Halt," said the elegant diplomat, "when you asked me to marry you, did you think we could just sneak off to a glade in the woods with a few close friends and get it done?" Halt hesitated. "Well, no...of course not." As a matter of fact, that was exactly what he had thought. A simple ceremony, a few friends, some food and drink and then he and Pauline would be a couple. But he felt that it might not be wise to admit that right now.

But if we’re going to kill them all, we might as well make an occasion of it.” Toshak shrugged. “Do as you wish,” he said. “Occasion or not, as long as they’re all dead, I’m happy.

Now, if you two will excuse us, we'll get back to the relatively simple buisness of planning a war," he said. -Baron Arald

Failure is just a few seconds away from success.

But then, in his lifetime, Halt had often ignored what was technically legal. Technicalities didn't appeal to him. All too often, they simply got in the way of doing the right thing.

There are always risks in battle. It's a dangerous business. The trick is to take the right ones.' [said Halt]. 'How do you know which are the right ones?' Shigeru asked. Halt glanced at his two younger companions. They grinned and answered in chorus, 'You wait and see if you win.

Now," said Halt, "all I have to do is work out a way of beating these horse-riding devils." Erak grinned at him. "That should be child's play," he said. "The hard part will be convincing Ragnak about it.