for Horace and Princess Evanlyn's wedding. A new piece of evidence came to light from Robard's room, but Will could make neither heads nor tails of it. The day of the wedding arrived and as Will gave his speech (albeit unwritten and unprepared because of the story "Purple Prose"), he realized that there was a gallery above the dance hall where assassins would have a perfect window of opportunity to strike. Gathering a Skandian friend, Nils, Will hurried up the steps leading to the gallery. There, he and Nils overcame two assassins in the nick of time and Will just barely made it back in time for a dance with his sweetheart Alyss, who would have murdered him for missing the dance. As it was, she gave him a dire warning not to miss their wedding dance, when Will finally proposed. The Hibernian Many years earlier, in Gorlan Fief, a young Crowley stops by a tavern on his return journey to Hogarth Fief. There he confronts three drunken, rowdy soldiers who he subdues with the help of a Hibernian - the younger Halt. Crowley and Halt immediately hit it off and Halt decides to travel with Crowley, who discovers that they shared the same mentor, the Ranger Pritchard. They go to report the soldiers to their Baron, Baron Morgarath (before Morgarath decided to rebel against the kingdom). Morgarath made a bad impression on Halt and so when Morgarath tried to recruit him, Halt promptly turned the Baron down, in his classic curt manner. After parting ways, Halt once again assists Crowley by riding to his rescue as Crowley is cornered by five of Morgarath's soldiers. Crowley then convinces Halt to join him as he goes to find the then-Prince Duncan and reform the Ranger Corps from the bedraggled, corrupted group it was. The Wolf When a huge, renegade wolf attacks a young child, Will is called to deal with the menace. The wolf attacks Tug, Will's horse and best friend, as Will and Tug are tracking it, tearing a large gash in Tug's shoulder. Will manages to kill the beast before it does any more damage to Tug. Calling Old Bob, the horse breeder for the Ranger Corps, to take a look at the wound, Will learns that Tug will never fully recover. Will must retire Tug to Old Bob's Ranger horse ranch, where the lineage of all the Ranger