Dragonhammer: Volume I by Conner McCall Read Free Book Online Page A

Bownan.  “If there are only a few, we can stand our ground and fight.  If there are many, we must fall back and fight elsewhere.”
    “Or retreat,” says Leon.
    Jericho, a tall skinny boy my age, appears with his father.  His black hair is speckled with ash and his brown eyes dart perceptively over everything.  I nod to him, and he nods back.  Formal hellos are for another time.
    “Darius,” says my father.  “The old tower to the north.  It has the war horn inside, at the peak.  From there you can see their numbers.  One blow for less than fifty.  Two blows for one hundred.  Three for anything more.”
    Darius obeys without question.  “Come, Percival!”  Percival nods to me and then follows his father back up the street.
    “What of us?” says Leon.
    “We go to the town square,” says my Father.  “Get the women and children safe.”
    With that we take off at a sprint, the guards close behind.
    Bandits pop out of almost every alley.  Too often we pass the unmoving body of an innocent, slaughtered in cold blood.  With every one we pass, my blood boils a little hotter.  Men join our band, each bearing their own sword.
    Once in the town square, we split into pairs; me and my father, Jericho and his father, and Leon and Bownan.  “Find and gather as many people as you can!  Return here!”
    My father turns and kills another bandit.  As of yet, I have not even swung my sword.
    Together we make our way down the street, helping the men in their fights and making sure women and children are safe in their homes.  In only minutes we return to the town square with a band almost thirty strong, and Leon and Bownan have done the same.  About fifteen additional guards have joined us.
    “Where have they gone?” asks Father.
    Everyone looks about warily.  “Have we won?” asks one of the men.
    “Where have they gone…?” Father growls.
    Some of them appear out of the darkness and into the street; at least twenty.  Then more.  Then we hear the horn blow.
    It’s a loud, baritone horn.  The sound has a bit of a rattle in it, but a constant pure tone.
    The bandits are set back slightly.  The first ends and a few long seconds pass.  Then it blows again.
    My father’s face hardens.  “One hundred strong…” he mutters.  “Where did you come from?”
    The bandits are overcoming their fear of the horn, and they begin a charge down the street at our force in the village square.  To our terror, the horn blows a third time.
    Though we have little training, we fight for our homes.  It makes us strong, and we fight harder and stronger than they.  The small group of bandits tries to overcome our makeshift army, but they have little luck.
    I get into a sword dance with one of the bandits.  Then there is an opening, and I take it.  I don’t realize what has happened until he is already dead.
    I’m disgusted with myself.  Then a voice inside me says, If you hadn’t, it would be you on the ground .
    Then the horn blows.  Father looks in unbelief to the north, where the tower stands on the mountainside.  “Four blows…” he says.
    He looks back towards the approaching bandits and says, “This is no bandit raid.  There is an army upon us.”  He looks about frantically for a moment, and then yells, “STAND STRONG, MEN!  STAND!”  The men look about in fear.  Then he faces me.  “Kadmus,” he says.  “My son.  Go, get your mother and brothers, and make for Terrace.”
    “What?”
    “Go!”
    “Not without you.”
    “Son, my place is here to protect you and our family.  Get them to safety!  Go now!” then he turns to talk to Leon, Bownan, and Jericho, I’m assuming to say the same thing.  They run off in different directions.
    I run.  Everyone who crosses my path, I tell them what my father told me.  Get your women and children and get out.  The town is lost.
    When I open the trapdoor in my home, Nathaniel about stabs me.  I almost reprimand him, but instead say,