Hilda - Cats (7 page)

They summoned their brooms and flew high, to
be out of the danger zone. When they reached the corridor where
Esmee had her room, the full extent of the exercises became clear.
Half a wall was gone, as was most of the stuff inside the room of
the flower witch. Babs hung over a bedpost, laughing, and Esmee
herself lay crumpled in a corner, her blue eyes wide open and a
look of fright on her face. Servants were running around, trying to
salvage precious paintings and statues there were in the corridor.
None of them dared as much as look at the room that was the centre
of the devastation.

William picked Esmee from the floor. "Are you
okay?"

"Okay... okay..." That was all the now motley
looking witch could stammer. She had never been further from
okay.

Hilda tried to calm down Baba Yaga who was
almost in a laughing stupor. It took Hilda quite a while to calm
down her friend, time that William used to put Esmee on a chair,
close up the wall and make a bit of order in the room again. He
handed Esmee a glass of wine; the pink witch drank it down in a few
long gulps and asked for more.

"So, what happened here?" Hilda wanted to
know. What followed was quite a hilarious account of things from
Baba Yaga, who collapsed with laughter a few more times. She had
only stirred up some magic and Esmee had tapped into it, Babs said.
And then it was as if Esmee had exploded. That was all.

Esmee was still very much out of it, even
after another glass of wine. "I'm not sure if she'll be any use to
you tonight," Baba Yaga commented as they put the pink witch in her
bed.

The three turned as the door opened. Prince
Jordan came in, with one of the twins. He obviously had waited
until the dust had gone down. "What happened here?" he asked,
eyeing the room.

Hilda gave him the summary version of what
Baba Yaga had told them, leaving out the magical bits the prince
wouldn't understand anyway. It all made for a three sentence and
unrevealing explanation that was in no way representable of the
state of the room.

The prince nodded understandingly though.
"Will any of you make sure that the hall outside will be
presentable again? My mother will be very upset when she sees all
the dust out there."

"Surely you are not asking us to use a broom
the ordinary way?" Hilda asked him. She would accept a lot, but not
that. Not even from a prince.

"Actually, I-" he started. Then he spotted
Hilda's expression "-wouldn't dare, Grimhilda. Plenty of people
around to handle that. If you could do something about the windows,
though, that would be nice. Thank you." Jordan grabbed his son by
the hand and left.

Hilda and Babs had taken care of the windows.
William had seen to it that Esmee was more like herself again,
although Baba Yaga's treatment had certainly had effect already.
Esmee cursed at just about everything that could go wrong.

"It is an effect that will diminish," Baba
Yaga had assured him. "Things like that can happen when the person
in training is - uhm - slightly overwhelmed."

William was certain that Esmee had been
overwhelmed. And more than 'slightly'. Four glasses of wine had
calmed her down a bit, but the magical ones had decided that they
would all share dinner in Esmee's room. It would be better.

"I wonder what stupid moron prepared this,"
Esmee said as she looked at a chicken leg. "Look at it. Damn,
wouldn't feed that to a cat!" Two black specimens of the mentioned
kind complained about that; they would not refuse a chicken
leg.

The door opened. Snow White came in, not
adorned with child this time except for the one that was still on
the way. "Are you doing well in here?"

"Of course we're fine, we're witches,
dammit," Esmee replied.

"Uhm. Oh. Well, I was wondering-"

"No need for that. If there is smmffff-"

By then William held his hand over Esmee's
lips. "Sorry about that, princess. She's not quite herself yet," he
apologised. as he felt Esmee's lips part he pulled back his hand
and applied some magic. Being bitten by a witch was not very high
on his list. Esmee stared at him, not understanding what had
happened for a moment. Baba Yaga chuckled.

Hilda explained that they had been training
Esmee and that the short-term effect of that could be slightly
disconcerting for the children.

"Oh, I see!" Snow White smiled. "Thank you
for being so considerate, I really appreciate that. If there is
anything you need, just let us know, there will be a servant near
at all times."

