16. Alarm

"Crappedy crap!" That was all that was said in the bedroom of Hilda and William. They almost fell out of bed, magicked their clothes on and headed for the brooms that they had conveniently located near the already open window.

Esmee just groaned as she felt the jolt from the ward that interrupted her dream. But duty called, she knew. This was what they had set the whole affair up for, so she came from her warm bed, quickly dressed and, with another groan, plunged herself out the window on her broom. Hilda had ordered her to keep the broom in her room for a situation like this.

Baba Yaga... well, suffice to say that she was outside rapidly as well, joining the three others.

The rabbits were all awake now. Light came from four wands, setting the area around their cage in strange colours.

"So where is it?" Hilda asked, voicing the thoughts of everyone. "It can't have gotten away that fast. We were here so quickly, as if we practiced this, and there's nothing here."

"Except rabbits," Esmee pointed out.

Grimalkin and Obsidian sniffed around on the ground and made noises. Baba Yaga and William looked at what the cats were doing. "Step back everyone," said William, "and have a look here."

Babs made two large torches appear so they had ample light. The flames showed several paw prints in the soft sand they had spread around the rabbit cage. Unthinkingly, they had trampled over the evidence-collecting material. Luckily though, there were still three clear, fresh prints.

"Suck an elf. It was here. It was out to get a rabbit casserole," Hilda said.

"Stew, more likely," Baba Yaga commented. "How did the creature get away so quickly? No ordinary animal or human being senses wards. It should have been here for us to grab it. It can't have noticed us, unless..."

Hilda and William nodded. "Unless there is a witch or a wizard involved."

Their discussion was interrupted by the clang of metal, chain mail and swords. Three guards from the castle watch approached them. "Who dat?" one of them eloquently asked.

"Calm down, big boy," said Hilda, "we're witches and a wizard, and we're looking at the rabbits. I don't suppose you saw a giant cat walk by just now, did you?"

"Oh. You're the witches they all talk about. And no. We didn't see that. Should we have?"

"Would've been nice," Baba Yaga said. "We could go to bed again in that case."

One of the guards stared at her in disbelief. "Uh. And how big should that cat be?"

Hilda indicated a height of between five and six feet. "Something like that."

"No. Haven't seen that. I'm pretty sure." The other two agreed, they had not seen anything conspicuous. They promised to keep their eyes open and report anything out of the ordinary.

William sighed. "I doubt they would see a mammoth if one would fall on top of them."

Babs agreed. "I am not sure how they got a job here. They certainly can't attribute it to their intelligence."

Esmee said that she knew the men. "They're friends of Prince Jordan. He got them the job. At the time it seemed a good idea as nothing ever happens in the night, but I am beginning to have second thoughts about that."

Baba Yaga patted the pink witch on the head. "Good girl. You'll be clever before we're leaving. And Jordan should find some friends in higher places. Anything over gutter-level would be a good start."

"So what are we going to do now?" William asked. "Looks like the cat has flown without a trace."

They decided to get back to their respective beds, and as William put an arm around Hilda in that location, his witch asked: "What's a mammoth?" He told her to just go to sleep. "I'll explain that to you someday."

-=-=-

In a small shed in the forest, Magda looked terrible. Simi, the young woman who sat opposite her, holding both Magda's hands, shook her head. "Lindolf, we can't keep this up. This is destroying her."

Before Lindolf could respond, Magda said: "No, it's okay. I had no idea that they would put up this massive energy thing, it surprised me. I'm glad we got away before these witches were there. Just give me a moment or two."

Lindolf, in a sudden notion of awareness, grabbed a bottle of spiced wine and poured a cup. "Here, have some of this. That will help."

Magda took the cup and drank it down in one gulp. "Oh, that's good. I could do with another one." She handed the cup back. She knew she should not drink more. They had their plan B to fall back on, and she needed to be sober for all that.

After a while, Simi took Magda's hands again. "I'm ready," she said. Lindolf sat down again and looked at the two women in fascination. This was always amazing.

Magda closed her eyes and then lowered her hands and those of Simi onto the book that was on her knees. Slowly the book started to glow as Magda drew from Simi's vibrant life-energy...

In the small village everything was quiet. The night was coming to an end, but still everything in the streets and alleys was dark. On padded feet, a creature moved along the cobblestones, keeping to the most silent of streets. The sensitive ears picked up every sound. An instinct that was not sensory warned of someone walking...

The creature suppressed the growl that wanted to escape, pressed its body against the wall and waited for the village watchman to pass by. The man looked like such an easy prey. Only one strike at the lower part of the neck, or dragging a claw over the throat- but that was not allowed. The creature trembled in anticipation and almost moaned. Then the man was out of sight again and the urge eased.

The dark furry shape pressed on, more quickly now, to the market square. There were crates on carts. Swiftly the creature ran across the square to the cart that held the crate with the chickens. A leap, a soft thud as its feet landed on the cart. Then a paw reached out to the crate, in which some of the chickens had woken up. Wood cracked, and a chicken was pulled from the crate.

It did not take long to rip the head off. The creature devoured the chicken, and then ate another one. Feathers were all over and around the cart by the time it had finished. Well fed, it jumped from the cart and ran away from the market square, hiding in the shadows of the streets and disappearing from the village the way it had come.

-=-=-

Four brooms were leaning against a cart in the market place. Four shapes, three in black, one in pink and deep red, were walking around together with the watchman and several people that lived around the square.

Nobody had seen or heard anything. The scratch marks on the crate and the layer of feathers, as well as the bones that were scattered around, were definite proof that the cat-creature had paid the village a visit, though.

"This thing must be magical," Hilda said, as the four of them were sitting in the local tavern, drinking tea. "Can't be that something moves around without being heard of seen, makes such a mess of chickens and gets away unseen too."

"Huh," said Esmee, "I have seen unmagical people make a mess of chickens too."

Hilda counted to ten. "As I said, this creature has to be magical." She held up the bit of hair that they had found on a side of the cart. It was the same colour and kind as what they had found in the castle gardens. "And whatever, or whoever is doing this, has a lot of tricks up some big sleeve. This is amazing trickery."

A man stepped to their table. "Excuse me, honorable witches... Is it safe for me to let my people clean away the mess in the market place? The watchman said you might want to look at it again?"

"And you are?" Baba Yaga asked in the friendliest tone.

"Lindolf Garmackus, humbly at your service, madam."

The man had iron willpower, Hilda noticed. He did not back away.

"And that mess out there is yours?" Babs continued.

"Well, whatever it was that visited my property overnight did make a mess, I must say. It looked in better shape when my man Jock put it there last evening," said Lindolf.

"Oh!" Esmee chimed, "you know Jock? He is such a good man. A nice friend too."

Lindolf looked at the woman in pink and red. "Yes. He often works for me. Honourable witch." It took him some effort to address the blond woman that way, but sacrifices had to be made for the greater good.

Baba Yaga looked at Hilda and William. "Do we need to go over that cart again?"

Hilda shook her head. William also indicated that he saw no point in that. Then Babs looked at Esmee. "Do you agree?"

Esmee looked shocked. "Uh, yes? I think so." She was more than surprised that Babs would seriously ask her opinion about this.

"Good." Baba Yaga turned to Lindolf. "You can clean up the mess. Have fun with it." Then she turned back to the people at the table, leaving Lindolf slightly flabbergasted. He mumbled a "Thank you, goodbye" and left the tavern.

"I wish we had a lead to the person who is behind all this," Esmee sighed. "This is all so difficult..."

Babs turned around and looked out of the window, to where Lindolf was shouting instructions to some people.

Even Esmee noticed that the ugly witch kept that position for longer than regular interest in the goings on. "Baba Yaga? Are you okay? Anything special to see out there?" she asked.

"What? No, of course not. Lindolf is by far not interesting enough to get a twisted neck," Babs said. "Anyone for more tea?"

17. Frog

Hilda kept a straight face. William did also. Esmee's face was forced to it by some magic Hilda carefully applied. "Yes. Some tea would be good," Hilda agreed with Babs.

They had more tea and talked about the things they had discovered. Their final decision from the session in the tavern was that this was not helping them in any way. A ward had gone off, so the creature had been at the castle. They had seen prints to prove that. And the creature had been in the village, where they'd seen bones and feathers to prove that one. But nobody had seen or heard anything.

"The thing is magical. No doubt about it," Baba Yaga insisted as they were flying back to the castle.

"A magical big cat?" William sounded full of disbelief. "I am sorry, Babs, but doesn't that sound a bit far fetched? The idea of a cat that size is already quite hard to grasp, but a magical one?"

"Do you have any better suggestions, Mr. Wizard?" Babs asked him.

Mr. Wizard had to admit that his box of ideas was painfully empty.

"Good. So until we have other ideas or proof, we should assume the big cat is a magical one. That means we have to be extra careful, also when we patrol the gardens."

"Patrol the gardens?" Esmee asked. "We've not patrolled the gardens but once."

"Exactly. I propose we're going to do that more often. Like every night. And someone should take it on himself to scout the village and surroundings at night." Babs looked very smug.

William had not missed the 'himself' in her words and looked hurt. "This is not democratic," he complained.

"Of course it isn't," Hilda said, "it is Baba Yaga."

"And you'd better remember that," said the old witch. "I'm not in the habit of repeating myself."

"What was that?" William asked.

"I'm not in the habit of repeating myself," Baba Yaga repeated herself.

Esmee grinned.

When the group arrived at the castle, Esmee's grin disappeared when Baba Yaga reminded her that there still was a frog to be turned into a man again. "You still remember the spell, don't you?"

Esmee said she did. The group went in search of the person who was taking care of the frog, and found that one in the shape of a cook. As they entered the large kitchen, the smell of food had already waved at them from afar. The cook welcomed them and said they were welcome to have a taste of what was cooking.

"I don't suppose you have frog legs, right?" Hilda asked him.

"Oh, no, honourable witch!" the cook said.

"Good. Didn't look like it, the way you are walking," she grinned. "We're here for the frog."

"Yes, yes, it's here," the cook said. He guided them to a large glass cabinet. Inside it sat a lonely frog surrounded by a few cakes, a glass of wine and some straw. Impossible as it sounds, the frog looked really miserable.

It was Esmee's doubtful honour to grab the frog. She hesitated, her hand hovering over the animal. "Go on, grab it and get it over with, witch," Baba Yaga commented. "It's not like it's going to eat you."

"But it feels so icky!" Esmee countered.

"Have you ever touched a frog or a toad before?" Hilda asked.

"No."

"So how do you know?"

That seemed to encourage Esmee. She picked up the frog. The expression on her face changed. Dramatically. "It feels icky."

"Some do, yes," Baba Yaga confirmed. "So the best thing to do when you handle such an animal, protegé of mine, is to decided where you are going to put it down. Once you've determined that, you focus on what you are going to do." Esmee stared at her mentor, while the frog hung from her fingers. "Then you clear the path from where the frog is to where you want it to go. Next step is that you grab the frog and put it where you want it. Are you still with me?" Esmee nodded, the horror on her face growing the longer she held the frog. "Good, I just want to make sure that we are absolutely clear on this. So, where was I... Oh, yes. You grab the frog, put it down, and you nail it with the spell. That's all there is to it." The old witch nodded to herself. "Best not to hold these things in your hand too long. Really."

Esmee groaned. She lifted the frog from the cabinet, half put and half dropped it on the ground, and popped up her wand. She aimed it at the frog. The other magicals as well as the cook saw her lips move as she rehearsed the spell. Then she spoke it and - nothing happened. Esmee stared at her wand and shook it a few times. Then she spoke the spell again, and the result was identical. The frog remained a frog.

The cook had a death wish "Looks like either you or your spell are malfunctioning, Esmee."

Hilda picked up the frog and looked at it. "Neither. This is a frog."

"Yeah. I can see that," the cook said. "It already was one when they brought it in."

Baba Yaga glared at him. "This should be the man we turned into a frog. Clearly it's not. Where is it?"

The cook had a death wish He picked up a meat cleaver and held it in front of his chest as he said: "I dunno, witch. They brought this here frog into the kitchen yesterday and said I had to take care of it. That you folks would come around and change it into a man. Thought I might as well get it used to a man's food." At least that explained the cakes and the wine. And the miserable expression on the face of the frog.

Hilda looked at the frog again. "You could've fooled me, frog." Then she looked at William. "Do you think we can find the real frogman?" Hilda grabbed Esmee's hand and put the frog in it. "Here, hold that for me."

"I am sure that out cats can find the animal, sweetwitch," William said. Obsidian Shadow looked up at him. "Meow." Then he and his black sister ran from the kitchen. Hilda and William went after them.

Esmee held up the frog. "What am I supposed to do with this?" she asked Baba Yaga.

"Depends. If you're hungry you could ask this cook to turn it into a stew. Otherwise you could go outside and toss it in one of the ponds. I'd opt for the second choice," Babs declared. "It doesn't look that tasty."

Esmee nodded and left the kitchen, holding the frog as far away from her as she could. She left the castle with it, Baba Yaga trailing behind her.

In that time, Hilda and William were still chasing after their cats. First they returned to the corner where the original incident had happened, the servant running into Esmee. As if they were professional search dogs, the cats sniffed the ground, just shorter. Then they took the magical couple for quite a tour around the castle, raising many heads, leaving many questions unanswered. They had no time to answer. They also lacked the proper things to say anyway.

The chase came to a halt when they found one of the people who had witnessed the rude servant being frogified. The woman, she had the face of a mouse, stared at the two cats and the two people, all in black. "What do you want from me?"

"We only want to know what happened to the frog. We know you were there when we changed the man."

The woman looked for a way out, but the cats had her cornered. "I don't know. Did you see the cook? I heard he has a frog."

"Wrong answer. That's a real frog. Esmee is dealing with that. We need the unreal frog." Hilda was getting impatient. William recognised the signs, and they did not bode well for the woman. "So, spit it out."

"I can't. I didn't swallow the frog," the woman tried.

"Taking the stroll down Difficult Lane, are we? Maybe we should give Esmee another one to practice on, William..." A wand appeared.

"No no no no no!!!" The woman surprised William with the speed in which she could say that. "It was one of the men who took the frog." She told them where they could find the man. It was Harko, one of the gardeners. All four in black then proceeded to the garden and gathered all the gardeners together.

"You, with the blond hair. Come here. We need to have a talk with you. About a frog."

The man shuffled towards them, nervous, and no one could blame him. "About the frog..." he started. "Yes. I had it. I gave it to one of the maids."

William got a not-so-good feeling. "Which one? There's a lot of those around."

"It was Lizzy-Belle. She's often taking care of the little pests- I mean the children of Princess Snow White." Harko described the woman, but that was not helping a lot so Hilda and William took him into the castle and spent a lot of time examining maids until they found Lizzy-Belle.

"Frog?" was Hilda's short question.

"Gone," was Lizzy-Belle's equally short answer.

"How?" Hilda wanted to know.

"Dicky," Lizzy-Belle explained.

"Crappedy crap," Hilda broke the monosyllabic conversation.

Lizzy-Belle elaborated then, that she'd taken the servant-frog with her, as Harko the gardener had said he could not take care of it. She'd taken it to the room of the twins, as she had to clean the beds there. The twins had been playing in their toy corner.

"Do I want to know what happened?" Hilda asked.

"Depends on whether you want to know that Dicky stabbed it with his dagger or not."

"Oh." Hilda looked sad. "The servant did not deserve that."

"And who had the bright idea to stick a real frog in the cabinet in the kitchen?" William asked.

"Harko. He said there were enough frogs in the pond."

The gardener tried to back out of the conversation, but a spell suddenly glued his feet to the floor.

"So you think we don't know the difference between normal frogs and abnormal ones, Harko..." Hilda said, walking around the gardener. "I assume we have managed to change your mind about that."

"Yes, honourable witch," Harko mumbled.

"Do any of you know if this servant had a woman and children or so?" William asked. Lizzy-Belle said that the man indeed had a wife and two children. "Right. Then there is an assignment for you two. You two are going to tell them that he's dead. And we're going to send a few guards with you, to make sure the job gets done."

Lizzy-Belle and Harko were not pleased. Their moods deteriorated even more when Hilda went to get the guards and instructed them. She released Harko's feet and then together with William she watched how the guards led the people off.

"That's rough," William said.

Hilda nodded. "Yes. But they should have been more careful with the frog. They knew it was a man's life they were holding in their hands. Literally."

William put an arm around the shoulders of his witch. "Come. Let's find the others and tell them."

Hilda leaned against William. "In a moment. Just hold me for a while, please."

18. Night watch

"We have to hurry." Lindolf paced up and down in the small shed. "I don't know where they got these witches from, but I have the feeling they are onto us."

Magda, dark circles under her eyes, looked up at the restless man. "Hurry? Sure. Go ahead. But then count me out. All this stuff is wearing me out."

