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Neville ran as fast as he could while the smith pulled him through

the dark forest toward the northwestern side of the mountains deeper

into kobold territory than he'd ever been before.The

same range of low mountains curved around and to the northeast, past orc

country, and then became a larger and more imposing range of mountains

at the ogre domain north of the human realm.  Neville hoped they

would not be going anywhere near the other races' domains.  He

wasn't sure where they were headed in fact.  He trusted the smith

to go the best way to keep them safe.The

smith had

slowed his own speed down to allow the boy to keep up and to allow them

both to maintain a pace they could sustain for longer.  They had

been running at that pace for what seemed

like a long time, at least an hour, and the boy was not sure how much

longer he would be

able to maintain it.  The blacksmith seemed to sense this so

he finally slowed to a stop.Breathing heavily, yet still clearly not

exhausted, the smith asked, "Will you be alright to run some more if we

rest a short while?"Neville nodded.  He was too breathless to speak.The

smith rubbed the top of his head and walked them over behind a stand of

very large trees and sat down.  Neville joined him in the tall

grass.  It was difficult to see anything from a distance since the

only sources of

light were the brighter constellations in the clear night sky and a

sliver of moon, but with their eyes were well adjusted and sitting

closely

together they could see each other clearly.  No one else could

possibly see them here so they would be safe to rest for a while.The

night was completely silent save the sound of crickets and it seemed

like they did not appear to be in any immediate danger so they sat and regained

their breath.Now

that Neville had a quiet moment to contemplate and was relatively safe,

the terror of all he'd endured suddenly came crashing down on him and

caused him to finally succumb to the fear he'd felt and still felt for his family and his town.  The

events of the evening began to replay in his head like a nightmare and

he began to shake uncontrollably."I'm sorry, my boy, but I have nothing to give you to cover yourself against the cold," the smith said.Neville

realized the smith assumed he was shaking from the chill night air.

 He did not want the man to think him a coward so he pretended

that was indeed the reason.  Neville was completely naked still

and the smith had only his trousers on and whatever he had underneath.

 Neither was dressed appropriately for a run through the crisp

night air."I will be fine once I've rested and the sweat from our run dries off," Neville said through chattering teeth."The

drying of your sweat will do you no favors in this chill; it will only

serve to cool your body more.  Come and sit on my lap and let me

hold you to share my heat while we rest."Neville

did so and

moved into the large man's lap.  The smith was sitting

cross-legged so Neville sat his naked form down in the smith's lap and

crossed his legs as well, facing the same

direction as the big man, and leaned back against his very warm chest."Wait, we can do better.  Get up for one moment," the smith requested and Neville complied.The

smith then pulled down his trousers so that he was wearing only his

breechclout.  He dropped the trousers to the side and sat

cross-legged again.Neville's

heart began to beat just a bit

faster as he took his position in the smith's lap again, crossed his

legs to make as much contact with the smith's warm legs as possible and

wiggled just a bit to put the smith's cock right between his naked ass

cheeks with only the thin cloth of the man's breechclout separating

them.  Once again he leaned back against the blacksmith.

 Neville placed his hands on

his knees

and breathed a long sigh of contentment.The

smith reached his big strong arms out and took Neville's hands from his knees

and wrapped both of their sets of arms tightly around Neville like a

blanket.Neville's shaking was already gone.  This was mainly

because he had no time to be afraid right now.  He was too busy

being the happiest boy in the realm at the moment.He could not

believe he was finally as close as he'd been wishing to be for so long

with the man he'd been smitten with for months.  What a bizarre,

yet wonderful turn of events."You certainly warmed up fast.  You are done shivering already," chuckled the smith in his warm, masculine voice.Neville did not want to deceive the man, it was not in his nature and he cared about him and wanted to be honest with him."Honestly,

I was shivering from fear.  I didn't want you to think me a coward

though so I let you believe I was only cold.  I don't think I

could fear anything while being held in your arms this way so the

shaking has stopped.""Think

you a

coward?!  I would have to be a fool to think such a thing.

 You are

easily the most courageous boy I could ever hope to know.  I can't

believe how you were able to survive what you must have gone through to

be in this condition and yet you have not once bemoaned your woes

that I've heard, and as most would have done.  You have simply

done what was needed as it was needed without complaint.  I feel

perhaps you do not know your own indomitable strength of character yet.

