Halfway through the march, Shidewa and Xinluoge led the Snow Leopard and Dire Wolf squads, along with the forty Owl Rangers Sylvanas had assigned them, away from the main force and into the marshes. They needed to cut straight through to the Quarry, then secretly take the narrow trail from there to the southern entrance of the valley occupied by the Orcs Remnants. There, they would find a concealed position, lie low, and covertly gather intelligence on the remnants' movements.
After Shidewa and Xinluoge left with their troops, the main army no longer had a vanguard. Sylvanas brought the City Lord's Household Guard and the remaining sixty Owl Rangers up from the rear to take its place.
Daelin's two thousand Human Heavy Infantry formed the main force at the center. None of them had mounts, but Daelin had made thorough preparations. The army had brought plenty of wagons pulled by ordinary workhorses, which carried the soldiers' heavy armor, supplies, and provisions. The troops marched alongside the supply wagons.
Old Charlatan had brought more than twenty mages. They had no mounts either, but Daelin had prepared enough wagons to accommodate these esteemed High Elf mages, so they traveled with his two thousand Heavy Infantry.
Yu Lin Bloodhawk had originally wanted to sneak into Old Charlatan's wagon. The Quel'Danil Army really was short on ground mounts at the moment. Even the City Lord's Household Guard had none to issue, and only a handful of officers had been given Hawkstriders that the Windrunner family had brought from Quel'Thalas.
Yu Lin Bloodhawk had a Gryphon, but Gryphons were flying magical beasts, after all. They could manage short marches on the ground, but over longer distances, they expended far more energy than they would flying. Still, constantly riding a Gryphon back and forth through the