"So you need more powerful people to drain? Tell me how many. Two? Five? A dozen? I'll get them for you. Just get the job done."

Simi looked hurt. "I am strong enough to get Magda all the energy she needs, Lindolf."

"Cut it out, both of you. This is hard work for me. It has nothing to do with energy or hurry, it has to do with what I can take, do you understand that? I can't find simpler words for that." Magda sagged deeper in her chair. "These people are good indeed. I was scared shitless when I hit that bout of energy they had set up with the rabbit cage."

"How about a head-on confrontation with one of them? I think the castle witch is the weakest of them. That might be a way to handle the situation," Simi offered.

"How do you see that happen?" Magda asked. "From what Lindolf told, the four of them seem inseparable all the time."

"But not at night when they sleep," Simi grinned. "If you can get inside the castle and give the castle witch a surprise, that would make an impression!"

"Half a good plan," Lindolf said. "How do you think we can get out of the castle again once things are in an uproar? Do you think the whole guards and the other witches and such will just sit back when the castle is going wild?"

Magda also wondered about that, but she was not in the mood to spend more energy than needed.

"The castle witch has a room only one floor up. I am sure that an escape through the window is possible. Our cat has jumped higher places than that," Simi pointed out.

"Yeah," Magda had to put in, "but at what cost. Almost broke something, and some days of pain that we could not explain."

"If we plan this well," Lindolf thought out loud, "we may have something to go with. I know a few people that work in the castle and the stables. If I pull some strings and be quick about it, we could get the surprise out this night, or tomorrow."

"Tomorrow night," Magda said. "We're not doing anything this night. I have to recover. And we should make sure Santera is up for this also. Where is she anyhow? I used the stones on her a few times, she should be here as well."

"Santera is sleeping, outside. You little magical stones worked to call all of us, but she looked very worn out," said Lindolf. "Want me to wake her up and bring her in?"

Magda nodded. "Might be the best thing. We have to make sure everyone knows what we're going to do."

-=-=-

Evening fell. It did so very silently, as usual. Still it woke up Hilda and William. The witch prodded her wizard. "Wake up."

"I am awake," he muttered, "and you know that. So stop prodding me."

Hilda sat up. "But I like prodding you," she said with a fake pout.

"Not impressed," said the wizard as he got up. "I'm going to take a bath."

"Take me too?" Hilda asked with a hopeful look on her face.

William grinned. "Sure. Why not." He grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder, ignoring her shriek of surprise.

When they were at the table, together with Esmee and Babs, the old witch kept staring at the couple. Hilda stared back. "What's up, Babs? I'm not wearing anything of your stuff, right?"

"No, you're not my size. But please wipe that smug smile from your face, Hilly. I don't even want to know what Willy did to you, but it is in our best interest that you don't walk around like an advertisement for it."

"Our interest?" Esmee wondered.

"Yes," said Babs. "If they keep that up, I lose interest, and you are all with me, so there." She was clearly satisfied with the way the other three looked lost, trying to make sense of that explanation. "Having made my point this way, let's focus on this evening." She picked up the leg of a chicken and nibbled it at an astonishing speed. Less than a minute later she put down the clean bones. "We three ladies are going to scout the premises. William will do the forests. I doubt that the village will be targeted twice in row."

Hilda scowled at her bestest girlfriend. "You like being in charge, don't you?"

"Yes." Whatever people could say of Baba Yaga, she was honest. "Oh. Esmee. We have to arrange something for you."

"What would that be, Baba Yaga?" the witch asked.

Babs popped up her wand. "Supparum niger," she said. "That." All of Esmee's pink clothes had turned black. "Makes you look more like one of us. And don't even think of turning it back."

"She loves being in charge," William explained to Esmee, who looked at her dark outfit in terror.

The four of them left the table, picked up their brooms and sauntered over to the table where the assembled royalty was dining. "Hi," Baba Yaga said, "we'll be out and about tonight. Please advise your guards that they should not take shots at us while we're doing what we're doing. Things like that tend to annoy us."

King Louie asked what they were going to do exactly. He frowned as Hilda said that they did not know exactly. "We're going to scout the area. See if we can find the mystery prowler. Since it only strikes at night, being out at night is the best time, we think." The king could see reason in that. He called over a servant and instructed him to instruct the head of the guard to instruct the guard that they should leave the witches alone. And the wizard. As the servant darted off, William thanked the king and then they went on their way.

"Good thinking, Babs," Hilda said as they walked to the castle entrance which doubled as an exit. "Hey, 'Smee, coming? Got a pimple?"

Esmee was standing in front of a large mirror, looking at her new lack of colours. "No, Hilda. But when I look at myself, it is as if something is missing." The three joined Esmee and looked her over.

"Looks fine to me," Babs said. Hilda agreed with her.

"No, I think I know what she means. Let me have a go, Esmee. It won't hurt," said William. With some carefully applied magic he first put thin pink and purple braids in Esmee's hair. He stepped back. "No... not ready yet." More magic was applied. Esmee's thin blond eyebrows turned black. Then a black pattern appeared on the witch's forehead, as if it was a tribal tattoo. Dark red eyelids completed the picture. "You're a Goth witch now," William declared, satisfied with what he'd done. He stepped to the side.

Esmee stared at her new appearance. She touched her forehead and a grin came on her lips. She moved closer to look at her eyes. She mumbled something, and her lips turned black.

"Good grief, William," Baba Yaga muttered, "what is that?"

"Call it a small surprise," William said. "There are people who walk around like that in the world where I came from."

Esmee grinned a big grin now. "I like this, William, thank you." She had changed the inside of her black cloak to blood red. "I'm ready. Let's go outside and do this."

Hilda took William by the arm. "You will never put things like that in my hair, do you hear me? Nor on my face. If you just think about it, I'll know, and I'll do things to you that you will not like. I hope this was clear, sweet wizard."

"Somehow, Hilda, I think that you do not need something like that to boost your witchy personality."

"Oh. Is that what it is? Well, we'll see," she said.

Then, as they had reached the terrace in front of the castle, they mounted their brooms. "Say, where are your hairballs?" Baba Yaga asked, pointing at the empty spots on the brooms.

"Grim and Obsi were sleeping when we came down. We'll leave them," Hilda explained.

"Grim. Obsi." The old witch shook her head. "Think of proper names for them, Hilly. Now let's go."

Four brooms lifted off. Three swerved around the castle. William set course to the forests.

When finally they met up again, the sun was rising and the castle and its surroundings bathing in warm orange light, they had come up with absolutely nothing.

"This was not satisfying," William muttered. "Do you know how dull forests look in the dark? And no matter how often you go over them, it doesn't improve."

Hilda nodded. "Same goes for lawns, fountains and flower beds."

"Suck an elf, people, this was the first time we did it like this," Baba Yaga, "next night will be different."

"Yeah, boring from the very start, I guess," William agreed.

Esmee was the only one that looked something close to pleased. "It's a matter of making things interesting," she stated. "There is one guard who is never going to call me a bat again." With that she strolled off, floating her broom behind her just because she could.

"What was that all about?" William had the feeling he had missed out on something.

"I think changing her clothes and your painting her face changed more than just her appearance, William," said Baba Yaga. "We were flying over the little house where the guards are when they're not out walking around and doing nothing. A few of them were outside, and one of them did call my little protegé a bat."

William shivered. Had Baba Yaga just called Esmee 'her little protegé'?

"So Esmee went down to the man and stared at him. That's basically all," the old witch shrugged.

"Yeah, that and the fact that Esmee plopped a spell on him that changed his ears into bat wings," Hilda added the details that Babs had left out.

"Esmee did that?" William suddenly felt the need to worry. "Any chance we can undo what we did to her?"

"Now why would you want to do that, Willy?" Babs wanted to know. "It's about time that she gets some pepper up her behind. Now let's get some sleep. We'll meet again in the evening. Or afternoon." She walked to the entrance of the large stone building, then turned. "And if you two feel the need to share the bath again, be a bit quieter about it."

Hilda looked at William as he looked at her. "Whoops..."

19. Under attack

Daytime came to the land of King Louie. It had also come to the lands that were not King Louie's, as that was the way daytime did its business. It poked around in every corner of the kingdom, looking for witches and a wizard. Daytime really did its best, it spent all day looking, but in the end it packed its bags and left, probably disappointed.

Two black shapes ran from the castle dining hall. They were followed by four black shapes. The former were of course Onyx Grimalkin and Obsidian Shadow. When their humans finally arrived with the brooms, they were already pacing around, tails twitching.

"Your pooches are impatient," Baba Yaga stated, pointing at the two black cats.

"Dogs are pooches, Babs, these are cats," Hilda said.

"Your pooches are impatient," Baba Yaga stated once more. "We'd better go. Same routine as last night, as we agreed."

"Yes, as you decreed," William said as he hopped onto his broom.

"Looks as if your pooches are staying in again tonight," Baba Yaga said.

"Looks like it, indeed," Hilda had to agree, as the two cats walked off. "They came to see us off, of course."

Babs refrained from comment, and then four brooms took off. William left the formation and swung away towards the village. The witches would take care of the castle grounds again, and also survey part of the forest around them.

"I am curious what we'll find this time," William said to himself. "Maybe there actually is something this time."

Esmee asked Hilda if the tattoo she had put on her face was really overdone. "You commented on that all evening!"

"Yes. The one William did on you yesterday looked nice, in a way. You've gone a few bits too wild, Esmee. I'll tell William to give you some lessons. I don't know where he picked up that tattoo business, but I have to say he has a feel for it."

As the tattoo conversation was taking the witches further and further from the castle, at that very castle a dark shape was moving closer. On soft, padded paws it stole along the thick walls where the flickering lights of candles cast dancing shadows on many of the windows. The large main entrance was unguarded, as usual. The creature stopped short of the entrance, twitching its ears to catch any sound. It sniffed the air for smells that should not be there. And it stared at the opening.

As if urged on from an unseen place, the shape went inside the castle. The hall it entered was empty. There were faint sounds of people talking and laughing. From somewhere there came a wailing sound of a child that did not want to go to sleep. The creature slipped behind one of the large draperies that hung against a wall, and hidden behind that it moved towards the grand staircase that was on the far end of the wall.

The creature emerged from behind the draperies after waiting for a few minutes. Nothing in the hall stirred, no people were about. The creature dashed towards the staircase and ran up, to the next floor, where it hid in a dark niche it found mere steps from the staircase. Again it sniffed the air. No people in the corridor, nose and ears conveyed. The creature tore itself from its hiding place and ran through the corridor without making a sound. It turned around a corner and dashed through the next corridor, coming to a stop in front of a door.

As the creature struggled to open the door, it growled. Its thick paws were not made for this. In the end the door gave in and swung open. The creature went into the room, turned and pushed against the door, which closed with a louder noise than was necessary. Then the creature turned to the bed. It leapt through the room and landed on the soft blanket, tearing at it with sharp claws and ripping at it with its strong teeth. Soon the room was covered with feathers from the pillow and shreds of what had been very nice bed linen.

The creature growled again. The bed had been empty and that was not a part of the plan.

In the shed, Magda sat in her chair, eyes closed, strain showing on her face. Lindolf and Simi were with her, both holding a hand of the woman.

"Things going well?" Lindolf asked, his voice no more than a hush.

"How would I know," Simi hissed, as pearls of perspiration rolled down her cheeks. Magda was draining her energy like crazy, this had to be a good thing. Normally with Santera on the prowl there was hardly any pressure.

The creature jumped from the bed. It slowly looked around in the room. When it saw a mirror, it froze.

The reflecting glass showed a bizarre hybrid of a young woman and a large cat. There was cat hair on her entire body. The beginnings of a tail hung down behind her. The cat-woman moved closer to the mirror, reached out to touch the cold glass. She stared at her image, stared at her paws. Then, with a frenzy, she attacked the rest of the things in the room. Vases smashed on the floor, flowers flew everywhere, dresses were torn up and a chair got smashed. And still there was no sound from anywhere.

Simi got scared. This had been the second surge of energy Magda had drawn from her. "Not going well, we have to snap her out of this," she said.

"We can't," said Lindolf. "Santera's still there. We have to get her back."

"She's killing me," Simi whimpered as another drain of energy happened.

"Let go of Magda and I'll kill you," Lindolf coldly informed her. "Your choice."

The cat-woman, Santera, bolted towards the door, managed to open it and almost fell into the corridor. Magda fought to keep control of the woman.

The cat-woman staggered through the corridors and stumbled down the stairs, not caring about staying out of sight. The heavy sound of a man laughing attracted her attention; she ran to the door from behind where the sound had come and banged into it with all her weight. The door cracked and she crashed into the room.

King Louie, who was in his council chamber with one of his advisors, jumped to his feet as he saw the door collapse. "What-" was all he could say before a furry large creature attacked him. He fell backwards, as the weight on top of him squashed all air from his lungs.

The advisor had fallen from his chair and screamed for help. The man was good at advising, not at physical combat, so he left the king to his own devices with respect to the hairy assailant.

Santera clawed at the king's face and chest, hissing and growling, until suddenly she was knocked over by a swift punch that hit her in the head. As she was rolling to the side, another punch surprised her. She smelled cats. Two of them. She jumped to her feet and turned to where she expected the two, but Obsi and Grim had moved already. Obsi jumped up from Santera's left, clawing at her ear, while Grim pounced on Santera's back, digging her claws deep into the fur.

The cat-woman howled an eerie scream and bashed around herself to beat off the two cats. After succeeding in that, she hurtled out of the room and down the hall, to disappear into the night. Grim and Obsi ran after her for a while, but somehow Santera had managed to go so fast that she was nowhere to be seen any more.

"Crappedy crap," Hilda yelled, "we have to go back, now!" Without a word she yanked her broom around and sped back to the castle.

"What the grey elves is wrong with her," Baba Yaga muttered as she brought her broom to a halt. Esmee turned her broom also. "Let's go after her," Babs said.

William had also sensed the upheaval and raced back towards the castle. When he got there, Hilda had already arrived. It worried him to see that her broom was lying on the floor. This told a tale of something bad.

Babs and Esmee also arrived and the three ran into the castle, to find King Louie being taken care of by his physician, as his wife, Queen Daphne, was making a general nuisance of herself as she tried to arrange things she didn't know anything about. The four learnt what had happened.

"Good grief," William said.

"Suck an elf," Hilda added.

"Interesting," Babs agreed.

"I wonder why nobody saw anything," Esmee thought out loud.

"Looks like security here is an issue," Hilda agreed. She eyed the two cats that had come to King Louie's rescue. "Luckily our familiars were here. So what's the matter with you guys?" she asked the two. As soon as they had Hilda's attention, they made for the staircase and looked at the witch.

"I think we should go with them, William," Hilda said as she walked to where the cats were waiting. William followed, as did the other two witches. They followed the cats up the stairs and down the corridors. As they reached Esmee's room, they were all stunned.

"Crappedy crap."

Back in the shed, Simi had fainted. Too much of her had been used this time. Magda had slumped back into her chair, her eyes staring into a void.

Lindolf was cursing as he had no idea what had happened, and both women were unresponsive to his questions, shouting and prodding. "Damn, damn, damn, why did I get involved with amateurs," he ranted. "These two are down, I have no idea where the cat is and in what state, and I should get the hell out of here." Still there was a sense of responsibility in the man that kept him where he was.

Deep in the forest, somewhere between the castle and the shed, a young naked woman lay shivering on the ground, sobbing and hurting. Blood trickled from wounds on her back and head.

20. Boots

"Either you have friends who threw one hell of a party in your room, or the cat-creature that was here tried something," Hilda said as they had looked around the room. "Anything here that's not broken or ripped to shreds?"

Esmee's face was ashen as she took in the remains of her belongings. "Who did this? And why would they do that?" she asked.

Baba Yaga put a hand on the shoulder of the despairing witch. "We don't know, kiddo, but we're going to find out."

As Babs magicked up a glass of potent spiced wine for Esmee, William examined the scratches on the door and the table. Obsi was on the table and allowed his claws to be compared to the marks in the wood. "Cat alright," the wizard decided. "The marks match, they're just oversized. I am sure that cat-woman was in here. And I hate how it feels like someone is playing a game with us. As if they knew we were out."

Prince Jordan and two guards entered the room. "What happened here?" the prince asked. Hilda told him what they suspected and had discovered. "That's not good," Prince Jordan underestimated the situation. "I will send out men to search the grounds for the cat."

"Have them look in the forest also," Baba Yaga advised him. "It would surprise me if they found her around the castle. Nobody would be so stupid to stay near here when they've created such a mess."

"Unless this is an inside job," William thought out loud. "Never rule out the impossible."

"That's not impossible, wizard, that's just plain crazy," Baba Yaga said.

"So is that," William pointed at the ravaged bed. "I am just staying with that line of thought."

Babs made an undefinable sound and took Esmee out of the room. "Come on, Esmee, we'll find you a place to sleep."