 Your father clearly saw it

and knows it well.  He is very proud of you as am I, and as you

should be proud

of yourself."The "condition" that the smith was referring to was the fact that

Neville was covered in the stench of Braddock's urine and still had the dried

cum of several men on his back, in his hair and on his face and along the inside of his thighs from where it had leaked

out of his rectum.  All were the result of the brutal multiple rape he had endured.The boy suddenly felt an even deeper fondness

for the smith when he realized the man had clearly guessed what had happened and

not only still wanted to hold the boy, but did not care that he was

getting the soldiers' foul mess all over himself as well.The

boy leaned back harder against the smith to try to touch him more and

the smith increased the strength of his hug just a bit more to pull the

boy in closer.The gratitude Neville felt for the man at this moment

could not be measured.  He would have been fucked to death by an

army if it wasn't for the big man's intervention.  There were so many things he wanted to

say to the smith.  He wanted so badly to tell him all of the

things he felt for the man.  He wanted to tell him that he loved

him and had done for months, and was as happy as anyone could be to be held by him at last.

 His head began to spin with all of the emotions he was trying to

keep contained.  He wanted to say so much to the man but he wasn't

sure where he should begin."You saved my life," Neville said simply."I

would do it as often as necessary and in any way that was required of

me to the point of forfeiting my own life were it the only course.

 Your life means a great deal

to me.  I will keep you safe, whatever it takes.  I owe your

father that, but that is not the reason I am doing this.

 I loved your father once, long ago and before he met your mother,

but it's you I love now."Neville could not believe his ears.  His heart leaped for joy.  Could this be real?"You love me?""I

do.  I should have told you some time ago.  I knew your

father would not have objected to it but out of respect for him and for

you I chose

to keep quiet regardless.  Your father and I shared our love in

secret so long ago because we knew it would not be accepted by others

in the town or in the realm and it would only cause problems for

everyone.  I had to keep my

love for you secret for the same reason.  Given your youth and

enthusiasm I felt that you would not be able to keep the secret if you

knew it and felt the same way, so in order to protect you I chose to

keep my true feelings to myself and continue my act of gruff and crass

vulgarity around you.  I chose to simply be the rough man you used

to run from when you were little."In

truth you are the most wonderful

person I have

ever known, Neville.  You have a way about you that lifts my spirit

and makes me wish I could spend all of my waking hours with you.

 I was more thrilled than you could know

when you approached me for an apprenticeship.  I have been

struggling very hard to contain my desire for you, but it has been

difficult with you working so closely to me in the shop.  I have

often caught myself gazing at you, with my mind wandering to the things

I would like to do with you, and I've had to turn away from you as you

approached in order to hide my straining manhood from your view."Neville once again could not believe what he was hearing.  That was why the smith had seemed aloof sometimes when Neville had approached him.Neville chuckled and said, "I've had to do the same more times than you can imagine."The smith chuckled too."I

have to confess," the smith continued, "I've known of your attraction

to me for quite some time.  I chose to simply treat it as a

teenage boy's crush.  As I said before, out of my love and respect for your father and for you

I decided I should not pursue you directly at all so as not to create any problems with the townsfolk should they discover.""What has changed your mind now?" Neville asked, curious why the man was suddenly confessing his feelings."Your father must have suspected how I felt about you.  The

words he spoke as we parted tonight, 'love him as I know you

can', were his way of telling me to

let you know how I feel about you.  He was giving me both his approval and his encouragement at once.

 I am also telling you now because the danger we are still in is grave

and I do not know what will happen.  I had to let you know in

case I should lose the opportunity to do so due to unforeseen circumstance.""Do you think my father and mother will be killed?" asked Neville with trepidation."Your

father is a very resourceful, intelligent and courageous man.  I

would not give up on him yet were I you.  I most certainly have

not done so.  I have every confidence in his ability to find a

solution," the smith reassured him."You said that you were aware of my attraction to you.  How did you know?" Neville asked."Did

you think you were the only one who knew of the hole in the wall at the

back of the smithy?  I found it strange that every time I came

back into the shop after relieving myself you would be waiting by the door to rush right out

immediately after me, so I spied on you through the hole.  I saw that you

went straight to where I had pissed and looked for any drops you could

find and would take them onto your tongue."Neville could feel himself start to flush with extreme embarrassment and shame.  The smith hugged him more tightly."No, do not be ashamed.  I can feel the heat coming off you from

it.  It is not something you need to be embarrassed about with me.  I love you

for it.  I saw that you were disappointed when I simply pissed on

the ground so I began to try to get it all over the weeds to leave more droplets behind.  When

you went out after me I would often take my cock in hand and pleasure

myself as I crouched in the shop looking through the hole and watching

you out there carefully taking each droplet onto your tongue to get the

essence of me.  I would have to quickly clean up a very large

puddle of cum before you came back inside needless to say."At the words of the smith, Neville began to relax again."Once,

