Hilda - The Challenge (26 page)

Hilda caught her breath again. Still
snickering she walked over to the man and hugged him. "You really
didn't notice, did you? Since I shook your broom, you were in
control of your flight. You also landed the broom yourself."

"You-... I-... What?" William had put his
arms around Hilda and stared into her grinning face.

"Yes, you I what. Exactly. And you did that
so well! Come, we'll fly again and this time you will fly by
yourself. You can do it, William." Hilda had her hands on his
shoulders, gently shaking him. "I had to shake your magic awake,
William. And I will do that again, until you accept it fully as
yours."

The witch sensed his uncertainty.

"Magic awake? But how? I mean, I don't feel
any different, Hilda."

"You shouldn't feel different. That is the
magic of it." Hilda frowned a moment, as she considered her choice
of words. Then, with a wicked grin, she picked up his broom and
pushed it in his hands. "Here. If you can get it up, you get to
make love to me tonight." She giggled as she quickly jumped to her
broom, hopped on it and scooted up into the air, way out of his
reach.

William considered the object in his hands.
One side of his mind was telling him that this was idiocy, that he
would not ride a broom ever by himself. The other side though, the
one that had experienced the thrill of the flight and longed for
more, yelled at him not to listen to the unbeliever in his head, to
get on the broom and fly, fly, fly! The unbeliever lost. William
got onto the broom, grabbed the stick with one hand and felt the
thrill of the lift-off inside him. The broom responded by making
the feeling a reality, and he was in the air. Not as gracefully as
Hilda managed, but he was in the air. He was sitting on the
air-cushion. And he directed his broom to the witch overhead who
was watching him come towards her.

Hilda knew that a gate had opened inside
William. He was accepting his magic now. The way he got on the
broom, the feeling she sensed inside him, and the relative ease
that brought him in the air made her feel good. She waited until he
was next to her, as she had a smile waiting for him, and a
kiss.

"You are becoming a wizard, William," she
said, after delivering the goods. "Come. We fly." She headed out,
in front of him, leading the way.

Mere seconds later William followed her, not
afraid, in control of the broom and the motion, only subconsciously
aware of the small currents in the air around them and reacting to
them. There was just the flight, the witch that he loved, the air
and the wonderful new world below them.

In the days that followed, William's flying
skills improved rapidly. He was also becoming more proficient in
the use of magic in other areas, but still Hilda sometimes
despaired at the erratic way his progress continued.

One night, as they had gone to bed, Hilda
leaned her elbows on William's chest and looked at his face. His
features looked very serene in the candle light, she thought. "I've
been thinking," she shared with him.

"Oh god," he responded.

She slapped him. "Hey!" She kissed the spot
on his cheek where she had hit him. "Maybe it would be the best
thing to try and run off when the challenge is about to
happen."

"And you think that will help?" William
folded his arms around Hilda and gently pulled her down so her head
rested on his chest.

"No. It won't. But it might buy us some time
figuring out what to do about it."

"We still have over two and a half months to
come up with something," William said as he stroked her hair.

"Moons, William, moons. When will you learn
to speak properly- no, don't stop that, at least your hands know
what to do. They have understood the magic."

He smiled as he heard Hilda purr like a
kitten under his touch.

"You know, William, sometimes you scare me.
Just a little bit of course," she said.

William grinned. "Of course." He did not want
to hurt her ego nor her feelings.

"The things you do and say... some of them
are very sensible. But some things, important things, it is as if
you really can't understand them. The simple magic that you have so
many problems with. The challenge and Lamador. They are not games,
William. These are serious things." Again she basked in the gentle
and simple attention of his hands, his presence and his warm
body.

"I understand that, Hilda. I do, really. But
unlike you, I am still new to this world, this life and everything
that goes around. Three weeks ago I was selling books, driving
around in a truck from town to town. Now I am living with a real
live witch who is a wonderful person to me-"

"Am not. I just keep you because you know how
to please me," she interrupted him.

"-and I am flying around on a broom while all
kinds of new stuff is coming to me. The magic, I mean, Baba Yaga,
king Walt, and yes, the challenge and Lamador." As he spoke that
name, he felt how she twitched, if only slightly. "And I remember
seeing him in Gerdundula's garden. Believe me, he scared me
also."

"Oh. Good," the witch muttered against his
skin.

"But I also remember Babs telling you, and
me, that there should be a reason that I came here when you asked
for help."

"Not that again, William. Please. She just
said that because she felt she had to say something."

"I will believe that when you do, you
witch."

Hilda leaned up on her arms again. She stared
at him with her jet-black eyes. After careful consideration, she
said: "I hate you." Then she lay down again. "Now continue pleasing
the witch."

"Yes, my lady," he smiled and resumed his
handiwork. It was not long after that he sensed Hilda was asleep.
He rested his hands on her back, used magic to slip the covers over
them and slowly he nodded off himself.

"William?"

It was more the soft warmth against his ear
that woke him than hearing his name. "Yes?" His voice sounded
broken and crackled from the sleepy state he arose from.

"I don't hate you."

A soft kiss on his cheek proved that
statement.

"I'll make breakfast."

The comforting warm weight of the witch
shifted away, then came back for a moment, followed by a kiss on
his other cheek. After that Hilda left the bed for real. William
wondered a bit about her behaviour, as he so often had done before.
And this time too, he told himself to stop that. She was very much
her own person: unpredictable, wild at heart and, once you got to
know her, amazingly tender at soul.

The wizard under construction slipped out of
the bed and made his wand appear. He thought of a housecoat, dark
blue and velvet. It appeared and he smiled. The wand gone again, he
put on the housecoat and slowly walked down the stairs.

"What did you do?", Hilda asked from the
kitchen.

