Under Eleanor's guidance, the human alliance fought with passion and hatred. The young cleric's arrival heralded victory, but the ork army on the battlefield had yet to give up. Perhaps hundreds or thousands more would have to die on both sides.
Everyone could sense it: the orks were less confident now, less powerful, less energetic. Facing the human offensive, more and more orks instinctively turned their eyes toward their Khan.
Tugin's face was grim. The Great Ork Khan could no longer devote his full attention to the battlefield. Every so often, he looked back at the flames soaring above the distant camp.
Worse still, he could no longer feel Gruumsh's power.
The army of ancestral spirits was, in essence, a bargain with the chief god of the orks. Through his own promises and the persuasion of the divine queen Luthic, Tugin had finally secured Gruumsh's agreement: Tugin would please Gruumsh through mighty conquests and slaughter, supplying him with sufficient energy through the growth and prosperity of his race. In exchange, Gruumsh would allow some ork ancestral spirits related to Tugin by blood to leave his army in the Underworld and help him fight.
Gruumsh was a chaotic evil greater deity whose divine portfolio included the domains of war, conquest, and orks. Pleasing him could be either difficult or easy.
Unlike many ork chieftains, Tugin was a thoughtful leader with ideas of his own. Since the Time of Troubles, he had kept a close watch on the surrounding regions. He had unified numerous ork tribes and subdued one vassal after another. He could have ruled supreme in the Rocklands, but he had not. Instead, he had patiently waited for more than two years, until that Great Wyrm Red Dragon appeared, until the opportunity presented by the Goblin Wars arrived.
He had