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down to speak. "Are you well, Laurence? You are not uncomfortable?"

He sounded more anxious than the subject deserved. Laurence patted his foreleg where he could reach it. "No, I am very well."

"I am very sorry to have snatched you away so," Temeraire said, some tension gone at the warmth in Laurence's voice. "Pray do not be angry; I could not let that man take you."

"No, I am not angry," Laurence said; indeed, so far as his heart was concerned there was only a great, swelling joy to be once again aloft, to feel the living current of power running through Temeraire's body, even if his more rational part knew this state could not last. "And I do not blame you for going, not in the least, but I am afraid we must turn back now."

"No; I am not taking you back to that man," Temeraire said obstinately, and Laurence understood with a sinking feeling that he had run up against Temeraire's protective instincts. "He lied to me, and kept you away, and then he wanted to arrest you: he may count himself lucky I did not squash him."

"My dear, we cannot just run wild," Laurence said. "We would be truly beyond the pale if we did such a thing; how do you imagine we would eat, except by theft? And we would be abandoning all our friends."

"I am no more use to them in London, sitting in a covert," Temeraire said, with perfect truth, and left Laurence at a loss for how to answer him. "But I do not mean to run wild; although," a little wistfully, "to be sure, it would be pleasant to do as we liked, and I do not think anyone would miss a few sheep here and there. But not while there is a battle to be fought."

"Oh dear," Laurence said, as he squinted towards the sun and realized their course was southeast, directly for their former covert at Dover. "Temeraire, they cannot let us fight; Lenton will have to order me back, and if I disobey he will arrest me just as quick as Barham, I assure you."

"I do not believe Obversaria's admiral will arrest you," Temeraire said. "She is very nice, and has always spoken to me kindly, even though she is so much older, and the flag-dragon. Besides, if he tries, Maximus and Lily are there, and they will help me; and if that man from London tries to come and take you away again, I will kill him," he added, with an alarming degree of bloodthirsty eagerness.

Chapter 2

THEY LANDED IN the Dover covert amid the clamor and bustle of preparation: the harness-masters bellowing orders to the ground crews, the clatter of buckles and the deeper metallic ringing of the bombs being handed up in sacks to the bellmen; riflemen loading their weapons, the sharp high-pitched shriek of whetstones grinding away on sword-edges. A dozen interested dragons had followed their progress, many calling out greetings to Temeraire as he made his descent. He called back, full of excitement, his spirits rising all the while Laurence felt his own sinking.

Temeraire brought them to earth in Obversaria's clearing; it was one of the largest in the covert, as befitted her standing as flag-dragon, though as an Anglewing she was only slightly more than middling in size, and there was easily room for Temeraire to join her. She was rigged out already, her crew boarding; Admiral Lenton himself was standing beside her in full riding gear, only waiting for his officers to be aboard: minutes away from going aloft.

"Well, and what have you done?" Lenton asked, before Laurence had even managed to unfold himself out of Temeraire's claw. "Roland spoke to me, but she said she had told you to stay quiet; there is going to be the devil to pay for this."

"Sir, I am very sorry to put you in so untenable a position," Laurence said awkwardly, trying to think how he could explain Temeraire's refusal to return to London without seeming to make excuses for himself.

"No, it is my fault," Temeraire added, ducking his head and trying to look ashamed, without much success; there was too distinct a gleam of satisfaction in his eye. "I took Laurence away; that man was going to arrest him."

He sounded plainly smug, and Obversaria abruptly leaned over and batted him on the side of the head, hard enough to make him wobble even though he was half again her size. He flinched and stared at her