Status Updates From The Hammer of God

He gave her another gift. A horse. Persian, he told her. They were the finest horses. It was pure white, a mare. She squealed with delight when she saw it, for it was the most beautiful animal she had ever seen, nothing like the stocky Bavarian Rotteilers she was used to. "

“What is her name?" she asked.

“She is called Aura,” he told her. “It means wind."

"You said once I could not know God because I had not suffered enough. Well, I am suffering now."
"Does God speak to you at last?"
“Yes. Through pain. I understand now. God will not allow me to be happy."
"You blame God for this. I would blame the king.”
“No. This was God's doing. He doesn't want my devotion. He wants a war. And I will give Him one. I am at war with God."
She turned back to face the sea.

The two men charged each other, the crowd now frantic, horrified. Rogan threw the spear. It sailed straight and fast at Lothar, who slapped it away easily with his sword.

Someone screamed. Lothar closed on Rogan, striking him with a backhanded blow. Rogan toppled from the saddle. The crowd hushed.

Rogan lay face down in the mud.

Lothar circled to a silent crowd. He lifted his sword. It was unbloodied.

Angrily, Pippin said, “Mounted warfare is a thing of the past, not the future! It is suitable only for savages, not civilized men. What do we need horses for? Do Saxons fight on horseback? Do Frisians? Do the Germans? No, they don't."

"The Arabs do," said Charles.

"Arabs!" Pippin scoffed. "The Arabs are in Iberia and there they will stay.”

I’m approaching an understanding of Moorish Spain (that lasted 800 years) and the invasion of France by means of nonfiction and historical fiction. This volume comes highly recommended so we’ll see where it takes me. It’s 700 AD/CE. What a different world that must have been.