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'.
37. Trip to Gurthreyn
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