"No woman wants to be a mere piece of furniture, to be bartered for and then sat upon." Part 1, p. 5

"It is hard, Gerutha thought, to consider one man when another is present." Part 1, p.9

"Being in the chapel frightened her, as if her young body were a sin, to be avenged some day, pierced from underneath even as she sipped the rasping wine, the caustic blood of Christ, from the jewel-beknobbed chalice. The chill, the Latin, the fusty smells made her feel accused; her natural warmth felt chastened." Part 1, p. 13

"There was no escape. This man, this fate, was hers." Part 1, p. 19

"Horwendil was a Christian....The Christian creed reinforced Horwendil's tendency to moroseness but would not countervail, once he was on a raid in a long ship, the old warrior ethic of plunder and self-careless ecstasy. Christ was on all lips but in their hearts the...