You try to examine the area even more carefully...

You examined the thickets of bushes and trees and you saw nothing... You listened... You heard only the trills of forest birds... Stop... These bird sounds are repeated... Several more times the same sound...

You shout: "Attention! There is an ambush here!"

At this second, something quickly flies next to your ear... And this flying object was sharp... You understand this because you feel a sharp pain in your earlobe... And you also feel your own blood which splashed on your cheek...

You instantly cover yourself with your shield... You are lucky... If the arrow had flown ten centimeters to the right, then there would have been one more large hole in your half-orc head... And most likely you would no longer have to think about anything.. .

You hear the dwarf Belknab loudly shout: “Take a defensive position next to the carts! Cover yourself with shields! These shit eaters are attacking from both sides! Move faster, idiots!”

Arrows continue to fly from the forest. Moreover, the arrows fly both from the northern bank of the river and from the southern bank of the river. You see that a couple of caravan guards and a couple of servants did not have time to react in time... Two human bodies dressed in chain mail now lie on the northern bank of this shallow forest river... And now these bodies resemble hedgehogs due to the fact that about a dozen arrows pierced their heads, their chests, their hands... Also, you notice that ten meters from you, one half-elf servant fell into the water of the river, with the shaft of an arrow peeking out of his eye socket... And the tip of this arrow protruded from his the back of the head... You see that one man crawled with difficulty to the cart, but there is a bloody trail behind him... Blood flows profusely from his stomach due to the fact that three arrows pierced his intestines... You understand that this servant -man can no longer survive...

All these thoughts and observations flash through your mind in a couple of seconds. Your combat reflexes **** you to cover yourself with a shield and carefully retreat under the cover of the carts.

Arrows hit your shield one after another... Most of the arrows hit the shield along a tangential trajectory and bounce off the shield. But a couple of arrows hit the center of your shield and got stuck in the wood of the shield...

Finally, you have reached the nearest cart... Now not only your shield, but also the cart protects you from hostile shooters...

Suddenly the flow of deadly arrows stops...

You hear a cry from the forest in an unfamiliar language: “Thar kvere lur! Thar des! Kern du mar! Orlania!”

You did not understand anything from these words except the word “Orlania”. This word is well known, it is the name of the human state through whose territory you are now moving. You were born and raised in one of the cities of Orlania.

But you have no time to think about linguistic discoveries.

Because after this cry, many armed masked warriors are moving towards your caravan from the forest... You are alarmed to realize that there are slightly more of these warriors than the guards in your caravan... You take a closer look at the approaching threat... Out of the total mass of attacking warriors, now three warriors in leather masks are walking specifically in your direction... They are dressed in leather armor and each of them holds a small wooden shield in one of their hands. In the other hand, each of them has a small battle hatchet, and behind each of them is a quiver for arrows and a small bow...