William grinned. He knew that she would know.
That link she had with him was amazing. "I made a housecoat to wear
before coming down."

"You did? What colour?!" Hilda came from the
kitchen to look at his creation. "Oh!! Pretty!" Then she darted
back into the kitchen. "Go sit down, this won't take long."

'A truer word...', William thought as he was
passed by a few plates flying to the table. "Hey, kitchen witch,
you are overdoing things!"

A chiming laughter from the kitchen was his
reward. "I'll be right there with the tea."

William sat down and grinned. She had food
done in the blink of an eye and tea was the hard part of
breakfast.

Hilda came to the table, the teapot floating
in front of her. "Hot hot, be careful," she warned him. Skillfully
she filled the cups and made the pot land on a thick clay
coaster.

Over breakfast, Hilda asked William if he had
a problem with staying at home for a change. "I don't want people
to think that I am in any way relying on you or so. They have to
know that I am a solitary witch who handles her own stuff."

"Even when you are now living together with
me." He winked.

"Well, you are not a witch, so in that
respect I am still a solitary witch," Hilda said, making a
point.

"I'll be fine here, sweetwitch," William
nodded. "Just you go out and do the things you are good at. I have
books here, and the house to talk to."

"If the house wants to be talked to," a low
voice remarked.

"Of course, that is a requirement," William
grinned.

Twok.

Something that was not a sound but more a
sensation of discomfort or hindrance seemed to flash through the
room momentarily.

"What was that?", William wondered.

"The mail," commented the house.

"I know that, but the feeling right after
that?"

There was no reply, so William shook his head
and pushed the issue to the side.

Hilda was ready to go. "Behave, okay?", she
cautioned William, a blue twinkle in her eyes.

He put his arms around her and patted her
behind. "I will. Don't worry. And you'll know when something is
wrong."

"Yes, this is true," she nodded. "A very
reassuring thought." After a last kiss she left the house.

William saw her speed off into the air,
looking through the window. A thought surfaced again, one that had
been in his mind for a while already. He went up into the bedroom
of the witch and sat down on the bed. The wand appeared in his
hand.

"Okay, house, I think we need to talk. House
to man."

"Do we?", the house asked curiously.

"Are we having fun?"

The voice of the witch came from somewhere
above him. William opened an eye, encountering darkness still. He
lifted the book from his face and saw Hilda hovering over him,
looking down. "Ayup, lots of fun, and with you there it's even
better," he said.

"All right. I am convinced you feel the need
to explain the change. And what's that thing you are sitting on? Or
lying?" The witch landed her broom and curiously eyed the sunchair
William occupied.

He got up from it and explained what the
thing was. And also that it had taken him over a dozen tries to get
it right as he had never taken a serious interest in the making of
sunchairs. "But I think I have the trick down now."

"That's good," said Hilda who sat down in the
chair, "if you make another one you can sit also. And while you are
at it, you can tell me what that pole is near the door."

William already had his wand ready to make a
new sunchair. "That is for the house."

"Oh. For the house." Hilda looked at William
as if she assumed him to have gone slightly bonkers.

"Indeed. We had a good talk, and it told me
that it is getting fed up with the arrows being shot into it. So I
thought it would be a good idea to put up the pole, so the
mail-archers can shoot their arrows in there."

Hilda stretched herself in the chair. "This
chair is a really shiny idea, sweet man, but I am not altogether
overwhelmed with the pole. It's in the way for a fantastic broom
approach, for one. And are you going out to it when the weather
sucks?"

"Okay, not such a good idea then," William
said. He worked his wand, and another sunchair appeared.

"I want that one!"

The chair was purple.

William grinned. "I'll think of something
else then, for the arrows. Perhaps just a wooden board they can aim
for, that hangs next to the door."

"Yes. That's more like it," the witch said as
she sat in the purple sunchair. She did not make it clear if she
meant the board or the chair. "As long as it is purple." That too
did not help William. "Looks like you've been biding your time,
sweet man, your magic is much better already. Been going around the
books? Or practicing? I sensed you were busy and having fun, made
me grin too."

Hilda sat with her eyes closed, enjoying the
sunshine on her face, patting the armrests of the sunchair.

"You know, if the magic wouldn't work out
after all, you could get into business with these chairs. I'm sure
many people would love them."

Willaim sat down next to her. "I don't think,
sweetwitch, that we have to worry about the magic." He told her
about the things he had been reading about, in her books as well as
his own. The special book with the silk scarf was now making more
sense to him, as his magical insights were expanding. Even Hilda's
books, and those had been extraordinary to him at first, now
started to become legible and understandable.

Hilda reached out and took his hand in hers.
"I am glad about that, sweet man. So are you going to provide
lunch?"

William provided lunch, they did enjoy it
inside. As they sat eating, he told her about some of the things he
had done and learnt in the morning, and she shared her experiences
of doing the rounds.

Hilda looked at William. "There is something
that you are not telling me. And don't play innocent, because I
know this. And you know that I know, and I know that." She frowned
for a moment, tracing back her words and nodding to herself. It fit
and made sense.

"There is something I have not told you yet,
that is a fact. It is a surprise and I hope you like it because it
took me a lot of talking and persuasion."

"Oh? What's that?" Hilda was curious and sat
up straight, her face shining. "Come on, tell me!"

William said: "I'll show you after
lunch."

Hilda got up and held out her hand. "I'm
done. Now show me." Her plate wasn't even half finished. As William
looked up at her, she added: "You're done too, so you can show me.
Trust me."

He could not resist the blue sparkles and got
up. He took her hand and guided her up the stairs. "Now, the
surprise will be best if you close your eyes."

"Close my eyes? Then how am I able to see
it?" Her face betrayed doubt but she also was eager to find out
what he had in store for her.