The Temeraire Series Books 1-3: Temeraire, Throne of Jade, Black Powder War

He did not immediately see Temeraire; after searching the busy courtyard for a few moments, he realized that Temeraire had settled outside the exterior walls, likely to avoid the bustle and noise. Before going out to him, Laurence took the cadets over to Levitas: the little dragon was curled up alone just inside the courtyard walls, watching the other dragons with their officers. Levitas was still in his harness, but it looked much better than it had on the previous day: the leather looked as though it had been worked over and rubbed with oil to make it more supple, and the metal rings joining the straps were brightly polished.

Laurence now guessed that the rings were intended to provide a place for the carabiners to latch on; though Levitas was small compared to Temeraire, he was still a large creature, and Laurence thought he could easily sustain the weight of the three cadets for the short journey. The dragon was eager and happy for the attention, his eyes brightening as Laurence made the suggestion.

‘Oh yes, I can carry you all easily,’ he said, looking at the three cadets, who looked back at him with no less eagerness. They all scrambled up as nimbly as squirrels, and each of them locked on to two separate rings in an obviously well-practiced motion.

Laurence tugged on each strap; they seemed secure enough. ‘Very well, Levitas; take them down to the shore, and Temeraire and I will meet you there shortly,’ he said, patting the dragon’s side.

Having seen them off, Laurence wove through the other dragons and made his way out of the gate. He stopped short on his first clear look at Temeraire; the dragon looked strangely downcast, a marked difference from his happy attitude at the conclusion of the morning’s work, and Laurence hurried to his side. ‘Are you not feeling well?’ Laurence asked, inspecting his jaws, but Temeraire was bloodstained and messy from his meal, and looked to have eaten well. ‘Did something you ate disagree with you?’

‘No, I am perfectly well,’ Temeraire said. ‘It is only— Laurence, I am a proper dragon, am I not?’

Laurence stared; the note of uncertainty in Temeraire’s voice was wholly new. ‘As proper a dragon as there is in the world; what on earth would make you ask such a question? Has anyone said anything unkind to you?’ A quick surge of temper was rising in him already at the mere possibility; the aviators might look at him askance and say what they liked, but he was not going to tolerate anyone making remarks to Temeraire.

‘Oh, no,’ Temeraire said, but in a way that made Laurence doubt the words. ‘No one was unkind, but they could not help noticing, while we were all feeding, that I do not look quite like the rest of them. They are all much more brightly coloured than I am, and their wings do not have so many joins. Also, they have those ridges along their backs, and mine is plain, and I have more talons on my feet.’ He turned and inspected himself as he catalogued these differences. ‘So they looked at me a little oddly, but no one was unkind. I suppose it is because I am a Chinese dragon?’

‘Yes, indeed, and you must recall that the Chinese are counted the most skilled breeders in the world,’ Laurence said firmly. ‘If anything, the others should look to you as their ideal, not the reverse, and I beg you will not for a moment doubt yourself. Only consider how well Celeritas spoke of your flying this morning.’

‘But I cannot breathe fire, or spit acid,’ Temeraire said, settling back down, still with an air of dejection. ‘And I am not as big as Maximus.’ He was quiet for a moment, then added, ‘He and Lily ate first; the rest of us had to wait until after they were done, and then we were allowed to hunt as a group.’

Laurence frowned; it had not occurred to him that dragons would have a system of rank among themselves. ‘My dear, there has never been a dragon of your breed in England, so your precedence has not yet been established,’ he said, trying to find an explanation which would console Temeraire. ‘Also, perhaps it has something to do with the rank of their captains, for you must recall that I have less seniority than any other captain here.’

‘That would be very silly; you are older than most of them are, and have a great deal of experience,’ Temeraire said, losing some of his unhappiness in indignation over the idea of a slight to Laurence. ‘You have won battles, and most of them are only still in training.’

‘Yes, but at sea, and things are very different aloft,’ Laurence said. ‘But it is quite true that precedence and rank are not guarantors of wisdom or good breeding; pray do not take it so to heart. I am sure that when you have been in service a year or two you will be acknowledged as you deserve. But for the moment, did you get enough to eat? We shall return to the feeding grounds at once if not.’

