‘Important?’ The Chancellor laughed, a strange sound in the middle of no-man’s-land. ‘Tremaine drew up a list of potential problems. You were just below the silting up of the Auldberg Harbour and just above the shortage of rat poison in Tahlversen.’
Aubrey shrugged. He felt he could be philosophical about such slights. ‘You’ve been brought here for a reason.’
‘To kill us all!’ one of the younger generals blustered. Aubrey thought he could be General Ebert, a hero of the same war in which Aubrey’s father had distinguished himself. ‘You are fiends!’
‘You make interesting assumptions,’ Aubrey said. ‘They probably tell us more about your thinking than mine.’
‘What is your purpose, then, in bringing us here if not to murder us?’ the Chancellor said.
‘No-one is murdered in war, Chancellor,’ Caroline said. ‘Many killings, no murders. Hasn’t that ever struck you as strange?’
Chancellor Neumann glanced at Caroline, then dismissed her from his notice. Not a wise move, Aubrey felt. ‘I repeat: what is your purpose?’
Aubrey sighed. ‘I want to stop the war.’
Chancellor Neumann snorted and a laugh or two came from the more hardy of his cronies. ‘That is an easy task, not requiring our presence. Simply convince your father to surrender. The war will end immediately.’
‘I don’t think you understand. I want Holmland to withdraw, to stop this warmongering. For you – all of you – to come to your senses.’
‘Do you think we don’t know about war?’ General Sterne called. ‘We are soldiers!’
‘I’ll warrant you haven’t seen a war like this. It’s a new century. War has changed.’ Aubrey grimaced as the pain in his head reasserted itself. ‘Besides, not all of you are soldiers. How are you liking this, sir?’
Aubrey directed this question to one of those not in uniform, a thin man with a drooping moustache. His grey striped trousers were rapidly losing their expensive look. He shook his head and turned away, flinching as a chatter of machine gun fire bit into the bank of the shell hole and sprayed them all with dirt.
Aubrey pressed on. ‘I’m not so presumptuous as to think I could give you a lesson in politics, but in this new world the generals take orders from the politicians. End this horror, all of you.’ He paused and glanced at the sky. ‘Look around. This isn’t a state for humanity. This is a hell you’ve created – but it’s a hell you can put an end to.’
He took Caroline’s hand. She squeezed it and refused to let go, so he pointed with the other. ‘Gentlemen, your army is just over there, dug into trenches. If you keep your heads down and follow the line of wire, you should reach it. Dozens of your men have managed to. When you’re safely in their midst, look at them. Talk to them. See if this is a fit and proper condition for them. See if you can be proud of this.’
‘Be careful,’ Caroline said to them. ‘They are accustomed to our soldiers raiding their trenches. You don’t want to be mistaken for Albionites, but convincing your men that you are who you say you are may be difficult.’ She gestured with her pistol. ‘Go now.’
Chancellor Neumann glared. ‘You are not serious.’
‘We’re very serious,’ Aubrey said. ‘We’re leaving. You can stay here, if you like, but an artillery bombardment is about to start at any minute.’ If Colonel Stanley made the right arrangements. ‘The only relatively safe place is in that direction. I’d wish you good luck, but I’m not sure how I feel about that so I’ll wish you a soldier’s luck instead.’
The Holmlanders conferred. In the end, General Ebert led the way. He scrambled to the lip of the crater and showed good sense by pausing and scanning the way ahead before crawling over and disappearing into the gloom. One by one they followed, cursing and muttering, until only Chancellor Neumann was left.
‘This will not be forgotten, Fitzwilliam.’
‘I hope not, sir. Lessons are best remembered, not forgotten.’
‘Dr Tremaine won’t be happy with your interference.’
‘You can apologise for me next time you see him.’
‘Hah! That may be sooner than you think, Fitzwilliam.’ Neumann spat on the floor of the crater, then turned and crawled away.
‘Are you ready?’ Caroline asked.
