understands what is in store for him, though," said William. "He must start into this fully aware of that. We do not want to put people in a situation they are not ready for. At least, as ready as can be."
Vivian nodded. "We understand. I do have a question... If we want to get in touch with you, how can we do that?"
Hilda smiled. "I'll get you something." She got up and walked through the kitchen to the small back yard where she picked up a handful of pebbles. Back inside, she tossed them on the table, popped up her wand and waved that over the pebbles a few times, while mumbling some spells. "Right, done. You all take one or two of these thingies along, and save some for your friend too. If you desperately need us, rub the stone for at least half a minute. I'll know where you are and we'll come as fast as we can. Once we are on our way, the pebble will go cold for a short while."
The five women stared at the pebbles that now emitted a gentle blueish light. Tory picked one up. "It's warm."
Gladys took one also. "It is! Awesome!"
All the women took a few pebbles, and Vivian then stuck the remaining pebbles in a plastic bag.
"Remember that a pebble only works once," Hilda informed their host, as she saw how the bag was stored in a drawer. "Once you've used it and it's gone cold, throw it away as far as you can. The discharge makes all the magic go away and it might alert Zelda if she is around. That is why I said 'desperately', ladies. Don't forget that. And tell your friend about it."
The ladies nodded in unison and watched how William and Hilda got up. They followed the magical couple to the hall. Picking up their brooms, Hilda and William wished the ladies a safe day.
"We'll come back in two days, as we agreed," said Hilda before opening the front door.
"Yes." Vivian was very serious now. "And we'll also be here, including Andy. All day. We'll be waiting for you."
Hilda frowned for a moment, as she thought of something. "Remember one more thing about the pebbles. They shine blue now. If they turn back to normal, something happened to us, and we won't be able to come to you."
At least three faces turned very pale.
William opened the door. They slipped outside and flew off.
21. Gunfire
"What do you think?" Hilda asked as they flew away from the house. "Can we rely on them?"
William shrugged. "I am not sure. This is all rocket science to them, they don't know what they are getting into. We'll just have to be happy if things work out for the most part."
"I agree. What's rocket science?"
William laughed. "It is the science of shooting people to the moon and bringing them back. Alive."
Hilda stared at him. "You've been here too long. You are talking gibberish again. I'm sorry I asked. Just forget it."
"Forgotten. You had something you wanted to talk to me about, away from our new friends, remember?" William reminded her.
"Oh, yes! Dragons! Do you think we can find something of an animal in this crazy world that we can use as a model for a dragon?" Hilda beamed at the thought of battling Zelda with dragons. It would be a proper pay-back for the stunt the bad witch had thrown at them with the Nobblebacks.
Before William answered, both the magical people felt a familiar tingling down their spines. Faster than a thought could be thought, their protection was up high, and that was not a microsecond too soon.
From below, a loud rattling sound made its way to their ears. It was accompanying a large stream of high calibre bullets.
William pushed Hilda to the side, evading the stream of deadly metal. Not having to bounce that off was always better and more healthy.
"Crappedy crap, William, what's happening?" Hilda asked as they started a zig-zag flight.
"Someone is shooting at us," he commented, "and with a big machine gun or something like that."
He knew something of weapons, and the bullets that were coming towards them had a light-up shell every so many rounds, so the gunner could see where his aim was going. William forced Hilda downwards until they were between buildings, where they landed.
The shooter could no longer see them, and the stream of bullets stopped.
"And who might that be?" Hilda did not understand what was happening. People -never- shot at a witch. But then, she realised, this was not a world with all that many sane people.
"I might bet that it is Zelda," William said. "And I don't know where she got the gun from, but she's definitely trigger-happy."
Hilda grumbled. She did not like to be the minority. Guns were not in her league though, and William seemed to know what he was talking about, so she had to depend on his judgment. After all, this had been his world. She lay all her dismay in a single sigh.
Whoever was in control of the heavy machine gun unleashed another round of bullets into the air, apparently for the sheer fun of it.
"Must be Zelda," Hilda nodded. "I sense her near. That's bad of course, because she senses me then also."
