“This is the camp of Lord Adron?” said Khaavren.
“None other,” said the Dragonlord.
“Well, this camp is then just what I have been seeking, for I have an errand to His Highness that trembles with impatience and bites its lips with frustration at any delay; wherefore, good soldier, I ask that you let me by so that I and my errand can come to an understanding with each other. I am called Khaavren of Castlerock, and I have the honor to be Captain of His Majesty’s Imperial Guard, and it is on His Majesty’s behalf that I and my errand are come.”
The soldier bowed, “I would like nothing more than to give you and your errand a good welcome, but, alas! His Highness has forbidden errands of any sort upon the site of our camp, and my companions and I fear that you would have some trouble leaving your errand behind, wherefore we hope that you will take no offense if we cannot give way before you.”
— Paarfi of Roundwood, Five Hundred Years After
Khaavren’s errand is, of course, to arrest “His Highness” on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor; His Highness has no wish to be arrested.
Paarfi of Roundwood is a popular historian of the Dragaeran Empire (popular in the sense of writing popular history, rather than being personally popular) who writes in a peculiar and distinctive voice reminiscent of some of the older English translations of Alexandre Dumas, but with his own idiosyncracies and indulgences. I would be remiss if I failed to note that Paarfi is the alter ego of Steven Brust, author of Jhereg and the other Vlad Taltos novels.