the impressive wall. William insisted on having his wand in hand the whole time. For what, he did not know.
The trip around the labyrinth was a long one. Hilda was getting bored and William knew it. By the time they had gone past only half of the wall, he was ready to call it quits as he did not want Hilda to suffer any longer.
"No, William, we are going to do this- what was that?" Through the bond she had sensed a twitching in William's wand even before he did.
The two brooms halted.
"Where did this happen?", Hilda asked. "We were not going that fast..." She got her own wand and then slowly they tracked back.
Their focus on the wands, they floated along the large looming wall. Its depressing presence seemed to be less now they were paying attention to something else than the atmosphere that made the place such a bad one to be.
"Found it! Found it!" Hilda waved her wand. As she did, William found the spot also. "So, what do we have here?"
They stared at the rough grey wall. It gave them the eerie feeling that it stared back at them, in an accusing way.
"This is spooky." William scratched his head. Then he reached inside a pocket and took out a scroll he had taken along.
"Why did you bring that? Do you think it will tell us how to get rid of this bad feeling?" Hilda shook her head.
"I am hoping for something even better," said William as he studied the scroll. "It says here that the magician Gurthreyn was keen on hiding things. Maybe we have found something that is hidden here."
"Oh, really. Come on, William, this labyrinth has been here for so many centuries I have lost track. So you really think people have not gone around this thing looking for something like that?"
"How can you find something if you don't know what you are looking for?", William asked her.
Hilda tried to get back with a really snippy answer, but she could not come up with one. "So, what does that paper say?"
"The magician Gurthreyn," William read out loud, "is known to make things disappear in his workings. These things are of many kinds. Objects are least of his interest. He hides ideas, magic, gestures. You can find them by not looking for them, but luring them, enticing them."
Hilda looked at William. "Hides magic and ideas? Care to explain that to me?"
"I wish I could. I just read what is written, and I feel that something is here. As do you." William took his wand and slowly moved it around. "Yes, something's here, for certain."
Hilda frowned, but also moved her wand. And she too sensed the twitching again. Staring at the wall told her nothing. "Luring. Enticing. How do you entice a wall..." Then she raised her eyebrows, as if she was listening to something. "Of course... not the wall..."
To William's surprise, Hilda lowered her broom until she was standing on the ground, the daunting wall towering over her. He went downwards also, hoping to find what she wanted to do. The bond did not reveal anything about that.
Hilda's face showed concentration and wonder when he arrived. She was actually smiling, which was something William would not have expected of her. Not here, next to the wall of this gloomy labyrinth.
"You are good, do you know that?" Hilda looked at her wizard. She was serious, she meant it. He knew. "Give me your hand."
He reached out, automatically with his wand-hand. She took it, with her wand-hand, and then there was a very strange experience. It felt like an explosion of white light in their heads, shared through the bond. Inside the explosion they heard laughter. There also was a feeling of... teaching. Of power. Something embedded itself in their magical core and then the light was gone.
"Now what the hell was that?" William stared at their hands, still locked together. His new necklace felt hot around his neck.
"Yes, mine too," said Hilda. "As I said, it increases your magic. It also seems to allow new magic to enter you. I've never felt this before. It feels..."
"...raw," William completed what she was saying.
"Yes. This feels raw. Exactly." Hilda took a string of her necklace in her hand. "It still glows."
William checked his necklace. The amber shone brightly. "Unbelievable. And how did that happen?"
"William, please remember that I am the one who asks the trick questions, okay?"
The wizard grinned. "I'll remember that." He looked around. "Now is it me, or..."
"Nope. Not just you. I feel it too. Less fright here..." Hilda patted the big wall. "There is something in here that spewed its gut into us. Know what? Maybe that scroll reading stuff isn't such a bad idea after all. Maybe we can find some more of these trickster things as we go around."
As they lifted off again, the necklaces cooled down to body temperature quickly. They completed the search around the large outer wall, but no more magical surprises were in it. At least not the ones they could pick up.
