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“Anyway it was still better than staying at home in England. It has been all watching the Channel, day and night,” Lily said to Temeraire, tipping her head back daintily to swallow the last haunch of her cow, “and not a single engagement; the French dragons have nearly all gone away, to Spain or to the east, and it is only a few unharnessed beasts who fly patrol along their coast now and never come across. So tiresome, but when we thought we might as well help Perscitia, with the pavilions she is building, everyone grew stupidly upset.”
“Dug out half the best quarry in Hertfordshire,” Berkley said to Laurence, “and tore up four dozen oaks in the Midlands.”
“When we last talked, you said the lumber was going to cost two thousand pounds, delivered before Christmas. Now you tell me that it’s thrice that, and that you can’t deliver it until Easter. If you’re going to try to steal from me, I ask that you be at the least a competent and punctual thief.”
The man from the lumber mill puffed up indignantly. “Why, madam I –“
“It’s admiral, dear fellow.”
The man sputtered a bit at that before continuing, though he still took her sex better than most of the General Staff had. He continued in a more subdued tones, “Admiral. Um we object to being called thieves.”
“What else would I call it when you raise the prices on me, for the second time, and with half the payment given to you already?”
“Well it’s not like we desire to charge more. However, with the rebuilding going on London and elsewhere in the south, the prices for lumber have gone up.”
“All of which you should have considered before you signed the contract.”
“Yes, yes. But some things are hard to predict, and we didn’t know supply would be so short.”
Jane snorted. “Next year’s crop is hard to predict. What our friend Bonaparte is going to do next, no one knows but God, and probably not even him. However, an imbecile would have been able to predict a short supply of lumber after the Grand Army burned half our towns.”
“Well it’s not so much a matter of prediction, as we just don’t have the lumber available.”
“There are trees all over the Midlands. I do not see the problem.”
“It’s not that simple, the trees have to be chopped and transported, and –“
“The dragons can transport it for you. They can probably help with getting them down too.”
“No dragons! That is, that would not be needed. There’s a procedure you see, and anyway, the carpenters are all busy right now.”
Jane wondered idly if he was nervous about the dragons because he had seen them roaming around during the war, or he if was just scared like most of the other fools out there. Or perhaps the fear was more practical, with the unharnessed dragons setting themselves up as business competition. “We’ll get the carpenters ourselves. We just need the lumber—“
Frette, her aide, came in. “Admiral, there’s a small incident in the courtyard.”
The man took the opportunity. “We will try to get the lumber to you by Easter. I’ll talk to the owners about the price. But no dragons. Good day Madame. Umm Admiral.” And he escaped before Jane could say anymore.
~
Jane looked at the pile of bricks that had been dropped in the middle of the covert, piled high as a Regal Copper, and blocking most of the doors from the buildings to the yard. She wondered if she would have taken the admiralty if she had known that she’d spend more time with requisitions than on dragonback. Dismissing that as a fancy for more suitable for butterfly dreams, she turned her attention back to Perscitia.
“And we’re finished all the pavilions in the old breeding grounds. Requiescat’s was the last one.” Perscitia looked quite smug at her accomplishments, then continued, “Since we have some bricks left over, I thought I’d bring it here since I heard you’re still not finished.”
“You mean you want to show away that you’re done and have a place to stow your unwanted bricks.”
Perscitia looked uncomfortable for a moment, before saying quickly, “Of course not. Anyway, why are you taking so long? I thought you would be finished more than one at the very least.”
Maximus protested, “We haven’t had time to carry materials and dig like you unharnessed dragons. We’ve been busy patrolling.”
Perscitia said, “Well that’s silly. It’s not like the French are going to attack us anytime soon after the defeat we gave them last year. Especially since they’re still busy in Spain. So all you’ve been doing is patrolling empty water when you could have been getting pavilions built instead.”
Jane tried not to sigh as the rest of the formation looked up at that. The dragons had been looking forward to their pavilions, and Perscitia flying here to brag about her finished ones was not going to help matters.
