Hilda and Zelda (12 page)

"There." Hilda pointed at a hole in the
street that had not been there before. "She's gone down there."

Without thinking twice, they moved their
brooms to the large black opening and peered down into it. There
was nothing but blackness to greet them. Evening had begun to
unfold, making things even harder.

"There are even more of them!"

Hilda and William looked up to where the
sound came from. Three people had come out of their houses, holding
buckets in their hands. They were trying to put out one of the
fires and stared at the witch and wizard. One man bent down and
picked something up.

The stone that flew towards Hilda and William
did not make it to them, but the implication was far from
favourable.

"Not that too," Hilda groaned. She dropped
herself into the opening, lighting up her wand. William followed
quickly, after casting a spell that extinguished the fire.

"Any idea where we are?", Hilda asked.

"We're in the sewage system," William knew.
The smell around them was the best proof for it. "Do you know where
we should go?"

Hilda wiggled her nose. "Yes. Out of here.
But I think down there is our second best option." Her voice echoed
eerily through the tunnel.

Slowly they moved forward, ignoring the foul
stench and the few rats that were around. They remained as silent
as possible, in order to hear any sound that Zelda might make. They
were not disappointed.

"Grimhilda! I know you are here! Give it up.
I am stronger than you are!"

Hilda looked at William and frowned. She did
far too much frowning in this mad place; it would take a lot of
tender loving magic to get rid of the wrinkles.

"I know you can hear me, witch!" Zelda's
voice rang through the sewage system quite clearly, she could not
be far away.

William estimated that she was at best two
corners removed from where they were.

Hilda looked down at the water and the ledge
next to it. She put her finger over her lips as William watched her
and pointed her wand downwards. A rat started floating upwards. It
squeaked a few times, until Hilda made it stop.

"Is that you squeaking, Grimhilda? Are you
afraid of the dark?"

A gust of wind, carrying a gross smell, came
from one of the side tunnels and hit them full force. It came so
suddenly that William almost got blown off his broom. All the
training he had done with Baba Yaga, to get his protection on, paid
off once again.

Hilda held the rat in her hand. Her face was
white as ash. The shockwave had shaken her up also, and her hurting
body did not appreciate that treatment at all.

William hurt inside as he saw his witch in
that state and also wondered what she was going to do with the rat.
"Hilda, are you okay?" His words could not convey how he felt
anywhere near as well as the link between them did.

"I have to be."

"Tell me what we have to do," he said.

"No time," Hilda said and made her broom go
ahead. She made the light from her wand fade away as she moved, and
that way they both saw a faint shimmer of light coming from the
sewage tube that had treated them to the strong gust of wind.

Hilda swung her broom into the tunnel where
the little speck of light was barely visible and growing dimmer.
Zelda was there, and moving away from them.

William felt how Hilda made her broom go
faster, clearly determined to get the witch in front of them, and
ready to ignore any potential danger that was ahead of them. He
dimmed his wand also and hoped he was able to use some protection
spells to prevent either of them being hit by something
unpleasant.

Zelda's eerie laughter bounced along the
walls and reached their ears. "You really are not scared yet, are
you? I am glad you are still willing to pay me a visit,
Grimhilda!"

The light-speck started moving towards them,
and it was obvious that Zelda was flying at a high speed.

William was certain that they would clash
into each other within fifteen seconds, when he sensed magic
building around Hilda. Some shrill shrieking sounds echoed back to
him, and then the sound became louder and also deeper.

"William. Stop and turn back," Hilda yelled
at him as the shrieking sound grew louder. She was feeding magic to
the rat in her hand, and it was growing. When it had become large
enough, she flung it, head first, towards Zelda. She fired a last
boost of magic into the rat.

The animal expanded some more and now took up
about half the entire diameter of the sewer tunnel, its hungry beak
wide open and waiting for whatever it was that came charging at it.
Short wings emanated from its back and it started flying towards
Zelda.

Hilda halted her broom dead in the air,
hoping that William had already done that. Otherwise he'd crash
into her. After turning and not feeling any impact, she charged her
broom to speed away from the flying rat, following William who was
already approaching the entrance of the tunnel.

The speeding witch pushed her broom hard, as
behind her loud sounds of fierce combat emerged. Zelda and the
magically charged rat engaged in battle.

Through the link, William sensed that Hilda
wanted to get out of the sewer system, so he quickly moved on to
the opening that they had come in through, where he waited for her,
giving her enough space to fly up ahead. Once she had passed him,
he shot upwards after her and took the lead, guiding her back to
the former military base where they had their shed.

As they came storming up from the underground
tunnels, the people who had been so handy with a stone before
staggered backwards. They had been listening, and hoping to catch a
glimpse of the action.

"Get the hell away from there," they heard
the wizard yell at them as he disappeared into the dark sky.

-=-=-

As soon as they were out of earshot and out
of sight, William grabbed magical control of Hilda's broom. He also
flew next to her and held her up with an arm. She had taken too
much out of herself this time, he knew. The play with the lumps of
street and the smack in the back had left her weaker than she
wanted to admit. William eased the two brooms downwards.

The complex was deserted, with only here and
there a light burning. The wizard noticed a car from a security
company driving around to check on things and nodded. Convenient to
know there was this kind of thing here. The car was however far
from their place, so William landed the brooms as close to the
entrance of their shed as he could and picked Hilda up in his arms
before she had to stand. He was afraid she wouldn't be able to.

"William, I can walk," she tried to
argue.

"Shut up, witch. You're hurt and I am
carrying you inside. And sit still."

Hilda kept quiet and sat still in his arms,
closing her eyes and biting away the pain that started to shoot
through her. Silently she was grateful she did not have to walk the
few steps.

