Free The Hallowed Hunt (Curse of Chalion) by Lois McMaster Bujold Page A

triumph. “Third time is the charm,” murmured the sorceress. “Did I not say so?”
    “This town only has three inns,” the maidservant pointed out.
    “Are you,” Ingrey added hopefully, “sent by the Temple to take her into your hands?” And off mine?
    “Not…precisely, no. But I must see her.”
    Ingrey hesitated. “What is she to you?” Or you to her?
    “An old friend, if she remembers me. I’m Learned Hallana. I heard of her plight when the news of the prince came to my seminary in Suttleaf. That is, we heard of Boleso’s murder, and who had supposedly done the deed, and I presumed it for a plight.” Her stare at Ingrey did not grow less disconcerting. “We were sure the cortege must come by this road, but I feared I would have to chase after it.”
    The seminary of the Mother’s Order at Suttleaf, a town some twenty-five miles to the south of Red Dike, was well-known in the region for its training of physicians and other healing artisans—the dedicat who had stitched Ingrey’s head last night had likely learned her craft there. Ingrey might have searched the surrounding three earldoms for a Temple sorcerer and never thought of looking at Suttleaf. Instead, she had found him…
    Could she sense his wolf? A Temple sorcerer had inflicted it upon him; later, a Temple divine had helped him learn to bind it. Might this woman have been sent—by whom or what, Ingrey did not wish to guess—to help bind Ijada’s leopard? Incomprehensible as the sorceress’s presence here was, it seemed not to be a coincidence. The notion raised all the hackles of his neck and spine. On the whole, Ingrey thought he would prefer coincidence.
    He drew a long breath. “I think Lady Ijada has few friends at present. She should be glad of you. May I escort you up to her, Learned?”
    The woman favored him with a brief, approving nod. “Yes, please, Lord Ingrey.”
    He preceded the women into the passageway and indicated the stairs to the left. In the opposite direction, the be-pigged retainer was still down on the floor, shoving his head against the door and grunting.
    “My lord, what should we do with him?” asked his unnerved comrade.
    Ingrey turned to observe the scene for a moment. “Watch over him. See he comes to no harm till his lesson passes off.”
    The comrade glanced past Ingrey at the retreating sorceress and swallowed. “Yes, my lord. Um…anything else?”
    “You could feed him some bran mash.”
    The sorceress, making her way up the stairs with hand to the rail and her maid close behind, glanced back at this, her lips twitching. She lumbered on upward, and Ingrey hastened after.
    To his satisfaction, he found the door to Lady Ijada’s parlor locked. He rapped upon it.
    “Who is there?” came her voice.
    “Ingrey.”
    A slight pause. “Are you awake?”
    He grimaced. “Yes. You have a visitor.”
    Puzzled silence for a moment, then the clink of the key in the lock and the scrape of the bar being withdrawn. The warden drew the door wide, blinking in astonishment as the sorceress and her maid swept within. Ingrey followed.
    Lady Ijada, standing across the room, stared a moment in bafflement.
    “Ijada?” said the sorceress, sounding taken aback. “My word, child, how tall you’ve grown!”
    Then Ijada’s face was swept by such joy as Ingrey had never yet seen illuminate it. “Hallana!” she cried, and hurried forward.
    The two women fell into each other’s arms with feminine shrieks of recognition and pleasure. At length, Lady Ijada stood back with her hands upon the shorter woman’s shoulders. “How ever did you come here?”
    “The news of your misadventure came to the Mother’s seminary at Suttleaf. I teach there now, you know. And then there were the dreams, of course.”
    “And how came you there —you must tell me everything that has happened with you since—oh, Lord Ingrey.” Ijada turned to him, her face glowing. “ This is my friend I told you of. She was a medical missioner at