62. Howler

Queen Velma screamed, going for the cotton as if it were the best thing in life. The sound of her screaming was drowned in the howling though; Hilda and William just saw her mouth move. Walt also grabbed cotton and stuck it in his ears.

The howl sounded as if wind on steroids were raging through corridors and echoing through large halls. It went on for almost two minutes. William as well as Hilda considered the sound definitely unpleasant to hear. They handed the cotton back to King Walt.

When the noise had subsided, Hilda asked: "Now what was that?"

Queen Velma stared at the two, terror pouring from her eyes.

"We don't know. That is why we called for your help. You have to find out, because it is driving us insane," said Walt, plucking the cotton from his ears again. "This is getting so bad that I even feel sorry for my wife."

"Okay, looks like we have us a job, William," said Hilda. "When did this start?"

"It started three days ago," Walt began to explain. "At first it was not that bad, and everyone thought it was a case of the wind howling. But it got louder and louder, and also more frequent. We can't sleep anymore. It goes through the whole castle but not to the outside."

William frowned. "Then why don't you put up tents outside and remain there until the problem is solved?"

King Walt gazed at him as if William were a ghost. "Tents. Outside. I don't even know if we have tents."

The howling started again.

"Eerie sound, isn't it?", Hilda asked William, who nodded.

"Yes. Very annoying. We should go and find out what's causing this."

They waited for the howling to end, wished the king good luck in finding tents and then set out into the long halls and corridors. Somewhere they found a sort of small couch where they sat down and waited for the next howl to start. They did not have to wait very long.

As the sound started jagging the nerves of the ordinaries that were still without cotton, the magical ones drew their wands and started walking around as if they were dowsing. Hilda took pity on the poor people that were trying to keep the sound out with their hands and magicked up many bags with cotton for them. Before they could find anything useful, the howling stopped again.

"I get the distinct impression that it is not here. Not on this floor," said the witch. Must be in the cellars or the dungeons. Come, let's find the king and ask him if he's had people check there."

The king was able to tell them that there had not been people checking the lower levels of the castle. "Suppose something is there!", he said, fear beaming from his face.

"Uhm, yes, wasn't that the reason why we are here?" Hilda rubbed her nose. Before she could say more, the howling started again and Walt made himself deaf using cotton.

"Let's go down a level and see if we can find the source of the problem there," Hilda proposed. William nodded, and once again they left the royals to their personal agony.

After some searching they found an entrance to the lower floor of the building.

"Darkish," Hilda noticed. "We should take a torch or something. You never know how much we need the wands to actually beat something up."

"You think of everything, don't you?" William magicked up a torch.

"Of course. I am the resident witch, remember? I have to be good." She tossed him a ravishing smile and then turned to the stone staircase.

They descended slowly. There was a heavy silence hanging in the darkness. The shadows, cast by the flickering torch, danced over the walls. Then the howling started again. It was without a doubt louder than on the ground floor where they had heard it first.

"Comes from down here somewhere," Hilda nodded. "Funny smell here too. As if something old has been out in the open for far too long."

A sudden gust of wind extinguished the flame on the torch.

"Well I'll be danged," said William, lighting the thing again. At that moment the howling also stopped. "I doubt that my saying that caused it to stop."

Hilda laughed. "I am convinced of that, dear man, but it certainly was funny!"

They reached the bottom of the stairs. To the left and right they saw a long corridor, torches burning in regular intervals.

"Now that is odd," William muttered. "Why did our torch go out and these remained lit? I'd almost think that there was something down there that deliberately went for our torch."

Hilda raised her hand. "Ssshh.." She pointed her wand into the left corridor.

William saw how hard she was concentrating on something. The bond made that even more clear. The amount of energy she was putting into it was scaring William; he had no idea that such a small woman could harbour so much power.

"Something's here. Or was here recently." She sounded very certain. Slowly the witch turned to the other corridor and probed that with all the energy she had at her disposal. It almost seemed to sparkle around her in the relative darkness of the place where they were. Then, suddenly, a faint smile appeared on her face. "I think I got it." She started walking, William close behind her as he had no clue what she had done, was doing or even was going to do.

"Oh yes, I got it," said Hilda as she started walking faster. Suddenly though, she stopped. "Oh... crap..."

Something appeared to come from inside a wall, it looked like a shadow, and it came towards them very fast. Somehow, as it was right in front of them, it seemed to come to a dead halt, and then they were treated to a howling sound so loud and forceful that it literally blew them off their feet. Hilda toppled over, William got blown against a wall and fell down along that. The howl continued for a while longer, and this time, as it was coming from so close, it actually hurt their ears. Then the shadowy shape fell silent again and disappeared into another wall.

As Hilda got up and slapped dust and other irregularities from her dress, she grinned. "Ha, see, I got you!"

William also got to his feet. "It somehow looks to me that it got us, sweetwitch."

"Puh. It wouldn't have if I hadn't gotten it first. I'm sure of that. I think." The witch walked to the part of the wall where the shadow had disappeared into and knocked on it. "Hey, come out. I want to talk to you."

Whatever the shadow was, it did not respond to the name Hey. It remained invisible.

"Well, at least we now know what's causing the noise," said Hilda, a satisfied look on her face.

"We do?" William felt a bit left out of things.

"Sure, we do. It's just a ghost. Nothing more."

"Oh. I see. Just a ghost. So who you're gonna call?" The joke was lost on Hilda.

"Dear William," she said as she turned to him and folded her fingers behind his neck. "We are called for this, remember? There was this chubby man with the crown that sent us a message about it. Does that ring a bell?"

"Yes, it does. You have a talent for making things so understandable for me." William folded his arms around her and lifted her up just far enough for their lips to touch.

That was the moment that Hey had selected to make another appearance. The shadow shot from the wall, forced itself against them and howled them to the ground once again, blasting their eardrums. It was a relief for them when finally the howling ghost stopped its noise and whooshed off into a wall again.

Hilda, lying on top of William, shook her head. "Damn. That was loud." She got to her feet. "Lying comfy there, or shall we go up again and tell the king what we found?"

"You, witch, are terrible," said the wizard as he rose from the floor.

"I know. And you love me for that." She looked at him. "Don't you?"

"I'll tell when we're upstairs again, is that a deal?" William looked over his shoulder, to where the ghost had disappeared. "Not really ready yet to be a ghostbuster."

"Okay. Come. Up we go then."

Hand in hand they went up the stairs, after William had picked up the torch he had dropped at the first assault of the ghost.

As they had exited the cellar, Hilda turned to William. "Okay, now tell me."

He put his hands lightly on her shoulder, and then the howling started again. "Yes, I love you for everything you are. And I am glad we're away from that cellar."

"So am I. But we'll be going back there to get that ghost and talk some sense into it. Now, however, we'll go find the king."

As they walked down the long corridor, the howling started again.