21. Breaking and entering

"Would this count as breaking and entering?" William wondered, patting himself to get rid of the dust that had found a pleasant spot on him.

"You broke the door, but no one entered yet," Hilda pointed out.

"You did not break the door," Kerna tried to make right what was not wrong between the two people in dark clothes. "The house is old."

Hilda and William laughed, and tried to explain that their bickering was only for good fun. Kerna looked a bit lost, but seemed to grasp the meaning, although her face was serious as ever.

"Come on, let's have a look in here," said the witch. She stepped into the pyramid and returned a second later. "I think we'll need some light."

The unfortunate door was quickly transformed in a few lights, and in they went, Hilda in the lead.

"Crappedy crap," she commented after the thud had stopped reverberating, "not a welcoming kind of people, these old folks." She had run into a wall that was only a few steps away from the entrance, and the wall was black. "Can you find something to let us in here, wizard?"

William and Kerna held their lights close to the wall as Hilda rubbed her nose.

"Ah, I see something...", said William. He reached out and prodded a small ring that was in the wall. As he pulled it, a soft rumble came from the floor below them and then a part of the floor started moving. As if they were on a small carousel, Kerna and William were transported to the other side of the wall where it was dark also.

"William? Kerna?" they heard Hilda's voice from the other side of the wall. "Where did you go?"

"Hilda, can you hear me?" William called out.

"I can, and no need to shout! Where are you?"

"We're inside. Look down on the wall, there is a ring there. Pull it. And don't step back." With baited breath William waited as he heard Hilda mutter on the other side of the wall. Her fingers found something and then a rumble sounded.

"And now what?" she asked the wall, when suddenly the floor moved and rotated her inside the house. The movement also brought William and Kerna outside, as they had forgotten to step off the revolving disc...

"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.

22. A thing

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.

"It's not a book," Hilda insisted. Phweeeeeep. "See, the whistle agrees."

William looked at his witch. He knew that the lack of magic still bothered her. She now used the whistle to make up for it in a way, as far as it was possible to find a substitute for magic. Before he could wonder and worry more, Maurizio prodded the wizard in the ribs.

"That is an interesting thing, William. How does it work?"

"Hah, your guess is as good as mine. Kerna can make some things appear on it, but we are not even sure what side is up on that thing."

Kerna showed the text to the captain, who stared at the tablet for a while. Then he turned it sideways and stared some more, while the others in the room stared at him.

After a while, Maurizio slowly raised his eyes and looked around the group. "Is something the matter?" he asked.

"Just that you are being rude, staring at that thing in silence for so long," Rebel said, slapping the man on the shoulder.

"Do you want me to sing while I look at it?" Maurizio asked.

"Oh, no, please don't sing!" Rebel got up. "Did you ever hear him sing?" she asked the others. Without waiting for a response, she went on: "When he sings, you would want to go deaf. I mean, even a crow has a great singing voice compared to that man!"

"And still you love him," Hilda remarked, turning the whistle in her hands.

"Yes, I- how do you know that?"

Phweeeeep, went the whistle. "I know that."

Maurizio put down the tablet and got up as well. "Mi cara," he said, putting his hands on Rebel's hips. "I love you too. You know that." Eyes met eyes, pink clouds were almost materialising.

"Right," said Hilda, jumping to her feet before the strings started playing, "before we get all mushy, how about that book-thing? You seemed very interested in it, Maurizio. Care to tell us more?"

The sudden loud action of the witch made the two lovers jump apart. Maurizio was not able to hold back a curse as he tumbled back on the couch, next to William, while Rebel's eyes were close to shooting fire. She could do that. Instead, she breathed in deeply and sat down again. "Yes, we should... discuss this later. In private."

The captain picked up the tablet again. "Yes. It is very interesting, this thing. I have seen something similar, you know. And not even very long ago, either."

All eyes, except those of the two cats of course, were now on the captain.

"I thought I recognised the thing, so that is why I held it the way I did." Maurizio made quite a show of tilting the tablet, for all to clearly see. "And then it reminded me of something."

All eyes, except those of the two cats of course, were still on the captain.

"Of what?" Rebel asked.

"The mirror on the wall in my cabin aboard the Mimosa."

23. The big picture

Maurizio got slapped.

"Why was that?!" he wondered.

"We thought you could read what's on that thing!" Rebel, the slapper, said.

Hilda slowly got up and stood before the captain. "You even had me think highly of you." She bent over, put the whistle to her lips and - phweeeeeep!! "Give me that book-thing. At least it will be in responsible hands that way." The witch disregarded the grin she heard behind her. She knew it was William's.

She pulled the tablet from Maurizio's hands and sat down with it. Looking at it, also sideways, the way the captain had done, didn't bring her anything.

Kerna, who was sitting next to the witch, leaned over. She studied the sides of the book-thing and frowned. "What would that be?" She pointed at what looked like a bit of decoration, a small row of balls.

"It's pretty," Hilda said, "look, there are some on the other side too." She poked at the tiny round balls that suddenly shifted under her fingers. "Oops..."

The display of the tablet blinked a few times, then it went dark.

"I think you found the off-switch, Hilda," William laughed as he got up. "Anyone for coffee, tea or something else?" He took the orders and was surprised Maurizio did not ask for anything.

"I think he's afraid of getting in Hilda's way again," Rebel said, taking the captain's hand. "It's okay, sweetie, the witch won't eat you. I'll make sure of that."

"You're going to beat me to it, are you?" Hilda casually remarked.

Rebel stared at the witch. "Uhm... I'll come and help you, William," she tried to get out of the situation.

"I'll manage," said the wizard, "you can stay there." With a broad smile he made his way over to the oatmeal generator and magicked up the coffees, teas and a triple espresso for Maurizio. The captain looked like he could do with one.

Kerna in that time examined the tablet further. "I think it is broken now. It won't react to the way I activated it before."

Rebel let go of Maurizio's hand and kneeled down next to Kerna. "How do you switch it on?"

Kerna started explaining, while Hilda looked at the two with obvious fascination.

"They seem to know what they are talking about," she remarked to Maurizio, who kept his eyes on William.

"Rebel knows something about that," the captain said, forcing himself to look at Hilda. He was relieved to see that she obviously did not hold a grudge against him.

"Duck, everyone. Incoming cups," William said as he walked back to the couch. The cups and mugs floated behind him and found their way to their respective recipients. "So, did you break it?" the wizard asked Kerna and Rebel.

"It's not broken," Rebel said, "it looks like something is stuck somewhere, but I can't get to it. The bloody thing's too small for my fingers, and I have no tools and stuff here."

"Hmmm. I may be able to help with that," said William. "Can I have that thing?"

Kerna handed him the tablet. William looked at the near microscopic balls. "So those are stuck, right?" He magicked a table to the side and put the tablet on the ground. "Everyone step back."

The wizard popped up his wand, pointed and mumbled something. A grey cloud formed over the tablet, obscuring it from view for a moment. Then the grey smoke disappeared, leaving behind a super-magnified tablet. The device now was four feet long and three feet wide. "Here you go, perhaps you have better access now."

Hilda screamed for laughter. Kerna and Rebel stared at the giant object. Maurizio got up and stared also.

William picked up his coffee mug and took a sip. "Ick. Needs more cream," he decided, fixing the problem instantly.

Hilda sipped her coffee too. "I like your style, wizard," she then said. "You paid attention." And to Rebel she said: "That should be big enough, right?"

"Uhhuh." That was all the woman from the future could muster as she started walking around the humongous tablet. "Perhaps a bit too big."

Kerna also examined the tablet from nearby.

"Silly people," the witch commented. "Now it's so big and they are almost on top of it." She took her whistle. Phweeeep!

Grim and Obsi had already jumped on the tablet and walked around over it, examining it in their own mysterious way.

"Ohhh, I think I found it," Rebel's voice then sounded from behind the tablet. "I am sure this is the 'on' switch, but something's stuck under it. Does someone have a hammer so I can knock it away?"

Hilda and William laughed as they walked around the immense tablet. Rebel sat on her knees, Kerna and the cats next to her, trying to pry away a lump of wood that was stuck under what now was a row of 5 metallic bowling balls. Obsi's attempts to 'help' failed miserably.

"The witch will fix it," William announced, "everyone out of the way."

Hilda looked at her wizard and was about to comment the obvious, when she saw his eyes. She smiled and pointed at the piece of wood that somehow had wedged itself firmly behind the switch on the mega-tablet.

With a dramatically undramatic 'plunk' the small wooden cylinder fell on the ground. As Rebel and Kerna focussed on the group of bowling balls again, Hilda frowned and picked up the cylinder. "What do we have here?" Slowly, staring at the cylinder, she walked back to the couch and sat down. William followed her.

"What is it you see, Hilda?" he asked, but the witch seemed so absorbed in watching the cylinder that his words never made it to her brain. To him the wooden cylinder looked as... a wooden cylinder. A bit splintered, a bit funny in its colouring, but for the rest the wizard could not detect a fascination.

Hilda's eyes seemed to see something that was beyond the piece of wood in her hands. Something drew her whole attention away from the room, so she missed the triumphant outcry from Rebel, Maurizio and Kerna, who together had managed to do something to the large bowling balls to make the tablet come alive again. Probably with the help of the two cats.

As a soft yellow light from the super sized display lit up the room, Hilda focussed even more on the cylinder. The extra light started to make things clearer, even when she had no idea what she was looking at, or for. But there was something...

"Hilda?"

"Eh? What?" The witch shook her head and blinked her eyes a few times, to get back to the room. "Hey, who switched the light on?"

Rebel and Kerna were standing on the tablet. "Can you come and have a look at this?"

Hilda, with help of William, climbed on the tablet. "Look at what?"

"There. Where Obsidian sits," said Rebel.

"That is Grimalkin," Kerna corrected the woman from the future, evoking a sigh from Rebel. "Obsidian is over there."

"I'll never learn to tell them apart."

"Ksh, cat, go," Maurizio commanded, waving a hand. Grimalkin looked at the gesturing man and yawned, expressing her level of being impressed with his actions.

"Come here, sweetie," Hilda said. Grim trotted over to her and jumped up into waiting arms. "Now, let's see what you've been hiding."

"Mwow," Grim clarified. Where she had sat was a picture. It looked like a drawing.

"And how did that picture get on this thing?" Hilda asked. "When Kerna switched it on the first time all we saw were these crazy swirls."

Kerna explained that the first time she had activated the tablet in what she considered to be the normal way. "And now we pushed the balls on the side, which does something else."

