Hour of Need tlom-6 Read online

  ‘I won’t speak,’ Aubrey said to von Stralick. ‘Not at first, anyway.’

  ‘Just like Dr Tremaine.’

  ‘Exactly. I can’t just look and sound like him – I must act like him.’

  Which means swagger, he thought, and arrogance, and absolute certainty about everything.

  This was the challenge, of course. Appearance was one thing, but behaving like the rogue sorcerer, the man who moved whole countries about to achieve his ends, that was another.

  He wiped his sweaty palms on trousers that were now black and immaculately pressed and then stared at the glistening perspiration that immediately sprang back. Impossible. Dr Tremaine didn’t sweat nervously.

  He spoke a few soft words and his hands were encased in gloves that were, to all appearances, soft and expensive black leather. He pushed his cape back on his shoulders and settled, just as von Stralick brought the lorry to a halt.

  Colonel Kirchoff signalled to the machine gun emplacement. He was taller than Aubrey had realised, a thin man with a gaunt, almost mournful, face. He had his hand on the pistol at his belt as he approached.

  ‘Turn around,’ he said when he reached von Stralick’s window, unimpressed by von Stralick’s grubby jacket and cap. ‘Go back. This is a military -’

  He broke off. His eyebrows shot up. He snapped to attention and saluted. ‘Dr Tremaine, sir!’

  Aubrey glanced at Kirchoff, then looked away.

  Von Stralick leaned out of the window. ‘Everything is in place?’ he asked in Albionish.

  Kirchoff dropped his salute, and looked puzzled. ‘Of course, as you see,’ he replied in the same language.

  ‘Excellent.’

  Without moving his head, Aubrey could just see Kirchoff leaning to one side to peer into the cabin of the lorry. Was the man suspicious? The yawning gulf of nervousness behind Aubrey’s rib cage widened and threatened to swallow a few more major organs.

  ‘Dr Tremaine, sir,’ Kirchoff said, ‘are you here to give us the orders to carry out the next phase of our assignment?’

  Von Stralick cut in, every inch the officious assistant: ‘Are you sure you have fully completed the first phase?’

  Kirchoff gave von Stralick a look that suggested there was no difference between the ex-spy and a bucket of rotten fish. ‘Of course. The crystal has been shipped out from the mine. None of the inhabitants have left since we surrounded the village. We have the Albion uniforms ready, we have the weapons in place, we have chosen the three lucky survivors and sequestered them. This was all completed yesterday, on schedule.’

  Aubrey became aware that he had been gripping the door handle of the lorry harder and harder during Kirchoff’s careful itemising of his unit’s duties. They were going to massacre the villagers? For what purpose?

  And was the man actually referring to the mysterious Crystal Johannes? Was this the great secret of Korsur that Dr Tremaine was so interested in? It didn’t make sense – the rogue sorcerer wasn’t interested in wealth. His ambitions were far more lofty than mere riches.

  Crystal Johannes. He was sure one of his lecturers had mentioned it in passing. Or had he come across it in a footnote somewhere? The memory nibbled at him, then darted away, like a shy trout approaching a fly.

  Aubrey made what he hoped was a Tremainely sound of disgust and flung open the door of the lorry. ‘Enough!’ he barked and was glad to hear the timbre of his voice was utterly different from his norm. He strode around to join the wide-eyed Kirchoff. With every ounce of force he could muster, he slapped the colonel on the shoulder and was pleased to see the man stagger a little. ‘I’m sure you’ve done a fine job here, Kirchoff,’ he said. ‘I’m glad you’ve been so conscientious, but my plans have changed.’

  ‘Changed, sir?’

  ‘I want you to pack up your men and take them back to Fisherberg.’

  ‘I’m sorry, sir? You’re calling off the massacre?’

  Aubrey swung on Kirchoff. ‘Are you questioning me?’ he said, casually.

  Kirchoff actually went pale. Aubrey wondered what had happened in the past between the two men. ‘No, sir. Not at all.’

  ‘Good, but I thought I’d point out that it would be hard to conduct a massacre when the colonel in command doesn’t have a sidearm.’

