Aubrey was delighted to see his old friend again, but his presence – and the presence of the mysterious Madame Zelinka – posed a thousand questions. Not the least of them concerned the whereabouts and health of Caroline Hepworth, and it had taken all of Aubrey’s strength of character not to try to shake the answer out of George in the driveway.
Aubrey couldn’t sit. He paced the room, back and forward in front of a dormant fireplace wide enough to roast an entire ox.
‘What were you doing driving a Holmland lorry?’ von Stralick asked.
‘We were coming up the mountain as it was coming down,’ Madame Zelinka said. ‘My Enlightened Ones insisted that I would be more comfortable driving than walking, so they took it.’
Von Stralick chuckled, rounded the sofa and sat by her side. ‘And the guards who were in this lorry?’
‘They are out there, in the woods. Under the watch of my people.’
‘What did you do to them, old man?’ George asked Aubrey. ‘They were terrified.’
‘I threw a scare into them. A magical scare.’
‘They panicked when they thought we were going to drag them back to this place. Quite happy, they were, to be tied up to trees.’
‘No doubt.’ Aubrey remembered their terror. ‘Now, George, what on earth are you doing here?’
George surrendered. ‘You win, Madame Z.’
‘If you insist. One of these Albionish wagering games,’ she said to a puzzled von Stralick. ‘Doyle wagered that he knew what question Fitzwilliam would ask first, and I had to guess another.’
Von Stralick was perplexed. ‘Your winnings?’
Madame Zelinka shrugged. Her face, usually grave, had a hint of a smile. ‘He owes me a favour. I shall call on it some time.’
George blinked. ‘Er… Not when it’s too inconvenient, if you don’t mind.’
‘What is inconvenient for you may be convenient for me. We shall see.’
Aubrey could never resist a sidetrack. ‘And what was the question you thought I’d ask first, George?’
‘I thought you’d ask about Caroline, old man.’ George grinned.
‘Ah.’
‘Remarkable strength of character, your forbearance. Before we get to her, though, you need to know that Madame Z and her pals have come over to our side.’
Madame Zelinka made a face. ‘We have not come over to your side, Doyle. How many times have I told you this?’
‘Probably a few dozen,’ George said. ‘All the way from Trinovant to here, if I recall correctly.’
‘We have ways and means to cross borders,’ Madame Zelinka said, responding to Aubrey’s naked curiosity. ‘The Enlightened Ones always have.’
‘Which is why the Directorate contacted them, apparently,’ George said. ‘Commander Craddock was hoping that they might be able to do something.’
‘This is only the third time in our history that we have abandoned our neutrality,’ Madame Zelinka said. ‘It is not done lightly, but Dr Tremaine…’
Aubrey jumped in. ‘Your people see the threat that Dr Tremaine is posing to the world?’
‘It is greater than you imagine, perhaps.’
‘Greater than destroying nations?’ George said. ‘Greater than killing hundreds of thousands of people?’
Madame Zelinka shook her head. ‘The wisest magicians in our order think that he aims to control magic himself.’ She looked at Aubrey. ‘Have you heard that he has been abducting magicians from all over the world?’
‘After seeing unwilling magicians being delivered here, I’d put two and two together.’
‘They are here?’
‘They’re gone now.’
She hissed through her teeth for a moment. ‘The magicians are part of his plan.’
‘How? What?’
‘We think that he has found a way to use their magical ability, whether they are willing or not.’
‘As if we needed another reason to stop him,’ George said gruffly.
‘Tell me about Albion,’ Aubrey said abruptly. ‘What about Mother and Father?’
George crossed his arms. ‘You’ll be pleased to know that your father did exactly as you wanted. You’ve been declared a traitor and you’ve been vilified the length and breadth of the land.’
‘Ah. That’s good.’
‘Well, I wouldn’t say that it was good, but it was enough to save your father and the Progressive government, as you’d hoped. In fact, having been betrayed by a blackhearted villain of a son has actually gained Sir Darius a great deal of public sympathy.’
‘Splendid,’ Aubrey muttered.
George went on. ‘An ungrateful son, one who shunned his father’s example and spurned all that Albion had to offer.’
‘I think I understand the picture, George.’
‘Speaking of pictures, Holmland has supplied some of those photographs they took, with your being chummy with Baron von Grolman and the like.’
Aubrey sighed. ‘It was inevitable.’
‘While the newspapers aren’t printing them just yet, they’re all making reference to them. How you’re breaking the heart of your mother, betraying your country to the enemy, the promising talent who became the Turn-coat Thaumaturge, the Wicked Wizard, the Malignant Magician, the Dreadful Young Man.’
‘Dreadful Young Man?’
‘That was the Daily Post. They always have unconvincing headlines.’
Madame Zelinka tapped the armrest of the sofa. ‘I think that is enough, Doyle.’
‘Just giving him the flavour of the press.’ George fiddled with a cuff for a moment. ‘When news of the photographs was made public, the uproar was astounding, but thanks to your warning, at least everyone was calling for your head, old man, rather than calling for your father’s.’
Despite all this unfolding as planned, Aubrey was a little hollow inside. ‘And how are Mother and Father? Really?’
‘To the public, they’re heartbroken and dismayed,’ George said, ‘but, really, they’re proud, if a little concerned. They said to tell you that.’
‘You’ve seen them?’
‘Caroline wouldn’t let us talk to anyone before we spoke to your parents – not even the Directorate. Once we left you in Stalsfrieden, she drove us like a Fury through Gallia, picking up Sophie’s parents along the way, before she commandeered a sloop to get us to Trinovant. You would have loved to see the way she stood up to any official who tried to stop us.’
‘Oh yes,’ he said faintly.
‘I have to tell you, old man, that your mother was shocked by your plan. She thought it was outrageous.’
‘I agree with her,’ Aubrey said. ‘It was outrageous. It needed to be outrageous.’
‘I think it took your father about half a minute to realise that. He said you were extremely clever.’
‘He did?’
‘Brave and clever, he said, while he dried your mother’s tears with his coat sleeve. Then she said you were too noble for your own good.’
His mother had actually cried? Aubrey grimaced. He hadn’t meant to distress his parents this much. His mother was usually extremely pragmatic and he’d been certain she’d see how necessary his plan was.
These are distressing times, he thought. Maybe for mothers more than most.
He became aware of the scrutiny from Hugo and Madame Zelinka. Steadfastly, he kept his gaze on a startled-looking ocelot on the wall just above George’s head. ‘You said that you were able to find Sophie’s parents?’
‘Friendly people, overjoyed to see her and her brother. And more than happy to leave Gallia for Albion.’
‘Gallia is in a poor way,’ Madame Zelinka said. ‘Morale is low, the government is fighting within its own ranks.’
