by Paul Kater
lot happier," Kerna said, frowning as she looked at the older and more experienced witch. "I assume you never had something like this happen to you, right?"
"Never. And I don't envy you, but since we're here, we're going to do what we can to help you. Let's first get some idea of what we're up against."
Whatever power listened in on the conversation between the two witches, it made sure they did not have to wait too long for one of these ideas. Something huge and triangular, covered in black and brown stripes and soaring high above the two, changed its course as it noticed the two small unidentified flying objects. Soundlessly it sailed downward.
"Do you also have the feeling someone's watching us?" Kerna asked, out of the blue as she looked around.
"Yes. Since a few moments. You're becoming good, Kerna." Hilda looked around as well, but her experience in flying made her look down as well. And up.
"Crappedy crap, what's that?!"
Kerna looked up and saw the huge triangle come down towards them. Without a word the witches split up and dropped away from the path of the huge animal. In a wide circle, Hilda flew around it and joined Kerna.
"I never saw that beast before," the local witch said. "I never even heard of something like that."
"I see. That limits our options to do something about it. Maybe it is trying to be friendly in its own way." Hilda whipped up her wand. "This feels so good."
The large animal had great speed but little agility, so the two witches had plenty of time to fly around it and stay out of its reach. Patience wasn't one of its virtues, it seemed. After a few more serious attempts to capture at least one of the witches, it opened a small beak, let out a shrill disappointed shriek and heavily winged its way out of there.
Hilda watched it go, and then looked at her wand. "Oh well," she said as she made it disappear. "Better luck next time."
35. The next step
The witches returned to the cave and were in dire need of something calming. William supplied that, as the two told what they had seen.
"Such a strange beast, William, good thing it was a lot slower than a Nobbleback. There's so much we don't know about this place," Hilda said.
Kerna, her glass in hand, nodded. "For example we still don't know what we are supposed to do about the prophecy."
Everyone pondered that problem for a while.
"Do you still have that tablet book thing somewhere?" Maurizio asked then.
William made the tablet appear from one of his pockets. "We do. Why?"
"Perhaps, now Kerna's a witch as well, it may be able to tell us some more," Maurizio said. There was more hope than certainty in his voice.
"Any guess is as good as the next one," William shrugged, putting the tablet on the table after switching it on.
Kerna pulled the tablet-book towards her and looked at it. She fumbled a bit with the buttons and the images on the screen changed a few times, but nothing seemed to make much sense to her.
Dwey, the stapu, crawled from Kerna's lap onto the table and quickly licked all over the display.
"Dwey, don't!" Kerna lifted the animal from the table. "Oh, no, look what happened!"
The tablet had switched itself off. Kerna pushed the buttons, but the tablet was off and remained off.
"Your beast broke it," Hilda nodded as she said it. "Silly books like that and stapu drool were not made for each other, apparently."
Kerna picked up the tablet and shook it. "Dead. Technology is not helping us anymore," she said as she put it back.
"True. But sitting here and doing nothing is not going to help us any further either," Hilda commented.
Silence made a serious attempt to seize control of the situation.
The two witches looked at each other. Then a mutual grin broke free on their faces.
"Should we start to worry now?" Maurizio carefully asked, preparing to get up.
William set a grin free as well, as he picked up from Hilda what she and Kerna were thinking of. "That's it!"
"What's what?" Rebel and Maurizio demanded to know.
"That!" the wizard said, pointing at the broken tablet. "Well, sort of," he added, confusing the two people even more.
"Don't you see?" Hilda asked. "It's what's been happening here all the time! In Pyramid City the people have been relying on technology that is breaking down around them. It is not helping them anymore, yet they have no other option at hand. Without it they're lost."
"And the people in the village below aren't making any progress in their life. They just sit there and wait for the witch to come," Kerna added.
"Yes, right, but these villagers down there built that impressive set of stones to guide us here," Rebel argued, "that's something impressive."
"They did not build it," William pitched in. "Their forefathers did. These folks there don't have a clue. You saw how they were pushing their carts by hand, right? That's not a particular sign of progress."
