Hilda - The Challenge (35 page)

"If you fly on, I fly on," he said.

Hilda pulled her broom next to his. "Don't
give me that, William. I know your arms almost fall off, so we are
going down first chance we have. And I don't want you to say
anything but yes or okay."

"Yes. Okay. Sweetheart. Thank you for getting
us through this."

They had taken time to eat, drink and relax
their arms. William had called it a very enjoyable way to refuel
the brooms, and Hilda had ordered him to talk sense once again.

"This area is still pretty safe, William,"
said Hilda. "People here are not too much under Lamador's influence
as this is remote country, not interesting for a high-up sorcerer.
Once we get closer to the big villages, he'll be more present."

William nodded, understanding exactly what
she meant to say. The plan was bold and they would go for it whilst
in the lion's den, so that made it all even more tricky. Compared
to Lamador, who had hundreds, if not thousands of Grizbles at his
disposal, they were only two strong. But, as William had explained
to Hilda, small numbers have the benefit of being able to disappear
easily. Something she hoped was true.

Rested and fed, they mounted their brooms
again.

The kingdom of Herald was very different from
that of Walt, the land that William had gotten to know rather well.
There were hardly any large forests. An occasional patch of trees,
large areas that consisted of rocky plateaus, wide and fiercefully
streaming rivers with high impressive bridges over them. Those were
William's main impressions from the land they were flying over.

"The rocky slabs down there used to be
mountains," Hilda said, pointing at one of the areas. "Herald has
this thing with using rock for homes. Most of the houses in this
land are made of rock. They seem to make thinner slabs of it by
sawing the rock up, but it is beyond me how they do that."

William nodded. "I would not know how they do
it here. I've seen documentaries about sawmills for things like
that, but I doubt these exist here."

"Saw mills. William. Please." She looked
almost pained as she turned her face to him. "One of these
illusionary things from your old world, right?"

"Right. I won't mention them again."

She looked as if she was about to give in.
"We'll see."

They approached the first larger village. It
was larger indeed, at least six times larger than the one that
Hilda lived close to. It wouldn't even be considered small in
William's old world.

"What do you think," asked Hilda, "should we
go in here?"

William thought quickly. It was not very
close to Lamador and the king of this country, but it would give
them an opportunity to get a feel for the way people here thought
about the sorcerer. "Yes, let's go in."

They swung their brooms downwards and landed
a few miles from the village in a spot where there were some large
boulders. There, out of sight, they hid their transports beneath a
large piece of granite and changed into clothes that would not
reveal who they were.

"We may have to adjust the clothes a bit when
we get there, I'm not sure if this will work for here. Long ago
since I was here," Hilda informed William.

"We'll have to chance it then," he said with
a smile.

After making sure the brooms were out of
sight for ordinaries, they set to walking towards and then down the
road to the village. The road was not really a road, it was merely
a wide, worn away dent in the rock, evidence that there had been
many thousands of feet, horses and carriages gone over this trail
before. There were not many others going into the village and they
did not meet anyone that was coming from there. The people they
walked among were gentle, calm and friendly. One man with a horse
and cart even offered them a ride, but they thanked him and
declined. The walk was a welcome change to the hours on the broom.
They learnt that the name of the village was Frad. Hilda was not
aware of this having a special meaning, so they filed the name
under general knowledge.

Entering the village was interesting. For a
reason the magical couple could not fathom, the trail split into
two lanes, a wide one for the carriages and a narrow one for the
pedestrians. There was a wall built over the trail with openings
for each lane. Everyone went into the village through one of the
openings.

Hilda frowned as she looked at William. He
shrugged, this was new for him also. After passing through the
opening in the wall, Hilda stepped to the side of the path, pulling
William along by a sleeve. "Isn't this silly? You can just as
easily walk around the wall and enter the village like that.
Nobody's here keeping watch, or counting people, or so."

"I know. I am also puzzled about this. It
really makes no sense." William looked along the wooden wall once
more but he could not discover anything that would reveal a meaning
for this construction.

"Excuse me," a woman asked. She had seen the
two talk. "Is there a problem that I might help with?" The woman
wore a knitted cap which once had been really white. Her hair was
hidden underneath it. Her face was friendly and round, its tan told
the couple that the woman spent a fair amount of time outside. Her
clothes were remarkably close to what Hilda was wearing, a grey
shirt, a wool cardigan and a long wide skirt, made of some thick
brown fabric.

"Perhaps," William said, to Hilda's shock.
"We were wondering about this wall and why it is here."

The woman nodded. "Yes, so do we. King Herald
had decreed that there had to be more art in the land, so he
ordered artists from several countries to produce pieces of art,
put them where they thought the things would look best, and that is
what happened. Since then we are looking at this wall. An ugly
thing, isn't it?"

Hilda nodded.

William nodded also. "I wonder why nobody
goes around it."

The woman looked at him. "Why should they?
The road into the village goes there, which is much more convenient
to walk on. Now, I hope you will allow me leave. Enjoy your stay
here." With a nod the woman walked on.

The two looked at each other. Nothing to say
against that, so they mingled in the crowd and proceeded deeper
into the village.

The streets of the village were immensely
wide compared to the village at home. The average width was twenty
feet. Everything looked clean and orderly. There were hardly people
in the street, all the shops and pubs were so large that there was
no need for trade in open air.

William shook his head. So sad, he thought,
the place looked too clean. Somehow an image of a city under
ultimate control came to his mind, the likes of which he had seen
in science fiction movies. Movies where some stuck-up dictator type
was exerting his power down to the moment and place people would
use the bathroom.

They came by a pub.

