She half-unfurled her wings, gathering herself together. “I am leaving now for France, and the service of this barbarian emperor,” she said. “It is certain that the miseries of my exile will be many, but I will bear them better now, having spoken to you. We will not meet again perhaps for a long while; I hope you will remember me, and know what joys you have are numbered.”

She leapt aloft, and with three quick wing-strokes was away and swiftly diminishing.

“For God’s sake,” Laurence said strongly, when they had stood all together utterly silent and dismayed awhile, in her wake, “we are not children, to be frightened witless by threats; and that she meant us all the ill in the world we already knew.”

“Yes, but I did not know quite so well,” Temeraire said, in a small voice, and did not seem inclined to let Laurence move away.

“My dear, pray do not let her distress you,” Laurence said, laying his hand on Temeraire’s soft muzzle. “You would only be giving her what she desires, your unhappiness, and cheap at the cost of a few words. They are hollow: even she, powerful as she is, alone cannot make so great a difference to the war; and Napoleon would exert himself to the fullest towards our destruction regardless of her assistance.”

“But she has already done us a great deal of harm, herself,” Temeraire said unhappily. “Now they will not let us have the eggs that we need so badly, and have done so much for.”

“Laurence,” Granby said abruptly, “by God, these villains have bloody well stolen half-a-million pounds, and like as not used the funds to build themselves those fortifications so they could thumb their noses at the Navy. We cannot let it stand; we must do something. Temeraire could bring half this palace down on their heads with one proper roar—”

“We will not murder and ruin to revenge ourselves, as she does; such a satisfaction we ought and do disdain,” Laurence said. “No,” he continued, raising a hand when Granby would have protested. “Do you go and send the men to their supper, and then to take some rest, as much sleep as they can manage, while the light lasts.

“We leave tonight,” he continued, very cold and calm, “and we take the eggs with us.”

“Sherazde says her egg is being kept inside the harem,” Temeraire said, after some inquiry, “near the baths, where it is warm.”

“Temeraire, they will not give us away?” Laurence asked with anxiety, looking at the Kaziliks.

“I have not told them why I am asking,” Temeraire admitted, with a guilty look. “It does not feel quite proper; but after all,” he added, “we will take good care of the eggs, so they will not mind; and the people have no right to object, since they took the gold. But I cannot ask them very much more, or they will wonder why I want to know.”

“We will have the devil of a time stumbling about looking for them,” Granby said. “I suppose the place must be littered with guards, and if the women see us they will surely send up a howl; this mission will be no joke.”

“I think we must only a few of us go,” Laurence said, low. “I will take a few volunteers—”

“Oh, the devil you will!” Granby exclaimed furiously. “No, this time I damned well put my foot down, Laurence. Send you off to go scrambling about in that warren with no notion where you are going, and nothing more likely than running into a dozen guards round every corner; I should like to see myself do it. I am not going back to England to tell them I sat about twiddling my thumbs whilst you got yourself cut to pieces. Temeraire, you are not to let him go, do you hear me? He is sure to be killed; I give you my word.”

“If the party are sure to be killed, I am not going to let anyone go!” Temeraire said, in high alarm, and sat up sharp, quite prepared to physically hold anyone back who made an attempt to leave.

“Temeraire, this is plain exaggeration,” Laurence said. “Mr. Granby, you overstate the case, and you overstep your bounds.”

“Well, I don’t,” Granby said defiantly. “I have bit my tongue a dozen times over, because I know it is wretched hard to sit about watching and you haven’t been trained up to it, but you are a captain, and you must be more careful of your neck. It isn’t only your own but the Corps’ affair if you snuff it, and mine too.”

“If I may,” Tharkay said quietly, interrupting when Laurence would have remonstrated further with Granby, “I will go; alone I am reasonably sure I can find a way to the eggs, without rousing any alarm, and then I can return and guide the rest of the party there.”

“Tharkay,” Laurence said, “this is no service you owe us; I would not order even a man under oath of arms to undertake it, without he were willing.”

“But I am willing,” Tharkay gave his faint half-smile, “and more likely to come back whole from it than anyone else here.”

“At the cost of running thrice the risk, going and coming back and going again,” Laurence said, “with a fresh chance of running into the guards every time through.”

“So it is very dangerous, then,” Temeraire said, overhearing to too much purpose, and pricking up his ruff further. “You are not to go, at all, Granby is quite right; and neither is anyone else.”

“Oh, Hell,” Laurence said, under his breath.

“It seems there is very little alternative to my going,” Tharkay said.

“Not you either!” Temeraire contradicted, to Tharkay’s startlement, and settled down as mulish as a dragon could look; and Granby had folded his arms and wore an expression very similar. Laurence had ordinarily very little inclination to profanity, but he was sorely tempted on this occasion. An appeal to Temeraire’s reason might sway him to allow a party to make the attempt, if he could be persuaded to accept the risk as necessary for the gain, like a battle; but he would surely balk at seeing Laurence go, and Laurence had not the least intention of sending men on so deadly an enterprise if he were not going himself, Corps rules be damned.

They were left at a standstill, and then Keynes came out into the gardens. “For the sake of secrecy, it is to be hoped neither of those dragons understands English,” he said. “If you have all done shouting like fishwives, Dunne begs the favor of a word, Captain; he and Hackley saw the baths, during their excursion.”

“Yes, sir,” Dunne said; he was sitting up on his makeshift cot, pale with fever-hot cheeks, in only breeches and a shirt hanging loose over his lacerated skin; Hackley, slighter than he, had taken the flogging worse and was still prostrated. “At least, I am almost sure; they all had the ends of their hair wet, coming out of the place, and the fair ones—the fair ones looked pink with heat.” He dropped his eyes ashamedly, not looking Laurence in the face, and finished hurriedly, “And there were a dozen chimneys out of the building, sir, all of them smoking away, though it was midday and hot.”

Laurence nodded. “Do you remember the way, and are you strong enough to go?”

“I do well enough, sir,” Dunne said.

“He would do well enough to stay lying down,” Keynes said caustically.

Laurence hesitated. “Can you draw us a map?” he asked Dunne.

“Sir,” Dunne said, swallowing, “sir, please let me come. Truly I don’t think I can, without seeing the place around me; we got turned about a great deal.”

Despite this new advantage, Temeraire took a great deal more convincing; at last Laurence was forced to yield to Granby’s demand, and let him come along, leaving young Lieutenant Ferris in command of the rest of the crew. “There; you may be easy, Temeraire,” Granby said with satisfaction, putting the signal-flares in his own belt. “If there’s the least danger, I will fire off a flare, and you will come and take Laurence up, eggs or no; I will see to it he is where you can reach him.”

Laurence felt a strong sense of indignation; this was all a piece of considerable insubordination, but as it was visibly approved not only by Temeraire but by the entire crew, he had no recourse; and he was privately conscious the Admiralty would be wholly of like mind, except perhaps to censure him even more strongly for going along at all.