Prince Jordan took the men out of the room while ordering them to follow the orders that the witches and wizard had given.

Snow White came running down the corridor as the guards were on their way. "Jordan, what happened?!" He told her what little he had picked up and then she rushed into the room of the castle witch. "Oh no!"

There was nothing the assembled witchforce could do about the room, so they went back down to talk to the king and his advisor once more, but that too did not bring much more to light. They only got a very clear view of the king's scratches.

"Nobody managed to grab that cat-woman. And nobody knows where she came from, how long she was here and where she went to," Hilda sighed as they all had retreated to the room she and William used. "That gives us so little to go on. We're probably lucky that the cats were here to do something. The cat-woman might have taken the king apart."

-=-=-

In the shed, the situation had improved only marginally. Lindolf was quite worked up. Magda had snapped out of her lethargy and tried to wake up Simi.

"Stop your panic attack, Lindolf," Magda said, "it is not helping. Again, I tell you, go out and find Santera. We don't know where she is."

"But she could still be in the castle," Lindolf ranted, "do you want me to walk in there and ask them if they accidentally saw a cat-woman that slashed up the king? That would go down well. My head in particular!"

"She is not in the castle anymore. I took her to quite far into the forest. Go. Do something. You want this, you do something for it. Discussion closed."

Lindolf grabbed his dark cloak from the chest in the corner and left the shed. Muttering, he put the cloak around his shoulders. He started walking towards the castle, certain he was not going to enjoy this.

The man marched through the forest. His cloak got caught in thorny bushes as he stepped into puddles that were hiding beneath the undergrowth. Evil branches and their offspring, stingy nasty leaves, tapped him on the head and scratched his cheeks and neck. He was surprised how much truth there was in his original feeling about this walk. He did not enjoy it, and the darkness did not improve his mood. He persisted though, enduring the relentless attacks of the forest. Magda was tired now, but he knew she was not someone to cross. She'd remember.

A few times he stopped walking and listened carefully. Once he was certain he had heard the clatter of swords and shield, half expecting that a host of soldiers from the castle was going to fall on top of him from the trees that were still taxing him. "Bollocks," he then cursed himself. Soldiers did not fall from trees. He proved beyond a doubt that men could walk into trees a few times, though.

His face hurt as he had another such encounter. He stopped to wipe the blood from his brow when he caught a sound that was not normal here. It sounded like... sobbing. "Santera!" he whispered as loudly as he dared. "Santera, where are you?"

"Lindolf. Here." It was clearly Santera's voice. It sounded weak and in pain.

"Where is here?" Lindolf asked as he did his best to see something. Once again, the darkness did not help to make him feel better.

"Here," was the obvious and useless answer.

Then he saw a faint pale movement. "I think I see you," Lindolf whispered. He dashed forward and ran into another tree before he reached the naked young woman. After another round of muttering he kneeled down with her. "Are you okay?" The question was totally unnecessary. Lindolf took off his cloak and wrapped Santera in it. He picked her up and prayed that he would be able to return to the shed without running into anything.

As he walked off with the still sobbing woman, he heard a strange thudding sound. He ignored it and just did what he could to get away from there.

The soldier who had fallen from the tree scrambled to his feet. "I thought I saw something," he said as his fellow guards laughed. "But it was gone suddenly. And no laughing!" The man had climbed on a branch to see further, and fallen from it as he had craned his neck and then too much of the rest of him to see more.

"You have seen too much of the castle's ale, my friend," another soldier grinned as he clapped the man on the shoulder. "But don't worry, your secret is safe with us. We'll drown it in some ale when we get back."

"I'm telling you, I saw something. It was white. Well, pale. And then it was gone. As if it was something a witch did. Or a ghost that vanished."

The laughter of the soldiers froze in their throats. Witches was one thing, they'd seen plenty of those. But ghosts... that was not in their job description. "Maybe we should go back and see about that ale," one of them suggested. "We haven't found anything, that's clear."

"Yeah," a third agreed, "and if that pale thing was a real something, it's gone now anyway. Nothing we can do about that now."

The brothers in arms were of one mind and returned to the safety of the castle where there were no ghosts.

-=-=-

"No, honourable witches and wizard, we didn't see anything," the leader of the soldiers said. "Well, of course we saw a lot, but not the cat-woman the prince told us to find because you told him to tell us."

"We didn't really see a lot either, as it was so dark," one of the soldiers pitched in.

Baba Yaga groaned. Hilda stared at the dimwits in mail and armour. William hoped he was dreaming and wanted to wake up.

"I am sure you did your best," Hilda finally dared. "We'll give it a rest for now and have a look tomorrow, when there's light." As the soldiers lingered, she said: "Dismissed." As the soldiers lingered, she said: "That means you can go now." The soldiers no longer lingered.

The witch looked at the wizard. "Bed."

"Bed," he agreed.

Baba Yaga got up and walked off without a word.

-=-=-

The next morning a magical sextet left the castle on brooms. Three witches, a wizard and two cats.

"I hope the soldiers did not trample on too many of the tracks," Hilda grumbled. "They mucked up our night rest, they mucked up the castle's security, I am sure they were hired on that trait." Grim looked back at her witch for a moment and did not comment.

Esmee flew at Baba Yaga's side. The old witch had told her to stay close, without giving a reason for it. Esmee knew that Baba Yaga always had a reason for something.

They hovered over the ground where the path from the garden ended and the forest floor started. "Plenty of footsteps here," Hilda pointed out the obvious. The footsteps made it easy to find where the soldiers had gotten to. "Good thing there was no rain last night."

They soon reached the spot where the soldiers had decided to pursue their tactical retreat. That was where the magicals proceeded on foot. Grim and Obsi disappeared under some bushes, following some plan of their own. William and Hilda quickly located the paw prints that had not been erased by guardly footwear and followed the trail.

"Hey, that's strange. See this?" William pointed at a spot where the paw prints suddenly ended and were replaced by a single set of footprints. "Looks like the cat woman changed- but that would be very strange."

Hilda nodded. "How could a cat woman suddenly change into someone wearing men's boots... That would ask for some very mean magic. Babs?"

Baba Yaga and Esmee as her shadow came to where the couple was looking at the ground. "Oh. Look at that. Nice work, you two. Looks like cat woman changed into- no, that can't be. Hey, protegé, what are you doing down there?"

Esmee was crawling on the ground on all fours, staring at something. "Come and look," she said. The three joined her, as did the two cats. "See this?" the flower witch pointed at a body-shaped imprint. "Someone's been lying here. Perhaps the cat woman."

Hilda crawled around some more. "Yes, I'd believe that," she said. "Look here. The boots came over here and left again. But the coming-here prints are far less deep than the going-away prints. It looks as if the owner of the boots knew that our cat woman was here and came to collect her."

The four got up, magicked their clothes clean and started to follow the trail of the boots. The abundant plant life forced them to continue on foot while their brooms floated along behind them. The trail delivered them a dead end as it hit a pebble path that ran through the forest.

"To the left is to the village, to the right is to the castle," Esmee said. "I am quite sure the man in the boots did not go to the castle." That was a truth if ever there was spoken one. A man carrying a cat woman around would have raised at least a few heads. But the same reason probably was true for the side that led into the village.

"No trail here," William reported from the other side of the path. "Maybe it was a wizard or a sorcerer that had his broom parked here?"

"There'd be a trace of magic here in that case, Willy," said Baba Yaga. "My protegé here would know that, wouldn't you, Esmee?" William and Hilda frowned at the display of affection Babs showed towards Esmee. It was not natural, and definitely not Baba Yaga. Esmee nodded.

The flower witch twitched her lips for a moment. Then she squatted down. "Hey, cats, come here." To the surprise of two magicals, the cats came. Esmee whispered something to them and the two dashed off, one in each direction and quickly were gone from view.

"What was that all about?" Hilda muttered. "They do have names, you know. And they're good ones."

21. Shed

Esmee grinned. "It worked, didn't it?"

Hilda looked at William. "I don't like the influence Babs has on that kid. She's becoming too much a smart-ass."

"Thank you," said Baba Yaga.

Before any further commenting could take place, Grimalkin appeared again, a few hundred feet from where the group was standing. She meowed loudly. Obsi raced past the assembled magicals to his 'sister', the magicals followed at a somewhat more moderate pace.

"That's my cat," Hilda beamed as she saw the imprints of the boot that continued into the forest. "It's all in the name, William."

"Oh sure," he grinned.

"Come on, stop your socialising," Baba Yaga said as she pushed through the wealth of plants. Esmee was right behind her. "Our boot-wearer did not walk this way when he came to the point where found his tracks," Babs informed them, "I only see his footsteps going this way."

"Maybe he is not used to walk through the forests at night," Hilda opted, just before she ran into Esmee. "Hey, what's the wait?"

"We may have found home sweet home of the cat woman, Hilda," Baba Yaga said. She slowly moved ahead, allowing the others to see the shed they had reached.

The shed was squeezed in between two trees. It looked old, but it still was in quite good shape. The long side was about twenty feet long, the side that had a door in it about half that size. There were no windows in it, there was no paint remaining on it, if ever there had been some.

William tried the door, but that was adorned with a chain and a solid padlock.

"William... better step away from that shed for now," Hilda said as she tugged his sleeve. "No messing with it until we know it's safe."

William looked at her, then at the two other witches, and he understood there was something they knew that he missed. Something magical they had a sixth sense for. Carefully he stepped back and let the real witches do their thing.

Babs and Esmee slowly circled the shed, their wands in hand.

"They are trying to find where most magic is coming from," Hilda explained to him. "And then find a way to disarm it, if it is dangerous."

"Uhm... dangerous..." William was not sure what to make of that. "Is there a difference?"

"Oh, yes. There is."

"Nothing dangerous here, Hilly," Baba Yaga reported after they had made the round. "It isn't even proper magic that's used here. I mean, your wizard's a lot better with it than whoever put this magic here."

"My wizard is great with magic," Hilda bragged, "and you know that, girlfriend. You know what he pulled off when Lamador challenged me."

"True," Babs said as she popped the lock open. "Let's see if they have tea here. I could do with some."

As the light of day fell into the shed, it showed dust flying that was rushed into the air by the door opening. They saw a somewhat comfortable chair that had seen better days. Probably better years too. Babs and Hilda stepped inside, wands in hand. They immediately focussed on the chair. That held most of the erratic magical traces.

"No tea," Esmee noticed. "Let's fix that." She stepped out of the shed.

William felt a bit lost. Hilda and Baba Yaga were going around the shed, using their wands as dowsing rods, Esmee was taking care of tea and he just stood and watched.

"There was a book here, Babs," Hilda said as she pointed to a spot on the ground, next to the chair. Babs looked at the same spot and nodded. "Indeed. Old magic. Weird magic also, but too faint to make something decent of it."

"Tea's ready!" Esmee chimed from outside.

"Right out," Babs cackled back, "keep it hot."

Suddenly William moved through the shed and bent down. "Now, what do we have here..." He picked something from the hardwood floor. It was a ball of hair. And it looked very much like the hair they had found in the garden. "Ladies," the wizard announced, "our cat woman has been here at least once."

"And there's some kind of witchcraft involved here too," Baba Yaga added, "this chair did not charge itself magically by itself."

Hilda sat on the floor, her hands touching the wooden floor. "And there was at least one other person here. Someone of power, but not magical," she decided. "But something does not make sense, unless the person who carried the cat woman here was the witchcraft practitioner"

"I doubt that," said Baba Yaga. "The one with the magic was a woman."

"Why would women not wear men's boots?" Hilda asked. "Not that I do, but I mean, think outside the cauldron, Babs."

Baba Yaga stared at William. "Does that happen to everyone who visits that crazy world of yours?"

"Not everyone," he replied, "only the ones that are susceptible to it."

"Just you make sure you are not going to regret that remark," said the witch who still sat on the floor. "I need tea." The two others could do with some also, so they headed outside.

"Ah, there you are!" Esmee smiled at them from a large fluffy couch. It was dark purple. There was another one just like it on the other side of the black table she had conjured. There were a teapot, cups and a saucer with cookies. "It is all ready," Esmee grinned.

William pretended to be the gentle-wizard and poured tea for Hilda, Babs and himself. As he poured he frowned. "That looks weird, Esmee."

The young witch giggled. "That's only half of it, William."

Baba Yaga sat down next to Esmee. "Uhm... Esmee... what is in that tea? You smell somewhat... intoxicated."

William heard that and sniffed the cup he had just poured. "Holy Bejeebus," he said. "I will have to do something about that." The tea that Esmee had prepared was not merely spiked, it was almost pure alcohol with a hint of tea. on second thought he just made a new pot appear, this one with just tea.

"Ah... that's not funny," Esmee complained, giggling more and more. "I thought I had this arranged so nicely."

"She's drunk," Baba Yaga said. "Very drunk. We can count her out for the rest of the day, I'm afraid." Esmee proved her right by flopping to the side and passing out.

"Tea anyone?" William asked. "I'll also get some new cookies. You never know..."

The magical trio that still was awake talked about their find. Finally, they agreed, they had something of a lead that they could work with. Even when the work was limited. They now knew that there were several people involved in this scheme, and at least one of them had witchy capacities.

Baba Yaga looked at the sleeping witch next to her. "I think we're making good progress with her too," she shared with Hilda and William. "Her clothes are improving, and the way she set up this seating stuff isn't bad either. Now, dark purple wouldn't be my choice but at least it's not pink."

"-We- are making good progress?" Hilda frowned. "Excuse me, but you are the one who started corrupting her. Now I have to admit that this is not a bad thing."

"You, witch, have done nothing to discourage me. Nor stop me." Baba Yaga sipped her tea.

"True enough. When has anything or anyone ever stopped you?" Hilda bounced back.

"True enough," Babs admitted.

-=-=-

Lindolf sat in the tavern. He looked at the man who shared his table and who was working on draining the next mug of beer. "I am telling you," Lindolf said, "I have heard very strange things have been going on at the castle."

"Things like what?" asked the man as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. The belch waited until the hand was out of sight. "You mean like the attack on the king? And that the guards didn't catch who did it?"

"Yes, exactly," Lindolf nodded. "Things like that. Don't they scare you?"

"Nah," the man grinned, "it's not me that got attacked."

"But what if you were next?" Lindolf insisted. "Suppose that something happens to the king, and after that some unholy army of apparitions comes over the wall and has a go at everyone in the castle?" He had lowered his voice, and not only for drama. He was working on this man, who was a servant in the castle. "Oscar, listen. What would your wife think if you don't come home suddenly, just because that sloppy lame king of ours is not able to protect his servants? Would she like that?" He waved at the serving-wench to bring more beer.

Oscar looked over the table as best he could. Lindolf was not sitting very still from Oscar's point of view. "Ah... beer. Good," he said. Then he remembered Lindolf's question. "Uhm... Well, to be honest, Lindolf, I am not so sure if the wife would feel bad if I wouldn't come home..."

Lindolf snorted at the man's honesty, but that was not the answer he was waiting for. "Of course she'd be devastated, Oscar," he said. "She'd be torn to pieces, like you would be. And that is not what we want, right?"

Oscar tried to recall if Lindolf was married, but that bit of knowledge had been carried away in one of the empty beer-mugs. He decided to nod. Lindolf sounded coherent, so it had to be true. And of course Lindolf was paying for the beer.

"I really think you should talk to your wife about this, Oscar," Lindolf said as he saw the castle servant nod. "This is something of national importance. Something that could have catastrophic consequences for the community at large, if people find out that we can't even protect ourselves and our beloved royalty from some mysterious creature that already had a go at the king."

Oscar's eyes reduced themselves to slits as he tried to follow all the big words Lindolf spoke. It was in vain. Most of the words were lost before he had heard them in full, so he bravely nodded and picked up his mug.

Lindolf decided that he had said enough. Perhaps even too much, as obviously Oscar was not catching on anymore. He raised his own mug. "Tell your wife, Oscar. Tell your wife."

Oscar nodded. "Yes. Tell your wife. I'll do that." He already wondered if he would remember what it was he was supposed to tell, but that was of later worry. "Let's drink to our wives."

Lindolf toasted with Oscar. Maybe this was not such a good person to load this task on after all, he thought as he sipped some of his water.

22. Talks

"Snowy? Do you have a moment?"

Snow White looked over to the door where Prince Jordan stood. She smiled. "It's long ago that you called me Snowy, Jordan. I like it when you say that. What is it that you want to talk about? I assume that's what you want to do."

The prince nodded and came in. "You're done with the kids?" he asked as he took Snow White's hand. "Come, sit down with me. This is concerning kids."

Snow White was very surprised about that. 'Kids' usually was a subject he avoided unless it involved making them. With some difficulty she sat down as her pregnancy was becoming a bother now.

Jordan told her about the talk he'd enjoyed with Hilda and the rest of the magical corps. Of course he emphasised the bit that it would be painful for him, but that he was willing to take that.

