The First Generation of Centaur Khans

There was an art to deploying troops—knowing when to tighten and when to loosen. That was why Rend had allowed the army half a day to rest and indulge themselves before continuing toward the Horde's positions under cover of night. If they rushed there at full speed, they could indeed arrive today, but the warriors would be too exhausted to fight and would need even longer to recover. Setting out now, however, would allow them to reach the front before dawn. Having rested, the warriors could head straight onto the battlefield and throw themselves into the day's fierce fighting.

After their revelry the previous night and their rest during the day, the Horde warriors had regained their usual solemn expressions and killing intent. At rest, they were good, amusing friends. In battle, they were their enemies' nightmares. More than twenty thousand people were gathered here, all true elites of the Horde. Every one of them was qualified to join the Kor'kron or the Bloodhoof Guard.

When An'she illuminated the land, the centaurs sounded the horn for another assault. After several days of attacks, the centaurs had not advanced a single step. Instead, they had left tens of thousands of casualties at the hands of the Horde. Yet bolstered by their vast numbers, they fearlessly continued charging at the Horde's positions. The terrain before Mulgore's Great Gate was a massive slope. Though relatively flat, under Thrall's command, the Horde used all manner of traps and cavalry defense methods learned from the humans, greatly reducing the effectiveness of the centaurs' most skilled and threatening charges. This turned them into infantry, forcing them to fight hand-to-hand to push the line forward. But how could an individual centaur compare to a Horde warrior? Both Tauren and Orcs were renowned for their individual strength. Meanwhile, Troll warriors took advantage of their height and long reach to hurl spears from the rear, slowing the centaur charges. Those enormous spears were far deadlier than arrows, sometimes even piercing several centaurs at once. Once planted in the ground, they also became obstacles that blocked the centaurs' advance.

The narrow terrain limited the centaurs' numerical advantage, while the Horde, backed by Mulgore, had far more room to maneuver. Following Thrall's steady, victory-focused style, they adopted echelon tactics, dividing their warriors into several groups. Once one group had spent enough time on the front line, it would withdraw and be replaced by another, while the relieved group rested. On Mulgore's vast lands, the Orcs had ample room to operate. The wounded in the rear received the best support, with several people caring for each one. Shamans, Druids, and other healers treated them, while supplies such as bandages and medicinal herbs were more than plentiful thanks to Rend's wealth. In a single day yesterday, nearly forty thousand centaur warriors had died, while fewer than two thousand Horde warriors had failed to survive due to pressing their attack too eagerly or failing to land a killing blow. Aside from a small number of severely wounded, the rest were largely unharmed.

Within the centaurs' main camp stood the largest tent at its center, where the centaur leaders resided. It was decorated with the skulls of other creatures and ores of various colors. Inside the tent, the centaur leaders were arguing.

"Khans Dez'hep, I heard that not only did your Kolkar clan fail to advance a single step yesterday, you even lost tens of thousands of warriors. Your clan is as weak as you are. Leave today's attack to the Magram clan, and I'll show you that the Magram clan is the strongest." Dez'hep Khan had served as the vanguard yesterday, yet the Horde's defenses had held firm and he had failed to advance even one step, becoming the laughingstock of the centaur clans. That was only because they had not calculated the casualty ratio—otherwise, they might not have found it so funny. They merely assumed that the Kolkar clan had grown weak. Moreover, the five great centaur clans were bitter enemies. Before Maraudon issued its orders and sent three first-generation Khans to forcibly command them, their only relationship had been slaughtering one another in battle.

"Jehn Khan, if your Magram clan refuses to accept that, we can petition the first-generation Khans for a battle and see whether your Magram clan can withstand the wrath of the Kolkar clan." The conflict between Dez'hep Khan's Kolkar clan and the Magram clan led by Jehn Khan was the fiercest of all. Both men wished they could wipe the other out completely. If Maraudon had not imposed restrictions—allowing the five great clans to compete with one another, but forbidding any one clan from annexing another—it would have happened long ago. The five first-generation Khans held equal status. Though they too refused to yield to one another and even hated each other, none wished to see their own bloodline exterminated. Thus, they established this rule.

"Stop arguing, both of you, you foolish wretches. As our descendants, you can't even handle something this simple. Dez'hep, you truly disgrace me. The Kolkar clan is my descendant, yet it failed to advance even one step." The Second Khan, Gelk, angrily berated these juniors. The first-generation centaur Khans all remained in this world in forms akin to souls. Those responsible for pursuing the Tauren were the Second Khan Gelk, the Fourth Khan Maradus, and the Fifth Khan Weng. The five centaur Khans were ranked not merely by the order of their birth, but more by their strength. The strongest was the First Khan, Kolk, who guarded Maraudon with his clan and generally did not participate in the struggles among the other clans. Naturally, the one most unwilling to submit to the First Khan Kolk was the Second Khan Gelk. Because of this rivalry, the Third Khan wished to first bring down the Second Khan Gelk, so he allied himself with the First Khan. Though the Fourth and Fifth Khans also competed with each other, they were brothers in adversity. Naturally, they joined forces with the Second Khan to oppose the alliance of the First and Third Khans.

Thus, the strongest faction among the centaurs was the alliance of the First Khan and the Third Khan, while opposing it was the alliance of the Second Khan, the Third Khan, and the Fourth Khan, creating a fragile balance. When that lord decided to launch a campaign of racial extermination against the Tauren, the First Khan could not claim the task because he had to guard Maraudon. Though the Third Khan wanted to fight for it, he could not stand alone. In the end, the Second Khan secured it. He wanted to complete the task brilliantly, exterminate the Tauren, and use their corpses to build a palace for that lord. That would surely win its favor and give him hope of surpassing the First Khan Kolk, who had suppressed him for so long.

Opportunity often came with risk. The Night Elves, who had been expected not to aid the Tauren, did not intervene—but the Horde suddenly appeared instead, nearly wiping out the warriors Dez'hep Khan had sent to raid Durotar. That was a loss even the second-largest centaur clan could not bear. Having suffered such severe losses and then been mocked by his enemy Jehn Khan, Dez'hep was filled with hatred for the Horde. The Second Khan Gelk had lost so much of his strength at once and naturally hated the Horde to the bone. That was why he had made Dez'hep Khan responsible for the vanguard, swearing to avenge this humiliation.