By the time they had done the whole round, it was about to get dark. They were still adjusting to the feeling that they were not so oppressed by the environment of Gurthreyn's labyrinth.
"I think we should better make our way back to find a good spot to camp for the night," Hilda said. "It's less creepy, but still a far cry from inviting."
William agreed, so they did not bother about getting off their brooms and shot away to where they felt safe for the night.
The next morning they were awake very early. Rain was tapping an undecided rhythm on the roof of their tent and they lay listening to it for a while.
"It's amazing, all of this," said Hilda. She held William's hand. Her fingers slowly stroked his fingers and there was a faint smile on her face.
"Yes, it is indeed, but perhaps you can be more precise what you mean?" William had picked up her awe but there was no real indication of what she was thinking about.
"Well... you and me. I had never thought this would happen. The way I entered your crazy world, by accident. Then coming back here by your help, with that book. And you coming here, through the rocks. And now we are... together."
"Yes. That is almost incredible. And yet we did it. We're here. Together."
William's wand expanded the tent to a size where he could sit up. He looked at the face of his witch and stroked along her long grey hair. "You're a darned pretty woman, Hilda. I don't know what it is, but to me you look more and more attractive every day."
"That's because of you, I think. I'm not doing anything special. Well, except for all the great special things I do, of course."
Her words made him grin. As he lay his palm against her cheek, she closed her eyes and gently pressed her face against his skin, deepening the feeling and sharing that with him in every way she could. They basked in each other's company for a while longer. Then, as all good things end (but can start again), they got up and prepared for the next trip to the labyrinth.
They got closer to the large grey place. It looked as aggressive and unwelcoming as it had the day before, but something had changed. They both sensed it, not so much as something they knew, but as if it were deeper inside them.
"Our magic has changed," Hilda decided as they got off their brooms near the looming gates.
The rain was still falling, and politely fell two feet away from them, as the couple had put up their magical umbrellas. Inside their cones of dryness they walked up to the doors again.
The massive constructions that held out the nosy people that were not impressed by the threatening atmosphere were closed. Hilda looked at it, as much in awe of them as the first time she had visited them, brought out her wand and touched one of the doors. Slowly, without a sound, it opened for them. "Remember, walk in magic, William." She took his hand and together they entered the maze of huge moving walls.
They immediately noticed that the walls had been biding their time. The interior of the labyrinth looked entirely different from their previous visit. Instead of the long corridor that led them along the outer wall at first, there now was a short stretch they had to walk straight ahead, ending in a split where they had to choose to go left or right. Both passages look
ed equally short so the two stood and wondered what would be best to do.
William took out his wand. "It worked once. Might as well try it again," he said as he also took the scroll in hand.
Hilda nodded. Not much later they proceeded, both wands held out as antennae, to pick up the slightest sign of anything that the magician Gurthreyn might have left along their route.
They had been walking for an hour and had found nothing. William sighed.
"Do you know how big this labyrinth is, William? When you walk through it and the walls stand still, you can go around here for maybe two weeks. So this short time does not count for anything substantial."
"That is a lot of ground to cover, sweetwitch... if only we had our brooms here."
"We can't take our brooms in. The gate won't allow that." Hilda stopped walking and looked at her wizard. "I told you that before, didn't I?"
"Yes... you did..."
"William. I don't like it when I feel these things coming from you... You are not- You are. Crappedy crap."
William held up a hand. He wanted his broom. And waited.
Outside the thick walls of the labyrinth of Gurthreyn, a broom trembled, then lifted itself up. It rose up along the high wall and wavered for a few moments as it was higher than the wall. Slowly the broom pushed itself through the magical wards that were over the massive stone wall and then it sped towards the waiting hand.
"William! You did it! You got your broom in here!" Hilda clapped her hands in excitement. "Of course I knew you could do it. So, how did