Previously

"No! They will kill my captain! My Magellan!" He protested and Laelia only lowered her head, unsure of how to make her argument and she was in a dilemma: continue working for the enemy to ensure her captain's safety or risk her captain's life to rescue him from the enemy's clutches.

The dragon he was on then took off into the sky, and Laurence didn't know if he should be thankful or not. He looked up and saw they were heading for the port. He knew now they meant to take him with them to America—to Georgia for more experiments.

The cold wind touched his skin, easing up the hot fire burning. The darkness was coming back now to put him to sleep; however not until he heard a roar. He looked up and Temeraire was there.

Chapter 4

TEMERAIRE AND the others watched from a distance, hiding behind the thick trees with their backs low enough. They watched as the two couriers landed just outside the abandoned prison building. According to Little, it used to be a holding cell for any prisoners of war and the French were held here last year just before they lost. To think Laurence had been here all this time.

"What sort of dragons are those?" Granby asked, seeing four more middleweight dragons landing on the clearing. Tharkay looked closer to the telescope and answered, "Not sure, but they have oriental features."

Temeraire peered closer, his head nearly coming out of the trees. "Hmm… they do not look Chinese, though it is difficult to tell under the moon light," he assessed. Soon, people were coming out of the building and they were putting on belly nets on the four unknown dragons. Soon, there were more as they brought the two missing captains over to the two couriers, although the captains were limping and looked out of sorts.

"Laurence has to be there, he has to be!" Temeraire whispered as low as he could, but he could not over the high anxiety in his tone. Emily then told him, "We must wait a little longer, Temeraire."

"No! No more waiting!" Temeraire said until Tharkay managed to convince the dragon to stay put. "They might kill him, Temeraire, if we charge in immediately. It seems like they are getting ready to leave, so we must catch them from the sky."

They waited a while longer for perhaps an hour, and finally they were bringing out more people. Each were wearing civilian clothing, but they most of them were limping and had to have the enemy support them into the belly nets. Tharkay then spoke from observation, "They all do not look well. They have quite the pale faces and—" He stopped.

"Tharkay?" Harcourt questioned, but Granby also had the same reaction as the Chinaman, gasping, "Oh God's wounds…!" A shriek coming from the enemy's direction alerted them and they saw Seneca in a frantic behavior, hearing him yelling his captain's name over and over.

"What? What, what is happening?" Iskierka said somewhat impatiently as they try to look what was happening, though they are too far to see any closer, but they did see one man fall to his knees. Tharkay watched as Magellan—Seneca's Captain—fell to the ground on his knees and pouring out all his guts from the inside onto the grass. Granby could not handle it and quickly handed the telescope to Harcourt, and then he turned away, swallowing and gasping. The sight was of grotesque and now every captain had witnessed the scene from far away and through the lens of telescope.

Tharkay managed to bear it, having seen more grotesque scenes back at Bristol, and he finally spotted Laurence. "Temeraire! That first one that took off! They have Laurence!"

And it was all that Temeraire needed as he flew out of the forest in great haste, leaving a strong gust behind as his wings beat with fury and quickness. Emily managed to hold on from the sudden flight as they passed over the flying oriental beast and got in front of the beast.

"Let go of my CAPTAIN!" Temeraire roared and he charged right at the oriental. The oriental yelped unable to change direction as he was soon taken down and Temeraire clipped his wings and was trying to bring him to the ground without hurting the people in the belly net. However, the people inside were enemies it seem and they had swords and muskets out aiming for Temeraire. Emily took out her pistol and shot one of them.

Soon though the others have joined as Nitidus, Dulcia, and Immortalis flew by and the crew on their backs fired at the enemies climbing up at Temeraire's back. Temeraire was raking the scales of the oriental in his grasps and forced him to land on its side. He could see him now. Laurence was behind the net, unconscious and immobile, causing the Celestial to panic. He ripped apart the Oriental's harness, separating the belly net from it and the oriental scampered up, speaking a foreign language, protesting before running off.

Emily got off of Temeraire's back to help pull the net away from the captain. Arkady and Iskierka soon landed with their riders next to Temeraire, and then they heard a roar.

All looked up and saw a giant of a dragon, bigger than Kulingile himself. It came out of nowhere, a red beast with accented colors of gold, green, blue and features of both oriental and Aztec due to the mixture of feathers, scales, and tendrils. Where it had suddenly appeared, they hadn't a clue. Temeraire quickly picked up Emily and Laurence, immediately moved away as the colossal beast landed right on the spot they were standing. Iskierka and Arkady managed to get away as they landed several meters away from the ancient looking beast.

The beast turned to them ruffling his feathers as Lily's formation also landed in front of Temeraire, standing up to the beast. It let out a laugh as it spoke, in a clear English accent, "Well, I thought the incident would keep you all occupied for a while, but it seems I was proven wrong. Tell me, did those couriers let you follow them?" He laughed. "It is a good thing then that their captains will die soon. Disobedient servants should be punished."

