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might perhaps not speak with a single voice. But Yongxing snapped a reply, in
a tone which did not allow of any further comment, and Sun did not venture to
make one. Satisfied that he had quelled his subordinate, Yongxing turned back
to them and added, Yet regardless of the evil chance that brought him into
your hands, Lung Tien Xiang was meant to go to the French Emperor, not to be
made beast of burden for a common soldier.
Laurence stiffened;
common soldier rankled, and for the first time he turned to look directly at
the prince, meeting that cold, contemptuous gaze with an equally steady one.
We are at war with France, sir; if you choose to ally yourself with our
enemies and send them material assistance, you can hardly complain when we
take it in fair fight.
Nonsense! Barham broke in, at once and loudly. China is by no means an ally
of France, by no means at all; we certainly do not view China as a French
ally. You are not here to speak to His Imperial
Highness, Laurence; control yourself, he added, in a savage undertone.
But Yongxing ignored the attempt at interruption. And now you make piracy
your defense? he said, contemptuous. We do not concern ourselves with the
customs of barbaric nations. How merchants and thieves agree to pillage one
another is not of interest to the Celestial Throne, except when they choose to
insult the Emperor as you have.
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No, Your Highness, no such thing, not in the least, Barham said hurriedly,
even while he looked pure venom at Laurence. His Majesty and his Government
have nothing but the deepest affection for the
Emperor; no insult would ever willingly be offered, I assure you. If we had
only known of the extraordinary nature of the egg, of your objections, this
situation would never have arisen
Now, however, you are well aware, Yongxing said, and the insult remains:
Lung Tien Xiang is still in harness, treated little better than a horse,
expected to carry burdens and exposed to all the brutalities of war, and all
this, with a mere captain as his companion. Better had his egg sunk to the
bottom of the ocean!
Appalled, Laurence was glad to see this callousness left Barham and Powys as
staring and speechless as himself. Even among Yongxing s own retinue, the
translator flinched, shifting uneasily, and for once did not translate the
prince s words back into Chinese.
Sir, I assure you, since we learned of your objections, he has not been under
harness at all, not a stitch of it, Barham said, recovering. We have been at
the greatest of pains to see to Temeraire s that is, to
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Lung Tien Xiang s comfort, and to make redress for any inadequacy in his
treatment. He is no longer assigned to Captain Laurence, that I can assure
you: they have not spoken these last two weeks.
The reminder was a bitter one, and Laurence felt what little remained of his
temper fraying away. If either of you had any real concern for his comfort,
you would consult his feelings, not your own desires, he said, his voice
rising, a voice which had been trained to bellow orders through a gale. You
complain of having him under harness, and in the same breath ask me to trick
him into chains, so you might drag him away against his will. I will not do
it; I will never do it, and be damned to you all.
Judging by his expression, Barham would have been glad to have Laurence
himself dragged away in chains: eyes almost bulging, hands flat on the table,
on the verge of rising; for the first time, Admiral
Powys spoke, breaking in, and forestalled him. Enough, Laurence, hold your
tongue. Barham, nothing further can be served by keeping him. Out, Laurence;
out at once: you are dismissed.
The long habit of obedience held: Laurence flung himself out of the room. The
intervention likely saved him from an arrest for insubordination, but he went
with no sense of gratitude; a thousand things were pent up in his throat, and
even as the door swung heavily shut behind him, he turned back. But the
Marines stationed to either side were gazing at him with thoughtlessly rude
interest, as if he were a curiosity exhibited for their entertainment. Under
their open, inquisitive looks he mastered his temper a little, and turned away
before he could betray himself more fully.
Barham s words were swallowed by the heavy wood, but the inarticulate rumble
of his still-raised voice followed Laurence down the corridor. He felt almost
drunk with anger, his breath coming in short abrupt spurts and his vision
obscured, not by tears, not at all by tears, except of rage. The antechamber
of the
Admiralty was full of sea-officers, clerks, political officials, even a
green-coated aviator rushing through with dispatches. Laurence shouldered his
way roughly to the doors, his shaking hands thrust deep into his coat pockets
to conceal them from view.
He struck out into the crashing din of late-afternoon London, Whitehall full
of workingmen going home for their suppers, and the bawling of the hackney
drivers and chair-men over all, crying, Make a lane, there, through the
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crowds. His feelings were as disordered as his surroundings, and he was
navigating the street by instinct; he had to be called three times before he
recognized his own name.
He turned only reluctantly: he had no desire to be forced to return a civil
word or gesture from a former colleague. But with a measure of relief he saw
it was Captain Roland, not an ignorant acquaintance. He was surprised to see
her; very surprised, for her dragon, Excidium, was a formation-leader at the
Dover covert. She could not easily have been spared from her duties, and in
any case she could not come to the
Admiralty openly, being a female officer, one of those whose existence was
made necessary by the insistence of Longwings on female captains. The secret
was but barely known outside the ranks of the aviators, and jealously kept
against certain public disapproval; Laurence himself had found it difficult to
accept the notion, at first, but he had grown so used to the idea that now
Roland looked very odd to him out of uniform: she had put on skirts and a
heavy cloak by way of concealment, neither of which suited
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I have been puffing after you for the last five minutes, she said, taking
his arm as she reached him. I
was wandering about that great cavern of a building, waiting for you to come
out, and then you went straight past me in such a ferocious hurry I could
scarcely catch you. These clothes are a damned nuisance; I hope you appreciate
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