"Yes, I can see that. It draws a strange picture..." Hilda walked over the tablet, staring at the lines that were everywhere beneath her feet. "A picture that does not make any sense to me."

"It didn't to us either," Maurizio said. "And here we are, thinking we found something and now we're staring at a giant broken screen."

Hilda stopped walking and turned. Thoughts flew behind her forehead as she looked the captain of the Mimosa in the eye. "Sometimes, Maurizio, you actually say something that's useful."

"I do?" the man asked, perplexed. "What was it? Broken?"

"No," the witch shook her head. "Everyone off this thing. Now."

The people and animals on the tablet evacuated it.

"William, can you shrink it back to how it was?"

William could, so William shrunk it, and then Hilda picked up the tablet and looked at it again. "I thought so. I know what this is. It's a map."

"That is the clumsiest map I ever saw," the captain said after examining the screen. Several voices agreed with him.

"You folks know nothing about real maps, " Hilda told them. "This map was drawn by hand."

William was impressed by his witch. She had lost her magic, but she had definitely not lost her wits. "I see it too, now. But why would someone draw such a crude map on a device like that?"

"Maybe because they were in a hurry and did not have quill and paper at hand."

"Okay, so whereabouts is this then, when it's a map?" Maurizio asked. "I can't make out where this is supposed to be. Not even what side's up. That would be magic!"

"Good thing then that nobody asked you," Hilda snapped, a sudden sharpness in her voice. "Now sit and let me think. After all, I am the one who is going to make things right again here, remember?"

William put a hand on Hilda's arm. "Easy, witch. He's only trying to help, in his own way."

Rebel picked up the signal. Maurizio had touched Hilda's tender spot, and clearly at the wrong moment. "Come," she told her captain, "I think we have some things to discuss." As the two left, Rebel gently touched Hilda's hair for a moment. "Take it easy, okay?"

Kerna, with Obsi in her lap, asked: "Do you want me to go too?"

Hilda stared at the tablet, saying nothing.

William shook his head. "No, you can stay, Kerna. Maurizio just stepped on a sore spot. I'm sure he's sorry."

"He'd better," Hilda muttered, "or I'll kick him in the butt." She reached out and picked up the piece of wood. "And what in the name of all dragon eggs is this?"

Kerna bit her lip, so she would not state the obvious and bring the witch's anger over her. "Can I see it, please?"

Hilda handed her the object and watched how the woman turned it around in her hands. It seemed just a piece of wood, but the witch had a gut feeling there was something about it. That wood was not put there for no reason. Yes. It was put there, she was certain of that too.

William and Hilda watched how Kerna suddenly kneeled on the floor, put the cylinder in front of her and started to scratch the top part.

"What are you doing?" Hilda wanted to know. She was on her knees with Kerna mere moments later.

"I think something is in there," Kerna said as she tried to scrape some more wood away. "See this?" She pointed at a barely visible discoloured path on the side she was working on.

The old wood proved more resilient than it looked, though. William came to the rescue. All three were now kneeling around the wooden thing, while William slowly shaved layer after thin layer off it. Two black furry heads curiously peeked down from the table, as this was their project as well.

Suddenly the wooden cylinder fell apart.

"Holy Bejeebus," said the wizard, "I did not mean to destroy it."

"You didn't," Hilda reassured him as her hands went through the remains of the thing. "Kerna was right. There was something inside it." She held up something. It was small, square and blue.

24. Float, float, float your couch...

"What is this?" Hilda asked, staring at the small blue square. Then things started to become extraordinary.

Kerna yelped. Hilda uttered a 'crappedy crap', and William deployed instant magic to keep the three of them out of harm's way. In this case it was out of the way of the furniture that had started floating. He could not prevent the three of them going up in the air as well.

"Does this happen often?" Hilda asked Kerna, who tried to get to Obsi as Grimalkin collided with the witch.

"No. I have never seen this happen," Kerna replied, holding a rather surprised black cat in her arms as she started to rotate, on her way to hanging upside down.

"Can you get us down again, William?" Hilda wondered.

"I'm trying, but it's not working, sweetwitch," the wizard said as he did what he could to make things normal again and failing hopelessly.

By that time they heard sounds from outside the door. With considerable effort William moved himself along the wall and the ceiling to open the door, where he saw more people float around in rather undignified positions. They all looked dismayed and worried. And helpless.

"We're not alone," the wizard announced to Hilda and Kerna. He made a rope appear and tossed one end to the witch. Another rope unfolded to Kerna. He tied the ends around himself and waited for the witch and the young woman to finish their ends, which was hard for them as they were holding the cats. And these animals were not very peaceful under these strange circumstances.

William reeled the two women and cats in as Rebel and Maurizio came floating from their room. Hand in hand.

"Oh, hi there," said Rebel, "what'd you do to make this happen? I mean, it's pretty cool, but your timing was a bit off."

"This is not of my doing. The furniture suddenly started floating, and so did we."

"Yes, he's innocent," said Hilda. "Of this anyway."

"So what are we going to do about this?" Maurizio asked, showing his good intent.

"Anyone have a good idea?" Hilda asked around, also at the Lycadeans who came floating by with puzzled faces. They had no good ideas.

Kerna, holding on to Obsi, scrambled along the rope to William. "Maybe we should try to get to the Palliza, to the High Council."

"Why, what's there?"

"That is where the planet is directed from," Kerna reminded him.

"Yes, William, I was thinking the same. You should pay attention," said the witch, working hard to keep from bumping into the ceiling.

"Pipe down, witch. I am trying to think of a way to get us away from here," said the wizard as he conjured up two more ropes so Maurizio and Rebel could tie up to him. Then he magicked two big handles with suction cups that he used to drag the four people behind him.

"William, do you want to take us to the Palliza?" Kerna asked. "If so, you should go the other way."

"Oh. Right. Thank you. It looks a bit confusing from the ceiling."

Slowly and hand over hand, William worked his way along the corridor, tugging the others along.

"Guys, I think we are reaching the border of this strange gravity problem," he said after a while.

"How do you know that?" Hilda asked.

"I just saw two people fall down at the end of this corridor. I will get us down before we reach that point, their landing looked quite painful." It was quite a lot of work for the wizard to pull four people and two cats down with gravity fighting back, but he won, and soon they tumbled over the floor.

"Well done, I think," said Maurizio as he helped Rebel to her feet.

William, picking Hilda and Kerna from the floor, thanked him. Then he made handles appear on the wall, so people could pull themselves down along them so they would not crash down.

"Oh, honoured witch!" a familiar voice then called out. It was Katinki, one of the High Council.

"What are you doing outside your room?" Hilda asked, hoisting Grimalkin over her shoulders.

"We hoped you could find your way out of your room, we need you!"

"They always do," Hilda said with a wink to Rebel. "So where's the fire?"

"Fire?!" Katinki looked scared. "Is there a fire?!"

"No, no fire," William quickly said, "we just want to know what is wrong."

"Oh." Katinki visibly relaxed and pointed at the floating people. "That is wrong," she stated.

"No kidding," Rebel nodded. "Let's go to that control room and see what's happening."

"What broke down today, you mean," Hilda commented.

They went on their way, following Katinki. All the people that saw them made a lot of space as they passed. Clearly the High Council was still seen as a very important and powerful group.

Inside the Palliza they found pieces of machinery scattered all around. The original location of the parts was what used to be a small console in a corner.

"Madonna, that must have been a bang," Maurizio said as he judged the distance some of the parts had travelled. "Did anyone get hurt?"

Somehow nobody had been in the way of flying components, as if a miracle had spent some quality time with the High Council at the right moment.

Rebel went around, assisted by Gesmarion, to collect all the pieces that had originated from the exploded machinery, while Hilda and William tried to discover what had happened. The why was not so interesting yet. The assembled High Council started an explanation of attempting to correct something which remained unclear, quickly slipping into a series of contradictions and surprised faces as the Council members discovered that one half of them had attempted to do something different from the other half.

"Twelve in the same room and still they break all records in bureaucracy," Maurizio sighed. Together with Hilda, Kerna and the cats he watched how Rebel and William tried to piece the exploded console back together again. The two almost got it all done. The lack of a few pieces brought the project to an unfortunate and early end.

"Can't you improvise something there?" Hilda asked. "It's only a few things that are missing."

"Improvise?" Rebel asked, almost dumbfounded. "With what?"

The witch shrugged. "I don't know that stuff. Clay, perhaps? Hey, don't laugh, I am the honoured witch here!"

The High Council, who had withdrawn to a far end of the room to let the specialists do their jobs, seemed to be in a heated discussion. In the end Katinki stepped forward. "We have no clay."

"Too bad," said Hilda. "Might have fixed this." She tugged William's sleeve. "I have an idea." For a while she whispered in his ear, making the wizard nod, shake his head, frown, look surprised, look despaired, and a number of other things.

"You and your ideas," he finally said. "Can't make the thing get worse." With these wise words he made a lump of clay appear. It was no ordinary clay. It was pink and yellow, and in a few places it blinked.

"What is that?" Rebel asked as she stepped away from the wizard. Nobody could blame her, the blinking blob did not look trustworthy.

William shrugged. "It's something she dreamt up. Step back some more, everyone." He waited until everyone was in what he assumed to be a safe spot. Then he created a safety-wall of energy in front of him, drew back his arm and slammed the ball of pulsating clay into the hole in the machine. A bolt of magic followed the clay and then he raised the safety-wall up high while ducking and turning his back to the crime scene.

Several terrifying moments passed by, in which nothing happened that caused any reason for alarm. William turned and watched the console. It was there. No smoke billowing from it, no components flying, just a silent console.

"What happened?" Maurizio asked from the corner.

"I am not sure," William replied truthfully. "I gather it is safe for some of you to come closer. Hilda, and perhaps someone who knows how to operate this contraption."

Hilda came forward, the members of the High Council remained where they were.

"So much for that," the wizard mumbled.

"Looks like you did not break the thing," Hilda said as she looked at the console. "Not that it could have gotten any worse, mind you."

William took down the protective wall. "What do you push to make this thing work?" he called out to the assembled High Council.

"And what is it supposed to do?" Hilda asked.

With the witch and the wizard so close to the machine, Katinki and Gesmarion dared to come closer as well. "We are not certain what this console does. Today is the first time we got it to work," Katinki said. "But with what happened in the corridor when I came to find you, I think we know what it does."

Rebel, who had come up with Kerna, nodded. "Did you set some switches or so before you activated it?"

"No. I think not..." Katinki's face conveyed doubt as she looked at the slightly remodelled console. "I must say that it is hard to tell, as it now looks differently."

