Page 20 (1/2)

Chapter 20

LAURENCE PAUSED A LONG , blackened lantern and the shape of steps leading up to a gutted doorway, opening onto the rubble of a house For a , sonized abruptly the hoht in Moscow Of the palatial house there was nothing left but jagged timbers thrust up into the sky, heaps of tumbled brick and cinders, one corner in the back where a narrow servants’ staircase and a corner of the second floor stood alone, a few feet of space

"Do you see so?" Tharkay asked quietly His own face was half-covered; only his eyes looked out above the scarf he had wrapped over his nose and ruous a costume in the city, for there were yet quantities of dust and ash lingering in the air

"No," Laurence said "No, it is nothing; let us go on" He put his shoulder back to the yoke of the ss of grain: their safe-passage and the only one required; the French had ent and enthusiastic welcome to any of the local peasantry who offered to sell the very few such offers; those who e reprisals from Russian partisans

The streets of Moscow bore little reseed narrow lanes which Laurence had seen from aloft, only a month before: now half-deserted, frequented more by rats than ardens still choked with ash Some three-quarters of the city had burned, and if that disaster had denied the French its comforts and supply, Laurence found it hard to accept the price Little better illustration could be wanted of the cost of Napoleon’s pride

A troop of grenadiers h their uniforms were an unholy mess: coats in a dozen different colors, most of them threadbare and patched, boots cracked and wrapped about with string; only their htly Their eyes drifted to the cart as they passed, with an interest more than academic; when they turned the corner, one man even detached hi at the bags said, "Qu’est-ce que c’est là?"

Without answering him, Tharkay silently presented hi Russian aide-de-camp, in that alphabet, and embellished with all the official art which his creativity had perible Latin on the sheet It was a name to conjure with, for Davout’s harshness with indiscipline was legendary, and reports had reached even the Russian ca The soldier thrust the paper back and assu coolly, "Le Maréchal est avec l’E another street before hurrying to rejoin his vanished troop

Tharkay raised an eyebrow to Laurence as he put away the paper: should they take the chance? Laurence hesitated a eneral reconnoiter, to gain a sense of the French strength and the iained, not reliably, from their Russian allies

Morale in the Russian Army had rebounded and even swelled as the French showed no inclination to foray past Moscow, and steady reports of the disintegration of their supply reached the Russian caons arrived from the south, loaded with shipments of bread and boots and uniforradually come to share Barclay’s view: that Napoleon had indeed overreached, and delivered himself and his Grande Armée into as neat a trap as was ever devised for an enemy Each day meant the death of another hundred of his cavalry-horses, and three days before he had sent away fifteen of his dragons, traveling together to defend the: their departure had been observed, and had occasioned great cheer ast the Russians

But even as the soldiers grew ue at the Russian headquarters had risen to a fiery pitch; despite having h the city, General Barclay had at last resigned his conation at the disrespect he had sen, and those two er-heads themselves

Kutuzov’s position was an unsettled one: he had been nearly forced on Alexander to begin with, and he had sacrificed Moscow to the ene lost, the enea and north of Moscow, the Russian nobility had been scattered upon the countryside,personal ruin It was his task not merely to plan the Russian counterattack, when time had done its work, but to keep those nobles and even the Tsar hient cries for an ieous propaganda: uard were reat victories--even if his forces ca lost severalreports of the French decline, filling his dispatches with such nu in Moscow alone but for a single mule and a barrel of beer

And he was concerned, above all, with ensuring that the Chinese legions reain have the advantage in the air, the French position would by no azines of their own at Sh the south If they did not need to fear being pounced upon by half-a-dozen niru, Napoleon’s dragons ht have been put to supply work, or even to swiftly relocate his arroup for a fresh ca

Laurence did not wish to abandon Kutuzov in the least, but neither could he feel it at all consistent with the duty he owed the Eions in thewinter October had so far been beautiful, warm andspeed begun to shed their leaves The Russian countryside was taking on a grey and gloomy character, unrelieved by the enor with their cold dark needles, the increasingly barren birches rattling in the wind

