The setting sun was like a severed blood vessel, bleeding inch by inch down the ridge on the valley's western side.
Sylvanas, Daelin, and Yu Lin Bloodhawk finally managed to bring the City Lord's Household Guard's Steel Torrent and two thousand human heavy infantry into their designated positions without a sound before sunset.
Soldiers wore armor, and their pets wore barding. Fully equipped, they lay in quiet ambush among the trees. With the time for action still to come, the soldiers could rest lying down, sitting, or standing. They could even speak softly or eat, but they were strictly forbidden to wander around, light open fires, or make loud noises that might expose their positions.
Their officers' orders were simple: stand by.
That meant completing their preparations for battle before the next order arrived, so most soldiers went straight to sleep where they were after eating their dry rations, conserving their strength.
As dusk closed in, it was as though an enormous black pot had been lowered over the forest. Even the insects fell silent.
At the East Valley Entrance, midnight had just passed.
The night was thick as ink, with a few cold stars embedded in the lead-gray sky.
Ten dark figures moved silently along the rock face. They were five dire wolf rangers and five owl rangers from the City Lord's Household Guard. Their two-hundred-strong unit had divided into twenty squads, each consisting of five dire wolf rangers and five owl rangers. Each squad was responsible for clearing one orc sentry post.
They advanced cautiously beneath dark green camouflage cloaks, their silhouettes almost blending into the moss on the rocks. The instant clouds swallowed the moonlight, the lead ranger raised a clenched fist-the squad froze.
A hundred meters ahead, the campfire at an orc sentry post flickered in