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THEY HAD NO conon, the French courier-beast, who had not even the solace of her captain&039;s presence He, poor child, had been ood behavior, while she made piteous cries under the restraint of Temeraire&039;s reluctant but irresistible hold upon her back, his great claw nearly pinning her to the ground entirely

She huddled upon herself after he was gone, and was only gradually persuaded by Temeraire to eat a little, and then to talk "Voici un joli cochon," Tes which Gong Su had prepared for hie sauce "Votre capitaine&039;s&039;inquietera&039;s&039;il apprend que vous ne ez pas, vrai to greater enthusiasm once Temeraire had explained to her that the recipe was a la Chinois: her na&iu "comme la Reine Blanche" and a littleTien Lien, their bitter enemy, was now securely established in Paris, and deep in Napoleon&039;s councils The little courier, full of hero-worship for the other Celestial, was not to be led into exposing any secret plans, if she knew of any, but Laurence needed no revelations to tell him that Lien&039;s voice was sure to be loud for invasion, if Napoleon required any additional persuasion, and that she would strive to keep his attention firmly fixed upon Britain and no other part of the world

"She says Napoleon is having the streets widened, so Lien runtled, "and he has already built her a pavilion beside his palace It does not seem fair that we have such difficulties here, when she has everything her oay"

Laurence answered only dully; he cared very little anyer affairs, when he was to watch Temeraire die as Victoriatus had died, reduced to that hideous bloody wreckage; a devastation far ineered from the deepest wells of malice "You ith them only a few moments; let us hope," Jane had said, but no ened and sealed All the sand-pit was surely thick with the contagion; the Longwings had been penned up there for the better part of a year, the effluvia buried in the sand along with their poisonous acid

He understood, belatedly, why he had seen none of his forues, why Berkley and Harcourt had not answered his letters Granby cae more than half-a-dozen words, painfully stilted; Granby consciously avoiding the subject of his own healthy Iskierka, and Laurence not wishing in the least to speak of Temeraire&039;s chances, especially not where Teht hear, and learn to share his own despair At present Temeraire had no concern for hith, a comfort which Laurence had no desire to take froe the job

"Je neof the fourth day, waking herself and the; she was taken away to join the other sick beasts, leaving them to wait alone for the first herald of disease

Jane had co as he wished to hear theer; but she reluctantly said, co to see him on the unhappy day, "I am damned sorry to speak of this so bluntly, Laurence, but you un to think of breeding yet, do you know?"

"Breeding," Laurence said bitterly, and looked away; it was natural, of course, that they should wish to preserve the bloodline of the rarest of all breeds, acquired with such difficulty, and now also in the possession of their enemy; yet to him it could be only a desire to replace what should be irreplaceable

"I know," she said gently, "but we must expect it to come on hiet sick; and who can blae reproached him; she suffered as much herself with no outward show, and he could not yield to his own feelings before her In any case there was no shading of the truth to be had; he could not lie, and was forced to confess that Terown very fond of a female Imperial, in the retinue of the Elad to hear it: I in as soon as tonight, now he has been without question exposed," Jane said "Felicita is not very poorly, and inforo that she thinks she has another egg in her; she has already given us two, good creature, before she fell sick She is only a Yellow Reaper, a ht; it is not the sort of cross any breeder of sense would choose to make, but I think any Celestial blood h who are in any state to bear"

"But I have never seen her in my life," Temeraire said puzzledly, when the question was put to him "Why should I wish to ed e of state, I suppose," Laurence said, uncertain how to answer; it seeh Temeraire were a prize stallion to be set on to a mare, neither of their preferences consulted, and not even a prioryou do not like," he added abruptly; he would not see this forced on Temeraire, in the least, any more than he should have lent himself to such an enterprise

"Well, it is not as though I expect I would mind," Temeraire said, "if she would like it so veryabout all day," he added, with rather less modesty than candor, "only I do not understand at all why she should"

Jane laughed, when Laurence had brought her this answer, and went out to the clearing and explained, "She would like to have an egg from you, Temeraire"

"Oh" Teratification, his ruff coracious air bowed his head "Then certainly I will oblige her," he declared, and as soon as Jane had gone demanded that he be washed and his Chinese talon-sheaths, stored away as iht out and put on him

