The Anvil (The Dragon Guardian)

by I Heaton

  Soon he was covered in fresh cuts and bruises, even some of his shirt had acid on it. Tom found Alex and John, saw they didn’t need any help, so he went to find Zack and Dejoni. He found them fighting a scar covered wyvern and rider. Tom landed on the wyvern picked up the rider and threw him at a griffin rider. “Thanks!” Zack yelled, and they dived down to find another enemy. Tom saw the enemy supply tents and thought of the oil the Ilmart used for their arrows and other weapons.

  He turned the Zack and Dejoni “Follow me! I have an idea.” Tom yelled and flew towards the tents. They fought through the enemy until they only had to pass the archers on the ground. They flew high above the archers out of their range, then as they neared the tents they dove as fast as they could. They landed and quickly went to work, they heard men yelling and running towards them.

  Tom swung his axe at a barrel and picked it up, then laid a trail of oil. Zack followed his example, while Dejoni stood watch. After making the trail they cut open more barrels of oil then Zack turned to Tom “Now, I have an idea.” then he got a piece of rope, soaked it in oil then made a hole in the barrel and stuck the rope inside. He lit the rope then rolled the barrel towards the enemy tents and troops. The barrel burst as the oil burned, spilling burning oil all over the enemy troops and tents.

  Tom yelled at Zack and Dejoni to grab some barrels, lit the trail and grabbed a barrel. They heard the enemy troops get to the fire and try to put it out. Tom glanced behind them as the oil caught fire and spread. They flew over the enemy troops, dropping the barrels of oil like bombs. Tom dropped his over some of the enemy archer towers, lighting the wood and burning some of the archers. Zack dropped his over some tightly grouped soldiers, and Dejoni who had grabbed three, dropped his near the command group, on some siege equipment, and on a different section of the archer tower.

  They landed back at the main gate, they joined the troops pushing the enemy back, and about half an hour later they were driven back to the first wall. Josh appeared by his side as he ran up the stairs to the gatehouse. Dejoni had decided to fly to the top of the gatehouse, along with Zack. A spear appeared in front of Tom as he ran up the stairs and Tom just barely dodged it.

  He grabbed the spear and pulled, sending it and it’s owner down the stairs. He kicked the door to the top of the gatehouse, but the door held. He swung his axe at the handle as Josh and some other soldiers kicked and ran into the door. Soon the door burst open and they exploded from the doorway. Dejoni and Zack were backed into a corner, so Tom and Josh ran towards them.

  Tom pushed a man off the gatehouse then turned to block a strike from a new enemy. He kicked the man’s stomach, making him gasp and bend over. He slammed his axe handle onto the man’s helmet and the man crumbled like a sack of potatoes. Tom grabbed the fallen man’s shield and tossed it like a disk at a man sneaking up behind Dejoni. The shield, a lightweight wooden one, hit the man in the back of the neck, snapping it. Tom yelled at the men to make a straight line.

  They did as they were told and he led them against the enemy, pushing them back towards the edge. Soon the Ilemart troops were either pushed off, unconscious, or dead on the gatehouse. Soon they had recaptured the walls and towers along the first wall. Tom heard a horn ring out from the Ilemart ranks and the enemy started going back to their camp. They fired arrows at the enemy ranks, killing and wounding many. Tom leaned against the door frame. He spread his wings and jumped off the gatehouse towards the keep, gliding as far as possible.

  He landed just outside the gate, which was now open. He walked into the courtyard and saw men and women, the Arstanian army didn’t care if you were male or female as long as you wanted to join, sitting and talking. Most were bleeding from wounds, some being rushed into the infirmary, and some lay still. Tom saw Madison and Bryn talking in a corner and went to join them. Bryn’s bow leaned against the wall. Both girls had minor injuries, but seemed fine. “Hi.” was all Tom said and the girls greeted him in kind.

  After talking for a few minutes, Tom went to his room, pulled off his armour, dropped his axe on his bed and put his armour and shield in a corner. He sat on his bed, cleaning and sharpening his axe. Zack came in after a few minutes, he did basically the same thing Tom did, and they sat not talking, the only sound was the muffled talk from the courtyard and the sliding of the stones against metal for a few hours.