I decided to see what you would do with my cum if I left it out there for

you and it was quite a wonderful show you gave me so I knew I would

have to do that more often.  I would sometimes not cum so I could

pleasure myself while watching you lick my piss, and sometimes while I was out there I would

imagine you out there with me taking my piss directly from me.  Then I would pleasure myself while you watched

through the hole and I would leave my cum on a leaf for you to

enjoy so I could go back in and watch you work it into your sweet

cock while thinking of me.  It was my favorite part of every day."Neville laughed and said, "In a way we've pleasured each other many times, and yet we've never touched before.""Just so, you are indeed clever to see the irony."Neville

suddenly noticed the Blacksmith's cock was very hard between his ass

cheeks underneath him from all the talk of pissing and pleasuring."Will you let me pleasure you now?" Neville asked."No, I don't feel we should do that just now."Neville

felt somewhat rejected.  The thought occurred to him that perhaps

it was due to the fact he was covered in the spunk and piss of the vile

soldiers and still carried their seed within himself."Is it because I've been violated?  I wish I

could have come to you a virgin but it was not in my control," Neville

lamented."No!

 It's nothing like that.  Why would you have such a thought?

 You being a virgin or not is of no

consequence to me.  If there is one thing you should know of me it

is that I cannot be jealous of someone I love.  I want you to

explore every yearning you may ever have with anyone you feel it for.

 I would be ashamed if I found you were denying yourself any

pleasure out of some sense of obligation or loyalty to me.  It

would never change my love for you if you chose to lay with another.

 Your happiness, how ever you come by it, is the source of my

happiness."You

could be joyously frolicking with another man right before me and I

would simply smile and enjoy the sight of you enjoying yourself and I

may even join you.  I wish I could undo what those men did to you

simply because of what a terrifying and humiliating experience it was

for you, but I most definitely in no way hold it against you in my

heart.  Do not fear that.  I do not in any way think it has

somehow made you any less worthy or less appealing than you were.

 Quite the opposite in fact since it showed beyond question the

strength you possess."Neville felt immense relief and even deeper love for the man and he asked, "Then why will you not let me enjoy you now?""I

wish to take the time to do that right the first time.  It will be

the most wonderful experience of my life to date and I would like to

take it slowly and we simply do not have the time right now.  We

must rest quietly a few moments to

gather back our energy so that we may start running again for a time.

 We should be out of any immediate danger thanks to our head start

so we can proceed at an even

slower pace that will be easier to maintain.  However, it is

inevitable that the soldiers will discover you gone and the hunt for

you will begin.  We need to keep

moving until daylight and find a place to hide.  We will be

traveling only at night at first until we put a great deal of distance

between ourselves and Braddock's forces."Neville realized the

smith was right.  He'd been so overjoyed by the discovery of the

man's love for him he'd forgotten that they were on the run.As

he sat quietly in the smith's arms a thought came into his head.

 He was finally in the arms of his true love and yet he was still

just 'the smith'."Something

just

occurred to me," said Neville, "I have worked for you for months, even

been smitten with you.  I love you and yet I don't even know your

true name.  I have always just called you 'sir', or 'smith'"The smith chuckled and said, "You've heard people calling me by my name many times.""I haven't, or I would know it." Neville said."You do not care to guess it?  I'll give you another hint; you've called me by my name countless times yourself."Neville

thought hard.  To him the smith had never been anything other than

'smith'.  The obvious answer came to him quickly."Do you mean to tell me that you are Mr. Smith, the town smith?" Neville asked, grinning.The smith laughed, "Did I not say before that you were clever?  Yes, I am Jakobson Smith, the town smith."Neville laughed, "That name is certainly fitting."The smith chuckled, "Yes, most people think it so.""May I call you by your first name then, Jakobson?""The

name is a mouthful and far too formal sounding, do you not agree?

