Free The Anvil by I Heaton

attacked straight on . Tom suddenly remembered what Alex had said after Alex had faked a bandit attack on the camp “ Use your advantages , Tom .” he yelled at Zack “ Get back !” Zack looked at him then turned Dejoni around and they flew a small distance away .
    The rider laughed “ You cowards ! Come fight me !” he looked back as Tom said “ You ' ll get your fight .” the rider realized something . Tom knew combat magic .
    That was his last thought as rocks and dirt smashed him into the ground . Tom hovered for a moment then started falling .
     

 
    Chapter 13
                  Dejoni dove as quickly as he could towards Tom ' s plummeting body but Madison and Zack knew he wouldn ' t get to him in time so they magically slowed his fall . They got to Tom and Dejoni caught him then glided down to land . He set Tom on the ground lightly , Madison and Zack sliding of his back quickly . Bryn ran over to them and stared at Tom . He was bloody with giant talon marks across his side .
    Zack and Madison started trying to take care of the wound . Tom ' s eyes opened slowly , as if with great effort and weariness . Bryn started talking to him , in an effort to keep him awake . Zack and Madison stopped the bleeding and Zack said “ Dejoni ! We have to fly him to town ! Hurry !” Dejoni quickly picked up Tom and Zack jumped on his back . He yelled to the girls “ Stay here we ' ll be back in a little .” Dejoni jumped into the air and flew as fast as he could to Pine Grove . Within minutes Dejoni landed , panting at Pine Grove .
    Zack yelled out “ Someone help !” a man came out of a nearby house to see what was happening . He saw Tom ' s bloody body and said “ We must take him to Steve , the town ' s healer . Help me carry him .” they lifted Tom and carried him farther into town and burst into the healer ' s shop .
    The man yelled “ Steve , get down here a boy is horribly hurt !” an old man came down saying “ Put him over here , Joseph .” the two laid Tom on the bed Steve indicated . The healer started working on Tom and Zack turned around and found Dejoni . He jumped onto him and they flew back to where the girls were waiting .
    They saw the girls and got them flying slowly back to Pine Grove , Dejoni after flying so fast to get Tom there and now carrying three people couldn ' t fly very fast and stop for many rests . Eventually they landed and Zack ran to tell Tom ' s family after telling Madison and Bryn where Tom was .
    Tom woke suddenly not knowing where he was and tried reaching for his dagger at his belt , but it wasn ' t there . He spun around and his side burst into pain . His family and friends sat in chairs nearby most of them asleep , but Bryn was awake . She rushed over to him and said “ Stop moving around , Steve says if you move too much you will make it worse .” Tom stopped moving and sat up asking “ What happened , one moment I remember fighting bandits , next I vaguely remember flying then I wake up here .” As Bryn explained what happened Steve came down with some soup and gave it to Tom to eat .
    He had just finished his soup when the door suddenly opened and in walked Alex . He looked at Tom and said loudly “ Tom , feeling better ? I heard you tried to fight a griffin yourself and that ' s why you got that nasty cut .” Tom nodded “ Ya , pretty dumb of me wasn ' t it . But please be quieter everyone is asleep and I don ' t want to wake them .” Alex laughed and said quieter “ That ' s something only you would do Tom , be sitting in your bed after nearly being killed and being worried for everyone else getting sleep ” Alex and Tom smiled .
    Tom tried to turn but intense pain shot from his side . He looked down and moved his shirt out of the way to look at his side . He could see four parallel red stains through a bandage from where the griffin and slashed him . Tom grimaced , he looked at Steve “ How long until I can go ?” he asked . Steve walked over and