Spies could be invaluable in peacetime, once the fighting actually started, their value dropped steeply. When the swords were out, it was the information your own scouts provided that mattered, not reports from unknown people whose veracity you couldn't prove.
David WeberThe world's best swordsman doesn't fear the second best; he fears the worst swordsman, because he can't predict what the idiot will do.
David WeberAll men begin as good men. What they are taught as children, what is expected of them as young men, is either the armor about that goodness or the flaw that allows evil in.
David WeberYour Grace," she said, "I have only one question. Do you wish this man crippled, or dead?
David Weber