Hilda - Lycadea (5 page)

Maurizio nodded. "Si, very understandable
that you noticed. The reason is that we met him."

"Who?"

"Yes. Him. The Doctor."

"Doctor who?"

"Indeed."

Hilda looked at William. "Maybe we should
leave now," she said, "it's getting late. I'm not sure what he's
had to drink, but he had too much and that's not healthy." She
whispered the latter part of her remark.

"But you haven't had dessert yet," Rebel
said, "and we worked so hard on that. Would you please stay for
dessert?"

The two magical people looked at each other,
having a silent discussion. Hilda gave in. "Yes, we'll stay."

Rebel looked genuinely happy about that.

One of the sailors in suits took a small
device from his pocket and pressed a few buttons. The plates with
food sank into the table. Something automatic moved all the plates
and cutlery to the centre of the table and also that disappeared.
Half the candles that were on the table extinguished, as by
invisible fingers.

Hilda felt highly uncomfortable. If this was
not magic, then there was something ghostlike going on here. And
everyone knew that most ghosts were bad news.

The centre of the table pushed up silvery
bowls, one of them moved to every dinner guest.

Hilda and William stared. "I have never seen
food that lights up," the wizard admitted.

"Crappedy crap, it moves," Hilda added, "I'm
not eating things that aren't dead."

"It's dead, no need to worry," Rebel said,
"it's just a chemical reaction between the air and the light
emitting compound of the pudding. It never ceases to amaze me."

"William, these people are worse than you are
in saying weird things," the witch proclaimed. The bright pudding
stopped moving, though.

Carefully William and she watched how the
others started eating the stuff. It had to be safe. Hilda picked up
the spoon that lay next to the bowl and stabbed the pudding. It did
not react. She sniffed a scoop. "Oh," she said with a surprised
face, "it smells like lemon!"

Grins and chuckles came from several sides as
the wizard and the witch now dared to eat the pudding.

"It tastes like raspberry," William
decided.

"No. It's lemon," Hilda corrected him.

"Be quiet, witch, this is raspberry," he
insisted. More chuckles followed. "Here, try it yourself."

Hilda tried some of his pudding. "See? Lemon.
I told you."

William tried some of hers. "Raspberry." He
looked at Rebel and Maurizio, who both were close to dying from
held back laughter over their own bowls. "There's a trick here,
isn't there?"

Rebel explained that the pudding would taste
different for everyone. Hilda frowned at that, but after all the
weird things she had seen on this ship, she did not want to comment
on that.

"Thank you for everything, it was a very
entertaining day," William said, when finally he and Hilda summoned
their brooms. "We may come and see if you are still here in a few
days."

"You are always welcome," said Moro. "Do come
and visit again. You are very interesting people to speak
with."

The two cats, who had remained invisible
during dinner, came walking from a shadow and hopped onto the
brooms. Some of the crew, who had assembled around the two
magicals, grinned.

The brooms lifted off into the darkness and
left the black ship behind.

The next morning, over breakfast, Hilda sat
muttering to herself. William had asked what was the matter, but he
was just stared at and for the rest the witch ignored him.

Hilda did not feel good. She blamed something
in the food on the ship and she was ready to make them pay for it.
The nerve, making a proper witch feel bad. Things like that were
not done and should be followed up in a severe way. Wearing her
pink housecoat and purple slippers she shuffled to the couch and
crashed onto it. The two cats jumped away just in time, making
noises of discomfort.

After cleaning up the table, which was hardly
any trouble for the wizard, he asked: "What's wrong, Hilda? Want me
to switch on the magic mirror for you?" He sensed through their
link that she was feeling bad.

"Hmmf. No. I'm fine." The staccato way that
she said it was already proof that she was far from fine.

William sat down next to her and scooped her
up. As she sat in his lap, he folded his arms around her and rested
his cheek on her long grey curls.

"Nice," mumbled the witch. "I feel like
crappedy crap, William, and it's not fair that you don't."

William held her and slowly let some magic do
its work on her. He didn't have to tell her or ask her. She'd know
and agree.

