“The mage hired out to our troop—he’d cast spells that made us fight like madmen. Made us brave; made us not feel any pain; made us invincible. Except we weren’t, and when the battle was over and the magic passed, half our men fell down where they stood and never got back up again. But we’d won, and killed far more of them than they killed us, so that was all right. Acceptable casualties, they called it.”
