"Behind the temple-bunker, hidden by the jungle, a good fifty feet from the southwest wall, Rath's man waited in the darkness. He had been called Shadow for so long now that he had almost forgotten his real name. Under Raths command, he had killed over a hundred men, often going behind enemy lines to do it. No one could be as quiet in the jungle. As a boy in a Northern Cambodian village, he had taught himself to spend hours becoming so silent that he could catch a perching dove with his hands. Mostly, though, he used knives. Under Raths orders he covered himself in mud."

"He had long ago reached a state of meditation, of trance, that canceled put any distractions. In his mind, everything was clear: there existed only him, his target, and the obstacles between them."

"He lay down on his side of the path, ferns and vines covering his head. He concentrated his attention on a little slice of pat directly in front of him, letting his gaze adjust to the deeper darkness there."

"The creatures feet and lower legs appeared in that space, recognizable despite its camouflage. The Shadown struck. Incredibly quick. Lunging forward. A grunt of surprise from the creature as the blade slashed through skin, through the muscles and tendons at the creatures heels. It felt strange, more like cutting through a goats flank than someone's legs. Green blood trickled out. Now the creature would fall and Shadow would be at its throat or its knees or its shoulders. Anywhere a blade could go, a blade would go."

"He had only made it to his knees a split second later when he was back on the ground. Staring at the creatures feet. Something had gone wrong. The creature hadn't fallen. Three feet of metal spear had entered his back and pinned him down. He made a wheezing sound, realized a lung had been punctured, a sharp pain telling him a part of his spine had been crushed. Blood leaked from his mouth. Shadow willed himself onto his side and watched the creature walk away, toward the South tower. He saw that the wounds on his heels had already stopped bleeding, and it wasn't hobbling. The creature didn't have an Achilles heel because it wasn't human. If it had a weakness, it lay elsewhere." Pg.274-275 chpt. 75