I did not expect them to try anything but I am alive at my age because I make a habit of being ready for trouble when it seems most unlikely. - Glen Cook

“Used to be” is not worth the breeze on which it is scribbled.

Only this time it was just a brief rest, till the stars came out. They stared down with mockery in their twinkles, saying all our sweat and blood really had no meaning in the long eye of time. Nothing we did would be recalled a thousand years from now.
Such thoughts infected us all. No one had any ideals or glory-lust left. We just wanted to get somewhere, lie down, and forget the war.
The war would not forget us.

You can blame a wizard for anything and people will believe you.