With the full cooperation of the Russians, Shen Shi had now established depots to the east and west both, which she estith for a month But there was no reason to expect that Kutuzov would have struck even then: the old general was perfectly willing to per as he wished And once they had begun the counterattack, the road back to the Nieer e be required?" Zhao Lien had asked Laurence bluntly, two days before He could not tell her, and he felt too strongly that he could not trust whatever answer Kutuzov n to begin," he had said ruefully to Te "If he has any sense, he ht his way back to Smolensk sooner than late, and ard on fro suppose that the Russians will make peace with him now"

Such a peace would have allowed Napoleon to withdraithout humiliation, surely all that he could now hope for; but that peace was as surely to be denied hiovernhted by the growing evidence of French disco aenerals for retaking Moscow, for the pursuit and destruction of the remnant of the French Army, and indeed even the capture of Napoleon himself

Kutuzov received these directives placidly, and stayed just where he was He had done his best to assist Napoleon in deceiving himself about the prospects of peace: he had received a French envoy affably, and agreed to a teotiations of Vyazma had done much to close that door Alexander refused to receive such an envoy hi that he had already stretched his own honor to bear as much as he could Napoleon’s pride alone could keep him in Moscow--but of that, he had an a certainty of disaster would overcome it, was nearly impossible to tell

"We could hope for no better opportunity to learn his mind," Laurence said softly to Tharkay now, in the ruined street; together they dragged the cart onto thetowards the Kremlin

Here the devastation altered in character: the buildings had been more preserved than not, evidently by the labors of the French dragons; great puddles of dirty water yet stood in the gutters Yet they had still been looted: scraps of silk and shattered porcelain s How the French supposed they should carry away such an iine

The street itself was better tended; looking west towards the bounds of the city, Laurence could see a troop of dragons laboring to clear away the rubble and e to the cobblestones: perhapsready the road for retreat? He and Tharkay went plodding on with their heads down into the vast square around the onion-doh blackened with sust that the building was evidently being used for a stable

The reered at its base, and resting against the high walls of the Kreether in heaps, while their crews silently prodded at large cauldrons si dead horses ons looked too weary to be called indolent, slumped in the heavy attitudes of exhaustion

One reat city fountain, while so, took their buckets of water before hurrying away: a heavy-weight Papillon Noir in black with iridescent stripes "That is Liberté," hethe invasion of England: he was the personal beast of Marshal Murat, and beside it stood thebeside one of the Russian light-weights, white-grey Laurence thought for a ht be a prisoner, but as he and Tharkay drew their cart a little closer, he saw the poor beast had no harness and was nearly skeletal in appearance, deep concavities between its ribs It had a bowl of thin soup, which it was licking up with slow, painstaking care, one foreleg curled around the bowl and a atchful hostile eye turned up towards Liberté Its wings were drawn up tight to its body, as though itto see the Eaze Laurence saw hirey coat and flanked by the still-glittering ranks of his escort, the Iure beside him, and his chief of staff Berthier as well

A French officer then approached the cart, and they were forced to stop: Laurence engaged theback the cover to show hi numbers with his hands to indicate many more than these were on offer "Cinq cent?" the Frenchman asked Laurence nodded, and then held out a hand flat and tapped his pal for an offer; the officer said, "Attends," and went away to confer with another

Napoleon looked hions of his ar half his attention to an anxious speech which Berthier was lanced away often at the soons, at the few coainst the walls He knew, of course; surely he knew the hopelessness of his position He was not a fool He had his hands clasped behind his back, his chin lowered upon his breast; Berthier gestured, down the square, and following his aron-carts, already loaded and with their covers lashed down

Bonaparte stood a ave a short nod; Berthier, after a speaking look of relief exchanged with Davout, hurried away back into the Kre; Napoleon jerking a hand forestalled him and turned abruptly away, his face hard, and strode out across the square towards Murat, who rose toa a nod, hazarded the risk He strode across the square towards the city fountain, as though to have a drink of water, where he could overhear a little

Napoleon had put his hand on Liberté’s side, patting the dragon with easy familiarity as he spoke with Murat; the beast nosed at hihost of a smile, "the last die is throe ht our way back to France, and no rest after that"

"What else is a soldier for?" Murat said, with a wave of his ar pressed the tiive them a bite on the flank before we draw back?"

