Hilda and Zelda

container-building for neverending seconds. There was no sound, no movement. All living creatures held their breath. Even Zelda had fallen silent.

  Then the creature turned to the mirror and jumped. The scream that came from Zelda echoed through the hall and ended abruptly as the creature took her away, into the mirror. At that same moment all the soldiers in the army of grave-dwellers collapsed and all black mirrors shattered.

  Hilda and William cast protective shields all around, to prevent people from getting cut up by the flying glass.

  35. Cat on a stick

  The clatter of black glass on the ground and remains of the scary army slowly came to an end. After the echoes of the last cling and clang had died away, a silence descended over the battlefield. But not for long.

  "Suck an elf." Hilda, still up on her broom, could not hold back. "Did you all see that?"

  William, who had dropped himself to the ground as had everyone else, slowly sat up. "Yeah. Was hard to miss, really." Some shards of black glass fell from his clothes and fell on the person lying next to him. "Oh. Sorry about that."

  It took a while, but finally everyone had gotten to their feet again. William had crunchily walked over carcasses and opened the door to let in some fresh air and a very limited amount of light. Most candles had gone out in the blast that had happened when the mirrors had cracked. He stepped to the side and breathed deeply a few times, as more and more people emerged from the metal temple of doom. Everyone was covered in dust, and dirt of preferably ignored origins.

  Hilda was the last person to leave the strange building; she had made sure nobody had been left behind. "Everyone accounted for?" she asked, as she floated into the light on a somewhat damaged broom.

  Vivian's group was present, Stephen and Rodney were looking around and counting their flock and gave the magical couple the thumbs up.

  "Do you know where Zelda went?" William asked, rubbing his face so the dirt on it was distributed less evenly.

  "No idea. Wherever the grey guy took her, I guess. A bit of a shame. She was a good witch. Magically, I mean. She pulled off some pretty mean stunts." Hilda hopped off the broom.

  William nodded.

  Hilda sneezed. "I suggest we close this place down, William," she then said. "Bad place, wrong ground."

  The wizard nodded again.

  "Hey. I'm talking to you." Hilda waved her hand in front of William's face.

  "What? Oh. Yes. This is not a place to keep open."

  "William, where are you?" Hilda frowned and wiped some dust from her face.

  "I wonder where they're from," the wizard said, pointing at the two black cats that sauntered out of the container.

  Hilda watched the two animals that walked over to them. The black pair sat down and looked up at the two magical people, with bright yellow eyes. "Meoww," one of them stated.

  "Hello, kitties," the witch said. She bent down to pet the two cats, who allowed that. They even rewarded the witch with a purr. Then she got up and said: "Right. How will we do this, William?" She pointed at the stack of containers.

  "First we'll get everyone out of here," he suggested, walking away from the building and looking at it. "Then we could turn that thing into a big fence and put it around the area."

  Hilda grinned. "I knew I kept you around for something." She walked off, calling Vivian and Stephen to join her, and explained their plan.

  Stephen was slightly disappointed with it, but he had to agree that it was the best thing to do. After what had happened, even he was convinced that relocating was the smartest thing to do.

  It was easy to arrange for transport out of there. Most of the people that Stephen had called in had come over by car or bike, so Vivian and the others of the coven were loaded in and fifteen minutes later the last car was about to leave.

  "Hey, person, you are forgetting the animals," Hilda said as she pointed to the two black cats.

  "They're not ours," said the man at the wheel.

  "So what about them then?"

  "Dunno. You take them." With that he drove off.

  "Suck an elf..."

  "Hilda..."

  "What?" She turned to William.

  "I was thinking... the cats that charged Zelda in there..." The wizard kept an eye on the cats. "Do you think that were these two?"

  "Get real, wizard. The ones in there were big. Mean. Feline ferocity if ever I saw it. These two are just cute." She kneeled down with the cats again and scratched willing heads. "See? They won't hurt anyone. I think they were just scared. Strays or so."

  "Hmm." William was not convinced. "Well, let's put up fences here."

  They were halfway through their fencing, when William suggested something to eat and drink. Hilda agreed with that.

  As they sat at the table they had magicked up, eating the food they had acquired through the same way, Hilda said: "You know... about the kitties... there is something strange about them."

