General Snowe received the report of the cavalry's failure at the same hour that the orcish advance guard crested the last hill between Thornfield and the North Bridge crossing.
The dispatch rider, one of the scattered troopers who had broken north after Haguk's ambush, delivered the news with the controlled composure of a soldier who understood that the content of his message was more important than the manner of its delivery. The flanking force was broken. The supply road was held. The orcish cavalry, smaller in number but devastatingly effective in the close terrain where the ambush had been executed, had intercepted and shattered the column before it reached its objective.
