The Anvil (The Dragon Guardian)

by I Heaton

  He raised the crossbow and shot over and over. Then he reached for another bolt and found no more were left. He put his crossbow over his back again, picked up his axe and shield then ran over to Zack and Dejoni. Tom saw a small figure running towards them, shooting the enemy soldiers. After a moment he recognized the figure as Bryn. He yelled at Zack “Bryn is coming, let her behind us!” then Bryn reached them, went in between the boys and Dejoni, who was standing behind the boys facing the other way.

  Tom looked up a few moments later and say Alex, in dragon form, flying down with someone on his back. Alex crushed a few enemy soldiers when he landed and the person on his back jumped off “Stay with them.” Alex ordered the new arrival. Who turned and they recognized as Madison. Tom blocked a enemy’s sword with his shield and retaliated with a crushing blow, the two exchanged blows for a moment until Tom kicked him and hacked at his neck. Tom heard the others fighting behind him.

  He jumped into the air as he noticed a large rock flying towards them, he thought quickly and sent the rock down onto the enemy troops. He landed and smashed his shield into a man’s head, making him stagger, then finished him with a quick blow from his axe. A large purple dragon, he recognized as Alex roared overhead, but Tom, Dejoni and Zack who understood and had studied dragon speech, understood what he had said.

  Tom turned and said “Fall back!” then added after a the girls looked confused “Orders from Alex. Now let’s go!” Tom took the lead, with Dejoni flying just above them, Madison and Bryn behind Tom and Zack behind them. Alex landed next to them and changed into a person to as they reached the edge of the tents. “Head straight that way until you reach Eagle’s Keep. Wait for me there.” Alex said quickly and indicated which way. Then he changed back into a dragon and flew off. Tom cast a spell to make a portable fire, then they set off.

  They jogged through the forest for a while until they should check for pursuit. Zack and Tom fell back and hid behind trees while the girls and Dejoni kept going. The boys waited for a few minutes then they heard people running through the trees. The troops passed their hiding spot and the boys saw the Ilemart insignia on their uniforms. They counted ten soldiers, then the boys silently followed the group.

  Zack made a long howl, the signal that they had been followed. Tom and Zack could see Bryn and Madison in front of the troops and Dejoni flying silently above them. Suddenly the girls pretended to stumble, Bryn grabbed her bow and Madison prepared to cast a spell and Dejoni did a large turn then landed in front of the girls. The soldiers charged but not before Zack and Tom jumped out of the shadows and killed two of them. Madison made a root shoot out of the ground and tie up a man, Bryn shot two arrows, wounding one and killing the other, and Dejoni smashed the first man to get to him. Zack and Tom killed and pushed the soldiers towards Dejoni, Bryn and Madison, who killed the rest of the soldiers. The soldiers were killed in a few moments, then the group continued going towards Eagle’s Keep.

  After running for a minute, Tom realized something and stopped. The others followed suit and looked at him wondering what he was doing. “Why are we running? Dejoni can carry Zack and one of you two, and I can carry the other and we can fly.” Tom explained before they could ask. Dejoni landed and Zack and Madison got on him while Bryn got on Tom’s back. They took off, flying quickly towards the keep.

  They landed for a rest a hour later, then they took off again, this time Tom holding Bryn beneath him so he could move his wings easier. After about half and hour the group arrived, tired and hungry, at Eagle’s Keep, which got it’s name from the eagles that had nests on the cliff it was on.

  The keep was built on a cliff with only one way up and down, without climbing. It had tall walls of grey stone. The path to the castle went through a gully, where archers could be placed to rain down arrows on enemies going up the path. The small group landed in the courtyard and saw a servant coming towards them. “Hello, I’m Tony, how may i help you?” the servant said, Tom looked at the others then replied “Can you show us where to find some food and then somewhere to sleep? The rest of the army should be here later.” Tony nodded and led them to the kitchen.