  Kirchoff’s hand went automatically to his belt. Aubrey pointed a finger and Kirchoff’s firearm leapt out of its holster and flew straight into Aubrey’s very Tremaine-like hand. Aubrey glanced at it and removed the safety. ‘Fine weapon.’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Kirchoff whispered. His gaze was fixed on the revolver.

  Aubrey snapped the safety back on, then tossed the revolver back to Kirchoff, who nearly dropped it. ‘Show me your men.’

  Aubrey was relieved that his little reminder of Dr Tremaine’s abilities had worked as well as he’d planned. Some work with George’s pistol, a pencil and piece of paper, and the Laws of Familiarity, Sympathy and Attraction, and he’d had his little demonstration ready, a way of reinforcing that Kirchoff was dealing with a master magician.

  Aubrey closed his fist, crumpling the enspelled drawing of a pistol, and slipped it in his pocket. With von Stralick at his side, he strode along next to the chastened colonel, wanting to get rid of the troops quickly, but also needing to first find out as much information as he could about what had been happening in the village.

  ‘We came in yesterday morning, as instructed,’ Kirchoff said in a low voice. Two old men were standing on the green a stone’s throw away. One of them was glaring, the other was bewildered. A young woman was with them. She wore a white cap and cried as she held a baby in her arms. ‘We were all in Albion uniforms, and only speaking Albionish.’

  ‘How did the men handle that?’ von Stralick asked. Aubrey had to admire him. He smiled as he walked, and he asked exactly the sort of questions an eager assistant might ask.

  ‘Most of them chose not to speak at all, once I’d explained what would happen if they spoke Holmlandish.’

  ‘I see.’

  Aubrey stopped. Smoke was still rising from the mine. ‘The crystal,’ he snapped. ‘How did you transport it?’

  Kirchoff rubbed his chin nervously. ‘With none of the miners left, we had to find someone among the old men, someone who knew what he was doing.’

  Aubrey stood with his hands behind his back, doing his best to adopt a Tremaine pose of deep and private thought. Carefully, he caught von Stralick’s eye.

  The Holmlander nodded. ‘Wasn’t it premature, dispensing with the miners like that?’ he asked Kirchoff.

  ‘They were my orders,’ Kirchoff said stiffly. ‘No word of the Crystal Johannes find was to leave the village.’

  ‘Your actions in dispensing with the miners is a rather free interpretation of that order,’ von Stralick said.

  ‘Free, but effective.’

  Aubrey whirled and fixed Kirchoff with what he hoped was a Tremaine glare. ‘I hope this old man knew what he was talking about. If that crystal was damaged…’

  Kirchoff began to sweat, a thin sheen just above his eyebrows. ‘We had to bring in our largest lorry, and special timber to crate the slab for its trip to Stalsfrieden. The old man supervised.’

  Largest lorry? Slab? Aubrey couldn’t ask the direct question – he was Dr Tremaine, he was supposed to know – but he was bursting to know how big this piece of Crystal Johannes was.

  And to know why Dr Tremaine desired it so much that he was prepared to butcher a whole village to keep its existence a secret.

  Despite Kirchoff’s penchant for following orders, he was still reluctant to leave what he obviously considered a job half-done. After inspecting the soldiers – a more incurious bunch Aubrey had never seen, none of them showing any interest in their colonel’s visitors – he offered to ‘take care of matters’, as he put it.

  Aubrey found it hard to keep the disgust from both Tremaine’s face and voice. ‘I have other plans, Colonel, and I need you and your men to be at a safe distance.’

  Kircho
ff wasn’t a fool, Aubrey decided, and he knew that arguing with Dr Tremaine wasn’t a pastime that led to a long and productive career. He saluted. ‘How far is a safe distance, sir?’

  ‘Hollenbruck should be unaffected. I’ll give you an hour.’

  22

  Kirchoff’s unit broke formation and left with the same cold efficiency they had taken the village. Not a word was spoken after Kirchoff’s orders were given to his officers. The entire stowing of kit and disassembling of emplacements was done silently.

  Aubrey and von Stralick were on the side of the road, watching the departure. Kirchoff was in the leading lorry and saluted as it rolled out.

  When the last lorry disappeared around the bend, von Stralick slipped into the woods. Aubrey stood where he was, retaining his Dr Tremaine appearance in case Kirchoff returned. He saw the villagers congregating once again on the green, amazed at the turn of events but unwilling to approach him, for which Aubrey was grateful, for it gave him some time to contemplate what it was like to be Dr Tremaine.

