Lord-Commander Aldrath stood at the command table in the field tent three miles north of the capital and studied the map that showed him everything he could not control.
The Horde's position at Ashwell was marked with the red triangle that his intelligence officer used for hostile forces. The triangle had not moved in twenty-six days. Twenty-six days of the orcish army sitting in a fortified camp half a march from the capital's walls, not attacking, not withdrawing, not negotiating. Sitting. The triangle's stillness was the most dangerous thing on the map because the stillness meant the orcish commander was choosing not to act, and a commander who chose not to act was a commander whose action, when it came, would come at the moment and in the manner that the commander had selected rather than the moment and manner that circumstances forced.
"Report," Aldrath said.
