But another possibility occurred to him and made him itch with impatience. It was simplified, but could it simply be primitive? Did the Enlightened Ones, with their ancient heritage, have access to languages not known elsewhere?
The last of Madame Zelinka’s companions to remove his concealing cap and scarf was the man sitting on her right. When he did, Aubrey only dimly heard Caroline’s gasp and George’s stifled oath, because it was as if someone had just hit him behind the ear with a mallet.
‘Is that any way to greet an old friend, Fitzwilliam? You look like a codfish.’
Aubrey struggled, but eventually put words together. ‘Von Stralick. I should have guessed.’
‘Really?’ Von Stralick looked disappointed.
Aubrey was rallying after the shock of the Holmland spy’s appearance. ‘I should have guessed because you have a habit of turning up when least expected.’
‘And here I am.’ Von Stralick beamed, but Aubrey thought the usually immaculately groomed Holmlander looked worn and tired. His hair was worn long, as usual, to hide his missing ear, but it looked as if it needed a good trim. His moustache, too, looked more utilitarian than ornamental. ‘Ah, the delightful Miss Hepworth.’ He stood and bowed to Caroline. ‘And who is your friend? Is that Miss Delroy? My reports said you were beautiful, my dear, but they missed the mark by a long way. You are most striking.’
‘Steady on, von Stralick,’ George growled.
‘Ah,’ von Stralick said, ‘it’s ... please don’t remind me ... I’ll have it in a minute or two.’
‘It’s no time to play games, von Stralick,’ Aubrey said.
Von Stralick sighed. ‘I apologise, Doyle. It was petty of me, but we have had little chance for levity here. No sense of humour, these Holmland patrols.’
‘I can’t imagine they have,’ Aubrey said.
Von Stralick sipped his tea. ‘Do you know what would have happened if we hadn’t saved you from being snapped up by one that was on its way?’
Aubrey went cold. ‘We didn’t see a patrol.’
‘They’re quite good,’ Von Stralick said. ‘And they know the terrain.’
‘What would have happened?’ George said evenly.
Von Stralick shrugged. ‘It wasn’t a rhetorical question. We’ve lost people and we have no idea of their fate.’
Aubrey sat back. He’d last seen von Stralick in Fisherberg, at the disastrous symposium. The Holmlander’s status was more than ambivalent. He’d fallen out with the Holmland intelligence service after his superiors had been removed, and he’d abandoned his attempts to win favour with Baron von Grolman once he realised that the baron was working hand in hand with Dr Tremaine. Aubrey wondered if von Stralick’s actions assisting Aubrey and his friends had further compromised his position.
‘Wait,’ Aubrey said, holding up both hands. ‘You might want to know what we’re doing here–’
‘It had occurred to us,’ von Stralick said. He sat, and Aubrey couldn’t help but notice how close he was to the imperious Madame Zelinka. And how she shifted her position so she was even closer to him.
Amazing, he thought, but steered himself to the matter at hand. ‘But I want to know what you’re doing here.’ Even though I’ve just seen at least part of the reason.
Madame Zelinka had an arresting beauty, and could only have been a year or two older than von Stralick, while he was dashing, intelligent and remarkably adaptable. A good couple?
‘Self-interest,’ von Stralick said proudly. ‘Look no further than that, Fitzwilliam. I intend to make a great deal of money from this exercise. I believe that while the Enlightened Ones are clearing up other people’s messes, I may have a chance to put my hands on a few items for which the highest bidders will be very high indeed.’
Aubrey had doubts that von Stralick was as selfish as that, but he also knew that if he dared suggest that von Stralick was doing anything that had a whiff of altruism about it, he would blanch and recoil in horror.
‘And how did you two ... meet?’ George asked.
Von Stralick took Madame Zelinka’s hand. ‘Your Commander Craddock was responsible.’ She clasped his hand fiercely. ‘I still find that remarkable.’
Aubrey looked around for the bus that just run him over. Remarkable? he thought at the prospect of Commander Craddock acting as a matchmaker. ‘Inconceivable’ fits better. It was like imagining Dr Tremaine having second thoughts, renouncing his plans for worldwide slaughter and becoming a dentist instead.
‘Pompey thought we could work together,’ Madame Zelinka said. ‘He said we had much to offer each other.’
‘Wait.’ Aubrey held out a hand. The other, he put to his brow. He was dizzy. ‘Pompey. You’re not saying that Commander Craddock’s first name is Pompey, are you?’
‘I didn’t know he had a first name,’ George said. ‘I thought he was like a dog.’
Aubrey couldn’t believe what his friend was saying. ‘Dogs have first names. They just don’t have last names.’
‘What are you talking about, old man? My old terrier was called Morris. That was his last name, obviously. Short and sharp.’
‘He was part of your family, wasn’t he? His full name was Morris Doyle.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Caroline interrupted. ‘I think more important matters are at hand.’
Sophie nodded solemnly. ‘I have been warned about Albion men and their dogs. They take them very seriously.’
Aubrey was about to launch into an explanation of why this was so – citing the importance of stick throwing in the development of national character – but caught Caroline’s warning glance. He put the matter aside for later.
‘Pompey Craddock,’ von Stralick said with relish, enjoying the effect it had on Aubrey. ‘Pompey Craddock is a fine, perceptive man.’
With a superhuman effort, Aubrey stopped himself from pursuing this line of thought and stuck to the idea of Craddock seeing some utility in the coming together of Madame Zelinka and Hugo von Stralick. Some utility apart from being a strange sort of experiment.
Von Stralick knew his way around the Holmland intelligence community. Despite being an outcast since the falling from grace of his mentor, he had contacts aplenty and had garnered a great deal of information about key people in government. He had hinted to Aubrey in the past that he kept what he called useful documents on file, secrets that a number of important figures wouldn’t want revealed. In a war where the notion of weaponry was being redefined almost daily, such information could be in a weapon class of its own.
Allied to this was von Stralick’s antipathy to Dr Tremaine, who he held responsible for the death of his mentor. This ill will had to be harnessed correctly, however. Von Stralick might declare that patriotism was an old-fashioned concept, but he was a Holmlander through and through. He saw the current Chancellor and his crew as misguided, unfortunate and ultimately dangerous but he didn’t feel that the Holmland people should be held responsible for the idiots who led them, voting and representation being the flawed systems they were, in his estimation.
And Madame Zelinka? Aubrey assumed Craddock knew more about the Enlightened Ones than he did, but a powerful mystical organisation that was hostile to Dr Tremaine, seeing him as reckless in the extreme, could only be a useful partner.
Aubrey asked himself why Craddock didn’t work directly with the Enlightened Ones and he had the distinct feeling that there was more beneath the skin of this particular rice pudding than met the eye.