by Paul Kater
it, so we thought that maybe you two...." He waved a hand. "With your magic and so..."
Hilda went through a lot of pain to keep her face straight. Nobody but William knew about her magic being gone, and it should stay that way. She quickly glanced at her hand as William took it and squeezed it gently. Before she could wonder what he wanted, she saw how he raised a hand. Squeeze. Following a feeling she also raised a hand, and a moment later there was a wand in it. Not her wand, but there was something. William held his own wand. Hilda understood that she just had to follow his lead, so he could cover for her. It made her heart scream, but she felt good about her wizard.
"I'll give it a go," William said. "Then you try it."
Hilda nodded.
The wizard cast a bolt at the pyramid which should put a magical wedge between it and the Mimosa, to drive them apart. The bolt stopped halfway the pyramid and then simply vanished. William and Hilda stared. That had never happened. Hilda held the strange wand with both hands, made quite a fuss over getting ready to throw something, and when she did throw, William flashed a big lightning bolt from the tip of her wand. The lightning bolt jumped to the pyramid unhindered, hit it and bounced off it. The flash jumped away into space and was never seen again by the crew of the Mimosa.
"That's not going to work," Hilda said, scratching her nose. She walked over to the railing, put her hands on it and seemed to think. "Hey, you over there!" she then shouted out to the pyramid. "What's that you think you're doing? Do you want us to come over and make you suck elves?"
William bit his tongue not to burst out laughing. That was the witch he loved., with all her spunk.
Hilda turned her back to the humongous white pyramid. "I think they're deaf," she said. "I shouted loud enough, didn't I?" Then she noticed the astounded looks on the faces of the people watching her. Even William - wait... were they watching her or... She turned around and saw the reason of the surprised expressions. A small bit of the giant pyramid had opened. It was a triangular shape that now served as a platform. And on the platform was a small object. It was white. In the shape of a pyramid. "Crappedy crap," she muttered, "it's giving birth."
The little white pyramid lifted off from the platform, which folded itself up, sealing the outside of the large pyramid. The little thing moved towards the Mimosa. As it did, it grew larger. To everyone's amazement, it kept growing larger, until its width was more than half the length of the black ship. Then it was almost so close that you could throw a stone at it and hit it.
"Madonna," Maurizio managed. "Che è grande."
Hilda had moved back to where William was standing and together they stared at the massive 'triangular all over' thing. Seeing it this large, so close up, made it clear that the mother... pyramid was even larger than it seemed. Deep space looks were deceiving.
Before anyone did something (not that anyone had plans in that direction), a triangle folded itself down, like the platform on the mother pyramid had done.
"Now what?" Hilda wondered. William had to give it to her: she was not the squeamish kind.
Everyone aboard the Mimosa half expected that another pyramid would come from the pyramid, as that one had come from the mother pyramid, but two human shapes appeared on the platform. It was slightly disappointing.
The two shapes seemed to debate about what their next step would be. Then one of them went back into the pyramid, that started to move closer not much later. The giant pyramid crawled up to the Mimosa. Maurizio drew a sword from somewhere and stepped up to the railing.
Hilda poked William in the ribs and waved her fake wand. "Come, he can't do that alone," she said, so they joined the redcoat captain. Rebel was right there with them.
The giant white thing inched its way up to the black ship. Hilda and William had ample time to look at the person who was standing on the folded-down platform. "Can you tell what it is?" Hilda asked her wizard. He had no clue.
The creature seemed about their height. It had a blue or purple cap on its head, looking a bit like an old-fashioned knight's helmet but without the visor. Its face looked normal, with two eyes, a nose and a mouth, and rather pale skin. The creature was dressed in something silvery. It looked a rough knitted sweater that hung down to its knees (if it had knees) with a matted silver triangular breastplate. Silvery boots completed the appearance. The clothing of the creature had no special markings on them that the magical couple could make out.
Maurizio watched the approaching vessel like a hawk, holding his sword out over the railing. "Stop right there!" he yelled. "This is my ship and you're not coming aboard!"