The captain and his reluctant lover now nodded. "Right... so what we have to achieve is..."
"...to make the technology addicts kick their habit..."
"...and make the witch-waiters move!"
"Yup. Because the witch is in," Hilda concluded. "And the witch thinks that it is time for these folks to make this planet a nice one again, with trees everywhere instead of the grey stuff."
"She does?" Kerna asked.
"Yes, she does."
"Oh. It does sound good. So how do we start with that?" Kerna was curious.
"I thought that was where you would take over the witchy train of thoughts," Hilda frowned.
"And I thought this was a good start," Kerna retaliated. She grinned.
Hilda grinned also.
The others relaxed.
"So what do you think?" Hilda promptly slammed down the relaxation. "Any bright ideas?"
"I think that the first thing to do is inform this world that Hilda is not the witch. That it's Kerna." Rebel looked around, hoping for the others to agree.
"Not good thinking," William said. "As long as they all think that we're still looking, we have the advantage to make better plans."
"We are still looking, wizard," Hilda reminded him.
"Trivial circumstance," the wizard said. "I suggest we split up teams. One goes to the village nearby and ask them what they plan to do now the witch has been found. And the others go to Pyramid City, tell them the witch has been found, and ask the same thing."
Hilda's eyes sparkled. "And then we come back, bringing the respective leaders, and put them in a cage to fight it out, right?"
Kerna's eyes became large. Rebel snorted with laughter, while Maurizio frowned.
"Creative, we'll save that for when we can't work things out a simpler way," William said.
Hilda scowled. "That option is pretty simple, wizard."
"That is not how we do this here!" Kerna objected then. "In case of a dispute like this, an independent referee should locate neutral ground where the two sides can meet. There both sides declare their willingness to be truthful and state their point of view."
"And then?"
"I don't know. It never got to that, but such is the rule here."
"We should instate a new rule here then," said Hilda. "That rule says that the witch is right."
Kerna stared at Hilda. "That is quite presumptuous, Hilda."
"No. It's the witch's attitude," William explained. "It's hard to explain, but most of the time it works."
"What do you mean 'most of the time'?" Hilda demanded to know, although she secretly grinned about his words.
William just looked at her, with a visible grin. "You are the one that needs to ask. Now really."
They then decided on the two team approach. Kerna, Rebel and William would visit the village, Hilda and Maurizio would face the people in the pyramids. Hilda and William would keep in touch through their link. It was a good way to alert each other in case of an emergency.
-=-=-
The next morning William and Hilda crafted a few
more brooms so everyone could be comfortable. Rebel would fly with William, as the village was not far away.
"Seeing someone fly without a broom might be unnerving to them," Rebel said.
Maurizio would fly with Hilda. Grim would have to accept that.
Kerna was pleased to see that Dwey felt as comfortable on her broom as the two cats of the other magicals were.
"Take care, wizard," Hilda said as she hovered on her broom.
"You too, witch," the wizard replied. He watched Hilda fly off, Maurizio sitting behind her. "Come, we have things to do," he then said, and made his broom lift off.
Kerna followed the wizard and Rebel closely, enjoying the freedom of the flight.
They reached the village and touched down on the market square. Their appearance stirred up quite a commotion.
The first person that stopped to look at them, a young man, was told that the three were looking for Tarkan. "And if there are other influential people here, it would be nice if they can join us as well."
The young man recognised the man in the dark clothes and his companions. "I will go and tell Tarkan that you are here. He may not feel too friendly towards you, after you left him hanging in the air for so long."
"It's a chance we'll take," William said with a wink to Kerna and Rebel.
-=-=-
During that, Hilda and Maurizio sped through Lycadean airspace at a tremendous speed.
"Hilda, are you sure this speed is safe?" Maurizio asked.
"Sure. Safest way to travel of all options," the witch said. "Besides, I don't want to spend days getting there. This way we're making good time. William's already in the village."
"Do you know why he did not go to the Pyramid folks?" the captain wanted to know.
"I can be more convincing when needed," Hilda grinned.
