The barbarian chieftains made their decision on the twelfth day of the siege.
The Snowe stronghold had cost them eleven hundred dead in twelve days. The earthworks, though breached, had been rebuilt and reinforced after each breach with the engineering adaptability that General Snowe's campaign experience provided. The Baron of Frost's aerial interventions had disrupted three of the five planned decisive assaults, the griffon's frost magic sealing breaches and scattering assault formations at the critical moments when the breaches should have been exploited.
The chieftains met on the ridgeline north of Snowehaven in the council circle that the highland tradition prescribed: five chieftains, seated on stones, their weapons across their knees, the thundermakers visible behind them in the firing positions that had been bombarding the stronghold for twelve days.
Warchief Garrok, the senior chieftain whose clan had led the descent from the Gorath Highlands, spoke first.
