The Anvil (60 page)

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
.