How we cite our quotes: Chapter, Paragraph
Quote #4
I reassured myself—this was a battle, and I was still very much alive. More than alive—every color was bright. Hubert was alive, too, breathing hard although he was standing still. The enemy fortifications were dark with men, and a few sling stones patterned on the ground, testing the range, smacking the leather armor protecting the men driving the engine forward. There was a teasing, dreamlike quality about both the Christians and the defenders. (23.40)
There's nothing like the possibility of death to make you feel alive. Edmund experiences being super aware of his physical body, which is still pulsing with life. Around him men are dying right and left, but since he's still unharmed, the horror of his surroundings kind of seems like a dream sequence. Since he's alive and unhurt, the killing and dying seems surreal. He's not a part of it.
Quote #5
The ladder was thick with fighting men, shaking their weapons and cursing the defenders, who could not pull the ladder free from the wall. It all looked laughable. In a sickening way, a market-day brawl among neighbors. (24.6)
Edmund compares the battle to something that he's used to seeing—a fight in the marketplace. It makes sense that his mind connects the bodies pushing and shoving to something he can more easily relate to. After all, war must be hard to make sense of when you're in the thick of it.
Quote #6
All that long day Genoan ships battled through the Saracen attackers, and one by one the Christian ships rode anchor, just beyond the surf. One of the Genoan vessels caught fire, and the reflection of the flames was beautiful, a carpet of gold on the dark water as the sun began to set. (26.33)
Since the battle is at sea, Edmund isn't experiencing it with any of his senses but sight. And since it's so far away, it's reduced to color and light. It's amazing how distance can change somebody's perspective. Things always look less serious from far away, and here the war is almost like a painting.