Hilda - Lycadea (10 page)

As the wizard pushed the bubble with the ship
ahead, something peculiar happened to the light of the stars.
Instead of the sparkles there now only were tiny pinpricks here and
there. As a result the entire ship was covered in darkness except
for where the Mimosa lit its own lights. William punched holes in
the fabric of space and made the Mimosa fall through them, willing
it to the location of the pyramid.

Magic thundered in William's ears and he felt
he was reaching the end of his reserves fast. He pushed until he
could take no more. One last shove and the Mimosa popped out of a
hole. The sphere around the ship fell apart and Maurizio and Rebel
appeared close to where the wizard stood, demanding to know what
had happened.

Obsi and Grim came back to the wizard and
demanded to be picked up. As William did so, he discovered a
chicken feather between Obsi's teeth.

Some of the sailors shouted and pointed. They
didn't have to. Everyone saw what they were heading towards: a
large grey planet, with at least a dozen gigantic pyramids hovering
high over its surface.

"Holy Bejeebus."

"Technology will become the pillar of the
Lycadean society. It will help to raise the people to a great
height, but there will be substantial damage to the world. A damage
that cannot be undone by the Lycadeans, despite their high level of
evolution. The world will suffer, and the people will suffer with
their world. Only at the highest suffering, a woman will come to
save the Lycadeans and their world. This woman will be a witch who
is not a witch. "

Hilda stared at the spot where the image of
Garubine, the reading man, had been. "Crappedy crap. I would almost
think that's about me, if I wasn't sure I've never been here
before."

Davdruw smiled. "Garubine spoke of you,
Grimhilda. You are the witch who is not a witch."

"And what gave you that idea?" Hilda said as
she got up. She knew he was right but she did not want to admit
that without a fight.

"You were there are the right time," was the
simple and unfightable response. "Have you eaten enough, Grimhilda
the witch?"

"Yes, I have, but what's that have to do with
all this?"

"We have arrived," Davdruw said as he rose
from his cushion.

"Arrived where?" Hilda took a few pieces of
fruit from a porcelain platter and followed Davdruw, who now kept a
more moderate pace.

"At Lycadea of course," the man said, "that
is why you are here." He stood still in a large open area of the
hall and did something with his sleeve again. Hilda suspected that
most of the man's clothing was filled with strange things. Before
she could place a remark, a magnificent sphere appeared in front of
them. It seemed to consist of nothing but white and yellow
light.

"Haven't got the trick down for silver and
gold, have you?" the witch said as she scratched her nose.

Davdruw looked caught, which was very odd for
such a large and stately figure. "I am sure that this will be
satisfactory, Grimhilda the witch."

"Just call me Hilda, will you? I am not one
for long titles, and I know I'm a witch. I'll call you Dave for
that."

Davdruw sleeved again and part of the sphere
split open. Inside it Hilda saw a few chairs, one giant one and a
normal sized version. "If you would please be so kind to step
inside, Grimhilda," the spiritual leader said.

"No Dave for you then," said Hilda as she
walked into the sphere. Inside it was very comfortable. The chair
felt soft, there was tea and fruit juice on the table and from the
inside out the sphere was fully transparent.

Davdruw came in also and sat down on a chair
fit for his size. "We will go to the surface of the planet now," he
announced.

"More sleeve-stuff?" Hilda inquired.

"Sleeve-stuff?" Davdruw seemed taken by
surprise.

"Yeah, the way you fumble with your sleeve
all the time when you do your magic. Let me tell you that a wand is
much more convenient. And it looks better too."

Davdruw looked at his sleeve for a moment,
the first frown slipping over his brow. It was there only for a
moment, but Hilda saw it. "I will now bring us down to the
surface," the man said. Some sleeve-action made the sphere close
itself. Then the floor vanished from underneath them, and with a
heartfelt 'suck an elf!' the sphere dropped downwards.

-=-=-

"What are we going to do?" one of the sailors
aboard the Mimosa asked. The ship had slowed down and come to a
full stop on a respectable distance from the insanely large
floating pyramids.

