The Warlord Chronicles are in my pantheon of favorite books. I have a question about them. A while back I went through a stretch of reading Sherlock Holmes short stories. It struck me how similar the characters of Holmes and Watson and their relationship was to Merlin and Derfel respectively. One (Merlin/Sherlock) is the brains with a biting wit. Always calm and solving problems with what he thinks are quite obvious solutions. Derfel/Watson is the loyal follower who also provides the muscle, and is in wonder of the other’s ability. Did those characters and their relationship provide any inspiration for your development of the great Merlin and Derfel characters? There have been many iterations of Doyle’s Holmes from Ace Ventura to the character Dr. House on the show “House.” I dont think I can remember any instance where Merlin did the “I can tell you all about yourself from just your appearance” routine, but the rest I found similar. Thanks and keep on writing! Matt