Hilda - Lycadea

by Paul Kater

but some scary magic held her in her place as the chair floated along behind the two pale aliens with their purple hair and their silver clothes. She had asked a few questions, but had not gotten any answers.

  After yet another turn, Hilda had the impression that they were walking not only straight ahead but also straight up at times, they stopped in front of a white wall. The magically impaired witch wondered what they were going to do there. Galgoran touched the wall with her hand and then the wall moved up like a portcullis.

  Behind the wall lay a room. No, a hall. No, a cathedral. No, not that big. Hall would do, Hilda decided. It was remarkable. For starters it was not all white, which was a relief to the witchy eyes. There were shades of brown and yellow and blue and - purple! From inside the hall came a wonderful concoction of smell made of flowers, fresh air and food. Especially the food part of it made the witch aware that it had been quite a while since she'd eaten.

  "So, now what?" Hilda asked from her undignified position in the chair that still held her.

  "Davdruw will come," said the blue-haired man, Golgofro. The way he said the name told Hilda that Davdruw had to be a person of some importance.

  "Wouldn't it be polite to make this chair let go of me?" the witch asked. "What will Davdrow say when he sees me like this?"

  "DavDRUW knows," Galgoran said.

  "Crappedy crap, what does he know?" Hilda commented.

  "Enough," a new voice said. It was a voice one had to love. In that one word it held all the things one would wish for in a voice. Galgoran and Golgofro stepped back in sheer awe, as a giant of a person stepped from behind a large white screen with a red frame. "I am Davdruw, and I am aware of your situation, Grimhilda the Witch."

  Hilda felt the capitals as the man spoke and envied him as he made a movement which released her from the grip of the floating chair. She hopped out of it and looked up at the man who was at least seven foot tall. "Where am I, who are you and when can I go back to that stupid ship?" she asked, entirely unimpressed by the size of the newcomer.

  "You are hungry," Davdruw said, "so please come with me and we can talk whilst you are replenishing your strength." Totally unimpressed by Hilda's powerful coming on to him, he turned and walked off. He did not even check if the witch was following him. She did, as the promise of food was enticing enough. As she walked along into the large hall, behind her Galgoran and Golgofro took the chair away as the wall came down again.

  Davdruw, on his long legs, was no match for the disabled and broomless witch. She had to run to keep up with him but did not complain. She'd show him what kind of witch he was dealing with. By the time the man stopped, near a table loaded with food and cushions to sit on, Hilda was panting.

  "Please, sit down and enjoy the food," Davdruw said as he sat down on a cushion. Hilda nodded and waved a hand as she did her best to catch her breath. "Please, Grimhilda the Witch, do take your time. The Prophecy has predicted all this, so we made the food extra hot." Davdruw watched Hilda intently, as if he was waiting for something.

  Hilda straightened herself and looked at the table. "Suck an-"

  "Elf," Davdruw finished her words.

  Hilda stared at the man. "Who are you?" She did not feel one bit at ease now, without her magic, in a place she couldn't fathom and near this giant of a man who looked like someone totally not from her world and who knew her lines.

  Davdruw, pale-faced and blue-haired as the others, pointed at a cushion. "Please, sit and eat, while I will explain."

  "About time," Hilda muttered as she went to sit. She meant both the food and the explanation.

  As the witch was stuffing herself, Davdruw started to talk. The race he was part of called itself the Lycadeans, a race technically and physically superior to most other intelligent species in the universe as far as they knew it. And they knew quite a large part of it, according to the man.

  "As to who I am... I am Davdruw. I am regarded the spiritual leader of the Lycadeans. All my life I have been preparing for this important meeting."

  "Important meeting?" Hilda asked. "With whom?" Then it dawned on her. "Oh. With me." As she chewed on something that looked like a chicken leg, she frowned. "Why am I so important to you? How do you know about me? And the elf?"

  "The Prophecy," Davdruw said. He pronounced the capital. "It was all written down, long ago, that Grimhilda the Witch would appear here at this time, and it came true."

  Hilda dropped the bone on her plate and reached for the large goblet that was filled with something that looked and smelled like wine but was no wine, as it did not affect her in the least. "Prophecy? Some made a prophecy and told you that it is about me? Someone pulled your leg then, Davdruw."