The witch relaxed as the nauseating feeling
left her. "Good wizard. Much nicer," she said, leaning into him and
not planning to move. "Good thing I have you around, you make me
feel good. No need for a doctor."

"Speaking of doctor..." William started.

"I know. I know. But I don't want to. Not
now. We'll go see if they're still there later, okay?"

The wizard nodded and kept his arms around
her.

"Yes. That is a good wizard."

A moment of silence. Then Hilda sighed.

"What's the matter, witch?"

"I want to go to that ship and give the cook
a piece of my mind for making me feel bad." She sat up and rubbed
her tummy. "Feels good now. Thank you, wizard." She rewarded
William with a quick kiss, then got up and left for the bedroom, to
change into more witchy clothes than a pink housecoat. And purple
slippers.

"No, you won't! Ever!" Hilda yelled down as
she sensed William's thought. "And when you think you understand
me, I'll change and do it all over again!"

As the two walked to the door, brooms in
hand, the two cats were already sitting and waiting.

"Making a habit of it to come along, are we?"
Hilda grinned as she patted Grimalkin on the head, who allowed it
without protest.

"Yes, please, take them," the house
commented. "It is so nice and quiet when they are gone."

"Meow," Obsi complained and slipped outside
as William opened the door.

"See? That is what I mean," the house went
on. "When will you be back?"

"Why? What's that to you?"

"It gets so silent after a while when you're
all gone..."

Hilda rolled her eyes. William snorted.

-=-=-

"Do you want to visit the castle before we go
on to the Mimosa?"

"No, not today," said Hilda, "I want to get
my wand on that cook."

William reminded her that Rebel had said they
all had done some cooking, but Hilda did not see the problem. "I'll
just get them all." Grim looked up at the witch, the tip of her
tail twitching.

"At least you have good weather for that,"
William grinned. He was right: the sun was out in full shine and
the sky was fairy-tale blue.

Soon they arrived at the Green Hills, topped
them and flew over the Green Lake. The black ship still lay there,
anchored in all its non-vibrant lack of glory. Some sailors were
busy doing things on deck. Two of them, the curious couple saw,
were polishing the large oval crystal on the bow.

The magicals landed on the deck, close to the
large array of doors. Hilda flipped up her wand and grinned in a
way that made William worry. The witch bent over and tapped her
wand on the deck, just lightly. The large ship shuddered; a few of
the sailors in their plain striped shirts came running to locate
the source of the tremors. The door in the stern also opened, and
Rebel flew out. Literally.

"Oh. It's you two," the woman said as she
lowered herself to the deck. "You could have just knocked, that
works too." She was wearing another leather outfit today, a lot of
red and many silvery stars on it.

Hilda poked the woman with the wand. "How'd
you do that? And how did you get to the ship so quickly
yesterday?"

Rebel shrugged. "Something I can do since I
was a kid. I was born with it. Manipulating space isn't that hard
for me, I can jump to everywhere that I've been-"

"Hilda and William! Amici!" Maurizio came out
of the door, interrupting Rebel and not giving a damn. He hugged
both the visitors. "How wonderful to see you again!"

"Shut up," said Polly who sat on the captain
as usual. Four cat-eyes looked up at the colourful bird and two
tails twitched.

"As I was saying," Rebel tried to continue,
but Maurizio had different ideas. He invited the witch and the
wizard in for coffee, which they declined, and Hilda then started
about her not feeling well in the morning.

"Oh? Did you also have a craving for pickles
perhaps?" Maurizio asked.

"Pickles?" Hilda stared at the man, while
Rebel and William tried not to laugh. "Crappedy crap, it's Lorelei
who's the pregnant witch in these parts, not me!" After an
explanation who Lorelei was, Maurizio repeated his coffee
invitation, which again was politely declined.

"Moro!" one of the sailors shouted from
halfway the deck as he came running towards the small assembly.
"The sun, the sun!"

Hilda frowned. "Yeah, it's up there, what's
the big deal?"

Rebel looked up, shielding her eyes with a
hand. "Looks like it's close, Moro," she said without making sense
to the magicals. She grabbed Maurizio and Hilda by the arm.
Maurizio put a hand on William's arm and a moment later they were
near the crystal.