"She is so damned happy to be of use, I could weep," said Felicita&039;s captain Brodin, a dark-haired Welshy face which lookedlines into which it had presently settled They had left the two dragons outside in Felicita&039;s clearing to arrange thewith great enthusiasht to have been inherent in ons of such disparate size "And I know I have nothing to complain of," he added bitterly, "she does better than nine-tenths of the Corps, and the surgeons think she will last ten years, at this rate of progress"

He poured out an ample measure of wine, and left the bottle on the table between the They did not speak radually lower over their cups until the dragons fell quiet, and the shuddering aspen trees went still Laurence was not quite sleeping, but he could not think of hted with a thick s stupor like a blanket; all the world and time dulled away

Brodin stirred hi "We will see you again tonight?" he asked tiredly, as Laurence stood and bent back his shoulders to crack the angry muscles loose

"Best so, as I understand it," Laurence said, looking at his hands in vague surprise: they trembled

He went out to collect Teht have put him to the blush, were he disposed to be in any way critical of what pleasures Teht enjoy under the present circumstances "She has already had two, Laurence," Te hi, drowsy but jubilant, "and she is quite sure she will have another; she said she could not tell at all that it was the first time I had sired"

"But is it?" Laurence asked, feeling slow and stupid, "Did not you and Mei?" Belatedly the nature of the question stopped his," Temeraire said dis his tail neatly around hi Laurence all thefurther

They repeated the visit the following evening Laurence looked at the bottle and did not take it up again, but with an effort engaged Brodin upon other things: the customs of the Chinese and the Turks, and their sea-journey to China; the careat battle of Jena, which he could re-create in considerable detail, having observed the whole cataclysm from Temeraire&039;s back

This was not, perhaps, the bestanxiety; when he had laid out all that whirling offensive, and the solid massed ranks of the Prussian army, in the form of walnut shells, were swept clean from the table, he and Brodin sat back and looked at one another, and then Brodin stood restlessly up and paced his small cabin "I would as soon he caive more than ninepence for our chances if he did"

It was a dreadful thing to hope for an invasion, with unspoken the suggestion of a desire to be killed in one: perilously close, Laurence felt uneasily, to mortal sin, an extreland would be laid bare after, and he was troubled to find a sympathetic instinct in himself "We must not speak so They do not fear their own deaths, and God forbid that we should teach thee than they themselves do"

"Do you think they do not learn fear by the end?" Brodin laughed unpleasantly and short "Obversaria scarcely knew Lenton, by the end, and he took her out of the shell with his own hands She could only cry for water, and for rest, and he could give her none Youif you like: I would thank God or Bonaparte or the black Devil hi her a clean death in battle"

He poured the bottle, and when he was finished Laurence reached for it across the table

"The breeders prefer teeks," Jane said, "but ill be glad for as long as he feels hied hione all to pieces, taken half in wine at Brodin&039;s table and half during the early hours of thethe useless harness-work and lessons for Eain They repeated the engagement twice more, and then on the fifth day, while he sat lu the chessboard dully, Brodin raised his head and said to Laurence abruptly, "Has he not yet begun to cough?"

"Perhaps my throat is a little sore," Te, his head bent nearly to his knees, scarcely able to support the weight of hope resting so unexpectedly upon his shoulders, while Keynes and Dorset clambered over Tereat paper cone placed against the chest, to which they put their ears, and stuck their heads in his jaws to exaue, which remained a healthy and unspotted red

"Weto his medical satchel

"But I a away fro "It does not seeht to be forced to take medicine when one is not sick; anyone would think you had no other work to do," he said, aggrieved, and the operation was only achieved by persuading hions

It yet required a dozen atte at the last moment, until Laurence convinced him not to look, but to keep his eyes turned in quite the opposite direction until the ready basin held by Dorset was filled, and Keynes said, "There," and clapped the cautery, waiting ready in the fire, to the nick at once

They would have carried the stea bowlful of dark blood aithout another word, if Laurence had not chased after them to demand their verdict: "No, of course he is not sick, and does not mean to be, so far as I can tell," Keynes said "I will say noLaurence almost ill himself with reaction; he felt a alloeeks of anxious dread giving way quite suddenly to this al relief It was very difficult not to yield to the force of his e, "It is not very nice to be cut open, and I do not see what good it will do at all," nosing experi him in alarum "Laurence? Laurence, pray do not worry; it does not hurt so "