"Nothing, for now," Maurizio said. "We don't
know what they're upto."

"Should we load the canons, just in
case?"

"No Cannons," William spoke in capitals to
make himself absolutely clear. "They have my witch, and as long as
they do, there is no shooting at anything."

"You heard the wizard," said Maurizio. "No
cannons." The sailor looked disappointed.

"Guys, get a load of that." Rebel's voice
pointed their attention to the pyramids again. From one of them a
large sphere, shining white and yellow, dropped down to the
planet.

"Pathetic," said William, "silver and gold
would've looked so much better."

Maurizio looked at the ball through his large
brass telescope. "William, you should have a look," he said as he
handed the magnifying contraption over.

The wizard had a look and then almost threw
the scope back to Maurizio. "Broom!" he yelled, and the wooden
object sped to the waiting hand. Grim and Obsi were already waiting
to jump onto the bristle, and as soon as William had taken position
on the broom, they were on it also.

"We're coming with you," said Rebel as she
grabbed Maurizio by the arm.

William took off without a word. The last
thing he heard was Maurizio's surprised voice asking "we are?".

The man with the two cats on the broom was
closely followed by a woman in tight black leather who held a man
in a red coat by the arm, not on a broom. He only had eyes for the
large ball though, that was falling towards the surface of the
planet. It was no challenge for William to catch up with the thing.
Getting inside it was another matter though; he was not sure if it
was safe to crack the ball open without putting his beloved witch
in danger.

Hilda had not seen William as he approached
the sphere. It was a remark of Davdruw that made her look to the
side. That was enough though. she jumped up and tried to press
herself through the impenetrable side of the ball she was in.
"William! Grimalkin! What the hell?" The last remark came from her
as she saw Rebel and Maurizio in a controlled free fall near the
sphere.

"How did they get here?" was the only thing
Davdruw remarked as he saw the shapes outside the still plummeting
ball.

"Who cares," said Hilda, "they're here and
that is what counts."

"The prophecy did not mention this," the
spiritual leader of the Lycadeans complained in a subdued voice as
he checked some small panels in the armrests of his chair and did
something to his sleeve. It made the sphere divert from its course
slightly.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Hilda wanted to
know.

William had also noticed the change and
slowly moved closer to the sphere.

"I hope you believe me, Grimhilda," Davdruw
said, "this was a needed small change to our course. We would
otherwise not reach the right location where the welcoming
festivities will take place."

"Festivities?" Hilda was quite surprised by
that.

"Yes. Everyone on Lycadea knows about the
prophecy, and when we set out to collect you, preparations were
already underway to welcome you to the planet."

"What's happening in there?" Rebel asked
William as she was flying close to him, Maurizio in her hand.

"I don't know," said the wizard who had
noticed them a while ago. "Hilda seems to be alright and she's with
someone in there. Let's follow them and be prepared for whatever it
is that's down there."

"We don't know that, right?" Maurizio put
in.

"Exactly. More's the challenge," William
said. The two cats held on to the broom with all their claws, as
the speed was very high...

-=-=-

The sphere was hovering over a large round
area that was almost a lake of rippling silver and blue. In fact it
was covered with people in silver clothes and blue hair.

"Crappedy crap," said Hilda as she looked
down at the crowd, "did they all come for me? There must be a
thousand of them!" She looked at William, Rebel and Maurizio who
were still close to the sphere. It made her feel good that they
were there and unharmed.

"I think that nineteen thousand were
invited," Davdruw said as he did some more to his sleeve. The
sphere lowered itself onto a relatively small open space. "We have
arrived." The man stated the obvious, but he made it sound special
by saying it in a ceremonial way.

The sphere split open, the way it had done
aboard the pyramid. Davdruw asked Hilda to wait inside for a
moment, and he stepped outside.

William had noticed the opening in the
sphere. He landed his broom and with the cats on his heels he
slipped into the sphere and his arms around the witch. "Damn, I
missed you," he said, while tears assembled in his voice and
eyes.

