The Anvil (81 page)

He
cut
at
the
dragon
’
s
leg
with
his
axe
,
hitting
the
leg
and
making
the
dragon
and
enemy
rider
look
away
from
the
wyvern
rider
they
were
fighting
,
a
fatal
mistake
as
the
wyvern
bit
the
dragon
’
s
neck
and
the
wyvern
rider
stabbed
the
enemy
rider
.
The
rider
nodded
his
thanks
to
Tom
and
flew
away
.

Tom
fought
like
a
wasp
,
diving
or
coming
up
from
below
without
warning
and
striking
before
they
knew
what
happened
.
Tom
didn
’
t
get
hit
very
much
as
the
other
aerial
forces
were
giant
and
often
slow
whereas
Tom
,
who
was
only
a
teenager
with
wings
,
fought
quickly
but
with
force
.
Often
Tom
would
only
distract
an
enemy
fighting
and
watch
as
the
Arstanian
killed
the
enemy
.
Soon
Tom
was
covered
in
blood
,
both
others
’
and
his
own
,
he
had
gotten
cut
on
his
forehead
,
a
bruised
shoulder
and
some
other
small
injuries
,
but
he
kept
fighting
.

After
almost
two
hours
the
Ilemite
forces
fell
back
to
their
camp
,
leaving
behind
hundreds
of
dead
littered
on
the
ground
,
bridge
and
in
the
river
.
Tom
glided
back
to
his
tent
and
bandaged
his
various
wounds
,
cleaned
his
equipment
and
went
to
sleep
.
He
woke
in
time
for
dinner
and
ate
with
Madison
,
Bryn
and
Zack
.
They
told
each
other
about
what
they
had
been
doing
,
Madison
had
obviously
decided
to
become
a
battle
witch
,
Bryn
was
continuing
her
ranged
training
and
Zack
was
learning
how
to
fight
riding
Dejoni
and
various
other
ways
of
fighting
.
They
laughed
at
their
mistakes
,
varying
from
not
being
able
to
start
a
fire
for
some
reason
to
,
as
Tom
had
done
,
miss
blocking
an
attack
that
wounded
you
bad
.

They
finished
eating
and
went
their
separate
directions
to
their
tents
.
Tom
fell
asleep
quickly
,
tired
from
the
battle
.
Tom
woke
ate
breakfast
with
the
others
then
they
all
went
to
play
a
game
of
soccer
.
No
fighting
happened
for
the
rest
of
the
week
,
which
everyone
took
advantage
of
,
most
the
army
worked
on
defenses
but
the
youngest
were
allowed
to
relax
most
the
day
.
The
group
of
friends
often
sat
around
a
campfire
in
the
evening
singing
and
playing
music
,
all
sang
or
played
an
instrument
and
in
Tom
’
s
case
both
.

Sometimes
one
of
the
other
teenagers
or
an
adult
would
come
over
to
sing
or
play
,
but
most
just
sat
and
listened
.
Josh
had
started
coming
to
sing
and
play
his
ukulele
every
evening
after
the
first
day
.
Monday
morning
Tom
woke
and
crawled
out
of
his
tent
and
went
to
get
breakfast
.
He
found
his
friends
after
getting
some
eggs
,
bacon
and
toast
.
He
sat
down
and
talked
to
his
friends
while
eating
his
breakfast
.
They
all
went
to
help
sharpen
more
stakes
,
sitting
next
to
each
with
Dejoni
laying
behind
them
using
his
claws
to
help
sharpen
the
stakes
.

Suddenly
they
heard
a
horn
blow
and
looked
up
.
The
Ilemartain
army
was
attacking
.
Tom
hefted
his
axe
,
spread
his
wings
and
flew
off
with
Zack
and
Dejoni
behind
him
.
They
all
already
had
their
armour
on
so
they
could
be
ready
whenever
.
Tom
landed
in
the
third
row
of
warriors
and
had
an
idea
.
He
told
the
men
around
him
to
put
their
shields
together
and
soon
they
had
a
wall
of
shields
bristling
with
spears
and
other
weapons
.
They
went
to
the
bridge
where
fighting
had
already
broken
out
.

The
Arstanian
warriors
joined
the
group
walking
across
the
bridge
while
the
Ilemites
forces
hit
the
solid
wall
.
The
first
row
fought
while
the
other
rows
added
their
weight
to
the
forward
movement
.
Tom
saw
Arstanian
cavalry
behind
the
solid
infantry
and
told
them
to
open
a
gap
in
the
middle
of
the
block
.
Luckily
the
cavalry
commander
knew
what
to
do
and
charged
through
at
the
enemy
pushing
them
off
the
bridge
or
trampling
them
.