The Anvil (19 page)

Read The Anvil Online

Authors: I Heaton

Tom
flew
up
to
the
baskets
and
got
some
of
the
food
.
He
brought
it
down
and
they
ate
.
They
split
the
camp
border
into
halves
.
Each
of
them
would
be
responsible
for
one
half
.
Tom
made
thorns
,
vines
and
other
plants
that
would
hurt
or
slow
anything
approaching
grow
thickly
on
his
side
.

He
also
put
up
a
wall
of
branches
grow
from
the
trees
.
Zack
was
putting
up
long
sharpened
sticks
,
pits
and
all
sorts
of
other
traps
and
obstacles
on
his
side
.
Zack
looked
at
Tom
'
s
side
and
saw
his
idea
,
so
he
added
thorns
and
vines
all
over
his
defenses
.
Tom
looked
at
Zack
'
s
and
added
pits
,
stakes
and
other
traps
.
Then
they
sat
down
completely
exhausted
from
all
that
work
.
Dejoni
had
been
hunting
and
came
back
with
another
deer
.
Tom
flew
up
to
get
a
snack
for
both
of
them
.

They
ate
and
Tom
said

We
need
to
make
a
more
reliable
source
of
berries
and
plants
.
Let
'
s
make
a
garden
and
help
it
with
magic
.”
they
got
some
of
the
berries
and
planted
them
.
They
made
the
stream
go
into
the
garden
.
They
gathered
other
seeds
and
planted
them
also
.

Then
the
boys
used
nature
magic
to
speed
the
growth
of
the
plants
.
Within
moments
the
plants
were
sprouting
.
Tom
looked
at
the
sun
and
said

I
think
we
should
train
for
a
while
then
eat
dinner
.”
they
walked
into
a
clearing
near
their
campsite
and
started
training
.

The
boys
made
warriors
of
dirt
and
made
copies
of
their
weapons
out
of
stone
,
no
use
dulling
their
good
weapons
training
.
In
all
they
made
about
fifty
warriors
.

The
boys
nodded
to
each
other
and
both
gave
the
order
to
attack
them
to
the
warriors
they
created
.
The
boys
leveled
their
bow
and
crossbow
and
fired
at
the
dirt
archers
.
Two
melted
back
into
the
earth
but
the
rest
fired
and
the
boys
put
up
their
shields
to
block
the
arrows
.
The
warriors
were
about
to
the
boys
when
the
boys
pulled
out
their
axe
and
sword
,
laying
their
bow
and
crossbow
aside
.

The
first
warrior
attacked
Zack
and
the
apprentice
easily
dispatched
it
.
Soon
both
boys
were
covered
in
dirt
and
only
the
archers
were
left
.
They
got
their
bow
and
crossbow
and
fired
.
There
was
about
eleven
archers
left
and
they
all
shot
back
.
The
boys
kept
shooting
back
,
Zack
taking
out
more
than
Tom
because
the
bow
could
fire
faster
.

The
boys
walked
back
to
their
camp
and
went
in
.
They
had
left
a
path
that
any
human
could
follow
easily
but
still
keep
animals
out
.
The
boys
got
back
to
camp
as
Dejoni
flew
in
.

Dejoni
went
into
his
pavilion
,
Zack
made
a
fire
and
Tom
flew
up
to
get
the
food
.
The
boys
made
their
dinner
,
some
deer
with
a
side
of
roots
.
They
got
some
water
from
the
stream
then
sat
around
the
fire
talking
about
what
they
could
do
to
make
the
camp
more
comfortable
.

They
worked
in
the
garden
for
half
an
hour
then
went
to
sleep
.
They
woke
up
and
checked
all
the
traps
.
They
had
caught
a
deer
and
some
small
game
.
They
went
back
to
camp
and
started
with
the
work
of
making
the
camp
comfortable
.

They
cleared
away
most
of
the
undergrowth
,
made
a
larger
shelter
with
more
comfortable
beds
,
moved
the
stream
so
it
moved
through
their
camp
and
made
a
storage
container
.

They
worked
in
the
garden
,
their
magic
had
made
the
plants
grow
so
quickly
that
there
was
already
food
on
them
.
They
picked
the
various
edible
parts
and
put
them
in
the
storage
.
They
ate
lunch
then
went
flying
.
As
the
boys
flew
they
talked
.

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