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THEY WENT QUICKLY, very quickly; Tes for once with no slower coh Laurence was at first a little cautious, Ten of over-exertion, no heat in the muscles of his shoulders, and after the first few days Laurence let him choose the pace as he wished Baffled and curious officials ca out to meet them whenever they came down for some food near a town of sufficient size, and Laurence was forced on on-robes, the Eift, to make their questions and de and scraping: though at least he did not need to feel ireen coat Where possible they began to avoid settle Temeraire&039;s meals directly frohtly in isolated temples, wayside pavilions, and once an abandonedfallen in but the walls still half-standing: they stretched a canopy ether tents over the remnants, and built their fire with the old shattered beae, to Luoyang," Tharkay said He had proven a quiet and unco their courseon the co it to Laurence to pass the directions on to Teht he sketched at Laurence&039;s request a path in the dirt as they sat outside by the fire, while Temeraire peered down interestedly "And then we turn west, towards the old capital, towards Xian" The foreign na to Laurence, every city spelled seven different ways on his seven differentand disdained to consult But Laurence could follow their progress by the sun and the stars, rising daily in their changed places as Teht ate up the es one after another, the children running along the ground underneath Teh indistinct voices until they fell behind; rivers snaking below thereen with irt with reluctant clouds unable to break free fro by avoided theive way to Teons, the ihts too cold and thin for other breeds, dived doith a cheerful greeting, flitting around Tebird, and as quickly darted up and away again

As they continued north, the nights ceased to be so stiflingly hot and beca plentiful and easy even when they did not coe for the rest of theht left to Xian, they broke their traveling early and enca for their dinner and Te on biscuit and soht them by a local farmer Granby sat Roland and Dyer down to practice their penht while Laurence atteono been carried out mid-air and with the slates subject to all the force of the wind, posed quite a serious challenge, but he was glad to see at least their calculations no longer produced hypotenuses shorter than the other sides of their triangles

Teed at once into the lake: mountain streams rolled down to feed it from all sides, and its floor was lined with smooth tuust, but he ed to throater over his back, and he frolicked and squirreat enthusias; but surely it must be tifully at the roasting deer; but the cooks waved their enorly, not yet satisfied with their work

He sighed a little and shook out his wings, spattering them all with a brief shower that made the fire hiss, and settled hilad we did not wait and go by sea; how lovely it is to fly straight, as quickly as one likes, for

Laurence looked down; certainly there was no such flying in England: a week such as the last would have seen them from one end of the isles to the other and back "Did you have a pleasant bathe?" he asked, changing the subject

"Oh, yes; those rocks were very nice," Tereeable as being with Mei"

Lung Qin Mei, a charon, had been Te; Laurence had feared since their departure that Te for her But this sudden mention seemed a non sequitur; nor did Temeraire seem very love-lorn in his tone Then Granby said, "Oh, dear," and stood up to call across the camp, "Mr Ferris! Mr Ferris, tell those boys to pour out that water, and go and fetch some from the stream instead, if you please"

"Temeraire!" Laurence said, scarlet with comprehension

"Yes?" Temeraire looked at him, puzzled "Well, do you not find it more pleasant to be with Jane, than to - "

Laurence stood up hastily, saying, "Mr Granby, pray call the men to dinner now," and pretended not to hear the unsteady stifled mirth in Granby&039;s voice as he said, "Yes, sir," and dashed away

Xian was an ancient city, the forlory, the thin scattering of carts and travelers lonely on the wide and weed-choked roads leading in to the city; they flew over highdark and euards in their unifor From above, the streets quartered the city into chessboard squares, ruous oda roofs Narrow poplars and old, old pines with fragile wisps of green needles lined the avenues, and they were received in a istrate of the city, officials asse in their robes: news of their approach was outrunning theon courier They were feasted on the banks of the Wei River in an old pavilion overlooking rustling wheat fields, on hot ether on a spit for Tes ofin farewell as they left: wishes for a safe return

Two days later they slept near Tianshui in caves hollowed fro Buddhas, hands and faces reaching out froar outside beyond the grotto openings Monuthe river or its tributaries now into the heart of thepasses not hted in flying through these at great speed, stretching hi at the aard saplings that jutted out sideways fro a freakish start of wind ca Teainst the rock face

He squawked ungracefully, andtwist to turn round in ainst the nearly vertical slope The loose shale and rock at once gave way, the little scrubby growth of green saplings and grass inadequate to stabilize the ground beneath his weight; "Get your wings in!" Granby yelled, through his speaking-tru to beat away into the air again, and only hastening the collapse Pulling his wings tight, hescramble down the loose slope, and landed aardly athwart the strea

"Order thehis carabiner rings, and scrarasping the harness with his fingers before letting hi to Te, the tendrils and ruff all quivering with his too-quick panting, and his legs were tre, but he held hiround crew let the and caked with the grey dirt thrown up in the frantic descent

Though they had scarcely gone an hour, everyone was glad to stop and rest, the rass-banks even as Temeraire himself did "You are sure it does not pain you anywhere?" Laurence asked anxiously while Keynes cla the wing-joints

"No, I a lad to bathe his feet in the stream, and hold them out to be scrubbed clean, soe of skin around the talons Afterwards he closed his eyes and put his head down for a nap, and showed no inclination to go anywhere at all; "I ate well yesterday; I aested theyhe preferred to sleep But a few hours later Tharkay reappeared - if it could be called reappearing, when his initial absence had gone quite unnoticed - and offered hile Ordinarily they would hardly have made a few bites for hi thereens, and Temeraire made a sufficiently enthusiastic ive the lie to his supposed lack of hunger

He was a little shy even the nextthe air with his tongue as high up as he could stretch his head, trying to get a sense of the wind Then there was a little so with the harness, somehow not easy for hithy adjustht too muddy to drink, so they had to pile up stones for a an to wonder if perhaps he had done badly not to insist they go aloft again directly after the accident; but abruptly Teo," and launched himself the moment everyone was aboard

The tension across his shoulders, quite palpable from where Laurence sat, faded after a little while in the air, but still Te slohile they remained in the mountains Three days passed before they met and crossed over the Yellow River, so choked with silt it see earth, ochre and broith thick clods of grass growing out onto the surface of the water from the verdant banks They had to purchase a bundle of raw silk froh before it could be drunk, and their tea had a harsh and clayey taste even so

"I never thought I would be so glad to see a desert, but I could kiss the sand," Granby said, a few days later: the river was long behind them and the mountains had abruptly yielded that afternoon to foothills and scrubby plateau The brown desert was visible from their camp on the outskirts of Wuwei "I suppose you could drop all of Europe into this country and never find it again"

"These reed, as he noted down in his log once uess as toto the charts would have put theuide joined them at the fire, "I hope you will accompany me tomorrow to buy the camels?"