Hilda - Cats (16 page)

The brothers in arms were of one mind and
returned to the safety of the castle where there were no
ghosts.

-=-=-

"No, honourable witches and wizard, we didn't
see anything," the leader of the soldiers said. "Well, of course we
saw a lot, but not the cat-woman the prince told us to find because
you told him to tell us."

"We didn't really see a lot either, as it was
so dark," one of the soldiers pitched in.

Baba Yaga groaned. Hilda stared at the
dimwits in mail and armour. William hoped he was dreaming and
wanted to wake up.

"I am sure you did your best," Hilda finally
dared. "We'll give it a rest for now and have a look tomorrow, when
there's light." As the soldiers lingered, she said: "Dismissed." As
the soldiers lingered, she said: "That means you can go now." The
soldiers no longer lingered.

The witch looked at the wizard. "Bed."

"Bed," he agreed.

Baba Yaga got up and walked off without a
word.

-=-=-

The next morning a magical sextet left the
castle on brooms. Three witches, a wizard and two cats.

"I hope the soldiers did not trample on too
many of the tracks," Hilda grumbled. "They mucked up our night
rest, they mucked up the castle's security, I am sure they were
hired on that trait." Grim looked back at her witch for a moment
and did not comment.

Esmee flew at Baba Yaga's side. The old witch
had told her to stay close, without giving a reason for it. Esmee
knew that Baba Yaga always had a reason for something.

They hovered over the ground where the path
from the garden ended and the forest floor started. "Plenty of
footsteps here," Hilda pointed out the obvious. The footsteps made
it easy to find where the soldiers had gotten to. "Good thing there
was no rain last night."

They soon reached the spot where the soldiers
had decided to pursue their tactical retreat. That was where the
magicals proceeded on foot. Grim and Obsi disappeared under some
bushes, following some plan of their own. William and Hilda quickly
located the paw prints that had not been erased by guardly footwear
and followed the trail.

"Hey, that's strange. See this?" William
pointed at a spot where the paw prints suddenly ended and were
replaced by a single set of footprints. "Looks like the cat woman
changed- but that would be very strange."

Hilda nodded. "How could a cat woman suddenly
change into someone wearing men's boots... That would ask for some
very mean magic. Babs?"

Baba Yaga and Esmee as her shadow came to
where the couple was looking at the ground. "Oh. Look at that. Nice
work, you two. Looks like cat woman changed into- no, that can't
be. Hey, protegé, what are you doing down there?"

Esmee was crawling on the ground on all
fours, staring at something. "Come and look," she said. The three
joined her, as did the two cats. "See this?" the flower witch
pointed at a body-shaped imprint. "Someone's been lying here.
Perhaps the cat woman."

Hilda crawled around some more. "Yes, I'd
believe that," she said. "Look here. The boots came over here and
left again. But the coming-here prints are far less deep than the
going-away prints. It looks as if the owner of the boots knew that
our cat woman was here and came to collect her."

The four got up, magicked their clothes clean
and started to follow the trail of the boots. The abundant plant
life forced them to continue on foot while their brooms floated
along behind them. The trail delivered them a dead end as it hit a
pebble path that ran through the forest.

"To the left is to the village, to the right
is to the castle," Esmee said. "I am quite sure the man in the
boots did not go to the castle." That was a truth if ever there was
spoken one. A man carrying a cat woman around would have raised at
least a few heads. But the same reason probably was true for the
side that led into the village.

"No trail here," William reported from the
other side of the path. "Maybe it was a wizard or a sorcerer that
had his broom parked here?"

"There'd be a trace of magic here in that
case, Willy," said Baba Yaga. "My protegé here would know that,
wouldn't you, Esmee?" William and Hilda frowned at the display of
affection Babs showed towards Esmee. It was not natural, and
definitely not Baba Yaga. Esmee nodded.

The flower witch twitched her lips for a
moment. Then she squatted down. "Hey, cats, come here." To the
surprise of two magicals, the cats came. Esmee whispered something
to them and the two dashed off, one in each direction and quickly
were gone from view.