The pyramid came to a halt less than one foot from the hull of the Mimosa. The blue-capped and silver-clad creature leaned back into the pyramid for a moment, and then the other one came out again. He - or she - carried something in a hand. The two looked at the gathering of people on the black ship. Then the creature who had reappeared from the pyramid said: "Hello. We are glad you got here on time." Judging from the voice this was a definite she.
This announcement created some confusion among most of the people. Hilda just leaned on the railing and asked: "What do you mean on time? We weren't even supposed to be here." She poked the fake wand against the pyramid. It did not budge.
The two creatures stared at Hilda. And at the thing one of them held. And back at Hilda. "Oh, but you were!", the she said as something close to blissful delight spread over her face and that of her fellow-alien. "And you are the witch!"
That was too much even for Hilda. She stood up straight and scowled. "And what's that to you? I don't know you, I probably don't want to know you and I don't want to be here."
William was dumbstruck.
"Come on, guys," said Rebel, "give us a break. We're stranded here and you say it's all a plan?"
The two aliens stepped from their platform, onto the railing of the ship and gracefully floated onto the deck. "It is not a plan. It is a prophecy," the so far silent one said with a squeaky tenor voice. The purple on their heads was hair, not a cap.
Maurizio by now had regained control over his body again. He stepped between the witch and the aliens, raised his sword and said: "You are trespassing." He grabbed in his pocket and brought out the eye patch, which he quickly and one handedly put over an eye. The captain had obviously done that more than once.
The two silver-clad aliens looked at him, without twitching so much as a facial muscle. "And you are?"
"I am the captain of this ship, the Mimosa."
The two looked at each other for a moment. "We are here for the witch," the female alien then said and ignored the sword. "Not for a captain."
Maurizio looked dismayed and hurt in his pride. Rebel stared at the new arrivals. William wasn't certain what the best action was at this point.
"Hold it," said Hilda. "We're guests of the captain, he's been good for us apart from taking us away from our world, so no putting him down, do you hear me?"
Maurizio looked relieved. "Thank you, Mrs. Witch."
Rebel snorted.
"We do not want to put someone down," said the male alien, "we just came to collect you. The others can go where they want."
10. Collecting
"You what?" Hilda could not believe her ears. She was not the only surprised person on the Mimosa. "Collect me? What for? I'm not sure that I want to go." She waved the fake wand in front of the two aliens, who watched the stick and looked at each other.
William put an arm around the witch and said: "I'm not going to let you take her anywhere. Hilda is a free witch who goes where she wants."
The male alien looked at the wizard. "Who are you?"
"I am William the Wizard, and Hilda's official partner."
The two aliens looked at each other again, this time with some worry and confusion. "We are here only for the witch, William the Wizard. You are free to go where you want."
William showed them his wand. "Let's first establish some clarity here. You come here without any proper introduction and you claim that you wil
l take the witch with you, for whatever reason. Who are you people, and why do you think you can take Hilda with you?"
"You are not a person to question us," said the female alien.
William mumbled a spell, and the two aliens fell to the deck, so totally covered in ropes that moving was impossible for them. "Want to reconsider that statement?"
The two floored ones looked surprised. "There was never a mention of this!" the man exclaimed as he squirmed to free himself.
"A mention of what?" Hilda asked as she got closer to the two.
"Of him!" The male alien made it sound like an accusation towards William.
"Keep talking, you have a grateful audience," Hilda said as she pretended to tap the man on his purple hair with her fake wand.
"Geena so pjatti pjatti koo koo roh gah poko liktokoh", said the female alien. Something under her ropes lit up, probably her silvery clothes, and the ropes seemed to melt away from her. The ropes around her companion also fell away. The two got up swiftly and faster than the eye could follow. The man touched something on his suit after which a blinding flash of white light enveloped him and the woman.
"Crappedy crap" was the only thing heard as everyone's eyes tried to overcome this vicious attack.
By the time the people aboard the Mimosa could see again, the two aliens had disappeared. The large pyramid was moving towards the very large pyramid.
"Where's Hilda?" William asked.
-=-=-
Hilda had