‘[They] believed that there was power in treachery. To win the confidence of your opponent, to mask your animus, and to turn… Well, they believed this actually invested them with power.’
‘I don’t see how.’
‘Don’t you?’ asked Tchure. ‘The potency, they believed, depends on the level of betrayal. If an ally suddenly turns on an ally, that’s one level. But if a trusted friend turns on a friend. That was the purest kind of power, because the treachery ran so deep. Because it required that so many moral codes be broken. Trust. Friendship. Loyalty. Reliance. Honesty. Such an act was powerful because it was beyond belief.’
Fourteen Twenty 