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THEY LEFT THE green oasis of Dunhuang at dawn, the cale as the beasts reluctantly trudged away over the dune-crests, their shaggy flat feet ht into parts: the dunes like ocean waves captured in pen and ink, on one side perfectly white and on the other pure shadow, printed on the pale caramel color of the sand The caravan trails unknotted themselves one at a tiscamel-skulls piled atop Tharkay turned the lead ca: the camels knew their work even if their still-aard riders did not Te, at a distance far enough to co to bolt the way they had come
Laurence had expected the terrible sun, but so far north the desert did not hold its heat: by htfall he was chilled to the bone, and a white frost crept over the water-casks during the night The eagle kept itself fed on brown-spotted lizards and s uneasily beneath rocks; Temeraire daily reduced the cah strips of dried meat, chewed for hours, and coarse teaslurry with oat flour and roasted wheat berries The casks were reserved for Tes each man carried for hi wells, roith ta in the mud: the water yellow and bitter and thick, scarcely drinkable even when boiled
EachLaurence and Temeraire took Tharkay aloft and scouted some little distance ahead of the ca haze distorted the horizon, lie to the south seeh the blue jutting mountains were divided from the earth, upon another plane entirely
"How lonely it is," Te: the heat of the sun see in soons to fly, and he needed little effort to keep aloft
He and Laurence would often pause during the day together: Laurence would read to him, or Temeraire recite hi there considered a more appropriate occupation for Celestials than warfare; when the sun dipped lower they would take to the air to catch up the rest of the convoy, following the plaintive sound of the ca to meet Laurence as they descended, "one of those fellows is , but there was no sign of the poor devil; the as a busy housekeeper, sweeping up the camel-tracks almost as quickly as they had been ood as for eternity Tele of ca on quickly, and the lengthening shadows of the dunes blurred together into a uniforout, and there was only a thin sliver of ain tomorrow," Laurence said to coain by the tents, and Laurence shook his head silently as he cliladly took a cup of the thick tea and war ca aith a shrug, brutal but truthful: Jing Chao had endeared hiest acquaintance, heaved only one sigh, and then led Te roast camel, today cooked in a fire-pit with tea-leaves, an atte the flavor
The few oasis towns they passed through were narrow places in spirit, less unfriendly than perplexed by strangers: theand drinking spiced tea in the shade and watching theain, in Chinese and in other tongues The streets were not in good repair, mostly drifted over with sand and cut by deep channels pitted with the ancient s of alrapes, filled their water-bags at the clean deep wells, and continued on their way
The can of warning; when the watch ca sed up by the low onco cloud
"Let Temeraire drink and eat; this round crewmen pried off the cover from two of the flat-sided wooden butts and brushed the das inside, then Teht pour out thehad nearly a week&039;s practice, he did not spill a drop, but closed his jaws tight before raising his head up again to s The unburdened ca separated from its fellows, to no avail; Pratt and his ed it around behind the tents; Gong Su drew a knife across its neck, deftly catching the spurting blood in a bowl; and Te tired of caet under cover, and Granby round crewmen anchored the tents more securely; already the layer of loose fine sand hipping across the surface of the dunes and stinging their hands and faces, though they put up their collars and wrapped their neckcloths over their mouths and noses The thick fur-lined tents, which they had been so glad to have during the cold nights, no stifling hot as they struggled and pushed and crowded in the caot up to shield Tely close
And then the sandstor like the sound of rain, falling without surcease against the leather tent wall It could not be ignored; the noise rose and fell in unpredictable bursts, froain, so they could only take brief unrestful snatches of sleep; and faces grew bruised with fatigue around them They did not risk many lanterns inside the tent; when the sun set, Laurence sat by Te to the wind howl