"Who are you? And why did you take my Laurence? And the other Captains?" Temeraire demanded an explanation, his tail lashing about angrily at this arrogant dragon. He had a feeling that this dragon was behind everything of what had occurred. He did not like the sadistic grin on the drake, showing off its golden canines.

"Your Laurence? How possessive. Well, he isn't your Laurence, at least not the same," the dragon taunted him and he laughed. "He's more than now of an ordinary man."

"I do not find this situation funny at all! Now we demand your name!" Temeraire yelled and Iskierka added, "Let us just attack him already! There are eight of us and only one of him!"

Temeraire gently placed Emily and Laurence down on the grass as he turned protectively over them, shield them from the dragon's eyes. "If you have done anything to my Laurence—!"

"Oh, I have committed many sins upon him," the dragon taunted once more, causing Temeraire to roar out of anger and the others had to coax him not to be provoked by him. Soon though the other middleweight dragons were flying over them and passed them. Harcourt ordered, "Move! Secure the dragons! Do not let them escape!"

They quickly took flight, but the ancient beast took up in flight. Despite its sheer size, it was as fast as the Celestial. It was now trying to stop them from taking the others and all the while, continued to mock them, like a cat toying with four mice.

Temeraire glanced down for a moment, looking at his rider, "Laurence! Laurence, Laurence, Laurence!" He rumbled as Granby and Tharkay went to his captain's aide. His captain was still knocked out, but he could see him stirring now.

"Laurence, can you hear us?" Emily asked, shaking his shoulder gently. Granby placed his arms around him, but pulled back quickly, exclaiming, "God almighty, he is burning!" Tharkay tested it out and surely enough Laurence was hot, very hot in a literal sense. It was like touching cinders.

A deafening roar was heard and they looked up to see the ancient beast just slamming right into Kulingile, slamming him to the ground before he was off again, charging at Maximus. Temeraire watched in shock at how easily his friends were being pushed back, and there were eight of them.

"Temeraire! Arkady and I are taking him!" Tharkay said, but before the Celestial dragon would take off to help his friends, he heard his captain spoke.

"Tem…Temeraire…" Temeraire turned his head and leaned down, hearing his Laurence's weak call, bringing more worries to the dragon.

"Oh Laurence...!" Temeraire rumbled out of despair and dread over him. His captain did not look good, in fact, he was pale with flushed red cheeks.

Dulcia came by and shouted urgently, "Temeraire! We need you here to fight it!"

Temeraire nodded as he turned to look at Tharkay and Emily. "Take care of him."

Emily nodded. "We know, Temeraire! Just go!"

Granby also left, going on to Iskierka, who had been calling him to get on so they too can join the fight. The ground shook as both Iskierka and Temeraire took off to join Lily's formation. They made a short plan and Iskierka went off to distract the beast, shooting fire at it. Once distracted, Temeraire tried to get it at its blind spot, but the large dragon spun around quite fast, grappling the Celestial. Luckily, Maximus charged at once and the red beast released Temeraire, letting the both of them collide and hit the ground. They stood back up again while the red beast laughed down at them.

Infuriated, Temeraire was up once more; ready to take on the beast when they heard a piercing yell, enough to break the concentration of the fight. He knew that yell too well and he turned to see. From far away, he could see his Laurence was in extreme pain for he was not one to yell aloud.

"Laurence!" Temeraire darted after him, but then all at once stopped to hover. His eyes widened as he watched the scene. A spray of blood burst from his captain's back, followed by a pair of long, golden-scaled wings, glimmering under the moonlight.

The agonizing scream continued as the devil's wind spun around Laurence, collecting dust and dirt covering him. Seconds later, he was replaced by a middleweight dragon, far bigger than Lily and bulkier with its golden scaled of armor. It had long horns on its front that would curve back and protruding spikes under its jaws, its mouth, and on top of its muzzle like a rhino. Still, this dragon was magnificent, covered in gold from head to claws. Its eyes were glowing bright white and it bellowed out a roar that shook the heavens and the earth, similar to the Divine Wind. Though lacking of damage, the golden dragon's message was clear; its glowing eyes stopped to reveal bright blue gems, glaring straight at the red feathered and scaled beast.

Fury was the only thing that could describe its emotion as the golden dragon took flight, hovering in the middle of the sky at the same level as the red beast. It lifted its head to the sky, screeching out and a strange orb of light was forming in its mouth, growing bigger and brighter like a star forming into the sun. Then, it faced the red beast and the orb of light fired a jet ray of light. The red beast dodged it in time, but the attack kept going, heading straight for the town near the port.

BOOM! The top of the tower was hit and it went off in a large explosion, crumbling into the ground. Temeraire was shocked, everyone was—but the red enemy who barked out a laugh, exclaiming, "Brilliant! Amazing! Such power!"

His words, however, provoked the golden dragon—his Laurence—as it started racing at the red beast at high speeds. He collided right at him and they began to claw at each other. Temeraire charged after them, ignoring his friends' calls as he joined the fight. Both he and the golden dragon were now pushing the red beast back.

