Josk was a master archer of about thirty, tall and athletic, with blond hair, handsome features, and a resolute expression. But Lorist noticed a faint sadness that seemed always to linger between his brows.
After exchanging greetings and the customary courtesies between knights, Lorist invited Knight Josk to the main tent for a talk.
Once inside, Lorist introduced him to the family knights under his command. He briefly explained where the convoy had come from and how a lancer attack that afternoon had driven him to seize the military camp in a fit of anger. Then he asked why Knight Josk had come.
Knight Josk was direct. He had come to gauge whether the convoy could withstand an attack by a battalion of Count Kobili's garrison troops and a company of lancers. That afternoon, he had approached the camp under the guise of scouting, hoping to slip in while its defenses were thin and burn its food and supplies. That would force Count Kobili's troops, then sweeping through the western mountains, to turn back and give the resistance there room to breathe.
By taking the camp, Lorist's convoy had done the resistance a great favor. Knight Josk spoke frankly: when he saw Lorist seize it with fewer than a hundred light cavalrymen, he had thought their force too small to hold it. At most, he expected them to take what they could and leave, just as he had planned to do. He had wondered when a cavalry unit capable of standing against the lancers had appeared in the region. Only when he spotted Fatty Shi's convoy heading toward the camp on his way back did he realize Lorist's group had probably been passing through and clashed with the lancers by chance. Worried that they might underestimate Count Kobili's army and