already know, Gurthreyn."

  William felt he should get up and bow also. Hilda's push through the bond was clear enough about that.

  After those formalities, and the spreading of some liquid joy in glasses fo
r Hilda and William, Gurthreyn sat down again. "Very well. Now let me inform you why I have brought you here while you are enjoying your well-deserved sleeps. I have seen you two here a while ago. When you, William, were definitely not a magical person. You returned though, which is remarkable already, and this time William is definitely magical. And there also is this very special bond between you, on a magnitude that does not happen very often." The magician sipped his wine. "Hence my interest."

  "Just that? Isn't that a bit of a narrow basis to tell us you are alive?", William asked.

  "I am curious why you both came back for a second time. And I am intrigued by the change in you both." Gurthreyn raised his glass to them and sipped another time. "So now you have time to explain all this."

  "Oh, right. That's neat. Well, we're done quickly then, since we don't understand most of it ourselves." Hilda raised her glass to the famous magician and drank it down in one gulp. It refilled itself.

  William caught the idea quite rapidly. He explained as much as they knew about his coming here, and how he somehow was turning into a magical person. He raised his glass and sipped. Done talking.

  Gurthreyn looked at him. "You have a special book? Can you show it to me?"

  William shook his head. "It is not exactly the first thing I pack when I come here."

  Hilda grinned. "He is still in training, Gurthreyn. There is so much to still teach him." Then she turned to her wizard. "William, pay attention to what I am showing you..."

  William looked at her. Suddenly she held her teacup in her hands. Including the goldfish that were darting around. "Nice. So how did you do that?"

  "Magic, William. Just magic the image over. We're asleep, so none of this is real-"

  "I do object," said Gurthreyn, taking the opportunity to drink again.

  "-so the book does not have to be the real thing. Just try it."

  William frowned, but somehow it made sense to him. As there was some much already that defied explanation, he simply held up his hands and wanted his book. And so he had his book. "Holy Bejeebus. It works."

  "Of course it works," Gurthreyn commented, "you are a magical person. You should be able to do this. Especially here." He had gotten up and was by now standing with William. "Would you mind?" He held up his hand, waiting for the book William was holding.

  "Of course not." William put the book in the man's hand and watched what was going to happen.

  Gurthreyn opened the book and paged through it. "Hmm. Yes. Ah. Really. Oh?" He went on with these loose utterings for a while. Then he closed the book and handed it back. "Very interesting. How did you get it?"

  William explained how he had gotten the book, in the monastery.

  Gurthreyn nodded. "Very powerful place where you got it from. The best piece of the place too, so you were lucky. It affected you all the time you had it. That is why you could help the witch."

  "What? How do you know that?" Hilda looked at the magician who grinned and patted the book.

  "It told me. It speaks of a witch bringing in a mystery magician after going to his world. Well, William definitely is a mystery magician, although he strikes me as a wizard, I have to say. Now, would you like to share with me why you have come over for a second time? And do not to tell me that you like it here. You can't. I have made certain of that. This is not a likeable place."

  Hilda looked at the magician. "It was William's idea. We are facing a challenge here in half a Moon."

  61. Message from the king

  Gurthreyn frowned. "And from where have you gotten that strange idea? Do you think that scaring yourself more will make the scare go away?"

  William nodded. "Indeed. That was the original idea. And from what I see now, it works. In another way than I had thought, but it works."

  Gurthreyn looked at the wizard in training. "Interesting. This means there is something I will have to adjust to the labyrinth, as this is not a good development. If more people get this idea, my peace and quiet here is gone. But that is something for later. A challenge. They are still doing that silly stuff then. And someone challenged the both of you?"

  Hilda, who was holding William's hand for a moment, nodded. "Well, Lamador challenged me. When he learnt that William is with me, he sent a humiliating note that William was allowed to help me in the challenge."

  Gurthreyn frowned. "Why would he invite a wizard to fight him together with a witch? He sounds very convinced about himself. Lamador is known for his ideas, even here, but deliberately tipping the scales like that..."

  "Oh, Lamador invited William when William was still an ordinary. He was not a wizard then. That happened later."

  "Is that so?" Gurthreyn stood up from his chair, leaving his glass suspended in the air next to it. "Do stand, wizard William..."

