Essex Dogs

After tonight we’re getting paid to be here for thirty-eight more days.

What matters is that you did not know the story. And the reason you did not...is that our ancestor William - through his deeds of arms, his force of personality and his vast conquests - had achieved so much by the time his belly exploded that even this undignified end was soon forgotten by all but the most diligent annalists. ... You and I, continued the king, have achieved nothing yet. Nothing...You may die here in Normandy, like our ancestor. But unlike our ancestor, should your dead belly burst and release poisonous miasmas that sicken all who smell them, then that, my son, will be the story of you.

The Scot launched himself towards the French knight, swung his axe at his ankle, shattering the bone so that the man-at-arms collapsed sideways, screaming in pain.

All Loveday knew for certain was that the Captain had left them, and that the grief for a friend who had walked away was ten times worse than for a friend who had been killed.

Your position will rise, and fall, and you will torture yourself until your last days if you do anything other than trust in what God decides.