"Some call the karaburan the work of evil spirits," Tharkay said out of the dark; he was cutting sole, presently subdued in its cage, head hunched invisibly into its shoulders "You can hear their voices, if you listen," and indeed one could make out low and plaintive cries on the wind, like ue
"I cannot understand the with interest rather than dread; evil spirits did not alarons," Tharkay said seriously: the ensigns were listening, the oldernot to, and Roland and Dyer had crept close, eyes stretched wide "Those who listen too long grow confused and lose their way: they are never found again, except as bones scoured clean to warn other travelers away"
"Hm," Temeraire said skeptically "I would like to see the demon that could eat ious kind of devil
Tharkay&039;s mouth twitched "That is why they have not dared to bother us; dragons of your size are not often seen in the desert" The oing outside
"Have you heard of dragons having their own languages?" Temeraire asked Tharkay a little later, softly; , half-asleep "I have always thought we learned theons," Tharkay said "There are sounds in it men cannot make: your voices more easily mimic ours than the reverse"
"Oh! will you teach ons, kept the ability to easily acquire new tongues past their hatching and infancy
"It is of little use," Tharkay said "It is only spoken in the mountains: in the Pamirs, and the Karakoram"
"I do not mind that," Temeraire said "It will be so very useful e are back in England Laurence, the Government cannot say we are just ani to hiardless," Laurence began, to be interrupted by Tharkay&039;s short snorting laugh
"On the contrary," he said "They are ue other than English; or at least a creature unworthy of notice: you would do better to cultivate an elevated tone," and his voice changed quite on the final words, taking on the drawling style favored by the too-fashionable set for a ," Te over the phrase a few times "It seems very peculiar to me that it should reat deal of trouble to learn how to say thes properly?"
"Yes; they are called lawyers," Tharkay said, and laughed softly to himself
"I would certainly not recommend you to imitate this particular style," Laurence said dryly, while Tharkay recovered froht only impress soin with"
"Very true; you had much better take Captain Laurence as your entleree"
His expression was not visible in the shadows, but Laurence felt as though he were being obscurelyto him nonetheless "I see you have made a study of the subject, Mr Tharkay," he said a little coldly Tharkay shrugged
"Necessity was a thorough teacher, if a hard one," he said "I foundthem so convenient an excuse to dis," he added to Temeraire, "if you es rarely like to share them"
This was no more than Laurence had said, on many an occasion, but a vein of cynicism ran true and deep beneath Tharkay&039;s words which perhaps : "I am sure I do not see why they should not wish to be just," Temeraire said, but uncertainly, troubled, and so Laurence found he did not after all like to see Temeraire take his own advice to heart
"Justice is expensive," Tharkay said "That is why there is so little of it, and that reserved for those feith enough money and influence to afford it"
"In some corners of the world, perhaps," Laurence said, unable to tolerate this, "but thank God, we have a rule of law in Britain, and those checks upon the power oftyrannical"
"Or which spread the tyranny over more hands, piecemeal," Tharkay said "I do not know that the Chinese system is any worse; there is a limit to the evil one despot alone can do, and if he is truly vicious he can be overthrown; a hundred corrupt ether do as much injustice or more, and be the less easy to uproot"
"And where on the scale would you rank Bonaparte?" Laurence de to complain of corruption, or propose judicious reforms; quite another to lump the British system in with absolute despotisovernment?" Tharkay asked "If there is more injustice in France than elsewhere, on the whole, I have not heard of it It is quixotic of them to have chosen to be unjust to the noble and the rich, in favor of the common; but it does not seem toAs for the rest, I will defer to your judg George or the second lieutenant of artillery from Corsica?"
