by Paul Kater
intensely at Hilda and William. "Strange places."
"Green Lake is not a strange place. I do agree that this ship is a weird one," Hilda said, sampling her cappucino. "Oh, good. Learn to make those, William."
Maurizio looked at Rebel who treated him to a mocking grin. "We go to places that are, as they say, out of this world." He frowned at his own words for a moment and considered Hilda. "Although I think that this world is also out of... this world."
William laughed. "I don't know what world you come from, but I can relate. I'm not from here either."
"Looks like you adjusted quite well, though," Rebel stated, "with your robes and flying around on a broom."
"That's just because he's with me," Hilda said over her coffee cup.
Maurizio tried to keep the answers going. "This ship flies through space. It goes to planets and... dimensions?" He looked at Rebel.
The woman nodded. "Yeah. I'm not all sure what and how, but it appears we're thrown through artificially generated wormholes that not only drift through space, but also through time and other dimensions." As the two magicals stared at her blankly, she elaborated: "It basically means that we never know where we're going."
Maurizio added: "And often we also do not know where we came from."
"I'll take a broom over something like that anytime," said Hilda. "At least that goes where you want. So where are you from? You don't sound like you are from near here. Or from far away here. I've been around, you know, I've heard a lot of dialects."
The man with the parrot sat up somewhat straighter. "I am, as I said, Maurizio Blunt. I am from la bella Italia. I lived near the Lago di Garda. That was around 1965."
William nodded slowly. "So you could be from my world," he said. "I'm from a small town near Pittsburgh."
"I have heard of Pittsboorgh," Maurizio displayed his knowledge. "It is in America."
Rebel put her coffee mug down. "I'm Donna Abrahams. Call me Rebel and I won't hurt you. I'm from the future, I guess. I was born in the 924th year after the Great Turnaround, in the city of greater Darwin in Oz."
"Oz? Australia?" William asked.
"Yeah, that's what they used to call it before the Great Turnaround," Rebel nodded. "More coffee anyone?"
4. Broom
During the second round of coffee Hilda and William told the two strange people who they were and in where they had arrived. Maurizio and Rebel both did not react too surprised, they had seen quite a lot of things already, that much was clear.
"So you are doing actual flying and witching and stuff?" Rebel asked. "That must be really cool. Maybe I should get me a broom also, Moro."
Maurizio looked at her, despair in his face. "No. Please. You want to try everything. In every place we arrive up you pick up some thing or some habit. Now you want to become a strega? A witch? You are a handful the way you are."
"Why does she keep calling you moron?" Hilda asked.
"Moron?" Rebel burst out laughing. "It's Moro. Friends can call him Moro, he seems to like that. And so do I, as it's easier than Maurizio. And faster." William gathered that sometimes that had to be an advantage, if these people were really jumping from one strange place to the next.
"So, when are you people leaving?" Hilda came back to business. "This is a weird place for a ship. We'll have to find some explanation for the people in the village, and perhaps even for King Walt. He's bound to hear about this sometime."
"You have a real king here?" Maurizio's eyes twinkled. "Can I see him? Does he have a big palace and a beautiful wife and guards in armour?"
Hilda looked at William. "Queen Velma isn't exactly beautiful, is she?"
"No, she misses some things to be beautiful. Beauty, for instance," William agreed.
"The castle is quite big, yes. There are guards, but perhaps not in the armour that you think of. I've seen better stuff. The things they wear look like hand-me-downs. But don't tell anyone I said so. I'll deny everything."
"Perhaps we should find out," William thought out loud, "if the king already heard about this ship. If he has, it would be good to let him meet Maurizio and Rebel. Either here or in the castle. After all, this is his country."
"True," Hilda said.
Maurizio prodded Rebel in the ribs and got a solid slap back. Rebel did not seem to appreciate being the punching bag. "Mama Mia, that would be fantastico," the captain said. "Can you go and find that out now?"
"Hey, hold on," Hilda said, "I'm the one asking the questions here, remember? So, when are you going to leave?"
"That depends on the light and the crystal," Maurizio shrugged, "we can never tell when the situation is good."
"The light and the crystal?"
