In the grove, an hour's drive to the village, a meeting committee of two boys about thirteen or fourteen were waiting for us.
- Hey, Maxim, what are you doing here? - Oliver, who instantly lost his temper, shouted with great irritation when he saw the children so far from the safe settlement.
- Uncle Jack sent us to meet you, he said to watch you," one of them answered.
- Why? - almost growled the commander.
- Uncle William, there's strangers standing near the village now, and they've got a mage, and he throws fire. And they're right in your way," the boys shouted in two voices.
- So much for that," grimaced Oliver. - How did they know it was us, suddenly they're strangers too?
- That's what we thought at first, when we saw strangers in the back, but then we recognized Uncle Alex's car and you in the cabin... Uncle Jack gave us his binoculars, so we wouldn't miss you.
- Here we are. And what do we do now? - He looked at me. By this time all our team and a couple of men from the newcomers had gathered around the messengers from the village. Although Oliver frowned at them, but did not send.
- Go on, and then we'll see.
- What a strategy you have. It's up to you, there's a magician and you're a magician, - he grimaced, then began to torture the boys again: - How many of them? What'd they do?
- Well, they appeared yesterday afternoon, - the boy blushed and began to stammer, embarrassed from such attention to himself, - first argued with uncle Jack, then all began to shout, both ours and theirs, and then the mage threw a fireball at the golem, and the golem threw a spear at him. The mage put up a wall of fire, but the spear still broke through it, and stuck him in the chest! He was carried away by his own men, but he took the spear out and threw it away himself, and shouted something.
- I understood nothing," he muttered. - Did they have guns?
- Yes," the boys nodded. - Guns and machine guns, lots and lots of axes and spears. And there was armor and helmets and armor.
- Were they shooting from submachine guns? - Oliver grew darker and darker.
- Nah," his interlocutor shook his blond, curly top, "they didn't shoot. The mage threw a orb and the golem a spear at him.
- And ours?
- And ours too, I told you, only mage...
- All right, all right, I got it. Is there anything else Uncle Jack wanted me to tell you?
- Nothing else.
- So what are we going to do, people? - Oliver came to us.
- How do we know? Take a detour? - William suggested.
- Better do so, because we are in the cabins are such targets, you just know and shoot with guns, - supported him the rest.
Oliver sighed and scratched his head:
- It's a long time. We'll only get there in the dark, and there's not much gas left.
- Mike, let's do it my way, only with a correction? - I suggested. - I'll drive forward with three golems. More precisely, a pair in front, and I'm behind them at first speed, on low, and one more behind me.
- So?
- We'll see how they react. If they don't, you'll follow, and we could put a samurai on the truck, so the strangers would think we had them in every car.
- Well, - he thought about it, - we can try.
- Uncle Alex, may we come with you? - the boys immediately started talking.
- I'll give you such "maybes"! - Oliver yelled at them. - Get in the car, - he poked at the cabin of the truck, - and don't make a sound or move! And I'll talk to Jack, he'll know how to send the children away from the village. And what if a hyena or those boars appeared here?
The strangers had settled about half a kilometer from the settlement on a small hill. They had already set up a few dozen tents, tourist tents, even two towers about four meters high without a canopy. There was a sentry on each of them, and, judging by the glare, everyone was looking at me through binoculars or a similar optical device.