"Something's off about those hills. Eyes up, gentlemen."

A dozen pairs of eyes swivel to their right, and as many hands go to their lances, ready to switch from march to battle.

Murmurs go down the line, and the boyar of Belava, Ivan Vorovic, rides over from the middle of the front rank to Teodor's spot on the left.

"What's this I hear about the hills?"

"They look wrong, to me. Like beasts hiding. I could be wrong, but my instincts are usually good - my rota say I'm a lucky charm."

The man makes the sign of the claw. "Where do you see trouble?"

He gestures to a range around where he sees winds pooling. "About there. Not much, but it might be risky to leave in our rear."

Ivan peers in that direction and mutters to himself, then nods. "Pull up! Stop the line," he calls out.

"We'll send what archers we have forward to scout, and split the lancers to the wings. You can lead the left, I'll lead the right."

"Thank you, sir. I won't disappoint you."

His suspicions prove accurate. It's not a large herd, but when thirty Ungol archers approach, they see hiding Beastmen and fill the hillside with arrows. Some spears are thrown back, but they're able to retreat and cycle back, forcing the beasts to come out of hiding and onto the flatter land if they want to fight back.

(It would be better for them to retreat up the hill, but they are the physical embodiments of frenzied savagery; there was little doubt they'd charge.)

And when they do, the lancers are waiting on either side.

The battle is not, ultimately, very long.

They're back on the march a few hours later, and Ivan rides next to Teodor again.

"Well spotted, cousin Kamarev."

"Well led, cousin Vorovic."

He shrugs. "Any fool could have won that battle, once they knew it was there. But there might be more in the hills that are more of a challenge. Tomorrow, I want your rota on the right flank, watching for anything more. We should be with the northern pulk by the end of tomorrow, but if there were Beasts this far west, there may be more."

"You do me honor. Of course, we will do it."

When this becomes known, it's slightly prestigous for Kyrnoka, but in the end there are no other consequences. They meet up with the other pulk that following evening as expected, and Teodor and a number of other rota-leaders are invited to the boyar's tent for a war council.

"It's a large herd," says Sasha Losov, the northern boyar, "Biggest since my grandfather's time, I think. We couldn't protect Uvetsyn - they fled into the oblast and the beasts destroyed the whole stanitsa, though our scouts say they at least didn't linger to befoul it. Their local hag, Baba Evelina, is with us - she says they want to make Ursun's Teeth a herdstone and the center of their bloodground, and the spirits say they have at least two shaman-chieftains. We've sent a fast horse to the capital to ask for royal help, but we're going to have to fight them at least once before they can reinforce us. We at least have a regiment of Kossars and two more of mounted infantry brought down from Bolgasgrad to hold the line for the horsemen - did you bring any from Belava?"

"Two companies of Kossars, but three days behind at least. One regiment of mounted infantry, half spears and half archers," replies Vorovic.

"Mmm. About as I expected. The good news is we know their destination and we can cover the flanks well enough that we know their direction of approach, as long as we stay close-in enough they can't slip through the net like beasts sometimes do. We guess it will be about four days before they're close enough to attack Urszebya - their centigors have kept our scouts away too well to be more sure. It's another day and a half of riding, three for the Kossars, so anyone in the rotas who hasn't made the pilgrimage before should have time."

"I think we should have patrols watching our wings regardless, cousin Losov. We caught a group hiding along our route, just yesterday. A hundred archers and fifty lancers each, perhaps, and three patrols to each side."

The boyar leading the kossar regiment nods. "I agree. They are savage and simple, but often cunning. With warning, my kossars can move to the side if they have shifted their approach."

Losov grimaces, but then nods. "I will pick a few sharp-eyed rotas for the left wing patrols; cousin Vorovic, you pick them for the right."

They discuss tactics further, but without seeing the enemy force, there's little to elaborate on beyond the traditional approach. Ungol archers will harass the enemy and bait them out of formation, and lancers will charge them, from the flanks or to break their lines. Centigors require caution, since they are one of the few enemies who move as naturally on four legs as the sons of the oblast, but they can be outranged and outsped, and usually can be baited to chase their enemies far from the infantry. False retreats won't be as easy when they have a fixed location to defend, and encirclement rarely works against beasts or Greenskins, but the experienced leaders have all fought battles this way. They can be overwhelmed by superior numbers, and they're worried they might be this time, but they've fought these battles many times before. That is who Kislev is.

Teodor, naturally, is chosen for the scouting patrols. So after they visit the Teeth, and the graves of the heroes, they spread out, the archers mostly taking the lead.

"Oy, how'd all us blind idiots get stuck on patrol duty?"

"Must be the thing where you keep saying I have lucky eyes."

"Damn, should have picked a half-blind rota-master. It's not like we need those to spear things."

"Or you could drink a little less kvas and be able to spot things more than two lengths away."

"Less kvas? Surely that would be an offense to the gods!"

"Which one?"

"Oh, Ursun likes hibernating, right? So probably him. And maybe Tor, for bravery."

"Sounds like a real priest to me!"

The rest of that day is calm, and they see no signs of Beastman raiding parties splitting off in their direction.

But the next day...

"Centigors ahead!", calls an archer, galloping back to the lancers, "They're pulling left, be ready to flank them!"

Teodor and the other leaders give the order, and the half-dozen lancer rotas in the scouting group move into action, turning into a thin line headed east between the river and beasts. Teo and Kyrnoka are at the head of the line, and the commander (the most experienced of the group) is in the middle.

The centigors outnumber the lancers, but not once you take into account the archers as well, and their bitter rage makes them easy to bait into stringing out into a line - a few notice the lancers riding up, but not enough to rally them into a line.