James Fair paced his tent, waiting for word from the Captain-General to arrive. He was no spy or even scout, but he had kept his eyes and ears open; he knew about the rival band that was pillaging the nearby area. He counted on the fact that Captain Barrows would do the 'right' thing, if not out of morals, then because he would brook no rival so close to where he was. So when the messenger arrived, James listened closely before making telling the messenger that he was going to muster his command immidiately; the messenger might note that the nobleman was already in his armor.

Inside the tent were a squire and a page; people of noble birth who had joined the mercenary company due to desperate circumstances and attached themselves to James. The latter would then shout to those two:

"You guys heard what the messenger said?! Get my horse ready and fully armored, then carry the Captain-General's command to the rest of the First Heavy Division! We have some slavers to destroy!" The squire and page gave a short bow, then moved out of the tent to follow James' orders, while the nobleman himself began reviewing the maps of the southwest provinces of Alber. Mostly flat and crisscrossed by rivers; good cavalry terrain. Captain-General must have figured that out by now, and James can already guess the planned strategy and his role in it; the men under him can fight mounted or unmounted in heavy armor.

A few minutes later, the armor and horse were ready, and James rode out to meet his men and women. A most magnificent body of troops, one hundred men-at-arms who had put their faith in their sub-commander, James was proud of them. Saying a brief prayer to The One, James looked at his heavy fighters and said:

"All right, soldiers, listen up! We are about to fight today, and just as our Captain-General expects the best, we will give it to him! I expect you to fight in lock-step with the other members of the company - I must remind you that we have nothing to our name besides our comrades and our blades, not until this damned war is over! So when the order comes to move out, move out!"