Hilda - Lycadea (28 page)

"Crappedy crap," the witch then said. The
large room was not as magnificent as it had been before. All kinds
of ornaments had fallen from the walls, the floor was littered with
pieces of ceiling and many pieces of furniture had acted as landing
platforms for ceiling parts as well. They showed proof of that.

Davdruw, the tall man, sat in his chair, dust
all over him. He rested his head in his hands and looked up slowly
as Hilda and Maurizio approached him.

"What happened here?" Hilda asked.

"Not just here," Davdruw said, almost
toneless. "Many places."

"And you have no idea why, right?"

"Oh. I know. We all know. We just don't know
how to fix it."

"Let me guess," Maurizio added to the
conversation. "Your computers are failing and things are falling
apart now."

Davdruw looked at the man. "The machines,
yes, they are failing. But the reason for that is worrying."

"Which is?" Hilda had no desire to wait for
the man to speak on.

"The High Council has been fighting. Some of
them started destroying the machines in the Pallazi."

"Fighting among themselves?" Hilda could
hardly believe that, but Davdruw nodded.

"We did not know that some of the machines
keep the buildings in shape. Well, we did, but we hoped these had
not been broken."

"Well, better to have some loose sheeting
fall down than your weather things going crazy, I guess," the witch
pointed out. "So, as to why we're here-"

"You endangered our safety!" Davdruw snapped,
interrupting Hilda as he got off his chair. "You will be punished
for that!"

"Oh. Really. Gosh, colour me impressed. We're
here to save your whiny asses and you want to punish me? Remember
the thing about the witch who's here to make things right?"

Davdruw looked down at Hilda. "And do you
wish me to elaborate, honoured witch, on the state of our society
that now is around us? Your presence here has destroyed so much
already!"

Hilda was still not impressed. "Sometimes you
have to tear down the old mess before you can build something new.
Like removing rotten apples from a basket."

The ceiling made an ominous sound. The witch
looked up and used her magic to stabilise a few spots that
threatened to drop in for a surprise visit.

"Although in this case," she continued, "it
is good to throw out the entire basket and weave a new one. Well,
make someone else weave a new one. I hate weaving just as much as
Latin."

Davdruw looked at the witch, his gaze
puzzled. "What is Latin?"

"Horrible," Hilda assured him, "trust me. Now
listen, we have worked out this idea to bring a group of people
from here and a group of people from the others to a place where we
can talk about the future of your planet."

"Others?" Davdruw was losing track.

"Yes, the old ones, remember? The ones that
walked out when your ancestors started to play with their machines
so much?"

"They found you?" The tall man's eyes
suddenly were filled with anger. "They infested your brain with
their lies and false truths?"

"Well, we went looking for them. And nobody
infested anything," Maurizio pitched in, trying to feel part of the
conversation.

Before Davdruw could respond to the captain,
Hilda said: "We're not here to see who is right and wrong. That's
why we have this gathering planned. So you find a few sensible
people and come with us. And I would prefer some not to be from
your High Council. They are nice, but many are too cracked up."

"You are not telling me what to do." Davdruw
folded his arms over his chest. "You are the witch who is not a
witch. I am the spiritual leader. People will listen to me."

"Yes, and die laughing, I'm sure," Hilda
snorted. "And I have another surprise for you. I'm just the witch.
Not the not-a-witch. We found her as well."

Davdruw turned his back to the witch.

"Oh. I see. You don't believe it." Hilda
shrugged and looked at Maurizio. "I think we can write him off as
someone to take part in the gathering as well."

Maurizio nodded. He had written Davdruw off
long ago already.

The witch kept an eye on Davdruw. She
remembered his fondness of twiddling with things on his sleeves to
invoke all kinds of people that usually had nothing good for her on
their minds. His sleeve moved...

"Levitas," she muttered, flipping up her wand
to make some more impression.

