Helen Paton

“I’m starting to think Mordecai bound you to someone’s grandmother instead of the earth, because that’s what you’re starting to sound like!” barked Harold in a slightly louder voice. “Just like my Nanna, next you’ll be complaining about your rheumatism.”
― Michael G. Manning, The Final Redemption

“You cry over a lost lamb, or a chicken, or a man dying, but it’s all the same. None of them want to die. The only difference is love and necessity. I kill chickens to eat, because I have to. I’ve learned not to cry over it. I cried for Blue because I loved him, not because a dog is somehow better than a chicken.” She pointed at the warden’s body. “I did not love that man at all, and we killed him out of necessity. I’ll cry no more over him than I would a chicken.”
― Michael G. Manning, The Mountains Rise

“The key word is shouldn’t,” he said grimly. “It isn’t a word I like to hear when it comes to battle. That word has killed more men than any other word, except perhaps one.” He waited for my inevitable question. I sighed and asked, “What word is that?” “Charge,” he replied with a smile.”
― Michael G. Manning, The Line of Illeniel

“know that its posture was called, ‘rampant’.”
― Michael G. Manning, The Blacksmith's Son