Paladin of Souls (The Chalion Series Book 2)

by Lois McMaster Bujold

“The demon is ascendant!” Ista cried. “It is taking her. Seize her, do not let her run!”

“Welcome to mine, Joen of Jokona,” said Ista. “I am the Mouth of Hell.”

“She bears the demon-god!” Joen screamed. “Kill her now!”

Where should I begin? Ista asked the Presence within her. Begin at the center, It replied. The rest will follow perforce.

The dead belong to Us; sorting them is beyond your calling. The souls of the yet living, torn apart untimely while still trapped in the realm of matter, those are your care on Our behalf.

Ista had a vision of a strange, dimensionless void, the picture leaked, perhaps, from His mind to hers: a roiling pool of demon energy, without form, without personas, without minds or wills or song or speech or memories or any gift of higher order—the Bastard’s hell.

Balancing the life of the world exactly midway between the hot death that is chaos and the chill death that is stasis.

if you survive this, no other demon astray in the realm of matter should pose too onerous a challenge to you hereafter . . .

These cords. I recognize them. I pulled Arhys safe to shore last night with something very like one. They were stolen from Us, long ago. The demon could not have created them, you know.

You are brilliant, the Voice reassured her. It is imperfect. So are all things trapped in time. You are brilliant, nonetheless. How fortunate for Us that We thirst for glorious souls rather than faultless ones, or We should be parched indeed, and most lonely in Our perfect righteousness. Carry on imperfectly, shining Ista.

the gods’ minds hold all these tales in full? For They remember us perfectly.