The pink and yellow blob was firmly embedded in the console, parts of it connected to the internals of the equipment. It still blinked, even when the rest of the machine did nothing. Or so Hilda hoped. "It is off now, right?"

Gesmarion nodded. "As long as that light there is not burning, it's off."

Hilda grinned. "That's my kind of putting it. I understand that. So why did you switch the thing on in the first place?"

Gesmarion looked at Katinki, then back at the witch. "We've not switched it on for so long, it felt like a good thing to do it. And see what happens. Last time we did it is so long ago that we did not remember if something happened."

"We only had it on very shortly then," one of the other High Councillors recalled.

Hilda closed her eyes and then pointed them at her wizard, who shared the feeling they sent out. Before either of them could do something, Maurizio proved to be more of a captain than they had thought he was.

"I suggest that everyone stays away from these consoles and machines. If they are running now, leave them running, unless someone has a valid reason to tinker with them or switch them off. What's off stays off. At least that way we have a stable situation. Capice?" With his arms folded over his chest and the eye patch in place, he looked almost impressive.

Rebel stood next to him, looking very confident. "You heard the man, people. Nobody touches anything here, or they'll answer to us. Without you lot mucking about with controls, at least the witch has a fair chance to figure out what to do, so your friggin' prophecy comes true and we can go home again."

Hilda was not one to stand with her lower jaw sagging easily, but this situation almost warranted that. Almost. In the silence that followed these strong words, the witch was glad her wizard was with her as they waited for anything to happen.

Maurizio clapped his hands. "Good. So we understand each other. While the witch and the wizard manage things that deal with the prophecy, Rebel and I will check on things here. Often, you hear? It might be best for all of you to just get out of here so nothing can go wrong. But I understand that this would upset all the folks around here, so we have to make the best of it."

William also stared at the captain in the red coat. Of all the things he might have thought of Maurizio, this was not one of them. "Holy Bejeebus," he whispered. "Is this real?"

Hilda nodded. Before she could respond, Maurizio winked at them. "It seems that we have things under control, Hilda. Feel free to leave this space in our capable hands."

"He shouldn't have said that," the witch whispered. Still she thanked Maurizio and Rebel, warned the High Council to listen to the captain and his lady, and then, together with the cats, Kerna and William, she left the Palliza, while Maurizio started distributing orders on how to clean up most of the room.

After the door had closed behind them, Hilda asked: "Did that really happen just now?"

25. A floating face

Upon their return to the room, William had some work to do. After they had disabled the strange gravity-altering device, the furniture had come down to the floor exactly where it had been floating. It looked as if everything had been hovering in one spot.

The two cats stayed close to Hilda and Kerna while the wizard arranged things back the way they had been before everything had lifted off. After that he made coffee and threw in some muffins, another novelty for their local assistant.

Hilda recovered the strange tablet they had been playing with and looked at it. "So where is that blue thing we got from the piece of wood?"

Kerna grinned. "I think you put it in your pocket."

"Oh. Of course." The witch grabbed. And grabbed again. "Did you happen to see which pocket? This robe has a lot of them." Kerna had no idea, so Hilda frantically went through all her pockets, and things things are supposed to go that way, she found it in the last one she checked.

"So, what do these two things have in common?" she said as she held up the blue bit. "I mean, the colours don't match, so it can't be that."

"I may be able to help there," said William as he took the tablet and turned it around a few times. "Yes, right. Thought so. Hand me that blue thingy, will you?"

Hilda and Kerna watched how he slipped a small strip aside with a fingernail.

"Now let's hope I put this in the right way," William mumbled as he pushed the blue thing, which he assumed would be some kind of memory chip, into the slot. He closed the small cover and then asked how to switch the thing on.

Kerna came to his rescue. She switched the thing on while William made a few more chocolate muffins for Hilda. "It does not seem to show anything different from before," the Lycadean woman said as she glanced over the display.

"Give it to me," Hilda said, full of confidence, "you two just don't know how to do this." She took over the tablet and looked at its screen. "Yes. Hmm."

William exchanged a glance with Kerna and picked up a muffin.

"Dragons eggs, I got it!" the witch exclaimed before William could bite. "Don't ask me how, but I got it!" Triumphantly she held up the tablet. It showed a completely new assortment of squigglies and blobs.

"Are you sure you didn't just turn it upside down?" William asked.

Hilda treated him to one of her less effective murderous looks. "I am sure. And even if I did, look what happens." She turned the tablet. The text, if it was that, turned also. "See? I am onto something here. I just wish I knew what it was." After a sip of her coffee she said: "It would be convenient if we could give this to one of those float-in-the-air folks, like the one Davdruw had to read out a part of the prophecy."

Kerna stared at Hilda. "Float-in-the-air...?"

"Yup. He pushed something and then there was this man hanging over the table, talking to us. He said it was an old recording, of a man called Garubine?"

To William this was news. Kerna frowned as she tried to put Hilda's words in perspective, then her face cleared up. "Oh! I think I know what you mean! We have that."

"You do?" the magical couple asked as one. "And does it still work?" Hilda added.

"I think so," Kerna said, her enthusiasm unaffected by Hilda's words. William was impressed by that.

Kerna took them to a part of the pyramid that showed all the signs of prolonged abandon. William took care of the dust and Kerna then guided them to a room that had no door. "This was the place where people could come to have stories read to them," she explained.

"So why don't you use it anymore?"

"We know all the stories by heart already," Kerna elaborated. She walked to a somewhat comfortable looking couch and sat down on it. William and Hilda, and the cats that had come along, waited for something, if only a sign from the woman.

A small yellow dot appeared in front of the couch. It expanded quickly and turned into a friendly female face that showed a smile. She had the familiar pale skin and blueish hair.

"It still works," Kerna said, looking back to the couple. "If you put the tablet on the floor, with the text up, it should read it out loud. The story-tellers can read many languages."

As there was nothing to lose, Hilda put the tablet on the floor under the smiling face and joined William and Kerna on the couch. "So, what now?" the witch asked.

"We wait."

"Oh. How long?"

"Until she starts reading," Kerna elaborated.

"Ah. And how can you tell?"

"She starts talking then."

"I see. She's taking her time for it." Hilda rubbed her nose.

William took her hand as he recognised the witch was getting impatient. "Calm down, witch. Maybe she has trouble with the handwriting."

Kerna frowned at the wizard, but Hilda grinned.

"This is a message."

"What?" Hilda asked.

"The face," William whispered.

"This message is for the one who will make things right again." The voice was male and sounded urgent, which looked quite odd with the smiling female face. "We hope you find this book and the recording chip. If the prophecy is correct, you have to find a way to find us. The ones that bring you to our planet are not very..." - the image of the face flickered for a while and the sound dropped off - "...until you see the end of the dry land. From there I cannot tell where we will go, but it is important that..." - more flickering - "... you."

"Can you repeat that? Some parts of what you were saying were not so clear," Hilda asked the face. The message, including the flickers and stutter, was repeated.

"Looks like their recording chip sustained some damage, Hilda," William stated the obvious.

"Undamage it, please," the witch simply said. "Do I have to think of everything?"

William looked at her, ready to make a comment, when he was cut off by the floating face: "Data recovery attempt is now in progress. Refreshments are available while you wait."

"See? That is how you do it!" Hilda grinned victoriously. "So where are the refreshments?"

"I'm afraid that the refreshment machines are broken," Kerna said. "We've tried to repair them..."

"And that broke them?" Hilda asked.

"More," Kerna admitted.

William salvaged the situation by serving refreshments. In this case he had chosen glasses with pine-apple juice.

Kerna picked up a glass and stared at the strange colour of the drink. Then she tried it. "Oh..." Her face showed surprise. "That tastes very nice. What is it?"

Hilda took a sip and then let William explain it. As the wizard was doing his best, a voice interrupted him.

"Data recovery attempt is now complete."

The three people and two cats turned to the floating face. "Let's have it!"

"This message is for the one who will make things right again," the female face repeated with the male voice "We hope you find this book and the recording chip. If the prophecy is correct, you have to find a way to find us. The ones that bring you to our planet are not very dependable, but we have to trust that they do the proper thing. We have to leave our villages now, in order to escape them. If you can follow us, we are going into the direction of the rising sun. Travel that way until you see the end of the dry land. From there I cannot tell where we will go, but it is important that we meet you."

Hilda scratched her nose. "Crappedy crap. Where does the sun rise here?"

"We are looking forward to helping you," the floating face then said.

"What?" All three waited for more to come, surprised by the sudden addition of words, but those clearly were the real end of the message.

"At least now we know something," William said as he sat back, a muffin appearing in his hand.

"We do," said Hilda, stealing his muffin in plain sight. "You have a stash somewhere."

William laughed and produced a few more, as Kerna looked almost beggingly at him.

The tablet was not telling them more; the face hovered over it as if it waited for something new to tell them. Unfortunately for the face, they only had the one tablet, so the face was switched off and with the tablet in one hand and another muffin in the other, Hilda led the others out of the room. "Right. Now we go back to our room and decide when we are going out to find these people."

As Kerna took the lead, she suggested that they should tell Davdruw about the tablet and the plan to find the people who prepared the recording.

"I somehow feel that would not be a smart idea," Hilda said, "Davdruw is sort of possessive and I think he thinks he possesses us. Telling him we're leaving will make him want to keep us here even more."

William agreed. "Leaving a note for him should be enough."

"Yes. Just telling him that we're out for a bit and we'll be back."

Hilda was already planning things when they reached the door to the room. Before they went in, she said: "Would it be a plan to take Maurizio and Rebel along? They seem to have good ideas. On the other hand, with them in the Palliza, things are nice and quiet, which is also a good thing."

William considered that as they entered the room where they were surprised by the presence of a tall man. Davdruw.

"Oh, look who's here," Hilda said, seemingly unsurprised. "What brings you here?" She displayed her total lack of respect for the man's authority.

Davdruw, who had been sitting on the table (as the other furniture was too low for him), rose and said: "I have heard that you are planning to leave us."

"Really? What gave you that idea?" asked the witch as she sat down on the couch, plopping Grim in her lap and petting the black animal.

"I heard you say it," Davdruw said, eyeing Kerna who sat down next to the witch. "We have an advanced building."

"You mean there are microphones everywhere so you can listen in on private conversations?" William asked.

"You make this sound like a very bad thing," Davdruw said in a disappointed tone.

"Because it is," William retorted as he made tea and coffee from what the porridge machine generated.

"Yes, it is," Hilda pitched in. Kerna did not feel safe enough to voice her opinion.