Fortune did not sreat an extent as to perence; Bonaparte only raised his hand a little and wagged it to either side, noncoon, asking Liberté in a deliberate tone of levity, "What is this, your prisoner? A fine battle you ht her at all," Liberté said, in sos, e carounds; and I carried her hereher to starve, poor beast," Murat said to Napoleon, "and it’s not as though she could do us any real hareons Look at what they do to the the grim instruments of his trade, still stained with the blood of some recent patient, came past the fountain even as he spoke; Laurence averted his face, quickly, until the eon and snapped as he approached, only to subside when Liberté put his foreleg on her neck and pinned it to the ground The s

Laurence could not see, at first, what the surgeon was doing there; the dragon bellowed in pain and tried to thrash, but Liberté held her fast A fewdown over the dragon’s side a chain, dripping black blood, with two large barbed hooks on either end still obbets of flesh: a hobble, simpler but not unlike the one which had held Arkady, when they had found hi noise, shivering still, but her wings gave a small abortive flutter, as if suddenly freed

Napoleondown at the hobble "And she was not the only one?"

"All of therounds," Murat said "And they look as though they do not get enough food to keep alive a cat; I wonder they get any eggs out of them at all"

Temeraire could not but fret anxiously at Laurence’s absence, though he had for co, in which Huang Li had not only reported the egg’s continuing perfect condition, but even, to Teht, enclosed a s was housed, at the Su and four Iainst the late suinal," Teht make a copy of it, for Iskierka Surely one of those aides could knock so the co as best he could to describe their own success, giving it better terms than he really felt it deserved "Do you suppose they have reached the Peninsula by now?" he asked wistfully It was very hard to think that Iskierka ht at this very moment already be with the Corps in Spain, which was evidently winning one brilliant battle after another, and he could report nothing for his own part but one battle, from which they had retreated

"I don’t think so," Eest that she had thought about the subject before "They left China in July, just as we did They one by air from Persia, if they stopped there, and have just been able to reach Gibraltar But if they have gone round Africa, they cannot be in Spain before Christmas"

Temeraire did not say, but felt, that this was a small relief: perhaps they would have had another battle before Iskierka did finally have a chance for one of her own But E, that we shouldn’t have had word fro with a discontented expression, fidgeting with her quill in such a way as to scatter ink across the page

While she was blotting up the spots, Te yourDee cannot be so wonderful"

"No," she said, downcast "No, at least, not e; but--I suppose I am sorry, a little; I wish I’d had him, while I had the chance"

"E her head fro you not to say such things"

"Oh, I know it isn’tto do," Emily said, "and so I didn’t But I shan’t see hiain at all" She sighed "And one gets curious," she added

"I ought to be turned off without a character," Mrs Pemberton said to herself, half under her breath, and then to Es, you needn’t say the a young gentleement in that direction"

Temeraire was entirely of like mind with her He had considered briefly whether perhaps it ht be just as well to have Emily marry one of the officers of his own crew, but after some cautious inquiries about the etiquette of the matter, he had determined that this could not really serve to keep her with him when Admiral Roland decided to retire, and it was perfectly likely that she would instead take her own husband away to Excidium with her: so it was not at all to be wished under any circu soh the encampment: Laurence and Tharkay had coh Laurence’s expression was dreadfully gri away his peasant cloak, Temeraire asked anxiously, "Napoleon will not retreat?"

