Hilda - Lycadea

by Paul Kater

opinion.

  "What are they?" Rebel wondered. "And where do they come from?"

  No one was able to answer her question. Maurizio, however, seemed to be right. Further away from the second red-eyed rock, a third one emerged, and as the group watched that one grow, a fourth one also started to make its way up from the rocky underground.

  "Do you notice that they form a straight line?" William observed.

  "Suck an elf, you're right."

  "Maybe we should follow them," Maurizio suggested.

  "Or maybe not," Rebel said. "They may lead us to a place we don't want to go."

  The two looked at Kerna, who looked at Hilda and William. Kerna was out of her comfort zone since long, she had put all her trust in the two strange and intriguing people and their cats.

  "What do you think, sweetwitch?" William asked. "You're the one who'se going to save the planet, so it's your call."

  Hilda rubbed her nose. "Not sure. I'm still..." She wiggled her fingers, indicating that her magic was gone. "But..." - a wicked smile appeared on her face - "when did I ever take the safe route?"

  William laughed. "So true. Let's finish up here, and then make our way along the rocky blobs."

  It did not take the group long to pack up and mount the rig again. As they rose up, not too high this time, they saw that the line of rocks had grown, extending far beyond where they could see.

  -=-=-

  They had flown a considerable distance and the line of rocks did not show any sign of ending. The surroundings had taken on a different colour though. Very slowly, small shrubs and low hedge-like bushes had started to fight themselves a way through the rocky ground.

  "We should put this thing down again, William," Rebel suggested. "It's getting dark."

  "You're right," Hilda agreed. Even Kerna nodded.

  William found a good place to park the rig and everyone got off it with a sigh of relief. The seats were all but very comfortable and not made for longer trips.

  As the wizard inflated the large tent, Kerna and Rebel started working on making food, and Hilda and Maurizio went off for a walk to have a look at the surroundings.

  "Don't walk off too far," Rebel warned them, "we don't plan to take ages making supper."

  "And the tent's up already also," said William, creating some large comfortable chairs from bits of wood and plants. He sat down in one. "Ohhh, I like this. I will do something about the seats of the rig before we leave."

  Hilda and Maurizio wandered off, agreeing wholeheartedly with William's latest statement.

  "Do you have any idea what we will find?" the captain asked, as he took his eye patch from a pocket and put it over his eye.

  "Not the faintest," Hilda replied, "and why do you keep putting that thing on your head when there's nothing wrong with your eyes?"

  "Just preparing," said Maurizio. "Perhaps I will lose an eye in a battle and then I am used to wearing it. Proper pirate attire, you know."

  "You are weird at times. Did someone ever tell you that?"

  "Rebel does. Almost every day."

  "Hello."

  The wicked witch and the weird captain spun around as if a double-stinger wasp had stung them with its double stingers.

  30. To the village

  "Crappedy crap."

  Hilda and Maurizio stood face to face with two people, a man and a woman. They looked quite normal compared to the blue- and purple-haired Lycadeans, but many facial features told them that these people without a doubt were related to them.

  The faces of the two lit up. The man replied: "Suck an elf?"

  "Only if you have one that was rolled in honey," Hilda said. "Are you the folks we're looking for?"

  "Are you the honoured witch who is not a witch?" the man asked.

  The woman prodded him in the ribs. "She has to be. She knows the words. Please excuse his behaviour, honoured witch, he's always like that."

  Hilda immediately liked the woman. "You are the old ones that Kerna mentioned, right?" They had to be, even though they did not look that old.

  "We are the descendants of the Lycadean people who left the big cities when the technological craze was becoming too dangerous, if you mean that."

  "Sound good enough for me," Hilda nodded. "Oh, this is Maurizio Blunt. He's a pirate captain, or so he says."

  "We are pleased to meet you, honoured captain."

  "Ah," the honoured captain grinned, "my crew could take an example from them!"

  "So who are they?" a voice asked from behind Hilda and Maurizio.

  Hilda and Maurizio did the quick turn again, to find Rebel.

  "I think they are the ones we're looking for," the witch explained.

  "Really? Awesome. William will be miffed though." As the witch and Maurizio looked at her, not understanding, Rebel elaborated: "Not enough food for two extra mouths."