Then they heard another roar and Temeraire had to shove Laurence out of the way before a white flying serpent came right at them with razor sharp claws and it managed to hit Temeraire's side, blood gushing out. He landed on the ground with the gold, who tried to get back up, wanting to go after the red beast as it roared.

"Another time, Mr. Laurence! Temeraire!" The red beast said as it started, retreating and so did the white serpent along with the three other unknown, middle weight dragons. All of them disappeared above the thick cover of clouds.

Laurence, still blindly mad, slipped away from Temeraire's hold and darted out to the sky. Temeraire called him, "Laurence!" Then he went after him.

When they were above, they have already disappeared and this sent the golden dragon on a rage. It produced that orb of light once more and it fired, bursting through the black clouds and hitting the earth with devastating results—so close to the town, the people there began panicking and running for their lives into the ocean.

"Temeraire! We need to get him to stop!" Lily shouted. "Call off your Captain!"

"He's not listening!" Temeraire said, but he kept trying. "Laurence! Laurence, stop!"

They couldn't get close to him without getting hit by that light and they had to stay away from a good distance as the golden dragon kept hitting everywhere without any aim. Temeraire watched from afar, seeing his Laurence's eyes blinded with rage. He didn't know what was happening to his captain—or whether or not, if that was still his captain.

"LAURENCE!" Temeraire tried once more and this time the Golden Dragon did stop. Did he finally listen? No. Something else caught the dragon's attention and he sped away. Temeraire flew after him, being the only one that could match the dragon's pace, but he was surprised to find another dragon, other than his own family, to match his speed.

Laurence had flown down upon a wide ranch and without any sense, started killing the cattle: five to seven of them were raked down and killed instantly. The herder was heard protesting, but dared not interfere as he ushered his family to run. Chenery had to go down there with Dulcia to explain what was happening, or make a lie about a feral on the loose and they needed to capture it.

Temeraire landed not too far away and so did the others, as they watched the golden dragon ravenously eating one cow after another, ripping through it and gobbling it up very easily. He ate three cows in a couple of minutes and he was still hungry, getting more that was trapped behind the fence, unable to escape from the jaws of sharp teeth. Laurence slowed a bit down now as he continued to chew and eat properly.

"How rude! Stealing cows! They are not his!" Iskierka exclaimed.

"We can pay for it—um… I think," Temeraire said, looking over to Laurence, who was now tearing at his fifth cow.

"You may have to pardon him for it, he does look too skinny," Granby stated and they looked closer to see the black spot where his belly is and sure enough, the ribs were showing. Tharkay added, "It would seem like they were starving him."

Laurence patted the sixth cow, playing with it first, before biting at its neck and dislodging its head. He left the head alone for a moment and went for bottom part, saving the head for last.

"He is eating an awful lot. He would get fat," Kulingile said and Maximus nodded, saying, "I agree with him, Temeraire. Your captain will get fat."

Temeraire did not like how his friends were making such remarks at Laurence. "He will not get fat! In fact, you two should be the last ones to say such things!"

Berkeley barked out a laugh, patting his dragon. "He is right! Compared to Laurence, you are much more of glutton!" Maximus grumbled a bit at that, settling down as they continued watching as Laurence finished with his six. The golden dragon was covered in so much gore and blood from the frantic eating, but at least, had not waste any scrap. He was now cleaning and licking his claws.

"Captain Chenery! Captain Little! Captain Warren! Go to Portsmouth Covert and inform Admiral Vinson at what happened and that he may need to come here and see it for himself," Captain Harcourt said and she then she turned to Berkeley and ordered, "Berkeley! Sutton! You and I go to the building where the enemy was staying and secure the location! Captain Demane, watch over…um…Laurence…"

"Yes, Captain!" Demane said, agreeing, but he looked at the golden dragon with uncertainty. It was so strange and odd to see the Captain and their most favored gentleman in the covert to become… a dragon.

Temeraire slowly approached the golden dragon, who noticed him soon when he was several meters away. Laurence, not recognizing Temeraire, snarled and hissed at him. The celestial was filled with distraught when his Laurence reacted that way and he lowered his head, rumbling, "Laurence… please, it's me, do you not understand me?"

Laurence didn't as he began to grow tense and it showed with his scales protruding out. He stood crouching and letting a low growl. Temeraire took a step back and then the growling stopped. Laurence crouched low again, lying down, and Temeraire looked closely to see those tired blue eyes, still glaring—but they were tired. Temeraire decided that maybe Laurence would just need some sleep.

"Laurence, it is okay… you will be fine, my captain. No one is going to hurt you anymore, I am here now, Laurence," Temeraire spoke softly as he slowly approached him now and sure enough the golden dragon listened to his words and made no attempt to warn the big black dragon to go away.

"Go ahead and sleep now, Laurence… I'll protect you…" Temeraire kept saying such comforting words until he was right by the golden dragon's side. Laurence had curled up and laid his head down, falling into deep sleep.

"I will be here, Laurence…" Then Temeraire curled up around the smaller gold dragon and fell asleep with him, a tail curved around the other protectively.