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Lancelot (The Arthurian Tales, #1) QUOTES

Lancelot (The Arthurian Tales, #1) QUOTES

1 " He shrugged his big shoulders. 'If my uncle wants me to ride to the edge of the world after something that doesn't exist...' He turned his face to the sky and inhaled deeply of the chill morning air. 'It's not like I have a wife waiting for me or anywhere else to be.'

'Well, we are honoured that the courageous and indomitable Prince Gawain ap Lot of Lyonesse chose to save Britain with us, rather than drink and whore himself to death in some harbourside tavern,' Merlin said, lifting his staff as though Gawain's very presence was a gift from the Gods. "

― Giles Kristian , Lancelot (The Arthurian Tales, #1)

2 " What is the worst they can do to us?" Perhaps I was a fool but I felt neither fear nor regret. And as for Guinevere, I loved her and she loved me; I believed that was enough. "

― Giles Kristian , Lancelot (The Arthurian Tales, #1)

3 " And yet Arthur had Merlin. And Merlin had an idea. And so Arthur listened "

― Giles Kristian , Lancelot (The Arthurian Tales, #1)

4 " Then we pulled back, and for several heartbeats just looked into each others eyes, Guinevere's white teeth dragging at her bottom lip. Not, I think, because of some nervousness, or fear of getting caught with me, but rather because she feared revealing so much of herself, of her secret thoughts, to anyone. Especially me. "

― Giles Kristian , Lancelot (The Arthurian Tales, #1)

5 " You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,’ I said. It was true, for all that I feared how trite it must have sounded to her, though she did not say so. I wondered how Guinevere's father could have sent her away. Surely she was a light in his life. This radiant, fearless girl.
She pouted, and it was all I could do not to kiss her again. 'You have lived in the forests of Benoic and on this island and this is the furthest you have ever been into Britain,’ she said. ‘When you have actually seen something of the world, I will ask you again if you still think I am
the most beautiful thing in the world.'
‘And I will say the same again.’ I said. "

― Giles Kristian , Lancelot (The Arthurian Tales, #1)

6 " The past is water running in a stream. It is already long gone and you can never bring it back. "

― Giles Kristian , Lancelot (The Arthurian Tales, #1)

7 " This was a desperate contest. Each move and counter move a fear and sweat-soaked thread to be woven later into fireside verse by those who had the gift. For now, though, they made just a dreadful, discordant song. The clank of blade on shield boss. The dull thud of sword on limewood boards and, now and then, the scrape of a blade's edge across iron ringmail or down bronze scales. And always the breathing, ragged and urgent. A man's lungs pumping in his chest like forge bellows, feeding the fire of hate and the blood lust. These sounds told the true story. They were the lyre strings before they are tuned to melodious accord, before the bard's fingers caress them to lift our hearts and our ideals.

No glory now. Just two men hacking at each other with sharp steel. Each craving the other's death. Both desperate to live. "

― Giles Kristian , Lancelot (The Arthurian Tales, #1)

8 " The gods help the man who helps himself, "

― Giles Kristian , Lancelot (The Arthurian Tales, #1)

9 " Shh. There now, the pain will ease,' Arthur said. There was no abashment in him, no fear that his intimacies should be overheard by strangers. The unease belonged to us who trespassed with our eyes and ears. [...]

'Leave the poor man alone, Arthur. For all the gods, let him die in peace. "

― Giles Kristian , Lancelot (The Arthurian Tales, #1)

10 " The beacon flames leapt high into the night sky, the crack and pop of the fire-ravaged wood carrying across the water which was dark but for the copper gloss which those flames cast a spear-throw distance out into the bay. And beside that ember-spewing fire, illuminated so that their spear blades and helmets and shield bosses glinted, stood a line of warriors. "

― Giles Kristian , Lancelot (The Arthurian Tales, #1)

11 " Boys don’t become men tied to their mothers’ skirts,’ my father rumbled, lifting the jar to his lips and drinking deeply.
‘Boys don’t become men by having their heads bitten off by bad-tempered beasts,’ my mother said. "

― Giles Kristian , Lancelot (The Arthurian Tales, #1)

12 " We will survive, my son. And rise again. But you must shed the spoilt prince and become the man and you must do it this very night. "

― Giles Kristian , Lancelot (The Arthurian Tales, #1)

13 " Young bloods. Always so eager to die, boy. Remember, there are plenty of ways to come across death, without going looking for it. "

― Giles Kristian , Lancelot (The Arthurian Tales, #1)

14 " Ale makes fools of us all, young and old and everyone in between. "

― Giles Kristian , Lancelot (The Arthurian Tales, #1)

15 " «Da nostro padre!» gridò, e insieme ci arrampicammo prima sulla panca e poi sul tavolo, mentre tutti quelli che conoscevamo morivano intorno a noi e l'aria si caricava del terrificante odore ferroso del sangue fresco.
«Figli miei!» disse il re del Benoic, conficcando la spada in una bocca aperta e ritirandola subito dopo. «Non abbiate paura, ragazzi. E solo la morte.» "

― Giles Kristian , Lancelot (The Arthurian Tales, #1)

16 " «Non un lupo qualsiasi. Stando alle parole di mio padre, era il capobranco. Lo hanno messo in una gabbia perché tutti gli abitanti del villaggio potessero vederlo. Era più grosso di me e ci ringhiava contro, affamato. Andava avanti e indietro nella gabbia e di sicuro aveva in mente solo di squarciarci la gola.» Poi indicò Artù con il mento e non ebbe bisogno di aggiungere altro. "

― Giles Kristian , Lancelot (The Arthurian Tales, #1)