" If I had ever nurtured any notions of nobility, bravery, courage, dignity, or the like, these exalted qualities were embodied in the faces I saw. Clear-eyed, firm-jawed, virile, strong, and proud— they were the living embodiments of every red-blooded boy’s childhood fantasy of glorious manhood: heroism incarnate. That they were going to kill me seemed a thing of piddling consequence. "

― Stephen R. Lawhead , The Song of Albion Collection (The Song of Albion, #1-3)