Jim Butcher - Cursors's Fury

“Dismissed.”

Schultz led his fellow recruits out of the tent, and only a second later the flap flew open again and an armored Knight entered, accompanied by the beautiful Lady Antillus. The Knight jerked to a stop upon seeing Max in the tub, his mouth dropping open. Lady Antillus drew in a breath, placing the fingers of one hand over the bodice of her blue-on-blue silk gown, her eyes wide.

For some reason he could never have put a name to, Tavi did not believe Lady Antillus’s gesture was a genuine one. It was too smooth, perhaps, too flowing to be true shock and distress.

“Great furies preserve,” she said. “What has happened to my stepson?”

“According to the recruit whose weapon struck him, it was a training accident, my lady,” Cyril said.

Lady Antillus’s expression grew distressed. “He looks horrible. I take it that Foss has seen to him?”

Foss grunted from the floor. “Aye, m’lady. But he lost a lot of blood.”

“What is his prognosis?” she asked the healer.

“Urn. What?” Foss asked.

“He’s not in immediate danger,” Tavi interjected. “But the extent of the damage that may have been inflicted by blood loss is not yet clear.”

Lady Antillus’s attention turned to Tavi, and he could feel the full, throbbing force of her personality behind that gaze. She was not a tall woman, in particular, and she had dark hair that fell in a straight, shimmering curtain to her hips. Her face was pale, with a touch of the perpetually ruddy cheeks that come to those living in the northern climates, and her eyes were the color of deep amber. She had stark cheekbones and thin lips, and taken together it made her look too harsh to be conventionally beautiful-but the grace of her carriage and the steady, burning fires of intelligence in her amber eyes combined into an impressive, attractive whole.

Once again, Tavi was struck with the notion that she looked familiar to him, but for the life of him he could not track down the proper memory.

“I don’t believe we’ve spoken, young man,” she said.

Tavi bowed to her at the waist. “Subtribune Scipio Rufus, m’lady. I, of course, know who you are.”

The Knight stepped forward, staring at the silent Max. It wasn’t until he did that Tavi realized that he was several years younger than Tavi himself. He was a little under average height and slender. His hair was long and auburn, his eyes ivy green, and his armor was of masterful quality-and completely unmarred.

“Mother,” the young Knight said quietly, “he looks like death. Shouldn’t we… do something? Take care of him?”

“Of course, we-”

“No,” Captain Cyril said, overriding her with his own voice.

Lady Antillus stared at Cyril in shock. “Excuse me?”

The captain bowed slightly toward her. “Beg pardon, lady. I ought to have said, ‘not yet.’ The centurion has endured a great shock, but his injuries have been ably closed. I judge that he needs rest, first. Any further crafting could tax whatever strength remains in him and do more harm than good.”

“Right,” the young Knight said, nodding. “He’s got a point, Mother-”

“Crassus,” Lady Antillus snapped, her voice cool and edged.

The young Knight dropped his eyes and shut his mouth at once.

Lady Antillus turned back to Cyril. “In good conscience I must ask: Are you actually arrogant enough to think you know better than a trained watercrafter? Are you a Tribune Medica, Captain?”

“I am the Tribune Medica’s commanding officer, Tribune ,” Cyril said in a perfectly calm voice. “I am the man who can tell the Tribune Medica either to follow her orders or depart the service of this Legion.”

Lady Antillus’s eyes widened. “Do you dare speak to me so, Captain?”

“Leave this tent. That is my order, Tribune.”

“Or what follows?” she asked in a quiet voice.

“Or I will discharge you in dishonor and have you escorted from this camp.”

Lady Antillus’s eyes flashed with anger, and the air of the tent suddenly became stiflingly warm. “Beware, Cyril. This is foolishness.”

The captain’s mild tone never changed. “This is foolishness, what, Tribune?”

Heat rolled off the High Lady as if from a large kitchen oven, and she spat, “Sir.”

“Thank you, Tribune. We’ll discuss this again when Maximus has had the chance to rest.” Then his own eyes and expression hardened for the first time, and the captain’s face looked harder than the steel of armor or sword. His voice dropped to barely a murmur. “Dismissed.”

Lady Antillus spun on her heel and stalked from the tent. The heat of her anger lingered, and Tavi felt his face beading with sweat.

“And you, Sir Crassus,” Cyril said, his voice assuming its more usual, brisk tones. “We’ll take care of him.”

Crassus nodded once without lifting his eyes, then hurried out.

Silence fell over the tent. Cyril let out a long breath. Tavi mopped at the sweat now running into his eyes. The only sound was that of droplets of water falling from the crafting tub as Max breathed, the slight motion overflowing the tub’s edge, here and there.

“Someone’s never getting promoted ever again,” observed Foss from his place on the floor.

Cyril showed the exhausted healer a fleeting smile before shrugging his shoulders and straightening his spine, reassuming his usual air of detached command. “There’s not much trouble she can cause for me by accusing me of issuing orders to a lawful subordinate.”

“Not official trouble,” Tavi said quietly.

“What are you saying, Subtribune?”

Tavi glanced at his friend, silent in the tub. “Accidents happen.”

Cyril met Tavi’s eyes and said, “Aye. They do.”

Tavi tilted his head. “You knew. That’s why you welcomed Max to the staff meeting. To warn him that she was here.”

“I simply wanted to make an old friend welcome,” Cyril said.

“You don’t think that recruit hurt Max. You knew that she was outside. That was for her benefit, to make her think that you didn’t realize what was happening.”

The captain’s frown deepened. “Excuse me?”

“Captain,” Tavi began. “Do you think that Lady-”

“No,” Cyril said, sharply, raising warning a hand. “I don’t think that. And neither do you, Scipio.”

Tavi grimaced. “But it’s why you didn’t want her close to Max.”

“I simply gave her an order and made sure she followed it,” Cyril said. “But be careful with your words, Scipio. Should you say the wrong thing and be overheard, you’ll find yourself in juris macto with the High Lady. She’d burn you to cinders. So unless you get something solid, so solid that it will stand up in a court of law, you keep your mouth shut and your opinions to yourself. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir,” Tavi replied.

Cyril grunted. “Foss.”

“I never hear or remember or repeat anything, sir.”

“Good man,” Cyril said. “When Maximus wakes up, we need to have a familiar face here. He’s going to be confused, disoriented. As strong as he is, he could do some damage if he panicked.” Cyril drummed his fingers idly against the hilt of his sword. “I’ve got an hour or so. Scipio, go tell Gracchus that I’m giving you special duty for a day or two. Get a big meal. Bring some food with you. I’ll spell you, or send the First Spear in my place.”

Tavi swallowed. “Do you really think he’s in danger, sir?”

“I’ve said everything I intend to. The important thing now is to prevent any further accidents. Now move.”

“Yes, sir,” Tavi said, and saluted.

But then he paused at the door to the tent. Max was helpless. It was a horrible, cynical thought, but what if the captain’s confrontation with the High Lady had been staged for Tavi’s benefit? What if by walking away from Max, Tavi was in fact condemning his friend to death?