But an admiralty was a far cry from flag rank, and she was in command of the largest covert in Britain, and perhaps the most critical at that.
‘They certainly did not like to give it to me, but they had precious little choice,’ Jane said. ‘Portland would not come from Gibraltar; Laetificat is not fit enough for the sea-voyage. So, it was Sanderson or I. He is making a cake of himself over the business; he goes off into corners and weeps like a woman, as though that would help anything. A veteran of nine fleet actions, if you would credit it!’ She ran her hand through her disordered crop and sighed. ‘Never mind, you are not to listen to me, Laurence, I am simply impatient; and his Animosia does poorly.’
‘And Excidium?’ Laurence ventured.
‘Excidium is a tough old bird, and he knows how to husband his strength: he has the sense to eat, even though he has no appetite. He will muddle along a good while yet. And you know, he has close on a century of service; many his age have already rid themselves of the whole business and retired to the breeding grounds.’ She smiled; it was not whole-hearted. ‘There; I have been brave. Let us move on to pleasanter things. I hear you have brought me twenty dragons, and by God do I have a use for them. Let us go and see them.’
‘She is a handful and a half,’ Granby admitted softly, as they considered the coiled serpentine length of Iskierka’s body, faint threads of steam issuing from the many needle-like spikes upon her body, ‘and I didn’t ride herd on her, sir, I am sorry.’
Iskierka had already established herself to her own satisfaction, if no one else’s, by clawing out a deep pit in the clearing next to Temeraire’s where she had been housed, and then filling it with ash acquired from the demise of some two dozen young trees, the largest she could manage at present. She had unceremoniously uprooted and burnt them inside her pit, then added a collection of boulders to the powdery grey mixture, which she fired to a moderate glow before falling asleep in her heated nest. The bonfire and its lingering smoulder were visible for some distance, even from the farmhouses nearest the covert; and after only a few hours, her arrival had produced several complaints and a great deal of alarm.
‘Oh, you have done enough keeping her harnessed out in the countryside, and without a head of cattle to your name,’ Jane said, giving the drowsing Iskierka’s side a pat. ‘They may bleat to me all they like, she’s a fire-breather and you may be sure the Navy will cheer your name when they hear we have our own at last. Well done; well done indeed, and I am happy to confirm you in your rank, Captain Granby. Should you like to do the honours, Laurence?’
Most of Laurence’s crew had already been employed in Iskierka’s clearing, beating out the stray embers which flew from her pit and threatened to ignite all the entire covert if left unchecked. Ash-dusty and tired as they all were, they had stayed, lingering consciously without the need of any announcement. They lined up on one muttered word from young Lieutenant Ferris to watch Laurence pin a second pair of gold bars upon Granby’s shoulders.
‘Gentlemen,’ Jane said, when Laurence had done, and they gave a cheek-flushed Granby three huzzahs, whole-hearted if a little subdued, and Ferris and Riggs stepped over to shake him by the hand.
‘We will see about assigning you a crew, though it is early days with her yet,’ Jane said, after the ceremony had dispersed, and they proceeded on to make her acquainted with the ferals. ‘I have no shortage of men now, more’s the pity. Feed her twice daily, see if we cannot make up for any growth she may have been shorted, and whenever she is awake I will start you on Longwing manoeuvres. I don’t know if she can scorch herself, as they can with their own acid, but we needn’t find out by trial.’
Granby nodded; he seemed not the least nonplussed at answering to her. Neither did Tharkay, who had been persuaded to stay on at least a little longer, as one of the few of them with any influence upon the ferals at all. He rather looked mostly amused, in his secretive way, once past the inquiring glance which he had first cast at Laurence: as Jane had insisted upon being taken to the new-come dragons at once, there had been no chance for Laurence to give Tharkay a private caution in advance of their meeting. He did not reveal any surprise, however, but only made her a polite bow, and performed the introductions calmly.
Arkady and his band had made no little less confusion of their own clearings than Iskierka, preferring to knock down all the trees between them and cluster together in a great heap. The chill of the December air did not trouble them, used as they were to the vastly colder regions of the Pamirs, but they spoke disapprovingly of the dampness, and on discovering the senior officer of the covert before them, at once demanded an accounting of their promised cows, from her: one apiece daily, was the offer by which they had been lured into service.
‘They make the argument that if they do not eat their share of cows upon a given day, that they are still owed the cattle, and may call the credit in at a future time,’ Tharkay explained, igniting Jane’s deep laugh.
‘Tell them they shall have as much as they can eat on any occasion, and if they are too suspicious for that to satisfy them, we shall make them a tally. Each of them may take one of the logs they have knocked over to the feeding pens, and mark it each time they take a cow,’ Jane said, more merry than offended at being met with a negotiation. ‘Pray ask, will they agree to a rate of exchange? Two hogs for a cow, or two sheep, should we bring in some variety of livestock?’
The ferals put their heads together and muttered, hissed and whistled among themselves in a cacophony made private only by the obscurity of their language. Finally Arkady turned back and professed himself willing to settle, on the proviso that the rate for goats would be three to one cow; they had some measure of contempt for the species being the animals most easily obtained in their former homeland, and they also suspected them of being scrawny.
Jane bowed to him to seal the arrangement, and he bobbed his head back. His expression was one of deeply satisfaction and rendered all the more piratical by the red splash of colour covering one of his eyes and spilling down his neck.
‘They are a gang of ruffians and make no mistake,’ Jane said, as she led them back to her offices, ‘but I have no doubt of their flying capabilities, at any rate: with that sort of wiry muscle they will fly circles around anything in their weight-class, or over it, and I am happy to stuff their bellies for them.’
‘No, sir; there’ll be no trouble,’ the steward of the headquarters said, rather quietly, promising to find rooms for Laurence and his officers. Most of the other captains and officers were encamped in the quarantine-grounds with their sick dragons, despite the cold and wet, and so the building was deserted; even more hushed and silent than it had been during the low-ebb before Trafalgar, when nearly all the formations had gone south to help bring down the French and Spanish fleets.
They all drank Granby’s health, but the party broke up early, and Laurence was not disposed to linger. A few wretched lieutenants sat at a dark table in the corner, without talking; an older captain snored, his head tipped against the side of his armchair and a bottle of brandy empty by his elbow. Laurence took his supper alone in his rooms and drank his port near the fire.
He opened the door at a faint tapping, expecting perhaps Jane, or one of his men had come with some word from Temeraire, but was startled to find Tharkay instead. ‘Pray come in,’ Laurence said, and belatedly added, ‘I hope you will forgive my state.’ The room was disordered, and he had borrowed a dressing-gown from a colleague’s neglected wardrobe. It was considerably too large around the waist, and badly crumpled.
‘I am come to say good-bye,’ Tharkay said, and, ‘No, I have nothing to complain of,’ when Laurence had made an awkward inquiry, ‘but I am not of your company. I do not care to stay as only a translator; it is a role which would soon pall.’
‘I would be happy to speak to Admiral Roland – perhaps a commission—’ Laurence said, trailing away; he did not know what might be done, or how such matters were arranged in the Corps, except to imagine them a good deal less formally prescribed than in the Army, or the Navy. Tharkay was an asset of inestimable value to them as a linguist; and Laurence would have argued gladly for any measure that might persuade him to stay.
‘I