Hilda and Zelda

by Paul Kater

from the projectiles that were coming at her.

  William reacted quickly, but not fast enough. Six massive blocks formed a tight hull around him, closing him in. As soon as the lumps were around him, the magic left the concrete and gravity took its part in the play.

  Hilda saw it happen and that was the reason one of the blocks that was after her hit her in the back as she was flying off as fast as she could. That little slip of attention brought her pain, as well as amazement how the block could have penetrated her protective shield. The impact threw her forward, so she had to throw both arms around the broom to prevent herself from falling off...

  William, inside his stone prison, needed precious seconds to realise what had happened. Zelda had played a lousy trick on them. He was aware that he was falling down inside the concrete cell Zelda had conjured around him. Through the link he sensed that Hilda was in trouble and in pain, which angered him even more.

  In a burst of emotion, he blasted the concrete away from him. Parts of it would hit the ground many miles away from him. After setting himself free, he had to give it all he had to break his fall to the ground. After that he worked the broom to its extremes to get to Hilda who was still holding on to the broom for dear life.

  It took William ages, or so it felt to him, before his broom was next to Hilda's. He wrapped magic around the both of them and then helped Hilda sit up. She cried out in pain as he touched her shoulder. "Holy Bejeebus, Hilda, I'm sorry. What the hell did she do to you..." He held her upright with one arm, while using his wand to patch her up.

  "I don't know, William, I really don't know." Hilda moaned as she sat swaying on her broom. She was not used to getting hurt. This had not only damaged her body, but also her pride.

  Blood seeped from her shoulder.

  15. This stinks

  "William, we can't stay up here too long," Hilda said, clenching her teeth together as he was still healing her, first making the bleeding stop. "No telling what she's getting up to down there, while we're here lingering."

  "Quiet, witch," William snapped at her, "you're no good for taking her on while you're in this state."

  "Shush, you," she retorted, "I'm fine." She lifted her arm and winced. "See?"

  "Sure. Stubborn witch," William said. He tightened his grip on her and worked as fast as he could.

  Alarm whistles and sirens from below faintly reached their ears.

  "Crappedy crap, William, we have to go down there."

  "Are you sure you can manage that? Hilda?"

  She stared at him for a moment. "I'm so glad you care about me." A quick smile swam over her face, then she looked stern again. "I have to manage." Not wanting to waste more words, she gritted her teeth as she gripped her broom and started her flight down. William was right beside her.

  The sound of the warning systems became louder and louder as they approached terra firma. In several places fires were burning, and from one spot a fountain of water tried to touch the clouds. The magical couple hovered in the street where the problems had begun.

  "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