-=-=-
In the village, William, Rebel and Kerna made themselves comfortable on a few chairs they made appear, much to the interest and some consternation of the villagers passing by or standing to see what was going on.
It took quite a while before the self-appointed messenger returned, with the words: "Tarkan says that you can, uhm, well, I think he means that he does not want to see you."
William could imagine a few varieties on the words of Tarkan, and none of them would be either healthy, promote longevity or get them any way to talk to the man.
"We'll give it some time," he said, making a table appear, with tea and coffee for the taking. "Hilda's not there yet, so we don't need to hurry."
A few of the bystanders tried to come closer without being obvious about it. That attempt failed miserably, because Kerna and William noticed them promptly.
"Come and sit if you want," William said, popping up some more seats. "Coffee? Tea?"
Having passed the point of no return, the three people sat down with the wizard and his friends. They introduced themselves as Dosur, Wikelle and Josna. Soon they were engaged in a friendly chat with William and the ladies. Then Sodor and Kyru, the villagers who had found the travelling group, showed up and joined in.
Kerna had the honour to explain what they had thought of. The five sitting with them agreed that this sounded like a viable and good plan.
"That way both ends can do their saying," Dosur nodded, stroking his beard.
"Indeed, and problems can be heard early and dealt with." Kyru seemed pleased with this all as well.
William just nodded. This was a good attitude.
36. Pyramid City
Pyramid City came into view. It was obvious that nobody expected Hilda and her friends back, because there was no welcoming committee. The area around the pyramids was calm. Too calm almost. Some of the buildings looked more run down than before. Sheets of material lay on the ground, parts of the internal structure were exposed to the outside world in a way they were not supposed to be.
"Things do not look good here," Maurizio commented as Hilda swooped over the conglomerate of structures.
"You got that right. Let's see where we can go inside."
They found the pyramid that they had lived in for a while, before their great escape. The door they had used to go in and out with Kerna, when things still looked amiable, was easy to spot.
"I am curious how soon we will be asked what we want," said Hilda as she landed the broom. She popped up her wand, cast some magic, and the door opened. The two stepped inside and waited.
They waited a bit longer.
"We've been waiting for quite a while now, haven't we?" Maurizio remarked as his feet started to feel uncomfortable. Nobody had shown up yet, which was amazing since the last time there had been warning systems everywhere, and soldiers in abundance.
Hilda nodded. "Come, if they don't want to find us, we'll have to find them."
The journey through the pyramid proved much more complicated without Kerna to guide them, but they found a group of blue-haired people in silver clothing eventually.
"Hey you, where's Davdruw?" Hilda asked them in her typical diplomatic way.
The people recognised the witch. "He is in his chambers, honoured witch."
"Good. I need a volunteer to take me there. You really should do something about this place, a person gets lost here!"
None of the people made a voluntary move, so Hilda appointed one of them. The man in question did not look very happy but obliged.
"What's happened here?" Hilda asked him.
"There were some… problems," the man reluctantly decided to share with them.
"Problems," Maurizio repeated. "That sounds as if you put it mildly."
The appointed volunteer shrouded himself in silence, which spoke volumes.
They reached the corridor where Hilda had been before. The first time, she recalled, it had been in a floating chair, while she had been helpless, without magic. The memory made her shiver.
"Can I go now?" the guide asked. As the witch did not reply immediately he took that silence as his leave and disappeared into one of the many corridors.
Hilda looked at the large white door for a moment. "Let's pay this man a visit."
The wand did its work and the door opened. Obviously Davdruw did not want visitors; the door complained loudly as it was forced through its locking mechanism. It was not witch-proof.
Hilda walked into the large colourful room, the captain on her heels. "Davdruw! I'm back!" She made it sound as if he should be happy about that.
"Crappedy crap," the witch then said. The large room was not as magnificent as it had been before. All kinds of ornaments had fallen from the walls, the floor was littered with pieces of ceiling and many pieces of furniture had acted as landing platforms for ceiling parts as well. They showed proof of that.