Laurence did not answer at once, only shook his head to say he could not immediately answer, and went into the pavilion, and into his tent; Temeraire in surprise went after him and lowered his head anxiously to peer inside: Laurence was putting on his uniforry He said to Teons in the breeding grounds; they are keeping them hobbled"

Temeraire did not understand, at first, until Laurence had explained; and then he scarcely could believe it, until he had found Grig again and de back and looking at hih it was not directed at hio into harness, they don’t let one fly Whyever would anyone stay in the breeding grounds, otherwise?"

"It is quite beyond anything," Temeraire said, furious "Laurence--"

But at that very moment, the courier arrived fro demands for action had at last overcome Kutuzov’s inertia They were ordered to attack

Laurence regarded the orders silently, Te down beside him He knew his duty; it was not to liberate the ons, nor to tell the Russians how they were to e their own beasts: it was to secure the defeat of Napoleon and his army, and see them reduced beyond the ability to threaten either a renewed invasion of Britain, or further war upon the Continent That defeat was noithin their grasp

"But afterwards," he said to Te Su and asked hions into his E, who looked back with an uncertain expression

Gong Su looked at Grig with a cool, assessing eye "He speaks e he acquired the grounds before I was hatched," Grig said, doubtfully, "and as for Russian, and French, I cannot rightly say; I suppose I have just picked them up bit by bit the sa them every day"

As this was by no on breeds, particularly not in the West, Gong Su nodded in some appreciation He said to Laurence, "Of course I cannot speak with any official weight But these beasts appear to be of respectable qualities, and e porters in the countryside If they did not consider laborer’s work in such snity, then there should be no difficulty in finding employment for them"

"Will you write and inquire if I may extend an offer of such hospitality?" Laurence asked bluntly; Gong Su bowed

Laurence nodded and said to Teo to all the breeding grounds which Grig can lead us to--you will explain to them the conditions of their welcome in China, of their employment there--and those ish to depart, ill free from their hobbles and take with us on our own return to China

"And if the Russians do not care to lose all their breeding stock," he added, loith anger, "they may amend their treatment"

He knew the condition of the Russian peasantry, very little reons; and yet there was so intolerable in the spectacle of hundreds of beasts so hobbled that they ht not even fly as was their nature, but instead were confined to scrabbling in pits; save for those beasts who, cowed by the horror of their circumstances, would consent to be slaves for scraps and at least a little freedo with all hisof a ship and in her upper decks, keeping coh an open ladderway the faces of captives chained and looking up at him with accusation, and discovered hiether to the headquarters, where a fersen and his staff were in an ill-suppressed condition of delight, Kutuzov sen and Colonel Toll to the coet would be Murat hirown incautious after ainformal truce, their patrols slack: a heavy forest near-by offered cover for a surprise attack

"Ah, Captain," Kutuzov said, and beckoned him out of the tumult, "come and let us discuss your orders"

"Sir," Laurence said, following him into a separate chamber, formerly the private library of the master of the house, "I will carry out your orders, if you continue to desire our assistance; but Ipermission to speak frankly, as the price of that assistance ly accept"

Kutuzov settled himself comfortably in his chair and waved a hand for per into its habitual slack lines; he listened in silence while Laurence laid out both his objections to the abuse of the Russian ferals, and his intentions towards them "I hope you will understand, sir, if Te towards their own kind, which absolutelythemselves allies of a nation which so maltreated them This project is the only nance with our continued service to you

"But I a to provoke a confrontation between nations, wholly undesirable to either; if you should wish us to depart at once, without engaging in what you may call interference in your affairs, ill do so," Laurence added, "and I hope you will believeyour victory over Bonaparte, in such a case"

He finished slowly, a little surprised to find Kutuzov still listening to hieneral snorted at his look and said, "Grig is a clever little creature, you know: Captain Rozhkov raised hination digested this, Kutuzov continued, "It is not as though we have not heard of you, Captain Laurence We have all had a great uin with"

"Sir," Laurence said, now baffled, "I beg your pardon; however should you know me from Adam?"

