Spirit (Legend of the Dragons Book 1)

by Denelle Elison

  “It was in my spot. I always use it,” Jerrick said, eying Samson.

  “I don’t really care. I got here first, and I took it. Fair and square.”

  “Fine.” Jerrick took Samson’s sword off of the wall. “I’ll fight you for it.”

  Samson scoffed, and Abriel’s eyebrow quirked up as if to say, you can’t possibly be serious.

  Jerrick’s partner for sparring was always Daniel or Reed. They didn’t feel it fair to pair him with either of the other boys who had been learning for far longer than Jerrick.

  Samson smiled. “Don’t be an idiot, Jerrick. I’m not going to fight you. It would be an insult to my skill. I think we all know who deserves this sword.”

  Jerrick narrowed his eyes and took a quick step forward and with the sword in his hands flipped Samson’s out of his grasp, smirking at Samson’s surprise.

  “Ah. I must thank you, Sam.” Jerrick winked at him. “That was quick, easy, and painless. I think you made the right choice.” Jerrick turned away to begin their daily exercises.

  Samson grabbed Abriel’s sword off of the wall and charged Jerrick. Jerrick turned around stepping to the side to avoid Samson’s blow, and hit him in the back with the flat of his sword, sending Samson smashing into the wall.

  Samson stood fast and turned to Jerrick, sword at the ready. Jerrick gave him an easy smile and bade him to come get it with a jerk of his chin. Samson, thinking better of his actions slowly stepped closer, anger emanating off of him like steam. Jerrick snorted and shook his head, waiting for Samson to make his move.

  . . .

  Daniel walked into the sparring room to find Jerrick and Samson sword-fighting. He was astounded at Jerrick’s ability. He knew that Jerrick had potential, but it looked to Daniel like Jerrick had been holding back. He was a very agile boy, but it was also obvious that the kid had lived on the streets. He knew how to fight dirty.

  After taking a hard blow to the arm, Samson feinted to the left. He then stepped to the right as Jerrick blocked his sword on the left, and knocked Jerrick’s sword from his hand, making it crash to the floor. Samson kept striking at him for the final blow, but Jerrick kept jumping out of the way.

  Right as he was about to hit the wall, Jerrick ducked away from Samson’s sword, sending it into the wall, and swiped Samson’s feet out from underneath him, jumping over Samson when he fell to the ground. Samson tried to turn but was stopped when Jerrick grabbed him from behind, snaking his arm around his throat with his sword pointed at his heart.

  Jerrick released Samson and stood back twirling the sword in his hand when Samson turned around. “May I have my sword now?”

  Samson eyed him, “Why are you asking me? You already have it.”

  “I said I’d fight you for it, and I did. Now I am asking you after a fair fight, if I might have my sword back,” Jerrick said, tossing his sword to Samson.

  Samson looked down at the sword that Jerrick had thrown to him. “Fine, Jrrrrrrck,” Samson said, tossing Jerrick’s sword back at him.

  “Thank you, Saaaam’s bum,” Jerrick said, smiling widely at Samson.

  Abriel laughed hysterically, and Samson snorted with a smirk. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “And you think Jrrrrrrck is much better?” Jerrick asked with a smirk.

  Samson smiled at him. “My jokes are, and always will be, better.” Samson picked up his own sword. “Wanna go again?”

  . . .

  “You, Samson, and Abriel are getting along better,” Briahnna said as she and Jerrick sat with their feet in the pond. They were waiting for the rest of the kids to show up for lessons. Jerrick always came earlier than the rest, and Briahnna usually waited for him on the palace grounds.

  Jerrick smiled at her. After sparring with Samson, he, Samson, and Abriel became quick friends. “I beat Samson at sparring, and he’s determined to find out how I cheated.”

  “You beat Samson?” she laughed. “Did you cheat?”

  “No! I’m just better.”

  “I’m glad,” she said looking down at their feet. “I was worried...Samson can be really mean.”

  Jerrick grinned at her. “I can take care of myself. He’s actually pretty funny.”

