'They're drunk,' the Captain told him.

'We're drunk,' One-Eye agreed. 'We're palpably, plausibly, pukingly drunk.'

When I reflect on my companions' inner natures i usually wish i controlled one small talent. I wish I could look inside them and unmask the darks and brights that move them. Then I take a quick look into the jungle of my own soul and thank heaven I cannot.

'How long has this been going on, Croaker? Seems like forever, doesn't it? Can you even remember a time wen you weren't a soldier? What's the point? Why are we even here? We keep winning battles, but the Lady is losing the war. Why don't they just call the whole thing off and go home?'

The legate, the terror called Soulcatcher in old tales, a devil worse than any dozen forvalaka, laughed madly. His crewmen cringed. A great joke, enlisting the Black Company in the service of evil. A great city taken and little villains suborned. A truly cosmic jest.