‘Ready for what? A spot of dancing?’ It was a valiant stab at insouciance, but the jest fell flat. This wasn’t a place that fostered humour. His mind drifted back to what Chancellor Neumann had said about Dr Tremaine and he wondered if the rogue sorcerer actually was in the vicinity.
‘To be dragged back to the trenches, if that’s what it takes.’
While being dragged by Caroline wasn’t the worst prospect in the world, Aubrey thought their chances could be better if he propelled himself. Gently, he flexed his arms, then his legs. They burned, as if he’d been exercising to exhaustion point, but they were functional. He’d hurt, but he’d manage. ‘Lead the way. I’ll be right behind you.’ He looked up at the dark grey that was the overcast sky. No stars looked down. ‘What time is it?’
‘Too close to bombardment time.’
Despite the maze of no-man’s-land, they managed to find Captain Robinson’s emplacement again, thanks to Caroline’s impeccable sense of direction. Passwords accepted, they were greeted by the astonished officer and his machine gun crew. Once they’d scrambled into the duckboarded and reveted trench and were surrounded by sandbags Aubrey felt safe for the first time in hours. He shaded his eyes at the faint lantern light, hoping the vision enhancement spell would wear off soon but adding it to his list of bodily woes in a congratulatory binge of self-pity. After all, if he ached, he was alive, and had survived the implementation of an audacious plan.
‘Sleep,’ he said to Caroline. He had his arm on her shoulders, supporting her. Or it may have been the other way around. He was sure that invisible gnomes were hitting each of his joints with hammers, but everything was still moderately wonderful. ‘Which way to our dugout?’
A deep, disturbing ‘whump’ shook the ground. It was immediately followed by another, then another. It was as if Aubrey’s knee-shattering gnomes had grown up and become giants, then taken it into their heads to pound away at the landscape with mountain-sized sledgehammers. He blinked, couldn’t see, and realised the enhancement spell had worn off. The sky was full of the smoke caused by a massive explosion, then the process was repeated, with the addition of a patter of earth and assorted military items falling on top of them.
Caroline pulled him down, forcing him close to the reinforced front wall of the trench. There, they huddled in a universe entirely composed of noise – deafening, all-encompassing noise: gargantuan footsteps, thunder brought down to the ground, the heartbeat of an earthquake. Aubrey ran out of metaphors as the pounding went on and he concentrated on seeing how close he could get to the rough timber at his cheek.
Amid the tumult, just when he thought no bodily sensation could make itself known in such pandemonium, a flicker made him wince, a nagging tug inside his chest. He rubbed it as he would an insect bite, but this brought no satisfaction. Then his jaw sagged. He lifted his hand, then he concentrated his magical awareness on the site of the irritating sensation.
He had confirmation that Dr Tremaine was nearby.
It was undeniable. Even though the magical connection they shared was erratic, when it evinced itself it was an unmistakeable sign that the rogue sorcerer was close at hand. Aubrey closed his eyes, did his best to ignore the concussions that continued to smash away at no-man’s-land, and tried to concentrate.
The magical connection, at times, acted as a conduit. In their past encounters, Aubrey had been able to sense aspects of Dr Tremaine, vague impressions of memories and thoughts, but this time all he could feel was an apprehension that he could only interpret as excitement tinged with anticipation.
Captain Robinson came striding along the trench, all enthusiasm and brio, oblivious to the shelling around them. He was speaking, but pointlessly for his words had no chance of being heard. His gestures, however, made his unheard words clear: everyone was to get ready for an advance.
Aubrey couldn’t believe it, but by the time this had registered Captain Robinson was yards away, continuing his job of rallying the troops.
It was easy to see how it had happened. The artillery barrage summoned by Colonel Stanley had clearly been interpreted as the prelude for an advance. Commendable initiative, in this time of erratic communications, but entirely misplaced in this instance.
‘Wait here,’ he said to Caroline, miming his request with both hands, but he was left foolishly gesturing because at that moment the artillery barrage stopped.
