Hilda - Lycadea (16 page)

"Hey, I thought you said you are in here!"
Hilda called out as she did not see her wizard.

"We were... but we were still on the piece of
floor that moves," William laughed. "Step back, Hilda, we're coming
in again!" He waited for a few moments, until they heard: "Right, I
hope I am far enough from it now." He pulled the ring, the floor
did its trick and then he was reunited with his witch.

"I like that thing," she pointed at the black
wall. "Maybe we should put up something like that at home, William,
it will be the talk of the witchy town!"

Kerna looked nervous, being inside the house.
She stood close to William and Hilda and was not at peace, no
matter how much fun the two magicals had. "Oh!" she suddenly said,
and rushed to the door. She pulled the ring and went outside.

"What's that all about?" Hilda wondered. Then
she and the wizard grinned, as they heard Kerna call out for the
two cats.

William made the two lights float up and burn
as bright as they could. Suddenly there was ample light in the
room. Its walls were mostly dark red, the floor had been a form of
brown, but now was mostly grey with dust. The wizard cleaned that
bit up with a quick spell.

Then they looked around, slowly.

"This looks like a better place to live than
that stupid place Davdruw gave us," Hilda said as she saw tables,
chairs, and something that had probably once been a corner of the
house that was set up for some comfortable doing nothing. She
walked through the room, touching the chairs that stood by a large
round table. "Not rotten at all," she said, surprised about that as
the door had been in such a bad state.

William also went around the room and found
another ring in a wall. Because of the light and the absence of
dust, he could see where the revolving disc was. "Looks like there
is another room here," he pointed out to the witch. "Want to go and
have a look?"

"One of us should stay here, in case Kerna
comes back," said Hilda. "The poor girl will have a fit when we're
both gone. You go and have a look, William."

William nodded, made one of the lights float
down to him and pulled the ring. In a few seconds he was gone.

"I want that at home," Hilda told one of the
chairs. She looked at the table again. It intrigued her. Not so
much the table itself, but the things that were on it. Clearly the
people who had lived here had packed up quickly and left in a
hurry, she thought. On the table were lots of things. And some of
them looked like children's toys.

Curious, Hilda picked up something. It was a
yellow disc with black spots on each side. Touching the spots did
not do anything. She threw the thing up and it fell down in her
hands again. "Poor kids," she said, "how can they have had fun with
this thing?" The next thing she picked up was a small block of
wood, with two small pieces of metal through it, like axles. One of
them had a small wooden wheel attached to it. It was probably meant
to be a cart of sorts, but only one wheel would not get it far,
Hilda pondered as she put it down again.

"Now what's that..." She picked up a small
object. It was formed as a drop, and almost transparent. The
material was very strange for her. It felt cool but it was not
glass. She saw some things inside the object that probably belonged
there. She shook it. Nothing. As she tapped it on the table, the
far wall rumbled.

Kerna had somehow retrieved both cats and
brought them in. The animals escaped from her arms quickly and sped
off, running through the room. "What is that?" Kerna asked as she
came over to the table.

"I wish I knew," said Hilda. She held up the
thing towards the light. "Oh, look at that..." She had discovered a
hole on one side of the 'drop', and then found another hole on the
other side. With a wicked grin she put one of the holes to her lips
and blew.

"Phwshhhhh", whispered the drop.

"Now that is disappointing," Hilda muttered.
For a moment she watched Kerna play with some of the things on the
table. It looked as if she knew what some of them were for.

Kerna, noticing that Hilda observed her, held
up a cube from the same material as the drop. "Here," she said,
pointing at a hole, "stick your finger in there." Hilda failed to
see the mischievous twinkle in Kerna's eye...

Hilda stuck a finger in the hole - and could
not get it out anymore! She waved her hand, but that did not help.
"Crappedy crap," she declared, pulling at the cube to no avail.

Kerna had stepped back, partly because she
did not want to get smacked over the head with the cube, partly
because she needed space to laugh as she saw how the witch tried to
free herself from the simple children's toy.

