“Curious,” Bauchelain said. “What is it you wish us to do for you?”“Usurp the king,” Imid Factalo said.“Usurp, as in depose.”“Right.”“Depose, as in remove.”“Yes.”“Remove, as in kill.”

“You may my glories and my state depose,But not my griefs; still am I king of those.”

“Depose him,’ said Will Scott, astonished. ‘The Grand Master’s holy office terminates with his life.’ ‘And can nobody think of an answer to that?’ said Will Scott.”

“Very well. What do you do as a mercenary?”“I specialize in usurping thrones. They call me the kingmaker.” Bragging now?”

“This was the shocking thing; that the slime of the pit seemed to utter cries and voices; that the amorphous dust gesticulated and sinned; that what was dead, and had no shape, should usurp the offices of life. And this again, that that insurgent horror was knit to him closer than a wife, closer than an eye; lay caged in his flesh, where he heard it mutter and felt it struggle to be born; and at every hour of weakness, and in the confidence of slumber, prevailed against him, and deposed him out of life.”

“Kings may usurp thrones, republics may be established, but the town scarcely stirs. Plassan sleeps while Paris fights.”