Hilda - Lycadea

by Paul Kater

grabbed again. "Did you happen to see which pocket? This robe has a lot of them." Kerna had no idea, so Hilda frantically went through all her pockets, and things things are supposed to go that way, she found it in the last one she checked.

  "So, what do these two things have in common?" she said as she held up the blue bit. "I mean, the colours don't match, so it can't be that."

  "I may be able to help there," said William as he took the tablet and turned it around a few times. "Yes, right. Thought so. Hand me that blue thingy, will you?"

  Hilda and Kerna watched how he slipped a small strip aside with a fingernail.

  "Now let's hope I put this in the right way," William mumbled as he pushed the blue thing, which he assumed would be some kind of memory chip, into the slot. He closed the small cover and then asked how to switch the thing on.

  Kerna came to his rescue. She switched the thing on while William made a few more chocolate muffins for Hilda. "It does not seem to show anything different from before," the Lycadean woman said as she glanced over the display.

  "Give it to me," Hilda said, full of confidence, "you two just don't know how to do this." She took over the tablet and looked at its screen. "Yes. Hmm."

  William exchanged a glance with Kerna and picked up a muffin.

  "Dragons eggs, I got it!" the witch exclaimed before William could bite. "Don't ask me how, but I got it!" Triumphantly she held up the tablet. It showed a completely new assortment of squigglies and blobs.

  "Are you sure you didn't just turn it upside down?" William asked.

  Hilda treated him to one of her less effective murderous looks. "I am sure. And even if I did, look what happens." She turned the tablet. The text, if it was that, turned also. "See? I am onto something here. I just wish I knew what it was." After a sip of her coffee she said: "It would be convenient if we could give this to one of those float-in-the-air folks, like the one Davdruw had to read out a part of the prophecy."

  Kerna stared at Hilda. "Float-in-the-air...?"

  "Yup. He pushed something and then there was this man hanging over the table, talking to us. He said it was an old recording, of a man called Garubine?"

  To William this was news. Kerna frowned as she tried to put Hilda's words in perspective, then her face cleared up. "Oh! I think I know what you mean! We have that."

  "You do?" the magical couple asked as one. "And does it still work?" Hilda added.

  "I think so," Kerna said, her enthusiasm unaffected by Hilda's words. William was impressed by that.

  Kerna took them to a part of the pyramid that showed all the signs of prolonged abandon. William took care of the dust and Kerna then guided them to a room that had no door. "This was the place where people could come to have stories read to them," she explained.

  "So why don't you use it anymore?"

  "We know all the stories by heart already," Kerna elaborated. She walked to a somewhat comfortable looking couch and sat down on it. William and Hilda, and the cats that had come along, waited for something, if only a sign from the woman.

  A small yellow dot appeared in front of the couch. It expanded quickly and turned into a friendly female face that showed a smile. She had the familiar pale skin and blueish hair.

  "It still works," Kerna said, looking back to the couple. "If you put the tablet on the floor, with the text up, it should read it out loud. The story-tellers can read many languages."

  As there was nothing to lose, Hilda put the tablet on the floor under the smiling face and joined William and Kerna on the couch. "So, what now?" the witch asked.

  "We wait."

  "Oh. How long?"

  "Until she starts reading," Kerna elaborated.

  "Ah. And how can you tell?"

  "She starts talking then."

  "I see. She's taking her time for it." Hilda rubbed her nose.

  William took her hand as he recognised the witch was getting impatient. "Calm down, witch. Maybe she has trouble with the handwriting."

  Kerna frowned at the wizard, but Hilda grinned.

  "This is a message."

  "What?" Hilda asked.

  "The face," William whispered.

  "This message is for the one who will make things right again." The voice was male and sounded urgent, which looked quite odd with the smiling female face. "We hope you find this book and the recording chip. If the prophecy is correct, you have to find a way to find us. The ones that bring you to our planet are not very..." - the image of the face flickered for a while and the sound dropped off - "...until you see the end of the dry land. From there I cannot tell where we will go, but it is important that..." - more flickering - "... you."

  "Can you repeat that? Some parts of what you were saying were not so clear," Hilda asked the face. The message, including the flickers and stutter, was repeated.

