"The stocky man [Trom] shook his head. ¡°The law is the law. And I might as well make use of my new rank.¡± The three golden star-shaped knots of a captain sat beneath the flaring sunburst on the breast of his white cloak."
Prologue.

"The Hand of the Light always stood apart from the rest of the Children, a choice the rest of the Children approved."
Prologue.

"Gray-haired Asunawa, his sorrowful face making Byar look fully fleshed, was the only Child present not in armor, and his snowy cloak carried just the brilliant red crook, another way of standing apart. "
Prologue

"...only the Lord Captain Commander could call the High Inquisitor to account."
Prologue

"Eamon Valda was not a large man, yet his dark, hard face had the look of one who expected obedience as his due. As the very least he was due. Standing with his booted feet apart and his head high, command in every inch of him, he wore the white-and-gold tabard of the Lord Captain Commander over his gilded breast- and backplates, a silk tabard more richly embroidered than any Pedron Niall had worn. His white cloak, the flaring sun large on either breast in thread-of-gold, was silk as well, and his gold-embroidered white coat. The helmet beneath his arm was gilded and worked with the flaring sun on the brow, and a heavy gold ring on his left hand, worn outside his steel-backed gauntlet, held a large yellow sapphire carved with the sunburst. Another mark of favor received from the Seanchan.

" 'A Child of my command charges another of the Children with abusing a female relative of his, and claims the right of Trial Beneath the Light, which by law you [the Lord Captain Commander] must grant or deny.'"

"'It was usually the accused who asked to give the judgment to swords, and I believe usually when he knew the evidence would convict him. In any case, Trial Beneath the Light has not been invoked for nearly four hundred years.'"

"'I believe many of our old ways should be revived, and that law still stands. It will always stand, as written of old. The Light grants justice because the Light is justice. Inform your man he may issue his challenge, Trom, and face the one he accuses sword-to-sword. If that one tries to refuse, I declare that he has acknowledged his guilt and order him hanged on the spot, his belongings and rank forfeit to his accuser as the law states. I [Lord Captain Commander] have spoken.'"

¡°You see, Asunawa,¡± he [Eamon Valda] said almost cheerfully, ¡°the Children follow my orders, and the law, not a Questioner¡¯s whims.

"Valda frowned at one of the dismounted Children, a lean Saldaean named Kashgar, until the man stepped forward to relieve him of it. Kashgar was only an under-lieutenant, almost boyish despite a great hooked nose and thick mustaches like inverted horns, yet he moved with open reluctance."

"'Forgive me, my Lord Captain Commander,' Trom said with a slight bow, 'but since you are a participant in the Trial, you cannot be Arbiter. Aside from the High Inquisitor, who by law may not take part, I hold the highest rank here after you, so with your permission . . .?'"

"To Questioners, the law was what they said it was."

"'Under the Light, we are gathered to witness Trial Beneath the Light, a sacred right of any Child of the Light. The Light shines on truth, and here the Light shall illuminate justice. Let no man speak save he who has legal right, and let any who seek to intervene be cut down summarily. Here, justice will be found under the Light by a man who pledges his life beneath the Light, by the force of his arm and the will of the Light. The combatants will meet unarmed where I now stand,¡± he continued, lowering the sword to his side, ¡°and speak privately, for their own ears alone. May the Light help them find words to end this short of bloodshed, for if they do not, one of the Children must die this day, his name stricken from our rolls and anathema declared on his memory. Under the Light, it will be so.'¡±

"There had never been a mutiny in the Children."

¡°'Anyone?'¡± a Cairhienin named Doirellin said in a high-pitched voice. No one ever made fun of Doirellin¡¯s voice. Though short, he was nearly as wide as he was tall, there was barely an ounce of fat on him, and he could put walnuts between all of his fingers and crack them by clenching his fists.

"'But the Precepts say, to fight the raven, you may make alliance with the serpent until the battle is done.'"