Hilda - The Challenge (31 page)

William took the rag from his face. Even that
was punched by many an elf and showed red spots.

Hilda was already walking towards him and
hugged him. "You did great, William. Well, sometimes."

"Ouch. Thank you," he replied. "If ever I get
my hands on them again..."

"You'll have to learn to be faster then,"
Babs cackled.

They went inside again, had more tea, and
Hilda magicked William's spots away. He was feeling much better
after that.

"So, what are you kids doing? Want to spend
the night here, or do you want to pop back home?", the ugly witch
asked.

"Well, with William tired as he is, I think
staying over would be the best bet. It's late already, and I am not
sure if I can keep two people in the air on a long fast flight like
this," Hilda confessed.

"I understand, Hilly. Okay then, I'll make
the guestroom up for you. Consider yourself guests of Baba Yaga!"
Babs got up and shuffled through the room, disappearing behind a
tiny door.

"Don't make such a face, William. She's nice
and you know that. And she loved the company." Hilda, who sat next
to the wizard-to-be, rested her head against his shoulder. "And it
is nice to be out here with you."

William agreed.

Babs returned in record time. Magic did speed
up preparing rooms.

The next morning they all were up bright and
early again, after a refreshing night of sleep.

Babs had told Hilda and William they could
fool around what they wanted as the room was soundproof, but
neither of them really believed the ugly witch, no matter how nice
she was.

The attacks this time did not come from
elves, but from Babs herself. She made pebbles fly to William, and
twigs, and other small stuff. After the third hour William was
sweating all over, but he was making large steps in developing his
protective abilities. All the small stuff they threw at him,
because Hilda was now in league with her bestest girlfriend, was
warded off by William. The man, his eyes covered again, stood
waiting, now fullly attuned to the magic that lived inside him.

Baba Yaga held up a hand, to make Hilda stop
throwing stuff at William. She had a test in mind, if William now
passed that, he was doing well. The Russian witch used her
wand...

A rather large chunk of a branch from one of
the black trees rose up from the ground. It was covered in twigs
with sharp leaves. The block of wood did not fly towards the
waiting blindfolded man as fast as the pebbles, but it had still a
considerable speed. If it were to hit William, he would certainly
suffer the consequences. Faster and faster the branch flew.

William sensed and reacted. His protective
cover did not appear: it just was there. The branch, coming from
his left side, crashed into the layer of magic, hesitated for a
moment and then dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.

"Holy Bejeebus," he muttered, ripping off the
blindfold. He stared at the chunk of wood. "You witch! You could
have killed me!"

Baba Yaga got up. "Yes, but I didn't. And you
had an active part in that. You caught it and you stopped it. You
did well, Willy. Time for tea and a bath for you. And fresh
clothes."

William saw Hilda's shining face, and the
blue sparkling in her eyes, and that made everything worth the
while.

Over tea and a serious amount of undoubtedly
unhealthy cookies, they talked about William's progress.

"I am sure that you'll become a fine wizard,
William," Babs said, "just keep up the practice until it is part of
you. And you, Hilly baby, keep testing him. Never let him drop his
guard. Well, almost never." She laughed a shrieking laugh that made
the walls shudder.

Hilda grinned and winked at William. He
grinned back at her, as suddenly something deep inside him took
over and his shield was there. The wizard looked shocked, the
wicked witch surprised, and the ugly witch looked satisfied.

"Good boy."

In the most unexpected moment, Baba Yaga had
cast a bolt of energy to William. It would not have damaged him,
but a nice little trip to the floor would have been the least
promise that the energy held.

William felt slightly shattered. Not because
his protection 'mechanism' had worked, but that Baba Yaga had been
able to blast him with such power while she was laughing and her
mind was seemingly somewhere completely else. His amazement was
written out on his face, because both witches grinned.

"Remember, William, this was just in jest.
This can and will happen in a serious fight, and then it might be
raining attacks, without delay. Remember. And remember well."

