At Ashwell, Khao'khen received the Battle of Thornwall's report and the report changed nothing and changed everything.
The nothing: the Horde's position was unchanged. The camp's fortifications were unchanged. The warriors' readiness was unchanged. The more than seven thousand fighters who had been resting and training and maintaining their equipment for weeks continued resting and training and maintaining.
The everything: the Threian army had advanced for the first time since the campaign began. The thundermaker count had reached the threshold. The exchange rate had shifted. The barbarian momentum had stalled. The convergence that Sakh'arran had predicted weeks ago was arriving at the specific configuration that the prediction had described: both forces weakening, neither decisive, the Horde intact.
