While the Deepwinter Legion maintained order in its trading partners' territories and harvested humanity on the side, an ambush was unfolding farther east and north.
It was not the Foreign Races Legion ambushing the Ratfolk. It was the Ratfolk ambushing the Foreign Races Legion.
The Foreign Races Legion's strange pairing of Orcs and Goblins stirred an instinct etched into the Ratfolk's genes. Back in the Southlands, they had fought Greenskins and Goblins plenty of times, and had inherited a special way of dealing with Greenskin Orcs:
Greenskin Orcs were practically blind. As long as you stayed still, half of them would never notice you. If your skin matched your surroundings, congratulations: even if they stepped on your face, they would think they had accidentally trodden on a Goblin.
The Orcs had different skin from Greenskins and wore heavy armor forged in Free City, but Brownfur Rats lacked the brains to tell them apart.
So when an Orc came within a hundred meters, they stayed still. At ten meters, they stayed still. Just as he was about to step on their toes, they sprang up and ran straight into his descending Battle Axe.
Their timing was as precise as a rehearsed stage play.
Fendora Silverdew, the Elven Instructor who had reluctantly agreed to become Deputy Legion Commander only after Annan begged her for an hour and three minutes, ran a few tests and found the trick. If another race led the way, the Ratfolk swarmed them. But if the first thing they saw was an Orc-Goblin pair, they dug holes and hid on the spot, then jumped out when the pair approached and were dispatched without fail.
That evening, the Foreign Races Legion joined up with the Disciplinary Legion. Fendora Silverdew asked Black Widow, "We were ambushed by Ratfolk eighteen times