  Jerrick felt Briahnna cringe when they heard girls giggling. “You don’t like Abigail and Cassandra do you?”

  “Yes I do,” she insisted. “They’re my friends.”

  Jerrick raised his eyebrows.

  Briahnna and Jerrick looked over to the other kids when they heard Samson yell from across the grounds, “How long do you think it will take for Ferdinand to come find us if we start playing tag?” Ferdinand was their history tutor.

  Abigail rolled her eyes. “He’s probably on his way down already.”

  “No way! He’s so old, he can barely put one foot in front of the other,” Samson laughed. “We could get a pretty good game going before he gets here, and I have a good game of tag.”

  Everybody looked at him skeptically.

  His smile grew, “Magik tag. The one who’s it has to tag you by knocking you to the ground with their magic. And if you’re knocked to the ground, you have to stay there until everyone else has been knocked to the ground. First person who gets tagged is it during the next round.”

  Abigail and Cassandra gasped, aghast at the horrible idea of knocking each other to the ground. Briahnna giggled.

  “Oh come on! Just until Ferdinand finds us,” Samson pleaded.

  “Which, according to you,” Jerrick continued for him, looking at Abigail, “will be any minute.”

  “Yeah!” Samson agreed, “So it won’t even last very long. Please?”

  Abigail glared haughtily at Samson. “We’ll get into trouble for not arriving to class in time. I’m not about to participate in something that’s going to get me into trouble.”

  Samson shrugged. “Suit yourself, but you’ll be missing out on an incredibly fun game.”

  Cassandra leaned over and whispered something into Abigail’s ear. Abigail looked at Cassandra and rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

  “What about those of us who only use fire?” Abriel asked.

  “Figure it out!” Samson yelled. “I’m it. Go!”

  Abigail and Cassandra screeched and began running away. Samson made the earth tremble around them, but they held each other up, turned and ran in a different direction to hide behind a tree.

  Changing targets Samson aimed for Abriel. Samson was both an earth and a water magik and the ground gave way in front of Abriel causing him to trip and fall. Groaning Abriel sat up and watched as Samson continued knocking everyone else to the ground.

  When Abriel had his turn, he threw quick orbs of fire at the other children’s feet, causing them to stumble in one direction or another. He was careful not to actually hit them. Abriel’s turn lasted a little longer than Samson’s. He was a little more cautious than most.

  Briahnna, Abriel’s first take down was chasing everyone around during her turn when a loud voice boomed through the courtyard, “WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!”

  Everyone turned around to see Ferdinand slowly making his way across the palace grounds with the Queen walking behind him. Her eyes were wide with shock at the horrible mess the children had made of her garden.

  Jerrick felt Briahnna’s guilt rush to the surface, walked to her, and took her hand in his.

  “Your Majesty!” Cassandra cried, running to Queen Adriahnna, curtsying slightly, “Abigail and I were against this from the beginning, but the boys just started chasing us!”

  “We’re so sorry!” Abigail continued with a curtsy of her own. “Please forgive us.”

  Abigail was so sincere, that Adriahnna couldn’t help but believe her, “I understand, Dear Ones. Run along to your lessons.” Jerrick cocked his head watching the girls interact with the Queen. Abigail turned and glared at Samson one last time, then grabbing Cassandra’s hand, she turned around and stalked to the palace. She hadn’t done anything wrong. It wasn’t her idea to start a s
tupid game.

  Cassandra turned around and gave everyone a small grin behind the two adults. She could get away with anything if she put her mind to it.

  “Mother…” Briahnna began.

  “Briahnna,” the Queen admonished. “You know how I feel about these grounds. I don’t want to hear it.”

  “Oral reports…From all four of you!” Ferdinand said glaring at the four of them. “They will be on the four Kingdoms; Briahnna -Mageia, Jerrick -Thornhold, Samson -Hyperborea, and Abriel -Ravinia. I expect them to be at least five minutes long and I expect them in a week.”

  All four of the remaining children gasped. Five minutes to speak about a single kingdom was forever.

  “I expect this to be cleaned up,” said Queen Adriahnna looking specifically at Briahnna and Jerrick.

