The Anvil (30 page)

Zack
and
Tom
'
s
family
barely
left
for
anything
but
sleep
and
food
.
The
next
day
Tom
was
able
to
sit
up
without
too
much
pain
.
The
second
day
he
was
able
to
walk
to
the
table
and
eat
.
As
he
was
eating
some
bread
he
looked
at
Zack
and
asked
“
How
long
was
I
passed
out
after
the
fight
?”
Zack
yawned
and
answered
“
Only
about
a
day
,
Steve
is
surprised
you
weren
'
t
out
longer
.
Come
on
someone
wants
to
see
you
.”
Zack
help
Tom
up
and
they
walked
out
into
the
back
of
the
Healer
Building
,
as
it
was
called
.
Tom
saw
a
big
black
pile
and
he
smiled
.

Dejoni
looked
over
and
yawned
,
one
thing
you
never
want
to
smell
is
wyvern
breath
after
it
had
just
eaten
.
Tom
laughed
saying
“
Good
to
see
you
,
too
.
Your
breath
smells
awful
,
Dejoni
.”
Dejoni
made
a
sound
halfway
between
a
laugh
and
a
roar
.
After
talking
a
minute
or
two
Dejoni
went
back
to
sleep
and
the
boys
went
back
inside
.
Tom
laid
back
on
his
bed
and
Zack
left
to
go
get
some
food
and
sleep
.

He
looked
outside
and
to
see
how
long
the
shadows
were
to
tell
what
time
it
was
.
He
sighed
as
he
saw
it
was
only
noon
.
Why
can
'
t
the
day
be
over
!
he
thought
It
is
so
boring
laying
here
and
not
doing
anything
.
Alex
walked
in
interrupting
his
thoughts
.
Tom
looked
up
and
said
“
Please
have
something
for
me
to
do
.
I
am
so
bored
.”
Alex
laughed
as
he
set
some
papers
on
the
table
and
beckoned
him
over
. “
I
finally
might
be
able
to
teach
you
some
of
the
calmer
skills
of
a
Dragon
Guardian
.
Like
making
battle
plans
.”
Tom
sat
at
the
table
and
listened
as
Alex
taught
him
about
things
like
cover
,
height
advantages
,
battle
formations
,
human
battle
reactions
,
terrain
and
how
they
affected
battle
.

“
Describe
the
terrain
of
your
fight
with
the
griffin
and
the
bandits
.”
Tom
closed
his
eyes
and
described
the
land
“
On
either
side
of
the
road
there
is
a
ditch
and
trees
.
The
road
is
tightly
packed
dirt
.
The
sides
behind
the
ditches
is
slightly
higher
than
the
road
.”
Tom
opened
his
eyes
and
saw
Alex
drawing
a
map
of
the
fight
.

Then
Alex
told
Tom
“
Say
you
had
fifteen
archers
,
twenty
five
swordsmen
,
a
griffin
knight
and
you
.
How
would
you
deploy
all
the
units
in
this
terrain
.”
Tom
looked
at
the
map
and
thought
for
a
moment
“
Spread
the
swordsmen
evenly
across
the
sides
of
the
road
in
the
ditches
and
on
end
of
the
road
,
then
put
the
archers
on
the
far
side
of
the
ditch
barely
in
the
trees
then
have
me
and
the
knight
flying
above
the
site
.
Then
when
the
enemy
comes
the
archers
shoot
a
volley
and
before
the
enemy
know
what
happened
they
hide
behind
the
trees
again
then
the
swordsmen
jump
out
of
the
ditch
and
attack
,
the
ones
not
in
the
ditch
keeping
the
enemy
from
running
that
way
.
Then
me
and
the
knight
dive
down
onto
the
opposite
side
of
the
enemy
and
keep
them
from
running
our
way
.
The
archers
shooting
to
wound
those
who
run
.”
Alex
listened
to
his
plan
.

He
nodded
then
said
“
I
think
you
have
it
mostly
how
I
would
plan
it
,
but
instead
of
the
swordsmen
jumping
out
of
the
ditch
have
them
stay
there
and
defend
the
archers
,
the
others
keeping
them
bottled
up
as
you
said
.
Good
job
.
Get
some
rest
.”
Alex
stood
up
and
walked
out
the
door
. “
I
think
I
should
thank
you
for
fighting
those
bandits
,
the
mission
I
was
on
was
to
capture
or
kill
them
.”
Alex
stood
up
and
left
.