Rebel explained as well as she could: "Did you see the large oval crystal on the bow? That is what generates the wormhole that sucks the ship in. We need a specific lightfall on the crystal for it to create the wormhole, and since light conditions are different in every place we pop up, it is always a surprise when it happens."
"And if it happens," Maurizio added.
"True," Rebel said, "we've been worried more than once that we might not be able to get away again. Usually from the places we really wanted to get away from."
There was a gentle gong-sound coming from somewhere. "Moro? The locals demand their witch back," a voice said.
Hilda jumped up, wand in hand, as she tried to locate the source of the voice. "What's that? You have a crystal ball somewhere?" To her chagrin, William grinned along with Rebel and Maurizio.
"Sweetwitch," the wizard said, "this ship seems to have some communication system. It is not a crystal ball, it is electronic. Usually. I must say that a crystal ball looks better."
"What's an electronic?" Hilda snapped, even though she did not want to. She felt outnumbered and seriously out of control. Especially the latter was devastating for her. "Oh, don't even answer that. They will leave and take all that stuff with them anyhow, so why do I care. I have to go and see what the villagers want." She looked around, trying to find the door that had let them in. "Crappedy crap," she said as she popped up her wand. "Ostium expositus."
The door had no choice. It opened. Maurizio and Rebel jumped from their sacks and stared as Hilda gathered her cat and marched out of the lounge. William picked up Obsi and rose. "Looks like the coffee break is over. Thanks, Rebel, good coffee." Then he hurried after his witch. The two people who had arrived on the Mimosa hurried after the wizard.
Hilda had progressed halfway through the corridor when she started to hesitate. "Crappedy crap, where am I and where did we get in?" All the doors in the corridor looked the same, with the yellow panels and nothing distinguishable. Grimalkin squirmed herself free from Hilda's hands, dropped to the floor and padded along the corridor as if it was home sweet home. The black animal trotted along until she reached a door that was slightly larger.
"Good girl," the witch said. She did her wand trick and the door opened. Hilda breathed in, relaxing as she saw the iron ornaments on the other side of the door. Normality was near.
William had caught up with her as she stepped through the door and went up the short staircase. "This is not your style, is it?" he grinned.
"Down there, that's no style, William. That's all white. Even Snow White would boggle at that, take my word for it." Hilda scanned the large deck. Most of the sailors had dispersed, apparently there were things to do after all. Only two of them stood near the railing with a few other people. Hilda recognised a few of them; they were from the village.
As the two magicals reached the small group, Hilda asked: "Mathis, Bronny, what are you doing here?"
The two men bowed. "Honourable witch, we were worried about you! We saw you get on this ship and then there was this big metal creature, and-"
"-And you think that I can't take care of myself," Hilda completed his words. "That's really kind of you, but I have a wand, I have magic, and I have a wizard. That should be enough to keep me safe, don't you agree? Oh, and I have a cat," she added as Grim meowingly
complained about being left out.
"Actually," Bronny said, "we wanted to let you know that there is a messenger from the king. The king heard of the ship and he wants to know all about it."
"Oh." Hilda frowned for a moment. "Well, you get back into that little boat of yours and go tell the messenger that we'll be over at the castle as soon as we have something good to tell."
Mathis then said that the king also wanted to see the owner of the ship.
"That might present a problem," said Maurizio. "We don't know who the owner is. But we can easily solve that of course, if the king would be satisfied to see me, Doctor Maurizio Blunt."
"Doctor who?" Mathis scowled.
"Just call him captain Blunt," Rebel tossed in, "he responds well to that."
Bronny leaned towards Hilda. "They're not from around here, are they?" he asked in a whisper.
"Too true," Hilda sighed. "Now best you get to your oars again so we don't keep the king waiting." The two men agreed and climbed down the rope ladder. The sailors and magicals watched them row off to the small harbour that was the main attraction of the village.
"Friendly and caring people," Maurizio remarked.
"More like nosey and possessive," Hilda muttered, "but convenient from time to time. William, we should go and see the king."
"Can we come?" Maurizio immediately asked. "I can have a row boat ready very quickly!"
Hilda looked at her wizard, who sensed how she felt about that. He simply nodded. "Well, I guess you should be shown," she then said. "But what do you want to do
