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

УWas your chamber comfortable?Ф he inquired, neutrally polite, too aware of the two guardsmen in earshot still finishing their repast at the trestle table across the room.
УIt sufficed.Ф Her return frown was searching, but better than that hazardous smile.
He thought of asking after her dreams, but hesitated for the fear that this would prove not a neutral topic at all. Perhaps he might dare to ride by her side for a time later today; she seemed fully capable, once given the lead, of carrying on an oblique conversation before unfriendly ears that might convey more information than it appeared.
The sound of horsesТ hooves and a jingle of harness from outside turned both their heads. УHalloo the house!Ф a hoarse voice shouted, and the tapster-and-owner scurried out through the hall to greet these new customers, pausing to send a servant to roust the stableboys to take the gentlemenТs horses.
IjadaТs nostrils flared; she drifted toward the door in the innkeeperТs wake. Ingrey drained his clay beaker and followed, left hand reflexively checking his sword hilt. He came up behind her shoulder as she stepped onto the wooden porch.
Four armed men were dismounting. One was clearly a servant, two wore a familiar livery, and the lastЕIngreyТs breath stopped in surprise. And then blew out in shock.
Earl-ordainer Wencel kin Horseriver paused in his saddle, his reins gathered in his gloved hands. The young earl was a slender man, wearing a tunic from which gold threads winked under a leather coat dyed wine-red. The coatТs wide collar was trimmed with marten fur, disguising his uneven build. His dark blond hair, lightened with a few streaks of premature gray, hung to his shoulders in ratty corkscrew strands, disheveled by his ride. His face was elongated, his forehead prominent, but his odd features were redeemed from potential ugliness by sharp blue eyes, fixed now on Ingrey. His presence here on this bright morning was unexpected enough. But the shockЕ
It seemed partly a scent, though borne on no breeze, partly a shadow, an intense density that made Wencel seem, somehow, vastly more there than any man around him. The scent was a little acrid, like urine, a little warm, like sweet hay, and deeply potent. And it appeared in IngreyТs mind without passing through his nostrils. He bears a spirit animal.
Too.
And I have never perceived it before.
IngreyТs head jerked toward Ijada; her face, also, had gone still with astonishment.
She senses itЧsmells it? Sees it? And it is a new thing to her as well. How new is it?
The perceptions, it appeared, ran three ways, for Wencel sat up with his head cocked, eyes widening, as his gaze first summed Ingrey, then turned to Ijada. WencelТs lips parted as his jaw dropped a fraction, then tightened again in a crooked smile.
Of the three of them, the earl recovered first. УWell, well, well,Ф he murmured. A pair of gloved fingers waved past his forehead in salute to Ingrey, then went to his heart to convey a shadow-bow to Ijada. УHow very strangely met we three are. I have not been so taken by surprise forЕlonger than you would believe.Ф
The innkeeper began a gabble of welcome, intercepted, at a jerk of WencelТs chin, by one of his guardsmen, who took the man aside, presumably to explain what would be wanted of his humble house by his highborn guests. By trained civility, Ingrey went to WencelТs horseТs head, though he did not really want to stand any nearer to the earl. The animal snorted and sidled at his hand on the bridle, and his grip tightened. The horseТs shoulders were wet with sweat from the morningТs gallop, the chestnut hairs curled and darkened, white lather showing between its legs. Whatever brings him, Wencel wastes no time.
