Hilda - Lycadea (29 page)

Katinki looked at the piece of wood and then
almost reluctantly dropped it on the floor.

"Good. I hope you can do two things for
me."

"Which are?" Katinki looked surprised.

"First, I need someone who can arrange one of
those flying machines for us, and can fly it. And when you cleaned
yourself up, can you meet us at Davdruw's room?"

Katinki frowned. "I am not sure if I know
someone like that. I usually am here as I am part of the High
Council."

"You were," Hilda grinned, "and you are going
to be happy about that. Know what: you go clean up and meet us at
Davdruw's. We'll take care of the fly-thing."

Katinki nodded. Carefully she reached out to
Grimalkin, who rested on Hilda's shoulder, and was allowed to
stroke the cat's head. "I will go now."

Maurizio had watched the remaining people as
they started taking away the mess that had accumulated against the
wall, thanks to their combined efforts. "I think they'll obey,
Hilda," he said.

"If not, they'll get a roof on their head,
that's all I can say," the witch said, loud enough for all to
enjoy. "Come, we have a fly-thing to arrange and a spiritual leader
to liberate."

-=-=-

When they reached Davdruw's chambers, they
had already found someone to arrange a shuttle. The man they had
'appointed' had promised that it would be ready in time. Maurizio
had convinced Hilda that he would remember the name of the place
where the shuttle would be waiting.

Davdruw was still where Hilda had 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."

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 they 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 shuttle.

The magicals and their pets retrieved their
brooms and waited for the shuttle to lift off. The strange
formation then set course for the village.

Hilda and William had fun seeing how Rebel
used her strange powers to drop the people to the square. They
seemed to plummet to the ground, only to stop a few feet before
crashing into it and then landed gently on their feet. The
appearing shuttle over the village had brought out almost everyone,
including Tarkan. Every person stood watching the machine and the
descending people.

Hilda hovered near the open door of the
shuttle, talking with Rebel. As the woman from the future let down
the last group, she said: "I'll go back with the shuttle pilot and
wait for you people. Just send someone over when you're done
here."

"Good thinking," said the witch. As she
landed her broom, the shuttle pulled away and relative silence came
over the village again.

Tarkan was loudly arguing with Kerna, who
simply waited for the man to run out of steam.

Hilda and William watched the scene from a
distance. "Do you think she will withstand him?" the wizard
asked.

"I am not sure," Hilda said, "but we're here.
She knows that."

Tarkan waved his arms around as he yelled
that 'all these people' had no business in 'his' village.
"Everything here was well before you troublemakers came, and I will
not allow any further of that!"

"Hold your tongue for a moment."

Surprise came from everywhere, as it was
Davdruw who had spoken.

"And who are you? Another of those
troublemakers?"

"I am Davdruw. I am the spiritual leader of
the people that live in the pyramids. You may think these people
are troublemakers, but I have been present at their meeting. Their
ideas are sound. They want to think ahead, make more of life than
what we have now."

Tarkan stared at the tall man. "More? What
more? There is nothing more."

"And that attitude is what keeps others stuck
in the place where they are, if they let people like you - and me -
influence them."

Kerna's eyes flew from Davdruw to Hilda and
William, and back. Confusion and surprise had taken over her
expression. Hilda and William were quite stunned by this support
from such an unexpected side.