a violence-abhorring but very clever dragon who (amongst other things) has been entrusted to operate the militia's artillery. Both sides involve about thirty thousand men, but this leaves the question of where Marshal Davout has got to; after the battle is joined, he is discovered outflanking the British with an additional twenty thousand. Only a brilliant action by Wellesley allows the British to escape. While helping the British Army in its withdrawal, Laurence and Temeraire speak with Wellesley about their notions of draconian equality. Laurence describes his own experiences abroad, visiting societies where dragons are treated as equal members instead of being harnassed and controlled by humans as British dragons are, societies that are materially enriched by this approach; and Admiral Jane Roland submits her theory that Napoleon has bolstered his own aerial corps by extending similar privileges to the ferals of the Continent. Wellesley agrees to open coverts to general use, and that the dragons might be paid directly the cost of their upkeep (around 400 pounds) to spend as they will. He also steals a page from Napoleon's book by using dragons as mass transportation for his soldiers; the dragons must leap-frog an hour back and forth, but a regiment can now move an extra twenty miles a day. Finally, Laurence and Tharkay must handle a distraction when Iskierka, impatient with the retreat, hares off into the arms of the French and becomes captured; the two sneak into London to exfiltrate her and Granby. This is an especially painful exercise for Laurence, as during the escapade he is detained by Bertram Woolvey, a man known to him from childhood, and his wife Edith Galman, with whom Laurence had once shared a serious but unofficial betrothal. Woolvey, for reasons he chooses not to share, helps them sneak into Kensington Palace and is slain during the escape. After regrouping at the Aerial Corps training grounds at Loch Laggan, Scotland, Wellesley and the British high command try to decide on their strategy, including the question of how best to safeguard King George III, who is not well. Roland announces that she and Adm. Collingwood have jointly repulsed another landing at Folkestone and sealed the English Channel against further incursion, stranding Napoleon on the British Isle. Wellesley promises victory and is given command. He then details Laurence, Temeraire, Iskierka and eight talon-picked dragons (mostly of Temeraire's former formation) into the English countryside,