The Hand that Bears the Sword

The Hezzan was a good man, a better man than Talon. This was apparent to any who knew them both. Talon had killed in hatred, had despised God and man. But the Hezzan had cared deeply for his nation, his people, and for Talon, and he had seen in her what the others had not. He had raised her out of her selfish anger, and given her a more noble view of the world, and of the people in it. And because he had cared for her, he had chosen, in a moment, to risk everything to protect her. It was that simple.
... The Three Laws of the Kar Ixthano did not account for a good man who would die for someone who was not. Such was absurdity. If the good, the noble, the Worthy were to die for the evil, the ignoble the Unworthy, how could the Worthy ever rule? ... Only the miserable, maddening teachings of the Vast and their Jesus dared claim honor in such foolishness.
But Talon now understood the nature of God's power -- that it came in through a window, or a back door, and rarely came announced.


This passage is from The Hand that Bears the Sword by George Bryan Polivka, and from the same series as the Legend of the Firefish. This is probably my favorite book series ever; I think it's even better than The Lord of the Rings. This section, from the second book, is the best part of the book. Talon, who was the evil witch from the first book, went through an incredible transformation. The emotions that the book made me feel through her transformation were incredible. I went from hating her, to feeling bad for her, then loving her. It was so cool.
I highly, highly recommend this series. It is an amazing adventure with sword-fights, broadsides, giant magical fish, some romance, transformations, and good lessons.

Captain from Castile

"You wouldn't kill an unarmed man, de Vargas; you wouldn't murder me. I was joking only. You'll go free from the tribunal."
"You have a moment left," Pedro answered. "Spend it thinking of the girl who was killed last night."
The other sank to his knees. "Mercy!"
..."You would make amends perhaps? Secure our release? Pay a suitable fine? Make a public apology?"
"Yes... Yes, everything, anything."
"Could I trust you?"
"I swear it before God."
"No, not before God," came [Pedro's] voice. "Perhaps if you renounced God, I'd believe you. Renounce God, de Silva..."
"I -- I renounce God."
At that instant Pedro thrust the blade home, down through the man's body till the point caught on the pavement.
"Now burn in hell forever, soldier of Christ!" he [Pedro] whispered.

This scene, from chapter 20 from "Captain from Castile", was one of my favorites and most remembered. I loved the whole book, but this scene was very unique and somewhat disturbing. Pedro, whose family had been imprisoned for no reason by de Silva and had watched his sister tortured to death, was extremely upset and waiting for revenge. I would be too. So, Silva came to Pedro's cell to mock him and rub Silva's victory in his face, but things got out of control, obviously. I would have killed him too. However, Pedro was out of control due to his anger and made de Silva renounce God and then killed him. Pedro later regretted the choice, but it was too late and he felt guilty for the rest of his life. I would not want to live with that kind of guilt and would therefore think before I acted.
PS: This was a passage from the same book as the one from the beginning of the year.

The Old Man and the Sea

The line rose slowly and steadily and then the surface of the ocean bulged ahead of the boat and the fish came out. He came out unendingly and water poured from his sides. He was bright in the sun and his head and back were dark purple and in the sun the stripes on his sides showed wide and a light lavender. His sword was as long as a baseball bat and tapered like a rapier and he rose his full length from the water and then re-entered it, smoothly, like a diver and the old man saw the great scythe-blade of his tail go under and the line commenced to race out.
"He is two-feet longer than the skiff," the old man said.

This passage is from "The Old Man and the Sea", by Ernest Hemingway. If I was old and alone and I saw a fish, larger than my boat, I would have been scared to death. I would first pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Then, I would have cut the line then and hoped that the fish wasn't mad at me for hooking it. A fish that size could have easily smashed the boat, or at least put a hole or two in it. But that's not what Santiago did. Of course, he had to catch it to prove what a great fisherman he was. Maybe I don't know much about fishing, but if I saw a fish bigger than my boat, I wouldn't have thought twice about turning my boat around and sailing as fast as I could away from it.