Sylvanas's reasoning was simple. She believed the first stretch of road would have the most unruly Vilebranch Trolls, so she wanted to keep her main forces there. To guard against Vilebranch Troll soldiers suddenly charging out of Jintha'Alor, she could spare Yu Lin Bloodhawk only one company of the Steel Torrent. The rest of the Steel Torrent and the entire Bear Iron Fist would remain up front.
As for the later stretch under Yu Lin Bloodhawk's command, if she had not needed him to deal with unexpected developments, she would not even have given him those hundred Steel Torrent soldiers. She would have assigned him only five hundred Frostwolf Rangers.
This was not because the Frostwolf Rangers were weak. In fact, their individual combat strength was generally far greater than that of Yu Lin Bloodhawk's troops. But they had no mounts, and with such a long stretch of road to cover, Sylvanas worried they might not respond quickly enough. That was why she had specifically assigned Yu Lin Bloodhawk a hundred Steel Torrent soldiers to handle emergencies. All the Steel Torrent Rangers had mounts and could reach the scene quickly.
Sylvanas believed there was no need to bother with the road beyond Yu Lin Bloodhawk's stretch. A few Dragonhawk Riders on patrol would suffice. After twenty-five kilometers of bloody road, she said, almost all the bold ones would be dead. Only the obedient ones would remain, trudging out of the valley by sheer habit.
That night, the Nightstalkers went out to put up signs as planned. The various units were also assigned to make wooden signs to post along the road. Before dawn, Yu Lin Bloodhawk led four hundred Frostwolf Rangers and a hundred Steel Torrent soldiers out of camp ahead of the others.
Yu Lin Bloodhawk was lazy and