  "Looks like their recording chip sustained some damage, Hilda," William stated the obvious.

  "Undamage it, please," the witch simply said. "Do I have to think of everything?"

  William looked at her, ready to make a comment, when he was cut off by the floating face: "Data recovery attempt is now in progress. Refreshments are available while you wait."

  "See? That is how you do it!" Hilda grinned victoriously. "So where are the refreshments?"

  "I'm afraid that the refreshment machines are broken," Kerna said. "We've tried to repair them..."

  "And that broke them?" Hilda asked.

  "More," Kerna admitted.

  William salvaged the situation by serving refreshments. In this case he had chosen glasses with pine-apple juice.

  Kerna picked up a glass and stared at the strange colour of the drink. Then she tried it. "Oh..." Her face showed surprise. "That tastes very nice. What is it?"

  Hilda took a sip and then let William explain it. As the wizard was doing his best, a voice interrupted him.

  "Data recovery attempt is now complete."

  The three people and two cats turned to the floating face. "Let's have it!"

  "This message is for the one who will make things right again," the female face repeated with the male voice "We hope you find this book and the recording chip. If the prophecy is correct, you have to find a way to find us. The ones that bring you to our planet are not very dependable, but we have to trust that they do the proper thing. We have to leave our villages now, in order to escape them. If you can follow us, we are going into the direction of the rising sun. Travel that way until you see the end of the dry land. From there I cannot tell where we will go, but it is important that we meet you."

  Hilda scratched her nose. "Crappedy crap. Where does the sun rise here?"

  "We are looking forward to helping you," the floating face then said.

  "What?" All three waited for more to come, surprised by the sudden addition of words, but those clearly were the real end of the message.

  "At least now we know something," William said as he sat back, a muffin appearing in his hand.

  "We do," said Hilda, stealing his muffin in plain sight. "You have a stash somewhere."

  William laughed and produced a few more, as Kerna looked almost beggingly at him.

  The tablet was not telling them more; the face hovered over it as if it waited for something new to tell them. Unfortunately for the face, they only had the one tablet, so the face was switched off and with the tablet in one hand and another muffin in the other, Hilda led the others out of the room. "Right. Now we go back to our room and decide when we are going out to find these people."

  As Kerna took the lead, she suggested that they should tell Davdruw about the tablet and the plan to find the people who prepared the recording.

  "I somehow feel that would not be a smart idea," Hilda said, "Davdruw is sort of possessive and I think he thinks he possesses us. Telling him we're leaving will make him want to keep us here even more."

  William agreed. "Leaving a note for him should be enough."

  "Yes. Just telling him that we're out for a bit and we'll be back."

&
nbsp; Hilda was already planning things when they reached the door to the room. Before they went in, she said: "Would it be a plan to take Maurizio and Rebel along? They seem to have good ideas. On the other hand, with them in the Palliza, things are nice and quiet, which is also a good thing."

  William considered that as they entered the room where they were surprised by the presence of a tall man. Davdruw.

  "Oh, look who's here," Hilda said, seemingly unsurprised. "What brings you here?" She displayed her total lack of respect for the man's authority.

  Davdruw, who had been sitting on the table (as the other furniture was too low for him), rose and said: "I have heard that you are planning to leave us."

  "Really? What gave you that idea?" asked the witch as she sat down on the couch, plopping Grim in her lap and petting the black animal.

  "I heard you say it," Davdruw said, eyeing Kerna who sat down next to the witch. "We have an advanced building."

  "You mean there are microphones everywhere so you can listen in on private conversations?" William asked.

  "You make this sound like a very bad thing," Davdruw said in a disappointed tone.

  "Because it is," William retorted as he made tea and coffee from what the porridge machine generated.

  "Yes, it is," Hilda pitched in. Kerna did not feel safe enough to voice her opinion.

  26. House arrest

  "I could of course forbid you to leave," said Davdruw. He was not pleased that the honoured witch, who should make right what was wrong, was now considering to defect to wherever it was.

  Hilda looked up at the tall man. "You would WHAT?" She paused for a moment. "Did you hear what you just said? You are going to forbid me