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0d17ce7
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We are almost men, not quite warriors, and on some fateful day we meet an enemy for the first time and we hear the chants of battle, the threatening clash of blades on shields, and we begin to learn that the poets are wrong and that the proud songs lie.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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71376f4
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This isn't just a war over land, it's a war about God. And Alfred...is Christ's servant...
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war
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Bernard Cornwell |
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b0d55fd
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Mas quando voce tem ordem, voce nao precisa dos Deuses. Quando tudo esta bem ordenado e disciplinado, nada e inesperado. Se voce entende tudo, nao resta espaco para a magia. So quando esta perdido, apavorado e no escuro e que voce chama os Deuses, e eles gostam de ser chamados. Isso os torna poderosos, e e por isso que gostam de que vivamos no caos.
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magia
ordem
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Bernard Cornwell |
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ec66232
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You do like them thin, don't you?" Pyrlig said, amused. "Now I like them meaty as well-fed heifers! Give me a nice dark Briton with hips like a pair of ale barrels and I'm a happy priest. Poor Hild. Thin as a ray of sunlight, she is, but I pity a Dane who crosses her path today."
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nun
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Bernard Cornwell |
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b65b0d6
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I put my hands over Saint Cuthbert's fingers and I could feel the big ruby ring under my own fingers, and I gave the jewel a twitch just to see whether the stone was loose and would come free, but it seemed well fixed in its setting. "I swear to be your man," I said to the corpse, "and to serve you faithfully." I tried to shift the ring again, but the dead fingers were stiff and the ruby did not move."
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Bernard Cornwell |
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5ff89f3
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History is not just a tale of men's making, but is a thing tied to the land. We call a hill by the name of a hero who died there, or name a river after a princess who fled beside its banks, and when the old names vanish, the stories go with them and the new names carry no reminder of the past.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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4b795b6
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It will never end. Till the world ends in the chaos of Ragnarok, we will fight for our women, for our land, and for our homes. Some Christians speak of peace, of the evil of war, and who does not want peace? But then some crazed warrior comes screaming his god's filthy name into your face and his only ambitions are to kill you, to rape your wife, to enslave your daughters, and take your home, and so you must fight.
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chaos
christians
daughters
end
enslave
evil
face
fight
god
home
kill
must
name
peace
ragnarok
rape
take
war
warrior
wife
world
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Bernard Cornwell |
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7d9bb58
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I swear to be your man," I said, looking into his pale eyes, "until your family is safe." He hesitated. I had given him the oath, but I had qualified it. I had let him know that I would not remain his man for ever, but he accepted my terms. He should have kissed me on both cheeks, but that would have disturbed AEthelflaed and so he raised my right hand and kissed the knuckles, then kissed the crucifix. "Thank you," he said. The truth, of co..
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Bernard Cornwell |
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2a35479
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He wanted to improve the world, while I did not believe and never have believed that we can improve the world, just merely survive as it slides into chaos.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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3d28437
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And next morning, as my stepmother wept on the ramparts of the High Gate, and under a blue, clean sky, we rode to war. Two hundred and fifty men went south, following our banner of the wolf's head. That was in the year 867, and it was the first time I ever went to war. And I have never ceased.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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24479b2
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It's better to make the wrong choice," my father had continued, "than to make no choice at all."
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choice
father
make
wrong
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Bernard Cornwell |
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eb17f57
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Christians like to dream of the perfect world, a place where there is no fighting, where sword-blades are hammered into plowshares, and where the lion, whatever that is, sleeps with the lamb. It is a dream. There has always been war and there will always be war. So long as one man wants another man's wife, or another man's land, or another man's cattle, or another man's silver, so long will there be war. And so long as one priest preaches t..
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Bernard Cornwell |
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49ef9ab
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An army, I learned in time, needs a head. It needs one man to lead it, but give an army two leaders and you halve its strength.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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b575c2e
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I had learned to hide my soul, or perhaps I was confused. Northumbrian or Dane? Which was I? What did I want to be?
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Bernard Cornwell |
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1b17d7b
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Beware the man who loves battle. Ravn had told me that only one man in three or perhaps one man in four is a real warrior and the rest are reluctant fighters, but I was to learn that only one man in twenty is a lover of battle. Such men were the most dangerous, the most skillful, the ones who reaped the souls, and the ones to fear.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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dc217b6
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Only a fool takes pride in pretending that a skill he doesn't possess is worthless.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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cb361ad
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An army isn't made of its officers, you know, though we officers like to think it is. An army is no better than its men, and when you find good men, you must look after them. That's an officer's job.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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ce28585
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You should always plan your battles form the enemy's point of view.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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815464a
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There comes a moment in life when we see ourselves as others see us. I suppose that is part of growing up, and it is not always comfortable. Eanflaed,
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Bernard Cornwell |
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b260f9c
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He sounded pathetic and he knew it, but he had been driven to this humiliation by love. A woman can do that. They have power. We might all say that the oath to our lord is the strong oath that guides our lives, the oath that binds us and rules all the other oaths, but few men would not abandon every oath under the sun for a woman. I have broken oaths. I am not proud of that, but almost every oath I broke was for a woman.
