Shadowfell Quotes
"Oh, how my limbs ached for warmth and comfort!"
"Any place out of this wind. Any place out of sight."
"Father was a danger to himself. And he was a danger to me."
"The only chance it will give you tonight is the chance to squander what little we have."
"I loved the man he used to be, and I still hadn’t given up hope that, some day, he could be that man again."
"I thought of Father waking in the morning and realising he had gambled away his only daughter, the last of his family."
"I remembered my grandmother telling me, 'You must be the woman I cannot be, Neryn.'"
"Fragile as she looked, her voice was strong as oak wood and chill as a stream under winter ice."
"A warning. Red Cap spoke of a fall, Maiden’s Tears. The fish are good, aye. But if you go that way, ’ware the urisk."
"She said that even if you think you have nothing at all, there is always something you can give to another."
"The wind will chill you. The rain will soak you. Your shoes will break apart."
"I wondered, often, what kind of man it would take to carry out an Enforcer’s duties."
"I remembered the settlement of Silverwater clearly."
"To seek shelter at Silverwater might be to bring down disaster on that household."
"I wanted to shut my eyes. I wanted to turn away."
"Gods aid me. What could I give in a place tenanted by sad ghosts?"
"It seemed to me I would never be dry and warm again."
"You’ll be wanting a wee sit-down and maybe a brew."
"It's your own path that lies before you. You'll make your own choices, for good or ill."
"Any path's easier when you're not on your own."
"True, no doubt. We know you're set on going forward alone, and perhaps that's the way it has to be. Go safely, and find what you're searching for."
"I tried to be a shadow, a nothing, a mere alteration in the colour of the rocks. Don't see me, I willed them."
"If I was caught today or tomorrow or another day, if I came face to face with an Enforcer, I must lock that memory away so tightly that no trace of it could show in my eyes."
"You've been kind. I honour you for your courage and goodness."
"Of all the terrors confronting the folk of Alban, it was the worst."
"A mind-mender could comfort the troubled and bring solace to the grieving."
"I prayed that if my friends had perished out there, their deaths had been quick and clean."
"Kindness was in short supply in Keldec's Alban."
"I've had my eye on Neryn since she was a smaller creature than I am, digging in her grandmother's vegetable patch and learning which were the good herbs."
"A gift that can win or lose wars. A gift that can bring about great changes."
"It’s for you to prove yourself, and that will take time."
"I’m a danger to you both," I said. "I must move on at first light."
"A bairn doesna learn to run before he can walk."
"If you are," she said, "my guess is that soon enough it’ll be plain to you what’s next."
"Thank you twice over, then. But I must go on alone."
"Don’t waste your strength arguing. Do as I tell you and keep your mouth shut."
"There’s always a choice," he said. "North or south. Uphill or downhill. Advance or retreat."
"If I told you I never intended to hand you over to the authorities, would that help you trust me?"
"I don’t expect the whole truth from you, though it would help me considerably if you’d give just a little."
"Know simply that I am here to guard you. To watch over you. And to ensure you reach your destination."
"Every step I take falls under a shadow of danger."
"Every man or woman who makes a stand helps keep the flame of freedom burning."
"With the Big Ones at his command, this king of yours would have greater power than any man has enjoyed since the time of the oldest tales."
"That was true. In the story Hollow had told me about Corcan and the war with the Sea Folk, he’d mentioned one of the Guardians, the Lord of the North."
"Without hope, I don’t see how anyone can keep on going. You will have your day of freedom, and so will I. Maybe we’ll wait a long time, but that day will come."
"But we cannot live like that. Your brother died fighting injustice and cruelty. You said his sacrifice was in vain. It’s not so."
"A Caller must be obeyed. Keldec’s henchmen would destroy us."
"In his hands you will be a tool of destruction."
"Life was creeping back into my cramped limbs. My mind felt clearer, though beneath the effect of Gentle’s cordial, I knew I was exhausted."
"‘Quicker, Neryn,’ muttered Silver. ‘Move those legs.’"
"‘A pity you cannot summon a flame beastie,’ observed the dog-like creature, whose name seemed to be Blink."
