by I Heaton
Zack tried to stab the general and hit his foot but Werin hit Zack with the end of his axe and Zack slumped unconscious in his saddle. “I’m afraid we can’t help anymore.” Dejoni told Tom and he flew away. Tom stood ready as Werin stepped towards him, stopped from the pain in his foot, turned and walked towards his dragon.
Tom knew if he got on his dragon, he would kill Tom as quickly as crushing an ant. Tom jumped at him, bringing him down and they rolled for a moment, and Werin quickly stood and kicked Tom’s legs as he rose.
Werin started to swing his axe, but hit a stone pillar that appeared from the ground. Both of them looked around in confusion and Tom saw Madison. Tom grabbed his axe from the ground next to him and swung at Werin’s leg. Werin saw this and started to block with his shield, but again stopped and yelled in pain as an arrow dug into his shield arm.
Tom’s axe hit and Werin’s leg crumpled, Tom stood and was about to chop at Werin’s neck, but flew back as Werin sent a burst of air magic at him. Tom landed on his shield arm, and yelled in pain as he heard a cracking sound.
Werin was slowly walking back to his dragon and Tom knew Werin was going to come after him once he got on his dragon. Tom watched as the general climbed onto the dragon and made it jump towards him. But as it reached it’s highest point, a purple blur smashed into them.
Tom started to rise, but fell again as his arm took the weight of the shield. He quickly unstrapped the restraints, then tried to get up again.
This time he was able to and he tore off some of his shirt and made a sling. He ran as fast as he could to where Alex and Werin were fighting. Alex swung his spiked tail at the dragon and the dragon was knocked over, sending Werin flying off.
Alex continued wresting the blood red dragon as Tom continued running, changing his course towards the fallen general. When Tom was a few feet away, Werin got up, turned and laughed. “So your arm hurts, little boy? I’m so sorry.” Werin said then continued
“But soon I will make the pain go away.” he said with grim humor, Werin raised his axe and walked forward, he stumbled and his leg, with an arrow in it, crumpled.
Tom pulled his arm out of the sling then gripped his axe with both hands and chopped off Werin’s head, just as Alex bit the blood red dragon’s neck and jerked, killing it.
Chapter 22
Slowly the Ilemite soldiers noticed their general and his dragon were dead and started running. Tom collapsed on the ground with a gasp of pain, too tired to yell.
The next thing Tom knew he woke up in the castle infirmary. Zack lay on the bed on his right and outside the door he saw Dejoni. Tom started to prop himself up with his arms, but gasped as pain ran through his arm. He fell back onto the bed and looked around.
Zack had many cuts and bruises, most minor but Tom saw some swelling on his head. Must have been where Werin had hit him. Tom looked to his left and saw Bryn asleep in a chair and Alex on the next bed, also asleep.
After a moment Bryn woke and saw Tom was awake. She almost yelled, but Tom quickly motioned for her to be quiet. “We probably don’t want to wake up Alex, Zack and everyone else. So please don’t yell.” Tom said, and Bryn smiled “Of course, you wake up in the infirmary with a broken arm along with many cuts and bruises after killing one the Ilemart Supreme Generals and you ask me not to wake everyone up.” she told him, and Tom asked “How long was I asleep?” and Bryn’s smile faded.
“You were asleep for two days. Alex, Zack and Dejoni have already been awake but need to stay here and rest for a little longer.” she answered and Tom nodded.
That made sense, he had fought one of the greatest warriors at fourteen. “I’m surprised I am still alive, but it is only because of you, Madison, Zack, Dejoni and Alex I am still alive. If Zack and Dejoni hadn’t attacked him when they did, he would have killed me while I was lying there, and if Madison didn’t stop his axe, he would have chopped me in half. And if you hadn’t shot his arm, he would have killed me.
Even if you had killed him there he swing would have had enough momentum to kill me. So thanks for saving my life. And while I finished him off, I couldn’t have if Alex had knocked him off his dragon and killed it.” Tom told her and she looked at him for a moment “You’re just being modest, you killed one of the greatest warriors ever. And you’re only fourteen.” she said and Tom shook his head.
