13. Riding with the king

The wicked witch set course for the castle. She did not want the queen to notice her, so she put on the invisibility-shield as soon as she came near. She landed in the garden, put her broomstick against a tree and started walking around. Hilda was looking for a specific someone.

After a few minutes, she heard him before she saw him.

"That's good lads, I want the roses there, the blue whatever their names are there, and then the berry-bushes around it."

"You mean the lilacs, my king?", another voice said.

"Yes, them." Walt the king was designing the new flowerbed for his wife, the queen.

Hilda looked at the scene from a distance. Walt was wearing his long red royal robe rolled up and tied around his impressive belly. His legs were hidden in big boots as he was walking around the gardeners in a wide circle, gesturing and directing. The witch grinned. Then she walked up to the small group of garden-improvers, dropping the shield as she approached.

One of the gardeners saw her fade into existence, shrieked and fell into a rosebush. The others turned their heads into the direction the unfortunate man's finger was pointing.

"Hi, king," Hilda said. "Can you spare me a moment?"

Hilda asked. And she called the king by his title. Even wicked witches have to draw a line. Sometimes.

"Grimhilda," Walt acknowledged her. When facing wicked witches, kings drew lines too. "I'm sort of busy here, telling these men how to make the flowerbed look nice, you see." His face was so serious that Hilda had to bite her tongue not to laugh.

"I see," the wicked witch said, whipping up her wand and temporarily petrifying the gardeners. "My information is sort of important though. It involves your wife. And your daughter."

"My-" Walt stared at Hilda. "Snow-White is dead. Everybody knows that by now," he then said, shaking his head.

"I'm sorry to contradict you, king, but she's not. Have you seen a body? Have you gotten any real evidence of that?"

Walt twitched his lips. "Erh... no. But... my little girl had been gone since many days! Disappeared in the forest. She can't survive there on her own, the little innocent one."

"Tell you what," Hilda said, hooking her arm around on of Walt's. "Let's take a walk and we'll talk. In the meantime we'll have the gardenboys do their thing, and if they screw up you have a reason to yell at them. How's that?"

Walt looked at Hilda. "I don't like to yell at them."

With a slightly disappointed look Hilda shrugged. "Whatever you like, king."

"Walt. Call me Walt. When you say 'king' it creates such a distance," Walt said. "Okay. Let's walk."

Hilda unpetrified the gardeners and strolled off with Walt after throwing a spell that their conversation could not be overheard by others.

"Right then. Walt. First off, Snow-White is not dead."

This news made the walk come to a standstill. "She is! My wife told me, and so did Humbert the huntsman!"

"Walt, my man, when I tell you the sky is purple, do you believe that without looking?"

The king peeked up for a moment. "It's blue. With white clouds."

"Zakly," Hilda nodded, pulling the king onwards for the walk. "I have seen Snow-White several times since she disappeared. She's in the house of the seven dwarfs. You know them? The little guys who work the mines behind the hills?"

The king nodded. "I recall them. They're the ones with that song, aren't they?"

"Right in one, Walt. Your kid ran away from the huntsman, as your darling wife ordered him to kill her. She got to the dwarf's house and found refuge there."

"Oh, no. No way my wifey would do that! You are trying to put me up against her, aren't you, wicked witch that you are!" Walt tried to pull his arm free, but Hilda was strong. And a witch well versed in magic.

"You could ask Humbert, Walt. I kid you not. Your darling wife has gone over to the house of the dwarfs to try and kill Snow-White three more times too. And I have witnesses for that. What reason would I have to lie to you, Walt? Tell me a good one and I'm gone."

Walt looked the wicked witch in the eye and searched his memories. Hilda had done many a wicked thing, as she was supposed to do. But never, he had to conclude, had she lied to him or anyone. She might have bent the truth here and there, but that fell in the wicked category.

Walt sighed. "Let's assume for a wild moment that I believe you. What do you have in mind?"

Hilda explained her plan, as she had done with the dwarfs.

Walt nodded several times, not terribly convinced yet. Not about the plan, and not about the background of it, being that his daughter was still alive and that his wife was cheating on him in that respect.

Hilda put in all her powers of convincing, described how she had seen the mean queen on the carts, how she had been dressed up. Slowly, she saw, she was getting through to the king, as more and more her arguments began to make sense.

"You're quite the talker, Grimhilda. But where is the proof in all this? You have it all figured out, the way you are telling me about this, but so far all you let out are words, and even from a witch that is sound and hot air."