William was shaking from the sudden happening
and needed both hands to hold his teacup. "Yes. I'll remember. I'll
probably have nightmares over it too."

Babs chuckled. "Never hurt someone."

The rest of the morning, they talked about
different types of magic one could use for protection, and after a
good lunch Hilda and William left for home again. They thanked the
ugly friendly witch.

William had gotten over his fear of hugging
the woman. "Thank you for the time and the lessons, Babs," he said,
and he meant it. He had found all kinds of hidden powers and
treasures of knowledge in these days, his confidence had grown.

Baba Yaga patted him on the arm, as she could
not reach his shoulder. "Take care. Of yourself, and the pretty
one. I'll drop by again and come see how you are holding yourself.
Remember, I gave her instructions on how to make your life
miserable, and she's going to keep to that."

William grinned. "I'll never forgive
you."

"Good. Now go and fly off. And mind the
triangular leaves, they're not only sharp but also poisonous."

"And now she tells me," William grinned.

"Guess how you can protect yourself against
them." Baba Yaga chuckled, then she waved at Hilda who was already
waiting on her broom. William mounted his broom also, they waved
back at the dear ugly witch and then William followed Hilda through
the maze of branches, on the safest way out of the forest. He had
his protection around him, to be safe, and just because he
could.

"She is an interesting person," William said
as they were flying well over the trees.

"She is, yes, and maybe she will become your
best girlfriend also," Hilda said with a big smile.

"Oh, no. There is already someone on that
position, and she is going to stay there."

"Oh? Who is- Oh!" Hilda smiled even
bigger.

Chatting about the happenings of the past
day, the trip home went rather quickly. So quickly even that they
decided to swing by Walt's castle. Because, William now knew, it
was all about being not predictable.

Their house was silent and waiting for them.
Several arrows stuck in the purple board, and William picked them
off it as they went inside.

Dividing responsibilities as they should,
William went to make dinner, as they had gotten in quite late, and
Hilda checked the messages.

"Nothing exciting on the arrows," she said as
she trotted into the kitchen where William was making an
improvisation on lasagna, lacking the proper ingredients. Whatever
he did, magic only went along a certain stretch, so the lasagna
turned out acceptable but still a far cry from the real thing.

For Hilda the taste was quite a surprise and
she liked it. William refused to make it 'every day', as she
requested, which earnt him a pout but also some understanding and a
lot of bargaining. They settled on twice a week.

"If the magic business doesn't work out after
all, you can start a restaurant," Hilda had a bright idea. "I'd
come and eat there every day!"

"And I would be doing that next to making and
selling sunchairs," William grinned.

"Of course! People can lay in the sun after
eating at your place." Hilda had a solution for everything.

Time progressed... and suddenly there was the
new moon. Hilda had been restless all day long, scared of the
event. She had told William how she was feeling. He had taken her
in his arms many times that day, trying to ward of the uneasy
feeling of the witch, but instead of that, her feeling had rubbed
off on him and at midnight they both sat outside the house, on the
sunchairs, their wands in hand to supply some light.

There were a few candles burning in the
house, but those were barely bright enough to show the outline of
the windows. Crickets were making a terribly loud noise in the
former silent area where the house was. The night air was nice on
their skin, still carrying some of the warmth that the sun had left
behind.

Overhead, the sky was without clouds. The
Milky Way, even if it looked a bit odd to William, had all its
stars on display. They seemed so large, so closeby, in this world
that was so clean and fresh and - dangerous in mysterious and
magical ways.

"It's eerie," she said. "Usually I like this
time of the moon. But now it is..."

William nodded and reached out, touching her
hand. "The first of three, I know." The short conversation they'd
had that afternoon was still replaying in his head.

As if she picked it up, Hilda said: "You were
serious, weren't you, to go to the labyrinth and have a look
around?"