26. House arrest

"I could of course forbid you to leave," said Davdruw. He was not pleased that the honoured witch, who should make right what was wrong, was now considering to defect to wherever it was.

Hilda looked up at the tall man. "You would WHAT?" She paused for a moment. "Did you hear what you just said? You are going to forbid me something?"

Davdruw looked at her. "I said I could."

"If you ever have such a stupid thought again, let us know before you say it. We'll ask Babs to come and cure you. And you are not going to like that."

Davdruw chose not to follow the witch's train of thought. Asking her about this Babs would probably throw him off his resolve. "Honoured witch, you must understand that we depend on you. You are here for a reason."

"Yes, we all heard that before," Hilda said, clearly irritable. "And how am I supposed to do that if I don't know what's going on?"

"Oh, but you have access to everything here, in all the pyramids," Davdruw said, with a generous wide movement of one of his long arms.

William put down mugs of coffee and tea.

"Everything here is only half the thing, Davdruw," said Hilda. "There is a lot going on out there. We were outside before, just so you know it. We went to visit the old deserted village. And indeed, we did not wait for you to say we could. And we are going out again. We have no problem with you, and I suggest that you keep things that way."

Davdruw reached for his sleeve. William was faster. The entire silver garment the spiritual leader was wearing was replaced by something cotton. And orange.

"Now, William, come on," said Hilda. "That's not fair."

"It is not!" Davdruw agreed, "I want my clothes back!"

"I mean, orange..." Hilda continued as if Davdruw had not spoken.

William, who sat on a big chair next to Obsi, shrugged. "They already have enough purple here."

"You can't have enough purple, William," the witch reprimanded her wizard.

The magical man did not agree with her and left Davdruw's shirt orange. The worst she could do was nagging him about it. For now, anyway. He took the risk.

"So what were you going to do with that magical sleeve of yours?" Hilda asked Davdruw.

"It is not magical," Davdruw complained. He touched the cotton shirt and made a face. "This does not feel nice. Give me my clothes back!"

"Or else?" the witch challenged him. She felt she had a winning hand at that moment.

"There could be repercussions," Davdruw counter-challenged. He should not have done that.

"Oh. I see," Hilda said, looking at her wizard and then at Kerna. "You really scared me now." Davdruw could impossibly see the wink she gave Kerna. William, she knew, did not need one.

Davdruw was silent for just too long. It betrayed his surprise. "Good. So that is settled." He looked at the three people. "Just to be certain, I will have guards outside your door."

"Looks like you are in charge," the witch said, looking up at the man.

"Yes," Davdruw agreed. He wished them a nice day and left.

"Of course, it just looks like it," Hilda clarified for Kerna, after the man had left. "We're not going hmmhmmm."

"Calm down, Hilda," said William as he took his hand from her mouth and cast a bubble around them so they could speak freely. "Remember that Davdruw talked about listening devices. Just keep things quiet until we're out of here."

"Of course," said Hilda, "I was not going to say too much." She scowled at William in a very meaningful way, grateful that he had prevented her from saying too much. She knew he'd know. "So how about Rebel and Maurizio?"

"I think they would be offended if we leave them here," William shared. "They've followed us so far, they should come along."

"Followed? They dragged us away from our world! I think they deserve to stay here for that, and suffer these Lycadean nincompoops!" Hilda was promptly on fire.

Kerna stared at Hilda. She had not often seen the honoured witch in such a mood.

"They have done good things too, witch. Consider that too."

"Stinky dragon's eggs," she muttered, knowing that he was right. "I'm not giving in that easily."

"If we leave them here and something bad happens to them, we may have problems returning to the Mimosa and back home," William tried.

"Hah, I am not sure if they know how to get us home," Hilda countered, "even if we manage to get them back to that black ship of theirs. Wherever that is."

"Rebel knows where it is," William said. "She followed me here, with Maurizio in tow."

"She followed you? You did not bring them here?" Hilda tried to recall the happenings that had gone on after her abduction in the flying pyramid, and during the flight in the see-through pyramid, from where she had seen William. "Oh..."

William let her sit and mutter for a while. That was the way to deal with her. "So, Kerna, do you have some things you would need to pack together before we leave?"

Kerna stared at the wizard. "But Davdruw won't let us-"

"Don't worry, we're leaving anyway," the wizard assured her. "We have long sleeves that hold a lot of tricks."

"Eh?" Kerna clearly did not catch what he meant. She shook her head. "I would need clean clothes. And better shoes."

William looked at the young woman and nodded. "Indeed. I think I can fix something for you. It might cost a few chairs, but that's okay I guess."

As Kerna, Obsi and Grim watched, he got up and used his magic to change a chair into a black robe, remarkably similar to the one Hilda wore. Another chair was sacrificed to become a pair of good shoes and a decent cloak. "Care to give that a try?" he then invited her.

"But... that is all black!" Kerna said as she picked up the clothes. "We always have silver clothes."

"You're going to travel with us, so you will travel in style," Hilda said. "Looks a lot better than all that silver stuff too, if you ask me. Well, also if you don't ask me."

Kerna touched the soft fabric of the robe. "It feels nice," she admitted. She popped into the bathroom with her new clothes and reappeared all in black. Her purple hair looked a bit off, but Hilda approved of the new look for Kerna.

"Okay, I think we should take Rebel and Maurizio with us," the witch then declared. "They might come in handy."

William grinned and walked to the door. Davdruw had not taken half measures, he noticed: there were five guards waiting.

"We have orders not to let you out," one of them said.

"That's fine, boys. Can one of you run off to the Palliza and tell Rebel and Maurizio we have to see them?"

The five conferred for a while. Then the spokes guard said: "We will let someone bring them here. You are not allowed to leave."

"Sure, just make that someone go. Getting someone else to bring some decent wine is probably too much to ask?" the wizard asked.

"We will find someone to bring you wine."

"Good boys." William closed the door. "They're being called for. And I asked for wine."

"Good thinking. Did you also ask for water to make mine less strong?" Hilda asked.

Less than a minute later the water was also ordered.

"These guards don't look too happy having to guard us dangerous people," the wizard grinned as he sat down on the couch. Obsidian jumped in his lap and allowed himself to be petted.

It did not take very long until Rebel and Maurizio knocked on the door. They arrived almost at the same time as the wine did.

"Hi Kerna, you look good in black!" Maurizio commented on the young woman's new attire. She grinned, slightly shy and slightly proud.

"Come in, sit down, have a glass of wine," said William. "I'll make some proper cheese from the oatmeal machine, while the guards guard us."

Then they explained their plan to the two from the Mimosa, with a protective bubble around them. Rebel supplied the bubble this time.

"Wow, that is quite impressive," Maurizio said after hearing what had been in the book. "So when are we going?"

"After the wine," William replied promptly. "I did not order that to let it go to waste. Pretty good wine, I am impressed."

"And how are we going?" Rebel asked.

"Through that wall, I suggest," said William, pointing. "From what I think, that is closest to the outside world."

Kerna nibbled on some cheese in silence. She did not question anything these strange people discussed. The things she had seen and experienced with them up to now had turned her whole world upside down, and someday they would complete the rotation and all would be well again. Until then she would just hang on.

Rebel agreed with the wizard. "Looks like a good way to walk out. Good thing we have our flying thing outside, so we have a quick way to get out of here."

"That would be necessary," Kerna added as Obsi invaded her lap. "The place the old ones mentioned is very far away. It would take very long to get there if we have to walk."

"Good thing you mention that," said Hilda. "William, dear, could you ask the oatmeal machine to supply us with water and food that we can take along while we are under way? You know the shrinking trick, your pockets are wide and deep..."

"Try batting your eyes at him," Rebel suggested.

"Oh no, no eye batting!" William quickly said.

"Why not?"

"That is so not Hilda. If she does that, there's something in her eyes. She does not bat them to get something done. She tells you or slaps you until you do it."

Hilda laughed, scaring Maurizio and Rebel. And Kerna. "He knows me so well, and he says the sweetest things, doesn't he?"

William tipped over the last sip of wine into himself and then got to work on the food fabrication, while Rebel came to see what he was doing. She was amazed by the amount of food he produced, and how small he made the packages so they could be transported easily.

"I wonder if they get some kind of alarm that this thing is spitting out oatmeal by the gallon," she whispered to the wizard, well aware that there were listening devices everywhere.

"By the time they notice, we'll be far away," William said.

On the couch, Hilda and Kerna talked with Maurizio on how they would travel and the way they could best keep their course. In that, the captain proved to be quite an asset. He was used to finding his way in the strangest of places. An ordinary planet would present hardly a problem, he said.

Once all details were clear and the food packages were stashed away in many pockets, Hilda walked over to the door.

"Hey witch, what are you going to do?" William asked. As he expected, she just kept going.

"Hi boys," she said to the guards, after opening the door. "We're going to take a nap, so can you make sure we're not disturbed for a while?"

"We are not here to disturb you, but to guard you, honoured witch," the spokes guard spoke.

"Very good. Have a nice - uhm - guard." Hilda closed the door again. She came back to the other escapees in waiting. "I think I handled that quite well. Now, can you take that wall out quietly?"

27. Through the wall, in the air

"I think that will be possible," Rebel said. "William, can you put up a soundproofing bubble or so? I am not sure if I can make it all silent when I remove the wall."

William thought for a short while. He had never done something like that before, but - then his face lit up. "I think I have something better!"

"Better? How can something be better than a soundproofing bubble?" Rebel wondered, looking at Hilda and Kerna, who both shrugged.

They watched William head over to the oatmeal machine again, and making it spit out dozens of bowls filled with the blob. When he was satisfied he poured the contents of every bowl on the floor near the door, making sure the layer of it was equally distributed everywhere.

"Okay kids, now watch," he grinned as he came walking back to the group, his wand in hand. He pointed the wand, pronounced a spell, slowly and clearly, and then he waited. The layer of oatmealish blob started to move. Upwards mainly, where it expanded to the ceiling of the oddly shaped room. It also thickened, so the layer was about five feet thick. He had created a massive layer of Styrofoatmeal.

"I think that should work," the wizard nodded as his wand disappeared. "And it will help in giving us a head start as well, if they try to break through that."

"William, my wizard, you really paid attention," said Hilda, hoisting Grimalkin over her shoulders, and then fumbling in her pockets. "I'm ready. Let's go."

Rebel nodded. She stared at the unfortunate wall. A few moments later, it simply fell away from them. A noise told them it had hit solid ground.

