Bonaparte's harrying pursuit at last fell away near evening: the French dragons, having laboured all day in battle or in carrying Davout's men, had reached their limits. One by one, they began to sink further behind until they must have been called off and could just be seen turning away in the gloaming.

Laurence put his hand on Temeraire's neck. ‘We have slipped the trap,’ he said quietly. ‘You have bought us that, at least.’

‘I still think we ought to go back,’ Iskierka grumbled as she flew beside them. She had been very angry to awaken only to be told that she would not have to fight after all, and Temeraire had only just managed to half-persuade, half-bully her into flying along with the rest. ‘I am hungry, and I do not like carrying this cannon; it makes my shoulders ache.’

‘We are all hungry,’ Temeraire said, in a temper, ‘so pray stop complaining; you are very tiresome.’

‘I am not!’ she said, ‘And only because you do not want to fight, and would rather run away—’

‘That is enough,’ Excidium said to her sternly, as he descended. ‘We will go back when we are ready; when we have more men and guns, and can be sure to win. That is strategy,’ he added, ‘and you are old enough to understand it.’

Iskierka subsided, still muttering, as the older dragon flew on ahead.

Somewhere far behind them, the remnants of the infantry and cavalry marched on, towards reinforcements and supplies at the well-defended central depot in Weedon Bec. The dragons however flew straight on through the night and the next day, putting an impractical distance between them and pursuit, and ensuring the safety of the artillery. There was not much for them to eat: the farmers hid their cattle, and they could not easily stop to hunt during the day. ‘The Quality must sacrifice their game,’ Jane decided, and divided them into small companies, each ordered to make camp on any estate large enough to have a deer park.

They would be in Nottinghamshire before nightfall, and Wollaton Hall had a herd of four hundred or more. ‘I could send you elsewhere,’ Jane said, but Laurence shook his head. He had little wish to be at home under present circumstances: as a condemned traitor, carrying the worst sort of news, and bringing twenty hungry dragons to tear up the estate. But it could not be helped. It would be much worse if he took himself to some other house nearby, without paying his formal respects, and let some other group of dragons use the grounds; it would be cowardly. If Lord Allendale chose to forbid him the house when he came, that was his father's privilege; his own duty was to endure the rebuke he had earned.