 I prefer when people who are close to me call me simply 'Jake'""Jake Smith, I like it.  It's a strong name.  It suits you.""Thank

you, my love.""There's

another thing I've been wanting to ask you.  You were a soldier

once.  Tell me, you are still so strong and fit and clearly were

not in any way crippled in the war, why did you decide to stop being a

fighter and turn to smithing?" Neville asked.The smith said, "I had my reasons.  I've done some things

that I'm not proud of.  I made a very bad decision some time ago.

 One I've regretted ever since as I must honestly say in hind

sight I think I may have made it out of cowardice, or at the least out

of a lack of strength of character.  Something you have already

shown you may have in greater measure than I.  I

will keep no

secrets from you and I'll explain it all later.  We simply have no

time for long stories in our present predicament.  For now, I

think it is time for us to be moving again.

 I would love to talk with you much more.  It is good to

finally be my tender self with you instead of the gruff show I put on

for the townsfolk.  I think, however, that we should not

stay in one place too long until we've put more distance between

ourselves and danger.""How much farther will we run?  I

know Braddock and his men are a danger, but we are heading further into

even more dangerous country filled with kobolds aren't we?  It

seems like we are jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire," said Neville."There is hope for us yet.  I know where we

can go to get help if we plead our case well.  It's where we're headed and it shouldn't take us more than a few

days to get there.  For now Braddock's men are the greatest threat

and we must move further from them quickly.  If they have

discovered your escape they may have already begun the search.

 Come, I'll explain everything as we run," he said, and he leaned

forward and lightly patted Neville's shoulder to coax him into standing.Neville stood up and turned to face his new found love and Jake stood as well.Jake took another look at the boy and harrumphed."We

need to get some of that filth off you to help you feel your dignity again.  We should clean

your face at least to remove the muck from those horrid men.  I

wish we had water on hand.  There is a river not far and we can

clean you up better when we get there and slake our thirst as well but

for now all I can do, if you will permit me, is use a clean corner of the cloth of my

breechclout and a bit of spit to try to clean your face at least.Neville started breathing a bit more quickly, knowing it would result in the smith being naked before him."Yes!  Please!" he said.The

smith smiled and reached down to remove the garment.  Neville was

enraptured as he watched, more closely than ever before, the smith's

beautiful member and big balls set free right before his eyes.

 The smith's thick penis had gone back down as they spoke but as the smith had noticed Neville's gaze

it was already beginning to thicken very rapidly again.  The sight of that beautiful organ as it hung

beneath the thick patch of pubic hair, thickening and lifting up off the smith's large, hairy balls, immediately began to

stir Neville's loins as well.Jake spat a few times into the cloth

and leaned in and began to wipe Neville's cheek.Neville was in

heaven.  As the cloth passed near his nose he noticed that it was filled with the scent of the big man's crotch.

 His head began to spin and he felt his own prick begin to inflate

at an alarming rate.  He was surprised it did not make the sound

of a spring being released it felt like it grew so quickly.  The

smith tried to wash each side of Neville's face thoroughly but

the boy kept turning his head to keep his nose right on

the cloth to inhale more of Jake's essence.The smith

chuckled, "Keep still for a moment and let me wash you as best I

can.  If you like you can breathe the scent of me for a moment or

two when I'm done, then we must go."The boy stood very still

and waited.  Finally the smith finished and handed Neville the

cloth.  He took it in hand and opened it up to find the spot that

had been closest to the smith's balls and cock and he pressed it over

his nose and breathed deeply.  It was wonderful.  He could

not get enough.He

reached down to pleasure himself

automatically.  He could not resist.  He'd found a slick wet

spot on the cloth where the man's cock had been leaking precum as they

spoke of pissing and pleasuring earlier.  Neville held the cloth

over his face and licked at the spot.The smith smiled

indulgingly and decided to allow the boy this one quick release.

