by I Heaton
Soon Tom swung his axe into the last wolf and told the tree-guards to take care of the stone bodies, he need the ground clear around the walls. He walked back into the fort and ate his breakfast. He put stone spikes on the walls and made them very smooth and slippery so they couldn't be climbed. He just finished eating lunch when he saw Alex flying towards his camp. He told the guards to stand down and flew out to meet him. First Alex inspected all the defenses, food and Tom's small army.
Alex tested Tom's fighting skills next. Finally as they sat down to eat dinner, made by some Tom's wooden chefs, Alex asked Tom “What do you want to help you for the rest of your time out here?” Tom hesitated for a moment then answered “I want some company out here. It gets really lonely.” Alex thought for a minute. “I might be able to work something out with someone. But they can't be trained, very well at least. So if you have some ideas let me know right now.” Alex said finally.
Tom thought for a moment then said a small list of people, not including Zack or Madison because they were well trained. Alex stood up “If I can get any of them and they fit my requirements then I will have them here tomorrow or the next day. If not I will come back for another request.” he said then flew away. Tom stood up, checked on the guards then went to sleep. Tom was woken by the smell of smoke. He rushed outside and looked around. Everything seemed to be burning. Alex's test for today is very different from the usual he thought. He started fighting the fire near the food storage and soon had that out. After the fire was out he looked around at the damage. The food storage hadn't been touched, but almost everywhere else was black, cracked or gone. He had lost about ten tree-men in the fire. He set about repairing his base, silently waiting for Alex. The day passed without anyone coming. Eventually he went to bed, but laid on his back wondering who would come. Finally he drifted off to sleep. He woke to a knock on the wooden frame of his door and saw the person he had been hoping would come, Bryn stood at the door with a note.
Chapter 14
Tom sat up and smiled. “Morning, how are you?” Tom asked with a yawn as Bryn said “I'm good, I'm glad I can spend some time with someone my age. Samantha isn't very cheerful most the time. I have a note from Alex for you, he had to go. How are you?” She finished and handed Tom the note. “I'm pretty good.” he replied as he read the note
“Tom, Samantha says you must help Bryn train and teach her some weapons skills and simple magic, -Alex.”
It said. Tom looked up at Bryn. “Well I guess I have to train you. So let's get started.” Bryn wanted to follow Tom's schedule as close as possible.
They started the day by eating breakfast, today there was no attack. Then spent the rest of the day training and building the fort, with breaks for meals and when they were tired. The next day Tom woke to the usual fighting and ran out to help. Today it was some crantos and bears. As he was about to run out the gates with the most the guards behind him he noticed Bryn run out of her hut.
She had her weapons but was looking very confused. Tom realized he hadn't said what to do in an attack he was so used to them. He beckoned a single guard over and told it to tell her to get on the walls and help those guards.
As the wooden man ran off Tom nodded to the gate men and the gate opened. Tom set off at a fast jogging pace and soon was fighting. After the battle the day was like the day before and soon everyday followed the same schedule, fight, eat, train, eat, build, eat, sleep and repeat, sometimes with fights at other times.
With only a week left, Tom and Bryn sat around the fire talking and eating some fish. Tom looked out at the stars and saw some sort of dense black cloud that didn't seem to be solid and was moving very swiftly.
He heard the flapping of dozens of wings and realized something, vampires were coming. “This must be the first of the final tasks.” Tom thought. Alex had warned him that during the final days of his assessment there would be some extremely hard tasks and battles. Tom jumped up and started yelling for light and guards. The tree-men came running out of their sleeping quarters confused.
Tom simply pointed at the sky and they saw what was happening. The first vampire landed as Tom got his weapons. The two forces stood staring at each other for a moment, the vampires looked red in the fire light.
Then a vampire leaped forward at Tom, who quickly sliced its head cleanly off with his axe. Soon the entire area above and inside the fort was in chaos. The griffins fought vampires in the air, the men on the ground and Tom both in the air and on the ground. As Tom hacked at a vampire near a wall it dodged the strike and the axe hit the wall, shattering the axe. Tom thought quickly he didn't have time to make a new one so he grabbed a torch off the wall. He swung it at vampires and many burned as he fought.
