“He looked up at Stig and Hal. 'Told you this one was a keeper.' Lydia flushed as the two boys smiled. 'Shut up. You make sure you do your stuff with those two overgrown dinner bowls you call shields.”

“Stig: 'Of course, she'll sail rings around Wolfswind,'Hal: 'Then why didn't you tell him that?'Stig: 'I like my head where it is.”

“Welcome to Shelter Bay,' he said to Stig. 'Is that what it's called?' Hal gave him a tired grin. 'It is now'.”

“Shut up, Axl!" he whispered fiercly. "If you want to break your neck, do it quietly or I'll break it for you.”

“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. ”

“What are you looking at, foreigner?” the guard demanded roughly. The smile was a little unsettling. A prisoner shouldn’t smile at his captors like that.“I’m just making sure I can remember you,” Gilan told him. “Never know when that might be useful.”

“And with his arm around the younger man's shoulders still, he led him away from the bow and back to the small group by the tiller. Halt glanced up as they approached, caught a look from Gilan and had a pretty good idea what they had been talking about."Where have you two been?" he asked, his tone light.admiring the view," Gilan told him. "Thought you might need a hand from the two wisest heads on board.”