Hilda - The Challenge

William. We could go low again. I never know in advance, in the village."

  He nodded. From under the hood he watched her for a while, until the village came into view.

  Hilda's eyesight proved superior, the salesman noticed. She said something that sounded a lot like "Oh fuck", and then their brooms plummeted to almost street level. There was a man whipping a mule.

  Hilda raced over him and grabbed the whip. "So, why is this?", she asked, tossing the whip to William who caught it with one hand.

  "It is eating my vegetables, and what's that to you?", the man said. He looked as if a bath was something to beware of, his clothes probably would dissolve if ever they got seriously wet.

  "Is this your mule?", Hilda asked.

  "Yes, so?"

  "And when did you feed it last?", the wicked witch asked without being impressed by the man's fists that he waved at her.

  "I feed it when it works. And it does not work for me," the man unleashed his simple logic.

  "Oh, right, very smart," Hilda nodded. "This mule is old. It can't work. And you should know that. You also should know that you should not try to sell stolen vegetables."

  A small crowd had by now gathered, seeing the witch and the silent figure in blue hover over the dirty man. "Stolen vegetables?"

  "They are not stolen!", the angry mule-abuser yelled.

  "These vegetables are from a witch's garden," Hilda said, pointing at the basket. "I know her. And she is not into selling her things. So you have stolen them." Her wand appeared.

  The crowd gasped, as they knew that wand and what it could do.

  "And what do you think you can do with that stick?"

  The dirty man was quite fearless, Hilda thought. Or entirely stupid. With a wry grin she thought of the people from William's funny world. He'd fit in there. "I'm going to fill in for my witch sister," she said.

  The wicked witch held out her hand to William, who put the whip in it. "Offensio," she simply said, and the whip jumped down to its previous owner. With precision and system it started to beat the man that had previously used it on the mule.

  "Someone take care of the mule," said Hilda and then she made the brooms take off again. As they hovered over the local pub, they watched how someone did indeed untie the mule and take it away. Hilda nodded.

  The majority of people in crowd was watching the two shapes over the pub that hung there in apparent silence.

  "They are wondering who you are," she said.

  "How do you know? Can you hear what they say?"

  Hilda grinned. "No. I know them and I know how they think." Then she looked serious again. "We should go check on Gerdundula."

  The brooms swooped up and set course to the south.

  "Gerdundula?" William did not believe his ears.

  "Yeah. The witch whose veggies that guy had stolen. I must find out how he got them. It's not like her to let someone take her stuff. She's... rather possessive."

  After a stiff flight, William's seating area was getting a bit numb despite the air-cushion, they reached a rather bizarre area. The trees around it looked as if they were made of metal. They were red and wide.

  "Looks quite impossible to walk through there," he remarked to Hilda.

  "Yup, that is what they're made for," Hilda confirmed. "As I said, she's kind of possessive."

  After passing over the metal forest Hilda landed the brooms. "Walkies from here on, no flying allowed," she elaborated.

  William was grateful for that. At least he could stretch his legs a big.

  Hilda saw his face. "Are you okay?"

  "I'm fine. Not used to sitting on a broom for that long," William explained.

  "Oh, heh, that's just some getting used to. Come." Hilda marched ahead, to a large and aggressive metal wall thirty yards high. She stared at it. "That's odd."

  Before William could ask her what would be odd, Hilda stepped forward and disappeared through the wall. He was still convincing his mind that he had seen this happen, when she came back.

  "Coming with me? It's just an illusion..." She took his hand and dragged him along until they were on the other side of what looked as a thick wall and was nothing at all.

  Behind the walk-through wall lay a large garden. It had patches with fruit trees, patches with vegetables, and a small patch on which a simple wooden hut was erected.

  "I don't like this," Hilda mumbled. She walked to the hut, wand in hand and William close behind her. "Gerdundula, where are you," she whispered.

  William sensed something or heard something and wanted to warn Hilda, but he was a second too late. The door in the hut flew open and a dark brown shape cam charging out of it, crashing into the witch who tumbled to the floor. William, just far enough behind Hilda, was ready for the thing, whatever it was. The salesman was not a fighter, but the thrill of the broomstick-ride and the tension that hung around this place had worked him up quite well. He had a good swing at the brown shape and hit it full in where one would expect a face.