Snow White was impressed. Not yet with Jordan, as he had so far just delivered the words, but with Hilda and the gang for getting him so far. She knew she had to play this well. The prospect of no more children was really good. "Would you really do that, my dear prince?" she asked him.

"Yes. I would." Jordan did not feel so brave as his words sounded, but once they were out he knew he would really have to go on with it.

Snow White leaned over their unborn child and kissed him on the cheek. "When do you think it will... happen?"

Jordan grew pale. This was making things real. "Uhm, I'm not sure yet. See, they are so busy catching whatever is killing the animals around here, and it is very hard to talk to them now."

"I understand, Jordan. Perhaps we can see them this evening, at dinner."

"Yes. I guess."

-=-=-

A woman walked through the forest. She wore a skirt that contained as many colours as a rainbow would. It looked hand made, and also hand remade many times. Her long black hair fell halfway down her back, dancing around the red blouse she wore. "Something is not good. Something is very wrong even," she muttered.

She reached the shed. Her black eyes went over the walls, the door, the lock. "Told you," she told no one, "something is not good."

The lock had been opened, she could tell. It hung in a different way. Magda, for that was the woman, always hung the lock in a particular way so she could see if someone had tampered with it. In thought she scratched her pale cheek. "Not good, not good."

She looked around the area, inspecting everything. "Oh no. What's that?" In the ground she saw imprints of what clearly had to be furniture. "It's them witches. I knew it. I am sure of it. Nobody else would put chairs and tables and stuff here. It's the witches. Damn, damn, damn." Magda reached for the bunch of metal objects that hung from her belt. She undid the strap that held the metal together and used the key to open the lock.

Inside she saw the dirty footprints on the floor. That was another sign. She always made sure the floor was swept, so she could see if someone had been inside. "This place is not good anymore," she decided. "I'll have to see Lindolf about this, tell him we don't go here anymore." Magda kicked the tattered chair. "Where will we go..."

With effort she then moved her chair to the side, kneeled down and wriggled a few floor boards until they came loose. Underneath them lay a package, wrapped in a piece of cloth. "We need this. Yes, we need this." Magda kept mumbling to herself as she took the package from the hiding place and walked outside again. She hid her package under a fern, went into the shed again and found the small box with flints in the corner. She took two of the flints and hit them over the overturned chair until it caught fire.

Magda left the shed, collected her package and moved back far enough so she was out of reach of the hungry flames that quickly licked all around the dry wood. When she was certain that nothing usable remained of the shed, she turned and left the place. Of the shed only remained a stack of smoldering wood and a glowing hot chain with a padlock.

-=-=-

Baba Yaga looked up from her musings as a sound emerged from the heap that was Esmee. "Easy, Esmee," Babs said as she got up and went over to the bed. "You've had a severe attack of alcohol. I am glad it's you feeling like you do, not me."

"Am I dead?" Esmee asked.

"You wish, right? Bad news, Esmee. You're alive. Enjoy it while it lasts." Baba Yaga shook her head. "It's about time we make a proper witch of you." She rolled Esmee on her back, causing the hung-over witch to emit a loud groan.

"If I am not dead, this will kill me," Esmee moaned.

"More bad news for you. It won't. Now, where is your wand?" Baba Yaga did feel sorry for the whimpering witch, but this was something Esmee would have to do herself.

"I don't want a wand. I want someone to shoot me," Esmee muttered as she rolled on her side and into a ball on the bed.

"Oh, good news," Babs grinned, "you get to shoot yourself."

"Go away. Please. I can't stand you."

The door opened. "How are things here?" Hilda cheerfully said as she and William came in.

"Gahhh..." Esmee uttered her view on things here.

"Right. That says it all," grinned the witch. "How is she with the wand?"

Baba Yaga shook her head again. "Not much. She wants to be shot, and now she can shoot herself she's not playing."

"Shut up. Please?" Esmee sat up and held her head. "I am in pain and you are just talking."

"And you are not listening," said Baba Yaga to her protegé. "Now whip out that wand and cure yourself."

William felt sorry for the flower witch, the way she looked. Her dress was almost as much a mess as her face was.

Esmee groaned as she popped up her wand. At least she had learnt how to do that. "Now what..."

With some instruction from Babs and Hilda, Esmee discovered how easy it was for a witch to get rid of a hangover.

Esmee jumped from the bed. "Wonderful! What are we going to do now?"

"We're going to think," said Hilda. "Think about our next move. And we'll do that over some coffee."

"Tea," said Babs.

"Water," said Esmee.

"Whatever," said William.

The magicals united, and with cats they went to one of the lounges where they could get tea and water. William made some coffee for Hilda, who claimed she'd had better coffee in her life. He grinned.

"So, what do we have," Baba Yaga said. "We have proof there is a cat-woman going around. The local king has the scratches to prove that."

"And we saw paw prints and we have the hair to prove that," Esmee said, sipping water whilst eyeing Hilda's coffee.

"We also found that shed. More proof, as there was some magic around. Weird and troubled magic, but it counts," Hilda said, offering her cup to Esmee who tried the black stuff.

"Which leads to reason then that things centre around that shed, for some reason." William tried the tea, frowned, and turned it into coffee. "What on Earth did they do to that tea..."

"I don't know," said Babs, "but can you do that trick for me also?" William could and did.

Esmee stared at the cup of coffee she had just drunk from. "This is gory," she decided. She poured herself some tea.

"I vote that we should keep an eye on the shed for a while," Hilda tossed in. "They are going to use that again." The others agreed with her. "We should go and have a look at it again tomorrow, maybe we missed something."

They continued their plan-making until a servant entered the room and announced that dinner was being served.

The witches and the wizard entered the dining room and were greeted enthusiastically by Snow White who waved them over. "Could Jordan and I have a word with you later? After dinner and when we've put the children to bed?"

"Oh, certainly," Hilda said, "no problem. Maybe Esmee can give you a hand, so you're done sooner."

Esmee grumbled but kept a straight face. Until after dinner.

Snow White and Esmee came back quite quickly. Hilda and her comrades in magic were still at their table when the two women joined them. Snow White had her husband in tow; Prince Jordan did not look the happiest man in the realm.

"Here we all are," Snow White said, "tea anyone?"

"I'd vote against that," said William, "but sure."

After the tea was delivered, and half of the cups' contents were changed to William's coffee, Snow White told the witchy assembly about the talk she'd had with Jordan. "We are very curious to learn some more about it," she said, ignoring the expression on hubby's face. Obviously he was not so keen.

"It is nothing big, really," William said, "no reason to blow it up."

"Oh, sometimes it is small indeed, but, uhm... blowing does help," Snow White said, her pale cheeks colouring.

"Dear wife," said Jordan, "maybe we should-"

"Oh, stuff it, prince," Baba Yaga said with her usual sense of diplomacy. "The wizard speaks. Let him talk."

From an adjacent table, a servant who was cleaning it was shocked by the way the old and ugly witch spoke to the heir to the throne.

"What are you looking at?" The unfortunate servant was in the line of sight of Babs. "Hush, scoot, go. This is private."

"Yes, my privates," Jordan confirmed quietly and slightly uncomfortable. "And they're not that small."

"Hush, Jordan, let the wizard speak," said Snow White.

William shrugged. "As I said, it's nothing big. We'll sedate the royal princeness, do the procedure and cross our wands that he's not in too much pain. For too long."

Jordan showed all signs of wanting to run, but somehow he stayed in his seat. "And how long will that be?"

"The procedure? A few moments," said William, making an uneducated guess. "The feeling afterwards... depends on how much you can handle pain. Hard to tell."

"I'm sure a strong, young prince like you is not afraid of a bit of pain when it is for the greater good," Baba Yaga remarked.

Prince Jordan smiled as if he was trying to hide a severe tooth-ache.

23. Scratches

While the united witchcrafters were having a relaxed conversation with royalty, in the village tavern a talk on an entirely different topic was going on. The wife of Oscar the castle servant had been listening to her husband as he told her what Lindolf had told him. She agreed with Lindolf's words and now was repeating her version of those among her friends that had joined them at the table.

"Did you know," she said, "that there has been a small army of dangerous large cats in the castle? It seems that they almost tore up the gut of the king, and he was not able to do anything about them."

"No!" many people exclaimed, hungry for more details and preferably some bloodshed and other forms of sensation.

"Yes!" said Sheila, Oscar's wife. "Even all the witches that are now in the castle were helpless against these animals!" The undivided attention of so many people made her confident that 'improving' the words she'd heard from Oscar would not be too bad. She was not aware that Oscar had done his own share of enhancing himself. Well, maybe she was aware of that. In that case she didn't care.

"Well, as long as they're in the castle, I'm fine," a big man with a red nose and a grey tunic said, as he raised his beer mug. "I'm not such a fan of the king anyway. They can have 'm, and we get to keep the money we now pay in taxes." His words were received with cheers from several sides; the number of people who became interested in what went on at the table increased.

In a dark corner sat a man in a dark cloak, the hood far over his head. Lindolf. He smiled.

"Is it just me," another villager pitched in, "or is it really a coincidence that these cat creatures started going around after these witches and that strange wizard arrived at the castle?" His words brought about a round of talking, yelling and unfounded reasoning.

"No, can't be," someone said, "if they are the reason for the cats to be there, why would they not be able to keep them there?" Nobody seemed to find this statement worth considering.

"What," someone said, "if these giant cats come to the village? And what if they start taking our guts out? Will you be cheering so loudly then?" This gave cause to another discussion, of course. Someone said that the cats would not come as there was nothing to get here; someone else pointed at the big gut of the speaker and told him that the cats would be happy with some of that, and then the inn-keeper had to do all he could, with all his waitresses, to keep the place from being torn apart.

In the dark corner, the man in the cloak and hood smiled again. This, he knew, was very good. Suddenly he grabbed to his pocket, as something started burning in it. He felt the small pebbles that Magda had given him, they were red hot, and tossed them on the table in front of him. She clearly needed to see him. "Blast that witch and her magic," he muttered as the stones cooled down. He swept them into his pocket again, put some coppers on the table and left the tavern.

Magda saw Lindolf come from the tavern. She stepped out of the dark alley where she had been hiding. He walked over to her and asked what she wanted. "We have a problem. The witches found our shed."

"Oh. Shit."

"Yes," Magda agreed.

-=-=-

"Now tell us, Willy, when are you going to do your thingy with Jordan's thingy?" Baba Yaga asked, just a little too eager.

The witches and wizard sat around the large fireplace in Baba Yaga's room, enjoying glasses of wine. Hilda's was severely watered down, as usual.

"The sooner the better, I think," William thought out loud, "he was pretty much pushed into being brave this evening, so we should exploit that."

"He's a bit of a whimp, isn't he?" Hilda put in. "That hasn't changed over the years." As several eyes regarded her, she told them again how she had met Jordan, fighting and crashing into the glass coffin where Snow White lay. That story always was a source of entertainment.

"Tomorrow afternoon, perhaps," William then mused on about Jordan. "Take him by surprise, might be the best way to handle this."

Hilda agreed. Esmee still worried about it all. "Have you done this thing before?" the former flower witch asked.

"No, but I've read books on how it's done. Didn't look too difficult. I'll be fine," William said, certainty all around him.

"It's not you I'm worried about," Esmee told him.

Hilda laughed.

Baba Yaga then asked what they should do as a next step concerning the cat-woman. "Messing with Jordan is all good fun, I'm sure, but that's not what we're here for."

"I say we go and have another look at that shed tomorrow morning," Hilda suggested. "Maybe they have used it again and the magic trail is stronger. We might get a feel for the kind of witch that's involved."

"Good plan," Esmee said. "And once we... I mean you know what witch it is, what then?"

"And what if you can't figure that out?" William challenged his witch.

"Urgh, you are so negative, William. Give me some credit," Hilda grumbled. And to the other two witches she said: "He has been in that strange world of his too long, I keep blaming that. Such a waste. As to what we can do once we know what kind of witch we're up against, I think we should look at that when we actually know."

"Which means you don't have a clue at the moment," William translated her words.

Hilda looked at the wizard. "Yes. You're right. I don't. And that bothers me to no end."

"I know, Hilda," said the wizard. "I can feel that. Now come sit in my lap and listen to me."

"You do not tell me what to do, wizard," Hilda said, her voice threatening and cold as ice cubes Then she got up and sat in his lap. "I planned to do this long before you said it."

Baba Yaga and her protegé stared at what was happening, for different reasons but with equal interest.

William nodded. "We all know that we are walking in the dark and there is reason to believe we are running down a dead-end street. But nobody knows except us. So as long as we appear confident and seem to follow a plan, everyone will be certain we are on to something. And if we manage to make that feeling known everywhere, so that includes the village, then the witch and her partners will hear about that. Because that's how small towns work. You just need to talk to the right people."

"And you know the right people?" Hilda asked.

Babs whispered to Esmee: "I like that boy."

"I heard that," said Hilda, "and I am waiting to hear an answer of this boy."

"Shopkeepers and people working in taverns and on market squares," said the boy.

-=-=-

"I am not doing it." Santera sat in the corner of the room, huddled up under a blanket as if that protected her from Magda and Lindolf.

Simi stood close to the young woman. "We shouldn't, Magda, she's still too hurt from that attach of these wild creatures, can't you see that?"

"Baloney," said Lindolf, "they're only some scratches. Hardly worth mentioning. We have to bring the cat-woman out again tonight, so people will believe the tale that goes around the village now."

The group was in the attic of his house. They had decided that was the best place for them to take residence, now the shed was destroyed. Lindolf had tried to talk sense into the three, but he was outnumbered. There also were no alternative places.

"You just have to walk around a bit, Santera," Lindolf tried. "Scare someone, or eat a chicken or something. People have to know you are real."

"I'm not going to scare someone," Santera said, determination trying to settle on her face and in her voice.

"Okay, okay, wait, how about you just go outside then, go to the market square, you scratch over some doors so the marks are clearly visible and then we bring you back?" Magda offered

Santera looked less opposing already...

Shortly after that, a furry shape moved through the backstreets of the village, silent as a ghost. Santera had given her will to Magda again, allowing the woman to alter her appearance as she tapped into the power that Simi allowed. The cat-woman passed the door of a shop, stopped and slowly dragged her long sharp nails over it, the sound tearing up the silence of the narrow street. The large cat growled and leapt through the street, seeking cover in the darkest shadows while waiting if something would happen.

The night remained quiet though. Santera moved through the streets again, until she arrived at the market square. Crouching down on all fours, she looked around. Her ears turned, catching the slightest sound. There could be someone around, even at this hour. The space in front of her was deserted, save for some carts. Santera ran over to the carts and jumped on top of the first one. It was empty. The next one was too. Leaving a few scratch marks on that, she jumped from the cart again.

"Make her throw something through a window," Lindolf said, even when he had no idea where Santera was. He knew that Magda would hear him. He also knew that if he repeated his wishes often enough, she would make it happen, as long as it was somehow possible.

Santera made her way to one of the houses, picking up a piece of stone between her paw-hands. She flung it towards a window as she came close to it. As glass shattered, she madly scratched the front door of the house and then ran off, as Magda ordered her to come back.

As the cat-woman disappeared in the darkness, lights came on in the house that had been attacked.

24. Lindolf

As Hilda and William entered the dining hall of the castle, they were immediately aware of a hush that went around the servants. They frowned at each other as they sat down. When a young man came to bring them their food, Hilda asked him what was going on.

"Oh, nothing, nothing," the young man said too quickly.

"Right. Now you sit down and you stay on that chair until you told us what's going on," the witch said. "And not on that chair, that's Baba Yaga's spot. She likes keeping things like that simple."

"But I have to-" said the young man as he could not stop himself from sitting down.

"-tell us what's the rumour," William ended his sentence for him. "Come on, we can feel there is something, so just tell us and you can go on with your work."

The young man swallowed hard. "There's a rumour that one of the giant cats who attacked the king was in the village last night."

"One of?" Hilda said. "Who claims there are more?"

"Oh... many people in the village say that. I'm not sure, but some may have seen a few even."

The witch released the young man, who took off in rather a hurry. His exit was the cue for Baba Yaga and Esmee to enter the hall and find a seat at the table. Hilda and William told them what they had just heard from the servant.

"An army of cat-women? I don't believe a word of that," said Babs as she tapped her empty cup and filled it with her favourite tea.

The four magical ones agreed on that, but wondered where the rumour had come from. William did point out that, if this was indeed just a rumour, that proved his point about putting their own rumour in the world. "There is genuine power in that. See how the servants are sweating with the thought of many cat-women?"

"But what if there really are more cat-women?" Esmee asked as she watched his plate of food. "And why don't they bring us food?"

"Uhm, that last bit might be my doing," Hilda said. "Pinning down a servant may have been a bit harsh."

