Iskierka

Iskierka's hatching. (c) Anke Eissmann

### Appearance

Red with horns, black-rimmed green "leopard" spots, and numerous steam-emitting body spikes; purple armor plates on belly; yellow eyes

## Book Appearances

### Books

* *Black Powder War*
* *Empire of Ivory*
* *Victory of Eagles*
* *Tongues of Serpents*
* *Crucible of Gold*
* *Blood of Tyrants*
* *League of Dragons*

## Biography

Iskierka's parents are Turkish Kaziliks, Bezaid and Sherazde, who guarded the palace of Sultan Selim III. The British Aerial Corps bought her egg and two others for 500,000 pounds sterling. The Kazilik egg was the most important one, which would at last bring a Fire breather into the British breeding stock.

#### Turkey

Orders were sent to William Laurence in China to fetch the three eggs home. By the time he reached Turkey with Temeraire's crew and their guide Tharkay, the British embassy and the payment for the eggs have vanished. After a lengthy diplomatic impasse, it becomes evident that the sultan has received the promised payment but reneged on the agreement, likely at the urging of Lung Tien Lien. Temeraire and his crew seize all three eggs and flee, but the smallest egg and a young crewman fell to their deaths in the escape.

#### Eastern Europe

Instead of taking the remaining two eggs straight back to Britain, Laurence and Temeraire are refused permission to leave by the Pussian Prince, they are to remain and aid the eastern-front campaign against Napoleon Bonaparte in leu of the 20 dragons that the British promised them, but never arrived. Temeraire tells the eggs about the hatching process while "nurse-maiding" them through the next few months of military disaster.

The Kazilik egg hatches in partitioned Poland while Temeraire and his crew are fleeing from the French. Temeraire is reluctant to give up both his food and John Granby to the dragonet, and suggested that Ensign Allen could be more readily spared from his crew, but Laurence persuads him to acquiesce.

The dragonet promptly accepts Granby but insists on naming herself, which is apparently unprecedented in the Corps. The name she chose is "Iskierka", from a Polish folksong which a local girl had been singing nearby.

(The literal translation of *iskierka* is "little spark", an affectionate diminutive. The song may have been *Bajka iskierki* ("Little Spark's Fairytale"), a popular Polish lullaby by Janina Porazińska.)

As a hatchling, Iskeirka is very feisty and bloodthirsty. She challenges Temeraire over a cow when she is barely a day old (and is still small enough to be merely picked up between his teeth). As she grows, she has to be chained down to stop her leaping into battle. To her great delight, she is finally permitted to flame at pursuing French dragons during the escape from Danzig.

#### Britain

Iskierka remains difficult to control upon arriving in Britain. After learning that Temeraire's platinum breastplate was bought with Laurence's prize money from taking the Amitie. When she wants to build a pavilion for herself she decides that she has to earn her own "Capital" so she steals a fishing boat and presenting it as a "prize". Temeraire explains the difference and no, burning the ship down wont get her any money, it has to be captured whole and can be put into service for the British.

Even before reaching full growth, she can ignite targets from 80 yards (twice the range of a Flamme-de-Gloire) and breathe fire for a full five minutes without stopping. The British Naval ships blockading the Channel take to watching her flame against a ruined tower and cheering her on.

However, she is not particularly mindful of its trajectory or anyone in that direction; her willfulness and lack of discipline sometimes resulted in injuries within her own formation.

Jane Roland uses her full authority as an admiral to tell Iskierka that Granby might return to Temeraire's crew instead of remaining with a disobedient dragon. Iskierka agrees to follow orders that she dislikes, though she demands that some of the orders should still be agreeable to her.

Iskierka becomes adept at winning "capital" while patrolling the Channel with Arkady and the other ferals, capturing many French ships as prizes. She earnes enough money to build herself a pavilion and buy increasingly ornate gold-braided coats and jeweled swords for Granby to wear, rather against his own sense of decorum.

#### Britain

During the invasion of Britain, she and Granby are captured by the French due to her self-willed behavior. Afterward, Wellesley orders Granby in her presence to abandon her if she repeats this degree of insubordination again. Iskierka is horrified, and becomes more manageable for the remainder of the campaign.

Iskierka's brief period of obedience enda with the French invasion being repelled. She tells Temeraire to give her an egg, wanting to produce a dragonet with the double abilities of fiery breath and the divine wind. Granby suggested that those traits might not necessarily combine in the way she hopes, but she will not listen. In any case, Temeraire is rather repelled by her proposition, and refuses it.

### Australia, 1808-1809

from *Tongues of Serpents*

Laurence and Temeraire are deported for Australia on the *HMS Allegiance*. Of her own accord, Iskierka takes Granby with her to the *Allegiance* and proceeds to Australia with them. Temeraire keeps her away from the three dragon eggs that has been entrusted to them by the Aerial Corps for hatching in the new colony. She takes little interest when Caesar hatches and chooses Jeremy Rankin as his captain.

