The Winter King: A Novel of Arthur (The Warlord Chronicles, #1)

by Bernard Cornwell

We can make peace, Derfel, but only if we’re strong enough to make war.

‘Druids are not allowed to write anything down, it’s against the rules. You know that! Once you write something down it becomes fixed. It becomes dogma. People can argue about it, they become authoritative, they refer to the texts, they produce new manuscripts, they argue more and soon they’re putting each other to death. If you never write anything down then no one knows exactly what you said so you can always change it. Do I have to explain everything to you?’

others: an enemy forgiven is an enemy who will have to be fought over and over again.

‘You should know, Derfel, that some women always want their men to pay an exorbitant price. The more the man pays, the greater the woman’s worth,