 He had a feeling it was not going to take long.Neville did not even last a minute.  With the scent of his man so strong in his nostrils the orgasm hit him immediately and

without warning.  He moaned loudly into the cloth as he squirted

his cum out.The smith had seen what was coming and had moved

quickly to drop to his hands and knees and open his mouth to receive the boy's

seed.  He extended his tongue and placed it under Neville's sweet

member and took all that the boy had to offer.  Neville moved the

cloth away from his face and saw the smith down before him with Neville's cum on his extended tongue and his

heart swelled with love for the man.  He moved his hips forward

and inserted his penis into the smith's mouth and sighed as the last of

his cum oozed out while the smith closed his mouth on Neville's young

cock and sucked very gently.When he was spent, Neville removed his cock

and stepped back and asked the smith, "Please, I know we must hurry but

I've been wishing for this so long, will you let me pleasure you

quickly just once?  Then I will run twice as fast so we can make

up the distance."The smith could not resist the boy.  He smiled and nodded.He

stood and stepped forward to put his now massively erect and throbbing cock right in front

of Neville.The

boy fell to his knees and moved his head forward as he took the man's

long thick penis and held it against his cheek to feel the heat of it, and he moved his face in

and buried it in the pubic hair at the base of the large cock.  He

inhaled and moaned and rubbed his nose around the man's crotch.

 He lovingly rubbed the side of his face against the smith's thick

cock and then moved it to the other side and did the same again.

 He was finally as close as he'd wished to be for so long.He

took his hands and placed them on the outsides of the smith's

muscular thighs and ran them slowly up until they reached his hips and

then moved them around to the back to caress the big man's powerful

ass.  He moved one hand further around until his

fingers dipped into the crack and touched the man's warm, tight hole.

 He lightly rubbed his fingertips up and down the warm sweaty

crack across the smith's tight pucker for a while, enjoying the intimacy

of the contact.

 The boy put his other hand back on the man's hip and pushed while

pulling with the other hand on the smith's ass cheek to let Jake know

he

wanted him to turn around.The smith smiled and turned.  He crouched forward slightly and presented his muscular ass to the boy's face.Neville

was thrilled to finally be allowed to pleasure the man in this way just

as he'd imagined doing so many times as he'd watched the man laboring

in the smithy.  He used his hands to part the big cheeks and

expose the dark trough of hair between.  He moved his face in and

began to nuzzle the crack and inhale the wonderful masculine essence of

the smith.  His tongue came out and he began to taste the salty,

musky sweat.  Finally he probed at the tight anus and he felt the

man begin to relax so he plunged his tongue in to taste his love's

essence.The boy was in heaven.  He was so happy to finally

be doing what he'd wanted to for so long.  With his tongue now

working his lover's anus he moved one hand to the smith's big balls and

began to caress them.  He brought the other hand up between Jake's

legs and took hold of the man's long, thick cock and began to run his hand up

and down along it slowly.  The smith began moaning with the

intense pleasure of all of the sensations the boy was giving him.Neville

did not want Jake to waste his seed on the grass and have to lick at

it second hand like he'd done so many times before; he wanted to take

it from the source and taste it as it spurted onto his tongue

directly from the slit of his love's cock.  He also

knew they hadn't much time so he decided he should bring it to a

conclusion.  Again he pushed with one hand and pulled with the

other on the man's two hips to have him turn around and the main object

of his desires came back and pointed straight at his face with a large amount of precum clinging to the tip.Neville's

hand once again came up between Jake's legs and began caressing his

balls.  The boy used his other hand to control the man's penis

while he began to lick the shaft on all sides with abandon to get

it good and wet while tasting him.  He moved to the big,

beautifully shaped head and touched his tongue to the large droplet of

precum that had begun to ooze out of it.  He swirled the slippery

substance around the head and then moved his tongue to the slit as more

precum began to ooze out at a faster rate.Neville moaned at how

badly he wanted this and finally he opened his mouth wide and took the

head into it.  He relaxed his throat completely as he'd practiced

in his room so many times before and began to slowly push his head

forward.  He kept going as the man's thick cock reached all the

way to the back.  Neville took a deep breath and then forced his

head forward while relaxing his throat more and focused on suppressing

his gag reflex.  The cock squeezed right into his throat and the

smith began to moan and groan loudly at the sensation of it.The

boy continued taking the cock until the man's big balls bumped up

against his chin and his nose buried itself into the wonderfully

scented, sweaty patch of pubic hair and came up against the man's pubic

bone.

 Neville then pulled back and pushed forward again starting to

build a rhythm.  He would pull his head back far enough that the

man's cock head would exit his throat and come all the way back to

Neville's lips, then the boy would plunge his head forward and the

precum flowing from the tip of Jake's penis would wipe itself off along

Neville's drooling tongue before the cock head disappeared down the

boy's throat again.There was no way the blacksmith could take much

of this.  He put his hands on either side of Neville's head and he

began to buck his hips against the boy's face and fucked his throat as he moaned and groaned.

