Hilda and Zelda (17 page)

"Bah," Hilda commented. "I didn't know she
knew that one." Her face betrayed that she did not know how to do
it.

"Well, look at it from the bright side. We
did get her stuck for a while, and cornered her." William felt good
about that. "It's the closest we ever got to nailing her,
Hilda."

"Yeah. Still it sucks elves that she got
away." Hilda leaned into William, who put an arm around her and
kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks, William. I needed that."

They called for their brooms and then flew
off, while many curious yet scared eyes watched them.

-=-=-

As they were sitting in their homely shed,
Hilda said: "It feels good that we got her."

William nodded. "Yes, it does. She will know
now that she is not as invulnerable as she may have thought." It
would also make Zelda more careful, which was the downside of the
story, he added for himself.

"I hope the witches of this place will pull
together," Hilda sighed. "Looks like we're going to need them."

William nodded. "Yes. Looks like it indeed."
He was not thrilled with the prospect all of a sudden, after
meeting the women. They were nice and seemed willing to help them,
but there was still the question of how much help they could be
when the going was getting tough. Because at some point the going
was bound to become just that.

"I also suppose Zelda will lie low for a
while now. She's been damaged in her pride, I'm sure."

A rumble, low and soft, made its way into the
shed as Hilda spoke. She looked at William. "Did I speak too
soon?"

"Let's find out," the wizard replied as they
both got up.

Not much later they were in the air again.
Slipping away from the former military base, with all its business
going on, was becoming more and more easy. The magical couple rose
up high, to have a clear overview of the town. William did his best
to discover what might have rumbled, but there was nothing out of
the ordinary from this distance.

"It can't have been far away," Hilda
said.

William agreed, so they focused on the area
closest to the camp.

It did not take them long to find the source
of the sound. A small mall that was near the road from the camp to
the town was now even smaller. The entire block that held the shops
seemed to have slipped down several feet into the ground.

"This doesn't happen by itself," William
started to say.

"She's around, William," Hilda interrupted
him. "She's probably-"

The fact that part of the roof of one of the
shops shot upwards to them made it clear that Hilda's feelings were
right. Zelda was in the shop. She sensed her enemy overhead and
attempted to slam the roof into her and the wizard.

It was easy for the couple to get out of the
way of the roof. At the same time they pulled their protection
around them. There was no telling what Zelda was cooking up for
them while under the cover of the roof now gone projectile.

William pointed to a wall and dropped behind
it. Hilda followed him. Sitting there, they would at least be out
of sight of the evil witch. In that position they waited.

"She's still around," Hilda whispered.

"Where?" William whispered back.

"Don't know. Back there." Hilda pointed to
the wall.

"Dragon turds," they then heard. It was
spoken loudly and in a highly annoyed tone. "Grimhilda, I know
you're here. Show your face, you mouse-head."

"Mouse-head?" William said without making a
sound. He decided to immediately forget that, after seeing Hilda's
expression.

Hilda then slowly got up. "Come," she said to
William, and as he had risen to his feet, she walked around the
wall, William right behind her. The wizard did not understand the
reason for this behaviour, but he would stick with Hilda no matter
what.

Zelda stood next to the roofless building.
Her broom hovered next to her. She seemed to be in a mood that did
not mean fighting. "So there you are."

"Yes. And there you are." Hilda nodded. "This
is William," she said, putting her hand on William's arm for a
moment. "My wizard."

Zelda, her hands on her back, nodded. "I
heard. Good for you." She looked at William. "Hello, wizard."

"Hello, Griselda." William nodded.

"Why don't I sense you?"

"I'm not from your world. I'm from here."

Zelda frowned. "Wizard. From here." She was
clearly working on that one, as she had not encountered witches or
wizards in this world herself.

"You'd better stop your terror here, Zelda,"
Hilda said. "You can't win."

