"The Wodensfang was the only one of the four of them old enough to have actually met Grimbeard the Ghastly, more than a hundred years before. So now he looked back through time to remember that dreadful man, and what that look told him was that Grimbeard was the trickiest trickster since the great trickster god Loki put his Particularly Tricky Hat on."

"It was as though his moustache had become overly enthusiastic an, seized with the spirit of adventure, set out to conquer the southern reaches of his face in a take-no-prisoners kind of way."

Richard had noticed that events were cowards: they didn't occur singly, but instead they would run in packs and leap out at him all at once.

Richard put his head on one side. "Excuse me," he said. "I know this is a personal question. But are you clinically insane?"
"Possible, but very unlikely. Why?"
"Well," said Richard. "One of us must be."