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sty's%20Dragon.html month.
Will you want us tomorrow, then? Chenery asked, stifling a yawn, not
entirely successfully.
No, I can spare you a day. See to your dragons, and enjoy the rest while it
lasts, Lenton said, with a sharp, braying laugh. I ll be having you rousted
out of bed at dawn the day after.
Temeraire slept very heavily and late the next morning, leaving Laurence to
occupy himself for some hours after breakfast. He met Berkley at the table,
and walked back with him to see Maximus. The Regal
Copper was still eating, a procession of fresh-slaughtered sheep going down
his gullet one after another, and he only rumbled a wordless, mouth-full
greeting as they came to the clearing.
Berkley brought out a bottle of rather terrible wine, and drank most of it
himself while Laurence sipped at his glass to be polite, as they told over the
battle again with diagrams scratched in the dirt and pebbles representing the
dragons. We would do very well to add a light-flyer, a Greyling if one can be
spared, to fly lookout above the formation, Berkley said, sitting back
heavily upon a rock. It is all our big dragons being young; when the big ones
panic in that way, the little ones will have a start even if they know
better.
Laurence nodded. Although I hope this misadventure will at least have given
them some experience in dealing with the fright, he said. In any event, the
French cannot count on having such ideal circumstances often; without the
cloud cover they should never have managed it.
Gentlemen; are you looking over the plan of yesterday? Choiseul had been
walking past towards the headquarters; he joined them and crouched down beside
the diagram. I am very sorry to have been away at the beginning. His coat
was dusty and his neckcloth was stained badly with sweat: he looked as though
he had not shifted his clothes since yesterday, and a thin tracery of red
veins stood out in the whites of his eyes; he rubbed his face as he looked
down.
Have you been up all night? Laurence asked.
Choiseul shook his head. No, but I took it in turns with Catherine with
Harcourt to sleep a little, by
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Lily; she would not rest otherwise. He shut his eyes in an enormous yawn, and
nearly fell over.
Merci,
he said, grateful for Laurence s steadying hand, and pushed himself slowly to
his feet. I will leave you; I must get Catherine some food.
Pray go and get some rest, Laurence said. I will bring her something;
Temeraire is asleep, and I am at liberty.
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Harcourt herself was wide awake, pale with anxiety but steady now, giving
orders to the crew and feeding Lily with chunks of still-steaming beef from
her own hand, a constant stream of encouragement coming from her lips.
Laurence had brought her some bread with bacon; she would have taken the
sandwich in her bloody hands, unwilling to interrupt, but he managed to coax
her away long enough to wash a little and eat while a crewman took her place.
Lily kept eating, with one golden eye resting on
Harcourt for reassurance.
Choiseul came back before Harcourt had quite finished, his neckcloth and coat
gone and a servant following with a pot of coffee, strong and hot. Your
lieutenant is looking for you, Laurence; Temeraire begins to stir, he said,
sitting down again heavily beside her. I cannot manage to sleep; the coffee
has done me well.
Thank you, Jean-Paul, if you are not too tired, I would be very grateful for
your company, she said, already drinking her second cup. Pray have no
hesitation, Laurence, I am sure Temeraire must be anxious. I am obliged to you
for coming.
Laurence bowed to them both, though he had a sense of awkwardness for the
first occasion since he had grown used to Harcourt. She was leaning with no
appearance of consciousness against Choiseul s shoulder, and he was looking
down at her with undisguised warmth; she was quite young, after all, and
Laurence could not help feeling the absence of any suitable chaperone.
He consoled himself that nothing could happen with Lily and the crew present,
even if they had not both been so obviously done in; in any case, he could
hardly stay under the circumstances, and he hurried away to Temeraire s
clearing.
The rest of the day he spent gratefully in idleness, seated comfortably in his
usual place in the crook of
Temeraire s foreleg and writing letters; he had formed an extensive
correspondence while at sea, with all the long hours to fill, and now many of
his acquaintance were owed responses. His mother, too, had managed to write
him several hasty and short letters, evidently kept from his father s
knowledge; at least they were not franked, so Laurence was obliged to pay to
receive them.
Having gorged himself to compensate for his lack of appetite the night before,
Temeraire then listened to the letters Laurence was writing and dictated his
own contributions, sending greetings to Lady
Allendale, and to Riley. And do ask Captain Riley to give my best wishes to
the crew of the
Reliant,
he said. It seems so very long ago, Laurence, does it not? I have not had
fish in months now.
Laurence smiled at this measure of time. A great deal has happened,
certainly; it is strange to think it has not even been a year, he said,
sealing the envelope and writing the direction. I only hope they are all
well. It was the last, and he laid it upon the substantial pile with
satisfaction; he was a great deal easier in his conscience now. Roland, he
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called, and she came running up from where the cadets were playing a game of
jacks. Go take this to the dispatch post, he said, handing her the stack.
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Sir, she said, a little nervously, accepting the letters, when I am done,
might I have liberty for the evening?
He was startled by the request; several of the ensigns and midwingmen had put
in for liberty, and had it granted, that they might visit the city, but the
idea of a ten-year-old cadet wandering about Dover alone was absurd, even if
she were not a girl. Would this be for yourself alone, or will you be going
with one of the others? he asked, thinking she might have been invited to
join one of the older officers in a respectable excursion.
No, sir, only for me, she said; she looked so very hopeful that Laurence
thought for a moment of granting it and taking her himself, but he could not
like to leave Temeraire alone to brood over the previous day.
Perhaps another time, Roland, he said gently. We will be here in Dover for
a long time now, and I
promise you will have another opportunity.
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