Zelda smiled. It almost made her look
friendly. "I don't use terror. I just use convincing methods. And I
don't have to win. I just have to enjoy."

William kept silent. He was not at all sure
what was going on, with both witches talking to each other in this
rather polite way.

"Then we will have to do our best to see to
it that you do not enjoy," Hilda said.

"Oh, but I would really enjoy that,
Grimhilda." Zelda magicked up three chairs, so they could all sit
down.

William was even more stumped and surprised
as that happened. He watched Hilda sit down and then followed; he
was not certain if the chairs could have been prepared for
something funny by the bad witch.

"So what's your plan here then?" Hilda asked
straight out.

"Oh, nothing much. Turn a few places upside
down. Get rid of you two annoying pests. Make a group of people my
followers. Things like that."

Zelda seemed very relaxed about this all.
William was more and more lost. How could this witch now be
chatting along as if she was with friends, after all her attempts
to kill him and Hilda?

"I hope," said Hilda, "that you understand
that us coming after you is nothing personal."

"Of course it isn't. You're just being the
good little witch you always are, but you refuse to acknowledge,"
Zelda said. The tone in her voice held scorn and contempt in a
manner William had never encountered before. It was almost a form
of art. It probably was magically induced.

Hilda wriggled her nose, and the legs of
Zelda's chair made a cracking sound. "Good little witch. Pah. Go
suck an elf."

"Oh, I would, if there were any around. I
looked, believe me, and found none." Zelda fortified her chair.

William sensed that there was some tension
building and sat ready to act, unsure what kind of action would be
called for.

"So what's with the roof just now? And the
building over there sinking?"

Zelda looked displeased. "Must be a fault in
its construction. I was working on an innocent little spell when
the whole thing sunk into the ground."

William grinned, earning an angry look from
Zelda. Fearlessly he looked her in the eye. "You were working on
something with gravity."

"You can't know that!" Zelda said, too
quickly and too loudly.

Now it was Hilda's turn to frown, but she
would ask William how he had known that later.

"And the roof was just a welcome to you two,"
Zelda replied to the other part of Hilda's question.

William did not believe her. The witch had
first messed with something, sinking a whole building into the
basement, and then, he was convinced, she had tried something else.
Lifting the building up again or so. And doing a botch job on that.
He kept his ideas to himself though. No need to provoke Zelda more,
she was worked up enough from what he could tell.

"I hope we'll find a way to have a fair
fight," Hilda said. "We can't allow you to wreck this world."

"You have no choice, darling," said Zelda. "I
don't fight fair."

"We noticed," William commented. He thought
back to the Nobbleback dragons they'd had to get rid of. The same
beasts that had given Zelda her head start into this world.

"Thank you." Zelda seriously seemed to
appreciate William's comment, taking it as praise in a distorted
way.

Hilda got up and made her chair vanish. "I
think we had a really nice talk, Griselda. We'll fight again."

William got up as well, leaving his chair
where it was.

"Yes, just go away, you two. And leave me in
peace. Go back to the other world, where things are simple and
easy, will you? Stay out of my hair and I won't attempt very hard
to kill you." Zelda looked up at them, very self-assured.

The magical couple summoned their brooms and
got onto them. Hovering a few feet off the ground, Hilda said:
"Don't count on that. But then, arithmetic never was your strong
point."

Zelda's face grew dark for a long moment.

William sensed that Hilda was about to fly
off, through their link. He popped up his wand.

Zelda stared at it. "Isn't that Gerdundula's
wand?"

"It was," William confirmed, "now it's mine."
He was aware that he could not affect Zelda's fortified chair. He
could, however, do something to the ground beneath it. And he
did.

As Zelda screamed, falling down a pit with
her chair, William said: "Come. Let's go."

Hilda's eyes were pouring out admiration for
William as they flew off. As they were going, not in the direction
of their shed of course, she said: "You were magnificent with that
last action, William. I would never have thought of that. It just
is not done."