"What was that all about?" Hilda muttered.
"They do have names, you know. And they're good ones."

Esmee grinned. "It worked, didn't it?"

Hilda looked at William. "I don't like the
influence Babs has on that kid. She's becoming too much a
smart-ass."

"Thank you," said Baba Yaga.

Before any further commenting could take
place, Grimalkin appeared again, a few hundred feet from where the
group was standing. She meowed loudly. Obsi raced past the
assembled magicals to his 'sister', the magicals followed at a
somewhat more moderate pace.

"That's my cat," Hilda beamed as she saw the
imprints of the boot that continued into the forest. "It's all in
the name, William."

"Oh sure," he grinned.

"Come on, stop your socialising," Baba Yaga
said as she pushed through the wealth of plants. Esmee was right
behind her. "Our boot-wearer did not walk this way when he came to
the point where found his tracks," Babs informed them, "I only see
his footsteps going this way."

"Maybe he is not used to walk through the
forests at night," Hilda opted, just before she ran into Esmee.
"Hey, what's the wait?"

"We may have found home sweet home of the cat
woman, Hilda," Baba Yaga said. She slowly moved ahead, allowing the
others to see the shed they had reached.

The shed was squeezed in between two trees.
It looked old, but it still was in quite good shape. The long side
was about twenty feet long, the side that had a door in it about
half that size. There were no windows in it, there was no paint
remaining on it, if ever there had been some.

William tried the door, but that was adorned
with a chain and a solid padlock.

"William... better step away from that shed
for now," Hilda said as she tugged his sleeve. "No messing with it
until we know it's safe."

William looked at her, then at the two other
witches, and he understood there was something they knew that he
missed. Something magical they had a sixth sense for. Carefully he
stepped back and let the real witches do their thing.

Babs and Esmee slowly circled the shed, their
wands in hand.

"They are trying to find where most magic is
coming from," Hilda explained to him. "And then find a way to
disarm it, if it is dangerous."

"Uhm... dangerous..." William was not sure
what to make of that. "Is there a difference?"

"Oh, yes. There is."

"Nothing dangerous here, Hilly," Baba Yaga
reported after they had made the round. "It isn't even proper magic
that's used here. I mean, your wizard's a lot better with it than
whoever put this magic here."

"My wizard is great with magic," Hilda
bragged, "and you know that, girlfriend. You know what he pulled
off when Lamador challenged me."

"True," Babs said as she popped the lock
open. "Let's see if they have tea here. I could do with some."

As the light of day fell into the shed, it
showed dust flying that was rushed into the air by the door
opening. They saw a somewhat comfortable chair that had seen better
days. Probably better years too. Babs and Hilda stepped inside,
wands in hand. They immediately focussed on the chair. That held
most of the erratic magical traces.

"No tea," Esmee noticed. "Let's fix that."
She stepped out of the shed.

William felt a bit lost. Hilda and Baba Yaga
were going around the shed, using their wands as dowsing rods,
Esmee was taking care of tea and he just stood and watched.

"There was a book here, Babs," Hilda said as
she pointed to a spot on the ground, next to the chair. Babs looked
at the same spot and nodded. "Indeed. Old magic. Weird magic also,
but too faint to make something decent of it."

"Tea's ready!" Esmee chimed from outside.

"Right out," Babs cackled back, "keep it
hot."

Suddenly William moved through the shed and
bent down. "Now, what do we have here..." He picked something from
the hardwood floor. It was a ball of hair. And it looked very much
like the hair they had found in the garden. "Ladies," the wizard
announced, "our cat woman has been here at least once."

"And there's some kind of witchcraft involved
here too," Baba Yaga added, "this chair did not charge itself
magically by itself."

Hilda sat on the floor, her hands touching
the wooden floor. "And there was at least one other person here.
Someone of power, but not magical," she decided. "But something
does not make sense, unless the person who carried the cat woman
here was the witchcraft practitioner"

"I doubt that," said Baba Yaga. "The one with
the magic was a woman."

"Why would women not wear men's boots?" Hilda
asked. "Not that I do, but I mean, think outside the cauldron,
Babs."

