Blood of Tyrants
Contents
Book 8
The eighth volume of the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik, released in the US August 13, 2013.
Story
I
Some time after the events of Crucible of Gold, the HMS Potentate enounters a fierce storm near Japan. In the resulting chaos, Laurence is lost overboard, and the Potentate becomes beached on a rock formation. Laurence survives these events, but washes up on the shores of Japan's Chizuken Province with no recollection of who he is. Confused and thirsty, he encounters a Japanese noble; Kaneko Hiromasa, who promptly has him taken to his home, despite the protests of his student Junichiro. The next day, Laurence remembers his name and identity, but assumes he is still the captain of the HMS Reliant.
Meanwhile, on the Potentate, Temeraire's attempts to go and search for Laurence are hampered by the others; not only do they secretly believe Laurence to be dead, but Iskierka reveals that she is likely to lay an egg soon, and Temeraire realises Laurence would want him to ensure the egg's safety first. After some discussion with the others about how to refloat the Potentate, Temeraire comes up with a plan to fly to the distant shores of Japan - where he can also secretly scout for Laurence - retrieve large tree trunks, and have the larger dragons of their contingent use them to lever the ship off the rocks, while the smaller dragons pull on the chains on the Dragondeck.
Flying to the coast, the dragons - each with a single person as crew - eventually find suitable trees, but they are confronted by a Sui-Riu, who promptly attacks them with a powerful blast of water after failing to get them to surrender the wood. However, shortly after being attacked by the Divine Wind, the dragon abandons the battle. Following this, the dragons return to the Potentate and begin their attempts to free it. Temeraire's plan ultimately works, but with an unforseen consequence; once freed by the levers, the Potentate begins falling towards him and the others, resulting in Temeraire being forced underwater. The others soon rescue him from drowning, but his injuries force the crew to make for Nagasaki; the only port open to westerners - to which Hammond had already suggested they visit, as an attempt to make amends for the attack on the strange dragon. Upon waking, Temeraire learns that Iskierka has laid their egg, but his injuries are still too severe, so he is restricted to the Potentate under the care of a Chinese doctor; Wen Shen.
In Chizuken Province, Laurence finds his valuable sword - at present his only possession - has been confiscated by Kaneko; as per the strict laws of the bakufu - the government of the Shogun of Japan. After some discussion into the matter - conducted in Chinese, which Laurence subconciously remembers - Kaneko concludes his actions are potentially threatening his liege; Lady Arikawa, and sends word to her. Despite this, Laurence later sneaks into Kaneko's office and retrieves his sword; shortly before the arrival of Lady Arikawa - a dragon - with Matsudaira; a magistrate. They ask Laurence's reasons for being in Japan; but after getting no real answer out of him, they decide to travel to Hakata Bay to continue. However, before they can begin the interrogation there, the Sui-Riu Lord Jinai arrives, and reports on his attack by a group of strange dragons which included a Celestial; extinct in Japan after Kublai Khan abducted the last egg.
Following this, Matsudaira accuses Laurence of being in league with the Chinese in a plot against Japan, and reveals that a British ship - the Phaeton - recently threatened to attack the ships at Nagasaki if they weren't supplied, but was sunk as a result. Laurence is soon taken away while the others discuss what to do with him, and he is later approached by Kaneko - who is revealed to have saved him in defiance of the bakufu's law as the result of a vow he made to care for any person he saw needing assistance - who reveals the seriousness of the situation, and notes that Lady Arikawa is considering speaking on their behalf to the bakufu; which would allow Laurence to honourably commit suicide - which Kaneko even offers to join him in. With little other option, Laurence decides to try and escape in the night, only to be released by Junichiro, who flees with him.
The next day, Laurence and Junichiro stop to rest at a shrine, only to encounter another Sui-Riu; Lady Kiyomizu or "Kiyo", who welcomes them as guests after identifying Laurence as a source of western poetry. During this time, Laurence talks with Junichiro, and learns that he helped him escape to prevent Kaneko from either breaking the law or his vow - which he reveals was made to the God Jizo, in the hopes that he would protect his deceased wife and son in the afterlife. Since Junichiro was a ronin - a masterless samurai - the dishonour will fall on him alone.