  So this is what it’s like to be feared, he thought. Once Aubrey – as Dr Tremaine – had confronted Kirchoff, every action of the colonel had been dictated by fear. He was fearful of having done the wrong thing, of not having followed orders properly, of making a mistake. There was a kind of respect in Kirchoff’s eyes, too, but it was the sort of respect a beaten dog gives a capricious master. Keep on his right side! it said. He’s dangerous!

  The rain George had been predicting finally began to fall. Gloomily, Aubrey ignored it. He didn’t like the way fear was used to move people. It fostered negativity and distrust. It crushed hope, denied joy.

  But it was effective.

  Von Stralick, Madame Zelinka, George, Caroline and Sophie came out of the woods. They were all armed, apart from von Stralick. ‘I told them all was safe, but they preferred to believe otherwise.’

  ‘Just being careful,’ George said. ‘Something I’ve learned, of late.’

  Caroline stood directly in front of Aubrey, pistol in one hand, the other on her hip. ‘I don’t like your looks, Aubrey. Can you do something about them?’

  ‘A pleasure.’ Aubrey dispensed with the Dr Tremaine aspect, casting it aside like a soiled garment. ‘Better?’

  ‘Much.’

  As Aubrey and his friends approached the green, avoiding puddles where they could, the villagers, one by one, came out of their dwellings in hats and heavy coats.

  Finally an old gaffer – the one who had spent most of his time glaring at Kirchoff’s troops – confronted them.

  ‘And who would you be?’

  Aubrey hesitated. What could he tell them? ‘Friends,’ he said in his best Holmlandish.

  The gaffer shuffled forward. He removed his cap and held it in both hands in front of him while rain pelted on his bald head. ‘What have we done?’ he demanded. ‘To be treated like this?’

  Aubrey did his best. ‘It’s the war.’

  ‘Those Albionites.’ The old man spat on the ground. ‘They were going to kill us, weren’t they?’

  ‘I -’

  ‘They killed the miners. The last ten young men in the village and they killed them.’

  ‘They wanted to join up,’ a woman called, ‘but they weren’t allowed!’

  ‘They were needed in the mine?’ Aubrey asked. ‘To find the crystal?’

  The gaffer eyed Aubrey. ‘You heard of that? Never seen the likes of it, any of us. As big as the church door, it was.’

  ‘Unbelievable,’ von Stralick breathed. ‘Nothing like that has been found for centuries.’

  And Dr Tremaine has happened to fall on the place just after it was uncovered, Aubrey thought.

  ‘What happens now?’ the gaffer said.

  That’s an extremely good question. His deception had undone Kirchoff’s deception, but for how long?

  He put up a hand. ‘Kirchoff talked about choosing survivors. He said they were taken away.’

  The old man scratched his chin. ‘Survivors? Trudy and her children were tied up and put in the church.’ He pointed at the young woman who had called out.

  Survivors. Aubrey gnawed at this. Why would Kirchoff want survivors? Why would he organise survivors before the massacre started?

  Aubrey nearly slapped himself on the forehead as the answer came to him. ‘Thank you,’ he said to the old man. ‘You’ll be safe now.’

  ‘We will? How do you know?’

  ‘I guarantee it.’

  23

  ‘You told us that there were reports of unrest from Fisherberg, about the war,’ Aubrey said to George after they had all withdrawn to the edge of the village. The rain was still heavy as the Enlightened Ones made camp, but Aubrey hardly noticed. Pieces were falling into place.

  ‘That’s right, old man.’

  ‘The stalemate has made people unhappy with the war,’ Sophie said. ‘Caroline and I did what we could to make them more unhappy with it.’

  ‘I thought as much. So imagine the response in Fisherberg if this massacre had gone ahead.’

  ‘Opposition to the war would disappear,’ von Stralick said. ‘A helpless village destroyed by perfidious Albionites? No patriotic Holmlander would fail to respond to that.’

  ‘Keeping aside a few survivors would guarantee that the outrage would be known. It was well planned.’ Ghastly, horrible, but well planned – so it had all the hallmarks of a Dr Tremaine plot.