All of a sudden William came out of the
adjacent room, alarmed by the screaming of his witch and the
laughing he'd heard. "What is that?" he demanded to know as he saw
Hilda's frantic attempts to get something off her hand.

Kerna needed all her will-power to stop
laughing. She caught Hilda's hand. "Wait, wait, you only make it
worse!" As William approached also, Kerna showed Hilda two more
holes on the side where the finger was stuck. "Put two more fingers
in there," she suggested.

"No way," said Hilda, "I want the one out,
not more in there!"

"That is the only way to get it off," Kerna
said. "I am honest, honoured Hilda. Look, here are also three
holes. I stick my fingers in there. If you fill two holes, the cube
will open and we are both free. It is a toy, children have a lot of
fun with it."

Hilda frowned, but stuck two more fingers in
the holes Kerna had pointed out. Immediately the cube's sides
sprung open, releasing all fingers.

Kerna explained that the original game was
that someone put a finger in the cube, and by asking difficult
questions the victim had to find someone to also put a finger in
the cube. "Each wrong answer means a finger in the cube," she said
with a grin. "Sometimes there are six people with a finger in the
cube before it opens!"

Hilda's eyes shone brightly as she clicked
the cube shut again. "I like that! Anyone against it if I take it
with me?" Nobody argued, so the cube disappeared into one of
Hilda's pockets. "And what did you find, great wizard?"

William reported that the next room was
something of a landing or hallway, leading to three more rooms,
probably bedrooms or so. "They're in a dreadful state, torn apart
as if someone was looking for something."

Kerna nodded. "When the old people left, some
of the others, of us I should say, came to these houses and looked
for things they could use." Her face showed that she was ashamed of
that, even though she was not old enough to have even been alive
when that happened.

"Things like that happen, Kerna," said
William. "Anyone care to see the other rooms?"

Hilda was curious enough, so the three went
on the carousel and were taken to the landing. The first room they
had a look in was nothing short of a disaster area. Nothing in it
was even remotely recognisable. There were piles of stuff
everywhere. Hilda kicked in one and they had to leave the room
quickly, as dust flew everywhere.

"That second one is only marginally better,"
William pointed. "That one back there is least damaged."

Hilda decided she would skip the second room
and headed for the one in the far corner.

The revolving plate was smaller than the
other ones they had been on, so they had to enter the third room
one by one. Kerna wondered if it was safe to leave Grim and Obsi in
the other room, but Hilda and William assured her that nothing bad
would happen.

"If something happens, that can't be bad,"
were the wizard's words. "The previous owners won't mind."

The Lycadean woman frowned as she considered
the words. They made sense, and yet...

"Ohhh, look at that," Hilda dragged Kerna
from her thoughts. The witch was kneeling next to what once could
have been a bed. Or a chair and a table. Or a closet. "I found a...
a... thing!" As she got to her feet again, she held something in
her hand. Indeed, she had found a thing.

William stared at it. "What's that?"

"A thing, I told you."

"It is old," Kerna added. "We don't have
these things anymore."

"See," the witch grinned, "she calls it a
thing too, so I'm right. It's a thing, and an old one."

"It's a book."

Hilda looked at the rectangle in her hand.
"This is not a book. This is a slab of something. And dirty too."
She blew over it, releasing a dust cloud.

William first settled the dust-affair and
then asked Kerna: "How is that a book?"

The woman touched a side of the old thing,
frowned, touched again. "Maybe the other side," she mumbled, mostly
to herself, as she slipped a finger down the other side of the
thing. Faintly the thing lit up. "Ah, yes!"

Hilda pushed the old book-thing in Kerna's
hands. "That is creepy," she elaborated.

Kerna stared at the symbols that appeared on
the screen of what appeared to be the local version of an
electronic reading tablet. "Maybe upside down," she mumbled. Kerna
was good at mumbling, Hilda decided. Kerna turned the tablet around
and her face lit up. That was because the tablet's surface became
brighter. "Maybe not." More mumbling as she turned the tablet back
the other way.

