“Temeraire,” Laurence said, “you could not ask them to commit treason against their own nation.”
“I do not see why it should be treason,” Temeraire said, “when their nation has no business keeping Dyhern away from Eroica: you might as well say Moncey committed treason, because he told me you were on Goliath,” recalling with a shudder his own dark days in the breeding grounds of Wales; Moncey and his fellow feral Winchesters had been his only hope of himself being reunited with Laurence, then.
“But if they do not like to talk to me about it,” he added, “I will speak to Moncey himself when we are back in England. I do not see any reason why one of the Winchesters mightn’t nip across and have a word with some of the unharnessed French dragons, from their own breeding grounds. They did as much only to gossip; indeed, Captain, I am sure we will be able to find him for you.”
Dyhern flushed red, when Temeraire had finished; he said, “I will thank you, if it can be done,” very shortly, and then stepped away; Laurence said to Temeraire quietly, “My dear, pray do not raise false hopes: a thousand things may arise to prevent our being able to assist him.”
“Well, I will not say anything more about it, at present,” Temeraire said, but privately he did not see why it should be at all difficult: after all, Eroica must be somewhere, very likely with other dragons about, and it seemed very poor-spirited to be getting in the dumps without having at least asked properly. So far as Temeraire could see, Dyhern had only ever spoken to other men, and not tried to ask any dragons at all, much less the couriers or better yet the unharnessed dragons of the breeding grounds, and the ferals, who had the most chance of flying about as they liked.
“I don’t suppose you know any of the unharnessed dragons in this country?” he asked Placet.
“You suppose rightly,” Placet said. “I haven’t seen hide or wing of a feral, and as for their couriers here, they are rudesbys; they speak some outlandish stuff and don’t care to even nod their heads, in a friendly way, when they see you. They only go and take their pig, and sit in a corner and stare at you, as though they supposed you meant to come and steal it from them.” He sighed heavily. “Not all of us get to go gallivanting about the world to charming places, with fancy dinners, and gewgaws; but one would think that perhaps the Admiralty might let a fellow come home, once in a while. But I don’t complain, of course,” he added.
“Well, there must be a breeding ground here, somewhere,” Temeraire said, “and at the very least, they must have a bigger covert near-by for their own beasts: and,” he added in sudden inspiration, “Laurence: surely we ought to go and speak to them in any case. I dare say the dragons will know all that Chu would like, about where the French Army is; they must be hearing of it from their officers every minute.”
Dyhern could speak the Russian tongue, and direct them to the main covert of the Russian beasts, some twenty miles from the city, on the opposite side from their own encampment. It seemed a peculiarly inconvenient arrangement, in its relation to the encampment they had been allocated: when he drew it upon a map for them to see, there could hardly have been a greater distance, and yet keep both in an hour’s flight of the city. Temeraire flattened his ruff at this discourtesy.
“Let us be a little more generous than that,” Laurence said. “We have claimed the approach of three hundred beasts; even doubting us, they may well have wished to give us as much room as possible. I can conceive of no other reason that would place us at opposite ends. They can hardly imagine that we should seek a quarrel with their own dragons, when we are come as their allies.”
“No, indeed,” Temeraire said in some irritation, a state which only increased upon their arrival: the Russian covert was far better placed than the ground which they had been allocated, with better drainage, several small ponds and lakes sharing ground with a series of low craggy foothills, into which hollows had been dug and large roofs built out to make neat and comfortable dens, and from aloft many of these looked quite deserted but for small bands of men: Temeraire felt he and Chu might at least have been invited to take up residence, as a gesture of courtesy to the senior officers of their force, even if there were not enough room for all the dragons which were coming.