The Anvil (40 page)

Chapter
16

             
He
landed
on
the
dragon
then
changed
the
soldiers
'
commands
.
He
hacked
at
the
dragon
a
few
times
then
jumped
off
once
again
,
this
time
all
the
warriors
and
archers
following
him
.
He
flew
towards
a
thick
section
of
the
forest
away
from
Bryn
.
He
looked
behind
him
and
saw
the
dragon
roaring
and
breathing
fire
chasing
them
and
knew
his
plan
was
working
.

He
slowed
slightly
almost
letting
the
dragon
catch
them
then
entered
the
trees
,
the
soldiers
and
he
easily
dodging
the
trees
.
Too
late
the
dragon
realized
it
'
s
mistake
.

It
smashed
into
the
trees
with
full
force
,
too
big
the
avoid
the
densely
packed
trees
.
Tom
heard
sickening
cracking
sounds
as
trees
and
the
dragon
'
s
bones
broke
.
The
dragon
continued
dropping
until
it
came
to
a
stop
after
sliding
several
feet
on
the
ground
.

Tom
quickly
landed
in
front
of
it
along
with
his
warriors
and
he
pulled
out
his
dagger
.
He
walked
to
the
dragon
and
raised
the
dagger
,
then
he
drove
the
dagger
into
the
dragon
'
s
eye
finally
killing
the
dragon
.
Tom
looked
over
as
Alex
,
Bryn
and
a
lady
Tom
didn
'
t
recognize
walked
towards
him
.
Alex
started
clapping
,
in
a
good
job
kind
of
way
.

Tom
magically
made
four
chairs
out
of
wood
and
motioned
for
them
all
to
sit
as
he
collapsed
on
his
chair
.
The
lady
looked
at
him
and
said
“
That
was
impressive
,
not
many
people
would
think
of
that
.
I
'
m
Samantha
,
Bryn
'
s
master
.”
she
had
long
blond
hair
,
tanned
skin
and
blue
eyes
.

Tom
bowed
his
head
slightly
“
Hello
,
I
'
m
Tom
,
Alex
'
s
apprentice
.
And
Bryn
did
as
much
as
me
to
kill
that
dragon
.”
he
said
.
After
what
seemed
like
forever
,
but
was
only
one
hour
,
of
questions
they
all
went
back
to
Hilltop
Lake
.

After
dropping
Samantha
and
Bryn
off
in
town
Alex
and
Tom
landed
outside
of
the
cabin
.
They
went
in
and
ate
lunch
,
Tom
eating
a
large
amount
happy
to
eat
something
other
than
berries
,
deer
,
or
other
forest
food
.

After
lunch
Alex
made
sure
Tom
had
not
forgotten
anything
and
as
the
sun
went
down
he
and
Tom
went
to
the
beach
.
They
got
there
and
Alex
said
“
Before
we
leave
for
Blangto
,
I
am
going
to
teach
you
another
step
in
transforming
into
a
dragon
.
I
will
teach
you
how
to
get
the
scales
of
a
dragon
.”
Tom
could
barely
wait
as
Alex
told
him
how
to
do
it
then
quickly
tried
.

He
looked
down
at
his
hands
and
saw
black
scales
glistening
in
the
fading
light
.
He
looked
in
the
lake
and
saw
instead
of
his
usual
tan
skin
the
same
black
scales
.
He
turned
to
Alex
and
changed
back
. “
Go
tell
your
family
and
friends
we
'
re
going
to
Blangto
,
be
back
here
in
ten
days
,
we
leave
in
eleven
days
.”
Alex
told
him
.
Then
John
and
Zack
walked
out
of
the
cabin
.
Tom
practiced
the
new
spell
until
dinner
,
which
Zack
and
John
had
cooked
.

The
next
day
he
said
bye
to
all
his
friends
in
Hilltop
Lake
.
That
night
he
and
Alex
made
dinner
,
ate
it
then
Tom
packed
,
planning
to
leave
the
next
day
.
John
was
letting
Zack
come
with
him
,
so
Zack
packed
too
.

Early
the
next
morning
Tom
,
Zack
and
Dejoni
said
bye
to
Alex
,
John
and
Masdifi
.
Tom
spread
his
wings
as
Zack
got
on
Dejoni
and
they
launched
into
the
air
towards
Pine
Grove
.
The
trip
to
Pine
Grove
went
quickly
.
A
little
while
later
they
landed
in
Tom
'
s
backyard
.
Zack
got
off
Dejoni
'
s
back
and
the
boys
walked
in
.