The Anvil (35 page)

It
said
.
Tom
looked
up
at
Bryn
. “
Well
I
guess
I
have
to
train
you
.
So
let
'
s
get
started
.”
Bryn
wanted
to
follow
Tom
'
s
schedule
as
close
as
possible
.

They
started
the
day
by
eating
breakfast
,
today
there
was
no
attack
.
Then
spent
the
rest
of
the
day
training
and
building
the
fort
,
with
breaks
for
meals
and
when
they
were
tired
.
The
next
day
Tom
woke
to
the
usual
fighting
and
ran
out
to
help
.
Today
it
was
some
crantos
and
bears
.
As
he
was
about
to
run
out
the
gates
with
the
most
the
guards
behind
him
he
noticed
Bryn
run
out
of
her
hut
.

She
had
her
weapons
but
was
looking
very
confused
.
Tom
realized
he
hadn
'
t
said
what
to
do
in
an
attack
he
was
so
used
to
them
.
He
beckoned
a
single
guard
over
and
told
it
to
tell
her
to
get
on
the
walls
and
help
those
guards
.

As
the
wooden
man
ran
off
Tom
nodded
to
the
gate
men
and
the
gate
opened
.
Tom
set
off
at
a
fast
jogging
pace
and
soon
was
fighting
.
After
the
battle
the
day
was
like
the
day
before
and
soon
everyday
followed
the
same
schedule
,
fight
,
eat
,
train
,
eat
,
build
,
eat
,
sleep
and
repeat
,
sometimes
with
fights
at
other
times
.

With
only
a
week
left
,
Tom
and
Bryn
sat
around
the
fire
talking
and
eating
some
fish
.
Tom
looked
out
at
the
stars
and
saw
some
sort
of
dense
black
cloud
that
didn
'
t
seem
to
be
solid
and
was
moving
very
swiftly
.

He
heard
the
flapping
of
dozens
of
wings
and
realized
something
,
vampires
were
coming
. “
This
must
be
the
first
of
the
final
tasks
.”
Tom
thought
.
Alex
had
warned
him
that
during
the
final
days
of
his
assessment
there
would
be
some
extremely
hard
tasks
and
battles
.
Tom
jumped
up
and
started
yelling
for
light
and
guards
.
The
tree
-
men
came
running
out
of
their
sleeping
quarters
confused
.

Tom
simply
pointed
at
the
sky
and
they
saw
what
was
happening
.
The
first
vampire
landed
as
Tom
got
his
weapons
.
The
two
forces
stood
staring
at
each
other
for
a
moment
,
the
vampires
looked
red
in
the
fire
light
.

Then
a
vampire
leaped
forward
at
Tom
,
who
quickly
sliced
its
head
cleanly
off
with
his
axe
.
Soon
the
entire
area
above
and
inside
the
fort
was
in
chaos
.
The
griffins
fought
vampires
in
the
air
,
the
men
on
the
ground
and
Tom
both
in
the
air
and
on
the
ground
.
As
Tom
hacked
at
a
vampire
near
a
wall
it
dodged
the
strike
and
the
axe
hit
the
wall
,
shattering
the
axe
.
Tom
thought
quickly
he
didn
'
t
have
time
to
make
a
new
one
so
he
grabbed
a
torch
off
the
wall
.
He
swung
it
at
vampires
and
many
burned
as
he
fought
.

But
it
didn
'
t
last
,
a
vampire
had
ran
over
and
grabbed
a
bucket
of
water
and
splashed
it
on
him
.
The
torch
went
out
and
he
ran
through
the
vampires
back
to
the
place
his
warriors
were
holding
back
the
vampires
.
He
created
a
new
axe
but
put
it
in
it
'
s
holding
loops
.
He
closed
his
eyes
trusting
his
warriors
to
keep
him
safe
,
and
created
giant
beasts
from
the
ground
,
water
and
trees
.

He
killed
many
vampires
using
various
magical
weapons
and
created
a
wall
between
the
two
forces
.
Then
he
opened
his
eyes
and
grabbed
his
axe
.
He
ordered
his
guards
into
a
formation
behind
him
and
lowered
the
wall
,
running
as
he
did
.
He
hit
the
vampires
with
enough
power
to
send
many
flying
back
.
Suddenly
he
heard
a
scream
and
looked
over
at
the
walls
.
Bryn
!
The
vampires
'
army
changed
form
and
flew
away
.
He
yelled
at
his
griffins
to
follow
him
and
took
flight
chasing
the
vampires
.