But it didn't last, a vampire had ran over and grabbed a bucket of water and splashed it on him. The torch went out and he ran through the vampires back to the place his warriors were holding back the vampires. He created a new axe but put it in it's holding loops. He closed his eyes trusting his warriors to keep him safe, and created giant beasts from the ground, water and trees.
He killed many vampires using various magical weapons and created a wall between the two forces. Then he opened his eyes and grabbed his axe. He ordered his guards into a formation behind him and lowered the wall, running as he did. He hit the vampires with enough power to send many flying back. Suddenly he heard a scream and looked over at the walls. Bryn! The vampires' army changed form and flew away. He yelled at his griffins to follow him and took flight chasing the vampires.
He knew this was something Alex had put together and the vampires had been created by Alex because he had seen some of the fallen vampires turn to stone, but he still felt a need to rescue her because it was his fault anyone else had been there. He landed just outside the cave he saw the vampires go into. He closed his eyes and created a large army of wooden winged men. He gave them weapons of stone mostly some he gave bows and arrows too.
He took flight again and led his army into the cave and smashed into one of the guards, killing it because of the momentum behind the hit. He landed and kept running. He followed the long cave as it descended deep into the mountain, fighting as he went.
The vampires had put torches in the walls so they could see. He fought his way into a room and saw Bryn on the ground with two vampires guarding her. Tom quickly destroyed them and shook Bryn.
He heard fighting just outside the room so he picked her up and ran out. His army was struggling to push the vampires back. Each side losing many warriors. He knew they were made of dirt and stone so he closed his eyes and made many of the vampires explode, most the enemy force was still alive, but he had destroyed many of them.
He ran through the path he created and soon was behind his line. His army followed him as they escaped the vampires' lair. Bryn started waking as they flew back to the fort. The warriors he created were fighting the enemies that were still chasing them.
When they landed Bryn was awake “What happened? All I remember is dozens of vampires attacking then nothing.” she asked. Tom told her what had happened since the attack.
Suddenly Alex appeared at the gate and Tom motioned to let him in. Alex walked in and sat on a chair next to the fire. “I was surprised you went after the vampires so quickly, even if they took Bryn. Well, it just gets harder from here. I just came to warn you and teach you a new spell.” Alex said, Tom's and Bryn's eyes widened. “Harder!? How can it get harder?” Tom asked. Alex smiled evilly “It can, trust me, it can get much harder and it will.” Alex answered, Alex taught Tom the spell and walked out the gate. The spell helped him control metal so he could make better weapons.
Tom quickly created a new axe, knife and shield for himself and made some new arrows, a knife and short sword for Bryn. They each went to their huts to rest for the upcoming challenges. In the morning Tom made some metal weapons for the flying warriors and put wings on the ones without. As Tom walked to the middle of the fort for lunch he heard a strange sound and looked around.
A guard suddenly yelled and pointed, seconds before a large stone smashed into the walls. He ran up stairs to one of the towers. Another stone smashed into the walls as Tom got to the top. He saw a group of bandits big enough to attack a large town, or a fort. They had archers, infantry, cavalry and siege weapons. A catapult sent a large rock flying at the fort and Tom blasted it apart.
A different rock hit the gate and it gave way. The bandits surged forward and Tom's archers, led by Bryn, fired. Tom glided down to the ground where his warriors stood waiting. Tom block the entrance with rocks and he and his warriors flew out of the fort. Tom destroyed the walkway across the moat and dove down at the enemy.
He hit a cavalryman out of his saddle, using him to break his fall. He sent a large gust of air at the enemy, making them lose their balance, then ran into attack.
He and his warriors fought to get to the archers and siege weapons. He hacked and chopped until finally he got to the first embankment of archers. He jumped over the small wall and landed on one of the archers. His warriors came soon after him.
After making sure his warriors were doing fine he flew high above the battle, above the range of the archers, and dove down to the siege weapons. His warriors had killed most the archers and were now keeping the enemy warriors back.