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oath
woman
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Bernard Cornwell |
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8eeb234
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The rules were simple: trust no one, be ever watchful and if trouble came hit first and hit hard. It had worked for him so far.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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745816c
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Acho que o Santo Graal e um sonho que os homens tem, um sonho de que e possivel tornar o mundo perfeito. Se ele existisse, todos nos teriamos sabido que o sonho nao pode se transformar em realidade.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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4cf91b6
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You're the son of a king,' I told him, 'and one day you might be a king yourself. Life and death will be your gifts, so learn how to give them, boy.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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f05ba19
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It was an unsettling thought, that somehow we were sliding back into the smoky dark and that never again would man make something so perfect as this small building.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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5babae6
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You're not a Christian, are you?" "No." "You should consider it. We may not offer too many earthly delights, but our lives after death are certainly worth having." --
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Bernard Cornwell |
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c7b53cc
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Os guerreiros defendem o lar, defendem as criancas, defendem as mulheres, defendem a colheita e matam os inimigos que vem roubar essas coisas. Sem guerreiros a terra seria um lugar devastado, desolado e repleto de lamentos. No entanto, a verdadeira recompensa de um guerreiro nao e a prata e o ouro que ele pode ganhar nos bracos, e sim a reputacao, e e por isso que existem poetas.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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488f3e2
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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 breathing is a sin, and once they've made you feel guilty for daring to breathe, they'll give you absolution in return for a handful of silver."
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Bernard Cornwell |
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9560d4d
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E fiquei olhando para aquela costa, sabendo que o destino iria me trazer de volta, e toquei o punho de Bafo de Serpente, porque a espada tambem tinha um destino e eu sabia que ela voltaria a este local. Este era um local para minha espada cantar.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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11fe5b6
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Silence. We like it when an audience is silent, when no one coughs, no one shuffles, no one cracks a nut, or uncorks an ale bottle with a sudden hiss. Silence means the play is working, and we have the audience in our power. To a player, that breathless silence is better than applause, and that morning in the great hall my audience was silent.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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7326fa6
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Pride, I suppose, is the most treacherous of virtues. The Christians call it a sin, but no poet sings of men who have no pride. Christians say the meek will inherit the earth, but the meek inspire no songs.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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882f7f0
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She is a woman, and what women want, they get, and if the world and all it holds must be broken in the getting, then so be it.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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d2e72b5
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Poor Uther. He believed that virtues are handed down through a man's loins! What nonsense! A child is like a calf; if the thing is born crippled you knock it smartly on the skull and serve the cow again. That's why the Gods made it such a pleasure to engender children, because so many of the little brutes have to be replaced. There's not much pleasure in the process for women, of course, but someone has to suffer and thank the Gods it's the..
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Bernard Cornwell |
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4a6d54a
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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.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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d61031c
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Oh the madness of battle! We fear it, we celebrate it, the poets sing of it, and when it fills the blood like fire it is a real madness. It is joy! All the terror is swept away, a man feels he could live for ever, he sees the enemy retreating, knows he himself is invincible, that even the gods would shrink from his blade and his bloodied shield. And I was still keening that mad song, the battle song of slaughter, the sound that blotted out ..
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fear
madness
savagery
shield-wall
war
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Bernard Cornwell |
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fa859f6
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I believe the Gods hate to be bored, so I do my best to amuse them. That way they smile on me. Your God,' Merlin said sourly, 'despises amusement, demanding grovelling worship instead. He must be a very sorry creature.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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64e304b
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Senhor Uhtred! - O padre Willibald veio correndo na minha direcao. - O que esta acontecendo? O que esta acontecendo? - Decidi comecar uma guerra, padre - respondi cheio de animacao. - E muito mais interessante que a paz.
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humor
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Bernard Cornwell |
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81f6d83
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Obadiah Hakeswill had never been concerned by such enmity. Power did not lie in being liked, but in being feared.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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5e189a1
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I am Uhtred, son of Uhtred, and this is the tale of a blood feud. It is a tale of how I will take from my enemy what the law says is mine. And it is the tale of a woman and of her father, a king. He was my king and all that I have I owe to him. The food that I eat, the hall where I live, and the swords of my men, all came from Alfred, my king, who hated me.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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80fa45d
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A parede de escudos.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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1bc4fd8
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Enemies come soon enough in a mans life,' he told me, 'you don't need to seek them out
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truth
warnings
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Bernard Cornwell |
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eedc6f4
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Folk tell their children that success lies in working hard and being thrifty, but that is as much nonsense as supposing that a badger, a fox and a wolf could build a church. The way to wealth is to become a Christian bishop or a monastery's abbot and thus be imbued with heaven's permission to lie, cheat and steal your way to luxury.
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immorality
religion
success
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Bernard Cornwell |
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6cb5d93
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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 cancao da espada que desejava sangue; a cancao da espada.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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3a3b1b5
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I was still screaming at the enemy, promising them death. I was Thor, I was Odin, I was the lord of battle.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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197e20b
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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,' Thomas said. 'So all we need now is a pair of ripe young girls who don't want to be nuns,' Keane said cheerfully.
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Bernard Cornwell |