‘But they are Elves!’ the aide protested. ‘How is it that they can behave like Goblins?’
The Thane deigned no reply.
For the remainder of that day they travelled in a wide loop, travelling first west, slowly skirting around the deciduous forest that bordered on the farmlands north of Sormanen, until they came to be facing northeast.
There was no need to search for the retreating Goblin army; there were signs of the enemy everywhere. Often they came across discarded packs containing heavy and useless iron cooking-ware, (useless, for the Goblins had exhausted their stores attacking the retreating Elven army), or it might be a broken shoe, one of their wounded who had died, an abandoned cart, even some of their heavier weapons: hammers, maces, and suchlike.
By the third day, so common was such detritus that the Thane ordered his captains to send scouts far ahead, and to press the chase. A feeling of charged expectancy gradually stole over and galvanized the mood of the Elf soldiers, as they began to sense, as the Thane surely did, the rising desperation of the retreating Goblin army which was travelling entirely on foot. On the morning of the seventh day, a report came to the Thane’s ears that one of the enemy’s armies was within sight. They outnumbered the Thane’s army at least four to one, being some twelve thousands or more.