He landed behind some rocks so no one noticed him and devised a plan. Suddenly he saw a hidden archer rise up in the forest, aim and shoot. For a moment Tom thought the archer had seen and shot at him until he heard the thud of a body hitting the ground. He squinted to see who it was and didn't recognize them.
He jumped over the rocks and into a group of engineers operating a catapult. He hacked the engineer closest to him and then cut one of the main ropes on the machine. The archer in the forest shot more arrows then put down their bow. They grabbed out two swords as Tom watched, then Tom was brought back to the battle by a engineer unsheathing his knife.
Tom quickly finished the men at that catapult and went to the next machine, a scorpion, a large crossbow. He cut the rope and repeated the process. He went to the next catapult as the Mysterious Archer got to it. They fought as a team and quickly destroyed the remaining siege weapons. By this time a group of enemy warriors had noticed and where nearly to them. Tom raised his hand and a large boulder smashed into the men. Then Tom and the Mysterious Archer ran towards the enemies.
They quickly met Tom's army and drove the rest of the bandits away. The archers came out of the fort and walked over to Tom and the army. As Bryn got to Tom they suddenly felt a great heat and looked at the fort. The fort had burst into flames that seemed to be burning everything. The walls, already weakened from the battle, crumbled as Tom magically made rainfall over the fort. As the last of the fire finally went out, Tom looked at the wreckage that had once been his fort. The walls were either crumbled or severely weakened. Most the building were gone with only some walls still standing. Tom thought for a moment.
He could create a new fort, but that would take a while or he could find natural shelter. He remembered the cave the vampires had used as a base. He went over to Bryn and they decided to use it as a base until the end of the week. Tom looked around trying to find the mysterious man that had helped him fight, but he was gone. Tom ordered his army to follow him, picked up Bryn and flew to the cave. Alex had left some vampires alive to guard the cave, that were quickly killed.
Tom covered the entrance mostly, leaving an opening big enough to walk through. Tom and Bryn went out to the forest to find food, and left some guards in charge. Soon they found a large deer, and Bryn shot it.
They went back to the new base and got back as the sun set. Tom handed the deer's body to a tree-man and found a place to sleep. What seemed like minutes later a tree-guard shook Tom awake. It pointed at the entrance and Tom looked over. A large blue dragon was trying to get into the cave, tearing the wall and burning the guards who tried to attack it.
Tom grabbed his shield and axe then ran into the fight. The dragon blew fire in Tom's direction, burning several guards. Tom threw up a wall of stone and blocked the fire. Tom hacked at the dragon and jumped on its neck but quickly got thrown off.
His impact with the ground drove the air from his lungs and he laid there a moment, then noticed something wet flowing near his head. He turned his head and saw water flowing from a crack in the wall into a small puddle. Tom saw the dragon preparing to blow fire and Tom sent the water straight into the dragon's head, knocking its head to the side. That just seemed to make it angry, and it broke through the entrance.
Tom thought quick and magically widened the crack in the wall. Suddenly an arrow flew into the dragon's side and both Tom and the dragon looked and saw Bryn with her bow raised, about to shoot again.
Tom recovered first and broke the wall sending the water flying straight at the dragon a second behind Bryn's arrow. The arrow went into the dragon's shoulder, then the water hit the dragon sending it out of the cave.
The dragon flew away dripping water and blood. Tom looked at the ashes of the guards and frowned. The dragon had destroyed most the guards. Tom and Bryn walked farther into the cave and ate breakfast.
After breakfast Tom created more warriors, fixed the entrance and put traps around it while Bryn hunted. A little after lunch they heard fighting near the entrance again. They both rushed to the entrance to find the same dragon trying to get in. Tom once again rushed into the battle and Bryn stood back shooting at the dragon.
Tom was thrown back when the dragon suddenly swung its massive head, and he struggled to stand but fell again. Bryn shot three more arrows at the dragon's head then ran over to Tom, who was still trying to get up. Bryn got to Tom as the dragon saw him, the dragon had realized Tom and Bryn were the biggest threat and saw its opportunity to get them both.