  "As what?"

  "I just realised that they are remarkably clean. They were in there, during the battle. Look at you, you're dusty all over. Hmm, I even have some dust here and there." She patted her sleeve, making dustclouds jump up. "We should do something about ourselves," she frowned as she watched the large puffs float away whilst falling apart. A flick with the wand worked miracles, or rather magic.

  As soon as the couple was cleaned up, the two cats got up, meow'd peacefully and each one jumped on a lap.

  "Now what's this?" Hilda wondered, staring at the black animal that folded itself comfortably in her lap.

  "I have the uncanny feeling that we just got adopted by a couple of cats, sweetwitch," said the wizard who started stroking the black cat in his own lap.

  "I adopt. I don't get adopted," Hilda muttered. "Ksh, go." She waved a hand at the cat. It didn't even look up. A flick of its tail was the only indication it might have noticed the movement. "And I don't adopt," the witch added to her statemtent.

  "You adopted me," William grinned.

  "That's different. Come. You clear away the table and chairs. I'll go on with the fence thing here." Hilda got up, wondering what the cat would do. It elegantly dropped to its paws and wandered off as if this had been planned since a long time.

  William picked up the cat from his lap and put it on the ground. He watched it walk away to its brother. Or sister. He grinned.

  Almost an hour later they were done. The large lump of containers was gone and a rather sturdy fence was around a large area. The wind would take care of the dusty remains that were still lying around. Hilda and William had agreed not to deal with those.

  "I think we're all set to go," Hilda said. "Let's go to Vivian and see how things are there."

  William agreed. "We'll have to share your broom, Hilda. Mine is in shambles."

  Her's was still in one piece, although it bore lots of proof from the battle. "I'm sure that we can get away with this," she nodded. "You fly. I sit in front of you."

  William picked up the broom and floated it beneath him. Hilda hopped on it and smiled as he put an arm around her. The two cats came running and jumped. One sat in front of Hilda. The other landed on William's shoulder and made itself comfortable there.

  "Suck an elf," the witch said, her eyes large. "Make it go away!"

  "Slap it yourself," said William. "I knew someone who owned cats. If they are there to stay, they are there to stay. I am not going to sacrifice my skin, lady."

  Hilda grunted something that sounded like 'coward' and slapped at the cat. "Ouch." She magicked the cat to the ground, but it was like throwing a rubber ball: it bounced right back onto the broom. After a few more tries, Hilda resigned. "Dragon's balls... we'll take them along and leave them with Vivian. She looks like a person who loves cats."

  "Or Gladys," William said as he made the broom lift off.

  "Or Gladys," Hilda nodded.

  They flew to the town. As they were over the streets, there were a lot of people outside, wor
king on making right again what Zelda had made wrong.

  "Looks like the word's spread already," Hilda said. Her voice was flat. The cat in front of her nudged its head under her hand, and she slowly stroked it as she gazed down.

  William knew what was bothering her. After all, Zelda had been a witch. One of her kind. He pulled her a little closer against himself. "It was not what we wanted, but there was nothing more we could have done, Hilda."

  She nodded. "I know. Still sucks elves. It destroyed magic, and it broke her wand also."

  "She did that herself."

  "Hmm. I'm glad you are okay, William."

  "And I am glad you are okay, Hilda."

  "Hey! Up there!" The excited scream came from below.

  The couple looked down and saw a small group of people looking up at them and pointing. William slowed down.

  "Did you really get rid of the witch?" someone from below shouted up.

  "Yes. She's gone." It was Hilda who replied. The cheer from below made her draw in a deep breath. "She's gone," the witch whispered.

  William got the cue and made the broom fly up again, and quickly flew on to Vivian's house. In that street many people were outside also. He landed the broom in the garden. He was certain that Hilda could do without many questions now. As they were almost on the ground, the two cats jumped off.

  The sudden absence of a cat-head made Hilda jolt. "Crappedy crap," she muttered, "that's what I mean." She got off the broom, hugged William, turned, picked up a cat and went into the house.

  "I'll be damned if I ever understand that witch," the wizard said to the remaining cat. He put the broom against the wall