She said firmly. “Their Lordships have asked us to patrol the channel.” Since she spend half her days thinking about how silly most of the commands from their Lordships were, she felt compelled to add, “We know Bonaparte’s going to try to come again, and vigilance is needed to guard against that. The pavilions are going to get done. I just spoke with the man from the lumberyard, and he told me the lumber would be here by Easter.”
Excidium asked, “Wasn’t it going to come in by Christmas?”
Mentally cursing whichever of her subordinates had told the dragons that, Jane smile cheerfully, “Oh, well there are some slight delays. Anyway, it would have been too cold to get any building done in the middle of winter. Spring would be much better anyway.”
“It’d be even better if we can get the pavilions before winter,” came a mutter from another dragon, and Jane could say nothing against the truth of that. Anyway, the bricks were going to be useful, if only they’re not in the middle of the damned yard.
She turned to Perscitia, “Since you’re done the pavilions, you have some time on your hands. Why don’t you help move all the bricks outside the wall first – we’ll move them back in once the labourers are ready.”
She was leaving the yard and thinking about the dragons the Portuguese have requested when
she heard Perscitia speak again.
“Well, it’s not like you all have to be patrolling. Or there’s nothing to stop you from patrolling and gathering materials at the same time. ”
Lily pushed away her half-eaten cow, and put her head on a paws with a snort that sprayed a few droplets of acid onto the ground in front of her. Maximus paused half-way chewing on his sheep and looked at the leftover cow.
“Aren’t you going to finish that cow?”
She nudged it over to him with one paw. He pounced on the haunch. Cows had been in short supply since the war, and even Maximus was given only one cow every meal now, their meals supplemented with sheep, porridge and potatoes.
Lily said, “Have you heard about Temeraire? Catherine told me the other day that he’s finishing his pavilion in Australia even though he began almost half a year after us. And now Perscitia’s and the other unharnessed dragons are done all of hers, from here to Scotland. While we are still only have one, and only because it’s Iskierka’s.”
“I’m not even allowed to use hers,” grumbled Maximus
“It’s not a matter of allowing. The last time you tried to go in, you knocked down a pillar and it took them a month to fix it!”
Maximus sucked on the bones and said sulkily, “They should have made it bigger to begin with. This would be so much quicker if the government let us help. Perscitia was only able to finish so quickly because Requiescat was helping with the carrying. I’m sure I can carry everything here in even less time.”
“You know, Perscitia’s right. The French aren’t doing anything. It’d be a lot better if we’re building the pavilions instead. At least it would be useful.”
The dragons went back to staring at Iskierka’s pavilion, where a lot of yellow reapers were piled in.
Then Lily started hesitantly, “Well, they didn’t actually say we can’t help.”
Excidium turned his head towards them. He had been lying with the dragons from his formation, away from Lily’s group, but had evidently been listening. “You’re supposed to be patrolling.”
“Yes, but as Perscitia said, there is nothing stopping us from patrolling and gathering materials. It’s not like there’s that much patrolling to do anyway.”
“But where will we get the materials? It’s not like we have capital like Perscitia. They still haven’t paid us yet.”
“Well, the pavilions are just made of lumber and stone, right? Wood is everywhere. They can’t call it stealing if we take wood from the forest. There are so many trees they’d probably not miss any. Plus, they didn’t complain when Iskierka burned all those trees. They can’t complain at us when we’re trying to help.”
“We don’t even have to tell anyone.” Maximus was getting excited now. “It would be like getting the cows before. And this time, they wouldn’t run away.” Maximus’s tail thumped in fond remembrance of the time when cows were aplenty. He continued, “They probably wouldn’t even miss it. Remember how long it took them to realise that we were eating the cows ourselves? And there are a lot more trees than cows.”
Excidium looked up from his cow, which he had been eating daintily.
“Now, no more talk of that. Just because we haven’t seen the French lately doesn’t mean they’re not going to come again. You should focus on your patrols. Plus, you’d have to go all the way to the Midlands to find the right oaks – you can’t just grab random trees you know. And you can’t just go about grabbing any stone whatsoever.”