"I'll go have a look first," said Maurizio, taking the lead in their escape. He stepped through the hole and looked around. "Everything is okay here. Just a little jump from here to the ground." He jumped.

Rebel went after him. "Once I am outside I can help you if you can't jump," she told the others and leapt to the ground. Kerna with Obsi in her arms jumped also. Hilda followed, and William was the last one to leave the pyramid.

"Good job," Hilda complimented Rebel, and Maurizio as well. "Now let's get to the flying thing and get away from here."

They walked around the pyramid. Inside things were still quiet, nobody seemed to have noticed the wall breach yet. And then they found the flying rig. At least, that what remained of it.

"Holy Bejeebus," William growled, "looks like Davdruw isn't so stupid after all."

"We can put it back together," Rebel suggested.

"I'm afraid that will take too long," the wizard said as he scratched his head.

"I can buy us some time," the woman in leather said. "Just hold on."

"On to" - the scenery changed - "what?"

Rebel had employed one of her mysterious powers to transport the group and the remains of the rig to a place they had seen while flying the rig for the first time. "We're behind one of the more remote pyramids. So, let's get to work."

The work came down to the magic man and the powers of the woman. It helped that they had built this thing once before, so the putting together was done quite quickly. As they all mounted the thing, a somewhat familiar sound reached them.

"They've noticed we left," Hilda said as she recognised the sound of shuttle-pyramids launching.

"Let's go then," said William. "Rebel, can you help with keeping us in the air? Then I can focus on evasive actions and keeping everyone on board."

Hilda felt bad.

-=-=-

The rig lifted into the air. William kept them low. They had spotted a few shuttles already and these were high up, so he figured that staying close to the ground would give them an advantage. Unfortunately, the state of the equipment in the shuttles proved to be superior to the stuff inside the pyramids: no matter how high or low the rig flew, the shuttles picked them up and soon they had am escort of four flying around them.

"You will follow us back to the pyramid," a voice from a loudspeaker informed them.

"Is that so?"

Everyone looked in surprise at the man in the red coat. Maurizio was adjusting his eye patch and said: "William, Rebel, pretend to follow them and when I say something, don't think or ask, but do it."

"What are you up to?" Hilda wanted to know, hating that she was entirely out of control and unable to do anything constructive. This was supposed to be her job, she was not made to sit and wait for others to get her out of problems.

"Old school tactics," the captain explained in a non-explanatory way.

"Better watch out, William," the witch warned her wizard.

"You will follow us back to the pyramid," the voice from the loudspeaker sounded more urgent this time.

"Okay, we're turning," William yelled, hoping that the people would hear him.

Apparently they did. As the rig slowed down and started a slow and wide turn, the shuttles around them followed their movements. The wizard was not going to make this easy on them.

They were on the way back, their destination already in view, when Maurizio whispered something to Rebel, who nodded. Then he asked William how fast the rig could go.

"Crikey, I don't know. We've been out on it a few times and never in a hurry. Also remember we have no seatbelts."

"No what?" Hilda wondered.

"Don't worry, I'll keep us in our seats," Rebel casually remarked. "Just hold on."

"Again? To what?"

Maurizio tapped William on the shoulder. "Once things changed, give it all you've got. Just go forward."

The wizard nodded, wondering what would change.

"Rebel... now would be good."

Things changed. The rig was back at the position where it had been intercepted by the shuttles. William did not take time to recover from the sudden change: he pushed all the magic he had into the rig and pushed it forward as fast as he could.

Hilda's "crappedy crap" was lost in the wind as she felt how something pressed her down in her seat. Grimalkin complained loudly about this treatment, but the speed of the rig was phenomenal. The witch was not certain if William alone was doing this or if Rebel helped a hand, but she was impressed by what suddenly was happening around her.

"Do you think we are going in the right direction?" William yelled back to whoever could hear him.

"No, we are going in the wrong direction, and we keep going there!" Maurizio shouted back in the rush of the wind. "No good leading these idiots to where we're going!"

"Any guess if hiding in the clouds here is safe?" William wanted to know.

Maurizio advised against that, as nobody knew what was inside them, so they sped on.

Kerna sat in her chair, almost squeezing life out of Obsi and keeping her eyes closed. She did not want to know what was going on.

Hilda was more curious: she watched the ground speed by and at a certain moment the strange concrete-like material that made up the surface was no more than crumbles. They had not seen anything resembling a house or pyramid in quite a while. She turned a bit and noticed that nothing was following them anymore. In the distance a few of the shuttles still hovered, but for some reason they held their position.

"Maybe we can slow down a bit and look at what's happening," Hilda yelled at Maurizio. She had to repeat her words before he understood and she breathed more easily as the rig indeed slowed down, after some shouting of the captain to William and Rebel.

Kerna noticed the change in speed and pressure, and peeked from behind her eyelids. Relief flowed over her as she noticed that the rig was hardly moving anymore.

"I'm going to put us on the ground," William announced. Little later they had landed.

"Okay, everyone, check yourselves. Everything still where it belongs?" Maurizio said, cheerful as if a speed run on an improvised flying rig was the most normal thing of the day. "And that was some mean flying, you two," he complimented William and Rebel. Rebel got a kiss for that too, something William gladly missed out on.

Obsidian and Grimalkin were pleased to have regained their freedom and started their own investigation of the meagre surroundings.

"Nice flying, William," Hilda said. Her quick peck on the cheek was very welcome with him. Then she rummaged in one of her pockets.

Phweeeeeeep!!

"That is what these people in their flying pyramids get from me. Nothing more," she said with a smug look as she put the whistle away. "So... where are we?"

The witch pulled the tablet from somewhere and switched it on. With the wood removed, it responded nice and fast. "So, we had a map. Now, let's see..." She examined the map for a while. Then she looked at Kerna. "Can you make sense of this?"

Kerna took the tablet and together with the witch she studied the map on the screen. "I think we are here."

"No. We have to be here. That is where the pyramid stuff is."

"No. This is where the houses are. You are pointing at where the screen is damaged."

"Crappedy crap."

William, Rebel and Maurizio let the two worry about the map and followed the two cats around until Hilda was convinced that Kerna was right.

Walking around was difficult, with the large cracks in the shattered concrete. Further away they saw a stretch of what looked like grey-green sand, dry and uninviting.

"We're quite a bit off track," the witch informed them when the group had assembled again. "We're here" - random stab at the screen - "and we are going there" - another stab at the screen. "We say we have to go that way." Hilda pointed somewhere behind her. She looked at Kerna for a moment, who nodded. "Yes. We're going that way."

"Good, I appreciate that," said William, "but I do think we have to patch up our rig a bit. We went quite fast, and it was originally not designed for MACH 1."

"Mach what?" Hilda and Kerna asked.

Rebel and Maurizio laughed.

"No laughing at the witch!" Hilda yelled over the outburst of joy. "You go fix whatever mach you have to, and then get us out of here."

William and Rebel then faced a slight problem. The flight rig definitely needed patching up but there was nothing around to patch up with. The grey sand in the distance was not helpful, and the crumbling concrete was faster in crumbling than in being a concrete help.

Rebel stated that there was nothing she could do, as she lacked the proper material. William tried to convert some of the concrete into metal bands, but the material was obstinate and did not keep together, not even after being changed. It was interesting to see strips of metal fall apart like crumbling concrete, but not very conducive to getting away...

28. Sad country

William, Hilda and Kerna resorted to tearing strips of fabric from their clothes. These were easily changed into strong metal bands that were perfect for reinforcing the flying rig.

"Do you have any idea why the shuttles did not follow us over here?" Hilda asked Kerna as they watched the work in progress.

"This is the forbidden land," Kerna explained. "Some of the old legends say that there are dangers here, real dangers that will come for you when you don't watch, and they will kill you."

"Sounds like a bundle of fun," the witch grinned. "So why did you come here with us, when you know about these dangers?"

"They are only legends. Many people whisper that they are brought into existence to keep everyone near the houses."

"Smart girl," Hilda nodded, "I appreciate your thinking."

Kerna looked at the witch. "That does not mean I am not afraid..."

Grimalkin and Obsidian came back from their private adventure, all grey from the dust and the sand as William and Rebel tested the last few connections they had made. Hilda picked up Obsidian and patted the dust off him. After cleaning the cat, she handed him over to Kerna and took care of Grimalkin.

The cats were not happy, but they endured the treatment in silence. Being all dirty was not the way a magical's familiar should be, and the dust refused to go away by itself.

"We'll see to it that nothing happens to you, Kerna," she tried to reassure the young woman who held Obsi against her chest. Hilda held up Grimalkin. "Now don't you look nice and clean again?" she asked the cat.

"Meowww."

By that time, William had the rig afloat and they all took their seats. Slowly the rig moved upwards. William tested that everything was fine and stable, confirmed the direction that Hilda and Kerna had pointed out, and then, together with Rebel, he made the rig turn. "Here we go, folks."

The rig started moving, picking up speed smoothly. A phweeeeep sounded over the desolate area.

As the contraption moved away, from under the rubble slowly a dark grey head appeared. Two red eyes watched the floating rig go. After a while, when the rig had gone out of sight, the head sank back into the ground, without a sound...

-=-=-

For a long time, the companions flew over the same boring grey land. The concrete was more or less the same, be it also more or less crumbled. The grey sand sometimes came near and sometimes seemed to fade away, as if some unseen sandy tidal wave was playing its game.

"Do you have any idea how long we have to watch this?" Hilda asked Kerna. She was getting more than just bored out of her mind, and the lack of magic made it worse as there was no way that she could play with the concrete and the sand. Or even just help William fly the rig, even though she had to admit that he and Rebel were doing a good job on that.

"Until we see something else," Kerna had no other option.

"Oh. It'd better be soon."

William looked back at the witch and felt sorry for her. He knew how she needed to do something and be in control and all that, but he also missed the connection to her more and more. As that was all he missed, he could not even fathom what she was going through, having no magic to wield, "We're doing what we can, Hilda," he said. "Want to ride up front for a while? I am sure Maurizio will trade places with you."

"No. Just keep going and get us some place decent," the witch grumbled, using her cat as a distraction for her hands. Grimalkin suffered in silence.

"William. I sense something." It was Rebel whose head jerked up and peered around.

"What?"

"I don't know. It's strange."

This was of course very disconcerting. A woman as strange as Rebel calling something strange was never a good thing.

"Do you at least know where?" Hilda asked.

"Yup. Right in front of us."

Everyone did their utmost to discover something strange in front of the rig, but nothing felt like showing itself. The pilots even slowed down the rig, and William made it lift up higher, with the idea that perhaps from higher up they might be able to see something. This proved to be a smart idea, and one that was done on time as well.