  Then after a few minutes he led them up to some rooms. The girls went in one room while the boys went in another. Both boys took off their armour, then collapsed onto the beds and fell asleep. The next morning the boys got up, went to see Dejoni then got some food. The two girls walked into the kitchen just as the two boys walked out. The two boys waited as Bryn and Madi got their food, then they all went to Dejoni, who had caught a deer and was eating it. About halfway through the morning they saw two large figures, one a dragon with a rider and the other a wyvern with two riders.

  The group landed in the courtyard as the friends got there. Samantha got off Alex, who transformed back into a human, as John and Jessica got off Mastifi. The apprentices went over to their masters, then the castle staff asked what the new arrivals needed. Soon afterward more of the army arrived in a large group, then more slowly came in small groups. The golems found a few caves where they lived, while everyone else was crammed into the castle’s rooms. Tom and Zack soon shared a room with two more men and even Dejoni had to share his shelter with another wyvern.

  Two days later Tom sat on the cliff talking to Bryn and Zack, when he looked over at the forest and saw troops coming out. He spread his wings and flew down to see if they were Ilemart. On the way down he saw the crest on their armor and knew they were the enemy. He circled back around and flew back to the castle as fast as he could. He landed in the courtyard and yelled “The Ilemite army is here!” everyone looked at him then sentries from the towers yelled down and confirmed his proclamation.

  People were running everywhere, yelling, and scrambling to do something. The people outside the first gate at the gully quickly came in, archers and some warriors ran down to the gate and prepared for battle. Tom found Alex, who ordered him to go to the gully gate, and if it was overrun come straight back. He flew down to the wall and positioned himself just over the gate.

  Tom looked around as they waited for the enemy to approach. The enemy host stopped and a single rider rode out “Give up your weapons, and we will spare your lives!” Tom heard him shout. Their response was easily interpreted, as they yelled their defiance back. The rider rode back to the army, and they started moving forward. Tom waited for the signal to fire from the squad leader near him. The enemy’s first ranks entered firing range and the squad leader signaled them to fire.

  Hundreds of enemy soldiers dropped, but more filled their space. The leader had them fire one more simultaneous shot, shouted the command to fire at will, I would really hate to be Will. Soon the first of the enemy troops got to the wall, along with a battering ram. He jumped down onto the ram, cut a hole in the roof, and started a fire inside it. He looked over the army and saw siege engines almost completed. He flew back onto the walls and started shooting again. Soon the enemy army started falling back, Tom knew they would be back as this was probably an attack just to test their defences.

  Tom went back up and found Alex, who told him to eat and rest, then an hour after sunset he would meet Alex in the courtyard. Tom ate and relaxed, then met Alex in the courtyard, as he was told. Three other people were there also, Josh and two people who Tom didn’t know but looked familiar. The group set off into the forest where the Ilemart army was camped. All of them had dark cloaks, so they blended with the night. “Cover yourself in scales.” Alex whispered to Tom, who looked at the others, Josh had cast a spell to blacken his face, Alex and the other two, who must have been Dragon Guardian, had covered themselves in variously colored dark scales.

  Tom covered himself with scales as they walked. They reached the edge of the enemy camp and one of the Guardians pulled out crossbow and shot the sentry in the neck, cutting off the warning the sentry almost yelled. They continued into the camp, keeping to the shadows, until they reached the siege equipment. Tom realized what they were doing just then. Alex leaned over and told him a spell “That will ca
use no visible damage now, but when they try to fire the weapon it will explode.” he whispered, then they all went to work. After half an hour they started back, and just as they crossed the edge of the camp, someone started shouting.

  They had discovered the dead sentry. The small group started to run towards the enemy camp to fool them as they saw someone through the trees pointing at them. They pulled out various weapons, Alex, Josh and one of the others pulled out their swords, Tom grabbed his axe, and the last Dragon Guardian pulled out a large spiked mace. Soon about ten soldiers caught up to them, because they couldn’t fly through the trees.

  Josh spun and stabbed with his two swords, which both sunk deep into a soldier. Alex cut upward as he turned, the other one with a sword ran up a tree and did a back flip landing on a soldier. The one with the mace jumped and spun in the air, and brought down his mace on a man’s head. Tom spun and swung his axe into a man’s neck. They killed the rest and started running again. After two more groups caught up and were killed, they reached the end of the trees and Alex picked up Josh and they all took flight. “Well that went well.” Alex said, somewhat sarcastic.