"‘Our fire will not betray you,’ Silver said. ‘And our footsteps have been concealed. Only the most skilled of human trackers could find us here.’"
"‘There are many farewells behind you,’ put in Gentle quietly. ‘And many ahead of you, Neryn. You will need to be strong.’"
"‘Your help has been most welcome today,’ I said, framing my speech with some care."
"I wish I could offer the same. I wish I could promise the kind of existence folk lived in these parts in earlier years, where the worst of their concerns was getting the harvest in or dealing with a malady among the sheep. These are testing times."
"Let folk in too close and you offer them up as weapons for your own destruction."
"‘Close your eyes,’ Flint said. ‘Think of good things. Playing with your brother. Skipping pebbles. Chanting Stanie Mon. Think of the time when the ones you loved were still alive and well, and how much they taught you. Think about how much of them you carry with you, inside.’"
"You’re strong, Neryn. You’re as strong as the rocks and the mountains. As strong as the oaks with their roots deep in the ground."
"To guard you is to guard the heart of this land of ours."
"The fire was lit. The water skins were full. The clothes were drying and the bedding was unpacked. There was nothing for me to do but sit and wait."
"I thought of Flint. Let him be safe. Let him come back before dark."
"To your lost, your slain, your broken, Grant forgiveness, set them free. Rise in strength, in truth and honour, Live for Alban’s liberty."
"But others must have been required to prove themselves in the same way."
"Beyond the cave mouth, the darkness deepened. It was a night of no stars; the moon lay hidden behind a veil of heavy cloud."
"Once or twice the two of us would glance up at the same time and our eyes would meet, and I wondered if the feeling that passed through me was the same for Flint."
"Something too precious to put into words. Something I would not dare let out into the light of day, not yet."
"The sound was eerie, forlorn, a song of cold and loneliness and survival."
"Gods, it was cold! My fingers were numb; I could barely feel my feet."
"Without touching him I felt Flint’s unease. Without touching him I felt the warmth from his body spreading into mine."
"I will remember this, I thought. I’ll remember it when I’m cold, weary and alone."
"There was a quality in the silence that was more troubling than all my fears for his safety."
"Mind-mending is not the destructive practice you have witnessed. Used as it should be, to heal, it can be a powerful tool for good."
"I watched Flint make a final turn around the little wood, jogging now. He called my name one last time."
"The Good Folk of the north were subtle beings. I sensed them as whispers on the icy wind."
"A gift like mine was not only precious, it was dangerous."
"I would die all alone. Even the shades of my family, which sometimes seemed to linger close around me, were absent tonight."
"‘Grandmother,’ I murmured through chattering teeth. ‘Father. Mother. Farral.’ A charm to keep away the dark."
"If a handful of oats represented half of a traveller’s provisions, or more than half, it was a worthy gift indeed."
"Harness an evil power to serve a noble cause and surely that cause would be sullied forever."
"The transaction could be an exchange. The Giving Hand."
"If this was what it meant to be a Caller, I didn’t want it."
"Beneath those rocks lay six dead men, and I had killed them."
"Ancient and powerful. Stronger in some places than others."
"Understanding what exists within those things."
"I did not want the power of life and death in my hands."
"A man who did the things he did could not expect forgiveness."
"The fire was down to ashes and the chamber was bitterly cold."
"Careful, it doesn’t pay to walk about backwards here, there are too many twists and turns."
"It’s war. People get hurt. What you did saved lives. Remember that."
"Nobody expected you to fall asleep quite so suddenly or quite so soundly."
"You won’t go anywhere you’re not allowed, because there’ll be someone to stop you."
"The best place for you is back in bed. Take things one step at a time."
"I am nothing like a sweetheart to Flint. We are friends, that’s all. Comrades of the journey."
"This is a war. A long, hard war. When you’re fighting a war, there’s no place for softness."
"I am not worthy to be your friend, nor the friend of any right-thinking man or woman."
"Every night, you will walk through my dreams. That will be nothing new; you have done so since I first met you."
"I’m ready. Ready to be strong. Ready to take risks. Ready to learn."
"We can win this, all of us together. All of Alban’s children."