‘Oh, no, there was no shortage,’ Temeraire said. ‘I was able to catch whatever I wanted, and the others did not get in my way very much at all.’

He fell silent, and was clearly still inclined to be dismal; Laurence said, ‘Come, we must see about getting you bathed.’

Temeraire brightened at the prospect, and after the better part of an hour spent playing with Levitas in the lake and then being scrubbed by the cadets, his spirits were greatly restored. Afterwards, he curled happily about Laurence in the warm courtyard when they settled down together to read, apparently much happier. But Laurence still saw Temeraire looking at his gold-and-pearl chain more often, and touching it with the tip of his tongue; he was beginning to recognize the gesture as a desire for reassurance. He tried to put affection in his voice as he read, and stroked the foreleg on which he was comfortably seated.

He was still frowning with concern later that evening, as he came into the officers’ club; a left-handed blessing, as the momentary hush that fell when he came into the room bothered him far less than it might otherwise have done. Granby was standing at the pianoforte near the door, and he pointedly touched his forehead in salute and said, ‘Sir,’ as Laurence came in.

It was an odd sort of insolence that could hardly be reprimanded; Laurence chose to answer as if it had been sincere, and said politely, ‘Mr. Granby,’ with a nod that he made a general gesture to the room, and walked on with what haste was reasonable. Rankin was sitting far back in a corner of the room by a small table, reading a newspaper; Laurence joined him, and in a few moments the two of them had set up the chessboard which Rankin had taken down from a shelf.

The buzz of conversation had already resumed; between moves, Laurence observed the room as well as he could without making himself obvious. Now that his eyes were opened, he could see a few female officers scattered in the crowd here, also. Their presence seemed to place no restraint on the general company; the conversation though good-natured was not wholly refined, and it was made noisy and confused by interruptions.

Nevertheless there was a clear sense of good-fellowship throughout the room, and he could not help feeling a little wistful at his natural exclusion from it; both by their preference and his own he did not feel that he was fitted for participation, and it could not but give him a pang of loneliness. But he dismissed it almost at once; a Navy captain had to be used to a solitary existence, and often without such companionship as he had in Temeraire. And also, he might now look forward to Rankin’s company as well; he returned his attention to the chessboard, and looked no more at the others.

Rankin was perhaps out of practice a little, but not unskilled, and as the game was not one of Laurence’s favourite pastimes they were reasonably well-matched. As they played, Laurence mentioned his concern for Temeraire to Rankin, who listened with sympathy. ‘It is indeed shameful that they should have not given him precedence, but I must counsel you to leave the remedy to him,’ Rankin said. ‘They behave that way in the wild; the deadlier breeds demand first fruits of the hunt, and the weaker give way. He must likely assert himself among the other beasts to be given more respect.’

‘Do you mean by offering some sort of challenge? But surely that cannot be a wise policy,’ Laurence said, alarmed at the very idea; he had heard the old fantastic stories of wild dragons fighting among themselves, and killing one another in such duelling. ‘To allow battle among such desperately valuable creatures, for so little purpose?’

‘It rarely comes to an actual battle; they know each others’ capabilities, and I promise you, once he feels certain of his strength, he will not tolerate it, nor will he meet with any great resistance,’ Rankin said.

Laurence could not have great confidence in this; he was certain it was no lack of courage that prevented Temeraire from taking precedence, but a more delicate sensibility, which had unhappily enabled him to sense the lack of approbation of the other dragons. ‘I would still like to find some means of reassuring him,’ Laurence said, sadly; he could see that henceforth all the feedings would be a source of fresh unhappiness to Temeraire, and yet they could not be avoided, save by feeding him at different times, which would only make him feel still more isolated from the others.

‘Oh, give him a trinket and he will settle down,’ Rankin said. ‘It is amazing how it restores their spirits; whenever my beast becomes sulky, I bring him a bauble and he is at once all happiness again; just like a temperamental mistress.’

Laurence could not help smiling at the absurdity of this joking comparison. ‘I have been meaning to get him a collar, as it happens,’ he said, more seriously, ‘such as the one Celeritas wears, and I do believe it would make him very happy. But I do not suppose there is anywhere around here where such an item may be commissioned.’