Hilda thanked the princess. "We'll be fine, I
am sure. Just one request: if you can arrange that nobody comes in
the gardens this night, that would be good. We're patrolling there
tonight, to see if we can catch whatever creature it is that goes
for your chickens. We wouldn't want to throw the wrong person into
our cage."

Snow White promised she would warn everyone.
"Yes. The cage. My father in law asked about that. I assumed it was
yours, as sixteen people tried to move it and it would not budge.
Do you think it will be there for long? It is somewhat degrading
the view of the garden."

"It's ugly as a troll's butt," Baba Yaga
agreed, "but we need it. I'm sure Hilly and Willy will remove it as
soon as we're done with it."

Snow White frowned at the words, but nodded
anyway. "Could you tell me what happened to the fountain that was
originally there?"

"We... moved it." Hilda looked as if that was
a perfectly sensible answer. "And for your peace of mind, do not
ask more, Snow White. Trust me. We'll put it back once we're done.
Promise."

Snow White looked at the witch. "I feel that
I should worry."

"A bit of worry is fine. Really." Hilda
thought of the fountain that was resting on the flower beds in one
of the more distant gardens. And the remains of the statue of King
Louie that were under it.

The princess accepted it, be it somewhat
reluctantly. "Good. Thank you. And all the luck in catching the
-uhm- thing."

As the door closed behind her, a loud
"Screwing crap" floated through the room. Esmee had discovered that
her magic was now powerful enough to undo William's silencing
spell.

-=-=-

The remainder of the day slowly changed into
evening. The time that the witches and the wizard would start their
night watch arrived. Hilda had swapped her turn with that of Esmee.
Babs had said that she would do that turn with the pink witch, as
she felt responsible for the still unstable woman. "No good in
making her go out alone. One hiccup and we all wake up with rose
bushes all through the castle."

Hilda snorted. "No need for that. Been
there." Babs nodded. William scowled, the surroundings of a fairy
tale taking shape in his mind.

"Now you two pretty ones go and catch a hat
full of sleep," Baba Yaga said. "And us two pretty ones will wrap
up and start our stroll in the garden."

Esmee grinned. She got up and walked over to
her wardrobe. She took one of her bright red cloaks. The other
magicals watched her as she threw the garment on the bed and looked
for her wand. "Amiculum nigerum," Esmee said, slapping the cloak
with her wand. It turned black.

Babs looked appreciatively at the blond
witch. "We're getting somewhere yet." She went to fetch her own
cloak and then she and Esmee headed out to the garden, brooms at
the ready.

William and Hilda went to bed. They lay
awake, fully dressed. "It is quiet out there," Hilda said. "It
worries me."

"Would you prefer noise?" William asked.

"No. That would worry me."

William knew how she felt.

There was a noise outside. Hilda jumped from
the bed. "I am worried." She grabbed her broom, magicked open the
window and with William right behind her she flew outside.

"Hilly, you there?" It was Baba Yaga who was
waving her lit-up wand. "I think my student had a bit of an
accident."

William and Hilda landed their brooms. Baba
Yaga stood next to the large metal cage. Esmee was near it too,
unconscious and in a sloppy heap. "Crappedy crap, what
happened?"

"She got slightly carried away, I think,"
said Baba Yaga. "Flying around faster than she was used to, a bit
too much magic in the fingertips or such something. And then there
was the cage that did not get out of her way."

"Ouch," said William, "that must have been
quite the collision."

"Don't worry, William, the cage is fine,"
Hilda assured him.

Esmee moved and moaned. "Ohhh, what
happened..." She sat up and made sure her head was still where she
expected it.

"I am not sure how you did it, but it looked
sensational," Baba Yaga tried to cheer her up.

Hilda helped Esmee to her feet. "Are you in
one piece?" she asked.

Esmee regretted nodding. "Yes. I think so. My
broom..." That was also in one piece.

"Maybe you should lie down, Esmee," said
Hilda. "In your bed. I'll take over the rest of this shift, and
then William can do the last part."

They all agreed on that plan, so Babs and
William took Esmee in and retreated to bed while Hilda surveyed the
gardens.

