Stormbird Quotes
"The fire in the chamber might as well have been a painting for all the warmth it brought."
"Anger and strength simmered in him, always close to the surface."
"Instead of a lion of England, we have a dear white lamb to lead us in prayer."
"The listeners are my men. They know what I’ll do if they repeat a single word."
"God knows I would follow his son, but this boy is not his father."
"You’ll fight well enough when you’re told, but I fight because I like it."
"The whole country is waiting for young Henry to be half the man his dad was."
"My heart is full to see you, Lord Suffolk. Come now, stand up. The floor is too cold for old men."
"With my hands, even bandaged as they are, I hold them back. Isn’t that a wonderful thing?"
"The king’s prayers could only be gilded by those of a cardinal, after all."
"Like mice in the walls, Margaret could already hear distant voices and footsteps and doors slamming."
"It was still hard to believe today was the day she would marry a king of England."
"‘Good morning, my … husband,’ she said slowly."
"‘I do take thee to be my husband,’ she murmured."
"I am terrified. What if he does not like me? What if I say the wrong words and everyone laughs? The king will be there, Yolande."
"You will be a queen today, Margaret! Can you conceive?"
"‘God bless you, Your Excellency,’ Derry said. ‘I thought I wasn’t going to make it for a time.’"
"‘You’ll get no truce,’ Thomas said grimly as he approached."
"I have sixty-eight family men working my fields: old soldiers who will stand with me."
"We don’t run just because the odds are against us."
"I earned my land here. I earned it in blood and pain and killing."
"If Holy Church it will ordain. Thereto I plight thee my troth."
"I have given all my strength to him, for his glory and the glory of his father."
"No one man can possibly read it all, my lady."
"Everything from the pay for a maid, to petitions for soldiers, to the debts on a great castle – it all comes through here."
"Would you have it all stop, my lady? Would you clog the pipe that flows through this room with just your hands and eyes?"
"I will see and read the parchments my husband must sign."
"I am a drunken, Kentish man, you Welsh milk-liver!"
"I’ll be here when the craven is forced to come out."
"I didn’t know there was bloody kids in there."
"I’ve got nothing now, understand? They took my boy."
"My regards to your lady wife. I wish you luck."
"If you are half the man Ralph Neville was, you will still be twice blessed."
"Three Richards then, between us. Richard like the Lionheart king."
"The city of Rouen lay around a hundred miles south and west of Calais. In normal times, William would have counted it a stronghold."
"The city had been a silent witness to his arrival, the great gates solidly shut."
"Consumed by fury, William could hardly bear to think of the rape and slaughter that must have gone on within those walls."
"Denied the resources of the city, he had been forced to open lines of supply right back to Calais."
"The scouts brought in reports every day, all worse than the ones before."
"With care, she sat on the bed, looking deeply into her husband’s eyes and seeing only grief and pain reflected."
"You’ll watch the sheriff’s soldiers marching up with their swords and bows and you’ll want to forget how bleeding angry you are at them."
"Your guts will tighten and your heart will jump and you’ll want to be anywhere else."
"We’ll put that sheriff’s head on a stick and carry it like a fucking banner!"
"Do you have coin? My mother has, in England."
"I will fetch Lord Somerset from his home. I know he will help me and he has his own men-at-arms."
"Yet the black eyes were hard as they weighed him and found him wanting."
"I understand that there are only two paths, William. Either the king loses you, his most powerful supporter, or ... he loses everything."
"I will not confess to treasons I have not committed. I will not name my king, or any other man."
"There are times when I feel as if I have fallen, am still falling. I cannot describe it."
"I am sorry to have brought you grief, Your Royal Highness. If it please God, I will return to serve you again."
"We either throw the dice for London, or ... we could try for France."
"There are some who feel you should not be allowed to walk free, not with treason around your neck."
"There's anger enough in him to burn London to the ground, my lady, if he gets the chance."
"We need to get in and out again 'fore the sun comes up. That's if you want to live to a ripe old age."
"I've lost enough to him and so have you – so have all the men with us."
"We walked together through the vast space of Westminster Hall, ignoring the stares of merchants and members of Parliament."
"‘What is it? Lost your nerve?’ he said, making his voice kind as he saw the man’s worry and fear written into every line of him."
"‘Fuck you, boy, whoever the hell you were,’ he said to the corpse."
"Well? Did you think we didn’t have enemies? London’s sly, and don’t you forget it. Whatever they promised him, I’m still standing and he’s done."
"‘You were a bit late then, weren’t you?’ he said."
"‘Watch my back while we march then, if it pleases you,’ Jack said. ‘I’m for London. They know we’re coming and they’re frightened. So they should be.’"
"‘Where is my wife, Lord Grey?’ he asked. ‘Is she coming soon?’"
"‘Christ, such fancies,’ Jack said, shaking his big head."
"My lord, it doesn’t matter what has gone before. We are here today and we will defend London tonight."
"I’ll want to see her safe before we can rest. There’ll be reinforcements this morning, bringing fire and the sword for all those who took part. There will be justice then."
"I’m pissing blood and I ha’n’t the strength for any more talk until I’ve eaten."
"They’re offering us a pardon, Jack! A bleeding pardon! All crimes and misprisions forgotten, on condition we disperse."
"Does it say they’ll dismiss the judges, then? Does it say they’ll repeal the poacher’s laws or lower the taxes on working men?"
"We frightened them last night. That’s the root of it."
"We showed them what happens if they ride too hard over men like us."
"My whole life and I never thought I’d live to see something like this."
"They’re still the same, though. We killed their soldiers and we strung up a few of the king’s officers. But they’ll find new men."
"They still rule, all right, but with our damned permission."
"They know we’ll be standing there in the evening shadows, ready to remind them."
"I’ll have my mates around and we’ll sit in the sun and drink from a keg – and toast the dear old king of England, who paid for it all."
"I did, didn’t I? Well, I can build a new one."
"Margaret, mother of God, please let me grow with child."
"I am no longer a girl, given to foolish dreams and fancies. Let me be fertile, let me swell."
"Allow me a child and I will bless you all my days. Allow me a son and I will raise chapels to your glory."
"No man could ask more. And they won’t be the same, not after this."
"You are hereby appointed as sheriff of Kent."
"What I have given, I can as easily take away."
"If my husband tells you to fetch me, you drop your bag and run, Master Allworthy!"