by Paul Kater
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.
14. The high council (1)
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."
&n
bsp; "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.
They followed the tall man out of the flying pyramid taxi and were treated to sit down in a line of floating chairs that hovered in a small white hall. After they all had found a seat, the chairs silently moved through a silently opening door and then through a long white silent tunnel.
"Is it always this quiet here?" Maurizio wondered, which earnt him a warning glance from Davdruw. Clearly Davdruw's warning about the silence was to be taken seriously.
The chairs ended their journey as they floated through a door that suddenly opened at the moment Davdruw was doomed to hit the wall. The change from the long white corridor to the fountain of colours they came into was breathtaking. The floor under their chairs and feet was an ever-changing mosaic of pastel colours, moving from one shape to another in a subtle and fluent way. The high walls were
