Very shortly they had driven a small group of cattle up from the pens and slaughtered them; Temeraire devoured every last scrap and fell directly back to sleep.
Laurence a little diffidently asked Hollin to arrange for the servants to bring him some food; it was enough like asking the man for personal service to make Laurence uncomfortable, but he was reluctant to leave Temeraire. Hollin took no offence; but when he returned, Lieutenant Granby was with him, along with Riggs and a couple of the other lieutenants.
‘You should go and have something hot to eat, and a bath, and then sleep in your own bed,’ Granby said quietly, having waved the others off a little distance. ‘You are all over blood, and it is not warm enough yet for you to sleep outside without risk to your health. I and the other officers will take it in turns to stay with him; we will fetch you at once if he wakes, or if any change should occur.’
Laurence blinked and looked down at himself; he had not even noticed that his clothes were spattered and streaked with the near-black of dragon blood. He ran a hand over his unshaven face; he was clearly presenting a rather horrible picture to the world. He looked up at Temeraire; the dragon was completely unaware of his surroundings, sides rising and falling with a low, steady rumble. ‘I dare say you are right,’ he said. ‘Very well; and thank you,’ he added.
Granby nodded; and with a last look up at the sleeping Temeraire, Laurence took himself back to the castle. Now that it had been brought to mind, the sensation of dirt and sweat was unpleasant upon his skin; he had gotten soft, with the luxury of daily bathing at hand. He stopped by his room only long enough to exchange his stained clothes for fresh, and went straight to the baths.
It was shortly after dinner, and many of the officers had a habit of bathing at this hour; after Laurence had taken a quick plunge into the pool, he found the sweat-room very crowded. But as he came in, several fellows made room for him; he gladly took the opened place, and returned the nods of greeting around the room before he laid himself down. He was so tired that it only occurred to him after his eyes were closed in the blissful heat that the attention had been unusual, and marked; he almost sat up again with surprise.
‘Well-flown; very well-flown, Captain,’ Celeritas told him that evening, approvingly, when he belatedly came to report. ‘No, you need not apologize for being tardy. Lieutenant Granby has given me a preliminary account, and with Captain Berkley’s report I know well enough what happened. We prefer a captain be more concerned for his dragon than for our bureaucracy. I trust Temeraire is doing well?’
‘Thank you, sir, yes,’ Laurence said, gratefully. ‘The surgeons have told me there is no cause for alarm, and he says he is quite comfortable. Have you any duties for me during his recovery?’
‘Nothing other than to keep him occupied, which you may find enough of a challenge,’ Celeritas said, with the snort that passed for a chuckle with him. ‘Well, that is not quite true; I do have one task for you. Once Temeraire is recovered, you and Maximus will be joining Lily’s formation straightaway. We have had nothing but bad news from the war, and the latest is worse: Villeneuve and his fleet have slipped out of Toulon under cover of an aerial raid against Nelson’s fleet; we have lost track of them. Under the circumstances, and given this lost week, we cannot wait any longer. Therefore it is time to assign your flight crew, and I would like your requests. Consider the men who have served with you these last weeks, and we will discuss the matter tomorrow.’
Laurence walked slowly back out to the clearing after this, deep in thought. He had begged a tent from the ground-crews and brought along a blanket; he thought he would be quite comfortable once he had pitched it by Temeraire’s side, and he liked the idea better than spending the whole night away. He found Temeraire still sleeping peacefully, the flesh around the bandaged area was only ordinarily warm to the touch.
Having satisfied himself on this point, Laurence said, ‘A word with you, Mr. Granby,’ and led the lieutenant some short distance away. ‘Celeritas has asked me to name my officers,’ he said, looking steadily at Granby; the young man flushed and looked down. Laurence continued, ‘I will not put you in the position of refusing a post; I do not know what that means in the Corps, but I know in the Navy it would be a serious mark against you. If you would have the least objection, speak frankly; that will be an end to the matter.’
‘Sir,’ Granby began, then shut his mouth abruptly, looking mortified: he had used the term so often in veiled insolence. He started over again. ‘Captain, I am well aware I have done little enough to deserve such consideration; I can only say that if you are willing to overlook what my past behaviour has been, I would be very glad of the opportunity.’ This speech was a little stilted in his mouth, as if he had tried to rehearse it.
Laurence nodded, satisfied. His decision had been a near thing; if it had not been for Temeraire’s sake, he was not sure he could have borne to thus expose himself to a man who had behaved disrespectfully towards him, despite Granby’s recent heroics. But Granby was so clearly the best of the lot that Laurence had decided to take the risk. He was well-pleased with the reply; it was fair enough and respectful even if awkwardly delivered. ‘Very good,’ he said simply.
They had just begun walking back when Granby suddenly said, ‘Oh, damn it; I may not be able to word it properly, but I cannot just leave things at that: I have to tell you how very sorry I am. I know I have been playing the scrub.’
Laurence was surprised by his frankness, but not displeased, and he could never have refused an apology offered with so much sincerity and feeling as was obvious in Granby’s tone. ‘I am very happy to accept your apology,’ he said, quietly but with real warmth. ‘For my part, all is forgotten, I assure you, and I hope that henceforth we may be better comrades than we have been.’
They stopped and shook hands; Granby looked both relieved and happy, and when Laurence tentatively inquired for his recommendations for other officers, he answered with great enthusiasm, as they made their way back towards Temeraire’s side.
Even before the pad of bandages had come off, Temeraire began to make plaintive noises about wanting to be bathed again; by the end of the week the cuts were scabbed over and healing, and the surgeons gave grudging approval. Having rounded up what he already thought of as his cadets, Laurence came out to the courtyard to take the waiting Temeraire down, and found him talking with the female Longwing whose formation they would be joining.
‘Does it hurt when you spray?’ Temeraire was asking inquisitively. Laurence could see that Temeraire was inspecting the pitted bone spurs on either side of her jaw, evidently where the acid was ejected.
‘No, I do not feel it in the least,’ Lily answered. ‘The spray will only come out if I am pointing my head down, so I do not splash myself, either; although of course you all must be careful to avoid it when we are in formation.’
The enormous wings were folded against her back, looking brown with the translucent folds of blue and orange overlapping each other; only the black-and-white edges stood out against her sides. Her eyes were slit-pupilled, like Temeraire’s, but orange-yellow, and the exposed bone spurs showing on either side of her jaw gave her a very savage appearance. But she stood with perfect patience while her ground crew scrambled over her, polishing and cleaning every scrap of harness with great attention; Captain Harcourt was walking back and forth around her and inspecting the work.
Lily looked down at Laurence as he came to Temeraire’s side; her alarming eyes gave her stare a baleful quality, although she was only curious. ‘Are you Temeraire’s captain? Catherine, shall we not go to the lake with them? I am not sure I want to go in the water, but I would like to