He turned his head as Zack started to wake. He yawned and sleepily looked at Tom for a moment then his eyes opened his eyes wide. “Well, it looks like sleeping beauty has decide to wake up.” Zack said jokingly, and Tom looked at him for a moment then replied in kind
“Sleeping beauty? Well I guess the beauty is right, but look who was sleeping when I woke up.” Slowly the others woke and Bryn brought Madison to see him. After a few hours Tom went back to sleep, and spent another four days in the infirmary. Zack, Alex and Dejoni were released two days before him, but they visited him a lot. As Tom walked out into the bright sunlight, squinting as his pupils dilated.
He went to find Alex to ask him what would happen now. Tom noticed people pointing at him and whispering. After a few minutes of this he got annoyed by it, and covered himself with scales and kept to the shadows when possible.
Suddenly a girl who looked about his age stopped in front of him. After standing and looking as if she wanted to say something, she turned and ran away. Tom shook his head and hoped that people would stop soon.
Eventually he found Alex and asked him what they were going to do. “Well, you need to finish your training, so eventually we will go to Blangto. But for now we will stay here until you get your strength back.” Alex answered, and Tom agreed. There had been a time when he would have said he was ready, but by now he knew his limits.
Over the next few days Tom trained a little harder than the day before and a week later he was nearly back to his old strength and his arm was still healing.
One night the next week, he sat talking to Zack in their room, they shared one with only each other as the castle was starting to empty. “Have people been coming up to you randomly, if they’re not pointing at you?” Zack asked him and Tom nodded
“Yes, it is annoying. Like the first day I got out of the infirmary, this girl came up to me. Stood their for a second then ran away. I don’t really understand it, I am just a normal person. And I had so much help from you and the rest of you guys. Why? Have people been doing that to you too?” Tom said and Zack nodded
“Well, we should go to sleep. If we are going to be famous we need our beauty sleep.” he said and they went to sleep.
Bryn and her master left the next day and Madison and her master left two days after Bryn. A week after Bryn left Tom, Alex, John, Masdifi, Zack, Dejoni and Josh stood outside the gates of the keep.
“Well, I guess I better get back to the Immortal Council and report. Bye.” Josh said, then mounted his Pegasus and flew away. The brothers and their apprentices said their goodbyes then flew away, John, Zack and Dejoni towards Hilltop Lake and Tom and Alex towards Blangto.
Although the two places were very different, they were still in the same fief. After flying for a couple of hours Tom and Alex landed in Blangto, a small town in southern Ironwood. Almost no water sources, mainly a small river and some small lakes, it was very dry and most animals stayed in the shade during the day. The town itself was built near the river. Alex’s cabin was on the opposite side of the river from the town. They crossed the small bridge to the cabin and went inside.
Tom got the smaller of the two bedrooms, this cabin was just slightly smaller than the one in Hilltop Lake but otherwise the same. Tom put his pack and his armour in his room, he kept his axe, shield and knife with him as he always did, and went into the back. He watched a hawk flying through the air and he flew over to the town and spend an hour walking around.
Luckily, here the people didn’t know who he was, so they didn’t point at him. He mentally noted where all the stores and other buildings were. To the north, a hill of red sandstone, to the east, west and south
hills of black volcanic rock. After an hour Tom went back to the cabin, where he started making dinner. After eating Tom and Alex sat near the fire, Tom was trying to teach himself how to play the guitar and Alex was reading reports.
The next morning the two went to the river. “Well, you need a different training schedule as we are no longer in Hilltop Lake. So, first you will run from here to the bridge and back. Then circle the town three times flying, land back here and practice water, earth and air magic. There isn’t very much plant life, so do what you can with that. I will then teach you and practice combat with you. I am going to start teaching you a throwing weapon and a new close combat weapon, along with the crossbow and axe. After that I will teach you desert survival skills, and finally I will teach you the more boring subjects, like math and geography.” Alex told him and Tom nodded and started running towards the bridge, which from that point was about three quarters of a mile away.
