Quotes from John Flanagan

Many rulers would have spent the morning complaining loudly about the cold and the discomfort, as if their complaints would actually serve to alleviate the situation and as if their attendants should be able to do something about it. Not the emperor. He accepted the situation knowing that he could do nothing to change the weather. Best to endure it without making life more difficult for those around him.

I'd say," the Ranger answered after a few seconds' deliberation, "that he'll be heading south now that he has the chance. Back into Araluen." "How do you know that?" Horace asked. He was always impressed at the two Rangers' ability to read a situation and come up with the correct answer to a problem. Sometimes, he thought, they almost seemed to have divine guidance. "I'm guessing," Halt told him.

Who's Ikbar?" Ulf said. His brother turned away to hide a smirk. Gilan glanced at Hal curiously, saw he wasn't planning to answer, so spoke in his place. "He was an Arridan demigod, I believe." "Oh, don't," Hal said quietly. But it was too late. "And what did he do?" "Well, Ulf, I'm not sure that he did too much of anything," Gilan said. "Just paraded round being a demigod.

What a brotherband!" he declared. "A thief, a touchy first mate, a shortsighted bear, a joker, two twins who can't tell each other apart, a bookworm and a skirl who doesn't know the right shape for a ship's sail." He beamed at all of them, then added, "I can't think of better qualities in a wolfship's crew.

It was ten against ten. So, as Svengal later recounted, it was no contest. He had the enemy outnumbered three to one.

Hangovers had a way of teaching people that drinking alcohol was not a good idea.

I said you were Sir Horace of the Order of the Oakleaf," Halt told him, then added uncertainly, "At least, I think that's what I told him. I may have said you were of the Order of the Oak Pancake." Horace

Your dislike for the project will be duly noted, and ignored.

Keep practicing," he told her. "Until I get it right," she said. But he corrected her. "No. Until you don't get it wrong.

Horace felt an overwhelming need to sneeze. He tried to smother the sound, but only succeeded in making it louder. Will looked up angrily, shaking his head in disbelief. "Will you shut up?" he said tautly. Horace shrugged in apology. "I'm sorry," he said. "I sneezed. A person can't help it when they sneeze." "Perhaps not. But you could try to make it sound a little less like an elephant trumpeting in agony," Will told him.

Halt regarded him. He loved Horace like a younger brother. Even like a second son, after will. He admired his skill with a sword and his courage in battle. But sometimes, just sometimes, he felt an overwhelming desire to ram the young warrior's head against a convenient tree.

true authority came from sharing the hard work, not attempting to place oneself above it.

Allow doubt to enter your mind, and the doubt will become self-fulfilling.

Will to Gundar: I'm looking for fighting men. I plan to sack a castle, and I hear you people are rather good at that.

Halt sighed in exasperation. "What is it with you Araluens? Are you all afraid of a little fall?" He began hauling the rope up, coiling it over his shoulder as it came. "It's not the fall that bothers me," said Duncan. "It's the sudden stop at the end.

Halt, for his part, said nothing. But when Will turned to look at his mentor, the grizzled Ranger met his eye, and simply nodded. And that, Will knew, was the equivalent of three hearty cheers from Halt.

You think our mam likes you better than me?" challenged whichever one was the other. (Don't blame me. I've lost track too.)

Surrounded by followers, he was alone.

You'd be surprised what people will believe. Usually, the bigger and the more improbable the lie, the more willing they are to believe it.

Farmers don't nap," he said. "Knights nap." "That's where we get the expression 'a good knight's sleep,'" Will said, smiling at his own wit. Halt turned a baleful eye on him. "Horace is right. You're not funny.

I think you're wonderful too, Hal!" Stephan said, in a workmanlike approximation of Ophelia's breathless, admiring tones. The crew laughed even harder. Lydia snorted through her nose.

The dog, he thought, was wiser and more kindly natured than he was.

Nothing like a little wanton destruction to get boys excited, Thorn thought, smiling to himself.

settle on one direction