" There is a question that has been haunting me,’ he replied over the sound of the first horns announcing column formation. ‘How does a mortal win over a god? Has it ever happened before, even? Has the old order been overturned? Or is this just … special circumstance? A moment unique in all of history?’
‘You have won the Worm of Autumn to her cause, Priest?’
At Lostara’s question, Banaschar frowned. He studied her for a moment, and then glanced at Ruthan Gudd. ‘You look shocked,’ he said to him. ‘Is it that I somehow possessed that power? Or is it the very idea that what we do in this mortal world – with our lives, with our will – could make a god kneel before us?’ Then he shook his head. ‘But you both misunderstood me. I was not speaking of myself at all. I cannot win over a god, even when I am the last priest in that god’s House. Don’t you understand? It’s her. She did it. Not me.’
‘She spoke to your god?’
Banaschar grunted. ‘No, Lostara. She rarely speaks at all – you of all people should know that by now. No. Instead, she simply refused to waver from her path, and by that alone she has humbled the gods. Do you understand me? Humbled them.’
Ruthan Gudd shook his head. ‘The gods are too arrogant to ever be humbled.’
‘A year ago, lying drunk on my cot, I would have agreed with you, Captain. So tell me now, will you fight for her?’
His eyes were thinned as he studied Banaschar, and then he said, ‘With all my heart.’
The gasp that came from Lostara was almost a sob. "
― Steven Erikson , The Crippled God (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #10)