“How in the name of the First Dragon did you manage to get your pack to follow you out here?"

“We were getting our asses kicked a lot, sir. I find ass kicking is a pretty great motivator to get people on their feet and working at avoiding the next one."

A murmur of amusement and agreement went through the other pups, who had now drawn in closer around them to Listen to the conversation.

“I have tried to give extra time on the fields to the packs that need them. They never manage to stay with the regimen for long." Ulag Looked witheringly at a select few faces in the crowd. Nullik tactfully disappeared behind Wrut.

“Yeah, I actually heard about that." Gregory nodded.

“The training routines you offered always involved doing more of the same thing that wasn't really working for a lot of these guys in the light of day.”

Ulag frowned. "Is practice not how one gets better at the task before them?"

“Well, yeah. But you can throw a tortoise up in the air as much as you like and it's not going to sprout wings and fly off. It’s just going to be a tortoise with a headache."

Ulag leaned in and gave Gregory a little shove, though it wasn't aggressive so much as it was confident.

! Well if I have orcs on the battlefield who can't charge then I have useless orcs. The war packs are formed to give us strength in any melee, but the great charge is how we make war. It is the strike that devastates our enemies. It is-"

“Outdated.”

Everyone's head turned when a third voice joined in the argument. Algra stepped forward after making herself heard. Unlike everyone else in the glade, she seemed to have no difficulty at all in meeting Ulag's gaze. This was especially impressive since the snarl he gave at her interruption would have sent most creatures of the world fleeing in terror.

“You think me a relic, Algra?"

“I think you're too stubborn. When was the last time you set foot on the battlefield, old one?"

“You doubt my courage!?" Ulag let out an actual roar at that. "I was in the heart of the fight when you were-"

“You fought, and you fought bravely." Algra's level tone cut through the proving master's rage like a knife. The admission of his bravery seemed to derail his building frenzy, and he stopped as if he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. "Yet you have not been on the northern war-grounds in a long time. The great charge does not have the effect it once did. I have seen it."

“The great charge felled the human armies time and time again. It brought down the northern scum when they emerged from their hives. It stands the test today as it did when the first charge was sounded.“

Algra had moved to casually rest her hand on her hip, making no aggressive gestures and at the same time managing to be thoroughly offensive in her dismissal of Ulag's ferocity.

“It's true what you speak of. The songs of the halt of the human's advance into our Lands all speak of the great charge. Humans are small, and easily scared.”

"You know, I am standing right here," Gregory spoke up, only to be ignored by the two arguing orcs.

“The charge also helped when the northern scum first came up from their holes and tried to make war with us all. Their eyes hurt in the Light, and they were weak from their time beneath the earth. But that is no longer the truth of what happens up there on those battlefields.”

! Any true son or daughter of Dal Gahlla is worth ten of those ash-coated mongrels.”

“Again, you speak the truth but do not understand it. When the enemy emerged, they were indeed weak; and even today they lack the blessing of strength that our patron dragon offered us. We might well be able to cut down ten of them, one after the other. But the odds are more than ten to one against us now. What they lack in strength, they more than make up for in numbers to the point where battle seems like fighting an oncoming tide. And recently? Their demonic masters have not been so conservative in offering the foul wretches other forms of assistance. Or do you not remember what happened to Rowun? Are you foolish enough to believe that Wrut over there was a true coward? He has only the one arm and he wants to put it back into the fight against the enemy. What, then, would have made him turn and run?"

Algra's words clearly troubled Ulag, who glanced nervously toward Wrut, but didn't seem to have any immediate answer. So, she pressed on.

“The great charge might have worked once. Our strength is our advantage, but if we are to win the war then we must think of new ways of making battle. Abandoning good warriors because they Lack the strength to crush an enemy in a single blow is utter foolishness."