The Anvil (32 page)

The
next
day
,
after
training
,
Tom
was
sitting
in
the
living
room
with
Zack
talking
.
Alex
walked
in
and
sat
down
.
He
looked
at
Tom
and
said
“
In
a
month
we
are
moving
to
the
south
,
to
Blangto
.
It
is
a
desert
town
.
You
have
mastered
the
basics
of
water
and
plant
magic
and
those
are
the
only
things
we
needed
to
be
here
for
.

In
Blangto
you
will
continue
learning
earth
and
air
magic
along
with
metal
,
heat
and
desert
survival
skills
.
But
first
,
tomorrow
you
begin
your
final
test
on
forest
survival
and
magic
.”
Tom
looked
shocked
“
How
far
is
Blangto
?
Are
Zack
and
John
coming
?
Are
Zack
and
Dejoni
coming
on
the
survival
thing
with
me
?”
he
asked
rapidly
.

Alex
shook
his
head
“
Blangto
is
about
twenty
miles
.
Zack
and
John
will
stay
here
until
John
decides
to
move
somewhere
.
This
is
going
to
be
a
solo
survival
test
.
I
will
teach
you
how
to
start
a
fire
with
magic
and
you
will
have
no
tools
but
magic
.
I
will
send
many
challenges
against
you
.”
Alex
answered
.
Early
the
next
day
the
four
humans
and
the
two
wyverns
were
just
outside
the
cabin
saying
bye
.
Alex
was
going
to
take
Tom
to
the
survival
area
while
Tom
was
blindfolded
.
The
two
flew
out
of
sight
and
in
minutes
Alex
landed
in
a
clearing
.
The
sun
just
cleared
the
horizon
as
Tom
watched
Alex
fly
away
.

Quickly
he
started
creating
his
base
.
He
gathered
food
,
made
walls
,
created
guards
,
laid
traps
and
prepared
a
shelter
.
Tom
sat
down
exhausted
on
a
chair
he
made
.
He
looked
around
him
.
There
was
a
fire
pit
,
a
small
hut
,
thick
walls
of
wood
and
dirt
,
living
trees
patrolling
around
the
walls
and
he
had
made
all
of
that
before
the
sun
went
down
.
He
started
a
fire
and
cooked
some
meat
one
of
the
hunter
-
trees
had
brought
back
earlier
.
He
finished
eating
and
went
to
sleep
.

He
woke
to
the
sound
of
fighting
.
He
rushed
out
of
his
hut
and
looked
around
.
He
could
see
three
or
four
crantos
attacking
his
base
. “
Alex
wasn
'
t
kidding
when
he
said
there
would
be
challenges
.”
he
thought
.

He
flew
over
to
a
cranto
that
had
just
squeezed
one
of
his
guards
to
splinters
.
He
magically
drove
a
branch
into
its
eye
and
brain
,
killing
it
quickly
.
He
looked
over
as
three
of
his
guards
smashed
one
of
the
giant
snakes
after
it
set
one
of
them
on
fire
.

Two
left
.

Suddenly
both
turned
towards
him
,
as
if
they
were
both
tied
to
a
string
.

They
slithered
as
fast
as
they
could
over
to
him
whipping
any
guards
that
came
near
them
with
their
tails
.
Tom
looked
around
and
made
two
stone
spikes
erupt
from
the
ground
underneath
the
crantos
that
skewered
them
.
He
sighed
with
relief
and
set
about
repairing
the
damage
the
crantos
had
caused
.
When
all
the
guards
were
either
repaired
or
replaced
Tom
had
an
idea
.
He
gathered
all
the
tree
-
guards
in
a
clearing
.

They
all
lined
up
in
ordered
ranks
and
he
started
creating
a
small
defensive
army
.
He
appointed
leaders
and
started
training
them
.
He
armed
them
with
stone
weapons
and
armor
.
He
taught
them
how
to
fight
crantos
and
other
dangers
of
the
forest
.
He
created
a
way
for
some
of
them
to
launch
sharp
sticks
from
a
range
.
He
made
towers
for
those
archers
.
Soon
the
training
was
underway
and
Tom
worked
on
the
side
creating
new
warriors
and
archers
.
He
made
a
gate
so
that
the
guards
could
enter
and
exit
his
base
easily
.
The
next
day
he
looked
up
from
his
lunch
as
he
heard
the
guards
'
yells
.
He
saw
one
point
up
and
saw
what
was
coming
.
A
large
blue
wyvern
.