“More than my life, Goldtooth,” Handy said, rising to the challenge. Ivorybeak blanched at the challenge. The king, for his part, merely raised his brows, the ghost of a smile tugging at his beak. Although, seeing that minute an expression was harder to tell with an avian than equines, it could easily have been contempt if viewed in a different light. “Do not take our word if it pleases thee. Then, when you receive reports that the Equestrians really are doing just as we said they are doing, thou wilst be left doubting thine own judgement. Then thou wouldst hath spurned all our honest overtures and disregarded my own sacrifices of life and wealth to see to it the one who threatened thy kingdom was brought to justice and a foreign incursion averted. My word will still be intact, good king. What then, will be the value of thine?”