Below them, suddenly a small mountain of sand and concrete rose up, and not just slowly like a mole would do. The bulge seemed to jump upwards, as if it wanted to catch the rig and its occupants. Claw-like paws stretched out from the sand-mountain and reached up to the flying thing that suddenly looked very vulnerable and breakable. One claw would be enough to cover about ten rigs. With occupants. And there were two of those monstrosities

The sand thing rose up to almost one hundred feet high. William and Rebel threw the rig in a sharp turn, as they were not high enough to avoid the monster.

"Crappedy crap!" Hilda was right."What is that?!"

"Looks like one of the dangers Kerna mentioned is real after all," Maurizio said. The captain was fumbling in his pockets as if he desperately needed something from one of them. "Madonna, where is it!"

"Right in front of your nose!" Hilda yelled, as she could not see what he was doing. "Oh, right behind us now!" she corrected herself after a fascinating yet nausea-evoking manoeuvre that William had to perform. The sand-beast had grown some more and was moving in pursuit.

Kerna sat in silence, her eyes large and radiating fear.

While William handled the flying, Rebel grabbed one of the small food packages from a pocket. "Can you turn this into water?" she asked the wizard, who nodded as he made the rig avoid yet another swoop of a claw.

"We have to get over this thing and then soak it," Rebel said, "sand and water make mud."

Now that did make a lot of sense, but Hilda was not certain that the sand on this insane planet would be aware of that as well. "I hope so!"

Maurizio in that time had found what he was looking for. In his hand was a very small object, as if he had stolen a miniature pistol from a baby. This thing looked menacing though, despite its size. "Hold still!" he exclaimed as he tried to get a proper aim at the sand-thing.

Hilda suddenly realised the spooky thing that entire battle was going on in relative silence. The sand did not make any sound, the only thing they heard were their own voices and the wind rushing by.

"Forget it!" Rebel said. She made the rig jolt as Maurizio fired. A long blue flame bounced from the small gun and as if guided by magic it found one of the long arms of the monster, taking it clean off. The arm fell apart in just sand and small rocks. The monster did not seem to mind or notice, it kept charging.

Somehow they managed to get the rig over the mountain of violent sand. Rebel tossed the package, William flashed his wand for a moment, and then a large amount of water went down. The effect was stunning to behold. At first the greyish lump of sand only turned darker. Then, as if it took the sand a while before it understood what it was supposed to do, its movement became slower, and blots of mud flew around. Some of them reached the people on the rig. Then, as the water reached the core of the sand-monster, the mountain suddenly collapsed. All it left was a large dark smear on the light grey ground.

"Suck an elf. That was... some sand."

"Too true. And I would prefer not to run into some of that anymore," the wizard said as he steered the rig away from the smear and down to the surface. "I need a break."

Once landed, they took some time to eat and get their bearings. According to Maurizio they were still on course, and Kerna was convinced of that as well. As there was nothing the others could bring up against that, they proceeded in that direction.

After a long flight William became tired. Rebel said she was getting sleepy as well, so the rig was parked and one of the inflatable packages was transformed into a large tent. By the time they were done making camp, darkness was crawling in.

"That's so odd," said Hilda, "I've never seen darkness crawl in that way. As if it is trying to surround us."

Darkness did. And not only that; at a certain moment it jumped the small camp and in one strike everything was dark. Very dark.

"Did someone remember to do something about lights?" the witch asked.

"Lux," said William, making the tip of his wand light up. Rebel had gotten something from a pocket that emitted light as well.

With these few sources of illumination, the group quickly prepared something to eat. William then set up some wards, just in case anyone or anything had plans for surprise visiting them in the night, and then the group went to sleep in their improvised sleeping quarters.

-=-=-

"William." The voice was a whisper. It was Hilda's.

"Yes?" He was awake amazingly fast.

"It's still dark."

"Perhaps it is still night," he assumed.

"No. Can't be. I am awake." Her logic did not seem to make sense, unless you knew Hilda. She'd wake up after the night, unless something made her wake up sooner. And everyone would know it if that happened. William knew her.

A wand-tip lit up. The others were still asleep. Hilda and William rose from their makeshift bed and tiptoed out of the tent.

"Crappedy crap. How is this possible?" the witch wondered out loud. "I mean, this looks amazing, but still."

A circle of thirty feet around the tent was still shrouded in darkness, while outside that border the daylight was making the most of the grey surroundings, which was pathetically uninspiring.

Hilda walked out of the darkness into the light. "It's just fine," she said as she came back into the dark, guided by William's shiny wand. "We should wake up the others and get on our way."

Easily said, and also easily done. After waking the others (phweeeep!!) , they first pulled their tent into the daylight, so they could see what they were doing without the help of William's and Rebel's small lighting options. William made breakfast and after that the beds and tent were shrunk and disappeared in a few pockets. Then they set off, in search of the people who had left the crude map and the puzzling message on the tablet.

Far and increasingly further behind them, the blob of darkness slowly faded until nothing of it remained.

29. Hello

Hilda and Kerna were studying the tablet, more specifically the map on it.

"Would be convenient if this thing would show us where we are," the witch commented. The area they were travelling over did not give any hint of that, so for her feeling they were flying blind with seven pairs of eyes wide open. Well, most of the time. The cats sometimes did the smart thing and closed theirs.

Kerna silently agreed with the witch. They had been going for a while already. So far the most significant change was that the concrete had vanished entirely. It had been replaced with fine grey sand.

"I think we're getting somewhere," William announced. "I see something new up ahead."

"Yes, I see it too," Rebel confirmed.

This news made Hilda, Kerna and Maurizio sit up and try to peek around the two in the pilot positions.

"What do you see?"

"Rocks."

"Grey rocks?"

"How did you guess, sweetwitch?"

"Everything out here is grey," the sweetwitch muttered, "even dragon's balls are more colourful."

"What colour are those then?" Maurizio asked.

Hilda shrugged. "Depends on how you paint them."

The captain was dumbfounded for a moment. "Paint? The balls of a dragon?"

"No. Dragon's balls," Hilda failed to enlighten him. She noticed his lack of comprehension. "Dragon's balls are a kind of rock you can find in the mountains behind the sea behind the forest, when you go west from where I live. They're egg-shaped and a lot of fun for children. They paint them in the most amazing colours."

"Oh. I see." Suddenly painted dragon's balls were a lot less exciting to Maurizio.

"Of course, the trick is to get to them. You have to get past the dragons for that."

"Dragons? You mean real dragons, with wings and snorting fire?" Maurizio was captivated again.

"You didn't get around a lot, did you?" Hilda asked him. "The fire breathers don't live in the mountains, Maurizio. The dragon's balls are where the Nobblebacks live, and the Draco Maximus. That means really big dragon. It also means really stupid, but not many know that."

"Rebel, did you hear that?" the captain said as he poked his girlfriend in the back, "she lives where dragons live!"

"Cut that out, Moro," Rebel snapped, "I'm not deaf and you're almost shoving me off this thing!"

"Which would be a very bad thing," William agreed as he brought the rig to slower forward movement. The wizard pointed down. "No falling off the rig please, that would look very bad on my resume."

"Crappedy crap!"

Below them, in the sand, a kind of vegetation had slowly been emerging. At the very moment that Hilda uttered her well-known words, the green stuff had become quite an impressive layer of what looked like low cacti. The most ominous about them were the immense needles that protruded from the stems.

"No shit," Maurizio said, "you could make a nice sabre from one of those things."

"I think I know where we are," Kerna then said, pointing at the tablet. Her finger rested on a strip that showed a wobbly line with some scratches. "I believe that this ridge of plants is this line."

With the rig moving over the lethal green, everyone in turn studied the tablet. The general feeling was that Kerna could be right. She could also be wrong, but that was not so important. The important thing was that, if the woman was correct, they were hovering over the last known bit on the map. Outside that border, there was nothing drawn by the people they were trying to find.

"So once we crossed this gross stuff, we're flying into no man's land," Rebel said.

"Look behind you, kid, and convince me that we just came from man's land," Hilda commented. She had a point there, and she knew it.

"Let's first get over this stuff," William suggested. "I don't like the look of a load of daggers beneath us and us without very much protection."

For a while the vegetation underneath the rig did not change very much. A few comments were made about how their contraption was quite open at the bottom, and how large the possibility was that someone could fall down.

William and Rebel retorted that so far nobody had fallen out, "so please shut up about that."

The addition of the latter evoked even more comments, and as the group was debating there came an end to the green mass of knife-like plant extensions without them even noticing. The terrain changed into a rough, rocky surface with crevices in it that contained clear, running water.

Hilda was the first one to notice the change. "Hey you all, cut out the bickering and look down!"

Her words brought a moment of peace, after which a careful hooray-feeling took over. William agreed that putting down the rig here was a good idea, so they could enjoy some of the fresh water. It felt good to the group to be off the flying rig and walk around a bit, and the water was very good.

"I wonder when we will find some sign that we are getting close to the people we're looking for," Rebel said. "It's been a nice ride so far, but I'm afraid that one more day of flying around will get a bit boring."

The small group also stuck around for something to eat, and it was during a break from snacking that Hilda suddenly noticed some movement in the corner of her eye. She turned her head and looked, but there was nothing.

"Did you see that?" she asked, wondering why she did not see what she was sure of she had seen.

"See what?"

"The movement there," the witch pointed.

"Nope, didn't see anything," Rebel said. Kerna shook her head in silence, and also the men had not seen something.

Hilda scowled for a moment. Seeing things that weren't there bothered her more than seeing any of the weird things she had seen in her life. She picked up a sandwich, checked it for onions and - there it was again! She jerked her head and - nothing. "Crappedy crap," she muttered, "I hate this."

"Wassup?" Maurizio wondered between bites. He knew it was not good to see the witch act like that.

"I saw it again! There!" More than just a tad annoyed she got up and walked over to where she had clearly spotted the movement. The fact that there was nothing that actually could move in that place was circumstantial.

"It was here," she was convinced as she stomped the rocky surface. The surface did not feel so solid as a rock as a rock should feel... "It -is- here," she decided therefore. Another stomp.

William had joined her. "Yes, I see the rocks move." He stomped the place also.

The surface responded by trembling, making the magicals jump to the side. A breath later, the rocky underground became a lump, then a mound and it ended its growth as a large bulky block of rock.

"Suck an elf," Hilda shared, "I knew I wasn't losing it."

Then the block of rock opened two large red eyes.

