“WHAT DO YOU WANT?” Temeraire said, very ungraciously. He did not see why Iskierka had to come along, showing away and making a great noise of herself.
“To fight,” Iskierka said, as if the answer were obvious. “We are supposed to be in a war, and there has not been any fighting for four days, and I have not even been let to go flying anywhere and,” she hissed smoke again, “they came and lectured my Granby, when I went out for just a bit of hunting.”
“Well, there is about to be a great deal of fighting over there,” Temeraire said, “so you ought to go back.”
“No there is not,” Iskierka said, “at least, they are not getting ready for any fighting; they said it would be another week before there is a battle. But then we heard that you had had two battles already, and your letter came saying that there was going to be some more, so we have come to have a share of the fighting also. And,” she added, “when we have finished and beat Napoleon, I have decided that you may give me an egg.”
“Oh!” Temeraire said, swelling with indignation, “how very kind! I am to be honored, I suppose.”
“Well, I am much richer than you are,” she said, “and also I can breathe fire, so you ought to be.”
“I would not give you an egg,” Temeraire said, “if you were the very last dragon in the world, but me; I should rather have none at all.”
“You haven’t,” Iskierka said. “No-one has got an egg by you at all yet, so you see, I am very generous to try.”
This was no comfortable news, and Temeraire drew back a little, startled. He had not been very enthusiastic about all the breeding, by the end, but one could not help but be satisfied at being wanted, and think how many eggs there should be. He did not understand why there should be none. It did not sound very well; not, however, that it made him wish any more to give Iskierka one.
She meanwhile preened herself smugly, stretching out her coils in a messy way so everyone would notice her more. She had on a lot of gaudy stuff on her harness, some chains that were probably not real gold at all, and which had in them chips of what were certainly colored glass, and Temeraire could not help but be conscious that Granby, who was talking with Laurence and Tharkay over by the standard in low voices, was in a very fine green velvet coat, trimmed all over in golden braid, with not one but two swords at his waist, one of them short but both very brilliantly ornamented at the hilt, in fine shining leather sheaths; even if he did not look very happy at present. And Laurence was in a shabby coat which did not suit him at all.
The others were eyeing her with admiration, and Arkady and the other ferals, too, all of whom had bright stuff on them, hooked haphazardly onto their harness and making them look rather like slovenly pirates, Temeraire thought, and Arkady, Temeraire realized in outrage, Arkady had Demane on his back; Demane who was of his crew, and he said reproachfully to the boy, “What are you doing with him?”
“He does not know what the other soldiers are saying with the flags,” Demane said, looking up, “so I tell him, and then we decide whether to listen. The flags are wrong sometimes,” he added.
They had not brought anyone else from his own crew, or any food, or anything useful at all; they had no notion of how they were to be fed or where they were to sleep, and did not respect the order of the camp at all. Wringe, who was rather big for a feral, a good-sized middle-weight, tried to shove a Yellow Reaper out of his place, and so of course all the Reapers jumped up and hissed at her, and then Arkady and the others jumped in hissing back, and Temeraire had to roar to get all their attention and push them apart.
“You are new, so you must clear your own places,” he said sternly.
“Oh, that is easy,” Iskierka said, and hissed a command to Arkady, who quickly chivvied his gang to one side, and she then blasted fire out across a swath of ground at the edge of their clearing, dry leaves crisping up and tree-bark popping with sounds like gunfire off the trunks. One old dead pine caught like a torch and went into a perfect crackling blaze, while everyone else squawked and jumped to their feet.
“That is enough!” Temeraire said. “You may not go about setting fires in camp; we have powder all about, and you will have us all blown up. Now put out those trees, and clear it properly, by pulling them out.”
The ferals in a rather surly way smothered the flames with dirt and obeyed; but Iskierka did nothing but sit and yawn and observe, while everyone in the camp watched her, rather impressed than otherwise. It was not at all satisfactory, and when he said as much to Perscitia, she added insult to injury by having no sympathy, and saying instead, “A fire-breather will be very useful,” and showing him several maneuvers which she had sketched out, to make use of Iskierka especially.
“THEY DIDN’T BELIEVE A WORD OF IT,” Granby said to Laurence, no surprise. He was rather exhausted looking, and left sweat streaked on his forehead when he rubbed his hand against it. “The generals, anyway; you may be sure she swallowed it whole, and nothing would do but we would come and fight with you, or else Temeraire would be getting all the glory, and prizes, and she wanted an eagle, too; and once she has decided on something, those ferals will follow her to the end of Creation.” Arkady was still their leader, but even he had evidently taken to regarding her as a force of nature beyond ordinary leadership, so much treasure had she led them to seizing.
“Roland was damned understanding,” Granby added. “She sent a courier after me, with orders, after Iskierka had up and gone; put us on detached duty, scouting, so I am not insubordinate technically. But—” He raised his hands, helplessly.
“No preparations were made for a French attack?” Laurence said, low. “None whatsoever?”
“To be fair,” Granby said, “there is not much they can do; they haven’t the men yet. Admiral Roland tried to persuade them we ought to be ferrying in the troops, but to their minds, it will only make a mess, and mutiny everywhere when the men won’t go aboard.”
“They might retreat,” Tharkay said, “rather than wait to be routed.”
“Well,” Granby said, and Laurence felt much the same; it was one thing to retreat from the coast, having failed to prevent a landing, and another to let London be taken without a shot.
“Is there any hope you are mistaken?” Laurence asked Temeraire, a little later, after the ferals had been settled into the camp.
“They are moving their men somewhere,” Temeraire said, practically, “and I cannot think where he would move them, other than London, where your Army is; there are plenty of cows still around here, so it would not be only for food. But if you like I will ask Moncey and the others to go and see if they can work out where they have gone, for certain.”
Before this plan could be wholly put into effect, however, it was rendered unnecessary: Elsie came flying desperately into camp, nearly skidding across the ground. “Hurry, oh, hurry,” she cried, “they are not attacking tomorrow, they are attacking to-night,” and Hollin came scrambling off her back and said, “It is all true, sir; the scouts have seen them formed up not an hour’s march away, and there are ten Fleur-de-Nuits arming to the teeth in their camp.”
Laurence now had opportunity to see for himself how quickly an army of dragons might go, when their own camp moved: first the herd of cattle gone bellowing down the road in a cloud of dust, with the herdsmen beating them along, and a few aerial shepherds for encouragement. “We will meet you at Harpenden,” Temeraire said to the chief of the herdsmen, “or send you word there, where to bring the cows, and along which road; and if you do not hear from us, only make sure they are safe, and the French do not get them.”