Gherni

Character Profile

Name:	Gherni
Date of Birth:
Breed:	Unknown (Feral)
Captain:	None
National Loyalty:	None
Appearance:	Blue and white; little larger than Greyling
Special Abilities:
Status:	Active

Biography

Gherni was a young and adventurous member of Arkady's band. She was caught in the avalanche in the Pamirs that Temeraire caused when he used the Divine Wind to threaten the ferals. Since she was uninjured, Temeraire insisted that she help dig his crew out, after which she led Temeraire, his crew and an injured feral dragon (possibly Lester) back to Arkady's cave.

Gherni had hatched in the lowlands and knew more Turkish than the other ferals, most of whom spoke only Durzagh. This enabled her to act as an interpreter for the band. She accompanied Arkady to Istanbul. Because she was more familiar with the lowland landscape than the other ferals, she had fun taunting them for being afraid.

Gherni was one of the twenty dragons who came with Arkady and Tharkay to Prussia and from there to Britain.

During the ferals' first patrol with Temeraire along the British coast, they were attacked by a group of French dragons. Lester and Gherni worked together to attack a Pou-de-Ciel. Wringe was injured in this attack, and the other dragons took her to the Weymouth covert, a rather small one. As there was not enough room in the crew quarters there for Laurence, Lt. Ferris invited Laurence to his family's home nearby.

Later on that night, a message arrived that there was a Fleur-de-Nuit bothering the ships off Boulogne. Gherni located Laurence and Ferris, and sent a call up to Temeraire. At first, Ferris's family thought that Gherni - whose head did not come up to the second-story windows - was the dragon Ferris was assigned to. They were rather startled when Temeraire arrived shortly afterwards.

When Arkady's band began assisting Iskierka in capturing French ships as prizes, Gherni and Lester were small enough to land directly on the captured ships, terrifying the sailors and ensuring their cooperation.