Hilda - The Challenge

Hilda added. "A small thing, but an interesting one."

  "Yes. Now, if all contestants have understood the rules, then please proceed to a place from where you prefer to enter the forest and then the challenge will start."

  The judges stood together and watched the two teams walk off.

  "Not too smart of Lamador to stick to his colours," whispered William to Hilda as they walked along, avoiding twigs grabbing at them. "Blue is quite easy to spot in a forest." The camouflage gear they were wearing would make them close to invisible in the forest. Hilda had tied a brown piece of cloth around her long grey hair, so it would not get caught in bushes and also would not be very visible.

  "Yes, that is true, but I have to agree with him that we look preposterous," Hilda whispered back.

  They reached the place from where they wanted to enter the battle field and looked at where the judges were. The judges waved at them, the signal that they could enter the forest and start the challenge.

  William and Hilda stepped into the forest and walked straight ahead for a while, until they found the small white mark they had left on one of the trees. That was, they knew, the exact centre of the 'field'.

  In silence they stood and waited, listening for sounds that would tell them where Lamador and his team mate were. Hilda sensed that overhead the judges were already patrolling the area.

  William then pointed. He had heard something, so they walked ahead.

  Lamador and his assistant, a man by the name of Tudris, stomped through the woods. They both hated the place and wanted to get away from it quickly. Despite that they knew that they had to compete in as fair a game as possible.

  "If I get my hands on them, they will mourn the moment they thought of this stupid challenge," said Lamador. "Now what are you doing?" He saw Tudris pick up a few pieces of wood.

  "We are supposed to hit them with something we find in the forest, great sorcerer," the man said. "And this is what I find in the forest."

  Lamador sighed. He looked at the smears Tudris had on his hands from the pieces of wood. Shaking his head, he magicked up a piece of wood and floated that behind him.

  "Great sorcerer, we are not-"

  "Shut up, I know that. But no one is going to-"

  "One point for the time of Grimhilda the witch, unauthorised use of magic by Lamador," a voice from above said. A cackling laughter accompanied the cursing of Lamador.

  Hilda heard Babs laughing and that made her grin. "This must mean something good."

  William winked at her and kneeled down. He picked a handful of small bits of bark from the ground and stuffed them in his pockets. A few more twigs and pebbles later, he was satisfied. He watched how Hilda also grabbed handsful of stuff from the floor. Her face was one big smile as she got up again.

  The sound of someone cursing reached them. "Another good thing," whispered William.

  They stood still, looking for signs of blue and listening for more sounds. Their waiting was rewarded quickly. Hilda saw the movement of their two adversaries first and hissed to William.

  "Right. Now do the thing we practiced," he whispered. They each went to another side of the trail they had been standing on. Lamador would probably come down this way, as it was the easiest passage. Hilda as well as her friend seemed to be devoured by the bushes and low trees.

  Lamador and Tudris came down the path. "I wonder where they are." Lamador actually kept his voice down as he had understood some of the game now. They did not move fast and tried to check every inch of green and black they encountered. There were however many of those inches, so it was easy to miss one or two.

  Hilda sensed the presence of all judges over them. She also heard the whispers of Lamador and Tudris. The two men did their best by now to be quiet, but did a lousy job. She saw them pass by, counted their steps and then slowly got up. Calmly she reached into her pockets and threw two hands full of bits and pieces against the two sorcerers.

  At the same time, William got up and started bombing the two with his collection of bits, twigs, bark and pebbles.

  Lamador turned to William, his eyes shooting fire. Never before had he been insulted in such a way by an ordinary. And here was one that stood grinning as he threw out a load of dirt from the floor over him, the Great Lamador.

  The magical shields that hung everywhere through the forest protected William from the fierce attack Lamador launched on him. Hilda held her breath as she saw the bright amber shoot from Lamador, but it was neutralised by the screen far before it could get to her lover and friend. Still, her heart pounded in her throat as she saw that Lamador was not giving up and tried to pierce the shielding.

  The anger of the great sorcerer was so intense that he might actually have succeeded in that, were it not that all three judges dropped down to the floor and blocked his fire.

