The village was built on top of a hill and surrounded by thick forests in all directions. Even humans had difficulties walking over them (although beasts could fly right over).
The forests weren't tall enough to hide the group of bandits that surrounded the village, blocking its exits. Some of them shot inside the village with their bows, but they didn't try to break past the thick living stone gates.
People who hid on the other side of the village's wall shot back with their own weapons, but most of their shots hit only the stone shields that bandits brought with them.
Malevolence had given her army an order to approach from the side where the forests were the tallest and leave the carts somewhat behind. The bee soldiers flew ahead of humans, shooting down random hostile insects and creating a threatening, buzzing aura around the army.
