That stopped me. I had been so caught up in events, I hadn’t had a chance to think through the ramifications of them all. - Catherine Asaro

I do not understand this 'mountain climbing.' Shannar glared at Brad as if he had invented the activity rather than just given them the terminology. "What sane person would hammer spikes in a wall and swing from them on a rope?"

Even if I knew ancient warfare, which I don't, they probably have their own strategies here.
"The strategy is the same everywhere," she muttered. "Kill."

Either his desire was too intense to shut out or else I was feeling my own as well as his. What was going on? It was wrong, all wrong. No, it wasn’t wrong, it was right, and that was what was wrong.