Before Hermione could react, another cry of pain rang out...
"!!"
"Ow!"
This time, however, it was not the aged voice she had heard from the raven's beak, almost as though she had imagined it. It was the familiar voice of the little boy, Timmy.
When she turned in confusion, she discovered something astonishing:
At some point, a strange old man in a hooded brown robe had stood up in the grass beside the road, holding a wooden stick. That cry had come from little Timmy, who had shot down a "big bird" with his slingshot, after the old man tapped his forehead with the stick—neither too hard nor too gently.
"Waaah!"
"Hermione! Harry! There's a bad man here, and he hit me..."
Naturally, after being struck for no apparent reason by a stranger, little Timmy took to his heels and ran back, loudly sobbing his complaint toward the ox cart where Hermione and the others had been sitting.
"!!"
"Enemy attack!"
The Lordaeron soldiers noticed the disturbance and immediately reacted when they saw little Timmy being attacked.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Blades rang as they left their sheaths. The marching Lordaeron soldiers quickly took the royal-crested shields off their backs and formed up, cautiously closing in on the strange man who had, for some unknown reason, hidden in the grass before jumping out to attack little Timmy.
"Make way!"
"Tell me, stranger, who are you? And why were you hiding here?!"
Hearing the commotion behind him, Davie, the Paladin carrying a heavy hammer and riding a warhorse, immediately galloped over. Only when he reached the hooded old man, who looked furtive and thoroughly suspicious, did he rein in his horse. He looked the man up and down, then demanded an answer in a stern, suspicious voice.
Clearly, their leader, Paladin