The Anvil (29 page)

Chapter
13

             
Dejoni
dove
as
quickly
as
he
could
towards
Tom
'
s
plummeting
body
but
Madison
and
Zack
knew
he
wouldn
'
t
get
to
him
in
time
so
they
magically
slowed
his
fall
.
They
got
to
Tom
and
Dejoni
caught
him
then
glided
down
to
land
.
He
set
Tom
on
the
ground
lightly
,
Madison
and
Zack
sliding
of
his
back
quickly
.
Bryn
ran
over
to
them
and
stared
at
Tom
.
He
was
bloody
with
giant
talon
marks
across
his
side
.

Zack
and
Madison
started
trying
to
take
care
of
the
wound
.
Tom
'
s
eyes
opened
slowly
,
as
if
with
great
effort
and
weariness
.
Bryn
started
talking
to
him
,
in
an
effort
to
keep
him
awake
.
Zack
and
Madison
stopped
the
bleeding
and
Zack
said
“
Dejoni
!
We
have
to
fly
him
to
town
!
Hurry
!”
Dejoni
quickly
picked
up
Tom
and
Zack
jumped
on
his
back
.
He
yelled
to
the
girls
“
Stay
here
we
'
ll
be
back
in
a
little
.”
Dejoni
jumped
into
the
air
and
flew
as
fast
as
he
could
to
Pine
Grove
.
Within
minutes
Dejoni
landed
,
panting
at
Pine
Grove
.

Zack
yelled
out
“
Someone
help
!”
a
man
came
out
of
a
nearby
house
to
see
what
was
happening
.
He
saw
Tom
'
s
bloody
body
and
said
“
We
must
take
him
to
Steve
,
the
town
'
s
healer
.
Help
me
carry
him
.”
they
lifted
Tom
and
carried
him
farther
into
town
and
burst
into
the
healer
'
s
shop
.

The
man
yelled
“
Steve
,
get
down
here
a
boy
is
horribly
hurt
!”
an
old
man
came
down
saying
“
Put
him
over
here
,
Joseph
.”
the
two
laid
Tom
on
the
bed
Steve
indicated
.
The
healer
started
working
on
Tom
and
Zack
turned
around
and
found
Dejoni
.
He
jumped
onto
him
and
they
flew
back
to
where
the
girls
were
waiting
.

They
saw
the
girls
and
got
them
flying
slowly
back
to
Pine
Grove
,
Dejoni
after
flying
so
fast
to
get
Tom
there
and
now
carrying
three
people
couldn
'
t
fly
very
fast
and
stop
for
many
rests
.
Eventually
they
landed
and
Zack
ran
to
tell
Tom
'
s
family
after
telling
Madison
and
Bryn
where
Tom
was
.

Tom
woke
suddenly
not
knowing
where
he
was
and
tried
reaching
for
his
dagger
at
his
belt
,
but
it
wasn
'
t
there
.
He
spun
around
and
his
side
burst
into
pain
.
His
family
and
friends
sat
in
chairs
nearby
most
of
them
asleep
,
but
Bryn
was
awake
.
She
rushed
over
to
him
and
said
“
Stop
moving
around
,
Steve
says
if
you
move
too
much
you
will
make
it
worse
.”
Tom
stopped
moving
and
sat
up
asking
“
What
happened
,
one
moment
I
remember
fighting
bandits
,
next
I
vaguely
remember
flying
then
I
wake
up
here
.”
As
Bryn
explained
what
happened
Steve
came
down
with
some
soup
and
gave
it
to
Tom
to
eat
.

He
had
just
finished
his
soup
when
the
door
suddenly
opened
and
in
walked
Alex
.
He
looked
at
Tom
and
said
loudly
“
Tom
,
feeling
better
?
I
heard
you
tried
to
fight
a
griffin
yourself
and
that
'
s
why
you
got
that
nasty
cut
.”
Tom
nodded
“
Ya
,
pretty
dumb
of
me
wasn
'
t
it
.
But
please
be
quieter
everyone
is
asleep
and
I
don
'
t
want
to
wake
them
.”
Alex
laughed
and
said
quieter
“
That
'
s
something
only
you
would
do
Tom
,
be
sitting
in
your
bed
after
nearly
being
killed
and
being
worried
for
everyone
else
getting
sleep
”
Alex
and
Tom
smiled
.

Tom
tried
to
turn
but
intense
pain
shot
from
his
side
.
He
looked
down
and
moved
his
shirt
out
of
the
way
to
look
at
his
side
.
He
could
see
four
parallel
red
stains
through
a
bandage
from
where
the
griffin
and
slashed
him
.
Tom
grimaced
,
he
looked
at
Steve
“
How
long
until
I
can
go
?”
he
asked
.
Steve
walked
over
and
started
poking
and
pinching
him
.
Steve
looked
up
“
About
three
days
then
you
will
be
better
.
Because
you
'
re
in
shape
and
your
training
you
didn
'
t
get
permanently
injured
,
but
you
will
have
those
scars
for
a
long
time
,
if
they
ever
go
away
.”
Slowly
people
started
waking
,
talking
to
him
a
little
then
leaving
to
go
back
to
their
homes
and
lives
.