Cursor's Fury (Codex Alera #3)(219)

"Because that's all they ever have used," Max said. "No one could have seen that coming. This is the first time I've heard of it."

"All the same," Tavi said.

"No," Max said. "Crows take it, Calderon. You've done a sight more than anyone expected you to do. Probably more than you should have been able to do. Stop blaming yourself. You didn't send the Canim here."

In the dark, another Cane's scream came up from the river.

Tavi let out a tired laugh. "You know what bothers me the most?"

"What?"

"When I was at the riverbank, and those Canim were coming for me, and those lions came up. For just a second..." He shook his head. "I thought that maybe it was something I'd done. Maybe they were my furies. Maybe I wasn't..." His throat tightened and closed almost shut.

Max spoke quietly from the darkness. "Father never let me manifest a fury. A creature, you know? Like your uncle's stone hound, or Lady Placida's fire falcon. But he never taught me anything about water, and in the library there was this old book of stories. There was a water lion like that in there. So... I pretty much taught myself all my watercraft. And since he wasn't around, it came out like that lion. Named him Androcles." Tavi couldn't be sure in the dimness, but he thought he might have seen Max blush. "It was kind of lonely for me, when my mother died."

"Crassus must have read the same book," Tavi said.

"Yeah. Funny. Never thought I'd have anything in common with him." He shifted his weight restlessly. "I'm sorry. That it wasn't what you'd hoped."

Tavi shrugged a shoulder. "It's all right, Max. Maybe it's time I stopped dreaming of having my own furies and got on with living. I've wanted them for so long, but... your furies don't make things different, do they."

"Not where it matters," Max said. "Not on the inside. My father always told me that a man's furycraft just makes him more of what he already is. A fool with furies is still a fool. A good man with furies is still a good man."

"Old Killian tried to tell me something like that," Tavi said. "The day of our combat final. The more I think about it, the more I think maybe he was trying to make me understand that there's more to the world than furies. More to life than what I can do with them."

"He was no fool," Max said. "Calderon. I know what you've done. I owe you my life, despite all my furycrafting. You were the one who stood at the end. And that goes double for Gaius. You've killed assassins and monsters all by yourself. You faced down a Canim warlord without arms or furycraft to protect you, and I don't know anyone else who would do that. That trap south of the bridge killed more Canim in an hour than the Legions have in the last ten years. And I still have no idea how you managed to stop their charge-I thought we were finished. And you did all of that without a single fury of your own." Max's fist lightly struck Tavi's armored shoulder. "You're a crowbegotten hero, Calderon. Furies or not. And you're a born captain. The men believe in you.'

Tavi shook his head. "Believe what?"

"Plenty," Max said. "They think you must be hiding some major furycraft to have survived that lightning strike. And not many of them really understood the whole plan with the sawdust and furylamps. They just saw you wave your hand, and the whole southern half of the town went up. You fought your way clear of the attack that killed the whole prime cohort-and some of those veterans were near Knight-level metalcrafters themselves." Another Cane screamed in the river, more distantly. "I guarantee you that right now, rumors are going around that you've got furies in the river killing Canim."