Empire of Ivory

Chapter 1

Send up another, damn you, send them all up, at once if you have to, Laurence said savagely to poor Calloway, who did not deserve to be sworn at: the gunner was firing off the flares so quickly his hands were scorched black, skin cracking and peeling to bright red where some powder had spilled onto his fingers; he was not stopping to wipe them clean before setting each flare to the match.

One of the little French dragons darted in again, slashing at Temeraire s side, and five men fell screaming as a piece of the makeshift carrying-harness unraveled. They vanished at once beyond the lantern-light and were swallowed up in the dark; the long twisted rope of striped silk, a pillaged curtain, unfurled gently in the wind and went billowing down after them, threads trailing from the torn edges. A moan went through the other Prussian soldiers still clinging desperately to the harness, and after it followed a low angry muttering in German.

Any gratitude the soldiers might have felt for their rescue from the siege of Danzig had since been exhausted: three days flying through icy rain, no food but what they had crammed into their pockets in those final desperate moments, no rest but a few hours snatched along a cold and marshy stretch of the Dutch coast, and now this French patrol harrying them all this last endless night. Men so terrified might do anything in a panic; many of them had still their small-arms and swords, and there were more than a hundred of them crammed aboard, to the less than thirty of Temeraire s own crew.

Laurence swept the sky again with his glass, straining for a glimpse of wings, an answering signal. They were in sight of shore, the night was clear: through his glass he saw the gleam of lights dotting the small harbors all along the Scottish coast, and below heard the steadily increasing roar of the surf. Their flares ought to have been plain to see all the way to Edinburgh; yet no reinforcements had come, not a single

Naomi Novik is the New York Times bestselling author of A Deadly Education, The Last Graduate, and The Golden Enclaves, the award-winning novels Uprooted and Spinning Silver, and the Temeraire series. She is a founder of the Organization for Transformative Works and the Archive of Our Own. She lives in New York City with her family and six computers.

Praise for His Majesty s Dragon and the Temeraire series

These are beautifully written novels not only fresh, original, and fast paced, but full of wonderful characters with real heart. [The Temeraire series] is a terrific meld of two genres that I particularly love fantasy and historical epic. Peter Jackson
 
A terrifically entertaining fantasy novel . . . Is it hard to imagine a cross between Susanna Clarke, of Norrell and Strange fame, and the late Patrick O Brian? Not if you ve read this wonderful, arresting novel. Stephen King
 
A splendid series . . . Not only is it a new way to utilize dragons, it s a very clever one and fits neatly into the historical niche this author has used. Anne McCaffrey
 
Just when you think you ve seen every variation possible on the dragon story, along comes Naomi Novik. Her wonderful Temeraire is a dragon for the ages. Terry Brooks
 
Enthralling reading it s like Jane Austen playing Dungeons & Dragons with Eragon s Christopher Paolini. Time
 
A completely authentic tale, brimming with all the detail and richness one looks for . . . as well as the impossible wonder of gilded fantasy. Entertainment Weekly (Editor s Choice, Grade: A)
 
Novik has accomplished something singular with her Temeraire series. . . . At its heart, it s a story about friendship that transcends not only time and class, but species. NPR

[Naomi Novik] is soaring on the wings of a dragon. The New York Times
 
A thrilling fantasy . . . All hail Naomi Novik. The Washington Post Book World
 
An amazing performance . . . [I] was immediately hooked by the writing, the research and the sheer courage of the whole enterprise. Chicago Tribune
 
Novik s influences run the gamut from Jane Austen to