"What isn't? Dropping her in that hole?"

"Indeed. We were having a witches talk-off,
and the people involved in that don't use magic on each other."

"And that is a rule?" William wondered if he
had violated something he did not know of.

"Not a rule. But witches just don't do
that."

He grinned. "I'm not a witch. I'm a wizard.
Maybe that is a valid excuse."

Hilda laughed out loud. "That might be the
only excuse. Wizards usually treat all rules with contempt. Uhm.
I'm sorry, but that is how it is."

William looked at Hilda. "Oh. That is nice to
know..."

"I wish I had known that sooner," said
William as he stretched out on the bed. "About wizards breaking all
the rules, I mean."

Hilda looked at him, standing next to the
bed. "Somehow I think it was good you did not know. What wicked
plan is churning around behind your eyes, William?"

"It is not so much a plan yet as an idea,"
the wizard said as lights blinked in his eyes.

"William?"

"Yes?"

"There were lights blinking in your eyes."
Hilda sat down on the bed and leaned over her wizard. "No, no, keep
your eyes open and your hands off me. For a short while. I want to
see your eyes."

William stared at the witch. Her staring was
interesting but it also made him feel awkward, until he recalled
the blue and red lights that could appear in Hilda's eyes.

"Think again what you just thought," Hilda
ordered.

"Beg your witchy pardon?"

"About the plan that is an idea, or whatever
silly phrasing you used to confuse me."

"Oh." He understood, and thought his thoughts
again.

"Think harder, wizard," she commanded, but no
matter how hard he tried, the lights did not come back. "Maybe I
was seeing things..."

"Which would mean there is nothing wrong with
your eyes, Hilda."

"You really think so?" Hilda got up and
started pacing in the limited space they had in their homely shed.
"Just remember that I love you, William, and I don't want you to do
something stupid. Crappedy crap, I wish I had not said that about
the rules. These things are there for a reason."

William sat up and looked at the witch who
usually did not have much going for rules herself. It was obvious
that she was very worried about him. Whenever she was worried, he
had learnt, she could not sit still. "I know, pretty witch. Now
come here, sit next to me and let me tell you something."

"Talk to me while I'm here," she
muttered.

"Fine. You should know me well enough by now
to know that I would not do anything to put someone in danger.
Heck, not even Zelda. So when I think of breaking rules, that is
not something you should be fretting about, Hilda."

Hilda stopped her pacing and looked at the
man who was sitting on the bed. "Not even Zelda. Suck an elf. Yes.
You are such an idiot indeed." For a few moments she was silent.
"And that is what I like about you. You sometimes spout nonsense,
William, but you're a good man at heart." She walked over and sat
down next to him.

William took one of her hands and kissed it.
"Glad you know me."

She smiled. "I do. Glad you can talk to me,
William. There are too many people who can't. Who don't dare or
some such foolishness. It's not like I am going to bite their heads
off when they do."

William grinned. "True. You don't need your
teeth for that."

"Oh, shush you." She slapped William, ever so
lightly. "Even if you're right. Just don't get into any trouble I
can't get you out of."

William glanced at his witch and nodded.
"Promise."

"Good. Now tell me about the rules you intend
to break."

William shrugged. "I'll know them when I meet
them."

"Oh no, you are not getting away with that. I
want to be prepared for things like that," Hilda said, getting up
and looking down at her wizard.

"Then I'll let you know up front. When
there's time."

Hilda opened her mouth for a snappy counter,
when there was a sound that could have been a knock on the door.
She stared at William, who stared back at her.

Again the sound sounded. It was a real knock.
On a real door.

"I'm not expecting anyone," Hilda
whispered.

"Nor am I," Willia said.

Hilda went to the door and yanked it open.
"What?"

There was a young man outside. Actually,
older boy fit him better: looking at ads was probably the closest
he had come to shaving. He seemed nailed to the ground. "Who are
you?"