As the thing stood there, motionless, Hilda and William slowly stepped back a little. They were used to quite a bit, and so they knew it paid to be careful.

"Hey, Rocky, can you hear me?" Hilda then tried.

Rocky did not indicate in any perceivable way that he had indeed heard the witch.

"Hello? Somebody in there?" Hilda became braver, as the lump did not move. She stepped up to it and knocked on it. "This," she decidedly reported then, "is solid rock."

The sound of some pebbles scattering, further away, made the whole group look at the sound. Another Rocky emerged from the surface, as immobile and red-eyed as the first one.

"Somehow I have the feeling we stumbled on a nest of those," Maurizio vented his opinion.

"What are they?" Rebel wondered. "And where do they come from?"

No one was able to answer her question. Maurizio, however, seemed to be right. Further away from the second red-eyed rock, a third one emerged, and as the group watched that one grow, a fourth one also started to make its way up from the rocky underground.

"Do you notice that they form a straight line?" William observed.

"Suck an elf, you're right."

"Maybe we should follow them," Maurizio suggested.

"Or maybe not," Rebel said. "They may lead us to a place we don't want to go."

The two looked at Kerna, who looked at Hilda and William. Kerna was out of her comfort zone since long, she had put all her trust in the two strange and intriguing people and their cats.

"What do you think, sweetwitch?" William asked. "You're the one who'se going to save the planet, so it's your call."

Hilda rubbed her nose. "Not sure. I'm still..." She wiggled her fingers, indicating that her magic was gone. "But..." - a wicked smile appeared on her face - "when did I ever take the safe route?"

William laughed. "So true. Let's finish up here, and then make our way along the rocky blobs."

It did not take the group long to pack up and mount the rig again. As they rose up, not too high this time, they saw that the line of rocks had grown, extending far beyond where they could see.

-=-=-

They had flown a considerable distance and the line of rocks did not show any sign of ending. The surroundings had taken on a different colour though. Very slowly, small shrubs and low hedge-like bushes had started to fight themselves a way through the rocky ground.

"We should put this thing down again, William," Rebel suggested. "It's getting dark."

"You're right," Hilda agreed. Even Kerna nodded.

William found a good place to park the rig and everyone got off it with a sigh of relief. The seats were all but very comfortable and not made for longer trips.

As the wizard inflated the large tent, Kerna and Rebel started working on making food, and Hilda and Maurizio went off for a walk to have a look at the surroundings.

"Don't walk off too far," Rebel warned them, "we don't plan to take ages making supper."

"And the tent's up already also," said William, creating some large comfortable chairs from bits of wood and plants. He sat down in one. "Ohhh, I like this. I will do something about the seats of the rig before we leave."

Hilda and Maurizio wandered off, agreeing wholeheartedly with William's latest statement.

"Do you have any idea what we will find?" the captain asked, as he took his eye patch from a pocket and put it over his eye.

"Not the faintest," Hilda replied, "and why do you keep putting that thing on your head when there's nothing wrong with your eyes?"

"Just preparing," said Maurizio. "Perhaps I will lose an eye in a battle and then I am used to wearing it. Proper pirate attire, you know."

"You are weird at times. Did someone ever tell you that?"

"Rebel does. Almost every day."

"Hello."

The wicked witch and the weird captain spun around as if a double-stinger wasp had stung them with its double stingers.

30. To the village

"Crappedy crap."

Hilda and Maurizio stood face to face with two people, a man and a woman. They looked quite normal compared to the blue- and purple-haired Lycadeans, but many facial features told them that these people without a doubt were related to them.

The faces of the two lit up. The man replied: "Suck an elf?"

"Only if you have one that was rolled in honey," Hilda said. "Are you the folks we're looking for?"

"Are you the honoured witch who is not a witch?" the man asked.

The woman prodded him in the ribs. "She has to be. She knows the words. Please excuse his behaviour, honoured witch, he's always like that."

Hilda immediately liked the woman. "You are the old ones that Kerna mentioned, right?" They had to be, even though they did not look that old.

"We are the descendants of the Lycadean people who left the big cities when the technological craze was becoming too dangerous, if you mean that."

"Sound good enough for me," Hilda nodded. "Oh, this is Maurizio Blunt. He's a pirate captain, or so he says."

"We are pleased to meet you, honoured captain."

"Ah," the honoured captain grinned, "my crew could take an example from them!"

"So who are they?" a voice asked from behind Hilda and Maurizio.

Hilda and Maurizio did the quick turn again, to find Rebel.

"I think they are the ones we're looking for," the witch explained.

"Really? Awesome. William will be miffed though." As the witch and Maurizio looked at her, not understanding, Rebel elaborated: "Not enough food for two extra mouths."

"Oh, we do not want to dine with you!" the male stranger exclaimed. "We were just doing our round, as usual."

Hilda rubbed her nose. "Right. One thing at the time. First, you seem to know us. Who are you? Next thing: I'm hungry, so you will come with us and tell us what you're doing here while we're eating."

The two people did not find anything wrong with that idea, so as they walked back, the two introduced themselves. The woman was called Kyru and the man's name was Sodor.

"We were doing the daily round to see if you had come," was the simple reason for their presence.

"Daily round?"

"Yes. Since our tribe left the cities, there was a rule in place that there would be signs for the witch, and that two of us would come here, to see if you had arrived. Our ancestors knew that you would come. You would be the one to find the book. You did find the book, did you not?"

"You mean the tablet thing with the scribbly map on it? Yes, we got that."

While talking, the group reached the small camp, where the smell of food and the sight of large comfy chairs were waiting for them.

William frowned as his witch came back with two strangers. "Who'd you bring, and where did you find them? I doubt there's enough food for all..."

Rebel grinned.

Kerna just stared at the two people, holding Obsi close to her. Grimalkin sat at her feet, keeping an eye on the two as well.

Kyru and Sodor were introduced. As they met Kerna, they stared back at her. "You are from here," they immediately decided.

"Hey, no nagging Kerna! She's with us, so be nice to her!" Hilda jumped in, even before something had happened. "She risked her neck for us a few times and has been invaluable."

Kerna looked at the witch in surprise. She had not expected so much praise, clearly.

By then William was handing out plates with food, having heard that the two newcomers did not want anything. As they all were sitting, Kyru and Sodor started talking.

"Our ancestors left the cities long ago. Too much technology was getting into fashion, and there were those that adored it and those that worried that this technology would take over too much. At a certain point, a seer stood up from the midst of our ancestors and told them about the Prophecy."

"Oh, yes, we know that one," Hilda muttered. "That's what got me here in the first place. I wish that person had kept its mouth shut."

The two looked puzzled for a moment. Kyru continued: "The seer warned for the bad parts of the Prophecy, and it was obviously almost too late. So our ancestors decided that they should leave, before everything went bad."

"Seers usually aren't believed until the dragon's shit hits the market square," Hilda knew. "I've heard of that happen far too often."

After finishing the meal, the camp was packed up. William shrunk everything back to easily transportable packets, to the amazement of Kyru and Sodor who obviously never had seen a true magical at work.

Hilda could do nothing but supervise the job and again hate the fact that she had no control over her magic. How on Earth, she wondered, was she going to do something about this crazy place without having her magic? She was supposed to make right what was wrong, according to the folks here, and there was no way she saw how that could happen.

"Well, I guess we’re going with you now," the witch said to the two young old ones.

"We already hoped you would, indeed." Sodor nodded.

"I hope you have a place that’s nicer than this one," Hilda said, looking back to the area they had come from. "I’m sick and tired of rocks and sand."

"We assume that the pillars were useful." Kyru pointed at one of the large red-eyed rocks that was near.

"They’re yours?" Maurizio wondered.

"Yes. We did not abandon all technology," Sodor explained, "there were some applications of it that were considered very useful, so our people worked for years to create these guiding pillars, for this particular moment."

"All of them? We’ve seen hundreds of them!" Hilda, despite herself, was genuinely impressed. All that work they had done for her, while they had no idea when or even if she ever would come. Or perhaps the ‘if’ had not been so much a question for them.

"Actually there are several thousands of them," Kyru said. "Nobody knew from where you would come, honoured witch, so the pillars have been made into all directions."

"Suck an elf," Hilda said.

William and Rebel had finished packing and storing their camp in several pockets. "So, are we going to fly the rig, or are we in walking distance?"

Kyru smiled at the wizard. "Everything is in walking distance, wizard William."

William realised that he was not honoured in these parts. "Okay. Let’s go then."

With Sodor and Kyru in the lead, the group left their temporary resting place, the rig remaining as the only proof that people had been there.

They had been walking for a considerable number of hours when Hilda asked the two: "When are we going to get to wherever you are taking us? You said it was in walking distance!"

Sodor looked at the witch. "We are almost there. We are going to our village of course."

'Almost there' meant another hour of walking and a more frequent handing over of cats from one to another, through an environment that was changing very rapidly. They had just walked past a few groups of trees, when they entered a forest with humongously big trees. Everyone, except the two natives, had their head on a swivel, trying to see all the high treetops, or discover what animals up there were making a cacophony of sounds.

"SHUT UP!" Hilda had called out at one moment. Her outburst only had a momentary effect. Right after that, the animal choir came back with an even louder concerto.

William took pity on his witch and produced ear plugs, but after she had tried to eat them (he had forgotten to explain what they were for) her mood had deteriorated rapidly.

"Suck an elf," Hilda said when the village finally came in sight. "Next time someone says anything about walking distance, I'm going to be very thorough in determining what their concept of that is!"

Her footwear was not made for this kind of activity. Once she had her magic back, she'd give these people a piece of her mind, she promised them in silence. But - why wait? Hilda took in a sharp breath, to vent her extreme displeasure, when Sodor and Jyru stopped and turned.

"We do apologise! We should have thought better before taking you here on foot, honoured witch..."

Sodor suggested that the group should sit down and wait there, with Kyru, while he would run up to the village and summon some carts that could carry the tired walkers the last stretch.

Everyone was entirely in favour of that idea. William quickly magicked up a few seats from wood that lay on the ground, while Sodor took off at an astounding speed.

"Does he have feet of concrete? Don't they hurt?" the witch wondered out loud.

"We are used to walking," Kyru said, "this is a stretch we usually walk when we make the round to see if you have arrived yet."

"Crappedy crap, I admire your stamina but no way that I am going to build that up. My feet would kill me if they weren't already." Hilda kicked off her shoes and wiggled her toes.

Rebel, William and Maurizio also sat down and stretched their legs.

"This kind of exercise is good, if performed in parts about one tenth of what we just did," the captain philosophised.