He got back spread his wings and started flying. He landed in the middle of the small river and thought for a moment. He closed is eyes to help him concentrate, then started to hold the water in the river back. The river was about to his knees and was not very wide, but was slightly swift. After a moment he opened his eyes and saw the water around his feet was only half way up his shins, then he looked forward and saw a wall of water twenty feet tall and a foot thick. He tried to make it bigger as he held up the water. He moved the wall in front of him leaned it slightly towards him and released his hold on the water.
He quickly made the mud under him cover him as the water came crashing down. He managed to block most the water and didn’t get soaked. He practiced earth magic standing in the middle of the river, sending rock, sand and mud in the air and forming shapes. He also sent rocks flying at him, but stopped them in various ways, making a wall of water and freezing it, knocking them off course with air or making a wall of dirt, mud and stone. He went to the small bushes and plants on the banks of the river and practiced controlling those.
Eventually Alex came and brought him behind the cabin, where, as there had been about a year ago, two racks of weapons. Tom went to the close combat rack and after looking and testing for a few minutes chose a spear. After Tom chose the spear, Alex said “Good choice, and I forgot to tell you something. You get a bigger axe now that you are stronger. That one is barely bigger than a throwing axe.” and Tom looked at his axe. It was pretty small for a battle axe, he realized. He then walked over to the ranged rack and looked and tested various weapons.
He eventually decided to start using a throwing axe. Alex raised an eyebrow “Do you like axes at all?” he asked sarcastically, and Tom laughed “No, I hate them. But it seems different than what most people use, so most won’t practice how to defend against them.” Tom explained and Alex nodded. Alex went inside the cabin and came back out a moment later.
He carried an axe, double edged, each blade a little bigger than a dinner plate. The handle was encased in steel and leather. Alex handed the axe to Tom, who took it and started examining it. He started swinging it to test it’s weight, and found, although it was heavier than his old axe, he could swing it fairly easy. He put the axe in the loop on his belt as Alex started walking towards the training ground.
Soon Alex had him throwing his two throwing axes at some targets, set at various distances. After half an hour he started using his crossbow, then another half hour later, Alex took him to the town training grounds to train with his spear. Most the townsfolk wouldn’t be very well trained, so Tom could learn with them. Tom started fighting one of the new recruits after Alex had taught him the basics. He trained with his spear for yet another half hour then switched to his an axe and practiced with the best of the men at the training ground.
Alex had gotten a practice axe with the same weight and balance as his new one, so Tom didn’t do as well as usual, but still beat some. Everyday after Tom followed the same schedule, until a week later when Alex received a mission. Apparently some of the Ilemite survivors didn’t want to go back to Ilemart and had made their way to southern Ironwood.
Alex was supposed to lead a small group of soldiers to kill or arrest them. “Should I bring my spear and throwing axes?” Tom asked him when he told him. Alex shook his head “No, these are trained soldiers, so it wouldn’t be smart to use weapons you aren’t familiar with. But bring your training weapons, Tyler is coming.” then saw a question forming in Tom’s mind and continued “And bring your new axe. That is not too new, as you already know how to use an axe.” and Tom nodded and went to get ready.
Soon they stood just outside the town with a group of about ten warriors, in the front near Tom was one of his sparring partners, Tyler, the only one who trained with him using an axe and spear as he was also learning a new weapon, the axe, and was highly skilled at the spear. They would follow the Ilemite survivors and on the way pass a fort where they would get more troops to help them.
They set off, Alex in front, Tom and Tyler, who was one of the best warriors in the town, just behind him while the rest walked behind them. Most didn’t where their armour and were talking as they were not close to the enemy. Tom and Tyler talked about a large variety of topics, from armour to hunting to their pasts. Tyler, who hadn’t been out of the desert very much hadn’t learned much water magic, asked about spells and Tom asked about desert survival skills and wildlife.