Davdruw lifted off. The effect was sublime.
He yelped and flapped his arms, which was good. That kept his busy
fingers away from the twiddly bits.

"I thought that was wingardium leviosa?"
Maurizio asked, some surprise evident on his face.

"What?" Hilda scowled at him for a moment.
Then she made the floating spiritual leader rotate so she could see
his face.

"Right. I guess I have your attention now.
First, stop treating me like a joke, Davdruw. This is no laughing
matter."

The floating man's face silently agreed with
her, while his shock only slowly wore off.

"I need a group of five or six people that
come with me. Sensible people. We're going to make some changes
around here."

Davdruw had regained control over his vocal
abilities. "Not if I can help it!"

-=-=-

Funny enough, that was almost the same thing
Tarkan told William after hearing the plan. The village leader had
come out of hiding and now was trying to convince William, Kerna
and Rebel that they had to leave.

"I doubt you have a big say in this all,"
William told Tarkan. "You've been ruling this place for a long time
without going somewhere. You were just waiting for the witch. But
now the witch has come, so what's next?"

"She will make right what's wrong of course,"
Tarkan said, his hands flying. "Everything that's wrong."

"And what's wrong according to you?"

The village leader stared at William,
searching for an answer to that question. The answer refused to be
found.

Tarkan threw his arms up again. "This is an
outrage. I knew I should not have come to you." He turned and
marched off. Then he turned. "Why am I leaving? You have to
leave!"

Kerna stood and looked at the man. "We are
not leaving. I am here and I am going to finish what I came here
for."

Tarkan stared at her. "You?" He barked a
laugh. "What do you think you can do, girl?"

The 'girl' put her pet in her seat and
reached out. The broom flew to her hand.

"The wizard is helping you?" Tarkan
sneered.

"This is nothing with the wizard," Kerna
said, as she made the broom hover. "This is about me. Because I am
the witch who is not a witch."

"That proves nothing," Tarkan pointed at the
floating utensil. "Anyone can-" At that point he seemed to rethink
what he was about to say.

Kerna shrugged and returned to her seat. Dwey
seemed pleased enough with that. "I give up on him," she informed
William and Rebel. "We should just go with the sensible ones."

William and Rebel agreed. The three looked at
the villagers sitting with them.

-=-=-

"I don't have time for this," the witch told
Davdruw. "You are not helping to save things, so we'll recruit a
handful of people and work things out with them."

She turned and started walking. "Coming?" she
asked Maurizio who was still watching the floating spiritual
leader.

"Yes, of course."

The two left Davdruw's rooms, leaving him
hanging in the air as he yelled out the horrible things that would
happen to Hilda.

"I think he needs to understand that he is
not the one to boss a witch around," Hilda shared with Maurizio as
they were in the corridor again.

"If you leave him hanging there, he's bound
to understand," the captain grinned.

"Sure that's enough? Okay, then. Come, let's
find that Pallazi place and see what mess these Council people made
of it. I have some hopes there are a few there that are still
sensible. They would be good for the meeting."

A blue-haired, silver-clad man walked by.

"Hey, you."

"Do you mean me?" the man asked, looking at
the grey-haired woman in black.

"Yes, do you see another you?" Hilda asked,
changing the man's face to a puzzle without magic. "We need to get
to the Pallazi, can you take us there?"

"Only Davdruw takes people there," the man
carefully replied. After all, they were in front of Davdruw's
chambers.

"That's not what I asked. And Davdruw's not
going anywhere for a while, so if you know where it is, you are
allowed to take us there. Davdruw is not going to mind."

The man peered at the closed door. "Are you
certain?"

"Do I look like I am in doubt?"

The man could not deny that Hilda looked her
ever-confident self. "In that case yes, honoured witch. I know the
way to the Pallazi. I will take you there."

"Good boy."

The man in silver seemed to know the way very
well. Without passing through the normal corridors, he took them to
the small passage that led to the door of the control room. The
Pallazi.