‘I can offer you a remedy for that, at any rate. I go to Edinburgh regularly on my courier duties, and there are several excellent jewellers there; some of them even carry ready-made items for dragons, as there are many coverts here in the north within flying distance. If you care to accompany me, I would be happy to bear you there,’ Rankin said. ‘My next flight will be this Saturday, and I can easily have you back by suppertime if we leave in the morning.’

‘Thank you; I am very much obliged to you,’ Laurence said, surprised and pleased. ‘I will apply to Celeritas for permission to go.’

Celeritas frowned at the request, made the next morning, and looked at Laurence narrowly. ‘You wish to go with Captain Rankin? Well, it will be the last day of liberty you have for a long time, for you must and will be here for every moment of Temeraire’s flight training.’

He was almost fierce about it, and Laurence was surprised by his vehemence. ‘I assure you I have no objection,’ he said, wondering in astonishment if the training master thought he meant to shirk his duties. ‘Indeed, I had not imagined otherwise, and I am well aware of the need for urgency in his training. If my absence would cause any difficulty, I beg you to have no hesitation in refusing the request.’

Whatever the source of his initial disapproval, Celeritas was mollified by this statement. ‘As it happens, the ground crewmen will need a day to fit Temeraire out with his new gear, and it will be ready by then,’ he said, in less-stern tones. ‘I suppose we can spare you, as long as Temeraire is not finicky about being harnessed without you there, and you may as well have a final excursion.’

Temeraire assured Laurence he did not mind, so the plan was settled, and Laurence spent part of the next few evenings making measurements of his neck, and of Maximus’s, thinking the Regal Copper’s current size might be a good approximation for what Temeraire could reach in future. He pretended to Temeraire that these were for the harness; he looked forward to giving the present as a surprise, and seeing it take away some of the quiet distress that lingered, casting a pall over the dragon’s usually high spirits.

Rankin looked with amusement at his sketches of possible designs. The two of them had already formed the settled habit of playing chess together in the evenings, and sitting together at dinner. Laurence so far had little conversation with the other aviators; he regretted it, but could see little point in trying to push himself forward when he was comfortable enough as he was, and in the absence of any sort of invitation. It seemed clear to him that Rankin was as outside the common life of the aviators as he was, perhaps set aside by the elegance of his manners, and if they were both outcast for the same reason, they might at least have the pleasure of each other’s society for compensation.

He and Berkley met at breakfast and training every day, and he continued to find the other captain an astute airman and aerial tactician; but at dinner or in company Berkley was silent. Laurence was not sure either that he wanted to try and draw the man into intimacy, or that a gesture in that direction would be welcome, so he contented himself with being civil, and discussing technical matters; so far they had only known each other a few days, and there would be time enough to take a better measure of the man’s real character.

He had steeled himself to react properly on meeting Captain Harcourt again, but she seemed shy of his company; he saw her almost only at a distance, though Temeraire was soon to be flying in company with her dragon Lily. One morning however she was at table when he arrived for breakfast, and in an attempt to make natural conversation, he asked how her dragon came to be called Lily, thinking it might be a nickname like Volly’s. She flushed to her roots again and said very stiffly, ‘I liked the name; pray how did you come to name Temeraire?’

‘To be perfectly honest, I did not have any idea of the proper way of naming a dragon, nor any way of finding out at the time,’ Laurence said, feeling he had made a misstep; no one had remarked on Temeraire’s unusual name before, and only now that she had brought him to task for it did he guess that perhaps he had raised a sore point with her. ‘I called him after a ship: the first Téméraire was captured from the French, and the one presently in service is a ninety-eight gun three-decker, one of our finest line-of-battle ships.’

When he had made this confession, she seemed to grow more easy, and said with more candour, ‘Oh; as you have said as much, I do not mind admitting that it was nearly the same with me. Lily was not properly expected to hatch for another five years at the earliest, and I had no notion of a name. When her egg hardened, they woke me in the middle of the night at Edinburgh covert and flung me on a Winchester, and I barely managed to reach the baths before she broke the shell. I simply gaped when she invited me to give her a name, and I could not think of anything else.’

