4. In which our Witch has a pest.

Gildy glared down at the little hedgehog. "Oh no you don't! I want to be alone, that means no other people around! I'm not about to have some strange knight on a quest which involves defeating me somehow at my home, when I'm trying to rest!"

Sir Roland glanced up at her, she could feel him staring at her exhausted posture and expression. Furious, she straightened up and took a step toward him threateningly. As he looked at her boot dubiously, she realized it was almost bigger than him. Gildy shifted her foot to cast him in its shadow. A vunerable knight! What a great idea she'd had there!

Nevermind the fact it was a bit of an accident that had cursed him instead of the Wizard, everyone seemed to have forgotten about that. Except Sir Roland. If she was really feeling nasty, look how easily she could be done with him! She gave the little hedgehog a wicked smirk. Sir Roland stood on his hind legs, his little head rising out of her shadow to glare at her.

"You wouldn't!"

"Wanna bet, I'm a Wicked Witch!"

"No, you're not." He settled his little prickly body into what she suspected was supposed to be a sprawling crouch and gazed around. Despite her mood, she couldn't help noting to herself that a tiny hedgehog body just doesn't pull off a sprawl very well.

"How dare you! I am! You've seen my curses! You horrible little knight! I should have changed you back into a knight anyway and let the dragon eat you!"

"Dragon…why do the young dragons all have to start wandering around in this forest to get noticed, they should stick closer to the caves. Threatening to eat people at such a young age…" The hedgehog shook its head sadly. Gildy stared. He moved into a more natural crouch, avoiding her eyes.

"What is with you? Why are you following me? Why don't you go away? I cou—will do something awful to you if you stay! Do you want to spend the rest of your life as a…a…chamberpot?"

"A WHAT?"

Gildy smirked at his reaction. Finally, he would go away. She'd have to remember that idea, it might come in handy again. She resumed her walk toward home. Watch out or I'll change you into a chamberpot! Instant victory.

Sleep. Cottage. Silence of pesky cursed knights. Knights which were not there, intruding, following and doing unknightly bickering with her. A knight that is not there! She sighed and glanced down to her side without slowing.

"You're still following me. Maybe a chamber pot a-la-mode would be more to your liking!" She snapped.

"Am I really?"

"What? Don't be a jerk, knights are supposed to be polite."

"No, I mean, am I really following you? I could just happen to be going in the same direction, you know." He scurried ahead for a moment, avoiding her stomping swerve just in time.

"I'm tired, not stupid."

"Certainly you are." He murmurred.

She scowled at a thick branch oozing sap and stepped around it."I'm a Wicked Witch." She looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

"If you say so."

"You're a hedgehog." She stated quickly.

"Of course I am."

"You're almost smaller than my foot."

Sir Roland scurried around a tree just in time, cobwebs from a bush wrapped around his spikey coat and streamed behind him."Absolutely."

"I could step on you."

"Yes, yes..."

"You've just realized this is where we split up and you go elsewhere." The teenage Witch held her breath hopefully.

"No, I haven't. I don't."

"Blast!"

Gildy sighed. She'd hoped he was doing the automatic positive responses enough…but no, of course not. She was so tired. She didn't want to deal with this pest right now.

"Remind me why you wanted to stay a hedgehog."

"I had no wish to be eaten." Creeper looked down at the knight smugly from Gildy's shoulder at his words.

"The dragon promised he wouldn't." Creeper attempted to start bathing his nether regions, claws clutching at Gildy's shoulder

"Sure, until I offended you somehow, and how am I supposed to succeed in my quest without offending the 'Wicked Witch!', who happens to be my enemy?"

"Aren't you a knight? Can't you and your pointy sword deal with a baby dragon all by yourself? Oh wait—" She gave him a pitying look, "you said you've failed all your quests, didn't you? I see."

"I don't trust your spells when you're tired. Who knows what you might have turned me into!"

"Fine then, if you promise to leave me alone for the night, I'll turn you back in the morning."

"Ah, so you'll put up some sort of protections during the night, so I can't get back to your cottage by morning for my quest or to have the curse removed!"

"I thought you just said you don't trust my spells."