"I would take Lord Nelson," Laurence said "I do not believe anyone has ever suggested he likes glory less than Bonaparte, but he has put his genius in service to his country and his King, and graciously accepted what rewards they chose to give hi an exaument, and indeed I should be ashamed to be the cause of any disillusionment" Tharkay&039;s faint half-shter outside "We have a little break in the storo and look in on the camels" He wrapped a veil of cotton several ti his hat firloves and cloak before ducking out through the flaps
"Laurence, but the Governons," Teone out, returning to the point of real concern to hi and indignant, without thinking; and regretted it the next instant: Tehtened at once and said, "I was sure it ht have done, in lowering his expectations, was lost
The storh to wear holes, after a while, in the leather of their pavilion; they patched it as best they could froh all the cracks, into their garritty and unpleasant when they chewed the cold dried ain, little cascades of sand running off his shoulders and wings onto the floor: they had already a layer of desert inside the tent with them
Laurence did not know just when the storan to fall, they all drifted into their first real sleep in days, and he woke to the sound of the eagle outside giving a red cry of satisfaction Stu raw flesh fro across the ree already half-stripped clean by the sands
"One of the tents did not hold," Tharkay said, behind hi: he turned and saw eight of the ca a little on legs grown stiff fro confine soainst one side Of the second tent there was no sign except two of the iron stakes still planted deeply in the ground, and a few scraps of brown leather pinned down, fluttering with the breeze
"Where are the rest of the ca horror He took Te, in every direction, in vain: the scouring wind had left no tracks, no signs, not so iven it up, and began in desolate spirits to pack up the camp; seven camels lost, and their water-casks with thehted down and quiet "Will we be able to buya hand across his brow; he did not recall seeing many animals in the streets of the tohich they had left nearly three days before
"Only with difficulty," Tharkay said "Cahly; soht not turn back, in my opinion" At Laurence&039;s doubtful look, he added, "I set the nuh, in case of accidents: this is worse than I had planned for, but we can yet e until we reach the Keriya River We will have to ration the camels, and refill Teoing as much as we can ourselves; it will not be pleasant, but I proreat: Laurence bitterly grudged the loss ofdelay there acquiring new pack-anie food and water for Teons at all, much less one of his size; a clear loss of more than a week, certainly Tharkay seemed confident, and yet - and yet -
Laurence drew Granby behind the tents, to consult in privacy: considering it best to keep their mission secret, so far as possible, and not to spread any useless anxiety over the state of affairs in Europe, Laurence had not yet shared their purpose with the rest of the crew, and left the overland only to avoid the long delay in port
"A week is enough tiently "Gibraltar - the outpost on Malta - it ht be the difference between success and failure I swear to you there is not afor the chance, and Tharkay is not saying there is a real risk we shall run dry"
Abruptly Laurence said, "And you are easy in your ment on the matter?"
"More than any of ours, surely," Granby said "What do you mean?"
Laurence did not know quite how to put his unease into words; indeed he hardly knehat he feared "I suppose I only do not like putting our lives so completely into his hands," he said "Another few days of travel will put us out of reach of Cherchen, with our present supplies, and if he is ood so far," Granby said, a little h I won&039;t deny he has a da on, so the stor while," Laurence said quietly "That was after the first day, halfway through - he said he went to look in on the caether "I don&039;t suppose we could tell by looking how long that caested They went to try an inspection, but too late: Gong Su already had as left of the dead beast jointed and spitted over a fire, browning to a turn, and offering no anshatsoever
When consulted, Tereat pity to turn around toevery other day," and added under his breath, "especially if it must be camel"
"Very well; we continue on," Laurence said, despite his ed onward through a landscape rendered even etation torn away, even the scattering of colorful pebbles bloay, leaving no relief to the eye They would have gladly welcorisly trail-uide their steps but the co dry day passed by, as terrible andsloay under their feet; there was no sign of life, nor even one of the old cru on Te of ca; as the day wore on, even Temeraire&039;s head drooped: he, too, had only had half his usual ration of water
"Sir," Digby said through cracked lips, pointing, "I see so"
Laurence saw nothing; it was late in the day, with the sun beginning toshadows out of the sby had the sharp eyes of youth and was the eration So they went on towards it: soon they could all see the round dark patch, but it was too small to be thedown, and Laurence slid down from Temeraire&039;s neck to walk over: it was the lid of one of the lost water-casks, lying incongruously all alone atop the sand, thirty &039;s camp
"Eat your ration," Laurence said sternly, when he saw Roland and Dyer putting down their strips ofwas painful in a dry mouth, and every sip of water now had to be stolen froone, and still they had found no well Temeraire had eaten his ca: only seven left, now