Cursor's Fury (Codex Alera #3)(59)

"Could be, Your Grace," Tavi agreed. "But you'd have to ask him about it."

"Would I?" she pressed. "Are you sure you are not the young man from Calderon, Subtribune?"

"I was only stationed there for a week or so before the battle, Your Grace. After that, I was based at a town named Marsford, about twenty miles south of Riva."

"You are not Tavi of Calderon?" she asked.

Tavi shrugged his shoulders at her and smiled. "Sorry."

She answered his smile with her own, wide enough to show her sharply pointed canines. "Well. That's cleared up. Now be a dear for me, Subtribune, and light this campfire? '

Tavi felt his smile falter for a second. "Beg pardon?"

"The campfire," Lady Antillus said, as though speaking to the village idiot. "I think an herbal tea would be nice for all of us to enjoy if Maximus is up and about. You've had your basic furycrafting. I've seen your record. So, Subtribune Scipio. Light the campfire."

"Mother, I'll get it for-" Crassus began.

She flicked her hand in a slicing gesture, and her smile grew wider. "No, darling. After all, we are Legion, are we not? I have given dear Scipio a lawful order. Now, he must follow it. Just like all the rest of us."

"Light the fire?" Tavi asked.

"Just a little firecrafting," she said, nodding. "Go ahead, Subtribune."

Tavi squinted at her, then up at the sun and chewed on his lip. Til be honest with you, Your Grace. Fire isn't my best subject. I haven't practiced it since my tests."

"Oh, don't sell yourself so short, Scipio," Lady Antillus said. "It isn't as though you're some kind of freak with no crafting at all."

Tavi made himself smile as naturally as he knew how. "Of course not. But it might take me a moment."

"Oh," she said, gathering her skirts and stepping away from the campfire, laid but not lit, before the infirmary tent. "I'll give you a bit of room, then."

"Thank you," Tavi said. He went over to the fire, squatted, and drew his knife. He took one of the more slender sticks lying in an upright tent-shaped stack, and struck a small mound of shavings from it in rapid order.

Tavi glanced up to find Lady Antillus watching from ten feet away. "Don't let me distract you," she said.

Tavi smiled at her. Then he rubbed his hands on his thighs and stretched them out over the tinder, narrowing his eyes.

Behind him, Max emerged from the tent and walked toward them, his steps growing louder. "Oh," he drawled, his voice still a bit weak. "Hullo, stepmother. What are you doing? '

"Watching your friend Scipio demonstrate his firecrafting skills, Maximus," she said, smiling. "Don't spoil it by helping. He'll miss the chance to prove himself."

Max's steps faltered for a second, but he kept walking. "You can't take his basic fieldcraft on faith?"

Lady Antillus sounded like she was almost laughing. "I'm sorry, darling. Sometimes I just need to have my trust in others vindicated."

"Scipio..." Max said, lowering his voice.

"Leave off, Max," Tavi growled. "Can't you see I'm concentrating, here?"

There was a brief silence in which Tavi's imagination provided him with an image of Max staring openmouthed at his back. Then he set his shoulders, let out a quiet grunt of effort, and a wisp of smoke curled up from the tinder.

Tavi leaned over and blew gently on the spark, feeding it more shavings, then small pieces, then larger ones, until the fire was going strong and set to the prepared sticks of the campfire. They took in short order, and Tavi brushed off his pants, rising.