Rebel and Maurizio entered the sphere also
but kept an eye on the proceedings outside. "Who's the big guy?"
Rebel asked.

Hilda was too busy for a while to answer that
question, and before she could answer, there was a loud roar of
voices coming from outside the sphere.

"I think they are waiting for you, Hilda,"
said Maurizio.

"The man out there is called Davdruw," Hilda
said. "He is some sort of spiritual leader and talked about some
kind of prophecy that I would come and save their world or
something. He also had something like a crystal ball but flat that
showed a man who is now dead, and that man read something from an
old book. The same prophecy." As she saw the wonder in William's
face, she added: "You think I'm crazy now, right?"

"Now? You're always crazy, silly witch,
that's what I love in you." William laughed as she pounded her
fists on his chest in jest.

"I am going out there," Hilda said, "and I am
taking you with me." She picked up Grim and put her over her
shoulder, grabbed the wizard's hand and together they walked out of
the sphere, Obsi, Rebel and Maurizio in their wake.

Davdruw looked relieved as Hilda came out of
the sphere, and surprised as there were so many others with her.
Clearly he had not seen the new arrivals arrive. A silence fell
over the assembled crowd.

"So, what's next?" Hilda asked the tall man
in silver.

Davdruw had to shake himself into his role
again and act as if this was all part of the plan. He turned to the
crowd, did something to his sleeve and spoke. His sleeve-action
amplified his voice, so it rang out all over the area where people
were standing. 'Fellow Lycadeans. The Prophecy has begun to
fullfill itself. As it was written, we have gone to the designated
point in space. There we found the witch who is no witch who will
bring our planet and our civilisation to the grandeur that we have
heard about. And here she is. Grimhilda the witch."

The small group with Hilda stared at the man
who looked at Hilda. Hilda in that time kicked Davdruw and looked
as if she regretted that.

"Come, Grimhilda, you should speak to the
people," he then said.

"What do I tell them?" Hilda asked, her voice
washing over the enormous crowd of people. "Crappedy crap!" she
exclaimed as she had not been prepared to hear her voice so
loud.

"CRAPPEDY CRAP!" the crowd yelled back.
"CRAPPEDY CRAP!" And then they all broke out in a noise that was
eardrum-shattering. Obsi jumped into William's arms, Rebel grabbed
Maurizio's arm.

Hilda raised her voice: "Shut up! That's my
line!"

The crowd shut up as Davdruw quickly worked
his sleeve. "I think this is enough for now, Grimhilda. The people
know you are here. I shall now introduce you to the high council of
the planet. And your friends too."

At that moment a relatively small pyramid
came down. It landed without a sound and the usual triangular door
opened. Davdruw ushered the people inside, guided them to a very
comfortable seating arrangement and once they all had found a
place, the pyramid lifted off.

"So where are we going?" Hilda asked.

"To the palliza of the high council," Davdruw
said. "Could you please explain how these other people got here?
This is not part of the prophecy, there was no mention of other
people coming with you. That is why we did not bring them
along."

"It looked more like you grabbed Hilda and
ran off, trying to make sure we could not follow you," William said
sharply, observing the man. "And who are you anyway?"

Davdruw had no choice but introduce himself
to the new people. "And please try to be peaceful in the palliza.
The high council does not allow their tranquillity to be
disturbed."

"And you are still taking Hilda to see them?
Good luck." The wizard hugged the witch who beamed at the
compliment. Davdruw looked worried at Maurizio who looked back as
if he had not a care in the world. Pyramid.

"Don't look at us. We're just the people from
the Mimosa. You won't have a problem with us," the captain said as
he moved his eye patch to his other eye.

"Yeah, right," Rebel buried Davdruw's
hope.

-=-=-

Davdruw got up. "Would you please follow
me?"

"Huh? Did we get there already?" Nobody had
sensed anything like movement or a landing.

"This thing must have incredible shock
absorbers," Rebel stated, prying a wondering look from Davdruw. She
grinned and mentally chalked one up for herself.