Hilda - Cats (2 page)

"Yes, that is how it sounds," said Hilda as
she draped Grim over her shoulders.

Her cat calmly got onto the table and
carefully walked over to the stack of messages. She sat down with
it and sniffed the papers one by one. The magical couple watched
the animal as she took her time to inspect each and every snippet.
Then, apparently satisfied, she walked back over the table and
reclaimed her position on Hilda again.

"We still don't know where they came from, do
we?" William did not expect an answer on that question. The cats
had appeared from nowhere as they had gone in for the final
confrontation with Zelda the witch, and the two had not left them
after that. "I like them."

Hilda slowly nodded as she tried to feed her
cat a piece of her cookie. The cat was not set on cookies though.
"Meowwww..." the animal complained after Hilda's second attempt.
Easily she slipped from under the witch's arm, and soon she was on
the top bookshelf again, from where she had a perfect view over the
entire room.

William's cat peacefully stayed where he was.
The wizard's hand made him purr gently.

Hilda looked at the scene and smiled.
"They're beautiful, aren't they? I wonder if they have names."

William grinned. "If they do, they are not
going to tell us, sweetwitch." The cat in his lap looked up at him,
the two bright yellow eyes shining as if they came from a- "Shadow.
That's it. I'm going to call this cat Shadow."

"Shadow What?"

"How do you mean that? Shadow what?"

"Cats of people like us have a double name,
William. They also have a short, simple name for when we're alone
with them. So you pick Shadow, but something has to go with it.
Before or after, but just Shadow won't do." Hilda reached for
another cookie.

A soft purr came from the bookshelf. The
couple looked up at the cat that had taken up station there. "Black
as Onyx," William remarked.

"Yes, you are right. Her fur shines like
onyx, indeed. How good of you, William." Hilda got up, touched the
wizard's hand and then slowly walked to the bookshelves, her eyes
on the cat. "Would you like to be called Onyx, black cat?" she
asked, calmly reaching up and waiting. "Onyx?"

The cat on the shelf seemed to contemplate
the waiting hand. Then lazily she reached out a paw and touched
Hilda's hand a few times. "Mworrr..." was the cattish comment.

"Yes. You are an Onyx cat, aren't you? Come
here, Onyx cat," Hilda said. She held up both her hands. The cat
got up, looked around the room from her high post once more time
and then lightly jumped from the shelf, full of trust. She landed
in Hilda's hands. "I think you and I will be good friends, Onyx,"
said the witch as she turned and beamed a smile at the wizard.

"You need to add something to that name,
Hilda. Just Onyx doesn't do it."

"Oh, hush you. What do you know?" Hilda
walked to the table and sat down. "Only the things that I tell
you." She frowned. "Hmm. Those are good things. Hmm." The witch
sipped some tea. Then she looked at the cat in her lap. "Do you
think you are a Grimalkin?"

Immediately the black head turned and the
yellow eyes stared at Hilda.

"Crappedy crap, she really reacts to that
name. Grimalkin." As she said the name, the cat's stare intensified
for a moment.

William watched the scene and noticed the
reaction of Onyx cat as Hilda said the name. "She does, Hilda. She
reacts to Grimalkin." He had barely said it when Onyx's head turned
to him. "I think you found her name."

Hilda picked up the cat with both hands and
looked at the small face. "Very good, you. And your familiar name
will be Grim. Like mine. Grimhilda. Grimalkin. You are Grim."

William, watching her, had stopped stroking
his cat. Shadow did not seem to like that, it jumped up, knocking
William's chin with his head. "Ouch, that hurt!" the wizard
muttered. "That animal has a head hard as rock."

"Obsidian," Hilda said. "He's black, so it
should be obsidian. Obsidian is hard as well."

"Obsidian, eh?" William said, as he rubbed
his chin. "That sounds pretty nice. Obsidian Shadow." It was more
his hand touching the cat than the name, that made Shadow lie down
and relax again, but the name had a good ring to it. "And the short
name will be... Obsi?"

"Obsi?" Hilda stared at her wizard. "What
kind of name is that? Obsi. Obsi."