The fact that Tom was good with axes and learning the spear and Tyler was the opposite, they had been able to teach each other as they trained. Tyler had short curly brown hair, brown eyes and was thickly built. Tyler was an orphan and no one knew who his parents were but had been raised by a general store owner and his wife.
Tyler had joined the town militia the year before, he was fifteen now. They set up camp along the river and before dinner the two boys went to the edge of the camp to practice. Tom pulled out his practice axe while Tyler got his practice spear. They often started like this, both with their best weapon. The boys stared at each other for a moment then, in the setting sun, they jumped at each other. Tom swung his axe downward as Tyler put his shield up at an angle. Tom’s axe slid off the shield and Tyler tried a jab with his spear, but Tom tilted his shield, sending it towards the ground.
Tom knocked the spear from his hands and almost hit Tyler in the head with the axe handle, but Tyler dodged and pulled out a dagger. They circled for a moment then jumped at each other, this time Tyler tried a stab with the dagger, but Tom blocked it with his shield while he cut at Tyler’s neck. Tyler didn’t see the attack coming so he didn’t block it, but Tom, who had strengthened the muscles used to swing and stop an axe, stopped the swing in time to not hit him.
Tom put the axe against his neck and they started again. After a while Tom switched so both had a spear, then Tyler switched so he had an axe while Tom had a spear, then Tom switched again so they both had axes. They put down their practice weapons and went to dinner after a hour.
The following day was the same, except instead of camping they slept in the fort they were getting reinforcements from. The next day they left the fort and again headed west. The group now had about seventy five people in it, fifty more people had joined. Only about fifteen of the troops were female, as was usual for Arstanian military, the women were allowed to join but mostly men joined.
Of the forty-five Dragon Guardians only seven were women. The group followed the Ilemite soldiers for three days until they caught up to them, the Ilemite troops camped by the same small river that went passed Blangto. The Arstanian troops camped about a mile away in a small gully. No fires, just cold rations and tents. They had caught up to them about noon and the Arstanians decided to wait until night to attack.
About midnight Tom woke as Tyler shook him “Get up, it’s time.” was all he said then left Tom’s small one-man tent. Tom stood put on his armour, put on a black loose shirt and black pants,buckled his belt with his dagger in it, strapped his quiver to his back along with his crossbow, picked up his axe and walked out of his tent.
Almost everyone was awake and in similar black clothes. Tyler walked over and stood by him as Alex made sure everyone was there. Alex’s dark purple armour was already dark enough so he had only covered his shield. All the Dragon Guardian had armour the same colour as their scales, one of the symbols of a Dragon Guardian. “Everyone form up. Archers in back, warriors in front.” Alex said simply then waited as everyone got into formation.
Tom and Tyler were near the back of the warriors as they were young. Tom and Tyler would shoot some shots before joining the fight with their close range weapons. Tyler had a bow and had trained a little with it so he could have a better range. The group started walking as quiet as possible towards the Ilemite camp, apparently the enemy didn’t think anyone was near and they could see their fire about a mile away. As they neared the camp the archers, along with Alex, Tom, Tyler and two other young warriors stopped. They all readied their weapons as the rest of the warriors crouched a few yards ahead.
Alex nodded to Tom, who raised his crossbow and shot the sentry nearest them as Alex shot the next. Tom’s bolt whizzed passed the sentry’s ear a split second before Alex’s arrow hit the next sentry in the throat. The sentry Tom shot at yelled as Tom’s next bolt hit him the the arm. More Ilemite soldiers ran out of their tents, half in armour and bleary eyed. Tom set his crossbow down and yelled with the rest of the warriors as they stood and ran towards the camp. Alex sent a large rock at a enemy soldier with a spear, killing him. Alex flew over the troops, landed and started running in front of them.
Tom stayed with Tyler near the back as they ran towards the camp. As the scout had reported earlier, a little less than one hundred enemy soldiers were running around, some starting to fight back. Soon there were small groups fighting while the two groups of archers fired at each other and the random troops away from their warriors. Tom and Tyler stood with two other warriors, back to back as the enemy warriors realized they could take out the small group easily.