"Should we go in here?", asked Hilda.

"Sure. This one is as good as any other. It
is a really strange place here," William said, to which Hilda
nodded.

"It is much different since I was here last.
But that is a while ago."

"And how long would that be, then?", asked
William as he held the door for her.

"At least 180 years," the witch told him as
she stepped into the pub.

"Uh-what?"

But Hilda was inside already, not hearing
William's surprise.

The pub looked nice on the inside. It was a
real pub, be it just a bit too large to be cozy. There were tables
with chairs, all made of grey-green wood. The proprietor had gone
through a lot of trouble, putting a candle on each table, and even
a small vase with some flowers on most of them. The floor was the
inevitable and everpresent rock, which made sense. You could not
get a cheaper and more rugged floor than that, and it was easy to
clean also.

Hilda and William moved through the pub.
There were not many customers at that time, most tables were empty.
They chose to sit at a table that was close to the domicile of the
proprietor who came to them, asking what he could bring them. As he
was almost lyrical about the ale his pub carried, they both ordered
a glass of it. When the man had left them, William asked if Hilda
would be fine with the beer.

She wiggled her nose and grinned. Of course
she would be fine.

The pub owner brought them their glasses. As
there was little business, he was eager to strike up a conversation
with the two people who were clearly new to the area. "You picked a
fine day to visit," he said, "the weather has not been to good over
the past days. May I ask what brings you to our village?"

William explained that they were travelling,
and that they happened to come by the village. "As it looks very
nice here, we really could not pass by without a visit."

"Yes, we are living in a very nice place,"
the barkeeper said, smiling. "There are several nice spots to visit
here also. We have the oldest museum dedicated to the kings of the
country. Well, almost the oldest." He made his eyebrows bounce, he
was obviously proud of the fact.

"I am one of the caretakers of the
museum."

Ah, that explained a lot.

"If you care to visit, you can tell the
person at the door that you know Liam. That, of course, would be
me."

"Of course," William nodded and took a sip of
his beer. "And I must congratulate you on your ale, Liam, it is
very good!" And it was.

"Thank you, sir. The museum is right down the
street, on your lefthand side-"

"Hey, Liam, start moving your feet, man, our
glasses are dry! We are desperate for a refill!" That cry informed
Liam of impending doom, so he wished Hilda and William a nice day
and quickly made off to the table from where the emergency was
about to happen.

"Too bad he was called away, he was very
informative," Hilda mumbled in her glass. She knew that William
would be able to hear her though.

He nodded. "Maybe we should have a look in
that museum. You never know..."

After finishing the beers, Hilda's thoroughly
watered down, they left a few silver coins on the table, wished
Liam a good day and left the pub.

"Nice man," William agreed.

They walked along the street. Nobody minded
them or asked them anything, it was clear that the people from this
village were used to having strangers around. They looked at the
shops and what there was on display behind the windows. Hilda
drooled over some of the dresses, but walked along after not too
much pressure from William.

"We can always come back here again," he
said, "and then you can look and try them all on if you want."

Hilda clung to his arm. "I hope you're
right."

William understood what she meant.

They reached the museum. It was impossible to
miss. The street, empty except for the people, suddenly was almost
littered with large signs that pointed out with arrows and large
words that the passers-by could find the museum of the royals to
their left.

"Looks like we managed to find it," William
grinned as he steered them towards the entrance.

There was a young man at the entrance to the
museum. He had a face that reminded them of a mouse, small and
pointy.

"Hello," said William, "we would like to
visit the museum. Liam told us it is here."

"Oh. Did he. Two silvers."

"Two silvers, for a look at your dead
kings?", Hilda flared up, "do you think that's for real?"

Mouse-face stared at her as he stepped back.
"One of them is still alive," he tried.

"Brent. Let these people enter the
museum."

Mouse-face startled and looked around to the
man that came out of the building. "Gio, you are here."

"Yes, and by the looks of it that is a good
thing. You are the scoundrel still, Brent. One more time and you
will be on report. Then you can kiss your occupation goodbye."

Mouse-face shrunk as if a basin full of too
hot water was poured out over him. He nodded and tried to become
even smaller.

"May I be of assistance?", the man that
mouse-face had called Gio asked the magical couple.

Gio showed Hilda and William around in the
museum. It wasn't a very impressive tour, as there were a full one
painting and one statue per king that had ruled here, and the
number of kings was quite limited.

The last room though was of particular
interest. The room with the images of king Herald.

As they entered the room, the surprise was
solid. Two paintings. Two statues.

Gio grinned. "I am sure you were not prepared
for that."

Hilda's eyes were glued to the statue of a
person wearing blue clothes and a white mask. William felt how she
tensed up.

"This is king Herald," Gio pointed at the
stone man in the scarlet uniform. The king looked quite small
compared to the sorcerer that was standing next to him. The
difference was almost a head.

"I see you are surprised that there are two
statues. Well, that was by special request of the king. He, and our
land too, owes so much to his powerful sorcerer that he ordered a
statue and a painting made of the high Lamador, to be placed with
his own image."

It was what Hilda had already been afraid of.
William felt her tremble and put an arm around her shoulders,
holding her tightly against him.

"Ah, I see the young lady is a bit terrified
of the sorcerer. Yes," Gio babbled, "he is quite an overwhelming
figure, even when just present in stone like this."

"Have you met him then?", William asked
Gio.

"Met him? The high Lamador? Oh no, sir, he
would not come to this village, a small nothing. No, the high
Lamador will not go out of the capital and will stay near the king
as much as he can, to ensure the king's safety." Gio snickered at
the thought of Lamador coming to this place and shook his head.