They had not brought along anyone else from his crew, or any food, or anything useful at all. They had no notion of how they were to be fed or where they were to sleep, and did not respect the order of the camp at all. Wringe, who was rather big for a feral, a good-sized middleweight, tried to shove a Yellow Reaper out of his place, and so of course all the Reapers jumped up and hissed at her, and then Arkady and the others joined in hissing back, and Temeraire had to roar to get all their attention and push them apart.

‘You are new, so you must clear your own places,’ he said sternly.

‘Oh, that is easy,’ Iskierka said, and hissed a command at Arkady, who quickly chivvied his gang to one side. She then blasted out fire across a swath of ground at the edge of their clearing, dry leaves crisped and tree-bark popped off trunks with sounds like gunfire. One old dead pine caught like a torch and went into a perfect crackling blaze, as everyone else squawked and jumped to their feet.

‘That is enough!’ Temeraire said. ‘You may not go about setting fires in camp; we have powder all about, and you will have us all blown up. Now put out those trees, and clear it properly, by pulling them out.’

The ferals, in a rather surly way, obeyed and smothered the flames with soil; but Iskierka did nothing but sit down, yawn and observe, while everyone in the camp watched her, more impressed than otherwise. It was not at all satisfactory, and when he said as much to Perscitia, she added insult to injury by having no sympathy, and saying instead, ‘A fire-breather will be very useful,’ and then showing him several manoeuvres, which she had sketched out to make use of Iskierka especially.

‘They didn't believe a word of it,’ Granby said to Laurence though it was no surprise. He looked rather exhausted, and left sweat streaked on his forehead when he rubbed his hand against it. ‘The generals did not, anyway; she swallowed it whole, and nothing would do but to come and fight with you, or else Temeraire would be getting all the glory, and prizes, and she wanted an eagle too. Once she has decided on something, those ferals will follow her to the end of Creation.’ Arkady was still their leader, but even he had evidently taken to regarding Iskierka as a force of nature beyond ordinary leadership, especially since she had led them to seize so much treasure.

‘Roland was damned understanding,’ Granby added. ‘She sent a courier after us with orders, and put us on detached duty, scouting, so I am not insubordinate technically. But—’ He raised his hands, helplessly.

‘No preparations were made for a French attack?’ Laurence said, low. ‘None whatsoever?’