"Bujold, Lois McMaster - Chalion 3 - The Hallowed Hunt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bujold Lois McMaster)

УYou can smile!Ф From her tone, this was a wonder tantamount to his sprouting wings and flapping up to the ceiling. He glanced upward, picturing himself doing so. The winged wolf. What? He shook his head to clear it of these odd thoughts, but it just made him dizzy. Perhaps it was as well that Hergi had taken the blue bottle away with her.
Ijada stepped to the window onto the street, and Ingrey followed. Together they watched Hergi load her mistress into the wagon, its wheel repaired, under BernanТs anxious eye. The groom, or smith, or whatever he was took up the reins, clucking at the stubby horses, and the wagon trundled up the street and turned out of sight. Behind them in the chamber, the warden made herself busy unpacking a case evidently bound up for the road, but like BolesoТs coffin not loaded because of IngreyТs order of delay.
He was standing very close to Ijada, looking over her shoulder; he might readily reach up and rest his left hand on the nape of her neck, where her hair, lifted into its bundling net, revealed the pale skin. His breath stirred a stray strand there, yet she did not move away. She did turn her head, though, to meet his glance. No fear convulsed her features, no revulsion: just an intense scrutiny.
And yet she had seen not just that other vile thing, but his wolf; his defilement, his capacity for violence, was not rumor or gossip to her now, but a direct experience. Undeniable. She denies nothing. Why does she not recoil?
His perceptions spun. Turn it around: how did he feel about her cat? He had seen it, in that other reality, as clearly as she had seen his wolfishness. Logically, her defilement should seem twin to his own. Yet a god had passed her in the night, the mere brush of His cloak hem seeming a breath of exaltation. All the theological theories of all the Temple divines whoТd dinned their lessons into IngreyТs unwilling ear seemed to melt away under the pitiless gaze of some great Fact, hovering just beyond the reach of his reason. Her secret beast had been gloriously beautiful. Terror, it seemed, had a new and entrancing dimension today, one Ingrey had never before suspected.
УLord Ingrey,Ф she said, and her low voice troubled his blood, УI would follow Learned HallanaТs advice and go to the temple to pray.Ф She cast a wary glance at her warden. УPrivately.Ф
His mind lurched back into motion. It would be perfectly unexceptionable to conduct his prisoner to the temple without her chaperone; at this hour, it would be nearly deserted, and they might converse in plain sight undisturbed. УNo one would wonder if I escorted you to the altars of the gods to pray for mercy, lady.Ф
Her lips twisted. УSay justice, rather, and it would do.Ф
He backed a little from her and made a sign of assent. Turning, he dismissed the warden to whatever of her own affairs she cared to pursue for an hour, and saw Ijada out of the parlor. When they gained the street and turned up it, Ijada tucked her hand in his elbow and picked her way carefully over the damp cobbles, not looking at him. The temple loomed up at length, built of the gray stone of this district, its size and style and solidity typical of great AudarТs grandsonТs reign, before the Darthacan conquerors demonstrated that they, too, were capable of racking themselves to ruin in bloody kin wars.
They walked past the iron gates into the high-walled, quiet precincts, and under the imposing portico. The inner chambers were dim and cool after the bright morning outside, with narrow shafts of sunlight streaming down from the round windows high above. Some three or four persons were on their knees, or prone, before the MotherТs altar in Her chamber. Ijada stiffened briefly on IngreyТs arm; he followed her glance through the archway to the FatherТs altar to catch sight of BolesoТs coffin, set up on trestles, blanketed with brocades, and guarded by soldiers of the Red Dike city militia. But both the DaughterТs chamber and the SonТs were empty at this hour; Ijada turned into the SonТs.
She fell gracefully to her knees before the altar; less gracefully, Ingrey followed suit, sitting back on his heels. The pavement was cold and hard. A silence stretched between them as Ijada gazed upward. Ordering her prayers in her mind?
УWhat,Ф Ingrey began quietly, Уdid you think would happen to you once you reached Easthome? What had you planned to do?Ф
Her glance shifted to him, though she did not turn her head. In a like undertone, she replied, УI expect I shall be examined, by the KingТs justiciars or the Temple inquirers, or both. I should certainly expect the Temple inquirers will take an interest now, given what has lately happened and Learned HallanaТs letter. I plan to tell the exact truth, for the truth is my surest defense.Ф A wry smile twitched her lips. УBesides, itТs easier to remember, they say.Ф
Ingrey let out a long sigh. УWhat do you imagine Easthome is like, now?Ф
УWhyЧIТve never been there, but IТve always supposed it is a splendid place. The kingТs court must be its crown, of course, but Princess Fara told me tales of the river docks and the glassworks, the great Temple schoolsЧthe Royal College as well. Gardens and palaces. Fine dressmakers. Scriptoriums and goldsmiths and artisans of every sort. There are plays put on, and not just for holy days, but for the great lords in their high houses.Ф
Ingrey tried again. УHave you ever seen a flock of vultures circling the carcass of some great and dangerous beast, bull or bear, that is not quite dead enough yet? Most hold back, waiting, but some dart in to peck and tear, then duck away. All hover closer as the day wears on, and the sight of the wheeling death watch draws in more distant kin, hot with fear of missing the best tidbits when all close in at last for the disembowelment.Ф
Her lips thinned in distaste, and she turned her face toward him in question: What now?
УAt presentФЧIngrey dropped his voice to a growlЧУEasthome is more like that. Tell me, Lady Ijada, who do you think will be elected the next hallow king?Ф
She blinked. УWhy, I assumeЧPrince-marshal Biast.Ф BolesoТs elder and saner brother, now earning his rank under the tutelage of his fatherТs military advisors on the northwest border.