Babs grinned. After a few encouraging waves, someone dared to bring two more plates of food. Over breakfast they discussed options for the day, and then they left the castle. As planned the other day, they headed over to the shed again.

"Well, that takes care of that," Baba Yaga said as they stood close to the ruins of the shed. Obsi and Grim carefully tiptoed around it, sniffing and clearly not appreciating what they found. "Looks like we just found out that someone found out that we found out."

-=-=-

"I don't want to do this anymore!"

Those words came from Santera's lips as she was clawing at Lindolf's face. The young woman was furious and Magda on her own was not capable to remove the furious person from the one that tried to protect his head.

"Get that mad woman off me!" Lindolf yelled.

"I am trying!" Magda screamed as she yanked at Santera's hair, which in the end proved to be effective in that Santera did not claw at Lindolf anymore. Now Magda was the subject of her anger. Lindolf ended that quickly though; once he was free he put his arms around Santera and prevented her from lashing out at the witch. All she now could do was scream. And that she did, until Magda stuffed a rag in Santera's mouth.

"Can't we sedate her?" Lindolf asked. "I can't hold her like this for-aaah!" Santera had kicked one of his kneecaps.

Magda looked at her old book of magic, the one she had saved from the shed before she'd set it on fire. She took the book and whacked Santera on the head. The cat-woman's fighting came to an abrupt end.

"Not magical, but effective," Lindolf said as he lay the limp body on the floor.

Magda inspected the book. It was not damaged. Then she checked Santera; the book was quite heavy. The young woman was fine, just out of action for a while. "This is getting to all of us, Lindolf," she commented as she sat down with her book. "Santera's going mad over all this stuff you make her do."

"You make her do it, Magda," he grinned. "I just make suggestions."

"You are a swine, Lindolf."

The man smiled. "And you are my pearl, Magda. I do agree that Santera is becoming a weak spot in our plan. We have to act quickly."

"What do you have in mind?"

Magda held on to her book as he spoke.

-=-=-

Four brooms landed on the market square in the village. Four magical people and two magical cats got off them.

"So, where do we begin?" Baba Yaga asked. She looked around. The square was remarkably empty. "Not here," Babs replied to herself. "Nothing to do."

William asked Esmee to take them to the tavern, where they would start their spread of rumours and also enjoy a cup of tea.

"The tea there is awful," Esmee whispered to the wizard.

"And we have magic to improve it," the wizard whispered back, "so let's go."

Once away from the market square, they encountered more people again, but none of them seemed very happy to see them. Hilda wondered why that might be. It should be clear that they were here to catch the strange cat-woman, and yet the people looked at them as if they were responsible for the cat-woman to be there in the first place.

Esmee ushered the others into the tavern. Several tables were occupied. As soon as the four magical ones entered, all talks died away as heads turned.

"As usual, your ravishing beauty renders them speechless," William said. He did not go into specifics whose beauty he was referring to, but Babs snorted. "Inn-keeper, we need a table. With four chairs and four tea, and the table should be in a place where we can't be overheard."

Hilda looked at her wizard and wondered if he had gone stark raving mad. The inn-keeper however came galloping along from behind the counter and guided the honourable group to a table close to that very counter. "Not many ears around here, honourable wizard," the man said as he bowed a few times. "Four cups of the best tea for the honourable company, certainly sir-... wizard-... sir wizard."

The four sat down. "Are you sure what you're doing, William?" asked Baba Yaga. "This is not exactly a place to unfold a plan of action, if you ask me."

William grinned. "But that is exactly the beauty of the whole thing, dear Babs. I'm not asking you."

Baba Yaga spread her hands out on the table and looked at the grinning man. "How long did you plan to stay alive?" she asked.

"I will let that remain in the hands of my witch," said William.

Babs pulled her hands back. "You just gave the only acceptable answer, Willy."

The inn-keeper came back with their tea. It looked like ordinary ordinaries' tea. After the inn-keeper had removed himself, Esmee sniffed her cup. "This needs improvement, William..." The wizard winked, wanded and things were well.

"So, where were we," he then said. Two out of three witches stared at him.

Hilda had spent enough time with William to play the game along quickly. "We almost have that cat cornered and caged," she said, "the cage is waiting." At least the last part was true. "And as far as the people who are behind all this..." Hilda looked at Esmee who picked up the cue.

"Yes, we have some of the traces from the woods," the former flower witch said, "and they are all leading to the same place, so it should be clear that is where we have to look." It was not much, but she did what she could, William was satisfied about the attempt.

"I'm just waiting until we can sock 'm," Baba Yaga said. Then she sat back, her cup in hand, indicating that her part in the play was over.

"Someone's going to pay for all this," William said. He magicked up a large sheet of paper which was full of marks, crosses, lines and arrows. The only places that everyone could determine were the village, the forest and the castle. The rest was total nonsense, but as many lines and marks moved over the map by themselves, it took a magical person to understand that.

Several people who had been at the tables suddenly had the need to come to the counter and talk to the inn-keeper or one of the waitresses, whilst also casting hidden glances at the paper that the witches and the wizard were looking at and whispering over all of a sudden.

After a while, William and Hilda had run out quasi-plotting talk, so the group paid for the tea and left the tavern. They went to several shops that Esmee liked to frequent, and dropped some words there about how their net was closing around the people who were responsible for the cat-attacks.

-=-=-

"Lindolf! Lindolf!" The man puffed out the name, as he had been running to get to Lindolf.

"What do you want?" the businessman muttered.

"This is urgent," the man explained.

"It'd better be. Talk."

The man, who had come running from the tavern, told Lindolf that the witches had been talking about closing in on the people who were responsible for the cat.

Lindolf stared at the man. "And why are you coming to me about that? Do you think I have something to do with it?"

"No, of course not. But the animal damaged one of your carts, and killed your chickens. I thought you would like to know about it. I already told the butcher and some farmers."

"Idi- I mean, thank you. I very much appreciate your effort to come to me about this." Lindolf patted the man on the shoulder. "But perhaps you should be careful with that news. People might think the wild beast is almost caught, and if it isn't and something happens, they might turn on the witches or so, you know." An evil plan was already in the scaffolding inside Lindolf's head.

25. Prince Jordan

"Be brave, dear Jordan," said Snow White, the next morning. As a surprise she had shared his bed again for the night, as this day would become interesting.

"I'll be brave, Snowy. Anything for you." Jordan said the words, but his confidence had flown out the window, even though the window was closed. He dreaded getting up, because that meant he would have to face the world in general and a specific part of that in the form of something that the strange wizard was going to do to his privates.

Snow White hugged her husband over her bulging belly. "I know you will be, Jordan. I am so proud of you. Maybe you should get up now. It does not look good if you keep the wizard waiting."

"Uhhuh," was the response of the brave prince. He arranged for another hug (which ended far too quickly) and then squirmed himself to the edge of the bed. How on earth, he wondered, had he let himself be talked into this?

The prince tended to himself and had a personal servant dress him to perfection. If this was going to happen, he'd be looking his best. He couldn't do more anyway.

As he left his room, he heard Snow White say that she'd join them for breakfast soon. Jordan walked down, and suddenly wondered if he was allowed to have breakfast. So often when the royal physician had to perform some surgical thing, Jordan was not allowed to eat all day,

"Good morning, honourable magicals," the prince said as he entered the breakfast room. He actually managed to put some not-felt cheer in his voice. The witches and wizard were already present, as usual. He'd love to know if people like that needed less sleep than normal people.

"Hey Jordan, why don't you come sit here?" Hilda cheered as she made a chair move to their table from somewhere else. The invitee stared at the moving chair for a moment, Esmee never did things like that.

Jordan then said that he would rather have the large table, where all his family could sit. That of course was no problem, so soon Jordan sat at the large table with the witches and the wizard. He was relieved that he was allowed to eat. He had always felt that the royal physician had no reason other than to pester him with the not eating thing.

Snow White joined the group, together with a gaggle of children. Their appearance was the signal for the magical surgeons to retreat to the operating theatre, which usually was a salon.

They took Prince Jordan with them, despite his claim that he had not had eaten properly. Perhaps, the prince thought, they'd been talking to the physician already.

"So how do you think you will go about with this?" Hilda's question did not give Prince Jordan an overwhelming feeling of confidence, but his coughing and waving a hand for attention gave him no attention from the three.

William popped up his wand. "Let's first sedate our patient," he said.

"Do we have to?" Jordan asked.

William pointed that wand at the spot that would be affected. "If you feel up to it, I can do this with you temporarily awake," the wizard commented, "but I am sure you will pass out by yourself. Trust me, my way is far less painful."

"Is it that bad?" Prince Jordan asked.

"Worse," Baba Yaga informed him, even though she did not have a clue what actually was going to happen.

"Oh." The prince grew pale. "In that case..." He lay down on the table that William had made him sit on. Then a thought hit him and he sat up again. "How long will this take?" he wondered.

"Not too long, but you'll be unconscious anyway, so what would it matter?" William said.

"Oh, uhm, I was just curious," Jordan told the wizard.

"Don't be. Curiosity kills cats, except the big ones. And ours. And now..." William said and waved his wand. It was the last word Jordan would hear for a while. Then William did some magic on the prince's testicles and said: "That was that. Tea anyone? Or coffee?"

The three witches stared at him. "What was that? What did you do?"

William explained that he had simply done what he had read in a medical book someday, in his old life. "And that is all there is to it."

Esmee frowned. "And you had to make him sleep for just that?"

Hilda laughed and told her that things could not always be how they really were. "The best magic happens between people's ears, Esmee."

"Exactly," William said, "and while we have something to drink, we can decide on the amount of pain we should inflict on the prince, so he will remember what we did to his ballgame."

"But," Esmee wondered, "wouldn't it be good to make some show of it for the people outside the salon?"

"What people?" Hilda and William asked at the same time.

"This is a castle," Esmee pointed out how well versed she was in castle etiquette. "It something happens here, plenty of people will know about it and there will suddenly be a lot of them who suddenly have business outside the room where the show happens."

"Might as well give them something then," Hilda said as she popped up her wand. The witch looked at the door as a grin spread around her lips. It was a grin William knew all too well, and even Baba Yaga said: "Oh-oh."

First the door started pulsating in blue. She only let that go on for a short while before returning the door to its normal dark brown oak colour. Then she made it go white and icy cold for a while.

Esmee and Baba Yaga arranged the tea, and the four had a very nice time discussing all kinds of ailments to inflict on the prince that was still out, until the topic started to get out of control.

"Okay, okay," said William, "I'll make him hurt for four days. That is a nice amount of time, something not overdone."

"Very good. But first let me," Hilda grinned as she pointed at the door again. Suddenly flames burst out from nowhere, enveloping the door with their fiery tongues. All the ice that had formed on the door did not even have a chance to form drops and fall down: in a hissing steam they evaporated.

With his teacup in hand, William waved his wand and when the magic took hold in the dormant prince, the patient groaned. "Wow, talk about instant success."

Esmee had a certain look on her face, so William asked what she was thinking about. Esmee confessed that she was very curious about the royal 'equipment'. After all, she remarked, he had been able to produce quite a lot of offspring with it.

"Oh. Is that all?" William mumbled a small spell and Jordan's pants moved three feet to the left. "Go feast your eyes, Esmee."

Hilda raised an eyebrow as Esmee got up. "William, something like that is not done, you know."

"And wasn't it you who told me that wizards as a rule don't care about rules? Well, here is your proof. Again." He grinned and toasted her with his teacup.

"Hmmm, that's not much," Esmee commented from her position next to the table. Even though it was not done, Hilda and Baba Yaga got up to check on Esmee's power of judgment.

"Suck an elf," Hilda commented, "that's really pathetic."

-=-=-

While William was playing doctor, in the village a woman was talking in the tavern. The woman was Santera. She was under the spell of Magda, who directed her to talk about cat women and the seeming coincidence that the attacks had become worse once the three unknown magical people had come to the castle.

In an attic, Lindolf was on a small seat next to Magda, whispering in her ear what Santera was going to say. Magda looked awful, as he had pushed her magical abilities to the maximum. Simi, the woman who supplied the energy for Magda to perform her magic, was trembling.

"You know," Santera whispered as she rolled up her sleeves, "I think that the witches are here to take over power of the kingdom. They put the cat people up to all this, and they just have not managed to kill the king yet. They will try again, I am certain of that. And I know there are more people who think like that."

"But why would someone want to kill our king?" a farmer asked. He had always liked the king.

"There are always bad magical people," Santera whispered. "Remember that sorcerer Lamador? The one that put a hold on King Herald?"

Heads bobbed, the tale had run through all the kingdoms.

"And see here, what happened to me as there was the fight with the cat woman," Santera said as she showed the scratches on her arms, the marks that she had gotten from Obsidian Shadow and Onyx Grimalkin.

The marks, still very clear and raw, made the listeners gasp for air.

"There are also marks on my back," Santera informed them, "so you see how dangerous these creatures are."

One of the people around her had also been present at the talk that Oscar's wife had given, about not trusting the king. "So we have a king that is not doing the best for the people and a bunch of witches and the likes that want to get rid of him to take over?"

Santera nodded. "Yes, that sounds about right," she said after a few moments. "And they will probably make things worse for us..."

-=-=-

"Enough show?" Hilda asked Esmee as she had the door blink with false diamonds.

According to the castle witch, this would do.

Hilda returned the door to its normal state as William woke up the prince.

Jordan stared at the absence of pants, with unpleasantness already on his features.

"So, prince, how do you feel?" William asked.

"Painful," the man on the table admitted, his eyes still on his manhood. "Is it me," he then asked, "or is it really... bigger?"

"It may look somewhat bigger," William said, doing his best to keep a straight face. "Sometimes that is a result of the procedure. But it won't give you a problem, I can assure you that."

"Oh. Good." Prince Jordan eyed the ones present. "Was it necessary for everyone to be here?" he then asked. It was especially unnerving to him that Esmee the castle witch had witnessed all his somewhat undersized glory, although now it definitely looked more prominent.

"Yes, it was," William assured the prince, "but don't worry, no one will say a word about the proceedings. That is our code of honour."

"Ah, that's good-OOOWWWW!" Jordan had attempted to hop from the table and the magic for the pain had responded to that. He stood bent over for a while, sweat on his brow.

"Careful, prince," William cautioned the royal man a bit too late. "Here, go slow while you put this on." Baba Yaga had altered the royal pants to something much wider. "This will make sure you won't feel too much pain."

Grateful, Prince Jordan put on the garment. It almost felt to him as if the pain subsided a bit as he pulled the pants up. He'd look ridiculous in this tent, but rather that than the pain.

"So remember, no playing with it," said William.

"I know," Prince Jordan nodded, "I'll go blind then."

"No, it just will hurt insanely," William grinned.

"Are you sure?" Jordan's face showed genuine disbelief.

"Hmm, maybe it is just like that for magical people, so don't take chances."

Hilda muffled away a snort into her teacup. She could not help that some drops of it landed on her face.

26. The four

"Bring her back," Lindolf told Magda. "She is talking too much."

Magda looked in pain now, and Simi was not looking her best either. Their almost constant work to keep Santera under the spell was taking its toll.

When Santera finally returned, Lindolf sedated the young woman with a potion he had once gotten from a peddler from a faraway land. It knocked Santera out immediately, and he carried her to the bed, where he tied her to the chain that was bolted to the wall.

As soon as Santera had passed out, Magda slumped back into the chair and Simi fell over, almost exhausted.

"Now, this evening," Lindolf started, when Magda turned her head towards him. Her gaze told him enough. Nothing would happen that evening.

Without moving, Magda said: "I sometimes wonder why we are doing this for you, Lindolf. The three of us are more and more wasted after each trip we have Santera make, and you are not suffering from anything except more dreams of greatness. Do you understand how much you need us?"

Lindolf sat down and watched the exhausted witch breathe. It was true what she said. He needed these three women. Without them he was nothing but a normal merchant, be it one with a good business going at the moment.

It had all started many months ago, when he had accepted an old book as payment from someone who was severely in Lindolf's debt for simply not being able to pay his bills. The book look old and had a lot of gold print on it. The language in it was impossible to decipher for the merchant, so he had put it up for sale for the highest bidder.

Magda, who occasionally came to clean Lindolf's house, had seen the book and was immediately attracted to it. As she had touched it, it had called out to her. At least that was the way she had explained its effect on her. It seemed to scream at her.

Magda was a half-witch. Her mother had been a true witch, and her father was an ordinary who, after a few months of intense pleasure, had run off with another woman. Magda's mother had born the fruits of that short encounter several moons later, when Magda popped out. Her talents had never really developed; a result of the mixed genes from her parents. The book however had changed everything. Magda had sensed its magic. It was a strange, wild and unruly magic, but it boosted her abilities and she suddenly was able to do amazing things.

