Paladin of Souls (The Chalion Series Book 2)

by Lois McMaster Bujold

Dy Baocia

Ser dy Ferrej,

She knew what she feared—to be locked up in some dark, narrow place by people who loved her.

An enemy might drop his guard, weary of his task, turn his back; love would never falter.

Husband, father, son, and mother had all filed down to the grave ahead of her in their turn.

Who am I, when I am not surrounded by the walls of my life? When they have all fallen into dust and rubble?

All roads ran two ways. They said. I want a road that does not come back.

The poor orphan boy packed his sack and started off down the road to seek his heart’s hope . . . a thousand tales began that way.

This was madness. This was just the sort of thing that got women locked up in towers with lack-witted attendants,

Mad enough to wish for what she was not mad enough to grasp—now there was a singularly useless lunacy.

for the five gods’ sake.

blue tunics and gray cloaks of soldier-brothers of the Daughter’s Order,

“Traveling to the shrine of the miraculous death of Chancellor dy Jironal, in Taryoon.

“The gods rule all parts of us, from top to toe. There is a god for everyone, and every part.”

“Your god has notably low tastes,”

“None who open their hearts to any one of the Holy Family shall be excluded....

five gods rest his spirit.” She signed herself, touching forehead, lip, navel, groin, and heart, spreading her hand wide over her plump breast.

“It is my highest spiritual goal to see Her face-to-face.

Anyone who desires to see the gods face-to-face is a great fool, thought Ista.

“You don’t have to pray to do that,” said the divine. “You just have to die. It’s not hard.

Was he one of the god-touched? Ista possessed some practice at spotting them.

It did not tempt Ista, certainly, but she understood his need to be discreet. Acquiring a demon made one a sorcerer much as acquiring a horse made one a rider,

But no, her soul had truly been taken up, and out of the world of men; there were no new ghosts in the castle,

All the sundered spirits left here were ancient and tired and fading, a mere chill in the walls at night.

Dy Ferrej’s satisfied look gave way to a startled one. “The chancellor approves this, this . . . venture?

dy Cazaril’s personal stamp, a crow perched on the letters CAZ pressed in blue wax.

The dullness of her life, the stalemate of her soul since then was just long habit.

I shall take the courier, Liss, to be my lady-in-waiting and my groom in one. And none more.

“We are taught that the route of a pilgrimage should serve its spiritual goal.

Which may be simple or manifold, but which will partake of at least one of five aims:

service, supplication, gratitude, divination,...

Oh, and a sacred well, very old. A minor holy place,

the great shrines tend to be crowded, this time of year.”

Yet experienced pilgrimage conductors usually had their charges’ spiritual battle plans all drawn out in advance.

Chancellor dy Cazaril had a deep wit indeed, and not much love for the Roknari coastal lords who had once sold him to slavery on the galleys.

You can’t solve problems by running away from them, it was said, and like the good child she had once been, she had believed this. But it wasn’t true. Some problems could only be solved by running away from them.

In the spring of her life Ista had ridden much; hunted all day and danced till the moon went down,

Ista bowed her head, but did not mouth the responses. I want nothing of the gods. I’ve had their gifts before.

Fourteen people and eighteen animals just to get her on the road.

What about those pilgrims who somehow managed this with no more tha...

wellspring was sacred to the Daughter,

“The world was first and the world was flame, fluid and fearsome.

As the flame cooled, matter formed and gained vast strength and endurance,

a great globe with fire at...

From the fire at the heart of the world slowly gre...

So the World-Soul split in two, that it might so perceive itself;

Love was the first of the fruits that the realm of the spirit gifted back to the realm of matter

And in the harmony and security of this new composition, the matter of the world grew in boldness and complexity.

And from its strivings to create beauty, plants and animals and men arose,

for love had come into the fiery heart...