Davdruw, the tall man, sat in his chair, dust all over him. He rested his head in his hands and looked up slowly as Hilda and Maurizio approached him.
"What happened here?" Hilda asked.
"Not just here," Davdruw said, almost toneless. "Many places."
"And you have no idea why, right?"
"Oh. I know. We all know. We just don't know how to fix it."
"Let me guess," Maurizio added to the conversation. "Your computers are failing and things are falling apart now."
Davdruw looked at the man. "The machines, yes, they are failing. But the reason for that is worrying."
"Which is?" Hilda had no desire to wait for the man to speak on.
"The High Council has been fighting. Some of them started destroying the machines in the Pallazi."
"Fighting among themselves?" Hilda could hardly believe that, but Davdruw nodded.
"We did not know that some of the machines keep the buildings in shape. Well, we did, but we hoped these had not been broken."
"Well, better to have some loose sheeting fall down than your weather things going crazy, I guess," the witch pointed out. "So, as to why we're here-"
"You endangered our safety!" Davdruw snapped, interrupting Hilda as he got off his chair. "You will be punished for tha
t!"
"Oh. Really. Gosh, colour me impressed. We're here to save your whiny asses and you want to punish me? Remember the thing about the witch who's here to make things right?"
Davdruw looked down at Hilda. "And do you wish me to elaborate, honoured witch, on the state of our society that now is around us? Your presence here has destroyed so much already!"
Hilda was still not impressed. "Sometimes you have to tear down the old mess before you can build something new. Like removing rotten apples from a basket."
The ceiling made an ominous sound. The witch looked up and used her magic to stabilise a few spots that threatened to drop in for a surprise visit.
"Although in this case," she continued, "it is good to throw out the entire basket and weave a new one. Well, make someone else weave a new one. I hate weaving just as much as Latin."
Davdruw looked at the witch, his gaze puzzled. "What is Latin?"
"Horrible," Hilda assured him, "trust me. Now listen, we have worked out this idea to bring a group of people from here and a group of people from the others to a place where we can talk about the future of your planet."
"Others?" Davdruw was losing track.
"Yes, the old ones, remember? The ones that walked out when your ancestors started to play with their machines so much?"
"They found you?" The tall man's eyes suddenly were filled with anger. "They infested your brain with their lies and false truths?"
"Well, we went looking for them. And nobody infested anything," Maurizio pitched in, trying to feel part of the conversation.
Before Davdruw could respond to the captain, Hilda said: "We're not here to see who is right and wrong. That's why we have this gathering planned. So you find a few sensible people and come with us. And I would prefer some not to be from your High Council. They are nice, but many are too cracked up."
"You are not telling me what to do." Davdruw folded his arms over his chest. "You are the witch who is not a witch. I am the spiritual leader. People will listen to me."
"Yes, and die laughing, I'm sure," Hilda snorted. "And I have another surprise for you. I'm just the witch. Not the not-a-witch. We found her as well."
Davdruw turned his back to the witch.
"Oh. I see. You don't believe it." Hilda shrugged and looked at Maurizio. "I think we can write him off as someone to take part in the gathering as well."
Maurizio nodded. He had written Davdruw off long ago already.
The witch kept an eye on Davdruw. She remembered his fondness of twiddling with things on his sleeves to invoke all kinds of people that usually had nothing good for her on their minds. His sleeve moved...
"Levitas," she muttered, flipping up her wand to make some more impression.
Davdruw lifted off. The effect was sublime. He yelped and flapped his arms, which was good. That kept his busy fingers away from the twiddly bits.
"I thought that was wingardium leviosa?" Maurizio asked, some surprise evident on his face.
"What?" Hilda scowled at him for a moment. Then she made the floating spiritual leader rotate so she could see his face.
"Right. I guess I have your attention now. First, stop treating me like a joke, Davdruw. This is no laughing matter."
The floating man's face silently agreed with her, while his shock only slowly wore off.
"I need a group of five or six people that come with me. Sensible people. We're going to make some changes around here."
Davdruw had regained control over his vocal abilities. "Not if I can help it!"
-=-=-
Funny enough, that
