Grim and the Orc Wolf Riders behind him all hated to push their mounts so hard. Grim raised a hand to halt the pursuit. If they were going to keep chasing, they would have to wait until their mounts recovered their strength.
When the fleeing elves ahead saw them stop pursuing, they too stopped in the distance, watching the orcs without coming closer. They stayed just about a bowshot away.
Grim wanted the orcs to dismount and let their mounts rest, but the elves had stopped to watch from just outside bow range. He worried that the moment his men dismounted, the elves would move into range and shoot at them. Now he was stuck.
He had only fifty riders, so he could not send half out to charge while the other half rested. Nor did he know whether the enemy, with five times the numbers of that half, would still run. He thought it unlikely. The half he sent out in pursuit were far more likely to end up riddled with arrows. But unless he drove these elves away, none of his men dared dismount and rest. He was caught between a rock and a hard place.
"Elves are all cowards! Not a single brave soul among you! More than a hundred of you, chased by fifty of us, and all you can do is scurry away like rats!" Grim shouted at the elves.
"We're all brave!" the elves replied with laughter.
"If you're so brave, which of you dares come out and fight me one on one?" Grim shouted mockingly at them.
"We all dare!" the elves shouted in unison again, as though afraid he would not hear them, their voices full of laughter. **"We all love one-on-one fights, not ganging up on people. If you don't believe