"Now, then explain Grim to me. Sounds grim
enough, you know." Obsidian Shadow looked up at William. "Muwhhh,"
he said. "See? He agrees. Obsi agrees." William grinned.

Then Grim and Obsi both looked away, to the
same spot. A moment later, Hilda's large crystal ball started
making its pinging noise, which told them that someone was trying
to talk to them.

Hilda frowned. Onyx jumped on the ground as
the witch got up to walk to the ball. "It's Babs!" She waved over
the ball. "Hello Babsi baby!"

"Hilda!! You are there, finally! Where have
you and your wizard been for so long? I heard all kinds of rumours
about that strange person Griselda having disappeared, and that you
are somehow involved in that?" The ugly witch sounded concerned
about the wellbeing of her friend.

"You would not believe what we have been
through, Babs," Hilda said. She told her friend all the things that
had happened, what they had endured, and how glad they were to
finally be back home again. As Hilda was talking, William was
walking around, cleaning some things up.

Babs kept peeking as she saw the wizard walk
along and suddenly had to interrupt Hilda's flow of words. "Hilly
baby, now you have to tell me something. I see your wizard walking
around, but what is that dark thing on his neck?"

"Huh?" Hilda looked at William, who had
Obsidian Shadow draped over his shoulders. The cat lay there are
calmly as if it was on a cushion in front of a fireplace. "Oh.
That's Obsi."

Baba Yaga frowned. "Obsi? What's an
obsi?"

"It's William's cat. We ended up bringing two
black cats back here," Hilda explained. "His cat is Obsidian
Shadow. And mine is called Onyx Grimalkin. Grim, come here, girl,
and say hello to Babs."

Grim leapt up into Hilda's arms and was
presented to the ugly witch, who stared at the black animal for a
while. "Grimhilda has a cat. Now that is scary," Baba Yaga finally
stated.

"There is nothing scary about having a cat,
Babs," Hilda lectured, "cats are very nice and clean animals, and
they are a witch's best familiar."

"Yeah, sure. I've come along without one fine
for all my life," Babs cackled, "but you go be happy with your
cats, Hilda. But now that Zelda has ended up somewhere in the hands
of a strange creature that took her into a mirror, what are you
going to do about her house?"

"Her house?" Hilda wondered what she had to
do with Zelda's house.

"Yes. Someone has to release the magic from
the house and dissipate it. Or take it in. If you leave it there,
anything can happen. Do you want to take the risk that some lone
wizard or magician comes along, assimilates the magic from the
place and turns into a second Lamador?"

Hilda swallowed. That name still gave her a
shiver. The powerful sorcerer that once had served King Herald was
dead and gone now, but the fight she and William had had to put up
for that was etched in her memory. "You're right. We have to do
something about that. Quickly."

"Good girl," Baba Yaga said with a nod. "Stay
in touch, Hilda. No running off and making your oldest and bestest
friend worry where you are, can we agree on that?"

"I promise," said Hilda. "Unless there is an
emergency."

"If there is an emergency, you have to let me
know. Don't keep all the fun for yourself!" With that, Baba Yaga's
face disappeared from the crystal ball.

"Does this sound like we are going out?"
William asked.

"Yes, that is how it sounds," said Hilda as
she draped Grim over her shoulders.

As they were in the air, William kept
wondering why the cats wanted to ride along sitting in front of
them, on the bristles of the brooms.

"I would not worry about that, William," said
Hilda in her usual approach. "At least this way we can keep an eye
on them."

Grim, the cat on Hilda's broom, looked at the
witch and did a soft meow. Then she looked ahead again. "I wonder
what that was all about," Hilda muttered. "At least we're almost
there."

Not much flight time later, they descended
towards and touched down in front of Zelda's house.

"Hey house, have you heard already?" Hilda
asked.

"Alas, yes. I have heard. News travels
rapidly these days," the house said in its Italian manner of
speech. "You were the last one that saw her, aren't you?"

"William and me, both, indeed. Sorry for the
loss, I assume," said the witch, "but you may understand that I
cannot put my heart in this. She did try to kill us a few times too
many."

"Tried, eh? She never was very good at those
things," the house commented. "A real softy, deep down inside."