"Suck an elf," said Hilda as she grabbed
William for a hold. "What happened?"

Maurizio started fussing over the crystal
while Rebel apologised, explaining that she had teleported them all
to the front of the ship as that was faster than walking.

"You tele-whatted us?" Hilda asked as she
turned her back to Maurizio. The man was talking too fast and too
loud.

"Teleporting. That's what you call what I do
with my mind. I can move myself, people and - oh, watch out!"

As Rebel warned everyone, something hit Hilda
in the back. "Crappedy crap," the witch said as she turned around
to see who was in for it.

Four men were doing something underneath the
crystal, turning a large crank which made the crystal rotate.
Maurizio was calling out directions. "Turn clockwise! No, go back!
No, hold it there! No idiots, turn it some more!"

Hilda looked at the goings on very curiously,
the stomp in her back forgotten. She heard William say something to
Rebel as one of the large sailors got in the way; she could see
nothing that way! The witch quickly jumped backwards, to avoid
being stepped on by the same big sailor and then she saw a way to
get up on the large wooden casing where the crystal was on. Quickly
she climbed over sacks and rolls of rope, holding on to her long
dress and keeping her cloak under control.

"Hah," she muttered to herself as she stepped
onto the wooden box, "gives me a great spot to look at this crystal
thing close up too."

At that point several things happened in
rapid succession. Rebel asked William where Hilda was. Maurizio
turned around to Rebel and William, ready to say something. One of
the sailors pulled the crank one more time, which turned the
crystal a little more, something Hilda did not appreciate as that
ruined her view of the thing. The crystal caught the sunlight; it
seemed to capture it inside itself and juggle the beams through all
of its facets at the same time.

"Oh... pretty!" said the witch, watching the
crystal in fascination.

"Mrs. Witch!" Maurizio yelled, but before
Hilda could look at him, the light jumped from the crystal and
slammed into Hilda. Now everyone knows that when light slams into
you you just see light. But the light from the crystal was of a
different order: as it hit the witch, the witch seemed to jump up a
bit and then was thrown off the wooden casing and landed on a roll
of ropes as a disorganised heap.

"Hilda!" William pushed himself through the
men that were between him and the witch. As he reached her, someone
shouted something, but he didn't care. Hilda had fallen and she was
unconscious in a terrible way. He could not feel her through the
connection anymore, and that scared him. At the moment he took her
in his arms and pulled her against his chest, there was a sickening
feeling all around him.

A flare like a lightning bolt seemed to jump
over the ship, making it shudder and jump- Jump?

A storm swiped over the deck of the Mimosa,
as lights in many colours and darkness switched places at a
tremendous speed. The storm was accompanied by a low rolling
thundery sound that kept a constant pressure on William's eardrums
while the wind tugged at his cloak. He didn't care, as long as he
had Hilda in as much safety he could give her.

As the tremors slowly left the ship, the
wizard sensed a wriggling between his legs and he heard a moaning
set of meows. So the cats were safe as well. At least as safe as
Hilda and he were.

Then, as sudden as the havoc had started, it
ended. Silence fell over the Mimosa as if the ship was shoved into
a muffler. William said Hilda's name, but she did not respond.
Magically he probed her; she was alive, breathing, she was just
knocked out. The wizard picked Hilda up and then rose. He looked
over the deck where most of the sailors lay sprawled. Maurizio was
holding on to the crank, and Rebel was nowhere to be seen.

"What happened?" William asked.

Maurizio let go of the handle, got up and
patted his sleeves. "Looks like we jumped." He looked back and
shouted: "Is everyone well? And is everyone there?"

William lost interest in the sailors as Hilda
started stirring.

She opened her eyes and looked at him. She
smiled. "I am happy to see you, William."

He put her on her legs again.

"William? Where are we? And where are
you?"

William stared at the witch. Where are you,
she had asked. "What do you mean 'where are you'?" he asked, more
to stall for time than for not understanding. Before he had to say
something else, Maurizio scrambled to his feet, a shocked
expression on his face.