The Anvil (83 page)

He
woke
an
hour
later
on
a
bed
with
only
shorts
on
,
he
could
see
the
burns
across
his
body
.
His
hands
had
gotten
the
worst
of
it
.
He
started
to
stand
up
but
a
healer
told
him
to
lay
back
down
.
He
did
and
stayed
in
bed
for
about
two
days
,
the
burns
healing
faster
because
of
magic
.
He
spent
the
next
few
days
helping
however
he
could
,
not
many
ways
because
his
wounds
were
not
totally
healed
.
He
often
sat
and
thought
about
many
things
,
his
family
and
friends
were
the
most
frequent
thoughts
.

One
day
he
suddenly
realized
his
birthday
was
the
next
week
.
He
shook
his
head
,
My
birthday
doesn
’
t
matter
very
much
when
we
are
at
war
he
thought
.
He
mentioned
it
when
they
all
sat
singing
and
playing
music
that
night
and
no
one
seemed
very
interested
.
He
figured
they
had
the
same
thought
as
he
did
,
not
much
time
for
celebration
.
After
they
finished
Tom
went
back
to
his
tent
and
lay
awake
for
about
an
hour
.

Eventually
he
decided
to
walk
around
and
after
a
while
he
found
a
tree
,
climbed
it
and
sat
in
it
thinking
.
He
soon
calmed
his
thoughts
,
went
back
to
his
tent
and
fell
asleep
.
He
was
walking
back
from
breakfast
talking
to
Zack
went
they
heard
the
horns
,
signalling
an
attack
.
Tom
and
Zack
ran
to
their
different
tents
,
Tom
pausing
for
a
moment
thinking
of
the
burns
,
he
quickly
pushed
the
thought
away
.
He
started
putting
on
his
armour
,
the
normal
chainmail
along
with
some
plates
of
metal
to
increase
the
protection
but
limiting
movement
slightly
.
He
started
to
tighten
the
straps
on
the
plates
but
stopped
because
of
the
intense
pain
in
his
hands
.

He
looked
at
his
hands
,
covered
in
red
burns
.
He
pulled
of
the
armour
and
knew
he
wouldn
’
t
take
part
in
this
battle
.
Then
he
had
an
idea
,
he
took
the
plates
off
the
chainmail
,
put
on
the
armour
,
picked
up
his
weapons
and
ran
off
to
join
the
archers
.
That
way
he
wouldn
’
t
need
the
extra
protection
and
the
smooth
wood
of
the
crossbow
wouldn
’
t
hurt
his
hands
very
much
.
He
brought
his
other
weapons
in
case
he
needed
them
.
His
spear
strapped
across
his
back
,
his
axe
and
his
two
throwing
axes
in
loops
on
his
belt
and
a
quiver
on
his
leg
.

He
ran
to
where
the
archers
were
stationed
and
began
shooting
with
the
rest
of
the
archers
,
the
commander
calling
the
shots
.
After
five
shots
the
commander
called
“
Fire
at
will
!”
and
they
all
started
shooting
whenever
they
were
ready
.
A
rather
humorous
archer
leaned
over
and
whispered
to
Tom
“
I
would
hate
to
be
Will
.”
Tom
laughed
and
continued
shooting
.

Suddenly
a
griffin
rider
landed
near
Tom
,
who
aimed
and
shot
the
bolt
loaded
in
his
crossbow
,
but
unfortunately
missed
.
Tom
put
his
crossbow
down
and
pulled
his
axe
out
of
it
’
s
loop
.
He
felt
the
familiar
smooth
handle
and
paused
a
moment
.
Then
he
covered
himself
in
scales
and
leapt
at
the
enemy
.
His
first
stroke
hit
the
griffin
in
the
neck
,
killing
it
and
his
axe
stuck
.
He
used
his
momentum
to
swing
forward
and
kicked
the
rider
off
the
griffin
.
Tom
pulled
his
axe
out
and
jumped
after
the
enemy
who
was
unsheathing
a
sword
.

He
landed
on
the
man
’
s
shield
and
sent
him
sprawling
in
the
dirt
again
.
Tom
slammed
the
handle
of
his
axe
into
the
man
’
s
head
and
saw
his
eyes
glaze
over
.
He
ran
back
over
to
where
he
was
before
,
put
his
axe
back
in
the
loop
and
picked
up
his
crossbow
.
He
started
shooting
again
,
after
two
shots
he
stopped
and
put
the
crossbow
on
his
back
.
He
looked
at
his
hands
and
knew
he
wouldn
’
t
be
able
to
help
very
much
,
so
he
stood
nearby
to
help
fight
enemies
who
landed
near
him
.