  Except that his plots usually had other plots hidden inside them, Aubrey thought. So what’s the plot within the plot here?

  ‘This Crystal Johannes,’ Aubrey said to von Stralick. ‘A slab that size. How much would it be worth?’

  ‘It’s incalculable. Priceless.’

  That couldn’t be it. What good would a lot of money do for Dr Tremaine now? He had all of Holmland at his beck and call.

  Aubrey scowled and wiped rain from his brow. Think! he ordered himself. What would someone like Dr Tremaine want Crystal Johannes for?

  As soon as he thought it, he knew it was the wrong question. Not ‘What would someone like Dr Tremaine want Crystal Johannes for?’ but ‘What would a magician like Dr Tremaine want Crystal Johannes for?’

  Any answer to that was likely to be very dangerous indeed.

  Caroline’s pistol was suddenly in her hand again. ‘Lorries approaching.’

  Madame Zelinka gave a short laugh. ‘We do not have to worry.’

  ‘No?’

  ‘These are friends. These are the rest of my Enlightened Ones.’

  24

  After some hours of sleep in the rear of their lorry, Aubrey emerged into an afternoon where the rain had stopped. The clouds were breaking up and going their own ways, like old school friends after a reunion, and blue sky was beginning take possession of the sky. His neck and back ached. He found his friends around a fire near what had been the machine gun emplacement on the main road into Korsur.

  He dragged up a log and sat on it, stifling a groan. Von Stralick and Madame Zelinka were sharing a cup of coffee, while George and Sophie huddled, trying to ignore the dripping that came from the overhanging oak. ‘The appearance spell,’ he explained after noting the questioning looks from Caroline and Sophie. ‘It was more draining than I expected.’

  ‘Ravi’s Second Principle of Magic,’ Sophie murmured. ‘The spell was complex, working on a number of levels. It must have had an effect.’

  Aubrey shrugged, then winced at the muscles thus abused. ‘I’ve had worse.’

  George had a suspiciously fresh-looking slice of bread in his hand. Aubrey assumed the Enlightened Ones must have brought some supplies from Fisherberg. ‘Where are we off to?’

  ‘We have some work still to do here,’ Aubrey said. ‘Remember the second step in our plan?’

  ‘We’ve removed the troops, which is a good start.’ George looked about, vaguely, then turned to Sophie. ‘What was Step Two?’

  ‘We have to hide the village.’

  ‘That’s right. Fear of reprisals.’
/>   Each of them glanced at the village. Wholesome smoke and the smell of cooking was coming from chimneys again. Children were jumping in puddles, laughing as if they were the first ever to engage in such an outlandish activity.

  ‘Kirchoff isn’t an idiot,’ von Stralick said. ‘Our ruse will be discovered, eventually. He will hurry back to complete his task and hope that Dr Tremaine doesn’t find out.’

  ‘Which is why Sophie and I were working on Step Two last night,’ Aubrey said. ‘Sophie?’

  Sophie reached into her pack and took out her spellcraft notebook. ‘Misdirection. It could save the village.’

  Von Stralick wrinkled his brown. ‘Misdirection?’

  Sophie gripped her notebook in both hands, suddenly uncertain. ‘If they cannot find the village, they cannot destroy it, true?’

  George beamed. ‘Sophie, my gem, that sounds like a splendid Step Two.’

  Sophie nudged him with her elbow. ‘Whoever is coming will be using maps and compasses -’

  ‘And roads,’ George said, ‘following signposts.’

  ‘We do not have to move the village off the map,’ Sophie continued. ‘We simply have to make it easy for those looking for the village to get lost.’

  ‘Confusion,’ Aubrey said. ‘Bafflement.’

  ‘Making a thing appear to be what it is not,’ Sophie said. ‘If the road to Korsur looks like the road to somewhere else, it will be ignored. If north looks like north-east, or south-west, it will do them no good.’

  ‘We’ve had many variables to take into account,’ Aubrey said, but he felt excitement rising, the excitement that came from a magical challenge.

  ‘The Law of Familiarity,’ Sophie said. ‘It was most important.’

  ‘And the Law of Patterns, and the Law of Action at a Distance and an important application of the Law of Seeming.’ Aubrey’s voice trailed off when he saw Caroline’s tolerant smile. ‘Sorry. Boring magic talk?’