William nodded. "Maybe we can turn that to our advantage."
"Oh? How?"
"I don't know. That's why I said maybe."
Hilda kicked the wizard.
William ignored it. "If you can fly circles around Zelda, without being seen, maybe I can sneak up to her and knock her over the head. She can't sense me."
"No. I won't allow that, William. That's dangerous." Hilda shook her head.
"Having Zelda on the loose is dangerous too, sweetwitch."
"Urgh. I hate you, please remember that. Be careful, you idiot. I want you back in one piece and without holes in you." Hilda kissed his cheek, jumped on her broom after that and flew off.
"Right," said William as he mounted his own broom. "Let's see where this leads us." He hovered upwards, staying beneath the roofs. He popped up his wand and thought for a moment.
Hilda, in that time, was slowly going around the spot where she sensed Zelda. It was obvious to her that Zelda sensed her also, as the rattle of the gun picked up again, and the rain of bullets was clearly directed in her direction.
"You can't win, Grimhilda!" Zelda's voice had to be magically enhanced, to boom over the noise the gun was relentlessly making.
"Wanna bet?!" Hilda yelled back, quickly scooting across a street and slipping between buildings, as a rain of glass splinters suddenly started coming down.
"I don't need to bet! I have toys!" Zelda laughed and happily fired another round of bullets. She could go on forever, as she had bespelled the gun to never run out of ammunition. Suddenly a dark shadow fell on the evil witch. It was there and then it was gone. Zelda stared upwards, releasing the trigger of the big gun as she peered into the sky. Whatever it was, it was gone. "Big stupid bird, probably," she muttered.
Hilda had noticed the momentary end of the shooting and wondered what had happened. She went on circling the spot where Zelda was, making sure she kept out of sight and out of reach of the bullets.
William was flying over a few roofs in places where Zelda could not see him. He knew that Hilda would sense through the link he was okay. He knew also that he had attracted the attention of Zelda, and that was good. He'd do that a few more times, in an attempt to unsettle the evil one.
Hilda considered having a go at Zelda on her own. She did not like it one bit that William was out there taking all the risks, while she was playing the lure and jumping the gun in more ways than one.
"Hey, witch!" Zelda yelled out. "Why do you avoid the inevitable?" Again a shadow fell over her, but as she looked up the thing that had caused it was gone again.
The wicked witch noticed the hesitation in Zelda again. Whatever it was that William did, it seemed to work. "Nothing's inevitable, Griselda," she called out as she moved to another spot.
The gun rattled.
"You missed!" Hilda started to enjoy the cat and mouse game, where the mouse was mocking the cat.
Zelda glanced up more and more, hoping to catch what was casting the shadow on her. She was almost tempted to point the
barrel of the machine gun up as well, so she could take it out on sight.
William was on the building behind Zelda. He could see the witch in the middle of the square, if he leaned over a bit. He wished that Hilda were there with him: together they would be able to take the witch out, he was convinced of it. Now all he could do was make her nervous with the shadow he sent over the square. Doing more would make it clear that he was up on the roof, and he did not want to face the evil witch in a wand to wand alone. But if he had a way to disable the gun...
Hilda sensed the unease with William. Should she go up and find him? But that would perhaps throw the plan he had, and that seemed to work. Zelda was failing more and more in her attempts to shoot Hilda. Hilda moved to another street and from the corner of her eye caught a strange shadow sailing overhead and suddenly disappearing. "Are you doing that, William?" she quietly asked herself.
Zelda had seen the shadow also. It looked like someone on a broom flying over her. Just as a safety measure, she pointed the gun upwards and let go a few sets of rounds. After making that point, she searched for Hilda again and sent off bullets in her general direction.
William had taken cover as the bullets flew up over his head. They were far away, but still, the idea of an evil witch in control of an equally evil machine gun made for very careful wizards. Then he materialised the large fake flying witch again and made it cruise over the area once more. This time William did not make it disappear, though. He made the fake witch fly around until Zelda was shooting at it (which did not