  As William was still getting up from his seat, Gurthreyn cast a bolt of energy. William responded so quickly to it that he could have handled three of those in the blink of an eye. The spell was deflected and shot towards the grey wall behind the famous magician. By the time the spell had been absorbed by the stone, Hilda's shriek still sounded.

  "Holy Bejeebus."

  Hilda stared at William, then at Gurthreyn. "Why did you do THAT?", she challenged the magician. "That was dangerous!"

  "Not at all, Grimhilda. You are asleep and safe. I cannot harm you this way. And I would not either, as you are my guests. I just wanted to know the amount of magic this wizard already possesses and can wield. I was not aiming at hurting him."

  "You surely managed to fool me!", Hilda snapped at the magician, her wand in her hand. "Nicely done, by the way, William. The training really paid off."

  Gurthreyn raised an eyebrow. "Training?"

  Hilda informed the magician about how Baba Yaga had set up the rather rigorous training for William to learn how to protect himself.

  "That is interesting, I say. A wizard who only develops himself here and needs help with the simple things. All kinds of things are possible, evidently..."

  "And then there is his idea with the scrolls too. I still feel sorry that I laughed at him because of that." Hilda sat down again, picking her wine from the air and sipping from it.

  This of course prompted Gurthreyn's question and William's answer on how he had learnt to develop an idea about a person by reading about him.

  "You bring along very interesting ideas, wizard William. I may have to go about and see what people have written about me and change things that I don't appreciate. If one person thought of this, there will undoubtedly be others to follow. Things like that are inevitable."

  "That sounds like a daunting task, Gurthreyn," said William.

  The magician shrugged. "I have time. It was very nice to talk to you. I wish you a very peaceful night, and will look out for your next visit, which will probably happen on the next new moon." He raised his glass to them and was gone.

  "William..."

  "Huh... yes?"

  "I had a weird dream."

  "Tell me about it."

  "You were in it. And the magician Gurthreyn."

  "And a table of food, and wine. And my book. And you behind a wall. I know."

  "Crappedy crap. So it was a real dream."

  "Afraid so."

  Hilda pondered the happenings of the night. Or at least the ones she thought had happened. "He was good, wasn't he?"

  "Yes." William knew she was talking about Gurthreyn. The man had been impressive.

  "I vote that we go away." Hilda snuggled up to William. "Do I convince you?"

  "Oh yes, you convince me. You have a way for that," William grinned as he hugged her close.

  "Hey... I did not plan on that! But it feels nice. I could stay here for a while longer if you keep that up."

  At that moment a loud thunderclap sounded over the labyrinth, making the small tent shake, as well as the ground on which it stood.

  "Hmmpf," said Hilda. "I think someone is trying to tell us that we should not overstay our welcome."

  "I think he is jus
t jealous," William grinned and hugged her again, after which another thunderbolt danced over the labyrinth.

  "We'd better leave, William. I like a bit of atmosphere, bit this is just overdone."

  The magical couple crawled out of the tent, where Hilda did her shrinking trick while William removed the fire and the other traces that they had been camping on the labyrinth grounds. After a last check they grabbed their brooms, kicked off and flew away just a bit faster than they would normally do.

  Behind them, over the labyrinth, laughter could be heard. But not by them.

  They reached their original camping spot and only there they took the time to get something to eat before they flew on home. This had turned into a trip they were not easily going to forget.

  "Do you think this magician was there for real? Or did we just get so scared there that we had his spirit haunt us?", William asked as they were packing up their things.

  "I don't know. I have never encountered something like that before," Hilda said as she shrunk the last bits of luggage.

  William picked them up and slipped them into his pocket. "It was absurd. You and me in a dream together. Talking to each other. And remembering it."

  "What do you mean, absurd? Don't you dream of me and like it?" Hilda put her hands on her hips, being her own lovely self again.

  William burst out laughing, then wrapped her in his arms. "Of course I do, silly witch. You are always with me." Through the bond he sent a flow of love. "But the way this thing happened, last night. That was... quite different."

  Hilda let him hold her, smelling the scent of him. She nodded. "Yes. It was."

  After standing like that for a while, they decided it was a good moment to leave, and head for home. The flight home was uneventful and went smoothly.

  "Do you think we should make a bit of a round when we get back?", Hilda asked William. "Awful lot of flying, but still..."

  "Yes, it would be good. We have to make sure they remember us, don't we?"

  Hilda nodded. "Good. We'll head out again then, after dropping off the luggage and cleaning ourselves up a bit."