"How about one hundredth," Hilda muttered as she longed for a foot bath. She growled inside. If only she could just whip one up. She hated having to ask William for everything, but with even their bond gone that was the only way to get it.

William knew his witch well, though, and soon she enjoyed a nice bubbly bath for her feet. Without having asked for it.

Sodor and six other people from the village came back soon, pushing large four-wheeled carts. The people were very surprised to see the seats, the two small tables and cups and even a few glasses.

"Sodor! You would not believe the adventures these people all have had," Kyru exclaimed at the man as she waved a glass that had contained wine.

Rebel had gotten up from her seat and looked at the carts. "These people in Pyramid City overdid their tech," she remarked, "but it looks as if these ones underdid it."

Sodor introduced the six people that had come along. They all were impressed to see Hilda, although a few were not convinced that she would be "the one". Nonetheless, the travellers were made very welcome and invited to sit on the carts.

"We just don't know if we can take all the furniture with us," one of the men commented as he looked at the seats and tables.

"Oh. That." William popped up his wand and disassembled the items, turning them back into the pieces of wood they had originally been. This was quite a shock for the people who had not seen how the furniture had been created.

The travellers then sat on the carts, that were covered with large, soft cushions. Sodor and the other villagers took position to start pushing the carts, when Hilda jumped down again.

"I am sorry. I can't let you do that. William, I am sure we can do something with these carts, right?"

It took some convincing, but the villagers sat on the carts as well, and then William and Rebel applied some magic and other kinds of power, after which the carts started moving towards the village.

31. The village of the old ones

The houses in the village that they reached were simple, made of wood and with thatched roofs made of twigs and a kind of grey-green reeds. Outside these homes, children and their mothers stared at the wagons that moved by themselves, and the strange people that were on them.

Hilda spotted smaller animals running through the - well, streets would be too flattering a name for these not even cobblestone trails - and pointed some of them out to William. "I never saw cats or dogs like that."

William agreed. Cats and dogs did not come with six or eight legs. "They’re probably called something else."

"Dragon balls," the witch said, "they should have cats here." She cuddled Grimalkin for a moment. The cat endured the treatment without protest.

Kerna looked at William. She was holding Obsi and wondered when the wizard would want his cat back for a cuddle as well.

Instead of looking at the cat, William kept the carts going until Sodor said they had arrived. The carts came to a stop on a small, triangular village square. The long trail of people from the village that had formed behind them also stopped.

Everyone stepped from the carts, after which Sodor and Kyru announced with loud voices that finally the witch had come. Cheers rose up from the throats of the many people that had gathered round the small group.

Hilda elbowed her wizard lightly. "See that man back there? The one with the sour face who isn't cheering? I think he's the only sensible one around."

William nodded as he draped Obsidian over his shoulder. Either these people knew something they didn't, or they were too quick in believing something.

As if the man had noticed that the two were talking about him, he stepped forward. "I am Tarkan."

"Lucky you," Hilda responded. "I'm Hilda." She then introduced the others in her group.

"Do you claim to be the one we are waiting for?" Tarkan asked.

"No. I claim that I want to go home. Others claim that I am the witch who is going to make things well again, but I am doubting that."

Tarkan stared at Hilda. Clearly that was not what he had expected. "Who is she?" he then asked, poking a finger towards Kerna.

Hilda raised an eyebrow. "I recall introducing Kerna. I am not going to do that again. Pay attention, will you?"

Sodor and Kyru had eyes that could not be bigger.

Come to think of it, Hilda noticed, that was true for most of the other folks around as well. This Tarkan person had to be someone important to them, kind of a Davdruw or so.

"You are impertinent," Tarkan observed.

"I'm a witch," Hilda countered. "Like it or not. Now is there someone who can get us some tea, or coffee? Otherwise we'll arrange something ourselves. Won't we?" The last bit was directed at the wizard.

"Of course. That should be no problem."

"You are not the witch. You should be silent," said Tarkan.

William looked at the man with the faded blue hair.

"I know I am not the witch." The wizard raised his hand and popped out his wand. "But I can do tricks."

A gasp went through the crowd that was still around them.

Tarkan stared at the wand. "It is a mere piece of wood."

"And that is where you go wrong," Hilda said. "Who are you anyway, except someone called Tarkan? You failed miserably as welcoming committee, but the others seem impressed with you so you're probably good at something."

This caused a rather loud and disturbed gasp. Hilda knew she had struck proverbial gold.

"I am Tarkan, the leader of the village. I have been since very long." The man straightened himself, barely towering over Hilda. He had no idea that the only effect this had on the witch was an adverse one.

"And how long has this village been the way it is now?" Rebel asked without being invited.

"Very long," Tarkan said, with obvious satisfaction and a disapproving look towards the woman in leather.

"Which means too long," Rebel nodded. "Thought so." And to Maurizio she said: "I wonder what he has or knows that these people don't choose a new leader."

"Silence!" Tarkan roared with unexpected vigour, as if Rebel had said something blasphemous.

"We still have no tea," Maurizio commented, disregarding Tarkan's angered demand.

"True," said Hilda as she turned to the captain. "I think we should find ourselves a nice place and get some water boiling."

Tarkan was not in the clear on how to handle a witch. Or rather, how not to handle one. Especially the one that was Hilda the wicked witch. He put a hand on her shoulder.

Hilda froze. "Take your hand off me."

"You will listen to me, and be respectful like the others!" Tarkan said very loudly.

"I am not like the others," Hilda growled. "Take-your-hand-from-my-shoulder..."

William had no trouble picking up on Hilda's ideas. The tone in her voice said it all. As she turned and raised a hand, he invoked a spell. His timing was perfect.

Tarkan hung in the air, surprise on his face and his feet kicking as the ground suddenly had gone from under them.

"You are not supposed to touch a witch," Hilda said, loud and clear. "Unless invited. And I did not invite you. You will hang there for some time, while we help ourselves to some tea."

"Get me down!" Tarkan commanded. He was a slow learner.

As Hilda and her companions sauntered off to a silent part of the triangular square, a few helpful villagers clung to Tarkan's legs, but their efforts were to no avail so they abandoned their attempts. The fact that their leader was screaming at them to leave him be, despite having asked to be taken down, caused some commotion and chatter. The majority of people then trailed after the witch and her friends.

"Is it okay with you if I turn a cart into some furniture?" William asked Sodor.

"Yes, of course," said the man. He cast a careful glance at the dangling leader.

Moments later, the group sat down. Villagers ran off, to return with stools and small chairs, making themselves comfortable near the travellers.

Tarkan screamed, until William snipped his fingers. Then a blissful silence spread over the square.

After everyone around had been supplied with tea (another cart had been sacrificed to make the cups), Hilda asked around if anyone had an idea why the whole of both Lycadean societies were so fixated on her presence. The answer that she would be the witch who would make right what was wrong did not really come as a surprise, but she had hoped for something better, like perhaps how she was supposed to pull that off.

"Maybe Tarkan knows," a helpful soul offered, but that option was still in the air, and not likely to be supportive soon.

"Meanwhile I would really like to know if there is a place where we can stay while we're here," Hilda said. "Do you folks have any houses that are free?"

The assembled villagers shook heads. All the houses in the village were occupied, and there were no spaces available.

"There are the caves though," someone suggested.

"Caves. Right. We are people that look like we can be happy in caves." Hilda's stare almost drilled a hole in the eyes of the man who had suggested the caves.

Maurizio however said: "How far away are these caves? And do you have some things for us to make life somewhat comfortable there?"

"I'm not going to live in a cave!" Hilda exclaimed. "Their prophecy dragged our asses all over the cosmos and now they want us to live like cave people?"

"Hilda. Calm down. We'll sort this out." William's voice was calm.

"Don't you calm down me, wizard," Hilda glared at him. "I'm done with all this."

William took pity on Hilda. He had a fairly good idea how much she was suffering, lacking her magic. He took her hand. "Come with me. Please?" He knew he had to talk with her for a moment, before she would explode the wrong way.

With no protest at all, Hilda came with William, and as they walked away from the square, he said: "Sweetwitch, try to keep yourself together, will you? I know you are having a really rough time. This is not easy on anyone, and it must be devastating for you. I am really trying to understand. But we went on this trip, to find these people. You had a major vote in it as well. It would be good if we can all see this through."

Hilda said nothing as they kept walking. They were already outside the village when she sudden stood still. She looked at William. "I want to go home, William. I don't know how much longer I can take this. I am not even half the person I am. I miss my magic. I miss the link with you. I…"

William put his arms around the witch and just held her. He had never seen her so helpless and ready to quit, and he knew that this was not really Hilda. There was something he should be able to do about this situation, he thought. Without knowing it, he did the only thing that worked.

"You must really think I'm an idiot," Hilda's voice came muffled from his shoulder. She had pressed her face against it.

"I don't. I just try to be there for you."

"You'd better. Without you I'd have gone crazy long ago." Hilda felt small and helpless for a few never-ending moments.

"Let's go back and see what we can do about finding a place to sleep," William suggested. "We've weathered a lot together, I am sure we can manage this situation as well."

"Yes. And not a word, wizard."

William grinned, as Hilda put her good old self back up.

Together they walked to the group and said they'd go and have a look at the caves. Sodor and Kyru offered to come along, to guide the way to the mountains.

"They can be hard to find."

Hilda wondered how mountains could be hard to find, but the two were right: they had to travel through a part of forest where the trees were growing so close together that it was impossible to know where you were going unless you knew where you were going.

"And we are supposed to find the way back, right?" Hilda wondered as they rounded yet another group of big high trees.

"Honestly, honoured witch, we do not know what you are supposed to do," Kyra said. "But we are almost there."

Grimalkin, hanging over Hilda's shoulder, meowed softly, keeping her big yellow eyes on the people ahead who led the way.

"I know, sweetie," said Hilda as she petted the black head, "I feel that way too."

Kerna walked with Rebel and Maurizio. Obsidian had moved to Maurizio's shoulders for a while. Kerna had gotten very tired of carrying the cat and the captain had noticed it. Kerna however did stay close to the man, as if she did not want to be too far away from Obsi.

Hilda stopped and stared at a big tree. A very big tree. "Crappedy crap, William, look at that. You can make a house inside that thing!"

Everyone agreed that this was the mother of all trees. The witch and wizard started to walk around it. It took them almost five minutes to complete the round.

"This is a big tree," Hilda stated. "A really big one."

Sodor frowned. He was already aware of that fact.

A few trees later, they were out of the forest.

"Crappedy crap."