The skirmish at Harren's Ford was supposed to be a patrol contact.
Aldrath had sent a reinforced cavalry screening force of three hundred riders to probe the Meren valley's western approaches, the standard reconnaissance that a combined force of forty-seven thousand conducted when it was preparing to advance into terrain that had already demonstrated its capacity to produce tactical surprises. The screening force was professional, well-led, equipped with the frost-enchanted lances that the Baron of Frost's quartermaster had distributed to the forward cavalry squadrons.
They found the 5th Warband's screening element at the ford.
One hundred Yurakk warriors in their standard deployment, rectangular shields overlapping at the waterline, stabbing swords held at the ready, the formation's discipline visible in the stillness that five hundred hours of Arka'garr's drill had instilled. They were not positioned to hold the ford. They were positioned to be seen holding the ford.
