‘If you can send a cart to Wollaton,’ he said, ‘they were struck this morning, and have wounded.’

‘Yes, of course,’ she said. ‘Can you not stay the night?’

He only touched his hat. ‘I must beg your pardon; we have some hours yet to fly tonight,’ he said, bowed, and turned; the lights of the house glittered on the snow as he walked away.

Temeraire had caught three deer, despite their springiness, and felt rather pleased with the world until Laurence came back from the house, all pale, and refused his share of dinner. ‘I am very happy the house is not burnt up,’ Temeraire said to him anxiously, as they made ready to get underway. He wondered if something else perhaps had happened, if there was some damage which he could not see.

Laurence paused, and looked over his shoulder. Temeraire looked too, and thought the house looked very like a jewel. Its pale yellow stone glowed with warm and inviting light, streaming from the many windows in so interesting a variety of shapes; the dozens of intricate towers and ornaments all in perfect order.

‘I will never come here again,’ Laurence said, and pulled himself up the harness. ‘Let us be away.’

Laurence was not himself at all, and Temeraire was becoming increasingly certain that they would never make matters right this way. They had taken no prizes whatsoever for all their long weeks of raiding. The French soldiers had nothing of value but the food they had stolen, not even a cannon or a flag to be proud of, and ever more suitable battle was offered, Laurence would insist on their flying away at once, to hide.

What battles they did have were over very quickly. Perscitia had devised a method of tearing up tall yew trees, with bushy tops and smooth long trunks, and dragging their crowns along the ground in a diving rush. It was most convenient: the soldiers could simply be swept away in their dozens, and the branches sheltered one from the musket-fire nicely, so there was no risk at all. The chief difficulty was to keep the men from scattering. It felt rather unpleasant and odd to be chasing one so very small, who would just as soon have run away, even if, as Messoria explained, they would only regroup and go stealing again. It was not the sort of fighting Temeraire had looked forward to, even though everyone else seemed to approve.