The entire great hall felt like they were balanced on the edge of a knife between hope and despair, and the slightest breeze could send them tumbling to either side. Dame Sybyll had sent an army to seize control of the villages of Hanrahan Barony, but she did it in the name of protection. The only question was, protection from who? Or what?"
"Protection from men like him," Sybyll said, pointing at the bound and gagged former baron of Hanrahan. "Or like him," she added, pointing at Head Priest Germot. "Men who would lead ye in ta' trouble an' strife. Or men like him, an' his family of murderers," she added, pointing at Loman Lothian. "Men who would drag ye in ta' wars ye have no need of fightin'," she said in a voice that dripped with scorn.
