" All right, shadow-priest, you've been spying — on what? What state secrets have you learned watching me groom these horses?'

'Only that they hate you, Daru. Every time your back was turned, they got ready to nip you — only you always seemed to step away at precisely the right moment-'

'Yes, I did, since I knew what they were intending. Each time.'

'Is this pride I hear? That you outwitted two horses? "

― Steven Erikson , Memories of Ice (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #3)