  Tom put his now clean and sharp axe in a corner and went to sleep. A few hours later he woke, ate dinner then walked around the castle, he found Bryn on the walls looking out to the Ilemart camp. It seemed impossible that they could not be overcome. He stood beside her and said in a sarcastic tone “Well you seem very happy and full of energy.” she looked over at him “Look who’s talking.” she replied and they both smiled. “Come on. It helps to do something.” Tom told her and climbed a ladder nearby. She followed as he led her away from the walls, towards a part of the castle she didn’t know.

  Tom knew how hard it was to kill men, especially the first time. They went to the back of the keep, where Tom knew many of the teenagers and kids who lived in the castle played. Bryn looked at him as they turned the corner and saw some kids playing soccer. She shook her head “I can’t play now. Not this soon after a battle. Maybe later.” she said and started to turn away, but Tom stopped her “At least watch. You don’t have to play, but it really helps to be with others and be doing something. Trust me.” he told her and they sat down against the keep wall and sat in silence for a while.

  Tom waited for her to start talking, he knew that she wouldn’t want him to push her into talking. Soon Bryn broke the silence “Why are you doing this, Tom? You could be playing or doing so many more things, but instead you come sit with me. Why?” Tom thought for a moment, then looked at her. “Because, I have been through some of what you have. Killing is awful. I only had Alex most the time to talk to, and he is a Dragon Guardian, so I didn’t want to talk to him about it. So I know how important having friends is, and you are my friend so I want to help you.” he replied, Bryn smiled “Well, thanks. I guess I do need to be with people. But let’s not talk about battle or war. It is bad enough living in it.” she told him, Tom nodded “True, that is a very good idea. So, how have you been?” he asked, and for about an hour they just sat and talked.

  Above them on the roof of the keep, Alex stood watching his apprentice with approval. Sometimes, he thought, they robbed those kids of their childhood. They get them from their families and train them to fight and kill barely ever having time to make friends. And if that wasn’t bad enough, these kids were fighting in a war. They needed friends, and along the road, friendship making skills would be about as valuable as fighting skills. Maybe even more important. And Tom already had some great friends. Alex had a feeling that Tom, Zack and Dejoni would be the future of the kingdom, if they survived the war those three would be some of the greatest warriors and leaders of their generation, perhaps the greatest of the century. At fourteen they were fighting a war. Alex thought about the feeling he had and decided it was right.

  Chapter 21

  Two days later Tom, Bryn, Zack and Madison were regularly playing in the soccer game. Dejoni of course was too big to play, but he often sat watching them. Since the last big attack, it had been relatively peaceful. The Ilemart seemed to be waiting for something, but the Arstanians still carried out small raids. As the group of friends walked through the courtyard to the kitchen, hoping to get something to eat, a man on a horse galloped into the courtyard.

  The man jumped down “The Ilemart are waiting for reinforcements!” he yelled and ran into the keep. The group looked at each other then ran after him, all thoughts of food forgotten. An hour later the Arstanian army was preparing. They planned to have some men sneak down the cliffs then circle around behind the Ilemart camp, others to the sides of the camp and the rest would come straight from the gate. Tom and Dejoni spent half an hour flying weapons, shields and people down the cliff behind the keep. Tom then flew up and got ready himself, he would join the group that
would be behind the camp, and Dejoni also got amour on, Zack and he would also be in the group Tom was in.

  A few minutes later they joined the group at the bottom of the cliff. Dejoni was one of two wyverns in the group, both were apprentices as the older ones would be too big to sneak all the way back. Bryn and Madison also were in the group, along with their masters. Alex was leading the group and Tom had a suspicion his master had arranged to have the friends in the same group.

  The last of the troops were flown down and they set off. The magicians had cast a spell to stop some sound from the groups, but they still had to be as quiet as possible. Up in front Alex motioned for them to stop as a enemy patrol rode in front of them. It took another hour to reach the back of the camp. Alex sent the signal, a large red bird flying out of the forest towards the castle, and they saw the return signal, a blue banner being raised on the walls. They ran forward straight at the unaware soldiers.

