“I thought told you to watch where you put your feet," he said accusingly. Erak shrugged.I did," he replied ruefully. "But while I was busy watching the ground, I hit that branch with my head. Broke it clean in two."Halt raised his eyebrows. "I assume you're not talking about your head," he muttered. Erak frowned at the suggestion.Of course not," he replied.More's the pity," Halt told him.”

“You're a very amusing fellow," he told Halt. "I'd like to brain you with my ax one of these days."Erak to Halt.”

“Once again Erak bellowed with laughter. "Your master here went nearly the same shade of green as his cloak," he told Will. Halt raised an eyebrow."At least I found a use for that damned helmet," he said, and the smile disappeared from Erak's face."Yes. I'm not sure what I'm going to tell Gordoff about that," he said. "He made me promise I'd look after that helmet. It's his favorite-a real family heirloom.""Well it certainly has a lived in feel to it now," Halt told him, and Will noticed there was a hint of malicious pleasure in his eye.”

“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.”

“Young men!” he snorted to Erak. “They think a pretty face can cure every ill.”“Some of us can remember back that far. Halt,” Erak told him with a grin. “I suppose that’s all far behind an old hack like you. Svengal told me you were settling down. Some plump, motherly widow seizing her last chance with a broken-down old gray bear, is she?”Erak, of course, had been told by Svengal that Halt had recently married a great beauty. But he enjoyed getting a reaction from the smaller man. Halt’s one-eyed stare locked onto the Oberjarl.“When we get back, I’d advise you not to refer to Pauline as a ‘plump, motherly widow’ in her hearing. She’s very good with that dagger she carries and you need your ears to keep that ridiculous helmet of yours in place.”

“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.”

“Gorlog's teeth!" Erak exclaimed, stunned at the numbers. "How many are there?""Ten thousand, maybe twelve," Halt replied briefly. The Skandian let out a low whistle."Are you sure? How can you tell?" It wasn't a sensible question, but Erak was overwhelmed by the size of the horse herd and he asked the question more for something to say than for any other reason. Halt looked at him dryly."It's an old calvary trick," he said. "You count the legs and divide by four.”