by Paul Kater
left him, hanging in the air. The man looked exhausted. He clearly had done all he could (which was little) to get away from his undignified position. And failed. When Hilda and the captain came in, he looked up, defeat all over his face.
"Hello there," said the witch, bringing the man back to his feet. "I am sure you are tired of hanging around. I'd like to invite you to come along with us."
Davdruw heavily sat down. "To where?" Then he craned his neck, as Katinki came in. "And why is she here? And why the change of mind?"
"She is here because I asked her, good man." Hilda chuckled at Davdruw's nervous reaction as she called him that. "We're going to a place where we will decide on a new council for the planet and stuff like that. And Katinki is one of the people that goes with us. I want you to see her, so you know she is part of this thing. No trying to put her down or you'll be up hanging again."
"You still have that idea?" Davdruw sounded defensive. "I feel that this is not right."
"I don't care," Hilda said in her familiar way. "You're either coming or we take you."
Resolutely Davdruw folded his arms and remained silent, a stubborn look on his face.
Hilda thought back to the way she had been carted into this place, on a flying chair, held by invisible restraints, as she saw the man sit there.
"Have it your way," the witch shrugged. The wand appeared and flicked. The chair rose up while magic kept the large man in place, unable to move or complain.
Katinki stared at the situation of the man everyone had deemed invincible.
Maurizio just grinned and told Katinki the place where they were expected to board the shuttle.
-=-=-
William smiled. His witch was clearly having fun, he sensed through the bond, and he was aware that they would be on their way soon.
"It's time to move to the place where we will see about this new council," he said as he got up. "Hilda gathered some folks and they're on their way soon."
"And where would this place be?" Kyru asked.
"Close to the river, where that cave is you took us to," William decided on the spot. "Nice place, and plenty of space."
"But that is hours of walking away from here," a woman called Josna said.
"No problem. We're all walking. Hilda and the others will be on their way for a while so we don't have to rush."
"Oh. I thought..." Josna looked a bit disappointed.
William laughed. "You thought we were going to fly."
Josna nodded. "But if you say we have to walk, we will walk."
Kerna grinned and tugged William's sleeve. As he bent over, she whispered: "I can fly her to the river and then come back. She'll have to wait for us there, but she'll have flown."
"Great idea," William agreed. "We'll start the walk, and you'll catch up with us then."
Josna looked a bit uncertain as Kerna invited her to come along.
Kerna grabbed Dwey with one hand, held out the other and summoned her broom. With the broom hovering, she sat on it, plopped her familiar on the bristle end and showed Josna how to sit in front of her.
"Hold on," was all the warning Josna got and they lifted off, speeding away over the trees. Josna's screams became faint quickly.
"More volunteers?" William asked, looking around. Nobody was in a hurry to scream like Josna had done, so they packed up their courage and started the hike to where the meeting was going to take place.
-=-=-
"But how do you know where we're going?" the pilot asked Hilda as the group boarded the shuttle.
"That's easy. I just go to where my wizard is. And I will be flying my broom, you simply have to follow me."
Hilda looked at the man. "And no funnies please. We're going far away and you just come along. If you don't, I'll haul you there."
The pilot frowned for a moment. Then he nodded. "I'll follow you."
38. Meeting on Lycadea
William laughed as he heard his witch talk about how she had gathered the people from Pyramid City. Especially the antics around Davdruw, who was sitting in his floating chair with a very displeased face, amused him.
"And the pilot of that noise-box was good," Hilda praised the person. "He did not believe I could fly a broom, but he's changed his mind."
"I'm glad you are back here, Hilda," William said, pulling his witch in a hug that obscured her from view for a while.
"You are just sentimental," Hilda grinned, but the blue sparkles in her eyes told the truth. "Now let's get this talking thing started. I want to see some action!"
Together with Kerna, the magicals had prepared seats and tables, and they had also supplied eats and drinks. As William had expected, the two sides wanted to sit opposite each other, but the magicals, aided by Maurizio and Rebel, had prevented that. They had made a good mix of the people.
