War demands casualties. Peace, it turns out, does too.

If the ability to make use of experience and draw conclusions decided, we would have forgotten what war is a long time ago. But those whose goal is war have never been held back, nor will be, by experience or analogy.

They were outcasts. They were a strange, mixed bag created by war, misfortune and contempt. War, misfortune and contempt had brought them together and thrown them onto the bank, the way a river in flood throws and deposits drifting, black pieces of wood smoothed by stones onto its banks.

Everything in this world,' Urban Horn observed casually, 'occurs under the banner of the fight for truth. And though it usually concerns all sorts of truths, one truth benefits from it. The real truth

Resistance is an innate trait of human nature. Resistance to base behaviour. Opposition to wickedness. A refusal to accept evil. They are innate, immanent human traits. Ergo, only individuals entirely bereft of humanity do not resist. Only blackguards become turncoats out of fear of torture.''So?''So,' said Horn, without even blinking an eye, arms folded on his chest, 'sign the loyalty oath and agree to collaborate. Go to Bohemia, as they command. And when you're there... Resist.

For the moment, I am relying on the authority of Cahir aep Ceallach, the only soldier in our company-and Cahir confirmed that winning battles by means of a rapid escape from the battlefield is permissible from the point of view of most military doctrines.