"Hmm. I have a toy, Kerna has a toy, so
you're next, William," the witch grinned.

"Yes," Kerna nodded, "this is definitely the
way to hold it."

"And what does it say?" William asked.

"I don't know. I can't read the old
language."

"Well, we'll take it with us," Hilda decided,
"maybe we'll find someone who can."

They searched the room for a while longer,
but nothing interesting came up, so they left, taking the cats and
the floating light with them. Once back in what had to be the
living room, they looked around again there. William tried a couch
but that collapsed as soon as he sat on it, much to the
entertainment of Hilda and Kerna. These two had some fun examining
some of the things they found on the table.

"So what goodies do you have there?" the
wizard asked after restoring the remains of his dignity.

"Oh, look," his witch exclaimed, "all kinds
of stuff, and it all looks so shiny! I just don't know what it is,
and Kerna is lost with most of it also."

William looked at the transparent thing in
Hilda's hand, the one she had handled before. "That looks like a
whistle."

"I know, but when I blow on it, it just makes
a very obnoxious sound," Hilda pouted. She proved it by blowing the
thing. "Phwshhhhh."

William grinned. "I am sure there are places
where you can get arrested for that."

Hilda screamed with laughter and blew the
thing again, while Kerna covered her ears. She still was not used
to Hilda's witch-laugh.

"Perhaps," said William, "it would help if
you blow the other end."

"I beg your pardon? Since when do you know
something about what end to blow?" the witch asked, surprise all
over her person.

"I've been a kid," William brought up his
defence, "I've had whistles."

"Oh. That." Hilda looked a bit sheepish for a
millisecond. Then she turned the thing around. Phweeeeep. The witch
now was impressed. "This is..." phweeeep!

William laughed. Little did he know.

The room did not divulge anything about the
people that had lived there. There were the toys, some other things
that looked like household items, but there were no pictures or
so.

"We should go back to the big pyramid," Hilda
suggested, her pockets full of toys from the table.

Phweeeeep!

William shook his head.

Hilda waved her whistle. "Come on, folks and
cats, we're done here."

Once outside, William used his magic to
repair the door and put it back into the house. Then they mounted
the flying contraption and with a few resounding phweeeeps they
lifted off and went back to the pyramid, where they encountered a
very upset Davdruw.

-=-=-

"You were gone!"

"Yes, you picked that up quickly," Hilda
said, looking up at the tall man.

Phweeeeep, went the whistle.

"I had assigned guards to you!" Davdruw
exclaimed, pointing at the group that they had so successfully
shaken off.

"Indeed, you had. Can we go now? We have
important things to do. Remember that I am the witch who is going
to make things right again around here?" Hilda turned to the
guards. "We're going to our room, so if you want you can go there
while we finish this."

The guards stared at her, then at Davdruw, in
utter confusion. Then, as one, they moved away into one of the
corridors that snaked through the pyramid.

As the sound of feet died away in the
distance, Davdruw closed his eyes and let out a sigh. Hilda grabbed
William and Kerna by the hand and dragged them off, their 'escape'
turning into a run and a lot of laughter. Two black shapes bounced
around them on two pairs of four feet.

-=-=-

Once in their room, everyone fell onto a big
chair or couch. Hilda emptied her pockets, shocking William with
all the things she had brought from the house they had visited.
Raided.

Obsi and Grim were on the table, sniffing the
interesting novelties that the witch had laid out. Well, all of
them, but one. Phweeeeeep!

The whistle very quickly made Maurizio and
Rebel knock on the door, curious to find out what they had missed.
They looked at the things on the table after the cats were done,
Hilda caught their fingers in the strange little cube and laughed
at the perplexed faces of the two, and with William and Kerna she
told them about the house itself.

"That is amazing. And that book you
mentioned, can we see it?" Rebel asked.

Kerna carefully put the book-thing on the
table and switched it on.