Read Online Hilda - The Challenge by Paul Kater - Free Book Online Page A

He
patted his cloak, to free it from sand.
    "Hmmf," Hilda retorted, unsure what to do
about this.
    The Grizble relieved her from the task of
thinking about it further. It started to wiggle and grunt and tried
to get the rope off. The latter did not work, though, as Hilda's
magic had supplied a rope that was Grizble-safe.
    "Well, well, look here," she said, standing
over the dark creature. "I am sure you want to tell me why you are
here."
    The Grizble uttered some inexplicable sounds,
it screamed and howled, as William came close to witness the whole
thing.
    "Never mind that," Hilda told him, her
earlier anger forgotten again, "they always act like that in the
beginning. Some design flaw in them, I think, as they never fail to
calm down and get sensible after a while."
    The Grizble tried to bite their legs a few
times, screamed and wriggled some more, until it lay panting at
their feet. "Turn me loose and no one gets hurt," it then
threatened from its harmless position.
    "Sure, but first you will tell me why you are
here. And where Gerdundula is. You know, I'd love to kick him," she
elaborated to William, "but it's the troll body that isn't
inviting. It's rock hard and only hurts me." She turned to the
grizble again. "Well, done thinking?"
    The Grizble pointed it fiery red eyes at her.
"Lamador is stronger than ever. He has the witch and will use her.
And you will-"
    They would never know what the creature was
going to add to that, as its head exploded and its body went limp
inside the rope.
    "Is that a design flaw also?", William
asked.
    "No. This is seriously bad. Lamador listened
in, I am sure, and did this. Crap."
    "HAH!" A loud booming voice almost blew them
over. A giant shape formed in the middle of a number of flowerbeds.
It was twenty feet tall. It was a collosal man, wearing a blue robe
and a purple hood. That was all that was visible of him. "YOU WILL
DIE THIS TIME, GRIMHILDA. MY POWER IS BEYOND REACH NOW."
    Hilda put her hands on her hips and looked up
at the shape. "Get off it, Lamador. You are not making a good
impression with all that showing off."
    William stared at the giant apparition. He
was not as bold as Hilda, but then he lacked her experience. And
her attitude.
    "AND WHO IS THIS UNMAGICAL WIZARD WITH
YOU?"
    That would be William, they both understood.
Lamador was wizard enough to sense that there was no magic
whatsoever present in the book salesman.
    "This is a wizard from far away," Hilda
persisted, "and his magic is unnoticeable to the likes of you."
    "HA HA HA HA HA!" As the laughter rolled over
the gardens and bounced off the illusionary metal wall, the giant
shape evaporated, the sound of his laughing going hollow and
vanishing with him.
    "Holy Bejeebus...", William said.
    "Yeah." Hilda agreed. "He's gotten
scary."
    They stood together, getting over the
aftershock of it all, until Hilda turned and announced that she was
going to have a look inside the hut of Gerdundula. William followed
her. He did not want to get caught by that giant alone out
there.

10.
Bestest girlfriend

    Gerdundula's hut did not make them much
smarter. It bore signs of a fierce struggle, as just about
everything inside was smashed to pieces.
    "I told you she's kind of possessive," Hilda
remarked as she went through the remains, looking for
something.
    William had looked around the hut also. It
looked as if two tornadoes had been partying in there. Furniture
had been reduced to less than their original components, whatever
there had been of glassware and pottery was irretrievable as such.
The floor was covered in shards and fragments. Also, and this broke
his bookloving heart, he saw that there had been many books in the
hut, now nothing more than scraps of paper in varying degrees of
being burnt.
    "Crappy damn." Hilda had found what she had
looking for. In her hands she held two small pieces of wood,
painted red with thin white spirals over them. They obviously had
been connected once. "This is her wand. Or was."
    "Can you fix