Staring down at Ingrey, Wencel drew a long breath. УYou are just the man I wanted to see, cousin. Lord Hetwar takes pity on your aversion to ceremony, so repeatedly expressed in your otherwise laconic letters. So I am sent to take over my late brother-in-lawТs cortege. A family duty, as IТm the only relative neither prostrate with grief, laid down with illness, or still stuck on bad roads halfway to the border. A royal show of equipment and mourners follows on to join us in Oxmeade. I had thought to meet you there last night, according to your ever-changing itineraries.Ф
Ingrey licked dry lips. УThat will be a relief.Ф
УI thought it might be.Ф His eyes went to Ijada, and the sardonic, rehearsed cadences ceased. He lowered his head. УLady Ijada. I cannot tell you how sorry I am for what has happenedЧfor what was done to you. I regret that I was not there at BoarТs Head to prevent this.Ф
Ijada inclined her head in acknowledgment, if not, precisely, in forgiveness. УIТm sorry you were not at BoarТs Head, too. I did not desire this high blood on my hands, norЕthe other consequences.Ф
УYesЕФ Wencel drawled the word out. УIt seems we have much more to discuss than IТd thought.Ф He shot Ingrey a tight-lipped smile and dismounted. At his adult height, Wencel was only half a hand shorter than his cousin; for reasons unclear to Ingrey, men regularly estimated his own height as greater than it was. In a much lower voice, Wencel added, УStrangely secret things, since you did not choose to discuss them even with the sealmaster. Some might chide you for that. Be assured, I am not one of them.Ф
Wencel murmured a few orders to his guardsmen; Ingrey gave up the reins to WencelТs servant, and the innТs stableboys came pelting up to lead the retinue away around the building.
УWhere might we go to talk?Ф said Wencel. УPrivately.Ф
УTaproom?Ф said Ingrey, nodding to the inn.
The earl shrugged. УLead on.Ф
Ingrey would have preferred to follow, but led off perforce. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Wencel offer a polite arm to Lady Ijada, which she warily evaded by making play with lifting her riding skirts up the steps and passing ahead of him.
УOut,Ф Ingrey said to HetwarТs two breakfasting men, who scrambled up in surprise at the sight of the earl. УYou can take your bread and meat with you. Wait outside. See that no one disturbs us.Ф He closed the taproom door behind them and the confused warden.
Wencel, after an indifferent glance around the old-fashioned rush-strewn chamber, tucked his gloves in his belt, seated himself at one of the trestle tables, and waved Ingrey and Ijada to the bench across from him. His hands clasped each other on the polished boards, motionless but not relaxed.
Ingrey was uncertain what creature Wencel bore within. Of course, heТd had no clear perception of IjadaТs, either, till his wolf had come unbound again. Even now, if he had not known from seeing both the leopardТs corpse and its renewed spirit in their place of battle with the geas, he might not have been able to put a name to that disquieting wild presence within her.
Far more disturbing to Ingrey was the question, When? He had seen Wencel only twice since his own return from his Darthacan exile four years ago. The earl had been but lately married to Princess Fara, and had taken his bride back to his rich family lands along the lower Lure River, two hundred miles from Easthome. The first time the new-wed Horserivers had returned to the capital, for a midwinter celebration of the FatherТs Day three years back, Ingrey had been away on a mission for Hetwar to the Cantons. The next visit, he had seen his cousin only at a gathering at the kingТs hall when Prince Biast had received his marshalТs spear and pennant from his fatherТs hand. Wencel had been taken up with the ceremony, and Ingrey had been tied down in HetwarТs train.
TheyТd passed face-to-face but briefly. The earl had acknowledged his disreputable and disinherited cousin with a courteous nod, unsurprised recognition with no hint of aversion, but had not sought him out thereafter. Ingrey had thought Wencel vastly improved over the unprepossessing youth he remembered, and had assumed that the burden of his early inheritance and high marriage had matured him, gifted him with that peculiar gravity. Had there been something strange underlying that gravity, even then? The next time they had met was in HetwarТs chambers, a week ago. Wencel had been quiet, self-effacing, among that group of grim older menЧmortified, or so Ingrey had guessed, for he would not meet IngreyТs eyes. Ingrey could barely remember his saying anything at all.
Wencel was speaking to Ijada, his eyes downcast in chagrin. УMy lady wife has done you a great wrong, Ijada, and it is surely the godsТ own justice that it has rebounded upon her head. She lied to me at first, claiming that it was your wish to stay with Boleso, until the courier from BoarТs Head brought that dark enlightenment. I swear I gave her no just cause for her jealousy. I should be more furious with her than I am, if her betrayal had not so clearly contained its own punishment. She weeps incessantly, and IЕI scarcely know how to unravel this tangle and reweave the honor of my house.Ф He raised his head again.