"I don't—if they're supposedly designed to help me. Spells designed to work against me, sure I trust them to do what they're intended to do, or the general idea of what they're intended to do. Look, I'm sticking around, in sight, until you've gotten your strength back and change me back into my true form."

Creeper suddenly looked down at the knight and glanced at Gildy. Gildy winked at her kitten conspiringly then scowled at the hedgehog.

"All right, fine. You can stick around until morning, in another room. You have my word I will not do any spells affecting you until I have returned you to your True Form."

"Good, thank you. Wait-but you have to promise not to break your promise or, er, you must counter the spell on the Princess I want to rescue!"

"To bad the change of shape didn't have a little more effect on your brain...Fine, I promise I will change you back to your true form in the morning if you leave me alone all night, and I promise that if I break that promise, I'll change back the Princess for whom you are on quest. However, you will have to be quiet from now until morning."

"By Morwen, promise by Morwen." He requested suspiciously.

Gildy scowled. It would be so nice to get rid of him! "I promise I will change you back to your true form in the morning if you leave me alone all night, and I promise that if I break that promise, I'll change back the Princess for whom you are on quest. May Morwen curse me if I don't."

"Fine. Ah, the quiet thing...even if it's an emergency?"

"Define your opinion of emergency."

She pushed a branch out of the way, wishing he were at her level as it swatted back into place behind her. She should have been at her cottage by now but the forest apparently wanted her path to be longer at the moment. Lovely timing.

"Uh, an attack from someone or something." said the knight.

"Only if the attack can do serious harm to one of us. Anything less, as a knight, I'm sure you can handle it."

"Handle it...A knight as a hedgehog."

"What, are knights just big guys in metal with a pointy sword?" She smiled as she reached her cottage, opening her door.

"Of course not!"

"Well then, even a hedgehog knight should be resourceful. I'd think they would train real knights to deal with fighting in cursed forms, around here."

"You know…that's not a bad idea."

Gildy shrugged at him. "You will sleep down here, wherever, as long as its not on the table or counters."

"I—"

"The silence starts now, good night." She smiled sweetly and shut her bedroom door behind her. There was a faint scraping noise of a bolt sliding home.

Sir Roland looked around him at the cottage. There were rows of shelves, cupboards, and little drawers; a large pot belly stove, a cauldron hanging over a cold hearth, and a cluttered table and chairs. With a resigned claw, the hedgehog began investigating cupboards for something nice to sleep on.

In her room Gildy winced at her growling stomach and sighed. She had forgotten to grab their food before going in the room. She was so tired it was almost as if her feet had grown roots of their own will. She told her body walk-and it just stood there, swaying slightly. Sure, the thought wasn't terribly strong, but still.

Let's walk to the door, open it, go get food, eat—for energy! Then sle—she found herself falling on to her bed, burrowing under the covers.

Sometimes it wasn't 'mind over matter', it was mind doesn't matter, she thought as sleep pulled her into darkness.

Creeper yawned widely and curled himself up between her neck and shoulder with only a brief, half-hearted purr before he too was lost to sleep for the night.

Elsewhere in the forest, a flying dragon drowsily pressed onward. It was urgent, it told itself, need to get there soon. The dragon was startled back into wakefulness by another shout of fright from the dangling Wizard below. Seeing the large boulder ahead of them, the dragon abruptly climbed and shook himself awake. Again. At least he had pulled up before impact this time. Wizards made a very undragonly thudge on impact. It was interesting. Not that he was thudging the Wizard on purpose. Of course not.

The Wizard was heavy for such a young dragon, but it couldn't let the skinny Wizard know it was tiring, or weak! Breifly, the beast peered at the enchanted branch the scrawny ankles were dangling from. It could be cut, then the burden would be gone... One could fly faster...

Just tell the king about the whole thing…no, better not. Besides even if the king didn't need or care about this Wizard, there would at least have an easy meal for the effort in the morning.

With effort, the dragon managed to keep itself awake. Soon, snoring drifted in the dragon's wake, vibrating the leash. The thing tickled, keeping the dragon amused. It wondered if there really were a flurry of concerned Wizards out somewhere. They didn't strike one as the type to rescue a fellow…