‘It is a charming name, and perfectly suits her, Catherine,’ Rankin said, joining them at the table. ‘Good morning, Laurence; have you seen the paper? Lord Pugh has finally managed to marry off his daughter; Ferrold must be desperately hard up.’ This piece of gossip, concerning as it did people whom Harcourt did not know at all, left her outside the conversation. Before Laurence could change the subject, however, she excused herself and slipped away from the table, and he lost the opportunity to further the acquaintance.

The few days remaining in the week before the excursion, passed swiftly. The training as yet was still more a matter of testing Temeraire’s flying abilities, and seeing how best he and Maximus could be worked into the formation centred on Lily. Celeritas had them fly endless circuits around the training valley, sometimes trying to minimize the number of wingbeats, sometimes trying to maximize their speed, and always trying to keep them in line with one another. One memorable morning was spent almost entirely upside down, and Laurence found himself dizzy and red-faced at the end of it. The stouter Berkley was huffing as he staggered off Maximus’s back after the final pass, and Laurence leaped forward to ease him down to the ground as his legs gave out from under him.

Maximus hovered anxiously over Berkley and rumbled in distress. ‘Stop that moaning, Maximus; nothing more ridiculous than a creature of your size behaving like a mother hen,’ Berkley said as he fell into the chair that the servants had hurriedly brought. ‘Ah, thank you,’ he said, taking the glass of brandy Laurence offered him, and sipped at it while Laurence loosened his neckcloth.

‘I am sorry to have put you under such a strain,’ Celeritas said, when Berkley was no longer gasping and scarlet. ‘Ordinarily these trials would be spread over half a month’s time. Perhaps I am pressing on too quickly.’

‘Nonsense, I will be well in a trice,’ Berkley said at once. ‘I know damned well we cannot spare a moment, Celeritas, so do not be holding us back on my account.’

‘Laurence, why are matters so urgent?’ Temeraire asked that evening after dinner, as they once again settled down together outside the courtyard walls to read. ‘Is there to be a great battle soon, and we are needed for it?’

Laurence folded the book closed, keeping his place with a finger. ‘No; I am sorry to disappoint you, but we are too raw to be sent by choice directly into a major action. But it is very likely that Lord Nelson will not be able to destroy the French fleet without the help of one of the Longwing formations presently stationed in England; our duty will be to take their place, so they may go. That will indeed be a great battle, and though we will not participate in it directly, I assure you our part is by no means unimportant.’

‘No, but it does not sound very exciting,’ Temeraire said. ‘But perhaps France will invade us, and then we will have to fight?’ He sounded rather more hopeful than anything else.

‘We must hope not,’ Laurence said. ‘If Nelson destroys their fleet, it will pretty well put paid to any chance of Bonaparte’s bringing his army across. Though I have heard he has something like a thousand boats to carry his men, they are only transports, and the Navy would sink them by the dozen if they tried to come across without the protection of the fleet.’

Temeraire sighed and put his head down over his forelegs. ‘Oh,’ he said.

Laurence laughed and stroked his nose. ‘How bloodthirsty you are,’ he said with amusement. ‘Do not fear; I promise you we will see enough action when your training is done. There is a great deal of skirmishing over the Channel, for one thing; and then we may be sent in support of a naval operation, or perhaps sent to harass the French shipping independently.’ This heartened Temeraire greatly, and he turned his attention to the book with restored good humour.

Friday they spent in an endurance trial, trying to see how long both dragons could stay aloft. The formation’s slowest members would be the two Yellow Reapers, so both Temeraire and Maximus had to be kept to that slower pace for the test, and they went around and around the training valley in an endless circle, while above them the rest of the formation performed a drill under Celeritas’s supervision.

A steady rain blurred all the landscape below into a grey monotony and made the task still more boring. Temeraire often turned his head to inquire, a little plaintively, how long he had been flying, and Laurence was generally obliged to inform him that scarcely a quarter of an hour had passed since the last query. Laurence at least could watch the formation wheeling and diving, their bright colours marked against the pale grey sky; poor Temeraire had to keep his head straight and level to maintain the best flying posture.