You do not swing in a shield wall, you stab. May the gods ever send me enemies who swing their blades.
We live by oaths and we can die by them. To give an oath is to harness a life to a promise, and to break an oath is to tempt the punishment of the gods.
Toquei Bafo de Serpente de novo e me pareceu que ela teve um tremor. Algumas vezes eu achava que a espada cantava. Era um canto fino, apenas entreouvido, um som penetrante, a canção da espada que dese...
To fight battles, Derfel,’ he corrected me, ‘on behalf of people who can’t fight for themselves. I learned that in Brittany. This miserable world is full of weak people, powerless people, hungry peopl...
Thomas nodded towards Keane. 'He doesn't want to be a priest and you don't want to be a monk. Now you're both Hellequin.'Brother Michael looked disbelieving. 'I am?' He asked excitedly.'You are,' Thom...
They have no idea we're here. And stupidity gets you killed.
There’s war between the gods, Uhtred, war between the Christian god and our gods, and when there is war in Asgard the gods make us fight for them on earth.
There is such joy in a good ship, and a greater joy to have the ship's belly fat with other men's silver. It is the Viking joy, driving a dragon-headed hull through a wind-driven sea towards a future...
There is a thing called the blood feud. All societies have them, even the West Saxons have them, despite their vaunted piety. Kill a member of my family and I shall kill one of yours, and so it goes o...
The war was between the Danes and Wessex. My war was with Odda the Younger, and I knew I was driven by pride. The preachers tell us that pride is a great sin, but the preachers are wrong. Pride makes...
The sword was called Caledfwlch, which means ‘hard lightning’ though Igraine prefers to call it Excalibur
The spinners were watching me, waiting, needles poised, and unless I did their bidding then my fate would be failure.
The priests are like Offa, I said. They want us to be their dogs, well schooled, grateful and obedient, and why? So they can get rich. They tell you pride is a sin? You’re a man! It’s like telling you...
The men with leather or mail mostly possessed helmets and had proper weapons, swords or spears, while the rest were armed with axes, adzes, sickles, or sharpened hoes. Eadred grandly called it the Arm...
The English chevauchée was a tactic to destroy a country’s power, to starve the lords of taxes, to burn their
So I do my duty, Sharpe said, and land in the shit. You have at last seized the essence of soldiering, Hogan said
Passion, Baird reckoned, was what would take men across the river and up the breach. Damn scientific soldiering now. The science of siege warfare had opened the city, but only a screaming and insane p...
Our ancestors, he went on after a while, took this land. They took it and made it and held it. We do not give up what our ancestors gave us. They came across the sea and they fought here, and they bui...
Only a fool wants war, but once a war starts then it cannot be fought half-heartedly. It cannot even be fought with regret, but must be waged with a savage joy in defeating the enemy, and it is that s...
Only a fool leaves cash where a servant can find it,' he said.