3

Zhan-Ukhel has shown himself to be a powerful force on the battlefield," says Kral, "but who has he been tested against? I'll tell you—small tribes who could muster barely a hundred warriors against him. We estimate that his army totals fewer than five thousand warriors, many of whom are drawn from those same tribes he has absorbed into his own. Fewer than five thousand, lacking the will to fight, set against the eight thousand who have pledged themselves to the combined army of the northern steppe. I have seen enough winters to know that nothing is ever certain in war, but I would say that the odds are certainly in our favor."