The travel contingent left Yohan on the second morning through the northern gate at the sixth hour, when the city was already at work. Khao'khen rode at the front with Arka'garr and two Yurakk units, forty-two warriors total. Kael rode beside him, matching the Warchief's pace without comment. Vor'gath was in the second column, riding with the quiet steadiness of a man who used travel as a form of preparation rather than a pause between preparations.
Yohan's northern road had been improved twice in the preceding season. Packed gravel over the original dirt track, wide enough for two wagons abreast. It would narrow to a trail at the highland boundary and narrow further approaching the Tekarr range, where the terrain did the work that roads could not.
