Judith Tarr

"May God preserve us from an honest pope."

"Traitors were not cherished even by those who bought them."

"In that instant, Gerbert hated him with a perfect hate. A monster, one could comprehend, and even forgive: one could see that a devil had possessed him. This flawless selfishness was beyond endurance."

"Now there was sophistry. A mage was a perilous beast, but a mage who was also a logician and a theologian was deadly enough to outface the devil himself."

"I am asking you to help me. Our mutual master would stride naked into the desert, trusting in God and in his own brilliance to shield him from the sun. But the desert knows only that it is. Neither go…"

"“Peace.” Gerbert rolled the word on his tongue. “Is that what it is? I’d been calling it happiness."

"There was no help for it. He was what he was, and that was an incorrigible meddler. Which, he reflected, was not an inadequate description of a mage."

"You are a fool, sir priest. Ignorance may excuse you. It will certainly kill you."