All you need to know, boy," Finan growled, "is that Lord Uhtred's side is the one that wins.

Men do not relish the shield wall. They do not rush to death's embrace. You look ahead and see the overlapping shields, the helmets, the glint of axes and spears and swords, and you know you must go into the reach of those blades, into the place of death, and it takes time to summon the courage, to heat the blood, to let the madness overtake caution.

Serpent-Breath was famous...Wasp-Sting, short and lethal.