  The spiritual leader peeked down at his leg, not sure if she was serious. Then he touched a small pad on his sleeve, which made a monitor appear. Not just any monitor, it was as if air solidified over the table and an image appeared on it. It was a young man with blue hair, wearing silvery clothes like all people in this space pyramid did.

  Hilda almost sploshed the contents of the goblet over herself as she saw it all happen. "What's that? Is that your version of a magic mirror?"

  Davdruw smiled and nodded. "One could call it that. This is a recording of my predecessor, Garubine, who recorded this message for this moment." He did something with his sleeve again and the image started moving. And talking.

  "Honoured witch Grimhilda," the man in the solid-air confines said. "As it is the tradition, I am rerecording this message for you. The Lycadean world and people have been waiting for you for a long time." He raised something that looked like a book. A real one, with a leather cover and paper pages. Obviously it was very old or expensive, as he handled it with extreme care.

  "What's that?" Hilda asked, but Davdruw just shook his head, his eyes glued to the image.

  The man in the image opened the book, looked over the page and stared out of his confines again. "This is the book in which the Lycadean Prophecy is written down. If you, and only if you, honoured Grimhilda, hear my words, then the New Beginning is near. I shall now read the first words of the Lycadean Prophecy."

  12. On board the Mimosa

  "William?" a voice asked as there was a knock on the door. "Are you well?"

  The wizard knew it was Rebel, not just from her voice. "I'm fine. You can come in if you want," he said as he sat up on the bed. The two cats did not move a whisker.

  Rebel entered by opening the door and stepping inside. She did not want to upset the wizard more by popping in as he was already so shaken up by the disappearance of Hilda. "Moro asked me to check on you. The Mimosa is picking up speed nicely, we're in hot pursuit of the pyramid."

  "Oh. I guess that is a good thing." William did not feel much better after that news.

  "We're travelling at roughly four times the speed of light," Rebel said, "I think you would enjoy the view outside, on deck."

  "On deck??" This was so weird an invitation that William forgot his sombre train of thoughts. "At that speed?"

  "Uhhuh," Rebel nodded, "looks really cool. Want me to pop us out?"

  The wizard scooped up the two cats, who did not protest against that treatment. "Let's go." He hoped that he could also get a glimpse of the pyramid they were following.

  Rebel waited until the wizard was standing before she moved them to the deck.

  The wizard, cats over his shoulders, looked out to the stars. There were none. Instead, there were explosions of light everywhere around the Mimosa, with long tails of sparkles spreading out in all directions. "That's not how they pictured it on television," he remarked.

  "They know nothing, wizard," Rebel commented. "This is the real deal. At least from where we're standing."

  It was obvious that this was a very subjective real deal. William nodded and walked to the side of the ship, peering out into the distance. "Any idea where the pyramid is?" he asked.

  "Ahead," Rebel said as she joined him. "Far ahead. But we're catching up."

  Somehow William d
oubted that, but he did not feel like arguing. Instead he wondered if there was a way that he could make the ship go faster. He looked at the sails on the masts. They hung there as if there was no wind at all, very true to life as there was no wind at all. Then he realised that he had no idea how fast they were going, so influencing seemed an impossible chore.

  "I can show you something more of the ship," Rebel offered. "Moro's in the steering hut, I am sure he won't mind if you have a look around there."

  "Might as well," the wizard said, as he still pondered the way to speed up something that was already going faster than he could imagine.

  "Come on then, you big lug," Rebel said as she grabbed the sleeve of his robe and dragged him along.

  "What, no popping in and out this time?" William wondered.

  "No. Walking is good for you," Rebel lectured. She took him into one of the side-doors on the high stern of the ship.

  They entered another very white and sterile corridor, not as long as the one that led to the cabins. Rebel showed William a kind of elevator that was nothing but a tube with air. "Step in after me, and don't grab onto something," she said as she stepped into the nothing. Some unseen force pushed her up.

  William hesitated for a moment, then he put his hands on the backs of the cats and stepped into the tube also. As if there was a floor of air under his feet, he was gently pushed upwards for a while, until a hand suddenly grabbed hold of one of his arms. The upward