 He began to thrust a bit harder and almost immediately he could

feel his large sack tighten up and his loins began to rapidly boil up

as his orgasm crashed into him hard.Jake grunted and moaned loudly and his knees became weak

but he fought to stay upright as the first shock wave hit him hard and

he squirted a thick stream of cum directly down the boy's throat.

 He pulled back but he fought his urge to thrust forward again and

instead kept his big cock head right on the boy's tongue and held Neville's head still and grunted again as the second

wave hit him and another large pulse of semen shot from his slit directly onto

Neville's tongue.  The smith grabbed the shaft of his cock and

worked it as he continued to moan and pumped his seed into the boy's

mouth until it was nearly full and the man's balls nearly empty.As

he began to come down and Neville had swallowed down his load of cum, the smith pushed his slowly softening cock a bit

deeper into his beautiful lover's mouth and held it there a while to ooze

its last as it began to shrink back down, completely spent.Finally there was no more seed to give him and he pulled his manhood out of Neville's mouth.The

smith fell to his knees and embraced the boy and then kissed him

tenderly on the lips.  He pulled back and looked him in the eye."I love you, Neville.  I shall always love you.""And I you." said Neville.They

embraced to feel their love for each other again for a few moments

while the smith rubbed Neville's naked back, and then they

both stood."You've

made me feel better than I've felt in a very long time, but we've tarried

far too long and truly should not have done.  We should be off again immediately.  Wrap

the breechclout around yourself, my love.  It's all I have to offer you

to protect your modesty for now," Jake said, and then he retrieved his

own trousers and slipped them on.Neville tied on the

breechclout and when he was ready, the smith took his hand and they

began to walk quickly to warm up their legs before they would start to

run again.Jake

spoke to the boy as they walked, "Neville, your father said that he

thought Braddock meant to have you killed by his men.  Do you have

any idea why the commander might want you dead?""I'd nearly

forgotten!" exclaimed Neville, "I overheard things Braddock was saying about his plans back at the inn.

 He knows I heard and wants me killed to silence me.""Tell me everything you know," said the smith."Braddock means to..."Jake quickly hushed Neville as they heard the faint sounds of rattling metal, like weapons bumping

against armor, coming from some distance behind them.  It sounded like there were soldiers

approaching fast."Get

to those deep bushes there and hide amongst them, quickly!" Jake whispered, "Do not

make a sound and do not try to follow me.  I will attempt to find

out who is approaching without being seen.  If it appears as though they're coming upon your position I will need to lead

them away from here to keep you safe, and then give them the slip and come back to you.  Do not move or I will not

be able to find you again!"Neville

ran to the bushes and hid while the blacksmith silently slipped into

the darkness back toward the source of the sound.After

a short time Neville noticed with relief that the sounds that had been steadily getting louder, were now growing

fainter.  Perhaps the smith was leading them in another direction.Suddenly, he heard a commotion that sounded like a scuffle in the distance.

 There were angry barks and snarls and he heard the blacksmith's

voice shouting "Unhand me you..." and then he was silenced.Neville's

bowels nearly released from the sudden fear that seized his body.

 He reacted without thinking and leaped from the bushes and began

to run toward the source of the commotion.  He realized as he ran

that he was putting himself in danger contrary to the blacksmith's

wishes but what else could he do?  He did not want to leave the

man without making some attempt to help him.  He had no idea what

he might be facing but he at least had to see if there might be any

chance of helping Jake.The sound appeared to be heading further away so he

increased his pace and before long he noticed the glow of a fire ahead.

 He slowed down and moved cautiously and quietly in the deep

shadows until he could see through a group of trees into a very large clearing ahead.There

was a fire in the center of it and three armored kobolds were sitting

on a large fallen log on the other side of the fire from him and facing Neville's direction.  Two others were dragging the

limp form of the blacksmith toward

the three on the log.  They appeared to be speaking softly but Neville was not

close enough to

hear any of it.  He did not dare get any closer for fear that he

would be revealed in the light of the fire.He

could not believe that these vile, murderous creatures had Jake in their

clutches.  His fear for the smith made a knot in his stomach.

 There was no way the man could survive the vicious monsters unarmed but Neville could not see any way that he could help.The boy could do nothing but wait to see what would happen next.