Westmark Warfare Quotes

"So I will," Florian said. "Did you imagine we'd simply stroll into Nierkeeping and ask politely to have them set loose?" "No. But not this way. There's going to be bloodshed." "That's certain. Some of ours. Some of theirs. As little as possible, but no avoiding it. Yes, youngster, it may end with killing. We'd be a band of innocent idiots if we didn't expect it. You want your friends. My people, want guns. We'll do whatever we must. Will you?" Theo did not reply. Florian looked at him and said quietly, "It's very simple. Are you going with us or not? You need our help, but we need yours if my plan has any chance of working." (16.27-31)

"Actually, the Bear is the smarter. He usually sets Old Kasperl straight, as you may have noticed. The chief minister, I am happy to say, finds their humor cuts a little too close to the bone. They were—embodied, that is, in their creator—quite recently invited to a hanging: their own. A tribute to their ability to nettle Cabbarus, but an honor I was grateful to forgo. A whole crew of us scriveners awaited the writing of our last pages in the Carolia Fortress. A few succeeded in escaping. I joined them, not wishing Old Kasperl to make his final public appearance on the gallows. Once out, we all separated. I made my way here. These water rats have been most hospitable. They admire lawbreakers." (14.42)

They were field militia. He recognized the green tunics and white crossbelts. Without thinking, he flung up his arms to defend himself. One of the soldiers, at this movement, swung the butt of his musket and drove it into Theo's ribs. The blow doubled him up. He fell to his knees, clutching his belly, gagging at the pain. The man who struck him glanced down briefly: without malice, without curiosity, as if he found Theo an uninteresting specimen of livestock. (2.1)

"You'll get through it," said Florian. "The first time is the worst."
Stock, meanwhile, had brought a wooden chest to the table and had begun taking pistols from it. Florian handed one to Theo, who drew back a little.
"It won't bite you," said Florian. 
"I don't want it." "Take it, even so. You may not want it, but you may need it. Do you know how to use one?" Theo shook his head."Go along with Justin, then. He'll show you." (16.33-39)

"Kill him." Justin turned his bloody face to Theo, violet eyes blazing. "Kill him." Theo swung up his arm and leveled the pistol. He hesitated an instant. Justin was screaming for him to shoot. Theo cried out as the explosion echoed through his head. A look of bewilderment froze on the officer's face. He staggered and fell. Theo stared at the weapon in his hand. His finger had not moved on the trigger. He glanced up to see Florian. He was on horseback, a smoking musket across the saddlebow. His long hair hung matted, smears of gunpowder blackened his cheeks. His gray eyes fixed squarely on Theo. He half smiled, as if observing a child fumbling to tie a shoe." (17.56-58)

"Your Highness, do you hear the fellow?" Cabbarus recoiled in shock and indignation. "The truth at last. He admits it. He works against you. A loyal subject would seek only to reunite you and the princess, however briefly. What, then, are we to think of one who desires the opposite?" Cabbarus stretched out an accusing finger at the court physician. "You have gone too far. You are dismissed from His Majesty's service. Banished from the kingdom. Return at your peril, under pain of death. Be grateful your punishment is so light."

"These are your words, not the king's. You have done your best to make a puppet of him, and have done all too well." The court physician was a vigorous man with the arms and shoulders of a peasant. He pushed Cabbarus aside and dropped to one knee before Augustine." (9.19-21)

"Your verses can wait," said Florian. He glanced at Theo. "When our young friend first came here, he told me something in private. If he agrees, I think now it should be made public. The killing of an innocent man by Royal Officers should not be kept a secret." Theo, still puzzled, nodded and Florian went on. "I suggest you write an account of your master; why they destroyed his press and, indeed, destroyed him. Set it all down, exactly as it happened. Print it. We'll get it into as many hands as we can. The people of Westmark will have another example of how Cabbarus goes about his business." (15.12-13)

"So do I," said Florian. "You urge me to join you. Let me ask: How many troops do you command? How many weapons?" "None," said Torrens. "And you?" He gestured toward the stack of firearms. "If that is your arsenal, it does not impress me." "We hope to improve it within the next twenty-four hours. Our resources are modest, but only a beginning. Now, Doctor, if you will excuse me, we have plans to make." As much as Florian had spoken bitterly and angrily against the chief minister, Theo had never until now heard him oppose the whole monarchy. The idea stunned and excited him. The sheer daring of it was only what he might have expected from Florian. He suddenly understood his willingness to make the journey to Nierkeeping. The man's boldness dazzled him. It also horrified him." (16.23-26)

"Our worthy Stock, though he may look like a prize bull, is by inclination a poet; by temperament, a dreamer. This one, Justin"--- he pointed to a thin, pale youth, close to Theo's age, with hair so yellow it shone almost white, and with long-lashed eyes of astonishing violet--- "Justin has the face of an angel; whereas, in fact, he is a bloodthirsty sort of devil. The result, possibly, of seeing his father hanged. Our two goddesses, the golden Rina and the russet Zara, guide and inspire us." (12.23)

"I killed him," Torrens answered flatly. "I have not forgiven myself for that. My occupation is to save life, not take it. But he would have taken mine. Unfortunately for him, I know the vulnerabilities of the human body better than he did. He was not a sailor, by the way. Cabbarus had sent him. For you see, I too am under sentence of death." (14.44)