Before the humans could shoot at them, the Warrior Bees shot first. Another rain of tiny "stars" fell toward the gunpowder, and the bees immediately flew higher away from the imminent explosion.
I tensed, too—then had to furiously beat my wings as a sudden gust of wind tried to throw me to the side.
And the same wind pushed all the falling bolts off-course, blowing out the fires and making the bolts hopelessly miss their targets!
"Damned wind!"
If the wind had a face to glower at, I would've been doing just that. The bad luck was chasing me!
The crossbow-bees, of course, wouldn't give up just because they failed a second time. They were already rearming their bows—but from below, humans were aiming their weapons at them, too!
With a loud bang, a musketeer fired in our direction, missing anyone by a hundred meters. But this was just the start.
