The terrain northeast of the gorge stayed mostly flat for several hundred yards before rising into a low ridge. Godmar reached the top first and immediately spotted the camp two hundred yards ahead.
A chest-high stone wall, likely the remains of an older structure, formed the camp's forward defense. Eighteen men held positions behind it. A fire burned several yards back from the wall, with tents beyond that. Four crossbow positions were spread across the parapet.
They had used the little preparation time available to them well, but not well enough.
At one hundred and twenty yards, two of the crossbowmen decided they could not wait any longer.
The first bolt struck the dirt eight feet short of the nearest soldier in Godmar's squad. It skipped once and passed harmlessly by the man's left boot. The second bolt crossed the full distance.
It missed a soldier near the center of the push by two feet, close enough for the flight to crack sharply through the air.
"Bolts. Left wall."
