Quotes by John Flanagan

“We will eventually have this place top notch.”

“I just found the line I was comfortable with and stayed with it. Im left-handed, so the lanes dont change much. It was a good day.”

“They are totally opposite. The arm motions are completely different. Mentally though, youve got to be there in both. Youve got to be focused. You cant just go out and throw the ball anywhere. Every time you throw the ball, youve got to have a target and be focused on that target.”

“Last weekend gave us confidence that when we bowl like we can, were a very good team. If we do that again, I see no reason why we cant be in the top 10.”

“It sounds like a good idea so as not to waste food.”

“The increase in U.S. exports came as a surprise and its good news. Export demand for U.S. cotton is very good and encouraging to the market. The U.S. exports are to go to China as seen in their increase in imports.”

“I figured if we got the first game it would keep us going. The hits and everything.”

But what if I make a mistake? Will asked.Gilan threw back his head and laughed. A mistake? One mistake? You should be so lucky. Youll make dozens! I made four or five on my first day alone! Of course youll make mistakes. Just dont make any of them twice. If you do mess things up, dont try to hide it. Dont try to rationalize it. Recognize it and admit it and learn from it. We never stop learning, none of us.

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 warriors head against a convenient tree.You have no sense of drama or symbolism, do you? he asked.Huh? replied Horace, not quite understanding. Halt looked around for a convenient tree. Luckily for Horace, there were none in sight.

A hundred people is rather a large handful for the four of us to take on, Malcolm pointed out. Do you have any ideas about how were going to handle that task?Simple, Halt told him. Well surround them.

Yes, Im back, he said, And look who I ran into.Horace grinned at him. i hope you ran into him hard.As hard as I could.

Isnt that someone we know? asked Horace. He pointed to where a cloaked figure sat by the side of the road a few hundred meters away, arms wrapped around his knees. Close by him, a small shaggy horse cropped the grass growing at the edge of the drainage ditch that ran beside the road.So it is, Halt replied. And he seems to have brought Will with him.

Would you have done that in his place? Would you have left him and gone on?Of course I would! Halt replied immediately. But something in his voice rang false and Horse looked at him, raising one eyebrow. Hed waited a long time for an opportunity to use that expression of disbelief on Halt.After a pause, the Rangers anger subsided.All right. Perhaps I wouldnt, he admitted. Then he glared at Horace. And stop raising that eyebrow on me. You cant even do it properly. Your other eyebrow moves with it!

Maybe we should have gone with him, he said, a few minutes after his friend was lost to sight.Three of us would make four times the noise he will, Halt said.Horace frowned, not quite understanding the equation. Wouldnt three of us make three times the noise?Halt shook his head. Will and Tug will make hardly any noise. Neither will Abelard and I. But as for you and that moving earthquake you call a horse... He gestured at Kicker and left the rest unsaid.

Gundar seemed to come to a decision. Well, as my old mam used to say, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, its probably a duck. Very wise, Halt said. And what exactly do your mothers words of wisdom have to do with this situation? Gundar shrugged. It looks like a channel. Its the right place for a channel. If I were digging one, this is where Id dig a channel. So. . . So its probably the channel? Selethen said. Gundar grinned at him. Either that or its a duck.

The tavern keeper, a wiry man with a sharp-nosed face, round, prominent ears and a receding hairline that combined to give him a rodentlike look, glanced at him, absentmindedly wiping a tankard with a grubby cloth. Will raised an eyebrow as he looked at it. Hed be willing to bet the cloth was transferring more dirt to the tankard then it was removing. Drink? the tavern keeper asked. He set the tankard down on the bar, as if in preparation for filling it with whatever the stranger might order. Not out of that, Will said evenly, jerking a thumb at the tankard. Ratface shrugged, shoved it aside and produced another from a rack above the bar. Suit yourself. Ale or ouisgeah? Ousigeah, Will knew, was the strong malt spirit they distilled and drank in Hibernia. In a tavern like this, it might be more suitable for stripping runt than drinking. Id like coffee, he said, noticing the battered pot by the fire at one end of the bar. Ive got ale or ouisgeah. Take your pick. Ratface was becoming more peremptory. Will gestured toward the coffeepot. The tavern keeper shook his head. None made, he said. Im not making a new pot just for you. But hes drinking coffee, Will said, nodding to one side. Inevitably the tavern keeper glanced that way, to see who he was talking about. The moment his eyes left Will, an iron grip seized the front of his shirt collar, twisting it into a knot that choked him and at the same time dragged him forward, off balance, over the bar,. The strangers eyes were suddenly very close. He no longer looked boyish. The eyes were dark brown, almost black in this dim light, and the tavern keeper read danger there. A lot of danger. He heard a soft whisper of steel, and glancing down past the fist that held him so tightly, he glimpsed the heavy, gleaming blade of the saxe knife as the stranger laid it on the bar between them. He looked around for possible help. But there was nobody else at the bar, and none of the customers at the tables had noticed what was going on. Aach...mach cohee, he choked. The tension on his collar eased and the stranger said softly, What was that? Ill...make...coffee, he repeated, gasping for breath. The stranger smiled. It was a pleasant smile, but the tavern keep noticed that it never reached those dark eyes. Thats wonderful. Ill wait here.

He shook his head. He didnt know. He couldnt tell when he had woken fully. He walked to the horses. They definitely seemed alarmed. But then, they would. After all, he had just leapt to his feet unexpectedly, waving his saxe knife around like a lunatic.

Looks like hes lost a guinea and found a farthing, Horace said, then added, unnecessarily, Will, I mean.Halt turned in his saddle to regard the younger man and raised an eyebrow.I may be almost senile in your eyes, Horace, but theres no need to explain the blindly obvious to me. Id hardly have thought you were referring to Tug.

Theres a tavern by the docks. Hes there most evenings.Then Ill talk to him tonight, Halt said.You can try. But hes a hard case, Halt. Im not sure youll get anything out of him. Hes not interested in money. I tried that.Well, perhaps hell do it out of the goodness of his heart. Im sure hell open up to me, Halt said easily. But Horace noticed a gleam in his eye. He was right: the prospect of having something to do had reawakened Halts spirits. He had a score to settle, and Horace found himself thinking that it didnt bode well for this Black OMalley character.Will eyes Halt doubtfully, however. You think so.Halt smiled at him. People love talking to me, he said. Im an excellent conversationalist and I have a sparkling personality. Ask Horace. Ive been bending his ear all the way from Dun Kilty, havent I?Horace nodded confirmation. Talking nonstop all the way, hes been, he said. Be glad to see him turn all that chatter onto someone else.

Youre dropping the bow hand as you release, he called, although Halt certainly wasnt.His mentor looked around, saw him, and replied pithily, I believe your grandmother needs lessons in sucking eggs.