Ambushed!

Immediately after Alexander's warning due to his new bird's abilities, Alexa discreetly looked around, but failed to see the enemies hidden in the vegetation on both sides of the road.

  Internally cursing her bad luck, she glanced at Mildred, who had innocently been riding the little mule, and at Johannes and Ulrich, each at one end of the caravan. She would be able to reach one of them, but not the other, without forewarning the ambushers. Or she could call out the impending attack and hoped that the caravan warriors would react faster than the attackers.

  She would require help to protect Mildred, however.

A discreet scanning look revealed something her intuition already told her, but Alexa insisted on ignoring it: the peasants seemed alert and uneasy.

'It assuredly is an ambush planned in Tanbury!'

However, she had no time for further conjecture.

The Princess spoke to Alexander, while checking that her dagger was ready,