He flattened his ruff and said, ‘Then you may help put the logs in place, since you have so very cleverly set them on fire before they were lined up properly.’

Laurence dismounted as they worked, and went to speak to the sergeant and his men to explain the scheme. ‘They won't come this way?’ was all the man wanted to know, wiping a nervous dirty hand over his blond moustaches, and leaving them streaked and muddy.

‘If they do, they will do you no harm.’ Laurence said, with no more patience, ‘They are saving you an afternoon of hard labour after marching. When the fire in the logs has died down, you will find the ground much easier to dig, and you may chop up the remaining wood for tinder and sleep warmer tonight than any of you hoped.’

Wellesley rode up on his dark horse, wrestling to keep it under control, the animal skittish and shy of flames and dragons both. ‘What the devil are you doing?’ He did not wait for an answer, but threw an eye over the works and snorted. ‘Clever as foxes, I see. Well, don't stand there, man,’ he said to the sergeant. ‘Go and clear the rest of that brush. Goren, we'll have the wounded over here, nearest the fires. At least they can't get up and run away from the dragons like ninnies, half of 'em haven't legs anymore. And as for you and that beast of yours,’ he added to Laurence, grimly, ‘finish here and be at the clearings within the hour. I have words for you I don't care to have interrupted.’

The horse and the general wheeled away and Laurence went back to Temeraire, who was pushing the last few logs into place with a broken-off branch, to save his talons from singeing. Demane had vanished, as he was wont to do given five minutes upon the ground. ‘Roland, go and fetch him out,’ Laurence said, and waited tapping his thigh until she came out of the woods some ten minutes later, half-dragging Demane. He held a string of rabbits and squirrels gathered from the wreckage the dragons had made, and looked surly to have been interrupted.

‘Go set up a tent in camp, if you can,’ Laurence said, ‘and then see what you can do in the way of forage for the dragons. Janus, I am sure you can be of use to Mr. Fellowes, or Mr. Dorset.’

‘Aye, sir,’ Janus said.