Bodfinger

Gold-rank, blunt and patient. Slew the enemy Gold Knight at the head of the relief force during the Tverdynya battle and walked Lorist through the dispatch afterwards. Father of Elisha, who plays Monster Chess with Lorist in the long winter at Castle Panshi.

**Tverdynya kill.** During the night relief assault Bodfinger personally cut down the Gold-rank knight at the head of the five-thousand-soldier reinforcement column and walked Lorist through the dispatch at the dawn briefing.

**Long winter at Castle Panshi.** Father of Elisha. Sits beside Fatty Shi during the strategy circle that approves the snow-salt expansion plan; the senior voice who overrules Knight Shreid when the winter beast tide warning lands.

Blunt, steady and dependable — the Nortons' heaviest hitter in the field and a senior voice at the war councils. It was he who kept his head when the beast tide overran Fatty Shi's position and ordered the retreat into the ice-city, saving the twenty-thousand-strong force. At councils he does not fear to override a senior knight when it is warranted. Father of Elisha, who plays Monster Chess with Lorist over the long winter at Rockcastle.

A Gold Knight, commander of the Nortons' heavy armoured infantry corps. In the night counterattack at Tverdynya he personally cut down the Gold Knight at the head of the enemy's five-thousand-strong reinforcement. During the siege of Rockcastle he leads five battalion squares of heavy infantry in the White Lion corps' standard armour, against which the enemy's longbow volleys shatter.

One of Lorist's earliest companions, dating back to the recruiting at the Dawn Academy (mentioned from ch 40-60). At the Battle of Rockcastle (ch 165) he leads the heavy infantry in the van, breaking the will of Lukins's coalition on the first approach. After victory he is tasked with setting up the camp for thirty thousand prisoners and overseeing their forced labour on the Black Marsh.

Over the winter at Rockcastle (ch 161) he plays Monster Chess with his daughter Elisha and sits in the strategy circle that approves the snow-salt trade expansion. During the winter beast tide (ch 176) he spent seven days trying with Fatty Shi to assemble the column, objected to his suicidal stand, and when the tide overran the position he saved the force by pulling it into an ice-city; at the post-mortem he overrode the knight who had waved off the warning. He remains one of the Nortons' key commanders throughout the story.