УSo many others had assumed, till the hallow king was struck down with that wasting disease, then this palsy-stroke. If the blow had held off for five more years, Hetwar believes the king might have secured BiastТs election in his own lifetime. Or if the old man had died quicklyЧBiast might have been rammed through on the momentum of grief, before the opposition could muster. Few could have foreseen or planned for this living half death, lasting months, giving time and motive for the worst, as well as the best and all between, to maneuver. To think. To whisper to each other. To be tempted.Ф Kin Stagthorne had held the hallow kingship for five generations; more than one other kin believed it might now be their turn to seize that high seat.
УWho, then?Ф
УIf the hallow king were to die tonight, not even Hetwar knows who would be elected next week. And if Hetwar doesnТt know, I doubt anyone else can guess, either. But by the pattern of bribes and rumors, Hetwar thought Boleso was to be a surprise candidate.Ф
Her brows flew up. УA bad one, surely!Ф
УA stupid and exploitable one. From the point of view of certain men, ideal. I thought such men were underestimating just how dangerous his erratic nature had become, and would have lived to regret their success. And that was before I knew of any bleeding of the uncanny into the mix.Ф Ingrey frowned. Had Hetwar known of BolesoТs blasphemous dabblings? УThe sealmaster was concerned enough to have me deliver a deposit of some one hundred thousand crowns to the archdivine-ordainer of Waterpeak, to secure his vote for Biast. His Grace thanked me in nicely ambiguous terms, I thought.Ф
УThe sealmaster bribed an archdivine?Ф
Ingrey winced at her tone, so innocently aghast. УThe only thing unusual about the transaction was me. Hetwar normally uses me to deliver his threats. IТm good at it. I especially enjoy it when they try to bribe or threaten me back. One of my few pleasures, leading them into ambush and then, ah, into enlightenment. I think I was intended to be a double message, for the archdivine was nervous enough. A fact that Hetwar putЕwell, wherever he puts such things.Ф
УDoes the sealmaster confide in you?Ф
УSometimes. Sometimes not.Ф Now, for example? УHe knows I have a curious mind, and feeds me tidbits now and then. But I do not press. Or I should get none.Ф
Ingrey took a deep breath. УSo. Since you have not taken my hints to heart, let me lay it out for you more plainly. You did not just defend your virtue, there on the top of BoarТs Head Castle. Nor did you merely offend the royal house of Stagthorne by making its scionТs death a public scandal. You upset a political plot that has already cost someone hundreds of thousands of crowns and months of secret preparation. And involved illicit sorcery of the most dangerous sort. I deduce from my geas that somewhere in Easthome is a manЧor menЧof power who does not want you blurting the truth about Boleso to anyone at all. Their attempt to kill you subtly has miscarried. I am guessing that the next attempt will be less subtle. Or were you picturing some heroic stand before a justiciar or inquirer as brave and honest as yourself? There may be such men, I do not know. But I guarantee you will meet only the other sort.Ф
Her jaw, he saw out of the corner of his eye, had set.
УI amЕirritated,Ф he finally chose. УI decline to be made a party to this. I can arrange your escape. Dry-shod, this time, with money and without hungry bears. Tonight, if you like.Ф There: disloyalty of secret thought made public words. As the silence grew thicker, he stared at the floor between his knees.
Her voice was so low it vibrated. УHow convenient for you. That way, you wonТt have to stand up to anybody. Nor speak dangerous truths to anyone for any honorТs sake. All can go on for you just as it was.Ф
His head snapped around. Her face had gone white.
УScarcely,Ф he said. УI have a target painted on my back now, too.Ф His lips drew back in a sort of grin, the one that usually made men step away from him.
УDoes that amuse you?Ф
Ingrey considered this. УIt stirs my interest, anyway.Ф
Ijada drummed her nails on the pavement. It sounded like the clicking of distant claws. УSo much for high politics. What about high theology?Ф
УWhat?Ф
УI felt a god brush past me, Ingrey! Why?Ф
He opened his mouth. Hesitated.
She continued in the same fierce whisper, УAll my life I have prayed, and all my life I have been refused answer. I scarcely believed in the gods anymore, or if I did, it was only to curse them for their indifference. They betrayed my father, who had served Them loyally all his life. They betrayed my mother, or They were powerless to save her, which was as bad or worse. If a god has come to me, He certainly hasnТt come for me! In all your calculating, how do you sum that?Ф
УHigh court politics,Ф said Ingrey slowly, Уare as godless as anything I know. If you press on to Easthome, you choose your death. Martyrdom may be a glory, but suicide is a sin.Ф
УAnd just what do you press on to, Lord Ingrey?Ф
УI have Lord Hetwar himself as a patron.Ф I think. УYou will have no one.Ф
УNot every Temple divine in Easthome can be venal. And I have my motherТs kin!Ф
УEarl Badgerbank was at that conference that dispatched me. Are you so sure he was there in your interests? IТm not.Ф
She hitched her skirts away from him. УI,Ф she announced, Уshall pray now for guidance. You may be quiet.Ф She flounced forward into the pose of deepest supplication, prone on the floor, arms outflung, her face turned from him.
Ingrey lay on his back and stared at the domed ceiling, angry, dizzy, and a little ill. HergiТs potion was beginning to wear off, he feared. His frustrated thought circled, then drifted, but not into piety. He let his tired eyelids shut.
After a formless time, IjadaТs tart voice inquired, УAre you praying or napping? And are you, in either case, done?Ф
He blinked his eyes open to find her standing over him. Napping, apparently, for he had not heard her rise. УI am at your disposal, lady.Ф He started to sit up, stifled a yelp, and lay back more carefully.