  Chapter 21

  They all went various ways, Tom went straight to his room, changed into some shorts, and went to sleep. He dreamed he was flying without wings over the forest. Beside him flew two dragons, one pure white the other blood red. On the side with the red dragon on it he saw tyrants and war. On the side with the white on it, he saw fair government and peace. Suddenly he was a black dragon, he kept flying over countries seeing good and evil fighting. He woke suddenly and went with Zack to get food.

  As they finished eating they heard the alarm bell, the Ilemites were attacking. He went to his room, grabbed his weapons, put on his armour, and ran to the front walls. He saw the siege engines being loaded across the field, and smiled to himself. The enemy army was moving forward slowly to give the engines time to break the walls. But as the enemy engineers fired their weapons each engine exploded, sending debris everywhere, killing many of the troops and destroying some tents.

  But throughout the army were battering rams and large shields Tom knew would be a problem. As soon as one of the shields got in range he took a bolt and muttered a spell and the tip burst into flames. He loaded the bolt, aimed for the shield, and shot. It hit in the middle of the shield along with some other arrows that didn’t do anything, but Tom’s bolt stuck there for a moment then the fire started to spread. The wood the shield was made of had probably been soaked but Tom’s spell had created a fire that wouldn’t be affected by water.

  Tom destroyed two other shields like that before the enemy magicians created a invisible shield to stop fire, as it would be hard to block all the arrows. Tom, after seeing one of his bolts deflected, started firing normal bolts at the enemy troops then had an idea. He cast a spell on some of his bolts. He loaded one of the new bolts and shot it. It flew into the mass of troops as a normal one would, but as it hit a soldier, it froze him and everything near him. He fired two more of those bolts before the first of the troops and a battering ram reached the wall.

  He shot one into the troops below then grabbed his axe and jumped onto the ram. After sending the five soldiers on top of it off with a burst of wind magic he jumped into it. He landed and sent a fireball into a wall, which lit the wall. Tom turned his attention to the ten soldiers inside. He sent one into the fire with some air magic, froze one in a block of ice and jumped at the rest. Slashing, hacking and kicking he killed the rest, and jumped out of the burning roof. He raised his shield to block an arrow, then flew over to one of the giant shields.

  He landed on the closest one and cast the waterproof fire spell onto it, but as he turned to fly back to the walls, a man climbed onto the shield. Tom saw the badges and knew this was a somewhat important officer. The man pulled out a sword and ran towards Tom yelling. Tom grabbed his axe off his back and prepared to defend.

  The officer lunged at him and Tom sidestepped and tried to cut the man’s arm. The enemy moved his arm just in time to dodge Tom’s blow. Tom swung his axe sideways but the axe stuck in the man’s shield. A enemy soldier climbed up onto the shield, but as Tom ducked to dodge a slash he grabbed a knife from his boot and threw it at the new man, who fell off the shield with the knife in his neck. Tom stood back up and yanked the axe out of the other man’s shield.

  The man stumbled towards Tom, who tried to kick him off the shield, but the man stopped at the edge. The man turned and ran at Tom as fast as he could. Tom dropped to his knees as he thought of a plan. Using the other man’s momentum to send him flying over Tom and near the fire. Tom quickly turned and ran at the man, who crouched slightly. Tom dropped his axe and shield as he ran, then he jumped into the air and kicked the man with both his feet. Tom fell back onto the shield as the other man fell backwards, into the fire and fell through the weakened wood as he caught fire. Tom quickly jumped into the air after grabbing his axe and shield and flew to the next shield.

  This time no one climbed up and he lit it without a problem. But as he headed to the next one he saw a small group of archers and warriors on top of it, and he turned back to the walls. As he flew he saw two more battering rams had reached the wall and were hitting the gate. Tom landed in front of one and touched the wooden ram and magically made it start growing again, Tom saw through the hole in the front the enemy troops’ hands get encased in wood. Tom then set fire to the ram and moved to the next, this time just setting fire to it.