  The shape's speed did not get slowed down by it, the impact also took William down, but the whack had definitely significance. After several yards the shape also tumbled down and remained motionless.

  William got up and saw that Hilda was on her feet again also. "You okay?", he asked, rubbing his fist.

  "Yeah." The wicked witch all but jumped on top of the brown shape that lay face-down on the path. She groaned as she pushed hard to turn it around. "Oh crap."

  The man in blue joined her and looked at the face that his hand had had contact with. "What the hell is that?"

  The creature that lay knocked out was some five feet tall. It was dressed in what looked like second-hand bear skin. This would make sense, as a bear would have been the previous owner. The face of the thing was crowned with dirty short black hair. It had big ears that stood from the wide tanned face as sails on a sailboat. The creature had a flat wide nose and a remarkably small mouth, around which there was hardly a trace of lips.

  The lying victim was broadshouldered. It reminded William of the Incredible Hulk, but then in a miniaturised version. It was barefoot, its feet incredibly dirty with mud and sand.

  "This is a Grizble. It is made. Nothing natural or normal about it." Hilda magicked a rope around the Grizble, immobilising it.

  "And what, if you allow the question, is a Grizble?"

  Hilda sighed, sat down on a garden stone and looked up at William. "It is like a cross between a baby troll and a leprechaun. Mean as you can think it up, they have some low-level magical abilities, and they are strong. So how it is possible that you managed to knock it out is beyond me."

  "My hand agrees with you," William nodded as he sat down next to her.

  "Grizbles are the messengers and bell-hops for Lamador."

  William remembered the name. It was the sorcerer that Hilda was scared of. He looked at her and recognised traces of worry on the witchy face. In an impulse he put an arm around her and gently pulled her against him.

  Hilda let him, as she rested her head against his shoulder. She sighed, closing her eyes. Then her eyes flew open, as she pushed him away and got to her feet quickly. "What do you think you're doing?!", she asked him sharply.

  "Being friendly and supportive," William replied as he got up from the ground that her push had landed him on, "but it looks as if that doesn't agree with you very well." He patted his cloak, to free it from sand.

  "Hmmf," Hilda retorted, unsure what to do about this.

  The Grizble relieved her from the task of thinking about it further. It started to wiggle and grunt and tried to get the rope off. The latter did not work, though, as Hilda's magic had supplied a rope that was Grizble-safe.

  "Well, well, look here," she said, standing over the dark creature. "I am sure you want to tell me why you are here."

  The Grizble uttered some inexplicable sounds, it screamed and howled, as William came close to witness the whole thing.

  "Never mind that," Hilda told him, her earlier anger forgotten again, "
they always act like that in the beginning. Some design flaw in them, I think, as they never fail to calm down and get sensible after a while."

  The Grizble tried to bite their legs a few times, screamed and wriggled some more, until it lay panting at their feet. "Turn me loose and no one gets hurt," it then threatened from its harmless position.

  "Sure, but first you will tell me why you are here. And where Gerdundula is. You know, I'd love to kick him," she elaborated to William, "but it's the troll body that isn't inviting. It's rock hard and only hurts me." She turned to the grizble again. "Well, done thinking?"

  The Grizble pointed it fiery red eyes at her. "Lamador is stronger than ever. He has the witch and will use her. And you will-"

  They would never know what the creature was going to add to that, as its head exploded and its body went limp inside the rope.

  "Is that a design flaw also?", William asked.

  "No. This is seriously bad. Lamador listened in, I am sure, and did this. Crap."

  "HAH!" A loud booming voice almost blew them over. A giant shape formed in the middle of a number of flowerbeds. It was twenty feet tall. It was a collosal man, wearing a blue robe and a purple hood. That was all that was visible of him. "YOU WILL DIE THIS TIME, GRIMHILDA. MY POWER IS BEYOND REACH NOW."

  Hilda put her hands on her hips and looked up at the shape. "Get off it, Lamador. You are not making a good impression with all that showing off."

  William stared at the giant apparition. He was not as bold as Hilda, but then he lacked her experience. And her attitude.

  "AND WHO IS THIS UNMAGICAL WIZARD WITH YOU?"

  That would be William, they both