At first she had not told Lindolf about it, but when he found out when he had a serious buyer for the book. Luckily, or perhaps it was a wicked twist of fate, Magda had been in the house and had screamed "No!" when Lindolf wanted to close the sale. She had told him about the book after throwing a hysterical fit that drove the buyer away. She also told him that she did not have the energy to sustain the magic, but the book had told her that an adequately strong other person would be good, if this person gave his or her energy willingly.

Lindolf was very interested and had asked Simi, a woman he knew, to help in an experiment with Magda. Simi had been intrigued by the possibilities, and told Lindolf that she was feeling amazingly good after a session with Magda. This amazing new source of power had triggered him to try a few simple things, like putting a few competitors out of business, getting a few others killed and more kid stuff like that. As this had not proved to be a problem, he had conceived his devious plan to remove the king from his position and make the kingdom his own.

That was when Santera had come into the picture. Magda had learnt from the magical book that she could invoke a shapeshifting into someone who was willing to let that happen. Santera had been influenced by Lindolf to participate in the magical play and the cat woman had been born. It all had looked amazingly simple. Santera had gone through the forests catching rabbits and squirrels, and then Lindolf had become bolder and sent her onto the castle grounds to kill chickens and rabbits there.

And then these three other magical people had shown up, crossing his plans with so much vigour that he had started to hate them terribly.

"When can we do some more?" Lindolf wanted to know.

"Not today," Magda said.

"And not tomorrow," Simi added. "You people are killing me. I plan on not helping anymore if you keep this up, Lindolf. I am already a wreck every time I go home, I can't even do my daily chores anymore after something like this."

"But think of the riches we'll have once our plan has succeeded!" Lindolf tried to make the two women enthusiastic again. "The gold and silver and the gems."

"Good luck having fun with those when we're all dead," Magda groaned as she hoisted herself from the chair. She took the book and held it to her chest, as if she was trying to make it a part of herself.

Lindolf did not like that idea. At least not knowing that this happened before his plan was completed. "Okay, I agree, we've been doing a lot lately. We'll give it a while before we send Santera out again. I understand the problems."

"About time," Magda said. She was swaying on her feet a bit and in need of sleep and food, and not particularly in that order. "We need something to eat, Lindolf. Get us something."

The man was not used to be ordered around like that, but for now he had to accept it. He knew that anything stupid would make his plan collapse, so he went down to the kitchen to find the women something to eat and drink.

When he returned, Simi scolded him for putting Santera to sleep. "She needs to eat too, you know."

Lindolf grumbled something, took a small bottle and put a drop of its contents on Santera's upper lip. A few moments later, the young woman's eyes fluttered open. The first thing she noticed was the chain on her wrist.

Santera made a grab for Lindolf's face, hoping to take out an eye or so, but she was too tired and he was too quick. She resorted to cursing him down to the deepest and most painful pit, preferably before he died.

"Calm down," he said, "I woke you up so you can eat something. Promise you won't try to kill me when I bring you something?"

Magda told Santera to accept the food, as she needed it at least as badly as she and Simi did. Santera grudgingly said Lindolf would be safe. Somehow, even while she was chained to the wall, it gave her a feeling of power over this man and his plans.

Lindolf left the three women alone, assuring them that he would come back soon. As soon as he was left, Santera demanded that Simi would take the chain off her. "He treats me like a wild animal," Santera complained, rattling the iron.

"Well, the way you assaulted him, you have given him reason for that," Magda said. "But yes, Simi, you can free Santera."

Soon the three sat eating, Santera on the floor as far from the bed with the chain as she could be. "How long do you think we have to keep doing this?" the young woman asked. "I want out of this. I want my life back, and not spend every night prowling the village as a big cat. It's scary."

"Why is it scary?" Simi asked.

Santera explained that it was becoming harder for her to distinguish what part of her was human and what part was the cat woman "I want to be all human again," she said as she licked her fingers, "and have a husband and children and a normal life."

"Not sure if any of us will be able to have a normal life after this," Magda thought out loud. "Not as long as Lindolf keeps going on with his plan."

"But when we walk out on him, he can do nothing!"

"Wrong. He knows too much about us," said Simi, "and if we walk away, he will have enough ways to make us solely responsible for all that happened. Would you like to be accused of attempting to kill the king?"

Santera's face grew dark. "Then we'll kill Lindolf."

27. Cat woman

The assembled magicals strolled through the castle gardens, trying to come up with a new plan. "I doubt that creature will show here again soon," said Baba Yaga, "it knows it's being hunted now. I suggest we take the cage apart again. It's really an ugly thing."

William did not grin, but to hear Baba Yaga talk about ugly always was a wonderous thing. He did agree, the cage was of no use anymore, so they walked over to it and disassembled it, at first much to the delight and then to the shock of the gardeners. The cage had damaged the lawn considerably.

One of the green-fingered men dared ask if the witches could please repair that damage. Hilda frowned. "Nature will do that, and you can pitch in. Take pride in your craft, man, we have better things to do."

Esmee chuckled at the face of the gardener. "And while you're at it, do remove all those iron bars. They are an eye-sore," she added to Hilda's words.

The four walked on, still unsure of what their next step would be to find that cat woman "It is remarkable that nobody saw her lately. Do you think she is hiding somewhere?" William wondered.

"Maybe," said Hilda, "but I get the feeling that this is not just a cat woman doing things on her own. That shed, burnt down and all, with the strange magic, that is tied into all this. Has to be."

"Do you have evidence?" William wondered.

"No. It's because I say so," Hilda explained. "Cat women don't just appear from out of nowhere."

"Except in Catzachstan," Baba Yaga reminded the wicked witch.

"Yes, true, but that's far away from here, and these women hardly ever leave their country. It's safer for them that way."

William and Esmee exchanged glances, they both had never heard of Catzachstan but it sounded an interesting place. "So if this cat woman is sent by someone, it is obvious that this someone has a plan. What else would be the reason?"

"See, that's why I keep him around," Hilda told Babs. "He thinks at times. Yes. There has to be a plan. And I think I know how to provoke a reaction from the controlling person..."

"Really?"

"Really. And you three are going to help with my little plan."

-=-=-

"That looks amazing, Hilda." William's respect for his little witch grew some more again.

"It's a nice job," Baba Yaga agreed, pleased with what Hilda and she had wrought.

"I'm quite satisfied too," Hilda nodded.

Obsi and Grim lay on the bed, staring at the cat woman that stood in the room. "Mrrowww," said Esmee. It was obvious that she was not so impressed, the more there she had not had any say in deciding who was going to be turned into a cat woman

"Don't try to speak, Esmee," said Hilda, "you can never be sure what you're saying, and it is dangerous to anger other cats." She turned to the two cats. "So what do you think? Will she do?"

Esmee was eyeing herself in the mirror and was impressed as well as abhorred with what she saw. The two witches had turned her into a red haired cat woman, complete with fluffy tail. And the tail responded to what she wanted it to do. Her hands had changed to paws, as had her feet. She could easily stand on her hind legs, but walking gave her some balancing issues. On all fours there was no problem, but from that position the world looked all wrong.

"Right then," Babs said as Grimalkin walked around Esmee and rubbed her head against Esmee's legs, "looks like we did a decent job. Let's turn this cat back into a witch. We'll be able to switch her into cat again this evening, for when she's going out."

Hilda and Baba Yaga did their magic thing, while William held up Esmee's dress, ready to magick it around her as soon as the cat-disguise had gone. It worked quite well.

-=-=-

Esmee felt miserable as she was going through the forest. No pleading had helped her: she was going to walk to the village. As a big cat, not on a broom. And it was raining. The flower witch had never been a big fan of rain, but her catlike appearance brought out the dislike larger than life. She went through the undergrowth for a while, hoping that the rain would not reach her there, but that proved to be a bad idea: she got caught in the dense plant life and had to fight herself free a few times.

Hilda, William and Babs followed Esmee's progress through the revived crystal ball of the flower witch. "She's not doing a really good job, is she?" Babs commented.

"How often have you been a cat to do that?" William asked her, which earnt him a very disapproving look. And coming from Baba Yaga, that made him instantly forget any other smart remark he had up his wizardly sleeve.

Esmee in that time had discovered how to run on all fours. It was a very strange experience: the world was much higher now, as she was not used to it, her head bobbed and made what she saw quite dizzying, but she was going faster than she had ever run before. Also she picked up so many other things; smells, sounds and vibrations she'd never sensed. And rainwater. Soon she reached the village.

Hilda and the others watched how Esmee kept to the dark parts of the streets as she went through the village. It was what they had agreed on, Best for her to get used to being there in her current form for a while.

"What's that shaking she does?" Hilda wondered. William laughed and explained a bit or two about cats and getting wet. "Oh. I see. She will hate us for that, right?" William nodded. "Good."

As soon as Esmee felt more safe, and she had found streets that were deserted (which was easy as it still rained), she got up on her hind legs and walked along the street. Esmee worried as she started her stroll; she felt naked as she was only 'dressed' in cat hair. Also the long tail was giving her fits at times as it got caught between her legs. She had not much experience in twitching it, or keeping it in the air like the two cats of Hilda and William. And holding her tail was no option as she had not hands.

All these things made for slow progress at first, but Esmee managed to keep her thoughts on what they had planned. She walked along the main street of the village, turned left and right to other streets.

Hilda watched Esmee go along as William popped out of the room to find some things to snack on. Baba Yaga, in all her wisdom, had located a vacant chair and had un-vacated that. She sat in it and snored.

"Good going, girl," the wicked witch commented as she watched Esmee go. "Keep heading towards the centre of the village, where most of the houses are. The person who is responsible for that cat woman is most likely to live there."

Santera looked up and growled. Magda and Simi, who were with her, quickly glanced at each other. "Santera, what's wrong?"

The original cat woman jumped up and walked to the window. She could not see anything outside in the darkness but she was restless suddenly. "Someone like me is out there," she commented, "you have to change me and get me outside."

"Someone like you? What do you mean?"

"A cat. A big cat. Like me. I feel her. Change me, Magda, I have to see her!" Santera looked at Magda in a pleading way. "Please? Not for long, just... I have to."

Magda worried as she heard Santera speak. Too much changing had happened, and Santera seemed to be losing grip on who she really was.

Santera slowly walked up to the half-witch, sparks in her eyes. "You will change me... now..."

Esmee reached the market square. The rain had stopped falling. In fascination she looked over the area, the lights and sounds and smells all so clear and different and abundant compared to usual. Tomorrow there would be open market, everywhere stalls had been halfway erected already, carts with goods stood to one side of the square. The cat woman boldly crossed the open space, waving her way along the stalls and she looked over the carts.

"What are you going to do, kiddo?" Hilda wondered as she munched away a chocolate cookie that William had offered her. There was a tray of them in front of her.

The wizard sat next to Hilda, his fingers dark brown from molten chocolate, as he watched Esmee in the small crystal ball. "She is not going to plunder one of these carts, is she?" he hoped out loud.

Esmee smelled the dried fish that was in a crate. She dropped to all fours, ran, leapt, and was on the wagon. The smell was even stronger there and she could already taste the fish.

Then a rock clattered against the side of the cart and a scream startled the former flower witch. She lowered herself, growled and looked over the side, seeing a group of five people with torches and weaponry like pitchforks approaching her. Esmee turned and jumped off the other side of the wagon, but on that side a few doors opened and villagers appeared carrying candles and nightgowns.

"Crappedy crap, William, I think we overshot our goal," Hilda said as she stared at the wizard. "We have to get her out of there before she panicks or gets hurt."

"On it," William said. He dropped his cookie, grabbed the broom that was next to him and was out of the window mere seconds later. Hilda turned back to the crystal ball.

Esmee growled and hissed as one of the villagers threw a stick at her. It was easy enough to evade, but the thought that these nice people would throw something at her was not understandable. She wanted to escape as quickly as possible, but a quick dash around the wagon taught her that the group of five had grown to over a dozen already, and that number was growing. And they were out to get her.

One man, a large broad shouldered one carrying a torch and an old sword, screamed something inunderstandable and ran forward, aiming to stab Esmee with the sword. As he was almost upon her, she jumped up, vaulted over him and ran off, but the villagers had closed their ranks and made her stop. She could not jump again, as her landing had not been a good one. An ankle and a wrist hurt.

Simi looked at Magda's face. The half-witch looked in pain, sweat suddenly pouring from her forehead. Simi closed her eyes and prepared for the pain that would come from giving away her energy.

William on his broom raced over the forest as fast as he could. It would not take him very long to reach the market square, he knew, but every extra minute he needed would put Esmee in more danger.

28. A close call

Esmee meowed loudly, trying to tell the people that she was a good person, not someone to be butchered with pitchforks and spades, but the villagers did not take that sound the way she meant it. A handful of them charged towards her, making her run on her sore ankle, hide under a cart and even forced her to defend herself by lashing out with her claws. She had already gotten one man on a leg; he had hobbled off, cursing loudly.

Several dozen were out in the market square now. It was Esmee's luck that they were not trained fighters; they were more hindering each other than supporting. Then there was movement in the back of the group of people. People were thrown left and right, growling and hissing accompanying their tumbling. Esmee heard what happened and her heart started pounding. Then her very sensitive nose caught a scent and she knew.

Santera had run from Lindolf's house, as fast as she could. She could smell where her strange kin had walked, the scent was strong and easy to follow. As she reached the market square, she quickly understood what was happening.

As the group of people was crowding around the stalls and carriages, Santera had jumped on a stall, then leapt from one to the other. She knew her sister was in serious danger, so Santera threw all caution in the wind and crashed her agile strong cat-body into the crowd. She fought like a mad cat, clawing her way through the crowd, making people fall over as she went.

"William is already on the way, Babs," said Hilda after she'd explained the goings on to her bestest girlfriend.

"No matter what, I am going after him and help," said the old witch as she made her broom jump to the window. "We all are in this, I have to go help my protegé." And then she was out the window, picking up speed as she went in pursuit of the wizard.

Esmee found courage from somewhere. If the other cat woman was able to fight her way to Esmee, Esmee should be able to fight her way out of there as well. Using all four limbs she fought, clawed an scratched at anything that was in her way. Her sudden ferocity surprised many a villager and in the wink of an eye there was some space around the cart she was under. Esmee crawled away from it and with a strong jump she was on it again. She let out a terrifying sound. She managed that with ease, as she was terrified.

Santera was still making her way through the crowd. To her surprise there was a sudden movement away from her, as the people seemed to step aside to let her through. On all fours, her tail lashing, she shot forward. She saw the other cat woman on the cart.

Esmee felt a sharp pain in her side. Someone had crawled up to the cart and now was standing, poking her with a sharp stick. She slapped at the wood, yanking it from the man's hand. Before she could attack him, he had run off already. Then she clearly heard someone shout "Down! Down! From cart!" There was an urgency in the sound that made her react promptly.

Simi felt faint. The amount of energy that Magda drew from her was beyond belief, Simi could not understand that either of them were still conscious. Whatever was going on around Santera, it had to stop soon, or they'd both collapse.

"Come on, flyboy, faster," Baba Yaga yelled at William as she caught up with him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" William yelled back, "weren't you sleeping?"

"I was. Now I'm here to help so shut up and fly!"

Santera saw Esmee part jump, part fall from the cart. Esmee landed her her feet and looked at Santera. A jolt of amazement and also of awe flowed through the young witch.

"Suck an elf," Hilda said, "two of them. That's awesome."

"With me!" Santera meowed. She did not wait to see if Esmee had understood. Quickly she dove under the cart, to reappear on the other side. She had noticed that there were fewer people there, and that group also was less courageous and bloodthirsty.

Esmee appeared next to her 'sister' and noticed the least defended part of the square. "There," she growled, dropped on all fours and started running, Santera almost literally on her tail.

"Dammit," William cursed as he and Babs reached the village. They could see the amount of people that was in the market square from the number of lights.

Hilda almost bit her finger as she had another chocolate cookie. She considered going out to the village also.

Two large wild cats leapt towards the people. That was a sight fearsome enough for most to stand aside. That created a passage wide enough for Esmee and Santera to go through and leave the market square, but the people on the other side of the cart now streamed past it and started the hunt.

Esmee winced almost every time she landed on her painful wrist or ankle. This race should not take much longer, or she'd have to give up and be caught by the villagers.

"Esmee!" a familiar voice screamed. It was Baba Yaga.

"Wait!" Esmee called out to her cat sister.

"No!" was the reply, but still Santera turned into a dark alley. There the two cat women hid in the shadows. The mob had not seen them jump away; the angry people ran past the alley.

Esmee watched the cat woman next to her, and saw how she was looked over also. "Who are you?" Esmee asked, "and why are you scaring people?"

Before Santera could reply, two dark shapes on brooms plunged down. There was light coming from sticks they held. One of the two, Santera understood that they had to be real witches, grabbed the other cat woman The other person, the strong arm told Santera that it had to be a man, grabbed her round the waist and then the two lifted off, upwards.

