Fall of the Argosi (Spellslinger, #0.6)

by Sebastien de Castell

‘No one can teach you how to defeat your opponent better than they will if you just give them the chance.’

‘Strength is an illusion. A strong man is strong only in certain angles and positions. If you can’t defeat a man face to face, make him give you his back.’

‘The wise traveller always walks into a room with a plan to get out,’

if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then eloquence is in the ear of the listener.

How can any government set the course of a nation if the self-interest of its ministers might sway their decisions?

We convince ourselves that our neighbours are barbarians inevitably drawn to violence, so we manipulate them into wars with each other. We fear the rise of dictators, so we execute them for those crimes before they can commit them. We believe some of our citizens are suited only to become tools of our most violent necessities, so we lock them up and ensure they are never allowed to become anything else.

Yet even the unavoidable conflicts, the ones you might consider noble if nobility could ever be found in the rending of flesh and breaking of bones, often ended in defeat because amidst all that punching and kicking and stabbing, it’s easy to forget one’s purpose.