Everyone was relaxed by the monotonous journey when the caravan came abruptly to the stop.
A big tree had fallen right in front of the first horse, and following that, another big tree had fallen at the end of the caravan. The trees had completely sealed the paths forth and back for them.
At the same time, the barrage of arrows fell on them from the forest by the road.
The forest here had lavish underbrush. People hidden in the bushes couldn't be seen at all from the road.
The guards immediately drew shields to counter the attack.
The arrows deflected on the horses' skin and shields.
Though unexpected, the attack didn't bring much damage to the caravan.
Lance watched the way guards acted with satisfaction. They were an experienced team and didn't need any efforts from him in this situation.
He deflected the arrows coming at him with a slight movement of his hand. Feather's initial judgment was right, for a commoner, Lance was terrifyingly strong.
At this moment Feather wasn't at the liberty to enjoy the view, though. She didn't have a shield at her disposal, so the arrows would find her an easy target. The only thing she could do was evade, so she ducked to the counter side of the horse hanging on to the saddle straps.
The horse naturally liked neither the stop no the arrows hitting it. The arrows fired from the common bows were not able to harm a horse, but they still hurt.
The horse hissed and threw Feather off. Knowing that it was impossible for her to hang on to the horse further, Feather drew the sword from the sheath attached to the saddle. She fell to the ground, tucked and rolled away.
Fortunately, the barrage of arrows stopped at the moment.
There was no point in shooting arrows as soon as the guards were alerted. It only was useful when people were taken by surprise. The horses couldn't be hurt with usual arrows, and the guards had already drawn their shields out. Thus, the second rally of arrows didn't come.
Instead of it, people jumped out of the forest.
There were many of them, more than fifty. They were poorly dressed. Less than five of them had something resembling an armor on. Several men were covering their faces with rags, but most didn't bother.
The bandits used the fact that the road in this place was partially lower than the forest ground. It was a good place to set an ambush, and that's what they had done.
They used ropes to jump from the forest to the road. Obviously, there was a hole or several on the side of the road, so they needed to jump over. Or maybe it was a deception. No one knew, and no one intended to go and check whether there really was a hole there.
The guards bravely met the ambushers, and the battle started.
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The bandits were dressed poorly and the weapons in their hands were of bad quality, but they compensated it with ferociousness. They avoided more skilled fighters to attack others in bunches.
Although Feather was a good fighter, it was her first time participating in such a brawl where many people fought many. In this circumstances, being thrown away by the horse happened to be a good thing for her. Feather was thrown to the draft horses side, where the fight hadn't reached yet. It gave her some time to observe the situation and brace herself.
There were five draft horses on the road, and she was standing with her back to one of them.
The bandits were attacking only from the left side of the road, but the guards couldn't concentrate there, because there still was a chance of an attack from the other side if they turned away. This way bandits were able to outnumber the guards nearly three to one.
Despite being outnumbered, guards were not losing as they were better equipped and more experienced than these bandits.
Feather saw Lance calmly sitting on his horse at the head of the caravan as if he was unconcerned with the situation.
Here and there she saw the guards surrounded by small groups of the bandits.
Next to her Feather saw Sword and Axe, the two guards she got acquainted with first, struggling against five opponents.
The guards were strong, but the bandits were not weak either. The battle didn't seem to go either way in the short term.
After getting the disposition, Feather joined the battle.
She came right on time to intercept a blade coming at Axe who happened to be nearest to her.
Feather was the most proficient with her father's swordplay, nevertheless, even while wielding one sword, she was still a lot better than these bandits.
The power of her strike was so overwhelming that the hand of the attacking bandit broke and the bandit himself was thrown several steps away.
Feather didn't stop at that, she ducked under the swinging sword and kicked at the next opponent's leg destabilizing him. Axe didn't hesitate to connect his sword at that time taking out this bandit.
That left three bandits for the three of them.
The bandits also saw that the advantage wasn't on their side anymore and decided it was better to run for their lives.
The battle was swiftly turning in favor of the caravan guards.
Just at this moment, Feather heard a girl's cry from the back. She immediately turned to see what happened. One of the bandits evaded all guardians and was about to climb a big horse where passengers were seated. The bandit probably thought that he could take them hostages.
Feather immediately sprinted there, jumped the bandit and stabbed the sword into his leg. Under her weight, they both fell onto the ground.
The bandit tried to grab Feather, and Feather rolled back. He stood up heavily. The bandit was sturdier than Feather; Feather looked like a little child in front of her opponent. Despite that, the bandit was wary; he didn't have much chance to win this fight now that he was wounded. Although his opponent was just a little kid, this kid was a very sneaky one.
Feather moved to the side of the bandit and struck.
Bandit wasn't fast enough to turn with his injured leg and fell to the ground. That saved him from Feather's sword. Alas, lying on the ground there was nothing he could do, and the fight was decided.
Feather held her sword keeping the bandit at the point. The fighting had already ceased, battle finished.
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Bandits were defeated. Those who could do so fled; the rest were either dead or lying injured on the ground.
Despite the initial difference in numbers, the guards came out of the battle mostly unscratched. All of them were seasoned warriors, and against this group of random people, there was no way the guards could have lost. Poor bandits probably never expected for there to be so many guardians with such a small caravan.
Lance, who was the strongest warrior in the caravan didn't even have to make a move before everything was resolved.
The whole battle took less than a couple of minutes.
No one chased fleeing bandits.
Lance came around the caravan checking the results of the battle.
On the guards' side, three men had light injuries.
The injured bandits who failed to flee were swiftly being finished by the guards; no one was spared.
While passing Feather, Lance saw that the bandit she defeated was sprawling on the ground under the sword, but the girl was hesitant to finish him.
Lance sighed silently and dismounted.
He came to Feather, put his hand over hers and pushed the sword down, killing the bandit.