The camp rose within sight of the meeting ground the evening before, close enough that Batu could make out the far bank of the river without riding any closer.
The Dnieper river curved in a broad bend, its brown water moving slowly around a low spit of gravel. Forest pressed tightly against the western bank in a way the open steppe never could. Somewhere beyond those trees, Lithuanian land began.
No one in either camp could point to the exact boundary. That uncertainty was one reason both rulers had agreed to meet here instead of nearer either man's stronghold.
Three mingans of the White Horde stood along the eastern bank, their horses and riders gathered together because Batu had needed men who could still ride without drawing from the recovering herd.
The problem had been solved quietly and without complaint.
