The southeastern highland corridor was not a road. It was a suggestion, a series of ridgelines and valleys that connected the orcish territories to the Threian frontier through terrain that discouraged large-scale military movement by making every mile of it a negotiation between the army and the earth.

The Verakh scouts had marked the route over months of careful surveying, identifying water sources, defensible camping positions, and the narrow passages where the column would need to compress from its marching width to single-file movement through gaps that stone and gravity had carved between the highland’s rocky shoulders. Each passage was a potential ambush point, and each one had been scouted, assessed, and assigned a security protocol that the Warg Cavalry executed with the disciplined thoroughness that Haguk’s riders had perfected through years of operating in contested territory.

The First Horde moved at the pace that Sakh’arran’s logistics calculations dictated: twelve miles per day through open terrain, eight through the highland passages, with mandatory rest halts every four hours and full encampment established before dusk. The pace was not aggressive. It was sustainable, designed to deliver the Horde to the Threian frontier with its strength intact rather than arriving faster with warriors too exhausted to fight.

Khao’khen rode at the column’s center, his Rhakaddon’s steady gait eating the miles with the patient endurance that the great beasts were bred for. Around him, the warbands moved in the staggered formation that distributed the column’s mass across enough terrain to prevent a single ambush or magical strike from affecting more than a fraction of the force. The 1st Warband under Arka’garr held the vanguard, their veterans scanning the terrain ahead with the professional alertness of soldiers who trusted the Verakh scouts but verified their assessments with their own eyes.

The highland terrain was beautiful in the way that hostile environments were sometimes beautiful, the kind of beauty that existed alongside danger rather than instead of it. Ridgelines of gray stone rose against skies that shifted between the deep blue of high altitude and the threatening gray of weather systems that moved through the highlands with the speed and unpredictability of predators. The valleys between the ridges held grassland that was thinner and tougher than the plains around Yohan, the soil shallower, the vegetation adapted to conditions that tested everything that grew in them.

* * * * *

On the third day of the march, the Verakhs reported their first contact with Threian observation.

It was not a patrol. It was a single observer, positioned on a ridgeline two miles ahead of the column’s advance, using a spyglass to survey the terrain. The Verakh who spotted him reported the sighting with the precise, contextual detail that the network’s training demanded: one human, mounted, light armor, positioned for observation rather than combat, approximately two hours ahead of the column at current pace.

Sakh’arran received the report and brought it to Khao’khen without delay.

“Frontier Force,” the commander said. “One of Gresham’s observation posts. The Colonel’s network extends further south than our last intelligence update indicated. He has been expanding.”

Khao’khen studied the map that Sakh’arran unrolled across the Rhakaddon’s broad back, the leather surface marked with the accumulated intelligence of months of Verakh surveillance. The observation post was positioned at the edge of the southeastern corridor, exactly where a competent frontier commander would place it to provide early warning of movement through terrain that most military planners considered impassable for large forces.

“He knows we are coming,” Khao’khen said.

“He will know within hours,” Sakh’arran corrected. “The observer has not yet identified the column. At this distance, in this terrain, he is surveying rather than tracking. But once the vanguard enters his observation range, the report will go north. Gresham will have it within a day.”

“Good.”

Sakh’arran’s eyebrow rose fractionally.

“We were never going to achieve strategic surprise through the southeastern corridor,” Khao’khen explained. “Gresham is competent. His network was always going to detect us. The question was never whether he would see us coming. The question was whether he would have time to concentrate his forces before we arrived.”

He tapped the map at the point where the highland corridor opened onto the Threian frontier’s rolling farmland. “How far to Valdenmarch?”

“Six days at current pace. Four if we increase to forced march.”

“We increase. Beginning tomorrow. The observer sees us, reports to Gresham, and Gresham begins calling in his patrols and sending for reinforcement. Every hour we gain on that timeline is an hour he does not have to prepare.”

Sakh’arran was already recalculating. “Forced march through the highlands will exhaust the infantry. The Rhakaddons and the supply train cannot maintain forced march pace through the narrow passages.”

“Then the infantry marches ahead. The heavy elements follow at sustainable pace. We arrive at the frontier with the fighting force ready and the logistics one day behind. One day without full supply is acceptable. One week of additional Threian preparation is not.”

The order went out that evening. The First Horde would increase its pace, sacrificing comfort for speed, trading the sustainable approach for the aggressive timeline that the tactical situation now demanded. The warbands received the order with the discipline that their training had produced, no complaints, no questions, only the adjustment of marching rhythm and the tightening of equipment straps that preceded harder days.

The march north had become a race.

The warriors received the order with the stoic acceptance that the Yohan training system had cultivated. Forced march meant longer days, shorter rests, heavier demands on bodies that were already carrying the weight of weapons, armor, and the supplies that each warrior bore in addition to the wagons’ cargo. It meant blisters and sore muscles and the grinding fatigue that accumulated over days of sustained effort. And it meant arriving at the Threian frontier with the strength to fight, because an army that arrived too exhausted to engage its enemy had accomplished nothing except delivering itself to defeat.

The highland terrain tested them differently each day. Rocky passages where the column compressed to single file and each warrior had to navigate loose stone that shifted beneath their boots. Open ridgelines where the wind cut through armor and chilled sweat-soaked bodies. Descents into valleys where the air was thick and warm and the mosquitoes that bred in the standing water attacked with an enthusiasm that rivaled any Threian patrol.

Through it all, the discipline held. Warriors who stumbled were helped by the warriors behind them. Units that fell behind the pace were rotated to the column’s center where the march was easier. The drill masters who walked the formation’s length maintained the rhythm with the quiet corrections that kept individual struggles from becoming collective problems.

On the fifth night, as the column made camp in a highland valley that the Verakhs had selected for its defensibility and its water source, Khao’khen walked the perimeter with Arka’garr. The warband master’s assessment was delivered with his characteristic directness.

“The warriors are tired but functional. Two more days at this pace and we will need a full rest day before engagement. The Roarer crews are maintaining their equipment despite the conditions. The Rhakaddons are managing the terrain but moving slower than the infantry. They will arrive one day behind us.”

“One day is acceptable,” Khao’khen said.

“It is acceptable if nothing requires them on the first day.”

Khao’khen nodded. That was the gamble. Every forced march was a bet that the time saved would be worth more than the readiness sacrificed. He had made the calculation and committed to it. The next days would determine whether the calculation was correct.

The march north had become a race. And the finish line was a fortress called Valdenmarch.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep