“Since you spoke aloud earlier to recite the Apostle’s verses, I have not heard you speak again. Can you speak now, child . . . or write? Will you?”
The Virgin, inquiring thus, glanced for her answer not to the girl but instead to the mercenary, who stood poised to move out upon the road beside her. The man-at-arms offered no reply, only turned in silent accession to Ruth.
“I can,” said she to the Virgin. “And I will.”
The girl turned and took her place at the man-at-arms’ side.
The last that the lady, or the community entire, beheld of Telamon and Ruth was the pair striking off together with the first glimmers of dawn settling lightly upon their shoulders.
SPECIAL THANKS
TO SHAWN COYNE, WHO BELIEVED in this story from its earliest embryonic stages and who helped structure and shape it through numerous evolutions. To Sterling Lord, aka Lord of Publishing, who found a home for it with style and with dispatch. And to Star Lawrence, thanks for your immediate and passionate belief in this material and for steering and shielding it through its passage to publication and beyond.
For Diana
Also by Steven Pressfield
FICTION
The Legend of Bagger Vance
Gates of Fire
Tides of War
Last of the Amazons
The Virtues of War
The Afghan Campaign
Killing Rommel
The Profession
The Knowledge
36 Righteous Men
NONFICTION
The War of Art
Do the Work
The Warrior Ethos
Turning Pro
The Authentic Swing
The Lion’s Gate
An American Jew
Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t
The Artist’s Journey
A Man at Arms is a work of historical fiction. Apart from true historical personages, events, and locales that figure in the narrative, all names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to current events or locales, or to living persons, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2021 by Steven Pressfield
All rights reserved
First Edition
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Jacket design: Gregg Kulick
Jacket images: (soldier) © Nik Keevil / Trevillion Images;
(bow and arrows) © Stephen Mulcahey / Trevillion Images
Book design by Ellen Cipriano
Production manager: Anna Oler
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Names: Pressfield, Steven, author.
Title: A man at arms : a novel / Steven Pressfield.
Description: First edition. | New York : W. W. Norton & Company, [2021]
Identifiers: LCCN 2020028529 | ISBN 9780393540970 (hardcover) |
ISBN 9780393540987 (epub)
Classification: LCC PS3566.R3944 M36 2021 | DDC 813/.54—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020028529
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