"Yes. And I still am. I am convinced Lamador
will do so as well. Wouldn't even surprise me if he has done it
before, and keeps coming back. Knowing the territory always gives
you an advantage."

"Yes, it must." Her mind flew back to the
last challenge. That had been fought in another labyrinth. "Lamador
decided where the previous challenge was done also. And he did not
play according to the rules then." She told him about the secret
passage the sorcerer had illegally created and how sheer luck in
the form of a dumb, bouncing black dragon had saved her and made
the challenge end in a draw.

"A dragon..." William looked at Hilda,
holding up his wand to see her face in somewhat better light.

"Yes. What's so special about a dragon?"

"Uhm, well, for me the fact that I have never
seen one before, for instance. They don't exist in my previous
life, as far as I have found."

She shrugged. "They're heavily overrated.
They're big, clumsy most of them, and don't give a damn if they
squash you by accident. Or intentionally."

"Right. Another thing where protection comes
in then." William made a mental note to self about dragons and
other unknown creatures. He did not want to know yet in what range
of sizes he'd have to expect these beasts.

Hilda looked at William. "You know..." She
gave her words some more thought. "Perhaps we should go to have a
look at the Labyrinth of Gurthreyn tomorrow."

"You know, woman, sometimes you have
marvelous ideas."

Hilda looked at William. Her mouth formed the
word 'liar' without sound.

William winked. Equally soundless he said 'I
love you'.

Two figures dressed in black stepped out of
the house. It was still early in the morning, sunlight had not
really spread out its rays. The crickets had left the premises a
while ago, the brightest stars were the last in packing their bags.
A peculiar mist hung over the field that separated the house from
the forest. The trees were a black shape, looming, almost menacing
in the strange morning light.

"Are you ready?", asked the smaller of the
figures.

"Yes. Ready as I can be," William replied. He
eyeballed the strange packs that were tied to their brooms, holding
all kinds of stuff including the food and water they might need
during the tip. Hilda had assured that the load would not make any
difference for flying.

"Good. Then we go."

They mounted their brooms and took off,
setting course to the east where the labyrinth of Gurthreyn was
located. They were in for a long flight. They passed over the
queendom of Raghuna, a very mild queen who had remained neutral as
long as Hilda could remember.

At first the landscape reminded them of the
area where Hilda lived. There were forests and flowing hilltops
with grass, and several lakes, although none of those were as
special as Mirror Lake. The further they came, however, the surface
beneath them changed. Slowly it all became more brown and yellow,
looking like tundra or desert-like grounds. Also something of a
chill became apparent in the air.

Hilda pointed out a long line of watchtowers
along the border of the queendom. "That is a very stable line of
warning and defense. Raghuna has like an army of soldier-mages that
guard the boundaries of her land."

Soon they had left the queendom behind them
and they were flying over literally a no man's land. There were no
roads, no towns or villages or people. Just the odd herd of wild
animals roaming the area.

"This land connects to the land where the
labyrinth is," said Hilda. "The influence of the next land is so
severe that no one wants to live in the adjacent lands."

"So there is an enormous ring of unused land
around the labyrinth, if I understand you?", asked William.

"Most of it is land, yes. On one side there
is a sea. But we are not going there, it is too far for one trip
and there is hardly any food there either, so I've heard."

William nodded. "I understand."

After another long stretch over the
uninhabited country that became more and more barren and desolate,
Hilda announced that they were approaching the vicinity of the
labyrinth. "Can you feel it?"

"Yes. I now understand what you meant
earlier." Even while there was nothing they saw of their
destination yet, all the hair on his arms and in his neck seemed to
stand up.

Hilda looked at him. "Yes, I feel that you
do." The link that flowed from him to her had already betrayed his
unease before she asked him. "We are getting closer. Just so you
know. The place is heavily guarded with magic, so ordinaries don't
go near it. They wouldn't stand a chance of getting out of it
alive. When we enter its inner circle, you will feel it. I hope it
doesn't make you want to throw up."