Food Expenses for Prisoners of War

"We have over nine hundred elf Prisoners of War, all alive and well. What are you offering in exchange?" Saurfang finally regained a little face. Thrall had counted the Orc casualties and found that not many were missing; most had died in battle. Thus, Saurfang had much more confidence when it came to exchanging prisoners.

Shandris knew this issue would not be easy to handle either. After hesitating briefly, she said, "We have more than eighty Orc prisoners. Do you want to exchange them back?"

That made the numbers roughly ten to one. It would not be easy to trade.

"One for one, or all for all?" the Old Orc asked shrewdly.

"Of course, all for all!" Shandris said firmly.

"Then that isn't fair. You must provide compensation." Orcs were not the sort to accept a loss.

Shandris immediately asked warily, "What compensation do you want? Ashenvale's ownership can never be traded." She blocked the Orcs' demand before they could make it.

"If Ashenvale's ownership is excluded, what else can you offer to compensate for the prisoner exchange?" Saurfang knew the elves would never trade Ashenvale, so he asked about other terms that might benefit the Orcs.

Shandris could not think of anything either, but she quickly found an argument. "You've been logging and hunting in Ashenvale for so long already. Aren't those resources enough to offset the exchange of these prisoners?"

Saurfang choked on that. He had not expected the elves to use resources gathered by the Orcs themselves as compensation. They were quite cunning. He replied in a deep voice, "Those resources are merely the gains we won through bloody battles. They do not count as compensation at all. If you want to bring back these nearly thousand prisoners, you must offer something sincere. Otherwise, words alone are