The Anvil (10 page)

Tom
shattered
the
wall
and
sent
the
pieces
at
the
bandits
,
all
around
him
was
on
fire
.
Tom
started
fighting
using
earth
magic
and
whenever
anyone
came
near
,
with
his
axe
.
He
molded
the
earth
into
swords
,
hammers
and
maces
.
The
bandits
fought
against
the
combined
forces
of
a
dragon
and
earthen
weapons
that
couldn
'
t
be
killed
.

Then
a
single
bandit
dropped
his
spear
and
ran
to
the
woods
,
slowly
more
and
more
bandits
followed
him
into
the
trees
.
Finally
the
last
bandit
was
cut
down
and
Alex
turned
back
into
a
human
and
Tom
released
his
hold
on
the
earth
.
They
both
were
covered
in
blood
,
cuts
and
other
wounds
.
They
slowly
limped
back
to
their
camp
they
dropped
onto
the
ground
and
slept
.

They
woke
hours
later
and
Tom
went
to
the
stream
and
washed
himself
.
When
he
came
back
Alex
was
cleaning
his
sword
and
shield
.
Alex
then
went
to
the
stream
to
wash
and
Tom
cleaned
his
axe
and
shield
.
Alex
came
back
and
taught
Tom
the
healing
spell
and
they
set
about
healing
all
of
their
wounds
.

Then
Tom
asked
“
Alex
,
what
will
happen
to
the
bandits
'
bodies
?”
Alex
looked
at
his
apprentice
and
realized
how
young
he
was
and
yet
he
was
able
to
kill
grown
,
armed
and
trained
men
.
Alex
replied
“
Leave
that
to
me
,
you
sleep
.”
Tom
did
as
he
was
told
and
slept
.
When
Alex
finally
got
back
it
was
nearly
dark
and
Tom
was
awake
.
Tom
asked
when
he
saw
Alex
“
How
did
you
speak
into
my
mind
during
that
battle
?”
Alex
replied
“
It
is
an
ability
only
people
who
are
masters
of
magic
have
.
Now
let
'
s
have
a
nice
hot
dinner
.”
They
ate
their
dinner
then
retired
to
their
tents
.

In
the
morning
Alex
made
breakfast
,
then
after
eating
they
packed
up
and
left
for
their
cabin
.
They
got
back
around
noon
and
Alex
said
“
You
go
do
whatever
you
want
I
am
going
to
sleep
.”
So
Tom
decided
to
go
over
to
town
.
He
got
in
his
canoe
and
went
over
there
,
on
the
town
'
s
dock
sat
a
boy
around
Tom
'
s
age
.
Tom
thought
he
looked
familiar
and
searched
his
brain
.
Zack
,
that
was
his
name
.
So
Tom
went
over
to
him
and
said
“
Hi
.
Would
you
mind
showing
me
around
your
town
?
The
last
time
I
tried
going
around
here
alone
I
got
in
a
fight
.”
Tom
and
Zack
chuckled
and
Zack
said
“
Sure
I
can
,
but
don
'
t
get
into
any
fights
with
me
around
.”
Zack
stood
up
and
took
Tom
on
a
tour
of
the
town
.

That
didn
'
t
take
long
because
it
is
a
small
town
,
once
they
finished
Zack
asked
“
Are
you
hungry
?
Because
I
think
you
could
come
and
have
dinner
at
my
house
.”
Tom
replied
“
Do
you
think
that
your
family
would
mind
?”
Zack
laughed
and
said
“
No
,
they
wouldn
'
t
mind
.
Come
on
.”
Tom
followed
Zack
back
to
his
house
.
The
house
wasn
'
t
a
very
big
one
but
much
bigger
than
Alex
'
s
cabin
.

Zack
walked
in
his
door
and
yelled
“
Is
anyone
home
?
I
brought
a
guest
over
!”.
A
women
walked
out
of
the
kitchen
Tom
assumed
was
Zack
'
s
mother
.
She
said
“
Hello
,
what
'
s
your
name
?
Please
call
me
Sue
.”
Tom
then
replied
“
I
'
m
Tom
”.
Zack
'
s
mother
said
“
Dinner
will
be
ready
in
a
few
minutes
.
I
am
sure
you
can
find
something
to
do
until
then
.”
Zack
looked
at
Tom
and
said
“
What
do
you
want
to
do
?”
Tom
thought
for
a
moment
and
asked
Zack
“
Do
you
want
to
see
some
magic
?”
Zack
looked
like
he
thought
Tom
was
joking
but
nodded
.
Tom
said
“
Were
is
a
stream
or
some
other
water
?”
Zack
took
Tom
to
the
side
of
the
house
,
there
was
a
small
stream
trickling
through
.