The intensity of his gaze upon Ijada was not only, Ingrey thought, perturbation with her leopard. I think Princess Fara was not so astray in her jealousy as Wencel feigns. Four years married, and no heir to the great and ancient house of Horseriver; did that silence conceal barrenness, disaffection, some subtler impotence? Had it fueled a wifeТs fears, justly or no?
УI do not know how you may do so either,Ф returned Ijada. Ingrey was uncertain if the edgy chill of this represented anger or fear, and stole a glance at her face. That pure profile was remarkably expressionless. He suddenly wanted to know exactly what she saw when she looked at Wencel.
Wencel tilted his head in no less frowning a regard. УWhat is that, anyway? Surely not a badger. I would guess a lynx.Ф
IjadaТs chin rose. УA leopard.Ф
WencelТs mouth screwed up in surprise. УThat is noЕand where did that fool Boleso get aЕand whyЕmy lady, I think you had better tell me all that happened there at BoarТs Head.Ф
She glanced at Ingrey; he gave a slow nod. Wencel was as wound up in this as any of them, it seemed, on more than one level, and he appeared to have HetwarТs confidence. SoЕdoes Hetwar know of WencelТs beast, or not?
Ijada gave a short, blunt account of the nightТs deeds, factual as Ingrey understood the events, but with almost no hint of her own thoughts or emotions, devoid of interpretations or guesses. Her voice was flat. It was like watching a dumb show.
Wencel, who had listened with utmost attention, but without comment, turned his sharp gaze to Ingrey. УSo where is the sorcerer?Ф
УWhat?Ф
He gestured at Ijada. УThat did not happen spontaneously. There must have been a sorcerer. Illicit, to be sure, if he was both dabbler in the forbidden and tool to such a dolt as Boleso.Ф
УLady IjadaЧmy impression from Lady IjadaТs testimony was that Boleso performed the rite himself.Ф
УWe were alone together in his bedchamber, certainly,Ф said Ijada. УIf I ever encountered any such person in BolesoТs household, I never recognized him as a sorcerer.Ф
Wencel absently scratched the back of his neck. УHm. Perhaps. YetЕBoleso never learned such a rite by himself. HeТd taken up many creatures, you say? Gods, what a fool. IndeedЕNo. If his mentor was not with him, he must certainly have been there recently. Or disguised. Hidden in the next room. Or fled?Ф
УI did wonder if Boleso might have had some accomplice,Ф Ingrey admitted. УBut Rider Ulkra asserted that no servant of the house had slipped away since the princeТs death. And Lord Hetwar would surely not have sent even me to arrest such a perilous power without Temple assistance.Ф Yes, Ingrey might have encountered something far less benign than salutary pig-delusions.
ЕSuch as a geas? What if his murderous compulsion had not come with him from Easthome after all? He kept his eyes from widening at this new thought. УHetwar could not have suspected the true events.Ф But then why the sealmasterТs insistence on IngreyТs discretion? Mere politics?
УThe reports of the tragedy that Hetwar received that first night were garbled and inadequate, I grant you,Ф said Wencel with a scowl. УLeopards were entirely missing from them, among other things. StillЕI could wish you had secured the sorcerer, whoever he was.Ф His gaze wandered back to Ijada. УAt the least, confession from such a prisoner might have helped a lady of my household to whom I owe protection.Ф
Ingrey flinched at the cogency of that. УI doubt I should be here, alive or sane, if I had surprised the man.Ф
УAn arguable point,Ф Wencel conceded. УBut you, of all men, should have known to look.Ф
Had the geas been fogging IngreyТs thinking? Or just his own numb distaste for his task? He sat back a little, and, having no defense, countered on another flank: УWhat sorcerer did you encounter? And when?Ф