"It's war," Sabrino told the fliers in his wing. "We are ordered to Gozzo, to fight the Forthwegians. Is every man, is every beast, ready to depart within the hour?" A chorus of Aye! rang out, but one flier, nuisery on his face, raised a hand. Sabrino pointed to him. "Speak, Corbeo!"

"My lord," Corbeo said, "I regret to report that my dragon's tom wing membrane has not yet healed enough to let her fly." He hung his head in shame. "Had the war but waited another week-'

"It was not your fault, and it can't be helped," Sabrino said, adding,

"Cheer up, man! A week's not such a long time. You'll see our share of action, never fear. They may even throw you aboard a fresh mount before then, if they decide they need trained fliers in a hurry."

Corbeo bowed. "May it be so, lord!"

Sabrino shook his head. "No, for that would show our beloved kingdom was in great danger. I hope you relax and drink wine and pinch the pretty girls till your dragon heals." Corbeo bowed again, grinning now.

Pleased with himself, Sabrino addressed the whole wing: "Men, prepare to fly. My captains, to me."

One of the captains, Domiziano, asked the question Sabrino was about to address: "My lord, will we have force enough to turn back the invaders?"

"We must," Sabrino said simply. "Algarve depends on us. We yield as little ground as we can. Whatever we do" - he remembered Mezentiols words from the balcony - "we don't let Forthweg and Jelgava join hands."

"To block that, our lives mean nothing. Do you understand?" Domiziano and the other three squadron commanders nodded. Sabrino slapped each of them on the back. "Good. Splendid. And now we needs must ready ourselves as well."

When he was mounted at the join of his dragon's neck and shoulders, when he spurred the soft skin there and the beast sprang into the air, when the ground fell away beneath him and the dragon's wings thundered, he could understand for a moment why some people sighed over the great beasts. When the dragon twisted and tried to bite till he whacked it in the snout with a long-handled goad, he cursed those people, who knew nothing about real dragons, as a pack of fools.