It started to breath fire, but Tom and Bryn were saved by a warrior jumping at the dragon's head knocking it to the side. Tom looked weakly up at the dragon and she could see his resolve strengthen to pass Alex’s test.
He gathered his arms under him and he pushed himself up. He rose to his feet and stared at the dragon. He raised a stone wall just in time to stop the dragon's fire as it tried again.
His face showed pure determination as he lowered the wall and started to attack once again. His attacks were weak at first but started gaining strength. Tom took control of a giant amount of water and attacked the dragon with it. He blocked the dragon's fiery breath and encircled the dragon in water. Tom made the water freeze. He made layers of stone, dirt, metal and ice all around the dragon. Bryn could see the strain on Tom's face as he started crushing the dragon inside. But the dragon broke out of the shell and flew away, Tom collapsed knowing the battle was over for now. Some guards caught Tom and carried him over to where he had slept the night before.
Chapter 15
Tom woke and wondered why his back, legs, arms and every square inch of him hurt. His memory came back and he stood up, quickly regretting it. His head swam and his legs collapsed and he ended up sitting on his bed again. A warrior heard him and walked over with some food. Tom ate quickly then tried standing again. This time a soldier helped him and he managed to walk to the fire.
Bryn sat in one of the chairs Tom had magically made, asleep. Tom put more wood in the fire and waited for Bryn to wake. About an hour later Bryn woke slowly, until she noticed Tom was awake and jumped up. “You're awake! Why didn't you wake me up?” she yelled.
Tom sat where he was calmly. “Ya I'm awake and I didn't wake you up because you need sleep too. How long was I asleep?” he asked. “Only about a day. The dragon has come to the entrance of the base, but left after I ordered all the warriors to get away from the entrance.” Bryn answered. Tom nodded “I think we have to kill the dragon before Alex will come.” he said, Bryn nodded her head in agreement.
They sat planning how to kill it for about an hour before Bryn suddenly said “It's wings are hurt so it can't fly very well, so we attack it in the air!” both of them smiled but then Tom had a though
t “But aerial combat is extremely difficult and it takes a lot of energy. Energy I might not have.” the smiles faded quickly.
So they decided they would create a floating platform for Bryn, wait until Tom was feeling better then attack the dragon. The time passed quickly as they made a wooden platform and enchanted it so it wouldn't burn and it would fly. They also made some wooden soldiers with the anti-burn enchantment.
Tom put magic guards from fire around Bryn and himself. A day after they finished they stood at the entrance of the cave watching the giant blue dragon circle over the forest below them. Bryn stepped onto her platform and Tom's wings appeared. Tom ran and jumped out of the cave with the army behind him and Bryn beside him. As they neared the dragon it turned blew fire at them, but Tom's spells protected them.
The dragon swung its tail at the warriors when they got close enough. Bryn and some of the archers stopped and took aim at the dragon. A moment later a storm of arrows launched at the dragon, but most were burned as the dragon blew fire on them the rest bouncing harmlessly off its scales.
Tom smashed into the dragon's head with all his momentum, hoping to break its neck and finish the fight quickly. The rest of the warriors smashed into its head and neck mostly, but some dove on its wings. Soon the warriors were slashing at the dragon, but while Tom's spells protected them from fire they didn't stop them from being turned into splinters when the dragon hit them with its claws, whipped them with its tail or bit them with its giant teeth.
Suddenly Tom heard a scream from behind him and saw the dragon's tail swinging passed the ruins of Bryn's platform and Bryn falling to the ground.
All the archers and warriors only had the command to attack the dragon, Tom had simply formed the wooden soldiers and gave them a simple purpose not having the time to give them thoughts, and didn't notice her falling.
He jumped off the dragons head and folded his wings, diving as fast as possible after Bryn. He cast two spells, one to slow Bryn's fall and the other to speed his dive. As he neared her he slowly spread his wings to slow himself, grimacing from the pain, trying not to smash into her too hard. He grabbed her and glided down to the trees, setting her against a tree then flying back up. As he wove his way through the trees he had an idea.
