by Paul Kater
Hilda - Lycadea
by Paul Kater
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Other books in this series:
Contents:
1. Twok
2. Moro
3. Introductions
4. Broom
5. Kings, queens and dinner parties
6. Crystal
7. So, where are we?
8. Shock
9. A strange meeting
10. Collecting
11. Questions and more questions
12. On board the Mimosa
13. The grey planet
14. The high council (1)
15. The high council (2)
16. Exploring
17. Lycadea
18. Uh-oh
19. Rescue mission
20. Going out again
21. Breaking and entering
22. A thing
23. The big picture
24. Float, float, float your couch...
25. A floating face
26. House arrest
27. Through the wall, in the air
28. Sad country
29. Hello
30. To the village
31. The village of the old ones
32. On the rocks
33. Hilda and Kerna
34. Hilda, William and Kerna
35. The next step
36. Pyramid City
37. A Pallazi in trouble
38. Meeting on Lycadea
39. Meanwhile, back at the pyramids
40. Progress
41. More stars
42. Tilt
1. Twok
"I hope I am not disturbing your peace," said the house, "but there is a gentleman with a bow who is aiming at the pole for the messages and it looks like he - "
Twok.
" - as I already was afraid, he is not very proficient at this," the house finished. There was no comment from the two magical people who lay draped over the purple couch.
"It chipped some paint too," the house tried, but even that shocking announcement was not enough to evoke some movement. "Fine. Be like that. I'll just fall apart around you and maybe you will notice someday."
A black shape dropped from a bookshelf, landed on all fours with barely a sound and tiptoed to the door. Grimalkin sat down and inspected a paw, waiting for the house to open the door. "Meow," she complained as the house took rather long to understand her intentions.
"Oh. You," the house finally said, sounding almost reluctant, and the door swung open. "Try not to soil anything that's attached to me, please."
Grimalkin did not bother to respond to that; she was a clean cat and the house knew that. It just needed something to whine about.
"Oh dear, there is number two," the house sighed as Obsidian Shadow made his way to the door also.
"Stop that," Hilda commented from the couch. "We are relaxing and we can do that just fine without you going on about every little nothing."
"Oh, excuse me for still standing," the house grouched, "I am just trying to tell you- now how did they do that?" The grouchiness had entirely disappeared from the voice of the house. The sudden change in its sound caused movement in the two shapes on the couch also.
"What did they do?" Hilda walked over to the door and was just in time to see Grimalkin come back in with an arrow clenched between her teeth. The black cat stopped and dropped the arrow on the ground. "William, did you see that?"
The wizard was right behind her and he had seen it. "We got us a few really special cats, Hilda. Usually just dogs fetch things." He watched as Hilda picked up the arrow and unrolled the piece of paper that was attached to it.
"May I ask for a moment of attention for the paint?" the house enquired.
"No," two voices simultaneous said, as their owners were reading the scrap of paper. Obsi came in again, his tail flicking left and right, almost as in victory.
"How do you get a large boat in a lake?" Hilda wondered as she sat down on the couch again.
William shrugged and reread the paper. "Honourable witch, there is a large boat in the Green Lake. Can you help?" He rubbed his nose. "How do you get a boat over there anyway," he wondered, "the Green Lake is surrounded by hills."
"Crappedy crap, never a dull moment, William," Hilda said. "Care for a quick flight to Green Lake? It's been a while since we were there."
The two summoned their brooms and walked out the door. "Say, house," William then said, "what's that with the paint?"
The house seemed mute for a while, then said: "This has been resolved, William."
"Resolved? How that? You were going on about it as if you were on fire."
"It was your black creature," the house said.
William looked at the black cat that innocently sat on the brush of his broom. "Obsi? What did you do?" A black head turned towards him, treating him to a gentle meow. "Holy Bejeebus, I have to start watching you," the wizard muttered.
Hilda locked the house and broomed up into the air, with William right behind her.
-=-=-
The flight to Green Lake was a nice reason to be out. The sun was shining, the breeze was nice and warm, and the ordinaries in the fields were working their butts off, so everything felt quite right.
"Are you telling me that your cat fixed the paint-problem on the house?" Hilda asked, seemingly out of the blue. She had captured Williams thoughts through the bond they shared.
"Sounded like it," William nodded, scratching Obsi's head. "I didn't check. I'll have a look when we get home."
"Just what we need: magical cats." Hilda looked at her wizard. "Keep him under control, will you? I already have my hands full with you." She grinned. "Well, tonight again anyway."
Joking and laughing like that, the trip to the Green Hills, where the Green Lake was, went very fast. The water of the actual lake was not green, of course, but wherever you stood along its edge, you saw the reflection of one of the Green Hills in the water. That was why the locals had started calling it the Green Lake. Before some bright mind had thought of that, the water was known merely as the lake. Of course, the lake could not care less.
Hilda and William approached the Green Hills. From their high position they soon spotted the boat. "That is one eyesore," William commented.
"It's black, that's a good thing," Hilda defended the bulky vessel as they came closer.
On the ground they noticed a handful or people standing, probably observing the ship. It floated close to the lake's edge. Two sturdy chains, one front and one on the back, kept the large black thing in place. It was about one hundred and fifty feet long, and sixty feet high as well as wide. As Hilda had already remarked, black was the prominent colour. They saw several men running over the deck and strange openings in the hull.
"Do you think that's a slaver's ship with people in chains rowing the boat?" Hilda asked, more interested in the openings than in the men.
"I doubt that. There would be oars sticking from the holes. Unless they have a magical person on board to make them disappear, in which case they probably don't need slaves." William thought his logic was flawless.
They circled the ship, as Hilda said: "And what if the slaver is the magical person?"
"He then would be a sod if he would wear out his merchandise," William said.
"Oh, hush you."
The wizard grinned.
They hovered near one of the four masts, each one set with full red sails. As they ignored the shouts of the men below, they inspected the oval symbol th
at was on each sail, painted in white. William asked Hilda if she knew what that oval would mean, but she shrugged. She had never seen it before like that. From their high position they looked at the surprising stern of the ship. It was not only look far too high but it was also larger than one would expect. It was at least sixty feet long, covering over one third of the deck.
The men on the ship ran to the other side as not to lose sight of the two brooms and their occupants as the magicals swerved around the ship. Some of the men were shouting, some were whistling, and one of them ran to the hulky stern, to disappear through one of the doors in the high construction.
"Suck an elf, William," Hilda said as she pointed to a few remarkably familiar constructions on the deck. "Am I losing it or are those chicken coops?"
William confirmed her suspicions, the wooden shapes looked very much like chicken coops.
They completed their tour of the ship and had another big surprise as they reached the bow. There the ship sported a huge white, oval crystal. It had an uncanny resemblance to the symbol on the sails. The crystal, three feet high and about two feet wide, was guarded by a big man. The man had a great sword hanging from his belt and a strange yellow stick in his hand. The stick competed with the red sails in being the most cheerful object aboard.
"Hey, hello there," William called out to the man near the crystal, "can you tell us who runs this ship?"
The big bald man, he wore brown and green striped baggy pants and a red tunic, looked at the people on brooms that hovered close to the hull. "I can." His large black moustache made threatening movements
