The dust from Güyük's column climbed above the trees a full hour before the riders emerged, spreading beneath an early autumn sky that had already gone flat and gray.
Batu watched it build until the first scouts finally cleared the forest. By then, half his camp had drifted toward the horse lines. They all knew another army was arriving, and everyone wanted to judge its strength for themselves.
Chagataid riders led the march, mounted on horses leaner through the chest and longer in the leg than those bred across the open steppe. Batu recognized the bloodline immediately. He had seen those same animals filling the grounds around Karakorum two winters ago.
Behind them came Güyük's tumens on heavier plateau horses, followed by a baggage train so long that its rear still wound through the trees after its front had already reached the river.
