“There is no sound more annoying than the chatter of a child, and none more sad than the silence they leave when they are gone.”

“Some men are too dull to feel what might happen. Others torture themselves with maybes and populate their dreams with horrors more terrible than their worst enemy could inflict upon them.”

“I dropped the head and kicked it into the crowd. I say “kicked” but in truth it’s a bad idea to kick a head. I learned that years ago, a lesson that cost me two broken toes. What you want to do is shove the head with the side of your foot, like you’re throwing it. It’s going to roll anyhow so you don’t need that much force. See, the thing about severed heads is the owner no longer has any interest in minimizing the force of the blow, or any ability to do so for that matter. When you kick somebody in the head as you do from time to time, they tend to be actively trying to move themselves out of the way and the contact is lessened. A severed head is a dead weight, even if it’s watching you.And that exhausts my insights into the kicking of severed heads. Admittedly it’s more than most people have to offer on the subject but there were Mayans who knew a lot more than I do. That of course is a whole different ball-game.”

“As a child there's a horror in discovering the limitations of the ones you love. The time you find that your mother cannot keep you safe, that your tutor makes a mistake, that the wrong path must be taken because the grown-ups lack the strength to take the right one...each of those moments is the theft of your childhood, each of them a blow that kills some part of the child you were, leaving another part of the man exposed, a new creature, tougher but tempered with bitterness and disappointment.”

“Assassination is murder with a touch more precision. Brother Sim is precise.”

“The Prince of Arrow has a much bigger army than you," Miana said. No "Your Highness" no "My Lord.""Yes, he does." I kept waving to the crowd, the big smile on my face."He's going to win, isn't he?" she said. She looked twelve but she didn't sound twelve."How old are you?" I asked, a quick glance down at her, still waving."Twelve."Damn.”

“Below is a conversation between Jorg and his new bride."The Prince of Arrow has a much bigger army than you," Miana said. No "Your Highness" no "My Lord.""Yes, he does." I kept waving to the crowd, the big smile on my face."He's going to win, isn't he?" she said. She looked twelve but she didn't sound twelve."How old are you?" I asked, a quick glance down at her, still waving."Twelve."Damn.”