Cursor's Fury (Codex Alera #3)(170)

The First Spear and the argumentative centurion snapped to attention and saluted. "Sir," Marcus said.

The fish were a beat behind the centurions, and began to rise. Tavi felt certain that if they did, they'd knock the crude tables over and undo whatever they had accomplished.

"As you were," Tavi told them. "Get back to work." He nodded at Marcus. "First Spear. And Centurion...?"

"Cletus, sir."

"Centurion Cletus. I know your men are tired. We're all tired. We're going to get more tired. But crows take me if I let the Legion be tired and hungry. So find a storage building and secure the food."

Cletus clearly did not like the notion. No centurion would want his men to be forced into action while bone-tired from physical labor if he could possibly avoid it. But he was Legion to the core and nodded at once. "Yes, sir." He turned to leave.

Tavi nodded in approval. "Take one of the fish centuries to help you haul. Grains and dried meat first, the perishables after."

Cletus paused and bowed his head to Tavi in silent thanks, then departed.

The stocky First Spear had lost most of the short-cropped hair from one side of his head due to the fire, and the fresh-healed skin, where the healers had been able to help him most, was pink and shiny and slightly swollen. It made his scowl no less ferocious, his ugly, craggy face even uglier and craggier.

"Captain," Marcus growled. "Glad to see you back in one piece. Antillar said something about you scouting out the Canim."

"Not quite," Tavi said. "A scout picked up on a trail and tracked it back to..." Tavi glanced at the fish sitting at the tables.

"Right," Marcus said. "Boys, get out. Get some food and report back to your century."

"Magnus, send for Tribunes Antillar and Antillus, please," Tavi said. "I want them here for this."

"Right away, sir," Magnus said, and slipped out of the tent, leaving Tavi alone with the First Spear.

"You look like something the crows have been at, Marcus," Tavi said.

The First Spear narrowed his eyes at Tavi, then grunted out a muted chuckle. "Since I was a boy, sir."

Tavi grinned and sat down on one of the stools. "What's our status?"

The First Spear waved an irritated hand at the parchment-covered tables. "Difficult to say. Gracchus was a good Tribune Logistica, but his records were organized about as well as your average forest fire. We're still trying to sort out where everything is stored, and it's making it hard to get anything done."

Tavi sighed. "My fault. I forgot to appoint a replacement Tribune Logistica to coordinate before I left."

"To be fair, they wouldn't have gotten much done yet in any case."

"Ill take care of it. What about the militia?"

The First Spear scowled. "This is a major smuggling town, sir. "

Tavi grunted. "Graft, I take it?"

"They have the best council money can buy," he confirmed. "There weren't two hundred full suits of armor, and they hadn't been maintained very well. I think odds are pretty good that some of Kalarus's outlaw legionares are wearing the rest of the town's stores. Little bit better on swords, but not much. There are a lot of privately owned swords here, though. Placida sends them home with his legionares when they finish their service, and there are a lot of Placidan freemen that move out this way."

"What about the steadholts?" Tavi asked.

"Word's been sent, but it's going to take a while for any volunteers to arrive. So far, only men from the nearest circle of steadholts have showed up."