  "Oh, we do not want to dine with you!" the male stranger exclaimed. "We were just doing our round, as usual."

  Hilda rubbed her nose. "Right. One thing at the time. First, you seem to know us. Who are you? Next thing: I'm hungry, so you will come with us and tell us what you're doing here while we're eating."

  The two people did not find anything wrong with that idea, so as they walked back, the two introduced themselves. The woman was called Kyru and the man's name was Sodor.

  "We were doing the daily round to see if you had come," was the simple reason for their presence.

  "Daily round?"

  "Yes. Since our tribe left the cities, there was a rule in place that there would be signs for the witch, and that two of us would come here, to see if you had arrived. Our ancestors knew that you would come. You would be the one to find the book. You did find the book, did you not?"

  "You mean the tablet thing with the scribbly map on it? Yes, we got that."

  While talking, the group reached the small camp, where the smell of food and the sight of large comfy chairs were waiting for them.

  William frowned as his witch came back with two strangers. "Who'd you bring, and where did you find them? I doubt there's enough food for all..."

  Rebel grinned.

  Kerna just stared at the two people, holding Obsi close to her. Grimalkin sat at her feet, keeping an eye on the two as well.

  Kyru and Sodor were introduced. As they met Kerna, they stared back at her. "You are from here," they immediately decided.

  "Hey, no nagging Kerna! She's with us, so be nice to her!" Hilda jumped in, even before something had happened. "She risked her neck for us a few times and has been invaluable."

  Kerna looked at the witch in surprise. She had not expected so much praise, clearly.

  By then William was handing out plates with food, having heard that the two newcomers did not want anything. As they all were sitting, Kyru and Sodor started talking.

  "Our ancestors left the cities long ago. Too much technology was getting into fashion, and there were those that adored it and those that worried that this technology would take over too much. At a certain point, a seer stood up from the midst of our ancestors and told them about the Prophecy."

  "Oh, yes, we know that one," Hilda muttered. "That's what got me here in the first place. I wish that person had kept its mouth shut."

  The two looked puzzled for a moment. Kyru continued: "The seer warned for the bad parts of the Prophecy, and it was obviously almost too late. So our ancestors decided that they should leave, before everything went bad."

  "Seers usually aren't believed until the dragon's shit hits the market square," Hilda knew. "I've heard of that happen far too often."

  After finishing the meal, the camp was packed up. William shrunk everything back to easily transportable packets, to the amazement of Kyru and Sodor who obviously never had seen a true magical at work.

  Hilda could do nothing but supervise the job and again hate the fact that she had no control over her magic. How on Earth, she wondered, was she going to do something about this crazy place without having her magic? She was supposed to make r
ight what was wrong, according to the folks here, and there was no way she saw how that could happen.

  "Well, I guess we’re going with you now," the witch said to the two young old ones.

  "We already hoped you would, indeed." Sodor nodded.

  "I hope you have a place that’s nicer than this one," Hilda said, looking back to the area they had come from. "I’m sick and tired of rocks and sand."

  "We assume that the pillars were useful." Kyru pointed at one of the large red-eyed rocks that was near.

  "They’re yours?" Maurizio wondered.

  "Yes. We did not abandon all technology," Sodor explained, "there were some applications of it that were considered very useful, so our people worked for years to create these guiding pillars, for this particular moment."

  "All of them? We’ve seen hundreds of them!" Hilda, despite herself, was genuinely impressed. All that work they had done for her, while they had no idea when or even if she ever would come. Or perhaps the ‘if’ had not been so much a question for them.

  "Actually there are several thousands of them," Kyru said. "Nobody knew from where you would come, honoured witch, so the pillars have been made into all directions."

  "Suck an elf," Hilda said.

  William and Rebel had finished packing and storing their camp in several pockets. "So, are we going to fly the rig, or are we in walking distance?"

  Kyru smiled at the wizard. "Everything is in walking distance, wizard William."

  William realised that he was not honoured in these parts. "Okay. Let’s go then."

  With Sodor and Kyru in the lead, the group left their temporary resting place, the rig remaining as the only proof that people had been there.

  They had been walking for a considerable number of hours when Hilda