As they moved onward, an arrow suddenly slammed into Cadin's shield, nearly breaking through it and startling him.
In just a few seconds, arrows began falling from above, they were not just below the camp.
"Footmen, keep your shields up! Horsemen, dismount your steeds and hide them behind the trees, start returning fire!" Cadin tugged hard on his horse after shouting out, moving to a nearby tree with haste and jumping off his horse. He prepared his bow, preparing to fight. In front of him, his soldier unit slowly marched forward while dozens of arrows rained down upon them.
Above, the wooden platforms and homes of their enemy could be seen, unconcealed by the leaves and lit up by torches resting with them.
Cadin readied an arrow, looking up the platform he could see the heads and bodies of a few soldiers as they continued their attack on the shields down below.
"Cavalrymen, aim at the sky with your arrows, pull as hard as you can so it can reach!" He ordered.
Cadin let loose his arrows, they flew just enough to strike at the wooden platforms they stood on, embedding themselves deep enough to not fall. In a minute more started striking the visible soldiers, sending them back with arrows lodged in parts of their body, killed.
More arrows fell, now targeting Cadin and his calvarymen hiding behind the trees, as they hid Cadin continued firing back, sustaining more and more wounds. Blood gushed for a few seconds from each hit before healing, spraying the nearby foliage and wood in a crimson color.
Whistling past him, Cadin along with his fellow soldiers took down more archers, but to little effect, seemingly intensifying the attack as volleys began growing in size. The shield formation standing in the middle became riddled with hundreds of arrows, the men within still stood.
The fight slowly came to a halt as the barrage ceased, screams began echoing down, the barrage no longer continuing, having ceased almost immediately.
After a few seconds, Foren peered down at Cadin and his men, slowly putting down their shields.
"We took them down, excellent work in drawing their attention. And I see you also killed a few; We will find any way you can reach here, hold on." After announcing he pulled his head back.
A few minutes passed of silently waiting and looking up before a small wooden square descended down, similar in look to what they used for Foren's home camp.
"Send up the soldiers to garrison this place. Around fifteen or so may suffice, there are a few survivors left here anyway." He shouted down.
With the battle having come to an end, Cadin started ordering men to the platform, while Joken checked on the soldiers for any wounds. Cavalry emerged from their cover, covered in arrows while only sustaining a few cuts on their hands and arms in the attack.
With the needed men, the platform started to slowly lift upwards, the soldiers on it were astonished by the contraption, surprised that they were moving off the ground and to the top.
"The next camp is ahead, prepare your men because you will play a greater role in this." Cadin mounted his horse, quickly moving in front of his men, Joken along with the other cavalrymen joined in, awaiting Cadin to speak.
"Joken, are there any injuries?" Joken shook his head in response.
"None my lord, we just need to remove the arrows from our shields, that is all." Cadin chuckled slightly at the reply before turning back to his warriors.
"Soldiers, this time we shall fight the enemy head on, prepare your swords and your bows. Cavalrymen, dismount your steeds when we arrive and bring them somewhere close by, we will storm them first. As for the rest, provide aid by moving to the trees, stick with one another and provide cover for those who will fire back at the enemy, continue fighting until I order you to start moving to the top. We shall begin our march now."
After speaking, Foren jumped down from a tree branch, landing on the ground on his feet after Cadin turned back around.
Their march resumed, leaving their camp as the garrison soldiers walked around their new occupied camp.
Silence returned to their trip with only a few faint chirps of birds from time to time. The shade of trees became more and more dense as they moved deeper into the forest.
"Once you attack then we shall reveal ourselves to provide aid to you in fighting the remaining enemies." Foren spoke before returning to silence.
Their march continued on, soldiers continued ripping off the arrows from their shields along with Cadin, tossing them to the ground or placing them in their quivers to be reused.
An hour had passed, Foren raised his hand to stop the unit in their tracks.
"Were near, just steps ahead is the camp, it is partly larger than the one earlier. Last time I managed to scout here I could see platforms on about three or four trees. But that was a month ago, so perhaps they had changed. Nonetheless they have stairwells built into the trees from what I have observed. So you may use them, I trust that you will succeed in this attack. Good luck white haired warrior." Finished relaying the information he climbed up a nearby tree and disappeared in the leaves.
Cadin turned his head to his men behind him.
"Remember what i said earlier, this time though move cautiously and near the bushes, we need to be as silent as possible to not alert as much attention. Soldiers start moving to the bushes and advance forward until the base is above you. Cavalrymen, we will move in the bushes as well, prepare your swords."
Immediately the entire formation started scattering, soldiers on foot moved to the bushes on both sides along with the cavalrymen, Cadin moved to the bushes to the left, ahead of his own soldiers.
Now concealed by the flora, the army crept forward.