  Alex led the charge, with Tom behind and to the right of him and Dejoni with Zack on Dejoni’s back to the left and behind. Tom saw out of the sides of his eyes the other groups running towards the camp. By the time they reached the embankments some of the enemy troops had put on armour and got weapons, but they didn’t stand a chance against the army attacking, which had not hurried to get armour on and had almost all their troops ready and attacking.

  Tom spread his wings, following Alex’s example, and along with Dejoni they jumped over the first embankments. The other five Dragon Guardian in the group did the same thing. Tom smashed into a man who tried to put up his spear, but he fumbled with it too long, and sent him flying back into some other enemy troops running towards them, creating more confusion. Tom, Dejoni and Zack then turned towards the embankments, the reason they had been in front.

  The three quickly destroyed the embankments, allowing the rest of the troops to more easily get into the enemy camp, then flew back towards the back, where they would help support and protect the archers and magicians. They positioned themselves near Bryn and Madison and waited for some enemy troops to come near. Both the girls kept shooting, Bryn with her bow and Madison with her spells, and eventually Tom and Zack added their own spells, they had left their bow and crossbow at the keep as they would only get in the way.

  As the first man to break through got near, Dejoni simply spat acid on him and he turned screaming as the acid melted through his armour. After they had gained a foothold in the enemy camp the archers went in. With a group of about twenty archers and five warriors, the friends entered the camp, heading for the command tent. They ran between two rows of tents, encountering almost no resistance, but those who did come at them were quickly shot by an archer. Suddenly they turned a corner and saw a wall of shields, spears and swords. Two enemy archers shot and a warrior and archer fell. Behind Tom their archers shot, but most bounced off the shields.

  Tom nodded to Zack, Dejoni and the rest of the warriors, then they ran at them. Dejoni spat at the shields, but a spell blocked the acid. He reached the wall and Tom jumped over it and landed on an archer. He stayed low and chopped at two enemy archers legs, then smashed their chests. The enemy warriors didn’t know what to do as Dejoni and Zack landed and joined Tom in attacking the archers. If they attacked them the warriors would break the wall and let the archers shoot them, but if they didn’t move Tom, Zack and Dejoni would eventually kill all the archers.

  Tom saw the enemy shield bearers push against the weight of the warriors and made sure Zack and Dejoni could hold off the archers for a bit longer. Then he turned and ran towards the shield wall where the warriors were trying to get through. He chopped one man down as he decided what to do, got one as he pulled his sword out. After Tom took out three more men the Arstanian warriors got in.

  The rest of the enemy shield men pulled out their various weapons, swords, spears and one or two axes. About twenty enemy troops still stood, three of them archers. The enemy warriors turned to face them as the Arstanian archers fired. About seven of them fell dead or severely wounded, and two more were slightly wounded. Tom turned to face some of the enemy troops, which had been split into two groups, two of the Arstanian warriors turned the same way as Tom, Zack, Dejoni and two more of their troops turned the other way.

  Zack and Dejoni had already killed the rest of the archers, Tom ran straight at the enemy, followed by the two warriors who had faced the same way. The archers shot the enemy in farthest from them, both on the side Tom was on and Zack. Tom kicked the nearest man’s shield, sending him back into the other warriors and into the path of an arrow. The two behind him jumped into the gap with him and they all took out one man each. The other group finished and they resumed their run towards the command tent.

  After a few minutes pushing through random fighting, they stopped at a wall. Made of logs, sharpened and placed outwards, with upright logs behind them. They turned to help fight the Ilemart army in the confusion. Suddenly, they heard a loud horn blow over the battle. The Ilemart forces retreated through a hole in the wall, keeping the Arstanian forces back as they went through. Once most the enemy soldiers were behind the wall, the hole was covered by a stack of logs.