Iskierka and Granby accompanies Temeraire, Caesar, their crews, and a volunteer work gang on an expedition into the Blue Mountains. Temeraire also takes the remaining two eggs with him, one of which is stolen at the end of the first week; Iskierka helps his search for the thieves for two more weeks, then returns with Granby to Sydney to tell Tom Riley and other authorities the reason for the delay.

Iskierka and Granby rejoin the search party near a large salt lake, approximately a month later. By that time, the remaining egg has hatched Kulingile, who is still unable to fly. Iskierka agrees to carry Kulingile for the next few weeks, until his air sacs unexpectedly inflates and he becomes buoyant.

The entire party remains together for the rest of their journey up to the Larrakia/Chinese trading post on the northern coast, then back again to Sydney.

#### South America

Granby and Iskierka accompanied Laurence and Temeraire as envoys to Rio. They were all nearly killed when the *Allegiance* was sunk enroute. Iskierka, Kulingile and Temeraire had to fly for days, only to be captured by a French dragon transport ship. The French were attempting to marry the Incan Empress to Napoleon, who had just divorced his wife Josephine. The Empress's companion dragon, Maila Yupanqui, however took a liking to Iskierka. He was further impressed with her when she beat Manca Copacati in battle for he had not been defeated in many years.

Maila wished to sire an egg with a fire-breathing dragon. Thus it was proposed that Iskierka and Maila would mate and so should Granby and the Empress. Arthur Hammond was delighted that the English were able to propose a candidate to rival Napoleon. But Granby was mortified at being bred in this manner. He felt forced to confess that he was not interested in women, to William Laurence. While Iskierka did not see why it mattered and insisted she, of course, knew about his relations with Captain Little.

In any case, Napoleon succeeds in winning the Empress as his bride and the English dragons are chased out of the Empire. Though they are nearly killed several times (and once only spared through the intervention of Churki), Granby is relieved. And the ploy worked out well for Iskierka as well, who manages to make Temeraire jealous of Maila and convince him it was a good idea for them to have an egg together.

#### Japan, China, and Spain

After the shipwreck of the *HMS Potentate* near Nagasaki, Japan, Iskierka successfully produces an egg sired by Temeraire in South America. It has a "splendid smooth pale-cream shell speckled with a very attractive pattern of red and violet spots, and one notable larger marking shaped roughly like a number eight", or "the shape of a cloud".

Laurence notes that the egg's shell is "unremarkable", but has "a tender softness not unlike the head of his nine-day-old nephew". He also said of it, "A remarkable egg...perfectly hearty, and the size prodigious...I am sure it will do very well; extraordinarily well."

After the laying of the egg, Iskierka accompanies Temeraire, Maximus, Lily, and the others of their covert from Japan to Peking, China. After learning of the death of Lung Tien Chuan, Temeraire and Iskierka's egg is left in Peking with the hopes that it might hatch into a new Celestial to be Prince Mianning's companion.

After finishing the Chinese campaign, Iskierka returns with the rest of the dragon's, except Temeraire, to the Peninsula, particularly Spain, to guard against an attack from Napoleon's forces there.

#### France

When she hears that Napoleon or Lien has stolen her egg from the Chinese, she and Granby set off to rescue it. They meet up with Temeraire and party over the mountains and they all fall into a trap set by Napoleon and are captured. They are taken to the Palace where Napoleon is entertaining dragons from all over the world to enlist their aid in a new world order where dragons are given set territories. The Dragons and Humans are separated and it is with great difficulty that they exchange messages, but they manage.

Temeraire and Iskierka make a plan and when an unexpected disturbance among the dragons distracts their guards, Iskierka sets a small fire in their pavilion that gets a bit out of hand. With the new distract Temeraire steals away and grabs the egg, but they realize that they have to leave their humans behind as they can't do both. But the egg decides to hatch while they are flying, so quickly set down near a lake while still on the Palace grounds. Ning proves to be a major hand full and explains that she didn't want to be taken away from Napoleon, yet as she might like to be the companion of a future Emperor and wants to meet with Napoleon's son first before meeting Prince Mianning. When she learns that Napoleon's son is just a baby, she agrees to help her parents rescue their humans and go to England. She sets the Palace on fire, with a new kind of fire, a cross between the Divine Wind and Iskierka's fire.

Laurence, Tharkay, and Granby first save Napoleon's children and nurse maids before securing Napoleon with Lien, makes their way from the soldiers, Temeraire finds them with Iskierka and the hatched egg.

## References

1. ↑ Novik, Naomi. Black Powder War: A Novel of Temeraire (p. 319). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.