"I don't think I've hit that level quite yet," he said, wondering who on earth would actually consider 'Thugboy' a quality moniker.

"But fighting at the front line is my job, of course. I take the hits so the people who can give them better than they take them can do their jobs, by sword or spell or mind scrambling." He knew perfectly well that short and not particularly physically-strong women could be every bit as lethal in a fight as an orc duel-wielding swords longer than he was tall.