  To his left Tom saw a griffin rider try to fly over the wall, but he got shot and after falling a moment stopped as if he had hit an invisible wall. Tom knew that they would have to not only scale the wooden wall, but destroy the magic wall. Already spells were being cast to take down the wall. Boulders flew at the wall as if by themselves, but Tom knew magicians were flinging them at the wall to wear it down. Other magicians cast spells to get past the spell, if they found a way past they could crush the wall quickly.

  Tom grabbed a rope from a fallen tent and tied a noose. He threw the rope up to the top of the wooden wall, trying to catch the top of a log and either bring it down or climb up the wall. Enemy archers shot arrow after arrow into the army while enemy warriors tried to keep the soldiers away.

  Soon other Arstanian warriors copied his idea and ropes were being thrown at the wall. After a few tries Tom’s rope caught a log and Tom started pulling. He felt the log give slightly and didn’t trust it enough to try to climb it. The logs must not have been set very deep in the ground. Zack and a few others joined him as he pulled, trying to bring down the log. Tom could feel the log leaning, pushing dirt up on the other side. Suddenly the resistance disappeared and the log fell.

  Around them other logs started falling while Tom threw the rope again. Cheering broke out from the Arstanian army as a boulder flew over the wall and smashed some archers. After a moment Tom, Zack and the other warriors made a gap large enough for two men. “Get this log!” Tom yelled to the warriors, indicating a fallen sharpened log. They picked up the log and went to the whole, which had been filled by some enemy warriors with large shields. They swung the log and it smashed the two shields along with the men. They threw the log through the hole then some of the warriors ran through the hole.

  Tom turned and yelled “Start using the logs as battering rams!” and some warriors started hitting the wall with fallen logs. Then Tom turned and went through the hole behind Zack and Dejoni, who barely fit through. Tom cut at the nearest enemy soldier, then saw the walls falling inward as Dragon Guardian, wyverns and the log battering rams broke through the logs. Alex swung his spiked tail at the wall nearby, knocking many logs over and creating a gap large enough for ten men to go through.

  Tom ran over the where the archers stood, firing at the warriors now flooding through the wall. All around Tom was pure mayhem, men flying through the air as a Guardian or wyvern hit them, some running from or towards the breaks in the wall. Tom smashed his shield at the archer commander, sending him flying for a few yards. He ran at the archers, who after seeing their commander casually thrown through the air ran.

  Many dropped their bows, some tripped and were trampled, but some stood and shot one round then pulled out short swords. Tom created a wall of dirt in front of him that blocked the arrows, then raised his axe and charged, yelling, with ten men behind
him. Just as Tom swung his axe into the last archers neck, a large blood red dragon landed just behind him.

  It spit fire on five of the men near him, spread it’s wings and lowered it’s head as a figure, covered in red armour, the same shade as his dragon, got off. Tom knew only the highest ranking generals rode dragons in the Ilmartian army, and judging by the size of the dragon and craftsmanship of the armour, this was one of the three Supreme Generals.

  Each of the Supreme Generals rode a giant dragon, one rode a black dragon, another a brown one and this one with his blood red dragon, they were some of the greatest warriors ever. Tamil, the one who rode the black dragon, had a sword, Gontal, who rode the brown, used a flail, and Werin, this one, used an axe, each dragon was just as dangerous, probably even more, than the riders.

  Werin pushed his visor up and smiled. “I see you know who I am. But I do not know who you are. I would like to know the name of the child who has helped so much to defy me and the great Ilemart Empire before I kill you and take over your worthless country.” Werin told him

  “I’m Thomas Welton, and if you think you will kill me, you are wrong. And I have a question for you, Werin. If Arstan is so worthless, why try to conquer it and lose thousands of troops doing so?” Tom replied trying to sound confident. “Because the Ilemart Empire needs more slaves, warriors and land. Now prepare to die Tom, you foolish boy.” and with that Werin lifted his axe to strike at him.

  But as Werin chopped down Tom rolled to the side. Suddenly Zack and Dejoni were by his side, Dejoni tried to claw him, but missed and Werin chopped his leg, not too deep but Tom could tell it hurt.