The primary combat force—serving as mounted archers—was led by Alleria.
She carefully selected over a thousand highly skilled ranger horsemen from among the high elves, and then requested twice that number of warhorses from Lothar.
This kind of deep-penetration raiding tactic relies heavily on speed and mobility, operating on the principles of "take what you can and run if you must."
As such, the demand for horses was extremely high. If the Alliance hadn't been short on mounts, Alaric would have even wanted to equip each rider with three horses…
As for the gryphon riders acting as scouts, Alaric once again turned to an old friend—Kurdran Wildhammer to lead them.
The paladin forces were composed of Liadrin and her cadre of high elven Blood Knights. Compared to Uther, the loyal Liadrin proved to be much more efficient and easier to command.
And so, a highly mobile unit, with excellent reconnaissance and long-range capabilities, was formed.
After several days of basic drills, Alaric officially led them away from the Wall of Thoradin, penetrating deep into Horde-occupied Arathi Highlands as an isolated strike force.
Though called the "Highlands," Arathi is, in fact, the entirety of the former kingdom of Stromgarde.
For the Horde, this wasn't easy territory to hold, but for Alaric, it provided plenty of open ground for him to maneuver.
At first, the Horde didn't take Alaric's force of less than two thousand seriously. To the orcs, that many soldiers wasn't even enough to fill the gaps between their teeth.
However, just as the Horde prepared to dispatch a detachment to eliminate this seemingly insignificant force, this purely cavalry unit—each rider equipped with two horses, and even the gryphon riders with two gryphons each—suddenly vanished from all of their intelligence reports.
Initially, Orgrim Doomhammer didn't think much of it. He optimistically assumed the unit had been frightened by the might of the Horde and had retreated back behind the Wall of Thoradin.
But it wasn't long before he realized just how much trouble this unit was going to cause.
Five days after disappearing, intelligence finally brought news of Alaric's forces—but what followed was the report of a Horde outpost near Northfold Manor being completely wiped out, the outpost burned to the ground, and all supplies looted.
If the outpost hadn't been particularly vital, Orgrim might not have been alarmed. But the next piece of news made him go cold.
Three days later, a Horde settlement in Refuge Pointe was completely razed. Due to the area's fertile land, the Horde had established farms there, using orc laborers to grow crops and raise pigs to serve as future food supplies.
But with the arrival of Alaric and his cavalry, most of those orc laborers were slaughtered.
The livestock and stockpiled grain they had painstakingly raised were all seized by Alaric's troops. As for the farmlands themselves, they were utterly torched.
And once again, the unit disappeared without a trace after razing Refuge Pointe.
Even though only a single settlement had been destroyed, Orgrim instantly sensed the deeper threat behind all of this.
On the surface, it was just a surprise attack on a farming base. But if the Alliance could raid a settlement today, they could hit a granary tomorrow, or a major gathering point the day after.
At this rate, not only would the Horde's future food reserves be jeopardized, even the current army's supplies could soon become a crisis.
Orgrim made an immediate decision—dispatching a large force to hunt down Alaric's unit. He assigned his current second-in-command, Varok Saurfang, to lead the pursuit.
This orc warrior was no ordinary grunt.
He had long served the Horde—from the Draenor campaign against the draenei to the conquest of Stormwind in Azeroth, Varok had fought in every major battle, never tasting defeat.
More importantly, he was one of the rare orcs willing to think critically, which was precisely why Orgrim valued him.
In the original timeline, this veteran warrior would rise to a high rank within the Horde and was even recognized at one point as a respected commander during conflicts between the Horde and Alliance.
But even a future legend like Saurfang had no way to deal with Alaric's unit.
The reason was simple—the difference in mobility was overwhelming.
Still, Saurfang proved worthy of his reputation. After several thorough sweeps of the Arathi Highlands, he eventually pinpointed Alaric's position.
He immediately led his orcs in pursuit, aiming for a direct confrontation.
However, unlike the Alliance troops he had previously faced, this army was not led by some knight bound by a chivalric code—but by a cunning and deceitful mage.
Faced with Saurfang's advancing army, Alaric made no move to engage head-on. Instead, he continually retreated, leveraging his superior mobility. If Saurfang advanced a mile, Alaric retreated a mile; if the Horde pushed forward, he would pull back just as much.
Every time the Horde mobilized, Alaric's troops began their withdrawal.
Whenever the Horde halted to regroup, Alaric stopped as well—always maintaining a thirty-li distance, never too close, never too far.
Even the battle-hardened Saurfang was driven into a rage. He finally led his army in a full-force charge, but the Alliance troops simply retreated the moment they received word.
After pursuing them for dozens of li, Saurfang dared not go farther and was forced to pull back again.
As the Horde's cavalry retreated, the Alliance followed at a matching pace and rhythm.
When Saurfang's troops sped up, Alaric's unit would quicken their pace. When Saurfang slowed, Alaric slowed as well.
This cat-and-mouse game repeated itself over a dozen times, leaving the orcs exhausted and bitter. Two-legged orcs simply couldn't outrun four-legged horses.
With no outlet for his building frustration and fury, Saurfang could only grit his teeth and order his troops to march at full speed in relentless pursuit.
As the Horde pushed harder, the Alliance quickened their pace as well, leading them in a chaotic zigzag all over the Arathi Highlands.
But this apparent chaos had a purpose.
Over a period of more than ten days, Alaric's mobile unit penetrated hundreds of li deep into the Highlands.
While baiting Saurfang's forces, they wreaked havoc across the region—attacking Horde settlements, outposts, and supply depots.
They sustained themselves through warfare, seizing supplies and rations from the Horde.
Though Saurfang never caught them, Alaric had effectively turned the entire Arathi Highlands upside down.
When this report reached Orgrim, he let out a long sigh and couldn't help but yearn for Grom Hellscream and his Warsong Clan, whom he had left behind in Draenor—one of the Horde's greatest cavalry forces.
In fact, the strongest wolf riders among the Horde belonged to Orgrim's own clan, the Blackrock Clan. Like the Warsong, they hailed from the grassy plains of Nagrand in Draenor. But the Blackrock clan's numbers and might surpassed even the Warsong.
However, because Orgrim had risen to the title of Warchief by killing the former chieftain Blackhand, he had to appease the faction's morale by giving a portion of Blackrock's forces—including their elite wolf riders—to Blackhand's two sons: Rend and Maim Blackhand, in exchange for their loyalty.
Though the Blackhand brothers feigned loyalty, they harbored thoughts of revenge in their hearts. Naturally, they had no intention of following Orgrim's orders earnestly—let alone sending their precious wolf riders to pursue the Alliance.