William had actually nodded off when another
bout of noise ripped him to full wakedom again. He had left the
window open for this. He was outside and locating Hilda. The noise
came from the cage. Again. "She didn't," he muttered.

She hadn't. "William," Hilda said, "look what
I have here."

William lit up his wand and held it near the
cage. In a corner he saw a man, suspiciously dressed as a servant
from the castle. "Who are you then?"

The man tried to crawl back even further.
"Morris, sir."

"You got yourself a Morris, Hilda."

"Yes. Just a Morris." She sounded displeased.
"I saw him going around the kitchen back there, walking over to the
chicken coop round the back. Did you see his hair?"

William nodded. Servant Morris was blessed
with a tremendous amount of hair. "So Morris, what were you doing
out here in the night?"

Morris summoned all his courage. "I came out
to see what you were doing. We were all told to stay inside, so
something important had to be going on."

"Hair colour doesn't match," Hilda said to
William, "he's not what we're looking for. I'm afraid he ruined our
chance to get what we're after."

"Can you let me go then?" Morris asked
hopefully.

"We can, sure," said Hilda. "But we won't.
You wanted to be out here, so we're not going to take that pleasure
away from you. Who knows, you could make a nice bait for the
monster we want to catch."

"Monster?" Morris' confidence in a happy end
dropped several notches.

"Of course," Hilda made the man feel a bit
more miserable, "do you think they call for two witches and a
wizard for a stray fox?"

Morris was sweating from everywhere. "Let me
out? Please?"

Hilda turned to William. "No way the whatever
we're looking for will show up after this. I suggest we leave
Morris here, to set an example," she whispered.

William nodded. "You go to bed now, witch.
I'll take over, just to make sure."

Hilda hugged William. They both ignored
Morris, who was pleading once again to be left out of the cage.
"I'm going to miss you there, all alone in that big bed," the witch
whispered.

"I'll make it up to you," William promised.
It was no burden.

"You'd better," Hilda said. She got on her
broom and disappeared into the darkness.

"Morris, dear man, you will be silent now,"
William said to the caged man. "I am not going to stop you from
yelling and screaming. That would be too easy. I wonder what your
king will tell you if you wake him up with your moaning."

Morris seemed to freeze. William did not want
to know what was going through the man's mind at that moment. "I'm
going to fly rounds now. You are allowed to shout if something
scary happens," the wizard said as he mounted his broom. "I'll
leave it up to you to decide what's scary."

"But- but- but," Morris attempted. The wizard
ignored him as he flew up and vanished in the dark. Morris was very
remorseful about going outside.

William made his rounds until the first light
of day appeared. Tired and stiff he got off his broom. "So much for
a lost night," he muttered as he went through the corridors. The
people who were already up and running to make sure the royal
family would be all taken care of did not dare to approach the
wizard. His mood was too obvious.

The bed with Hilda in it was the best thing
he had seen in hours. He lay down next to her. Close eyes, just a
few moments, he thought.

"William..." Hilda whispered in her wizard's
ear. "Wake up, William. Wake up, wake up, wake up..."

"I wasn't sleeping," William claimed. "I just
closed my eyes for a few moments."

Hilda sat up. "You must possess awfully big
moments then. I've been awake for over an hour now and you haven't
moved a muscle. Not many anyway. Snow White and her critters are
awake already, maybe we should go see her and that fat prince of
hers and tell her about our catch."

"Catch? Oh, right. He's probably eager to be
released," William chuckled as the memory returned.

Hilda grinned. "I think we will leave that
honour to Babs. She likes things like that."

The two got up and moved through the castle.
Soon they heard sounds that did not belong in a castle: Baba Yaga
was awake and around also. The sounds came from the dining room,
which was slightly remodeled by the witch. In a corner was an open
fire. There was a rough metal tripod over it, an iron cauldron
hanging down from it on a chain. The flames under the pot were
magically restricted in their space of movement: if they flickered
sideways they seemed to be chopped off.

"Safety first," Baba Yaga told the two
servants who stood as nailed to the wall. "Hilly, Willy, good
morning! I am just about to make some decent food, care to join
me?"