Maximus asked, “Why not?”
“You want the pavilions to last for more than a winter or two, right? You need good solid oaks for that, not wood from trees that are spindly or soft. Plus, Frette told me that the wood we were promised were supposed to come from the Midlands. But the lumberyard is trying to cheat us and make us pay more, and that is why our wood is not going to come until Easter.” He clawed at the ground angrily at that, before remembering his composure and adding quickly, “Though you should still stay focussed on patrolling.”
“Oh, of course. We’re just going to patrol. Though there are some bits of the patrols that I still don’t understand. Perhaps Frette can explain them to me, since I don’t want to bother Jane.”
“Why don’t you ask Catherine instead?” Maximus asked.
“She’s still busy with the egg. Much better if we talk to Frette.”
~
Berkley and Catherine sat in front of Jane, as they told her about the empty quarry in Hertfordshire and the ton of rocks outside the covert, along with the uprooted oaks, some with leaves still on them.
Catherine said “I really don’t know what gave them the idea.”
Berkley said, “I’d almost think that Temeraire and Lawrence snuck back on a ship from Australia.”
“No, if Temeraire’s back, he’d have talked them into much more than a few oaks and stones. He’d have them carving butterflies to decorate the pavilions with or whatnot. They’ve been sent to Brazil anyway, to help the Portuguese against those African dragons that Napoleon had sent over. Speaking of which, I have been asked by the admiralty to send them some help and have been debating about the dragons to send. What do you say to a sea journey until this tides over?”
Catherine visibly brightened, and even Berkley sat up a little straighter. “Are you sure you won’t need us here, though?”
Jane waved that away, “We both know that Bonaparte’s in no position to come at us again anytime soon. It’s much more important to secure the Portuguese. And frankly, I’d feel better if Lawrence and Temeraire are working with people they’re familiar with.”
“You mean we have been corrupted already, so can’t be further corrupted.”
Jane grinned at Berkley. “As you say. Anyway, since the owners of that forest are screaming for your head, I can tell them that I’ve sent you away and your dragons won’t be around for next little while at least. And by the time you come back, the pavilions would be finished.”
“At least we won’t hear them complaining about that anymore. Though those oaks are going to be awfully expensive.”
“Well, we’ve already paid for those oaks. And their representative do seem a lot more reasonable about the price after Maximus and Lily’s visit yesterday than when I talked with him last time. Might have something to do with the fact that it’s going to cost him more to get people here and transport them all the way back as the extra amount they were trying to charge us for”
Berkley looked at Jane suspiciously. “Maximus said that Excidium talked to them right before. Jane, you didn’t – “
“Excidium told them to focus on their patrols.” Then she smiled at them sunnily, and added, “Now why don’t you tell the rest of your formation that you’d be going to Brazil. I’ve secured a dragon transport already.”
She went out to see Excidium after Berkley and Catherine had left, Berkley squinting at her suspiciously all the while.
Frette looked at her.
“So you are sending Lily and Maximus to Brazil?”
“Yes, dear.”
“The captains have said that their dragons were getting restless.”
“Well, they’re going to settle down once the younger ones are away. Excidium is just as happy sleeping half the time as he is patrolling. It’s only the young ones who fret with nothing to do. Much better for them to be somewhere where they can fight off all that energy.“
“And the lumberyard is happy?”
“Satisfied enough to make no more fuss at least. Especially after I explained about how hard it is to control dragons. Once I told him I’m going to send them off to Brazil, he didn’t say much. I believe he was there when Maximus landed. Made quite an impression, our Maximus did.”
“Ah, yes. Excidium is happy?”
“Oh, I believe so. He was looking forward to those pavilions. The cold affects him more after the sickness. I’ve talked to the workers Perscitia hired before. They’re used to dragons now, so they should do just fine.”
“Yes, Admiral. And are you happy?”
Jane smiled.
END
Happy Holidays!