Jane riting papers before Keynes had half y and purpose, the grey shroud of sorrow and weariness fully visible only noith its re, if you please," Keynes said alory with blood crusted under the fingernails; he had co comparisons of the samples of blood beneath his microscope "There is no justification for it It nomy, or an individual trait I have said only there is the merest possibility, worthy of a trial - worthy of a small trial, with no expectations - " His protests were useless: she did not pause for a h he would have liked to snatch away her pen

"Nonsense; a little riot is just e need," Jane said, without even looking up, "and you rite thereport ever seen, if you please; you will give no excuses to the Ad to the Adive unfounded hopes In all likelihood, he has never had the disease - it is some natural resistance, unique to his breed; and the cold which he suffered last year merely coincidence"

The hope was indeed a very tenuous one Temeraire had been ill en route to China, briefly, the sickness settling itself out of hand after little more than a week in Capetown, and so dis cold Only his present resistance to the disease had given Keynes the suspicion that the illnesses ht perhaps have been one and the saht be no cure; if there were a cure, it ht not be brought back in time to save many of the sick

"And it is by no means the least likely possibility," Keynes added peevishly, "that there ent whatsoever; many a consumptive has found a temporary relief in warmer climes"

"Whether the climate or the waters or the food, I do not care two pins; if I land to Africa by boat to take the cure, you lad to find soain as for the chance of a cure, and you will do nothing to depress theh to those who until lately had none, and worth pursuing with every h I hate to give you up again," she added, handing hiible, "but we ht have suited his taste, and be the foundation of the cure The ferals co as well as could be hoped, thank Heavens, and with this latest spy captured, perhaps ill be lucky, and Bonaparte will not be in such a hurry to send good dragons after bad

"And I a all your for been a the, you can hold the Channel while we treat the others"

"Then I ain, now," Temeraire said jubilantly, and would not wait, but insisted that they go at once: they had scarcely set down outside the barren clearing where Maxi out to the ferociously, "For God&039;s sake, say it is true, and not some damned fairy-tale," and he turned aside and covered his face when Laurence gave his assent

Laurence pretended not to see "Temeraire, I believe your harness is loose, there over the left flank, will you look at it?" he said fir at Berkley&039;s bowed shoulders

"But Mr Felloorking on it only last week," Te over it experimentally He delicately took up a bit of the harness between his teeth and tugged on it "No, it lies perfectly well; it does not feel the least bit loose at all"

"Here, let&039;s have a look at you," Berkley interrupted brusquely, having ood twelve feet more since you sailed away to China, no? And you look well, Laurence; I expected to see you ragged as a tinker"

"You would certainly have found ripping his hand He could not return any coht, at first glance, and it did not suit hi loose from his cheeks

Maxireat scaly red-and-gold hide sagging in folds around the base of the neck, and forward of his chest with theit up like tent-poles, and what Laurence supposed to be the air-sacs swollen and bulging from his wasted sides His eyes were slitted nearly shut, and a thin raspy noise of breathing issued fro beneath the effluvia

"He ake up in a bit, and be glad to see you both," Berkley said gruffly, "but I don&039;t like to wake hiet any rest The blasted cold will not let him sleep properly, and he don&039;t eat a quarter of what he should"

Te, made no sound, but crouched himself down, his neck curved back upon itself like a wary snake, and sat there utterly still, his wide unblinking gaze fixed on Maxi Laurence and Berkley conversed in low voices, discussing the sea-voyage "Less than three e by our last voyage; and we had so off the Channel to see us off, which did not speed , better on a ship to so about like this, if we all drown at it," Berkley said "We will be packed by , and the lummox will eat properly for once if I have tosomewhere?" Maximus said sleepily, in a voice h low and deep, several ti for the purpose He rubbed each of his eyes against his foreleg, in turn, to clear away the htened, his head rising "You are back; was China very interesting?" he asked

"It was, oh, it was, but," Temeraire burst out, "I am sorry I was not at ho his head, miserably

"Why it is only a cold," Maxi, after which he added regardless, "I will be perfectly hearty soon, I am sure; only I am tired" He closed his eyes alht stupor

"They have the worst of it," Berkley said heavily, seeing Laurence away; Teain, so they al Coppers It is the daht; they do not eat, so they cannot keep up their muscle, and then one day they cannot breathe Four lost already, and Laetificat will not see summer, unless we find your cure" He did not say that Maximus would follow soon after, if not precede her; he did not need to

"We shall find it," Temeraire said fiercely, "we shall, we shall, we shall"