Hilda and Zelda (16 page)

"I am sure that we can get Andy to join us
also," Gladys said, as the plan was clear to them. "I'll try and
get in touch with him once I am home again."

Vivian and Jennifer nodded. "Yeah, he'll love
this. He's crazy enough for that."

"Do make sure he 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.

"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 take long).
Then the wizard made the large shape plunge down towards the evil
witch.

Zelda was frantically shooting at the large
black shape that came down fast. She was so surprised with the
appartion coming towards her that she did not even think of casting
a spell at it, the more as she had been firing the machine gun for
so long.

The fake witch was hit hundreds of times but
persisted in diving down towards the evil witch and her machine
gun. At the last moment, William changed the shape into a large
blob of black glue, which hit Zelda as well as the gun, rendering
both useless. The witch as she had not expected that, the gun as it
was not designed to function with glue everywhere.

"Hilda!" William yelled out. "Attack
time!!"

Hilda let out a relieved sigh and then sped
towards where she knew Zelda was. As she came into the square, she
saw William almost fall down. Then she saw the strange moving shape
on the grass in the centre of the square. "Now what is that?" she
muttered, popping up her wand.

William was firing spells at the glued-in
witch in an attempt to strap her in with metal sheets, but despite
her situation, Zelda managed to fight the ties off.

Hilda started petrifying the glue, which
seemed to have the desired effect. Slowly the glue was getting hard
as stone, and the movements of Zelda became slower, until they
finally stopped completely.

The magical couple stood together, wands
pointed at the now immobilised witch, ready to strike again. They
waited for several minutes, their senses sharp. But the statue of
the witch did not move anymore.

Hilda frowned. "What is that stuff you threw
over her?"

"Glue," said William. "Fast-drying glue.
Why?"

"I don't feel good about this. Would that
glue be able to eliminate the sensation of a witch being near?"

William shrugged. "Beats me. This is the
first time I tried it on a witch." Hilda's words however gave him
the shivers.

Hilda walked up to the glue statue and tapped
on it. It sounded... hollow. "Crappedy crap..." With her wand
spraying magic, she quickly cut an arm from the statue. She picked
it up and held the end to William. It was empty.

"Holy Bejeebus," the wizard said, scratching
his head. "How did she pull that off?"

Zelda had escaped from them.

As the witch and the wizard worked on
cleaning the area, some people dared to come out of the buildings
and look at them. From a safe distance, they assumed.

William started destroying the machine gun
when the square was free of glue. He took pride in that part and
turned the weapon into a small statue of a dragon, leaving it on
the grass.

"William? What are these folks staring at?"
Hilda tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned around.

"Us." He was certain. "It will also be very
easy to scare them, so we should be careful."

Hilda nodded. "No shouting, I guess,
right?"

"You learn so quickly, sweetwitch." William
looked at a group of over a dozen people. "Hello, you all!"

Mere seconds later the group had disappeared
inside, the door slamming shut behind the people.

Hilda looked at William. "About time you
learn a bit or two about addressing people, sweet wizard." She
flashed her sweetest smile at him.

"Hmmf. It probably was the wand," William
offered a feeble defense, making Hilda burst out in laughter.

"I did find something interesting though,"
the wizard said. He showed Hilda the small hole in the ground. It
was where the glue-blob had been that was meant to contain Zelda.
"Looks like she simply sunk through the ground and escaped like
that."