Emil looked back and noticed several of the other youths trailing behind him and felt a bit more reassured. Corra mentioned something about letting the guards handle the fallen crate, Emil merely shrugged in response. There were too few guards to do all the legwork anyway, the caravan wagons still had around 30 kids and supplies that needed to be watched. One of the youths that followed him began digging around in a discarded knapsack. Emil frowned a bit, but was too far forward to return and stop her- another one of the youths attempted to stop her, but ultimately continued moving on. This other male youth was around Emil's age- perhaps a bit older than him, he bore a small shield and he wore armor, a peasant's armor, but armor nonetheless. Corra and another girl from the caravan had ended up following them as well.

[color=C7AA7D]"Don't see any bodies. Dunno if that makes me feel any better."[/color] the male in peasant's armor spoke up 

[color=8882be]“It shouldn’t,”[/color] Corra replied almost instantaneously. 

By this time, their caravan had noticed that the youths had gone on ahead and began slowly moving down the short hill to catch up with them. Emil easily dismounted from his horse, putting himself on ground level with the others. He gave his horse a light pat and knew that the trained animal would stay there until he needed it. With the others, Emil examined the fallen wagon more closely. The cart was on its side, wheels facing them on the road, its overturned innards concealed from view. The canvas side of the wagon had continued burning as they approached, and was now considerably larger, as it ate at the dry canvas and wood. The flame was still small enough that the heat that it created wasn't unbearable, but it wouldn't be much longer until the rest of the wagon caught fire.

Slowly turning the corner to inspect the inside of the overturned wagon, Emil gingerly lifted the canvas flap with his arm, his other hand gripping his spear. Strewn inside were the three bodies of a man, woman, and child. From the family's dress and the interior of the wagon, it was obvious that this was no merchant family, but refugees. However, valuables and belongings still hung from their bodies and lined the insides of their wagon. This was no bandit attack. Examining in the darkness of the wagon interior, Emil realized that the man's arms had been removed, not by blade, but by teeth. A wagon of this size had to have housed more than just a poor family of three. 

Emil's face paled as realization dawned on him. [color=lightblue]"Orcs."[/color] he breathed softly as he turned to face the others. 

There was a loud shout from behind them, and Emil spun to face their caravan wagons. From the treeline to the left of the caravan, a group of 4 orcs had burst from hiding and began sprinting towards the caravan wagons. Though the treeline was 10 yards away from the edge of the road, the orcs were large and fast enough that they could cross the distance in a short time. Trailing behind them was a pack of 6 goblins. 

An Orc was on average, well over a head taller than an adult male human, and considerably broader set. Their skin was a dark gray, and was as tough as leather. The Orcs wore crude patchwork sets of chainmail and leather, with the occasional metal plate here and there. Two of the orcs bore cruel, square bladed falchions, another wielded a crude battle axe, while the last held a large hammer. A goblin, on the other hand, was considerably smaller and skinnier than the average orc, standing about half the height of an average human. Goblins were in general weaker, if a bit more nimble than the average human. These goblins bore a mixture of poorly made bows, knives, clubs, and spears, and wore mostly poorly crafted hides and leather. 

The caravan guards quickly formed up to defend the wagons, but with so few of them, they'd be overwhelmed quickly. Emil sprinted to his horse and mounted it. [color=lightblue]"Orcs!"[/color] 

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Goblins
[IMG]http://i59.tinypic.com/fve9uv.png[/IMG]
Orcs
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