Before Till left for Deepwood Motte, Thomas and Arya walked him over to the sand-kin compound. They sat at a table with Hassan, drinking tea, and discussed a security team for the train. In the end, they all settled on a seven-man team: 6 capable young men and a veteran leader were all equipped with new uniforms and the powerful cross bolts made by Thomas and Gendry.
As the train left Deepwood Motte, the slight downhill slope allowed for a quick pace, and the gathering darkness boded well for their escape from capture by the expanding Zon presence. When they got within a half a mile of the Zon camp, they saw their first Zonian. He was startled by the machine, but he pulled a whistle and blew it loudly several times. A sand-kin cross bolt silenced him as they went by. Till opened the steam to full speed, and they raced down the track. 6 Zonian troops burst into a clearing just ahead of the train and began firing arrows at the heads sticking out of windows on the train. The sand-kin returned fire, killing one, and as they got close, Till blew the whistle as loud as it would go. 2 of the enemy froze, hearing the sound, and one was killed trying to jump aboard the moving train. Two of the enemy managed to grab the railings and begin climbing aboard. One was pierced with three cross bolts and fell off, but the last one pulled his sword and closed ranks with two of the sand-kin. The Zonian soldier was a massive brute and a seasoned campaigner. He walked down the two sand-kin guards between the benches and deflected odd cross-bolts as they came in. He maneuvered his quarries into the line of sight of the other cross bolters and pressed the two in front of him backward. He swiped the arm of one of the sand-kin guards, leaving a brutal gash, and lunged at the other. As the enemy swung his blade toward the veteran sand-kin, he somersaulted over the Zonian's head and plunged two daggers into the enemy's neck from behind. Three cross bolts hit the Zonian's chest, and he collapsed dead. The sand-kin treated the wounded guard's gash, threw the body of the Zonian overboard, and they sped down the tracks towards Fort #3.
The hired Braavos mercenaries were heading north along the coast. The telepath on board with them kept them abreast of the current situation, and they planned to bolster the troops at Fort #3. They landed at the beach, leading up the hill to the fort. With their 2000 troops, and those on foot coming from #4 and #5, the soldiers on hand would be near 10,000. Not enough to withstand a full assault of 40,000 Zonian troops, but enough to counter smaller attack forces. The rest of the ships of the combined Westeros, Iron Islands, and Braavos forces headed further north to deal with Zonian ships and troops. When the Braavos mercenaries reached the fort, the captain there asked if they would form a scouting party to move north and see what the Zonians were up to. The Braavos troops agreed. They slept the night in camp, eating well and drinking with the other troops. In the morning, they gathered their gear and the foodstuffs the fort had provided and began to creep north. Fort #3 sat on a small isthmus north of the Stoney Shore. It was slightly over 100 miles to the area the Zonian's had camped. There were 4,000 troops in this scouting mission, and the Wesreros troops split into two groups of 1,000. Each group had a telepath with them, and they fanned out to cover as much ground as possible side to side as they headed north. They were cautioned against hurrying and told to check closely for traps or small groups of enemies. The captain had admonished them against clashing with a superior force; they were instead told to mark the enemy's location and return intact. The first 3 days went smoothly with no sign of enemies. But on the morning of the 4th day, one of the forward hunter scouts returned with the news that there was a small hidden camp just to the north. The telepaths all exchanged the news, and the two other groups held their ground while the Braavos troops crept up on the enemy camp. When they got close, they could tell there were about 50 Zonian troops camped there, and as most of them were still asleep, the Braavos troops attacked them in full force. The Braavos troops killed all but 5 of them, and the 5 were bound and marched south by 20 Braavos troops, for processing at the fort. Because they had been warned, both groups of Westeros troops also found small groups of Zonian soldiers. The easternmost group found a small detachment trying to tear up the train tracks. They were quickly dispatched, but they had done real damage to the tracks. The western group found three small groups watching south for troop movements. Well, they saw those troops march right into the camps and kill them. Two of the Zonians managed to escape the killing and disappeared north. The three groups discussed at length whether they should continue north or retreat. The two Westerous groups were pretty sure they had fulfilled their mission, so in the end, they all headed back south.