Hilda - Lycadea Read Online Free Page B

group,
Hilda asked: "Mathis, Bronny, what are you doing here?"
    The two men bowed. "Honourable witch, we were
worried about you! We saw you get on this ship and then there was
this big metal creature, and-"
    "-And you think that I can't take care of
myself," Hilda completed his words. "That's really kind of you, but
I have a wand, I have magic, and I have a wizard. That should be
enough to keep me safe, don't you agree? Oh, and I have a cat," she
added as Grim meowingly complained about being left out.
    "Actually," Bronny said, "we wanted to let
you know that there is a messenger from the king. The king heard of
the ship and he wants to know all about it."
    "Oh." Hilda frowned for a moment. "Well, you
get back into that little boat of yours and go tell the messenger
that we'll be over at the castle as soon as we have something good
to tell."
    Mathis then said that the king also wanted to
see the owner of the ship.
    "That might present a problem," said
Maurizio. "We don't know who the owner is. But we can easily solve
that of course, if the king would be satisfied to see me, Doctor
Maurizio Blunt."
    "Doctor who?" Mathis scowled.
    "Just call him captain Blunt," Rebel tossed
in, "he responds well to that."
    Bronny leaned towards Hilda. "They're not
from around here, are they?" he asked in a whisper.
    "Too true," Hilda sighed. "Now best you get
to your oars again so we don't keep the king waiting." The two men
agreed and climbed down the rope ladder. The sailors and magicals
watched them row off to the small harbour that was the main
attraction of the village.
    "Friendly and caring people," Maurizio
remarked.
    "More like nosey and possessive," Hilda
muttered, "but convenient from time to time. William, we should go
and see the king."
    "Can we come?" Maurizio immediately asked. "I
can have a row boat ready very quickly!"
    Hilda looked at her wizard, who sensed how
she felt about that. He simply nodded. "Well, I guess you should be
shown," she then said. "But what do you want to do with a row boat?
Do you see a castle out there somewhere?"
    Maurizio stared at her. "Ehm, no. But I
thought..."
    "You weren't thinking, Moro," Rebel said, "as
usual you just get a crazy idea and you act like that is the
truth."
    "Usually it is," Maurizio argued, "and don't
you go against me. I was right when I picked you up, remember?
You'd be dead now, otherwise. Madonna, give me strength with this
woman! But you can do your scary thing and take us there." The
captain beamed as if he was competing with the sun.
    "She does scary things?" William wondered.
Perhaps taking them along wasn't such a good idea after all.
    Before Maurizio could answer, Rebel said:
"You know I can't go to places I have not been before, Moro. We'll
have to arrange some other transport."
    "Stop! Here and now!" Hilda was not in a mood
to listen to bickering of that sort. "We'll take you with us and
nobody will do scary things or they will meet the wrath of the
witch. That's me."
    William had already summoned the brooms; they
hovered next to him. The cats had already jumped on their front
seats. Maurizio and Rebel stared at the brooms.
    "And how are you going to take us with you?"
the redcoat captain asked as he pushed against one of the brooms
with a finger. It did not move to the side.
    Hilda hopped on her broom. "Rebel sits in
front of me. You sit in front of William. Simple enough,
right?"
    Rebel walked to the broom with the witch.
Hilda told her how to sit on it. The woman was very surprised to
find that sitting on a broom felt totally different from what she
had expected. William got on his broom and spent a while reassuring
Maurizio that it was perfectly safe. "Better than what you told us
about your ship, Maurizio, at least we know where we end up when we
fly our brooms."
    The captain took a deep breath, as if that
would make a difference, and carefully sat on the broom. "Oh..." he
said, surprised.
    The crew had assembled again, as by a secret
and invisible signal. "Hey Moro,