"I wouldn't go that far," William frowned. He
recalled large pieces of concrete flying at them. And big
Nobbleback dragons. And humongous plants trying to eat them. Not
really the work of a softy.

"Now, house, you're going to open up for us.
You know Zelda's a goner, you know we had a hand in her going,
so..."

"I am not sure if that is the way things go,
madam Witch," said the house. "Are you certain that all legal
implications have been considered- Oh..." The house was surprised
as William opened the door. From the inside, just like the first
time they had been there.

"No protection on the roof and the chimney,
remember?" he said as he let Hilda and the cats in.

The house fell silent. It had no defense
against this kind of intrusion. No offense either, which was a good
thing, as Zelda's house was littered with all kinds of objects.
Grim and Obsi carefully walked through the rooms, sniffing here and
there, avoiding some places as if there was ice of fire. Hilda and
William slowly walked around also, not certain what they were going
to do when they found what they were looking for. And that was
something they didn't know exactly either.

"I've never done this before," Hilda said,
"so give me some time, okay?"

"What is it we're supposed to be doing?"
William wondered as he picked up a small statue of what looked like
a tree nymph. "This is pretty."

"Better put it down again quickly. They
bite," said Hilda.

William was not quick enough: the statue
suddenly moved, quickly, and the small figure bit him in the
finger. "Holy Bejeebus!" He almost dropped the object. It took a
slap on the small head before the miniature nymph let go of
William's finger, after which she was quickly placed back on the
shelf she'd come from. She growled at him for a while as he rubbed
his finger. "Really something for a softy," he commented to no one
in particular.

"William, I found it!" Hilda called out from
a small room that Zelda obviously had used as a storage room.

"Good grief, what a mess," William precisely
defined it as he came in. The two cats had trailed along after him,
and sat down right outside the room, their tails neatly curled
around their paws. "And what did you find here?" He looked around
and saw nothing that would entice him to stay here long.

"In here is her source of magic. Can't you
feel it?"

William held out his hands. "No. Nothing. I
just think it smells very strange here. But that's not it,
right?"

The witch glared at him. "You're not born
magical. It's in things like this that it shows, William."

"And in the fact that witches and wizards
don't sense my magic," William confirmed. "I know. So please, what
is it that you sense here?"

"Magic. Big fat magic. This is her
source."

"Oh. I uhm... don't see."

"I'll explain later. Now we have to absorb
her magic. It is rightfully ours, as we defeated her."

"Right. And how do we go about that?" William
asked.

"I'm not sure. I've never beaten a witch in
such a way before, so I am pretty new at this too," Hilda reminded
him. "I told you."

Onyx Grimalkin and Obsidian Shadow tiptoed
into the room and jumped up, into the arms of their unsuspecting
magical humans.

William stared at Hilda who was staring at
him. "Now what's that supposed to mean?" As they looked at each
other, the two cats meowed, then purred. The next thing William and
Hilda were aware of was that they both were on the ground. Without
their cats, but with a very tingling feeling all over. "Now what's
that supposed to mean?" Maybe this time he got an answer.

Hilda pushed her hair from her face. "Wow."
She got up and waved a hand around. "It's gone."

William got to his feet. "What's gone? The
magic?"

"Yes. Here, nothing left!" Again the witch
waved her hand.

"So where'd it go?" He knew that was a stupid
question.

"Tell me how you feel."

"I knew that was a stupid question." William
looked at the two black animals that were sitting just outside the
smelly room again, as if they had not moved. Four yellow eyes,
bright as if there were little lights burning inside them, looked
up at the two people. Grim then meowed. The cats got up and walked
off.

"Something tells me we should follow them,
William," Hilda said as she took his hand and pulled him out of the
room. They followed the two cats, who directly walked out of the
open door and away from the house. As the magical couple stepped
outside, they instinctively grabbed their brooms and stood where
the cats sat.

It was as if the house had waited for them to
get out. Slowly, almost thoughtfully, the roof started to cave in.
As that was going, the door fell out of the walls falling down. It
took a few minutes for everything to collapse. After all the
falling had completed, Hilda, William and the cats had turned grey
by the dust clouds washing over them.