Hilda - Cats by Paul Kater Read Free Book Online Page A

her cue. "We found a few strange things," she announced. She
held up the cat hair. "This."
    Snow White and Esmee came closer. "Hair,"
they said in unison.
    "Cat hair," Hilda pointed out, "and we found
this bit on a level that normal cats don't reach unless they
jump."
    "Or when they're thrown," Baba Yaga
added.
    Obsidian Shadow, perched on William's
shoulder, hissed. Babs was shocked nor shaken.
    "So we want to know if you have really large
cats here," Hilda finished, ignoring the interruptions. She raised
a hand to shoulder height. "About this tall."
    Esmee reached out and found support on
William's arm while Snow White stared at the hand. "You must be
joking, Grimhilda. Cats of that size... No, we don't have those
here. We would know."
    William frowned. Then he looked at the maid
who had been carrying the baby. She had turned around and was
changing the baby's diaper. He fixed the smell. "That's
better."
    The princess asked Esmee to keep Roderick
away from his brothers, as the young boy was still trying to remove
them from the wall with increasing force. "I will go and ask Jordan
if he knows of such cats." With that she took Dinna's hand and left
the room with her daughter, leaving the three magical people.
    Esmee tried to sweet-talk Roderick into
leaving his brothers alone. Roderick was not up for that; pulling
at his defenseless siblings was much more fun.
    "Hey, kid," Hilda said, "cut it out or we'll
stick you to the wall and turn them loose on you." Roderick turned
to Hilda, his eyes large. Then he ran out the door, screaming for
his mother. "See? And no magic," Hilda grinned at the pink
witch.

7. Royalty

    A servant entered the nursery. "Honourable
witches and wizard, the princess asked me to take you to her and
the prince."
    They followed the servant, leaving the two
complaining boys stuck to the wall. As long as they were there, no
harm would come from their side. The two cats were on the shoulders
of their respective magicals as they strode through the halls.
    The room where Snow White and Prince Jordan
resided was big and quite crowded. For some obscured reason, King
Walt and his wife Queen Velma, Snow White's father and stepmother,
were there. The others in the room were Roderick, his sister Dinna
and a number of servants.
    "Hello, your Royal Highnesses," Hilda said.
Then she looked at the prince. "Good grief, you've become
flabby."
    Prince Jordan got up. "I do not want anyone
to strike such a tone to me. Not even a witch," he said. "And where
are my other sons?"
    "Don't worry about them, they're safe."
Hilda's look had a challenge in it. She ignored his warning, of
course, because not even a prince should strike a tone like that to
her.
    Jordan did not pick up the verbal gauntlet,
he knew he'd never win. "My dear wife asked me about something
strange. Cats as big as a man?"
    "Not any man of course," Baba Yaga pitched in
with a silent jab. "Hello your Princeness, I am Baba Yaga, here to
help my friends with this little problem you have here." She
explained about the cat hair they had found. "So we wonder if there
are catty animals of that size."
    Jordan thought for a while. "No. Never heard
of that." He looked at Hilda and William. "The only way to get cat
hair up like you described is, I'd say, carry them like you
do."
    "Yes. Or toss them," Babs nodded. Grimalkin
and Obsi meowed in unison and protest.
    "Hmm. That might be an option, if the cat in
question allows tossing," Queen Velma said. "Most cats don't."
    "She is the one that stuck me to the
ceiling," Dinna suddenly announced, pointing at Hilda.
    "She what?" Walt, Velma and Jordan looked at
the little princess.
    "She stuck me to the ceiling. And he had to
get me down, because Esmee didn't."
    Before Jordan could turn to Hilda, Snow White
started explaining what had happened, and how. Dinna did not look
happy as her intended victory over Hilda was reduced to sheer
nothing. Only the fact she had been against the ceiling remained,
and Jordan agreed that had been