Khao'khen assembled the war council within the hour.
The chieftains gathered at the command table with the speed that the chief's summons produced and the specific energy that the delegation's departure had released into the camp's atmosphere. The energy was the energy that weeks of enforced patience had accumulated in warriors whose primary function was fighting and whose primary function had been deferred by the strategic waiting that the campaign's patience had required.
"The barbarians have rejected the agreement," Khao'khen said. "The eldest shaman, who made the agreement, is incapacitated. The chieftains who command in the shaman's absence have chosen to hold the capital and the valley and to dismiss the Horde's claims."
"Thrak'gul," Dhug'mhar said. The Orcish word for rock-brained delivered with the specific warmth that the word carried when applied to enemies whose decisions had just guaranteed their encounter with Perfection.