Later, Laurence explains to Kiyo that he must leave for Nagasaki, only for her to offer to carry them both there. Carrying them downstream, Kiyo eventually stops upon being alerted to a emergency at a village; where frost is threatening the crops. After getting Laurence and Junichiro to dismount, Kiyo swallows an immense amount of river water, heats it internally, and eventually regurgitates it into a irrigation basin to remove the frost. The village promptly brings gifts of food to Kiyo, but they regard Laurence with suspicion. After learning Kiyo plans to wait until the next day before leaving, Laurence decides to set off in the night; taking one of the villager's boats - and leaving a fragment of gold from Laurence's coat as payment.
At Nagasaki, a still-injured Temeraire notices a dragon wearing a seemingly-western harness on a Dutch ship - which he realises is keeping a distance due to technically being a lawful prize as a subject of France - and gets Nitidus to make contact - despite a brief protest by Lieutenant Forthing. The dragon soon travels to the Potentate and introduces itself as John Wampanoag, and reveals that it is one of the co-owners of an American trading company; their ship is merely disguised as a Dutch vessel. Wampanoag ends up going into detail about his business and how it got started; interesting the other dragons, and the next day returns with a gift for them all; a vast silver chain of glass beads that can be worn. Following this, Temeraire enquires with Wampanoag about sending a search party out for Laurence, and Wampanoag offers to talk with the Dutch and the Japanese on his behalf, although he considers it unlikely that Laurence has survived.
Not long afterwards, Temeraire witnesses the arrival of Lady Arikawa, and after some talk about their present situation - and the news of the loss of the Phaeton - Captain Blaise and Granby decide to fire a salvo and get their dragons to perform aerial maneuvers; to make a show of their might. Not long afterwards, Wampanoag returns to the Potentate; having recovered a tattered shirt that belonged to Laurence from the Japanese in Nagasaki. While Hammond talks with Wampanoag about diffusing the situation with the Japanese, Temeraire learns from Wen Shen that he is at last well again.
Meanwhile, Laurence and Junichiro continue downstream, only to encounter a lord and his party ferrying their number across the river. Their attempts to sneak past them fail, and they are forced to flee; ultimately abandoning their boat further downstream and walking for a while, before constructing a raft to cross another river. Eventually, they reach Nagasaki, only to find that Lady rikawa and Kaneko are already in the city. As they prepare to sneak to the harbour, Laurence recognises the Potentate as a British ship, and attempts to signal it, only for Kaneko to confront them; revealing Laurence is to be made prisoner. After learning that surrendering himself wouldn't save Kaneko's honour, Laurence duels him; only to be stopped by the arrival of Lady Arikawa. Before she can capture Laurence herself, Temeraire arrives; having witnessed the signal, and angrily retrieves Laurence; explaining the situation at the same time. However, Laurence does not recognise Temeraire, and upon return to the Potentate, the surgeons diagnose him with a form of "brain-fever", and note that he may not properly recover if he's overwhelmed with additional information by the others about what he's forgotten.
As Laurence slowly tries to settle on the Potentate, Wampanoag arrives and reports there is to be a proper farewell dinner - a matter of saving face - and adds that as a result of the recent events, the Japanese are seeking relations with the United States of America, and are requesting shipwrights. At the dinner, Laurence meets with Kaneko again, and learns that Lady Arikawa considers his honour satisfied, and has invited him to take up residence with her, although he fears he will diminish her standing. Laurence also informs him he will take Junichiro into his care, which Kaneko feigns interest about.
The next day, the Potentate sets sail for Tsien-sing, and Laurence goes to sit with Temeraire, who requests he read the Principia Mathematica to him.
II
III
Trivia
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Deviations From History
Aside from the obvious additions of dragons, the events in Temeraire follow the history of our own world quite closely. However, several differences do occur throughout the series. In "Blood Of Tyrants", the following differences occur:
- The President of the United States of America is said to be Tecumseh
