“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.”
