With the Great Ork Khan dead, the human coalition, which had already suffered devastating casualties, finally broke the Orks with a succession of crushing blows. Thousands had died on both sides, and the human coalition had teetered on the brink of collapse several times, but now there were no Orks left on the battlefield.
Mercenaries from far and wide crowded together, many too exhausted even to catch their breath. Some cursed the Orks, some rejoiced at surviving and were already calculating their rewards, while others cursed Lady Laeral, claiming she had never explained just how dangerous this war would be.
That was the life of a mercenary: work that could cost you your head, with high rewards and high risks.
Lady Laeral cut off Tugin's head with her blade. At last, she felt she could offer some consolation to the fallen soldiers, the subjects she had lost in the successive wars, and the wandering souls left without a home. She put Tugin's head into a sack. Later, it would hang outside the gates of her castle.
The Orks had been utterly routed. A handful of cavalrymen and Cormyrian soldiers with strength to spare were still pursuing them, eager to earn a little more credit. Most soldiers were so exhausted that they dropped straight to the ground, while the cries of the wounded sounded everywhere. The Falcon Legion and Phoenix Legion had also suffered over three hundred casualties, most while surrounding Tugin. Yet these soldiers, drawn from the locals of Cormyr and Arabel, let no opportunity slip past. They turned over Ork bodies on the battlefield and, whether the Orks were dead or alive, finished them with a sword and cut off their heads.
Sack after sack of Ork heads would be collected and piled into a grisly mound outside Arabel