Baba Yaga stared at William. "Does that
happen to everyone who visits that crazy world of yours?"

"Not everyone," he replied, "only the ones
that are susceptible to it."

"Just you make sure you are not going to
regret that remark," said the witch who still sat on the floor. "I
need tea." The two others could do with some also, so they headed
outside.

"Ah, there you are!" Esmee smiled at them
from a large fluffy couch. It was dark purple. There was another
one just like it on the other side of the black table she had
conjured. There were a teapot, cups and a saucer with cookies. "It
is all ready," Esmee grinned.

William pretended to be the gentle-wizard and
poured tea for Hilda, Babs and himself. As he poured he frowned.
"That looks weird, Esmee."

The young witch giggled. "That's only half of
it, William."

Baba Yaga sat down next to Esmee. "Uhm...
Esmee... what is in that tea? You smell somewhat...
intoxicated."

William heard that and sniffed the cup he had
just poured. "Holy Bejeebus," he said. "I will have to do something
about that." The tea that Esmee had prepared was not merely spiked,
it was almost pure alcohol with a hint of tea. on second thought he
just made a new pot appear, this one with just tea.

"Ah... that's not funny," Esmee complained,
giggling more and more. "I thought I had this arranged so
nicely."

"She's drunk," Baba Yaga said. "Very drunk.
We can count her out for the rest of the day, I'm afraid." Esmee
proved her right by flopping to the side and passing out.

"Tea anyone?" William asked. "I'll also get
some new cookies. You never know..."

The magical trio that still was awake talked
about their find. Finally, they agreed, they had something of a
lead that they could work with. Even when the work was limited.
They now knew that there were several people involved in this
scheme, and at least one of them had witchy capacities.

Baba Yaga looked at the sleeping witch next
to her. "I think we're making good progress with her too," she
shared with Hilda and William. "Her clothes are improving, and the
way she set up this seating stuff isn't bad either. Now, dark
purple wouldn't be my choice but at least it's not pink."

"-We- are making good progress?" Hilda
frowned. "Excuse me, but you are the one who started corrupting
her. Now I have to admit that this is not a bad thing."

"You, witch, have done nothing to discourage
me. Nor stop me." Baba Yaga sipped her tea.

"True enough. When has anything or anyone
ever stopped you?" Hilda bounced back.

"True enough," Babs admitted.

-=-=-

Lindolf sat in the tavern. He looked at the
man who shared his table and who was working on draining the next
mug of beer. "I am telling you," Lindolf said, "I have heard very
strange things have been going on at the castle."

"Things like what?" asked the man as he wiped
his mouth with the back of his hand. The belch waited until the
hand was out of sight. "You mean like the attack on the king? And
that the guards didn't catch who did it?"

"Yes, exactly," Lindolf nodded. "Things like
that. Don't they scare you?"

"Nah," the man grinned, "it's not me that got
attacked."

"But what if you were next?" Lindolf
insisted. "Suppose that something happens to the king, and after
that some unholy army of apparitions comes over the wall and has a
go at everyone in the castle?" He had lowered his voice, and not
only for drama. He was working on this man, who was a servant in
the castle. "Oscar, listen. What would your wife think if you don't
come home suddenly, just because that sloppy lame king of ours is
not able to protect his servants? Would she like that?" He waved at
the serving-wench to bring more beer.

Oscar looked over the table as best he could.
Lindolf was not sitting very still from Oscar's point of view.
"Ah... beer. Good," he said. Then he remembered Lindolf's question.
"Uhm... Well, to be honest, Lindolf, I am not so sure if the wife
would feel bad if I wouldn't come home..."

Lindolf snorted at the man's honesty, but
that was not the answer he was waiting for. "Of course she'd be
devastated, Oscar," he said. "She'd be torn to pieces, like you
would be. And that is not what we want, right?"

Oscar tried to recall if Lindolf was married,
but that bit of knowledge had been carried away in one of the empty
beer-mugs. He decided to nod. Lindolf sounded coherent, so it had
to be true. And of course Lindolf was paying for the beer.