knew it would not hurt to flatter the king. After all, he was the king.
The brooms swooped around the fountain and then took off into the sky.
King Walt was satisfied. "Next time I'll get them."
"So, how did you get that idea with the circling and the smoke? That was so fabulous!" Hilda made a serious attempt to smile the top part of her head off.
"It was something of my world that sort of just popped into my head. A memory," he said. "And you picked that up quite well!"
"This was fun! We should do things like that more often." Hilda nodded to herself. "You made pretty colours, William. You used magic, you know. I am proud of you for that. If only you could make that more consistent."
"I'm working on that, Hilda. Not very fast, I know, but I do my best. And the fact that this little bitty worked just gave me a good idea. Coincides with your question from before, about how people in my world protect themselves."
Hilda picked up his underlying thought. "By using examples of your world, things you know."
"Precisely. I just have to find out what examples work..."
"Shiny. As long as you don't start experimenting up here, okay? It's a long way down."
William looked at the green earth and the trees below. "No kidding. I'm not going to do anything heroic up here, believe me." They were at least three hundred feet up in the air. "Where are we going after the village?"
"We could go visit the shepherds again. I know they are on a different slope today. Oh yes! Let's do that, I suddenly thought of the most wicked idea!" Hilda beamed at him, filling him in on her plan as they were approaching the village.
There was no market in the square that day. The village look a bit dull and dreary.
"Hood?", Hilda opted to William.
He winked at her, willed his hood on his head and was ready.
"We're going to slowly cruise some of the streets," Hilda told him. "Make them see us. I doubt there will be anything worth doing, unless we make something happen ourselves."
William just nodded, he knew they'd be fine.
Hilda dropped them into one of the streets and hovered them there for a while as she watched the few people who were walking along or working there.
They all knew Hilda the witch and greeted her and William. Nobody was afraid of the woman on the broom, unless they had something on their mind. Hilda had an uncanny gift to pick up on things like that.
Hilda floated them through the street and from there into another one. This second one had a lot of small workshops. Furniture was made, all by hand and beautifully made. William was disappointed that they could not stop so he could have a closer look.
Hilda looked at William for a moment and smiled. She sensed how he felt. They past the shop of the tailor and the seamstress, the house of the woman who cooked for the sick and the elderly and at the end of the street was the shop of Johan the mirror-maker. "We'll go in here," she said to William as they were out of earshot from anyone. "This is a nice person, he makes my mirrors."
Well-trained, William got off the broom and held it in his hand until he knew what Hilda was doing. She winked and simply put hers against the wall of the shop.
"Hello Johan, my favourite mirror-maker!" Hilda came in and it was impossible not to notice her. There were two customers in the shop, who respectfully backed away as the witch and her silent companion entered the shop.
"Honourable witch," Johan said, from behind his work table. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"Nah, everything's fine. I just wanted my friend the wizard to meet you. This is Johan," she said to William.
"Hello, honourable wizard," Johan said. He did not come to greet William as he was working on a crucial part of a mirror.
William made a slight bow, keeping his silence. He hoped that was the appropriate thing to do. He had the time of his life, so to speak, to be in this little shop and see what was going on, to smell the real life of this town.
"My friend the wizard may be around for a little longer," Hilda told Johan, "and I thought that it would be good if you meet him. It could be that he needs a mirror in the future, so it makes things easier if you have seen each other."
Johan stared at the man in the blue robe and the black cloak, an equally black hood over his head. "I'm afraid there is not much I can see of your friend, honourable witch."
Hilda frowned without showing it. The man had a point there. Well, there was no harm in this, she decided. The witch turned to William and nodded slightly.
William did the best thing possible: he let the hood slide off his head by using magic. The two people in the shop gasped for air, they were not used to being near witches and wizards, so seeing magic used at such close range was something awe inspiring for them.
Johan, more used to special effects like that, nodded at the 'wizard'. "Good day, honourable wizard."
"Good day, Johan. It is good to meet you." William was at a loss how a proper wizard would address an ordinary he did not know, so he kept things a bit reserved and distant.
"Where he comes from," Hilda quickly pitched in, "the magical people are not so keen on telling others their name. He is still getting used to our village."
Johan nodded and William got the hint. "My name is William."
The two people in the shop whispered among themselves.
Johan stared at the two people and tried to shake his head violently without any witch or wizard noticing it. He knew that Hilda did not like it when ordinaries near her were whispering. The two people failed to notice Johan's gesture. Hilda and William didn't.
The wicked witch stepped up to the two people. "Sorry if I interfere. Is there a problem here?"
The tallest man looked at Hilda. "No, no, everything is fine, honourable witch."
"Really. You could have fooled me, the way you were whispering. Don't you know that it is very impolite to whisper with a witch present? Especially this witch?"
"Yes, we do, but-"
"Ah!" Hilda's voice became sharp as a razor. "You know! And yet... tsk tsk tsk." Her wand appeared. "I think it would be very good if you were to wait outside. Don't you agree, William?"
William decided to follow Hilda's lead and made his wand appear also, keeping a rather relaxed stance for now.
Hilda grinned. "And do let me give you a hand..." Her wand twitched a bit, and the man who had talked to her slowly levitated a few inches. She looked at the open door, and the man floated calmly to it. He suddenly found himself outside the mirror-maker's shop and he plopped on the street.
William did nothing but keep an eye on the other man. After all, he had done hardly anything. Well, he had done the whisper bit also.
Hilda turned to the other man. "See... I really have a problem with whispering people. Especially if they are talking about me or my friends. And as you were indeed whispering about William the Wizard, I can only do one thing."
The man felt an invisible hand grab him in the collar, lift him, and moments later he too stood in the street, next to his friend.
"Do call again," said Hilda, "but not when we're here."
The two whisperers stood outside the door for a few more moments, still not sure if this had really happened.
William, curious about the two, was focussing on them. Hilda sensed how he was not paying attention to anything inside the shop. Then there was a very rapid sequence of things that happened.
A strange sensation made Hilda look at William. William looked at the open door and lashed out with his wand. He knew that magic was inside him, it acted through him. He had an idea of what had happened.
"What?", Hilda asked in her direct way. She had sensed the jolt.
"Not sure..." William walked out the door, Hilda on his heels, leaving Johan wondering and stuck with his mirror.
The two men stood frozen in motion. The small man had his hand around William's broom, the tall man had lifted his foot to kick and
probably break Hilda's broom.
William's hand, the one carrying the wand, trembled slightly. "I thought I felt their intent and just acted." It sounded as if he was apologising. He felt the power of the magic in his body, it permeated his entire being, and it held the two man where they were.
People appeared in the street, looking at what was going on near Johan's shop. Even Johan deserted his mirror as he noticed there were people gathering in front of his workshop. As he saw the situation, he cursed.
All this happened in less than twenty seconds.
"Okay. Nobody touch them," Hilda said, rather unnecessary. She removed her broom from the danger zone that was the large man's foot, and then she magicked William's broom from the smaller man's hand. "You can release them now."
William's sudden anger that was feeding the magic only subsided slowly. He was certain that a proper wizard would be much more in control. As the hold on them unbound, the two men started moving again, slowly at first and more normal as William's hold fell away. It had a dramatic effect which left a profound impression with the bystanders.
30. Things that go bahhh
The two men stared at the witch and the wizard. They stood with their backs against the wall of Johan's shop and kept their mouths shut.
"Very nice," Hilda muttered. "So now we have two people here who are not only disrespectful towards the local witch, but who also find some childish pleasure in destroying the property of the witch. And the wizard." Hilda turned to the large group of people that by now had assembled. "Do you want to take care of these people?"
A murmur went