Santera did not want to be taken away like that. Scared she lashed out to the arm that held her. A surprised cry escaped from the man's lips as he let her slip. She landed on her four paws, on top of a roof. Santera knew where she was and quickly disappeared in the darkness.

"Did you see that?" William asked Baba Yaga as he healed the deep cuts that the cat woman had left in his arm, "she scratched me to escape!"

"It's dark, wizard, and I am carrying a cat woman myself. Sorry that I did not take some time to watch you. Better luck next time."

-=-=-

Back in the castle, Hilda and Babs undid the cat-spell on Esmee and fixed the hurting wrist and ankle. They felt bad that things had gone so pear-shaped, even when Esmee had told them that it was all fine.

"We were so good together," the young witch beamed, "jumping and running and clawing and growling! It was amazing to see her."

The others agreed. Even Hilda, who had only seen the other cat woman in the crystal ball, had been impressed by the creature.

"She spoke to me, too," Esmee continued, "after she saved me and got us out of that. Only a few words, but she talked."

"No name, I suppose," said Baba Yaga, something that Esmee confirmed.

"I had just asked her who she was and why she was doing that when you two came," she said.

"That was you?" William asked surprised. "I only heard some muffled meows."

"Whatever," Esmee said as she flexed her fingers to test the healed wrist. "I know she understood me."

-=-=-

Santera came into the room where Magda and Simi were. As soon as she entered, her catlike appearance fell away from her, leaving her naked. She was still panting from the fight and the run. Slowly she walked to the bed and lay down, pulling the covers over her.

Simi let go of Magda's hands and tumbled to the ground. "You safe?" she managed to ask. It was a relief to hear Santera confirm that. "You almost killed us," Simi said, not expecting an answer.

"We're going to be hurting tomorrow," Magda moaned, shivering as the magic dissolved around her.

"Tomorrow? Already there," Simi whispered just before she passed out.

Magda looked at Santera. The young woman was bleeding from several cuts. The half-witch hoisted herself to her feet and tended to the wounds as well as she could. "Please, never do that again," she muttered to the sleeping woman in the bed. Magda decided that they would not tell Lindolf about this, unless he noticed the wounds on Santera and started asking questions about them.

29. Is that Esmee?

The rain had started falling again when William and Hilda retreated to their bedroom. Babs had sent them off; she would sit with Esmee through the night to make sure the young witch was unaffected by the long time of being a cat woman Hilda had tried to take Obsi and Grim with them, but the two cats did not want to leave Esmee's room.

"Do you think Esmee will be fine?" William asked his witch as she lay down on top of him.

"I can't think that. I can just hope that, William," she said as he wrapped his arms around her. "I am sure she's been shaken up by all of this. I know I would be." She gasped as his hands slid over her bottom. "You always seem to know where your hands should be, wizard."

Thunder rumbled, and the department of lightning started to throw bolts around while the magical couple advanced in their lovemaking. No matter who was on top, the lightning and thunder always were able to top that, but the climax came when a large lightning bolt hit the castle, making everything in it shake for a few intense seconds.

"Crappers, Hilda," William said, as they lay in each other's arms, "that was the best bang ever."

Hilda nodded, her hair a tangled mess around both of them. "No matter how much lightning rocks the castle, William, you rock me the best."

Baba Yaga stood in front of the window as the lightning struck. She was blown through Esmee's room and landed on the ground, after a cunning detour against the wall. "Suck an elf," the ugly witch muttered as she somehow managed to stand up again.

The lightning had bounced off the window sill. It had jumped onto the metal stand that had held a few large sunflowers, in the days that Esmee still was a genuine flower witch. After examining the stand, the lightning had decided that the large copper bed with the witch was its final destination, so it had leapt over to that, shocking the bed and its sleeping occupant.

Grimalkin and Obsidian had already located safer quarters as the lightning hit. They were on top of some bookshelves and saw how Esmee was picked up and thrown down on her bed again.

Baba Yaga was on her feet again, but she had not seen how Esmee's body had bolted upwards as the high-powered flash had slammed through the bed. "Suck the proverbial elf," she mumbled as she saw the mess that Esmee's blankets had ended up in. With some magic Babs corrected that. Then she settled into the comfortable chair again to continue her wake. A few minutes later both witches were asleep. The two cats curled up where they were and called it a day also.

-=-=-

The next morning came with a lack of rain. Thunder and lightning had left also, in search of places where their work was more appreciated.

A knock on a door woke a few people inside the room that the door was in.

"What!" Baba Yaga was not on her best this morning.

Carefully the door was opened and a servant peeked around it. "I'm sorry," he started.

"Not nearly as much as when I'm done with you," Babs informed him. "What do you want?"

"Princess Snow White," the man said, "wonders if the witch Esmee is able to come and help with the children."

Baba Yaga pointed to the bed. "Ask her yourself."

The servant cast a glance at the bed and noticed a lack of liveliness from the figure in it. Without a word he closed the door, successfully escaping Baba Yaga's wrath.

"Come to think of it," the ugly witch muttered, "she's very silent." Babs rose from the chair and shuffled over to the bed. "Hey, wake up you." She prodded Esmee for a while, until life seemed to be restored inside the young witch.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch," Esmee groaned. "What happened? Is this a normal feeling after being a cat?"

"I don't know, but you seem to be alive. That's good." Babs brushed the little hair she had to the side. "Maybe an idea to get up and find something to eat. And collect the horny couple. They've shaken up the castle with their humping. A miracle they're still accepted here."

Esmee, feeling as if a train had hit her (had trains existed in her world), crawled from the bed and put on some clothes. Everything about her hurt. "Yes. I can do with some breakfast..." She walked to the door, that swung open, and she went into the corridor.

Baba Yaga frowned as she watched the open door. "Stylish," she mumbled. "A new trick for that kid, but I like it." She headed out after the kid.

William and Hilda were surprised by a knock on the door also.

"If you've had enough of each other, care to join us for breakfast?" a voice rang through the door.

Hilda stared at William. "That sounded like Baba Yaga. And as Esmee."

William nodded. "Maybe it's time to call off Babs's education idea. This is getting scary."

Hilda agreed. They got out of bed and joined the other two in the dining room not much later. Snow White, Jordan and the children were already there, as were King Louie and his wife, Queen Daphne. The magical couple was just in time to catch Esmee saying: "I am the witch, not the nanny, so please let me eat something and take care of the witching around here. I don't do children anymore if that's all the same to you."

-=-=-

"What happened here?" Lindolf felt he was entitled to an answer as he saw the bloody rags and the bandages on Santera's arms.

"Nothing special," Magda said. Simi had left, hoping to get some of her regular work done today. "She went wild and we tried to restrain her."

"Looks as if she had a run-in with knives of something," Lindolf remarked as he saw a cut on Santera's shoulder.

Magda cursed herself for not dressing the young woman properly. Then Lindolf would not have seen those wounds. "You know how she can become. She got to you too, Lindolf."

The man nodded, remembering the attack. "Maybe we should chain her up again."

"You are terrible. She does the hardest work and as a reward you want to chain her to the wall. Be careful, Lindolf, you're walking a thin line lately." Magda stuffed herself with the food the man had brought. "I am going to wake her up, she has to eat also. You should better leave, unless you want to know how Santera reacts when she sees you. She still has not forgiven you, you know."

Lindolf nodded. "Just make sure she's ready to go out again tonight."

"I don't know if Simi will be here. I need her for that too," Magda said.

"If not, I'll send for Mad Jock," Lindolf said lightly.

"Jock is not the same," Magda pointed out. "He doesn't know how to freely give his power."

"Just see to the girl," Lindolf snapped. "We're going to make the big move soon, so I need her ready." Then he turned on his heel and left the room.

"Prick," Magda grumbled as she went to wake up Santera.

-=-=-

Baba Yaga grinned, proud of her protegé. "That's my girl," she mumbled as Esmee dug into her breakfast.

Snow White and Jordan stared at the witch whose attitude had changed so drastically. "I guess we have enough people here to tend to the kids," Snow White then decided. She turned to William. "Dear wizard, can you tell us when Jordan is free of pain again? I feel so sorry for him..."

William chewed a bit of bread, while looking as in thought. Then he looked at the princess and said: "No. I'm sorry. The procedure went well. He knows there would be some pain involved, but there is not much saying how long that will last. Depends on the character of the man, really."

Snow White looked at her husband. "I understand," she then said. "I hope it will be better soon. He's really in pain sometimes."

Jordan blushed as he said that he did keep to the instructions that William had given him.

"I'm sure it will all be fine and dandy soon," William tried to assure Snow White.

"I do hope so, honourable wizard," said Queen Daphne, "it is not done for a royal descendant to walk around like he's been on a horse for too long."

Baba Yaga grinned openly.

"Have you been able to do something about the cat woman?" King Louie asked. "Making my son walk like a duck is one thing, but that is not what you were asked to come over for."

"We're getting there, your royal kingness," said Hilda. "Last evening we were able to establish a form of contact with the cat woman She was in fact cooperative. And we are quite certain that she is not acting on her own."

"Oh. Good, good," the king said. "I am glad you are making progress. Can't have people go scared over something like that, can we?"

Esmee had remained silent during the talk, devouring food as if she had not eaten for a very long time. William had noticed that awkward behaviour of the young witch. "And Esmee has been very instrumental in making the contact, sire," he said. Somehow he felt the need to make Esmee be seen as more than she had been regarded upto now.

"Good, good," the king said again, "I am pleased to hear that."

The rest of breakfast passed by without more interesting things, but Baba Yaga, William and Hilda kept wondering about the strange behaviour of Esmee.

As the four magicals took over a lounge as their conference room, Babs turned to Hilda and William. "Next time you are doing the beast with two backs, make sure your bed is floating or so. It was really obnoxious to have to listen."

"Goodness, was it that bad?" William asked, but Hilda patted him on the arm. "Let it be, William, she's just jealous."

Baba Yaga made a sound that cannot be described. Hence it will remain undescribed.

30. The tough get going

Lindolf had really tried to be calm and friendly when he had come in to explain his plans. The women had not taken it so well though. Magda had chewed his arse because of what he wanted Santera to do so. Simi was very much opposed to the idea; while assisting with all the cat woman magic she had not been able to do her normal things and she started to feel very bad about that. And the young woman, Santera, had once again tried to attack him. All he had left from that was a nasty scratch on his forehead, but still, it was not the way things were meant to go.

-=-=-

"I have a new idea," said Hilda as she jumped to her feet and startled Grimalkin who dropped to the floor.

"If it is another 'make Esmee a cat' idea, I do not want to hear it," the young witch grumbled. "Make yourself a cat and get beaten up, that way you know how much fun it is. And do wait until it rains." She was still offended by that.

William kept silent, he did not want to get caught in this crossfire. Esmee was different since she'd been a cat and he still wasn't sure how different, and why different.

"No, no, don't worry about it," said Hilda. "I do need a volunteer to accompany me to the forest."

"Are you planning something dangerous?" Hilda's best girlfriend asked.

"No, it is so boring that it is nice to have some company. I want to go that burnt-down shed and see if the lock is still there, the one that kept the door closed."

Three pairs of eyes looked at her questioningly.

"I suddenly thought this: if the lock is still there, there is a good chance that the person who owned the key to it still has the key. And we could hex the lock so it will guide us to the key." Hilda looked at her friends, waiting for their thoughts on her plan.

"Now that's a plan I like," said Baba Yaga. "Why don't you two hump-birds fly along and leave me and my protegé here in peace for a while? No need to hurry, either. And please take your furballs with you when you go."

"Babs, I love your diplomatic way of expressing yourself," William said as he picked Obsi from his knees and stood up. He draped the cat over his shoulder and offered Hilda his arm. "Care for a romantic flight over the forest, sweetwitch?"

"Why certainly, sweet wizard," she said as she settled Grimalkin on her own shoulders. Then, arm in arm, the couple walked out the door.

"Do you think we can make it rain?" Esmee asked Baba Yaga after the door had closed.

-=-=-

Magda went to the kitchen of Lindolf's house. "Lindolf, we need to speak. We all think this is going too far. Your plan started quite innocently, but everything you told us now is just insane. You want us to attack the king again!"

"Yes," Lindolf said, feeling very much at ease. "And this time it can't fail. We only have a small team, but that is our strength."

"You can count me out, Lindolf. And Simi is ready to step away also."

The man nodded as he sat down. "Of course. But then you will face charges of theft. There's a certain old book that's been missing for a while, you know."

Magda stared at him. "You can't. You wouldn't. But Simi-"

"Simi," Lindolf interrupted her, "will be seen as an accomplice to the theft. Nobody has seen her for many days, nor have people seen you outside lately. It will be very easy to get a posse on your tails, Magda, and what do you think will happen to thieves that steal a valuable book?"

The half-witch stared at him in horror. "You would do that." She knew he would.

"Of course," Lindolf said as if he had just told her about the weather. "The book so far has only been valuable with you around, as you can do things with it. If you walk away, I will make sure the valuable book will be tied to you and Simi."

"But then Santera will-"

"-will be easily dealt with, an unfortunate last victim of the ferocious cat woman who then mysteriously disappears." Lindolf smiled at the woman. "So I think there is no problem at all."

"I think you forget something," Magda said. "But I will stay."

"Good witch," Lindolf praised her, "and I forgot nothing."

Magda hoped he was wrong.

-=-=-

Hilda and her wizard landed their brooms as close to the burnt-down shed as they could. The last stretch was an easy walk and they found the place exactly as they had left it the last time. Hilda poked through the ashes and soon the lock and the chain were in her hands.

"There is a good start of things," she said, feeling satisfied. "I do hope that this idea is going to work."

"It is a good idea, Hilda. At least it is something we can do. Sitting around and waiting for the others to make their next move is hardly going to get us somewhere."

The two black cats sauntered around the area as if it belonged to them, but came bouncing back to their magical humans as soon as these seemed ready to leave.

"I never thought I'd have a cat," Hilda confided in William.

"Nor have I," the wizard said. "And I had never guessed I'd have a witch."

Hilda's response was: "You do not have a witch. No one has a witch. The witch chooses, my dear wizard. Remember that." She looked him in the eye. "But I am glad you would like to think of me that way, and proud that you dare do that." She knew he did, she sensed it through the bond they shared, but at times it just was a good thing to say.

William looked at the face of the petite grey-haired woman. He smiled as he wrapped his arms around her and gently pulled her close. "Grimhilda, you witch," he then said, "I love you."

"And you have to wait until we are in a forest with two cats watching before you tell me?"

"Want me to do that in front of Babs and Esmee instead?"

"Don't even think about that," Hilda told him as she leaned into him and basked in the hug.

When finally William let her go, they turned their attention to the lock. Hilda worked a lot of magic on the metal, so it would listen to her. "Telling something stupid like a lock to do what you want is difficult," she explained to William. "It's basically just a lump of metal that does nothing without its key." Suddenly the lock seemed to shake on its own, and from inside it came a sorry sounding rattle. "Ah, got you," Hilda said, satisfied. She picked up the lock, handed the chain to William and suggested they'd get on their brooms and see where the lock would take them.

-=-=-

As the witch and the wizard were on their way, flying over the leaves of the trees, underneath these same leaves a small taskforce of two was making its way to the castle, with Lindolf not far behind them.

Jock laboriously paced through the forest, at times staring at the cat woman who was always close to him. Lindolf had told him what to do and Jock was going to do that. Lindolf had always been good to Jock, and that way the vile merchant could count on the help and support of this strong man without a moment of hesitation.

Santera had reluctantly agreed to be turned into the cat woman again. "This will be the last time," Lindolf had said, "and if you cooperate, both women here will still be able to talk to you when it is all over." The sight of the long sharp dagger he'd held had been very convincing. The young woman was glad that Magda was not pushing her to do things. Lindolf had urged Magda to take over Santera's mind completely, but the half-witch had not done that. Lindolf probably did not know that.

The cat woman did not feel confident with Jock around. Lindolf had talked to the man, and Jock had nodded as if he understood everything, but Santera knew that Jock was hard to fathom. With all the understanding he displayed he could just as well forget everything after a minute. Only the fact that he was going in the right direction even when he walked in front of her gave her some feeling that things might actually go well. Even though Santera did not like Lindolf, she was almost glad that he was not far behind them.

They were not far from the castle now. Jock had better stop making so much noise, Santera thought. If he kept that up, the guards would be alarmed while they were more than a mile away.

-=-=-

"Sit down, Esmee. You're making me nervous." Baba Yaga looked at the young witch who was pacing around the room. "What's wrong with you?"

Esmee did not stop going round as she said: "There is something... I don't know. Something restless inside me, and I don't know where it comes from. Nor what I can do to stop it."

"Then park your butt in a chair, have a glass of wine and stop getting on my case. And if you need some help with that, I'll gladly assist." Babs already had her wand at the ready when Esmee suddenly stood still and stared at the window. "Now what?" Esmee's sudden change worried Baba Yaga more than had she kept pacing.