William sat her down on a chair. "Put your
arms on the table, sweetwitch, so you are stable." Each word told
her how much he worried. He had his wand in his hand already and
was working on fixing her shoulder and back. Quickly he created
warmth in the shed and removed the clothes from her back. It did
not look horrible, as he had managed to do a lot of healing
already, but still there was quite some damage.

Hilda felt how hard William was working to
make her all well again.

He was careful while wielding magic,
repairing her skin and bones and the ruptures in the tissue under
all that. Once he was done, she put her clothes back on after
repairing them. The rocks had torn those up pretty severely
also.

William sat down next to her. "How are you
feeling, Hilda?" His hand was over both of hers.

"I'm okay, William. Thank you for taking care
of me. I was stupid to let her get to me like that. Even these two
Nobblebacks were not able to do that."

"Shush, you," William said, putting a finger
over her lips.

After biting him, she said: "That's my line,
William, remember that."

William rubbed his finger and grinned. "So
what was that thing you sent after Zelda? It did not look like a
rat anymore."

Hilda grinned, feeling like a million bucks
again. "I did modify it a bit, indeed. I turned it into a strange
thing I once saw somewhere far away. It's something that can fly,
it's immensely strong and can withstand a lot of magic. Scary
thing. It also spits fire and acid."

"Nice little bugger," William commented as he
made two large plates of hot food appear.

"What's wrong with our nice little kitchen?",
Hilda asked as she pointed at it.

"Forgot to go grocery shopping," William
grinned.

After eating, they decided that this had been
a fairly lost day. Lots of action and damage again, another
encounter with Zelda, and still no clue where she lived now. It did
not feel satisfying.

The couple retreated to their bed, making
some light using a wand that floated over them. Hilda had made sure
that the door was closed and the few small windows were blinded, so
no security guard would notice their presence and make a fuss about
it.

"When do we declare this a lost case and go
home?" Hilda asked the question without expecting an answer. She
knew that William was as determined to get Zelda as she was.

"We'll get that witch." William pulled her
close to him and enjoyed the feeling of his witch close to her.
"Are you feeling okay?"

Hilda nodded. "Yes. No more pain. You healed
me well, William. Thank you for that." She took down the wand and
made the light go out...

-=-=-

The morning came with a groan. In fact, the
morning came on its own, the groan came courtesy of a sore
witch.

"Hilda? What's wrong?" William sat up
immediately as he heard her uttering of discomfort.

"I'm not sure. My back is so stiff, it feels
as if someone tied a broom to my spine."

"Oh. Right. Turn on your stomach then,"
William said.

"Why's that?" Hilda did not jump to every
command. Well, any command.

"I am going to give your back a massage to
loosen it up. You probably feel this way because of the stoning you
had yesterday."

"Oh. Did I tell you," Hilda said as she
rolled onto her stomach, "that this is an insane world?"

"Not today," the wizard grinned as he gently
started rubbing her back.

Ooohs and aaahs were mixed with "if you ever
do that again"s and "oh, do that one more time"s. After the backrub
and massage however, Hilda hugged William and thanked him for the
care he had bestowed upon her. Her back was all fine again, thanks
to his "untying the broom from her spine".

After breakfast they went outside, holding
their brooms. There was a lot of business going about, which made
it a bit difficult to get out of sight for a good take-off, but
magic and some good old-fashioned luck were with them. Once in the
air, Hilda told William about a plan.

"I've been thinking how we can piss off
Zelda, and I think it is very simple for starters. We're going to
fix what she tore apart. The streets and all that, for
instance."

William would have raised his hat to her if
he had one. "That is some witchy thinking, my witch!"

"Why thank you, my wizard! Now we have to
find a place to change first."

"Change? Into what?" William was puzzled by
her remark.

"Magical clothes, William. I have them with
me. Makes for good looks if we dress normal while we do the
cleaning up."

William shook his head, amazed once again by
the insight this lovely funny woman had. He thought for a moment,
then directed them to a place that would offer them a proper spot
to change into their magicals' outfits. Thus dressed, they flew up
again and headed for the parts of town where Zelda had done her
demolishing best. Calmly, hovering over the streets high enough so
no ordinary could reach them with a flung stone or rock, they
started to lift the remains of cars from under the rubble and
flatten the roads.

They did not make the roads as nice and flat
as they had originally been, but at least they were traversable
again by the cars that still ran, as well as the odd cyclist that
might be found. And of course the tanks of the military.

Steadily they worked on, rebuilding street
after street, much to the surprise of the natives of the town.
Silently each of them wondered when Zelda would learn about them
doing this, and how that evil one would make herself known to
them.

It was already well into the afternoon and
there still had not been a sign of Zelda. William started to wonder
if the evil witch was around. After all, Hilda and he had not tried
to be invisible doing their reconstructions.

"I think we did enough for the day," Hilda
said, turning to her wizard. "It's hard work, all this street
stuff."

They had restored fourteen streets so far and
William agreed that this should do it for that day. "Maybe-" he
started to say, when Zelda introduced herself.

It was not so much a personal introduction,
as a show of force. The street that Hilda and William had just
restored erupted underneath them, throwing rubble all around,
shattering windows in all the houses on either side and making
protection kick in. Safe from the flying street-parts, Hilda and
William flew upwards, immediately on high alert and scanning for
the evil witch.

The first thing they noticed of Zelda was a
shrieking laugh, loud and able to shatter the few remaining windows
in the street. "So, Grimhilda, you are playing the good witch of
the east now?"

"Show yourself, Griselda!"

"With pleasure, sister in magic," Zelda said
as she swooped upwards from somewhere unseen. She had her wand
drawn and aimed it at Hilda as she apparently did not see much
danger in William. "Why are you interfering here, Grimhilda. Take
your fly-boy and go back home where you can do what you are
supposed to do."