The Anvil (44 page)

Finally
his
mother
released
him
and
they
ate
lunch
.
After
finishing
lunch
Tom
asked
his
mom
if
he
could
invite
Samantha
and
Bryn
to
dinner
,
she
said
okay
,
then
Tom
and
Zack
went
to
train
and
find
them
.
Later
that
day
as
they
all
ate
dinner
they
heard
a
knock
on
the
door
and
Tom
went
to
answer
it
.

On
the
doorstep
stood
a
man
who
was
panting
,
the
man
reached
into
his
pocket
and
pulled
out
a
letter
then
handed
it
to
Tom
.
Tom
opened
the
letter
and
read
it

“
Tom
,
Zack
and
Dejoni
,
come
back
to
Hilltop
Lake
as
soon
as
possible
.
War
has
broken
out
with
the
Ilemart
Empire
from
the
south
.
Tell
anyone
who
will
need
to
know
in
your
town
then
come
.
From
,
Alex
and
John
.”

Chapter
17

             
Tom
looked
up
from
the
letter
at
the
messenger
,
who
just
nodded
.
Tom
ran
into
the
kitchen
“
Zack
get
your
stuff
and
Dejoni
,
we
need
to
go
back
to
Hilltop
Lake
as
soon
as
possible
.
Someone
go
get
the
village
leaders
.
War
has
broken
out
with
the
Ilemart
Empire
.”
he
said
.

Caleb
got
up
and
ran
to
get
the
town
'
s
leaders
.
Bryn
and
Samantha
left
to
prepare
.
The
messenger
left
to
give
the
news
to
nearby
towns
and
villages
.
The
town
'
s
leaders
got
to
the
house
as
Zack
saddled
Dejoni
and
Tom
adjusted
the
straps
on
his
pack
.
The
men
entered
the
backyard
and
Tom
looked
up
“
War
has
broken
out
with
the
Ilemites
,
get
the
town
ready
.”
he
quickly
explained
.

A
minute
later
the
three
launched
into
the
air
and
flew
as
fast
as
possible
to
Hilltop
Lake
.
They
landed
on
the
island
out
of
breath
and
cold
.
Alex
and
John
came
out
of
the
cabin
and
Tom
looked
at
them
with
an
obvious
question
on
his
face
,
Alex
nodded
“
Yes
,
it
is
true
we
are
at
war
.
Come
inside
and
we
will
go
over
what
you
need
know
.”
he
said
.
They
walked
into
the
cabin
and
sat
at
the
table
. “
The
Ilemart
Empire
is
one
of
the
greatest
empires
ever
,
they
have
many
different
technologies
,
weapons
and
fighting
races
from
where
they
have
conquered
.
But
the
two
things
that
make
them
so
powerful
is
their
numbers
and
fear
.
Many
nations
have
been
flooded
with
their
armies
and
been
outnumbered
at
least
six
to
one
.

             
“
They
use
fear
as
a
weapon
also
,
from
the
many
lands
they
have
conquered
they
have
taken
many
strange
beasts
and
races
.
They
have
chained
up
many
intelligent
races
to
help
them
fight
and
treat
them
as
we
would
animals
.
But
what
they
don
'
t
know
is
their
tricks
will
not
work
on
us
because
we
see
just
as
scary
creatures
in
Arstan
.
The
main
difference
is
we
treat
races
fairly
and
don
'
t
chain
them
.”
he
explained
,
Tom
and
Zack
listened
closely
as
he
described
the
armies
they
were
going
to
fight
. “
But
before
we
go
off
to
war
,
we
as
Dragon
Guardian
,
Wyvern
Rider
and
you
as
our
apprentices
need
to
get
the
fief
ready
to
march
.”
Alex
finished
.
So
for
the
next
few
weeks
they
went
to
different
places
throughout
the
fief
getting
the
army
ready
to
march
.

As
they
finished
they
flew
to
Grinto
,
the
capital
of
the
fief
,
to
finalize
plans
with
the
baron
and
various
lords
.
Tom
looked
around
at
the
snow
and
realized
it
was
winter
,
he
had
seen
the
snow
at
Hilltop
Lake
and
Pine
Grove
but
not
really
noticed
it
.
He
created
a
small
mobile
fire
to
warm
himself
when
they
landed
.

A
few
days
later
Tom
stood
outside
Castle
Ironwood
,
named
such
because
of
it
'
s
massive
gates
that
were
hard
as
iron
and
as
it
was
the
ruling
castle
the
fief
was
named
after
it
.
He
was
outside
because
he
was
angry
with
some
of
the
lords
,
they
kept
going
through
documents
fighting
over
how
many
troops
this
lord
needs
to
send
,
how
much
supplies
that
one
needs
to
send
.