Free Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik Page B

had
    come with them all the way from China, wrapped many times
    over with oilcloth and twine, the outer layers stained
    nearly black, the inner still pale, until he came to the
    thin fine rice paper inside, with the plans for the dragon
    pavilion laid out upon them.

    "Just see if the Admiralty will pay for such a thing," Jane
    said dryly, but she looked the designs over with a
    thoughtful more than a critical eye. "It is a clever
    arrangement, and I dare say it would make them a damned
    sight more comfortable than lying on damp ground; I do hear
    the ones at Loch Laggan do better, where they have the heat
    from the baths underground, and the Longwings who are
    quartered in the sand-pits have held up better, though they
    do not like it in the least."

    "I am sure that if only they had the pavilions, and some
    more appetizing food to eat, they would soon get better; I
    did not like to eat at all, when I had my cold, until the
    Chinese cooked for me," Temeraire said.

    "I will second that," Laurence said. "He scarcely ate at
    all before; Keynes was of the opinion the strength of
    spices compensated, to some part, for the inability to
    smell or taste."

    "Well, for that, any rate, I can squeeze out a few guineas
    here and there and manage a trial; we have certainly not
    been spending half of what we ordinarily would in powder,"
    Jane said. "It will not do for very long, not if we are to
    feed two hundred dragons spiced meals, and where I am to
    get cooks to manage it I have no idea, but if we see some
    improvement, we may have some better luck in persuading
    their Lordships to carry the project forward."

    Chapter 4

    GONG SU WAS ENLISTED in the cause, and all but emptied his
    spice cabinets, making especially vigorous use of his
    sharpest peppers; much to the intense disapproval of the
    herdsmen, who were rousted from a post usually requiring
    little more than dragging cows from pen to slaughter, and
    set to stirring pungent cauldrons. The effect was a marked
    one, the dragons' appetites more startled awake than
    coaxed, and many of the nearly somnolent beasts began
    clamoring with fresh hunger. The spices were not easily
    replaced, however, and Gong Su shook his head with
    dissatisfaction over what the Dover merchants could
    provide; the cost even of this astronomical.

    "Laurence," Jane said, having called him to her quarters
    for dinner, "I hope you will forgive me for serving you a
    shabby trick: I mean to send you to plead our case.

    I do not like to leave Excidium for long now, and I cannot
    take him over London sneezing as he does. We can manage a
    couple of patrols here, while you are gone, and make it a
    rest for Temeraire: he needs one in any case. What? No,
    thank Heaven, that fellow Barham who gave you so much
    difficulty is out. Grenville has the place now; not a bad
    fellow, so far as I can tell; if he does not understand the
    least thing about dragons, that hardly makes him unique."

    "And I will say, privately, in your ear," she added, later
    that evening, reaching over for the glass of wine by the
    bed and settling back against his arm; Laurence lying back
    thoroughly breathless with his eyes half-closed, the sweat
    still standing on his shoulders, "that I would not hazard
    two pins for my chances of persuading him to anything. He
    yielded to Powys in the end, over my appointment, but he
    can scarcely bear to address a note to me; and the truth is
    I have made use of his mortification to squeak through
    half-a-dozen orders I have not quite the authority for,
    which I am sure he would have liked to object to, if he
    could do so without summoning me. Our chances are precious
    small to begin, and we will do a good deal better with you
    there."

    It did not prove the case, however; because Jane, at least,
    could scarcely have been refused admittance by one of the
    secretaries of the Navy: a tall, thin, officious fellow,
    who said impatiently, "Yes, yes, I have your numbers
    written in front of me; and in any case