Davdruw had been moved to sit with the group. His chair was on the ground, his arms were free and his mouth was too. William and Hilda sat at either side of him, so he knew he had to be careful.
Kerna stood at the head of the long table, scratching Dwey's head. The animal lay on the table in front of her and let her do what she did.
"Most of you know why we're here. We're going to see if we can decide on the future of our people. We've been living here apart from each other long enough, and it's time to put an end to that. The people in the pyramids are losing control of the place. Since long. The people who live in the nearby village have not moved ahead. Since long. I am sure that with a combined effort we can make this planet as nice again as it was before. Before most of it was covered with concrete and stone."
The new witch looked into every pair of eyes that were focussed on her.
"The honoured Witch and Wizard have agreed to help us with that."
Some voices mumbled semi-agreeing things.
"Provided of course we can get to some kind of agreement on how we want to shape this," Kerna added.
"And if you can do that snappy, that would be even better," Hilda informed the selected people.
One of the men raised a hand and asked to speak. "Is it a good thing that the ten or so of us decide on the future of the entire planet?"
In the momentary silence that fell, Maurizio got up for a moment. "Would you rather have that a group of let's say fourteen million people trying to do that? In that case we are out of here."
The man who had asked the question considered that and then nodded in silent agreement.
"Why did you choose us?" Kyru asked.
"You're normal people. We hope you have normal ideas," said Hilda. "Not the blown up kind that cover the planet in something stupid."
Talking started, and talking turned into heated discussions. Normal ideas were brought up, then came the silly ones, and after that the sensible ideas surfaced.
Plans were made to remove as much of the concrete as possible, plant new forests in places, and several people already were thinking about a new kind of housing. Until that was figured out, the wooden houses of the villages looked like the best way to keep people sheltered from the weather once that turned bad.
William and Rebel volunteered for the concrete removal. William suggested that Hilda and Kerna would visit other settlements on the planet, telling about the witch's arrival and the way things would be done from now on.
"But what if there are people who do not want to change?" Kerna asked.
"Let them be the way they are," was the general consensus. "Once their homes start falling apart, they will at least know there is an alternative, and then they can come to see how it's done here."
That of course created the implicit obligation to make this new approach work, but with the people gathered, there was plenty of fire and zeal.
"I now propose that the people from Pyramid City go to the village nearby, to inform everyone of what's decided here," Hilda said. "Kerna and William will go with them. Maurizio and I will take the ones from the village to Pyramid City and do the same. That should be a good way to convince them."
"If th
ey let themselves be convinced," Davdruw said, speaking for the first time since the meeting started.
"They have the same opportunity as all the others," Hilda replied. "Take it, or leave it and join when their home falls on their heads. We're not going to force anyone to do anything."
Katinki spoke up. "Maybe it is best if we all go together, to the two places. That way everyone can see that we are of one mind. And that they have nothing to fear of the people from the other houses."
Hilda was pleased with the fact that the people from Pyramid City were not holding back in voicing their opinions with their former spiritual leader present.
Sodor, the man from the nearby village, clapped his hands. "I like that idea."
More and more people fell in with him, and hence the plan was made.
Hilda had the feeling that the people from the village would be easiest to deal with first, so she decided that the group would first go there. William and Kerna agreed.
"So how do we get them there? Some of them are not used to walking so far," William grinned, referring to the people from Pyramid City.
Rebel looked at the group. "Maybe I can help with that. If we load everyone in the shuttle and get that to hover over the village, I can levitate them down in groups of four or so. Quite a nice entrée, I think."
"Woman, I like you!" Hilda grinned. "Come on folks, everyone to the shuttle."
"We're flying, aren't we?" the new witch of the group asked Hilda.
"Of course!" Hilda exclaimed. "Witches have their own transport. As do wizards."
"Crappedy crap!" Kerna showed her happiness.
Maurizio and Rebel laughed. They would accompany the new council to the