Dragonhammer: Volume I by Conner McCall Read Free Book Online

trip there.
    Once we get home, Nathaniel takes the deer to the shed to skin it.  He prefers to butcher his own meats instead of paying the butcher to do it.  I help him with the whole process, and then set about the drying and salting.  It takes multiple hours.
    It’s a good thing we got home when we did.  If we had been a day later, our family would not have been there to greet us.

 
     
     
     
     
    THe War Comes to Us
     
     
     
    A loud crack starts me awake and I shoot out of bed.  Outside of my window I hear yells but when I go to investigate, my father roars “WAKE!  ATTACK!”
    I throw myself away from the window and dress in record time, then rocket down the ladder (because my room doubles as the attic) and into the den where my Father was yelling from.  Mother is there with him, and my brothers quickly follow.  I smell and hear fire, and outside there’s an eerie orange glow.
    “What’s going on?!” Nathaniel yells.
    “Bandits,” says Father.  He’s holding his old sword, a great steel claymore he made for himself many years before.  Normally it hangs above our fireplace, but now he holds it ready.  “Kadmus, come with me.  Everyone else stay here.  Get into the cellar and lock the trapdoor.  You will be safe there.”
    No one moves.
    “NOW!” Father commands.  “Kadmus, get your throwing knives.”
    “What?”
    “You heard me, get them!”
    I run back into my room and grab my five throwing knives, sticking them into little loops on my belt.  When I come back down, Father is coming out of the cellar.  He hands me a sword, saying, “You will need this.”  Then he helps my three brothers and Mother into the cellar.  He hands Nathaniel a sword similar to mine and commands, “Nathaniel, if anybody aside from me or Kadmus comes in this house you will use this.  Do you understand me?”  He is speechless.  “Do you understand me?”  Nathaniel nods slowly.  “Good.  Stay here until I return.”  Then he shuts the trapdoor and locks it.
    “Kadmus,” he says, resting his hand on my shoulder.  “These people will try to kill you and your friends.  We cannot let that happen.  You have to use this.  Do you understand?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good.  Now follow me.”  We exit the house and lock the door behind us.
    There’s fire.  Screaming.  Clanging, yells of men.
    I run down the hill, close behind my father, holding the sword in my right hand while my left hovers over my throwing knives.  The stars are still out; it must be hours until dawn.
    It’s not until we get into town that we see people.  Townspeople run screaming.  My father cuts down a shadowy figure and we keep running.  “Bownan!” he yells.  “Leon!” 
    Another few figures come down the street at us.  Father puts them down with ease.  Suddenly one jumps at me from a side alley, and I stumble back in fright.  My father gets him from the back and says, “Come on Kadmus!”
    “Bownan!” he yells again.  “Leon!”  A reply comes from behind a nearby building, which I recognize as Leon’s butcher shop.  We make our way there, where we see Leon and Bownan each with their own sword, cutting through the bandits.  They are accompanied by two guards.
    “How many are there?” asks Father.
    “We don’t know!” answers Bownan, his beard shaking.
    “Too many!” replies Leon.
    One of the guards responds, “Enough to stretch all of our forces across the town.”
    “Where’s Captain Ruger?”
    The second guard says, “We don’t know.  He gave orders and then ran to the bridge with some of our men.”
    Percival and his father, Darius, appear out of the smoke.  Both are holding bows.
    Darius speaks to my Father, “They came from the south, over the bridge.  They’ve taken the tower there and are shooting from it, killing anyone they can!”
    “Who are they?” he asks.
    “We don’t know; their armor is different from any I’ve seen before.”
    “We need to know their numbers,” says