  He climbed a ladder, pushing the enemy soldier off as he went, and when he reached the top he jumped off and spun as he flipped and pushed the ladder off the wall. He sent the two closest ladders off the wall with some wind magic, then turned his attention to the soldiers on the walls already. He ran to the closest and sent him flying off the wall with his shield. He pushed another ladder off, and spun as Alex landed behind him. “Time to fall back. The wall is lost for now.” Alex said and flew away.

  Tom followed him as he landed on one side of the gully past the front gate. Alex put an arrow in his bow, Tom following suit, and they waited for a minute as soldiers from both sides started running towards the main gate. The main gate closed as the first of the enemy soldiers got to it, leaving them open to the archers on the walls of the gully. Below them there was nothing but mayhem. Groups fighting, Ilemite archers firing from the walls and Arstanian archers firing from the sides. Tom and Alex were shooting important looking Ilemart soldiers until Tom had an idea.

  He told Alex and they started shooting the enemy archers, there by cutting down on the mayhem by reducing the arrows and helping keep their troops alive. Soon the Ilemart forces fell back, Tom and Alex flying back up to the castle to rest and eat. Tom looked out a window as he ate and saw a force of Ilemart archers and spearmen guarding the outer wall.

  The large spears had the advantage of range he knew and could easily reach around corners, which was why often defenders used them. But once inside the reach of the spear, the spear was almost useless. Tom watched as the Ilemart started moving rams and other large weapons inside the gate. Then as he watched the enemy inside the wall he had an idea and he ran to tell Alex the idea. A hour later Tom stood with a small group of archers and warriors, one of the five groups.

  As this was his idea and he was a Dragon Guardian apprentice he was leader of this group. The all wore dull gray and brown cloaks to blend in with the rock around the castle. He led the small group into position and signaled to a sentry on the walls. The sentry pretended to stumble with his spear, but Tom knew that was the signal to begin. He motioned then stood with the rest of the group. The all quickly aimed and shot at the enemy troops.

  They ducked back down right after and crawled to a new position. He heard the hissing and clinks of arrows flying and hitting. His group stood again and shot again, then crawled to a new position. After three more rounds from each group all of them went back to the castle, shooting as they went. In the end only one of their number had been killed, because he had stupi
dly decided to stay up to shoot more, and three wounded. They counted about thirty enemy killed and another twenty injured.

  Over the next few days they continued these kinds of attacks, each time choosing a new spot, until they decided to not only have archers, but send in groups of warriors, hitting them where weakest. Almost every night that week they could see where tents were burning in the Ilemart camp. There had been no large scale battle, the Ilemart must have been planning to starve them, but as they were losing troops every night, the Arstanian forces often takeing food in the raids, and the already large stores of food at Eagles’ Keep.

  Tom and everyone else knew that soon the Ilemart would attack, but instead of useless worrying they all set about bettering the defenses of the castle, training or raiding the Ilemart camp. As Tom sat cleaning his weapons and thinking of this, he heard the alarm bell. Tom stood, put on his armour and ran to the courtyard. He saw Alex and ran towards him, Alex looked at Tom then pointed at the sky “That is where we fight.” Alex said, and Tom followed his finger. He saw what looked like a loose black cloud, after a moment he saw that it was hundreds of wyverns and griffins, the Ilemites had taken the idea of wyvern riders, but very few were trained as well as the Arstanian Riders. He spread his wings and flew with Alex, he looked behind him and saw hundreds of griffin and wyvern riders, along with the other Dragon Guardians.

  As he flew he raised his crossbow and shot at one of the enemy wyvern riders near the front. The man looked official until he fell off his wyvern with a bolt in his chest. He slammed into another man, knocking the man off his griffin. He landed in the griffin’s saddle and loaded his crossbow again as he turned the griffin back towards the enemy shooting. All around him people were falling, flying and fighting. He aimed the griffin at another enemy, then jumped off in the confusion. He flew behind the guy and threw him off. He shot his last bolt at a wyvern rider then grabbed his axe off his back and started fighting again.