  "Lamador!!", Baba Yaga shrieked, scaring William. "Stop that!"

  The other two judges were not feeling competent to scold their master, but Babs did quite the job. She got off her broom and whacked Lamador in the behind, with force.

  This was enough of a shock to the great sorcerer to break of his attempt to kill William. The fire fell away as he jerked around to look at who had slammed him like that. "I should terminate you for that."

  "But you won't. There are too many witnesses, Lamador, and you cannot terminate us all. And you know that." Baba Yaga looked at the two other judges and at Hilda who had come out of her hiding place.

  Lamador was angry. Very angry. He knew they had him cornered.

  William also stepped out now and looked at the sorcerer. "You did not obey the rules, Lamador. I move that you be disqualified."

  A deadly silence fell.

  "You..." Lamador could hardly speak because of the shock and the inner rage that this ordinary's words had brought about.

  "William, perhaps you should stand behind Babs and me," Hilda said, tugging his sleeve.

  "I think he lost," said William. Somehow he did not feel afraid of this man in his blue dress, who had smudges of the wood and pebbles all over him. Everyone was aware however, that Lamador was volatile now, as the sorcerer was barely managing his frustration.

  Lamador pointed a finger at William. "You tricked me. You made a fool out of me."

  "I did not. We played the game by other standards. That is not trickery." William calmly stood before the fearsome great Lamador and looked him in the eye.

 

  There was incredible tension between the two men. Hilda quickly glanced at Baba Yaga, who could not pull her eyes away from what was going on. She could not believe it, that William was challenging Lamador this way, confronting him with something that was so stupid and simple, and yet so humiliating for the great sorcerer to have fallen for this.

  Lamador then dropped his hand. There was no more pointing finger. "You are going to regret this," he said to William, then brusquely turned and walked off. Tudris followed his leader.

  The two judges assigned by Lamador looked a bit forlorn. "It looks like you won," the woman said. "I hope you enjoy the winning." Slowly she and her fellow judge flew off.

  The three stood in the forest where now some form of peace returned. Hilda dropped her remaining twigs. "I am not sure if this was such a good idea, now."

  Baba Yaga nodded in silence.

  "Well, it happened," said William. "Not much we can do about that. i'm sorry I dragged you into this."

  Hilda slipped her hand into his. "We were in it together, sweet man. At least we can say we beat Lamador once."

  He kissed her dirty cheek. "We did."

  Baba Yaga worried. "You know he is going to kill you on the next meeting, right?"

  "No. He is not. He is going to be careful with us." William said it full of confidence. "Lamador now knows that he does not know what to expect from us together. This show has taught him that much."

 

  "You two scare me," said Babs. "Come, let's find your brooms and go back. Get you cleaned up.
You two look like a mess."

  51. The aftermath

  "Can you wash my back, please?" Hilda looked at William, who was also in the bathroom of the hut. The bathroom was far too large for the entire hut. The bathtub itself already was, and still somehow it fit.

  "Of course, just don't drop your hair on me, okay?"

  Hilda's wet hair was floating over her head, the waterdrops falling down into the tub like a fountain. "Of course not. You still get your turn to clean yourself up."

  William sat down on a low stool behind the tub, hoping the four legs would remain standing where they were now. The bathtub had moved about a few times already, and he did not feel like chasing after it. He took the washcloth that hung from the side and started washing Hilda's back and shoulders.

  "Ah, yes, that is good. A bit lower please... yes... ooohhh..." She groaned with pleasure and asked him to go on, even though her back and shoulders were clean. He didn't mind.

  "Aren't you getting a bit too much fun out of this, sweetwitch?"

  "Too much? No, William, no. There can not be too much of this, believe me. I promise I'll wash your back also, okay? Just go on a bit longer..."

  He sat back and made the washcloth go over her back.

  "Hey, not fair! That is not the same thing, William Connoley. Be a man and do your duty!"

  William grinned and scrubbed her back one more time.

  By the time he was in the tub (it had similar convenient 'empty' and 'full' plaques as had the one at Hilda's house), Hilda got in it again, together with him. She sat in his lap, holding him close, making