"She's out there," the flower witch gave a puzzling answer.

31. Charge of the light brigade

Hilda and William reached the village. Hilda had the lock in her hand and felt how it pulled more and more. It was almost childplay to follow where it wanted to go.

In the forest, Santera and Jock had reached the castle. They saw the high thick walls with the openings for the archers, the portcullis that had not been used in ages and the drawbridge that probably never would be hoisted up again for the same reason. Jock looked at the cat woman Santera was not certain if he actually wanted to ask her something, or if he was just waiting for her to make the first move. Lindolf had made it clear, at least to her, that Jock should start the 'invasion'. Her sharp hearing told her that Lindolf was still moving forward, he'd be soon with them.

Esmee had walked to the window and looked outside. "She's out there," the young witch said again.

"Who is?" Baba Yaga said as she got up and walked to the window also. She peered out of it and saw nothing out of the ordinary. At that moment things started happening.

Jock and Santera moved to the castle gate, where three guards were wasting their time telling jokes and gaudy stories. As the three were too much entertained by each other, they only noticed the big man and the large cat when they were on top of them. Santera jumped up at one of them, pushing the man to the ground. Jock reached out and simply knocked the heads of the two others together. That was enough for them to impersonate bags of potatoes falling to the floor. Jock then tapped the first fallen guard on the head so that man was out of commission for a while as well.

"There it is," Hilda said. She pointed at a house in one of the quieter streets. The two magical ones dropped down to the ground, as their cats braced themselves for the inevitable sudden stop. "Yes," Hilda confirmed as the lock in her hand was rattling, "here is where we have to be. Lock, come on, let's meet your key." They parked their brooms against the side of the house and William tried the door they were facing. It was locked, but not for long.

"Ladies first," he grinned.

"Oh? Are there ladies here?" Hilda looked around and saw no people. There only was a rust-coloured dog walking through the street that was smart enough not to be interested in the two black cats. The witch shrugged and stepped into the house. "There's magic in use here," she told William.

Esmee pushed the window open.

Babs looked at her: "What's that for? I'm perfectly-" The impossible happened. Baba Yaga was lost for words for a moment as Esmee changed into the cat woman she'd been before. And this time it happened without the assistance of Hilda or Babs. "Now wait up a-" The impossible leaned towards mere improbable as Baba Yaga was again interrupted: Esmee jumped out of the window, landing on all fours in the yard. Baba Yaga leaned out the window and saw how Esmee ran off. "Suck an elf," the old witch muttered, "looks like there's action going on. And how can that flower witch suddenly do such powerful magic on herself?"

She looked down one more time. "Old bones don't jump," Baba Yaga decided as she made her broom pull up. Using that, she left the room as well.

Santera's next assignment was to make her way into the castle and find the king. She was not meant to actually kill him. Lindolf had said: "A few extra scratches would be enough." She ran out to the yard in front of the castle when suddenly she saw the other cat woman coming towards her. Santera looked back to where Jock was standing near the knocked-out guards and hesitated. Then she set course for the entrance of the castle. This was the only way to get rid of Lindolf's crazy ideas, she knew. Santera was much more used to moving like a cat, so there was not much effort in avoiding the other cat woman The door into the castle came closer.

Hilda, with the lock raging in her hand like a berserker, dashed up the stairs two steps at the time. Another door. "Would you be so kind?" she asked William.

He would be. A kick later the door flew open. William did not want to waste magic on something like a door, so he had put it into his foot. He followed his witch into the room and saw a woman sitting in a chair. Another woman was kneeling on the wooden floor in front of the chair and held hands with the sitting woman.

"Stand back, William," Hilda warned him, "they are generating the weird magic I sensed around that shed." Hilda was not certain if she could or should stop what the two women were doing. Then she noticed the book on the knees of the sitting woman and peeked on the page. "Crappedy crap," she said when she understood what it was. "That's very serious magic..."

Esmee darted after the cat woman who had slipped past her and now was about to enter the castle. She could not allow that, but in her cat-shape she had no idea how to cast a spell. Just as the cat woman reached the door, a dark shape shot down.

Baba Yaga had almost thrown herself down to the ground on her broom and assessed the situation as she did so. The large cat that was not Esmee was trying to reach the castle, but Babs prevented that with a swift spell that threw the cat woman to the side. Instead of going into the castle, the creature flew through the air and went into a rose bush. A howl came from the creature as it tried to fight itself free from the stinging stems.

Lindolf had joined Jock and saw the events in the court yard unfold. He uttered a word that was not very nice; things were not going the way he had planned. Frantically he searched his mind for a way to get out of this situation without looking a guilty party. Then he knew it. He pulled his dagger and screaming wildly he ran towards where Santera was almost coming free from the roses. If he could kill her, there would be at least one person less to incriminate him.

Santera rolled over the pebbles and jumped to her feet, still slightly dizzy from the sudden jolt. She saw a witch in black flying on a broom. She also saw the other cat woman who was standing still in the yard. Then a loud noise attracted her attention. Santera looked where it came from and gasped for air. There was Lindolf, coming towards her waving a dagger. Was he coming to her rescue, she wondered. At that moment a nauseating feeling washed through her and she collapsed.

"There we are," Hilda said with a smug expression. William had pulled the kneeling woman to the side, and the one with the book on her knees had slumped forward. "They are not doing anymore tricks. Let's see if we can bring both of them around again, William." A little magic later, Simi and Magda were staring at the two visitors.

"What have you done!" Magda yelled. "We were trying to protect Santera, and now Lindolf is probably killing her!"

"Lindolf? Isn't that the nice guy from the tavern?" Hilda wondered. "And who is Santera?"

Magda wanted to throw the book at Hilda, but she felt to weak to do that. This woman was clearly a real witch, and not a match for someone of her own disposition. She explained that Santera was the cat woman, and that Simi and she had been guiding Santera towards the castle. "Things are going wrong there, I saw it through Santera's eyes," she said as tears rolled over her cheeks, "Lindolf was charging at her with a knife."

"What the crappedy crap are you talking about! Are you two responsible for that cat woman and the attack on the king?"

Magda and Simi started to tell Hilda and William the way how everything was pieced together.

Esmee saw how the other cat woman fell to the ground. As the creature fell, she changed into a young woman. She also noticed how the man (where had she seen him before?) kept running towards the woman, a big knife in hand. Esmee didn't know who the woman was, but somehow she considered her kin, and she could not allow someone to hurt her kin. With a growl she took a few big leaps and landed on top of the man with the knife. He fell, the knife went flying and Esmee was satisfied to find that the man had knocked his head against a block of stone. He lay still. Then she turned and ran towards the young woman.

Baba Yaga in that time had noticed the big man near the gate and directed her broom towards him. "So what are you doing here, big guy?" she asked Jock. The big guy looked at her. His face told Babs that he wasn't exactly sure. "Did you knock these people down?" the witch asked as she pointed at the peaceful guards.

"Yes. I hit them. Lindolf said to hit them," Jock confirmed. He raised an impressive hand. "I did not hit hard."

"Lucky them," Baba Yaga said. If Jock had lashed out with all his force, there would have been funerals. "Come on, big guy, let's go and see what all this is about." Jock just smiled and walked along as Babs flew her broom to the unconscious man.

32. It's over

Esmee sat on the ground with Santera. She had changed herself back into her human shape and magicked some clothes on herself and the young woman. Esmee held Santera in her arms and gently rocked the woman. "It's okay, it's fine," the witch whispered. "It's all over, whatever 'it' is."

Santera heard the voice and moaned. The transition to her normal shape had been so abrupt and unprepared that it had shaken her up badly. "Who are you?" she asked.

Esmee told Santera that she was the castle witch. "I've seen you in the village. You saved my life there. Who are you? What's your name, and how do you know to change into a cat?"

Santera sat up. "I'm Santera. There is a witch in the village who changes me. I don't know..." She held her head as a sharp flash of pain shot through it. "I don't know why they changed me back so suddenly. I wasn't done yet..."

Baba Yaga got off her broom and kneeled down. "How are things here?" she asked Esmee.

"We're fine," Esmee replied. "This is Santera. She's confused, talks of a witch in town that changes her."

Baba Yaga frowned. "Aha. I wouldn't be surprised if Hilly and Willy found that witch..."

Hilda and William had listened to the two women. "Suck an elf. I hope we didn't mess something up with all that," the witch said. "Luckily Babs is there."

"And Esmee," William added.

"Yeah. Not sure how much good that will have done, but let's keep it positive." Hilda then turned to Magda. "You, lady, will no longer play with that book. Much healthier for you and everyone around." Before Magda could react, Hilda had grabbed the book and shrunk it. The remaining parcel found its way into one of the pockets in William's cloak.

"But-" Magda tried, her hand following the parcel for a moment until she understood that her playing witch had come to an end.

"No buts," said Hilda. "I do think we should go back to the castle and see what's happening there. Babs is fine, but the flower child... I still have my doubts about her."

"And what are we doing with these two? I suggest we take them along," William pointed at Magda and Simi. Hilda agreed. That way they'd have everyone in the same place, which would make for an interesting bout of explanations.

Magda and Simi were taken down the stairs. Grim and Obsi were there, guarding the brooms. The two woman stared at the cats; the cats were not impressed at all. They did allow their humans to carry them on their shoulder while they flew back to the castle.

-=-=-

"Fine bunch you are," Babs welcomed them as they landed with their passengers. "Leaving all the fighting to us while you go out on the town."

"Village," William commented as he looked around the yard.

Esmee and Santera were sitting on a bench, talking and gesturing. Jock kept Lindolf under control. A group of three guards kept a safe distance to everyone else. Snow White, Jordan, King Louie and Queen Daphne had all assembled outside as well, as the activities there had not gone unnoticed. Jordan looked less hindered by his privates as he walked over to the guards.

As soon as everyone was allowed to speak their truth, Lindolf was the first one to proclaim loudly that he was innocent of everything and that he just happened to be here.

"Who asked you to shout?" Baba Yaga said as she looked the man over.

"No one, madam, I just thought..."

"Leave the thinking to us. Jock told me all about you, Lindolf."

The merchant stared at the old witch. "Jock is an idiot who can't think. Anyone knows that!" Unfortunately Lindolf had forgotten that Jock's hand was on his shoulder. The big hand moved to his neck and the shouting merchant was lifted off his feet for a few moments, until his suffocating sounds became perilous.

"Good man Jock." Baba Yaga patted the small giant on the arm.

In bits and pieced the whole story came to light. Magda told about the book, which William reproduced. Baba Yaga was impressed with it. Simi added her things, and Santera filled in more missing bits.

Lindolf denied everything, of course, but the fact that Hilda and William had found Magda, Simi and also the book in his house was strongly working against him. King Louie ordered a few guards to arrest Lindolf and stick him in one of the dungeons under the castle, where Lindolf would have to wait until there was a trial.

"What are you going to do with that book?" Queen Daphne asked. "It seems to be a very dangerous book, I would rather see it destroyed."

Hilda shook her head. "Sorry, but that's not going to happen, queen. A book is not dangerous. It's just a danger in the wrong hands. Like a sword is not responsible for the person who uses it to hurt someone. We're going to take that away with us. Babs, would you like to keep it safe for everyone?"

"Of course. Would be my pleasure."

"And what about us?" Simi asked. "Do we have to go to the dungeon also?"

King Louie looked at the two women. "I don't think that's necessary. That man Lindolf tricked you. What work do you normally do?" Magda and Simi told the king, who then nodded. "I think that for Simi it would be best to go back to the village. Pick up your life. Don't meddle with strange things again. If you come across something like that again, come to the castle and let us know."

Simi promised that she'd do that.

"As for Magda... you've been cleaning at Lindolf's house, and he's not going to need a cleaning person for a while. I am sure we can find a position for you here at the castle. If you like."

Magda stared at the royal man and slowly nodded. "I'd be very honoured."

"Very good. You'll be supervised by our castle witch, as you have some magic inside you. Esmee will be able to ensure that you are not playing with that again."

"Her?" Hilda wondered. "Now there's something to be scared of."

Baba Yaga tugged Hilda's sleeve. "Don't say that too loudly. I have a surprise for you concerning that kid."

Hilda and William both looked at the old witch in wonder and had problems concealing their curiosity.

King Louie ordered for a carriage that would take Simi back to the village. Magda would ride along, to collect some of her things. The carriage would then take her back to the castle, where a room would be prepared for her. "And no running off," he warned Magda, "or the combined witches will come after you."

Magda said that he did not have to worry about that. She was far too grateful for this opportunity.

Then the king turned to Santera, who still sat with Esmee. "What to do with this woman..." he wondered out loud. He glanced at his queen, who did not have an answer. Snow White and Jordan pretended to be talking about something important, escaping the king's questioning look that way.

"She's staying with me," Esmee then said, to everyone's surprise.

"Uhm?" Baba Yaga said. "Are you sure? And why is that?"

"Santera saved my life in the village," said Esmee. "She's like me, in a way. We both know what the other feels when we're cats."

Hilda and William didn't understand all of that but waited for the flower witch to finish. Babs after all had said that there was something about Esmee she had to tell them.

"We've been talking, and I think that Santera and I can protect the castle in a very good and special way. We can go around the premises as cats. That way we can get around quickly. We can see well in the dark too then."

"As cats..." The words fell from Hilda's surprised lips.

Before she could say more, Esmee continued: "And we think we love each other." That had as much impact as a witch crashing in the yard.

"Whoa. Stop." Hilda raised both hands. "I think we are missing a few things here. Babs, please tell us what we don't know, because I can't see a cat's tail anymore." Onyx Grimalkin meowed, twitching her tail. "No, not like that, silly animal," Hilda said as she picked up her cat.

Baba Yaga told Hilda and William about Esmee changing herself into a cat and jumping from the window.

"Suck an elf," said Hilda. She stared at Esmee. "Since when do you know how to do that?"

Esmee, holding one of Santera's hands, shrugged. "Since the night of the lightning." She got up, pulling Santera to her feet also. Without the use of a wand, suddenly there were two cat women standing in front of the bench.

"Holy Bejeebus," was all that William could muster.

King Louie stared at what happened. "I'm afraid that we're going to lose a lot more chickens," he said.

"I doubt that," said William. "Santera only ate them because Lindolf wanted to scare everyone. If she gets a few proper meals a day, your feathery animals should be fine.

Esmee changed herself and Santera back to their normal shapes, and was also very quick in getting the two of them dressed again. "See? It's easy."

Baba Yaga scratched her chin. "Yeah. Sure. I think it's time for me to leave now." She did not wait for any response, made her broom jump up and mounted it. "Hilda, William, we'll keep in touch. Good luck. King, queen, good luck too." And then she lifted off, quickly disappearing over the castle wall.

"That's a bit harsh," Queen Daphne said, shaking her head.

"It's not harsh," Hilda said, "it's Baba Yaga."

Then a dark shadow fell over them and Babs landed her broom in the yard again. "Forgot something," she said as she walked to Esmee. To Hilda's terror the old witch hugged Esmee.

"Good job, protegé," Babs said. "Be good and make me proud of you. Keep your crystal ball in shape and we'll talk." Then she was off again.

"Uhm..." Now it was William's turn to say that. "I'm not sure if I want to remember seeing that."

"Calm down, wizard," Hilda said, hugging him.

Later that day there was a huge party in and around the castle. Santera was accepted as partner and assistant of Esmee, Magda had returned to the castle with her belongings, and it wasn't until very late that the witch and the wizard found themselves in bed.

"This was really weird," said William as he wrapped his arms around Hilda.

"Yes. It was. But fun too."

William nodded in the dark. "True. Life with you is never boring, Hilda."

The witch smiled, the wizard not seeing it but sensing it through their bond. "I intend to keep it that way. Boring is no fun."

"Good. I'll remind you of that, if necessary," he grinned.

"You'll be old and senile before you need to remind me, wizard. I don't look for things to happen. They look for me."

William silently agreed as he kissed his witch. "Sleep well, Hilda."

"Sleep well, William. Tomorrow we'll go home. For a few days of peace and quiet. I hope."

###

About the author:

I am an IT consultant who loves reading and writing.

I've been an amateur-author since years, writing SciFi, Fantasy and lately also Steampunk. My home is in the Netherlands.

I hope you liked "Hilda - Cats".

All other books I published so far:

Hilda the wicked Witch series:

Hilda the wicked witch (Smashwords, July 2010)

Hilda - Snow White Revisited (Smashwords, September 2010)

Hilda - The Challenge (Smashwords, December 2010)

Hilda and Zelda (Smashwords, February 2011)

Steampunk:

Aeroparts Factory (Smashwords, December 2010)

Lily Marin, three steampunk short stories (Smashwords, January 2010)

If you want to connect with me online:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/pagan_paul

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/paulkater

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/paul.kater

My website: http://www.nlpagan.net