"If the world had not heard of you, after your adventure at Gdansk," Kutuzov said, arrison froue, we should certainly have heard of you after Brazil Where you go, you leave half the world overturned behind you You are erous than Bonaparte in your oay, you and that beast of yours

"It is aard you should have seen that feral just now, in Moscow, but in the end, it seems it will not make so much difference The Tsar means us to chase the French all the way to Paris, and I cannot do that without four hundred dragons or rounds sorain, and I will speak to Arakcheyev," the Tsar’s chief minister, "and ill cut them loose"

Laurence almost did not at first quite co known--the es offered by a nized the danger to Britain and any other nation in the stark co consideration offered to French dragons, and the ill-treatment of their own He had indeed urown so used to failure, towith only a stolid, blind resistance, that to find not only a tolerant ear but agreement left him more nonplussed than rejection; he did not at once knohat to say "Sir," Laurence said, and halted, overwhelh he had faced a ift; he could cheerfully have eeneral with Slavic passion

He with difficulty tried to express his sentiments; Kutuzov waved them away "Don’t be too quick to rejoice," he said "We can’t cut them loose until we can be sure we can feed the since the Time of Troubles, you know; half the country would rise up if they saw dragons flying all over unharnessed" He indicated with one thick finger a painting upon the wall, which depicted a band of pike aloft at a loos over the broken body of a horse and clutched in one taloned hand a screaown a banner stained with blood and her ar in supplication as she cast her eyes up to the heavens

"Sir," Laurence said dryly, "permit me to assure you that the most vicious beast in all Russia would not prefer to make its dinner out of a lady of six or seven stone over a horse of one hundred"

Kutuzov shrugged "There were not always horses," he said bluntly

Laurence was nevertheless able to return to Teuilt, and share with hi carried their point, but having won it in such a round: that the Russians had freely recognized the necessity of reforons "Well," Telad to see that they have soood fellow, particularly as he means us to attack And noe can do so wholeheartedly

"Although," he added, with a lowering frown, "I cannot like hearing that Grig has been carrying tales of us: whatever did hethat he was so wretched, if he is really quite the pet of his captain? I do not knohat to make of it at all"

"You must take it as a compliment," Tharkay said, "that you are of sufficient importance to have spies set upon you" He had expressed just such a senti Su had been all the while an agent of Prince Mianning; Laurence could not partake in those feelings, however, and was not in the least sorry to find the little dragon had prudently taken hieneral laddened heart that Laurence went to his tent, to clean his guns and sharpen his sword before the engagelected you, I find," Laurence said, in apology: it had not escaped his notice that Junichiro had lish, and had further not only aerial tactics, but learning as much as he could of all others as well: he had seen the boy make persistent overtures to the Russian artillery-officers, in particular, and questioning any he found who could speak at least a little French

He had in short done all that anyone ht have wanted, to make him an officer; but Laurence had realized, too late, that he was by no means a valuable mentor: the Aerial Corps would beLaurence’s good word

"But," he said, "I rite to Admiral Roland, and see if I can solicit her influence on your behalf--"

"Sir," Junichiro said quietly, "I beg you do not concern yourself further with this matter: I cannot serve in your Corps"

Laurence paused, startled, and was even more so when Junichiro added, "I have come to ask your permission to depart; and if you refuse it, I must nevertheless end my service to you, even if by a final means" Laurence realized with appalled astonish his own life: that he would die, by his hand, rather than continue with them

"Good God," he said, "whatever should make you even contemplate so desperate a course of action? I know of no reason why I should refuse you the right to depart; I ainst it, but you are a free : indeed, I am rather indebted to you, than the reverse"

"Captain," Junichiro said, "you may feel differently when I have explained, but it would be dishonorable of o to France"

