The Anvil (14 page)

The
boys
walked
down
to
Tom
'
s
house
without
seeing
anyone
.
They
got
to
the
house
and
went
in
.
Tom
saw
his
father
and
Caleb
working
at
the
forge
.
The
boys
watched
as
they
hammered
the
red
hot
metal
and
then
put
it
in
a
barrel
and
steam
billowed
up
.

Caleb
saw
Tom
and
Zack
he
smiled
and
said
“
Hi
Tom
.
Who
'
s
that
and
how
is
the
shield
I
made
for
you
?”
Tom
replied
“
One
question
at
a
time
.
Well
the
answer
to
who
this
is
,
this
is
Zack
,
he
his
Alex
'
s
brother
'
s
apprentice
and
a
friend
of
mine
.
The
shield
is
amazing
,
it
saved
me
when
I
was
fighting
a
large
group
of
bandits
with
Alex
.”
Tom
took
a
deep
breath
then
continued
“
By
the
way
where
is
some
food
?
And
where
is
Mom
,
Kiya
and
Sierra
?”
Tom
'
s
dad
said
“
The
food
is
where
it
has
always
been
,
Mom
is
shopping
and
Kiya
and
Sierra
are
with
some
friends
.”
Tom
and
Zack
ate
while
Caleb
and
Tom
'
s
dad
worked
in
the
forge
.
Once
Tom
and
Zack
were
done
eating
Tom
'
s
mother
came
in
with
some
food
in
her
arms
.

Tom
went
over
and
took
most
of
the
things
before
his
mom
realized
it
was
him
.
He
set
down
the
food
and
his
Mother
ran
over
to
him
and
hugged
him
so
hard
he
nearly
choked
.
His
Mother
let
go
and
yelled
“
Where
have
you
been
?
Why
haven
'
t
heard
anything
from
you
for
nearly
a
month
?”
Tom
smiled
“
I
have
been
busy
training
and
on
missions
with
Alex
,
that
'
s
why
you
haven
'
t
heard
from
me
for
a
while
.
I
promise
I
will
try
to
use
the
post
more
often
.”
Tom
said
.

Tom
spend
the
rest
of
the
day
with
friends
and
family
until
dinner
.
At
dinner
Tom
and
Zack
told
Tom
'
s
family
about
what
had
happened
in
the
last
month
.
Tom
didn
'
t
tell
them
the
size
of
the
bandit
camp
,
for
his
Mother
'
s
sake
.
Then
after
dinner
Tom
and
Zack
went
into
the
backyard
for
a
training
session
.
The
rules
were
they
could
use
anything
they
could
,
but
they
were
not
allowed
to
kill
,
make
a
lasting
injury
or
knock
each
other
out
.

They
were
using
wooden
weapons
.
They
took
their
positions
on
opposite
sides
of
the
yard
.
Tom
got
out
his
wooden
axe
and
Zack
grabbed
his
wooden
hand
-
and
-
a
-
half
sword
,
its
blade
was
long
and
was
able
to
be
used
with
one
or
two
hands
.
Tom
had
his
wooden
round
shield
,
because
he
also
used
the
shield
as
a
weapon
and
Zack
had
a
large
wooden
kite
shield
.

Caleb
said
“
Begin
.”
and
Zack
started
to
run
at
Tom
,
but
Tom
willed
the
water
from
the
stream
to
crash
down
of
Zack
and
swirled
him
around
in
it
.
Zack
took
a
few
seconds
to
break
Tom
'
s
hold
on
the
water
,
but
Tom
already
made
a
wall
of
rock
around
him
.

Zack
used
the
water
to
break
the
wall
and
Tom
struck
at
Zack
suddenly
.
Zack
put
his
shield
up
just
in
time
to
block
the
blow
,
but
Tom
was
very
strong
from
the
months
of
training
so
the
blow
still
jarred
Zack
'
s
arm
.

They
exchanged
some
blows
then
broke
apart
.
Tom
,
who
had
started
learning
plant
magic
,
made
the
grass
grow
around
Zack
'
s
feet
,
but
Zack
had
fought
Tom
before
and
knew
the
trick
he
quickly
cut
the
grass
with
his
sword
.
He
looked
up
as
Tom
rammed
he
with
his
shield
sending
him
flying
into
the
stream
.

For
a
split
second
neither
did
anything
then
they
fought
over
control
of
the
water
.
Finally
Tom
got
control
and
made
a
globe
of
water
with
Zack
in
the
center
.
Zack
broke
the
sphere
and
sent
all
the
water
flying
towards
Tom
,
but
Tom
dodged
the
attack
and
ran
towards
Zack
.
Zack
put
up
his
shield
towards
Tom
and
leaned
into
it
as
Tom
hit
,
Zack
fell
over
and
Tom
put
his
axe
up
against
his
neck
showing
where
he
could
have
killed
him
.