After obtaining the surrender of the Kingdom of Alterac, the Horde finally ceased its assault on the rest of the kingdom.
According to the agreement made with Alterac, the Horde was required to ensure the kingdom's peace. Orgrim followed this pact.
Though he was the most cunning leader among the orcs, he still upheld orcish honor.
In military and political dealings, he might employ tricks other orcs would disdain, but when it came to keeping promises, Orgrim was relatively trustworthy.
He even withdrew his forces stationed in the previously occupied regions, returning all conquered territories to Alterac, of course, the soldiers and civilians already killed, and the grain that had been looted, couldn't be returned.
After all, he wasn't some saint or philanthropist.
His actions eased the shame of those Alterac nobles who felt dishonored by surrendering to the Horde: at least this proved that the side they had surrendered to were not pure savages, but beings capable of civil discourse and honoring agreements.
In truth, Orgrim's decision was not purely out of a sense of obligation, but was driven by other considerations.
Because of Alaric's ambush in the Poison Mist Canyon, Orgrim suffered heavy losses, and the number of troops who followed him into the Alterac Mountains was far too small.
If he were to divide his forces to occupy Alterac territory, he would find himself in a dilemma.
With too many troops diverted, the army attacking Lordaeron would be insufficient. Even if Lordaeron's defenses were thin, it was still a mighty city, second only to Silvermoon and Dalaran.
But if he kept too few troops behind to garrison the area, there would be virtually no defense, Alterac might be the smallest human kingdom, but its territory was still too vast to be guarded by a mere few thousand men, not even enough to conduct patrols.
For Orgrim's isolated forces, Alterac was a burden of little value.
Thus, it was more advantageous to simply go with the flow, earn some goodwill from the Perenolde royal family, and demonstrate the Horde's credibility.
Orgrim's decision also benefited the Barov family.
That day, after Alex Barov fled alongside the orc blademaster, Orgrim gave the order to consolidate his troops and withdraw from human settlements.
Soon after, the Horde forces surrounding Lake Darrowmere departed, and the Barov family's lands were once again free from orc control.
Upon confirming this, Janice sprang into action.
Not only did she need to travel across their territories to restore governance, but she also responded to Alaric's request by urgently organizing a defensive army, in case the Horde, once trapped in Alterac, turned back to recapture these lands.
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Orgrim kept his word, and Perenolde was no exception.
As the weaker party, he didn't dare break the treaty, terrified that the savage orcs would seize any excuse to occupy his kingdom.
Orgrim was pleasantly surprised to find that, along the road ahead, there truly were no defenses.
Doomhammer could lead his warriors swiftly through the kingdom.
Even so, the path remained extremely perilous. On such narrow mountain roads, a handful of soldiers could block the way; once the bodies piled up, there would be no way through.
Therefore, he kept urging his army to move faster, hoping to cross the mountains in as little time as possible.
However, fate was not on his side.
With Alaric as an unpredictable variable, how could Orgrim possibly march to Lordaeron unopposed?
At the final stretch through the Alterac Mountains, they finally ran into Mograine and his elite Lordaeron troops who had rushed to intercept them.
As the saying goes, "When two tigers meet, the brave one wins."
When confronted by Mograine, Orgrim had no time to ponder why the enemy was there. All they could do was fight to the death, for only the victor would be able to pass through the narrow mountain path.
A brutal battle erupted on this rugged road where only two or three could fight side by side.
Whether in numbers or individual strength, Mograine's soldiers were clearly no match for the powerful orc warriors.
However, Mograine made full use of the narrow terrain.
In this location, only two or three men could engage at once.
Though humans lacked the raw strength of orcish fighters, they were relatively smaller, allowing more of them to stand together.
Orcs were certainly powerful, but just two of them could block the entire path, and they often had to face three or even four human soldiers.
This meant that in these narrow choke points, the numerically inferior Mograine actually had the advantage.
Coupled with humans' solid shields and armor and their superior coordination, they were able to gain the upper hand.
What frustrated Orgrim even more was that, though the enemy only had a few hundred troops, only a handful could fight at a time. The orcs' advantage in individual strength and overwhelming numbers was rendered useless.
Tens of thousands of orc troops were dragged to a halt by just a few hundred of Mograine's men on this mountain path.
As they continued along the remaining road, Mograine fought while retreating, using every tactic possible to slow the Horde's advance.
At the cost of half his men, he delayed Orgrim for two full days, just enough time for reinforcements from Lordaeron and nearby nobles to arrive.
Although even combined, these forces were still no match for the tens of thousands of elite Horde warriors in a direct fight, they were more than capable of locking the enemy within the Alterac Mountains.
At this point, Orgrim finally realized that his plan to attack Lordaeron was utterly ruined.
He saw now that his ambush had failed completely. The Alliance had clearly discovered their movements in advance, blocking them ahead of time.
But how had the plan been leaked?
Orgrim was convinced the Alliance hadn't known everything from the start, otherwise, he would've faced not just a few hundred men, but a full-scale ambush or an established defensive line.
Judging by how quickly the first troops reacted, the Alliance had only discovered the Horde's movement two or three days early.
There could be only one explanation for this outcome, someone had leaked the plan.
As for who the traitor was… well, it certainly wasn't any of Orgrim's orcs.
There were only two groups of people in Alterac. If it wasn't the Horde, then it had to be someone from Alterac.
Even if it wasn't King Perenolde himself, maybe it was just one of his subordinates acting on their own, but at this point, Orgrim didn't care who in Alterac had spilled the secret.
To him, the only person in Alterac who mattered was Perenolde. And Perenolde would be the one to pay the price.
Doomhammer was very angry, and the consequences would be very serious.
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