Hilda stared at Walt. "You are accusing me of spouting garbage? I come here with a plan how you can get your kid back and get rid of your cheating bitch in the same go, and that is how you thank me? What kind of person do you think I am? Have I ever double-crossed someone?"

Walt tried to take a step back from her, but her arm around his made that impossible. She seemed unmovable, despite his advantage in weight. "Grimhilda, listen," he said, "how do you think I feel? I heard from Humbert that Snow-White is dead. Killed by some animal. I have gone round in grief and pain for days, while nobody can tell me more about her death. Nobody can show me a body-" he turned a bit pale "-or something she had with her that day. I've been trying to accept her being gone, and now you tell me she's alive and well, and that my dear wife is behind all this. Do give me a moment to come to grips with this, okay?"

Hilda nodded and patted his hand. "Sure. When you put it that way, Walt, take all the time you need. But hurry, because things are moving and my plan has timing issues."

"Yes, of course," Walt nodded. "Is there a way I can contact you?"

Hilda thought for a moment. The usual way, paper on an arrow, would be far too conspicuous. She let go of the king's arm, bent down and picked up a small twig. With the wand in hand she mumbled something, then broke off a tiny part of the twig. As she sensed a slight shiver over her shoulders, she knew the spell had connected with the wood.

"Keep this twig and break it in two if you need me. I'll do my best to come to you as quickly as I can."

Walt took the small bit of wood and stuck it in the hidden pocket of his royal red robe, next to the small flask of potent wine he always carried for medicinal purposes. "I will give all of this a lot of thought, Grimhilda," he then said. "You do put me in a difficult position, you understand... If this all is true, I should have my wife executed or something nasty like that. But when all of this is false..." He did not finish his sentence, but cast a glance at the witch. He hoped it would say enough.

Hilda wasn't impressed. "Go and do what you feel is best, Walt. I have to run now, as there are things cooking on other stoves also. I hope you come to your senses. Talk to your queen and try to find out what she is, and what she's upto." She looked around and cursed. "I should not leave my broom invisible and in a strange place."

The witch held out her hand and said something in Latin. "I hate Latin. Broom, come here." Seconds later, she felt her broom arrive in her hand. She made it visible, got on it and greeted Walt. "I'll hear from you." Then she swooped up into the skies, leaving Walt with his thoughts.

As this powwow between Hilda and Walt was going on, the mean queen was soaking in her second bath. It was incredible how deep the coal dust had found its way into her skin, it had been everywhere and after the first plunge she had still found black marks.

"We'll see how things are now," she chuckled to herself as she slapped at one of the royal rubber ducks that floated around her. Royal rubber ducks had small golden crowns on their head. The ducks had been her plotting companions very often, so it was a good thing they were made of rubber. And more importantly, that they could keep secrets.

After the bath, she had decided, she'd go to her talking mirror again and ask it the question that mattered. And this time it'd better give the right answer!

Hilda was on her way home. Her head was spinning with things to arrange and consider. There were the dwarfs who had to get thing in order, stuff for the meeting on Scary Mountain, the queen had to be kept under surveillance, the king had to make up his mind. As she approached her house, there was a rather disturbing sight. Usually there was nobody in their right mind who would make themselves comftorable almost on the doorstep of her home. And that unimaginable thing was happening right there and then.

A group of three people sat on the ground, near a large wagon. In front of the wagon were two horses, usually busy pulling the wagon, now shortening the few bits of grass that were in the soil. The two men were dressed in black costumes and white shirts. One of them even wore a high round hat with a rim around it. The woman was wearing some kind of gypsy outfit, consisting of such a multitude of colours that the person assembling the clothes must have gone stark raving mad.

Hilda lowered the broom and hovered near the group of three. "What's this?"

"Ah, my lady," one of the two men said as he got up. The other man and the woman held their seats and just looked at Hilda. "I assume you are the local witch?"

"You assume partly correct." Hilda slowly got off her broom and made it rest against her house. "So what's this?" Her hands on her hips she waited, intending to make this mini circus short.

The man took off his hat and made a deep bow. "My lady witch, allow me to introduce you to me. My fame spreads out throughout many a kingdom, and you have probably heard of me and my companions. On the road since many years as we are-"

"Yeah, stop, I don't have time for that. Name, business and then scram, okay?"

The man with the hat was visibly shaken by her harsh interruption. "Uhm, certainly. I am Ribaldo, and these people are Ronaldo and Regina. We make brooms."