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Over the course of an eventful and perilous life, I have found that it is in these small, confused interludes that death is most likely to arrive.
When the task is a killing, be quick and make sure of it. Torment is an indulgence. Save it for only the most deserving.
“To be wasteful of time is to be wasteful of life,”
One of the curses suffered by the intelligent is the power of imagination, for a clever mind will explore the dark possibilities with far more dedication than the bright.
There are things folk will voice to strangers they would never confess to friends or family, for a stranger’s judgement matters little.
Every battle is a forge, and every soul that survives the flames is made stronger.’”
War, as I would learn in time, does much to strip youth from the youthful.
All born killers are outlaws but not all outlaws are born killers.”
Finally falling silent, rendered flushed and breathless by my diatribe, I expected soothing words from the Ascendant. She would, I knew, seek to counsel me in the folly of vindictiveness. Lecture me in the emptiness of revenge for it was sure to just bring more violence into my already brutalised life. Instead she thought for a short interval, lips and brow drawn in contemplation, then said, “It strikes me there are several names missing from your list.”
Endless conjecture on betrayal will breed suspicion of all.
She believed, of that I had no doubt, and a believer will justify all acts in pursuit of their faith.
A foolish commoner is merely a danger to himself. A foolish king endangers all.
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“War is always a trick,” he replied. “Or so Master Redmaine was fond of saying. Churls are tricked into following their lord’s banner on promise of loot, or the threat of a flogging which they could avoid if they just stood as one and told him to piss off. Nobles trick themselves with notions of glory or a king’s boon. And chivalry—” Wilhum let out a short, bitter laugh “—is the worst trick of all, for it fools us with the illusion that war is anything but a chaos of slaughter and suffering.”
“The life of a pariah can be as meaningful as that of a king,”
