Cursor's Fury (Codex Alera #3)(58)

"You'll be glad to know that Maximus is recovering well," Tavi said, smiling politely. "In fact, he was rising to dress a few moments ago."

Lady Antillus looked past Tavi to the tent, frowning. "Was he? Did he seem himself?"

"As far as I could tell, Your Grace," Tavi said. "I believe that the captain intended to check on him as well."

Her tone turned flat, and she dropped even the pretense of being polite. "Did he."

"He takes the well-being of his men very seriously," Tavi said, trying to sound cheerfully oblivious to her reaction.

"Like a mother cares for her son, I suppose?" she muttered. She glanced at Crassus. "Perhaps we should go in immediate-"

"I also wished to ask you," Tavi said, walking over her words. "Maximus's injury is really rather unusual given that we haven't seen any actual combat. The healers in my last Legion favored strong wine and rare meat to restore an injury with so much blood loss, but I've read others who favor an herbal tea and increased vegetables."

"Read whom?" Lady Antillus demanded.

"Lord Placidus's treatise on common military injuries and complications, Your Grace."

Lady Antillus rolled her eyes. "Placidus should stick to tending his cows and leave the healing of nonedibles to those who know better," she said.

Tavi frowned at her, tilting his head. "How so, lady?"

"To begin with, Placidus rarely has to deal with injuries sustained upon a strenuous campaign," she said. "His forces are generally deployed on a short-term basis, and their provender reflects that fact. His herbals are fine for men who are eating fresh meat every day or two, but for men marching on jerky and hardtack, the dietary requirements for..." She frowned at him for a moment, her eyes narrowed. Then she waved one hand in a dismissive gesture. "Though I suppose Maximus is hardly the victim of a winter's privation, is he? Give him whatever is the most cost-effective."

"Yes, Your Grace," Tavi said, bowing his head. "Is there anything I should know about the preparation?"

"Why, Subtribune," Lady Antillus said. "If I didn't know better, I would think you were trying to interfere with my visit to my stepson."

Tavi lifted both eyebrows. "Your Grace? I'm sure I don't know what you mean."

She gave him a prim little smile. "I'm sure you don't know what you're playing with, Scipio." She glanced at the tent, then back at Tavi. "How long have you known my Maximus?"

Tavi fixed her with the same cheerful smile he had always used when his aunt Isana had asked him loaded questions, relying upon her empathie senses to gather information from the answers. He had learned to baffle her before he turned thirteen years old. He certainly wasn't going to allow this creature to do what his aunt could not. "A season or so. We traveled here together from the capital."

She frowned faintly, narrowing her eyes. "You seem quite close to him for such a brief acquaintance."

Tavi threw in a bit of truth in order to confuse the issue. "We were attacked by armed bandits on the way here. We fought them together."

"Ah," Lady Antillus said. "A bonding experience. Are you sure you didn't meet him before that?"

"Your Grace?" Tavi said. "No, I'm certain that I'd have remembered it. Max is the sort to stand out in one's memory."

Crassus snorted quietly.

Lady Antillus glared at her son, then turned back to Tavi. "I was told he was quite close to a page in service to the Crown."