“Easy climb, Kurokuma. You do it easily.''Not on your life,' Horace said... 'That's what we have Rangers for. They climb up sheer rock walls and crawl along narrow, slippery ledges. I'm a trained warrior, and I'm far to valuable to risk such shenanigans.''We're not valuable?' Will said, feigning insult.Horace looked at him. 'We've got two of you. We can always afford to lose one,' he said firmly.”

“Mikeru was still puzzling over Horace's last remark. He frowned. 'Kurokuma, these shenanigans... What are they?''Shenanigans are what Rangers do. They usually involve doing things that risk breaking your neck or your leg.'Mikeru nodded, filing the word away. 'I will remember this word,' he said. 'Shenanigans. It is a good word.”

“He explained how pushing above his threshold for short bursts of time at the beginning of each hill allowed him to breathe more easily on the long climbs. I nodded enthusiastically and understood little of what he was telling me."How about you?" he asked. "How do you structure your training?""I go until I'm tired," I said. "And then I do it again the next day.""That's probably not very effective," John said.”

“Halt shook his head. "You warriors don't do much geography in Battleschool, do you?"Horace shrugged. "We're not big on that sort of thing. We wait for our leader to point to an enemy and say, 'Go whack him.' We leave geography and such to Rangers. We like you to feel superior.""Go whack him, indeed," Halt said. "It must be comforting to lead such an uncomplicated life.”

“Ow!" said Horace as the Ranger's fingers probed and poked around the bruise.Did that hurt?" Halt asked, and Horace looked at him with exasperation.Of course it did," he said sharply. "That's why I said 'ow!”

“Do you think you could persuade that horse of yours to stay with the other horses for a minute or two?” he said with a mock severity. “Otherwise he’ll wind up believing he’s one of us.”He’s been driving Halt crazy since we found your tracks,” Horace put in. “He must have picked up your scent and known it was you we were following, although Halt didn’t realize it.”At that, Halt raised an eyebrow. “Halt didn’t realize it?” he repeated. “And I suppose you did?”Horace shrugged. “I’m just a warrior,” he replied. “I’m not supposed to be the thinker. I leave that to you Rangers.”