"You mean to take service with Bonaparte," Laurence said, half-disbelieving: although he did now see why Junichiro had thought he would object It sounded like treachery, and yet the confession one, silently, slinking away But if Junichiro truly e of their force, their positions--

"No" Junichiro shook his head "I mean to ask him to send an envoy to my country"

Laurence sat down slowly on the camp-chair, disturbed "Pray explain yourself"

"I am masterless," Junichiro said, "--a criminal and an exile But it is still my duty to serve the Emperor--my Emperor It is still my duty to serve Japan And your nation is not the friend of estured a little, towards the tent entrance "Your position in this war is now superior," he said "It is likely that you will be victorious, and ce have they coveted doons Soon they will have Western ships, and Western guns And we must have them, too--and if not from you, it seems we must have them from France"

"We need not be your enemy, only to be China’s friend," Laurence said, but Junichiro raised his eyes and looked at hiht-on

"You require alliance with theons Whatever you et from us, you do not need, not in the same way If they demand that you choose, you will choose theesture with one hand "My decision isbecause I did not wish to depart while your situation was yet uncertain, or bleak: I would not leave you in defeat If you wish to prevent , you can I will not atteht But I will no longer serve Britain"

Laurence was silent He knehat Ha so priceless an aht into Napoleon’s hands: a e of Japan but intih birth; athe nobility of that nation, and whose opinions ht be privately respected, even if he could not officially be pardoned It could easily be asNapoleon a new ally, one who could threaten China’s coasts and British shipping

"You have sacrificed everything," Laurence said finally, "home, position, friends; and if not for ht to keep you, and I cannot dispute your conclusions But ive me your word of honor, not to reveal any information about our forces or those of the Russians, I cannot stand in your way"

Junichiro said, "I swear it," very simply

Laurence nodded a little; he had no doubt of that pro kept "Then I will bid you Godspeed," he said quietly, "and I hope with all my heart that your fears will not come to pass"

Junichiro bowed to him deeply, and slipped away; Laurence sat silently in the tent with his sword across his knees, and wondered if they would next ain as enemies, across a battlefield

Teood sense ht: he was sure now of their ultireat success, although a great ot themselves lost in the woods and did not reach the battlefield in time: but that scarcely mattered, when Shao Ri caons, and all their crews, but a golden eagle still with tatters of a tricorn attached and sixteen guns; and the rest of the infantry had done well for the taken nearly two thousand prisoners and twenty guns, and three eagles One could not compare, of course, for there were so ed to give thele which Shao Ri had captured was nearly three times the size--perhaps a little closer to twice--and in any case truly splendid Teht as when Shao Ri lay the captured standards before Laurence and hi with pride and satisfaction

The mood in the Russian camp was also nearly exaltation, and everyone was pleased, except the generals, ere quarreling again: General Raevsky, whoreat deal of, and who had dined with them on several occasions, even told Laurence he avoided headquarters as much as ever he could "It is a nest of vipers," he said, "and they have not yet reorganized the coone"

But however much they quarreled, at least they had won their first real and clear victory, unquestioned, and in the shadow of this defeat, Napoleon had to begin his own retreat from Moscow at last, quite as huht have desired Of course, they had only defeated his advance guard, but for the ood as if they had routed his entire arer anticipation to an opportunity to do just that The question before the which road; and only a few days later, Te by a courier co in Maloyaroslavets, a little town south of their caa Road, and Napoleon’s whole ar could be better," he said to Laurence jubilantly "Noill properly fall upon him; and perhaps he will be there himself, and we can take hied to disperse the second jalan back to the east, because Shen Shi felt too uncertain of supply But Temeraire privately felt that was all the better, because it should mean more of an excuse for him to take part in the battle, directly; however little he wished to disregard General Chu’s last advice to him, he could not help but think he would have quite an aard ti, when next he saw Iskierka, if he did not have at least a little fighting himself