"Do you want me to wait here for you?" he
asked.

"No, we'll be fine. Thank you for taking us
here. This place is a maze."

"It's really not that bad," the man smiled.
"Enjoy your day, honoured witch." He nodded, turned and walked
off.

"Right. Let's see the damage," the witch then
said to the captain.

They walked to the door, did not knock and
opened it.

Inside the room, the situation was not as bad
as Davdruw had attempted to describe it. It was worse.

Two of the walls that had been lined with
machines and consoles before, were now in an indescribably state of
disarray and parts. The parts consisted for fifty percent of
ceiling and wall, and the other fifty percent had been machinery
and consoles.

There were obviously two camps in the room.
One group huddled in a corner, the other sat in front of the
remaining machines. Hilda recognised Katinki in the second group.
The woman had armed herself with a piece of wood, the people with
her also had some kind of weapon with them. None of the groups said
something.

As Hilda and Maurizio entered, all eyes
turned to them in silence.

"Suck an elf. What happened here?"

Many voices at the same time started
explaining the state of the room.

Hilda popped up her wand and mumbled
something. The mouths were still moving but the jumble of sounds
had gone. "Much better. Now, I will let you talk again and then I
will point at someone who will do the talking. One at the time, did
I make myself clear?"

Heads nodded.

After a new spell, sighs of relief echoed
through the chamber.

"So. First the version of you." Hilda pointed
at Katinki, who had always struck her as one of the sanest of the
bunch.

The woman took to her feet, clutching the
wood. She glanced at the group in the corner before she started
talking.

"They started to take the machines apart.
They said that since you are here, nothing can go wrong." Katinki's
eyes went over the devastation. "Well, we're lucky that most of the
buildings are still standing, I think."

Maurizio had walked over to one of the
machines that still looked undamaged. Then he looked at a ruined
one. "Not a professional job," he commented.

"Right," Hilda nodded. "So what do you have
to say to your defence?" She pointed at a man in the corner.

He made no attempt to move, instead from his
position he said: "It's the prophecy. You come and things will be
right again. That way we don't need the machines anymore, so we
started disassembling them."

"And killed dozens, you idiot!" Katinki
snapped at the man.

Hilda snipped her fingers and the two
fighting voices fell silent. Hearing that so many people had died
in this bout of insanity shocked her.

"Easy. First, let me tell you that this
prophecy is a stupid thing that is interpreted in too many ways. So
far we heard two versions. Second, I am not the witch you are
waiting for. We have her, she's at the other place with the
offspring of the old ones. Your runaway ancestors."

The witch looked at the two silenced people.
"You're going to be good again, right?"

Frantic nodding happened and vocal cords were
released.

"I think you are both right and both wrong,"
the witch said as she made a chair appear and sat down. "You're
going to be relieved of your - uhm - presence here." Hilda refused
to call it their 'work', as they still had no clue what they had
been doing here. "I want to take some of you to a place where we're
going to talk about this place. I need a few people with
sense."

No one spoke up. The fear of being silenced
was enough to make the people behave.

"Four or five should do," Hilda continued.
She pointed at Katinki. "You are one of them."

As Katinki stared at Hilda, almost shocked,
the witch also pointed at the man who had spoken up for the
opposite faction. "You are one also. You stood up well, so you can
be, what William calls, the Devil's Advocate."

Hilda selected a few more people and ordered
them to go and clean themselves up. "You will meet a handful
others, so better look smart. We're going to find one of these
flying machines that can take you there."

She held back Katinki. "I need a word with
you."

She turned to the other people. "And you...
clean up the mess here. No more smashing things unless you have a
serious desire to find yourself in the ranks of the casualties."
Hilda did not mean to hurt anyone, but somehow the people seemed to
need this promise. And it sounded good.

The witch looked at Katinki. "You can put
away your clobber device now. It's going to be fine, trust me."