The combined force moved on the Meren valley in the early morning darkness, before the Verakhs could establish the observation posts that the Horde's surveillance network required for full situational awareness on the approach routes. Aldrath had ordered strict light discipline from the moment the columns formed, no torches, no fires, no lanterns. Twenty thousand soldiers moving in the dark on a road they knew well enough to walk without light.
The march began at the second hour past midnight. By the fourth hour, the advance guard was at the valley's northern mouth. By the fifth, it was two miles south of the northern entrance, moving at the double pace, the main body behind it in the tightest column the road permitted.