  Jerrick stepped forward. “Briahnna and I will take care of it, Your Majesty,” he said with a slight bow.

  “See that you do,” Adriahnna said before she turned with Ferdinand and walked back to the palace.

  “How do you expect to clean this up?” Samson scoffed, looking around at the burnt and upturned ground.

  Jerrick ignored him and took Briahnna’s hand. “I’ll work on moving the ground back to level and you start growing the grass and plants,” he said.

  Briahnna sighed, “Okay.”

  Samson and Abriel stood, mouths agape, as they watched the two work their magic.

  . . .

  The King researched the archives, which he decided to keep secret, and found a single book deep within that held little to nothing about the magic that Briahnna and Jerrick shared. Inside the book was written one sentence:

  Spirit - the fifth and most dangerous of all elements, known to restore and reenergize, giving the wielder unyielding power, but can kill when called upon.

  So the two children could wield all five elements. The king was astounded.

  After Adriahnna had told King Rinald about how Briahnna and Jerrick were once again able to miraculously restore the courtyard after the carnage they had wreaked, Rinald wondered if maybe it could be used to restore people as well. If it could kill, it should be able to heal, right?

  . . .

  Jerrick was sitting at dinner with his parents after Rinald had told him and Briahnna about the Spirit element.

  “What did you learn from your lessons with the princess today, Tristan?” Lord Tristeil asked after a bite of food.

  Jerrick cringed. He hated it when his father assaulted him with questions about Briahnna. His instinct was to protect her from Tristeil, yet Tristeil would barrage him about her daily.

  Jerrick looked down at his plate, wishing his father couldn’t tell lies from the truth. He had learned that the hard way. “King Rinald has been researching the archives for information about our spirit element,” he said pausing and looking up. “He learned that it is a restorative power, among other things, and wondered if it could actually heal someone.”

  Lord Tristeil grinned at his son. “He actually found something in his archives about Spirit?”

  Jerrick exhaled warily. “He only found a sentence.”

  Tristeil laughed and stood, striding out of the room. Jerrick glanced at his mother who was watching her food intently while she ate. His appetite left him as soon as he heard his father laugh.

  Lord Tristeil walked back into the room and slapped a piece of paper down on the table in front of Jerrick. “Would this be the sentence the king found?”

  Jerrick stared at the paper for a second or two, and then looked back up at Tristeil. “Yes sir.”

  His father gave him a conspirator’s smirk, and Jerrick ground his teeth together.

  . . .

  “So…” hesitated Jerrick, “I think we should try to work on our spirit element.” he was sitting on the grass on the palace grounds with Briahnna, waiting for an adult to come teach them.

  Briahnna’s eyebrows puckered and she looked down. “I don’t think so.”

  “But it can be used to heal. We need to see how it works,” he pleaded with her.

  “We don’t know for certain that it can heal. Besides, how can we find out if it could?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Easy. I’ll hurt myself, and you’ll heal me.”

  She looked aghast. “You can’t hurt yourself! We don’t know if I can heal you.”

  “You can. I know it,” he assured her.

  “No, I’m not going to do it,” she insisted. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

  Briahnna’s eyes widened when Jerrick took a blade from his pocket, and cut his wrist.

  “What are you doing!” she exclaimed, staring down at his now profusely bleeding wrist.

  “I heard that when you cut right here,” he said pointing at his wrist, “that you bleed really badly.”

  “I know!” she yelled. “I’ve heard of people dying that way, you idiot!”

  He stared at his wrist in consternation. “It’s bleeding really badly.” His eyes widened as they watched the blood flowing steadily onto the grass.

  Briahnna was trembling with panic and she reached out and grabbed his wrist. She felt her magic release into her hand, holding tightly to his wound, then gasped when she felt pain in her own wrist and looked down. “Ow!” she exclaimed. “That really hurts.”

  “Oh no!” Jerrick looked down at his own wrist then at hers. “You took my cut! No, that wasn’t supposed to happen! I just thought it would go away!”

  She swatted at his hands when he tried to grab her wound. “Stop! It’ll just go back to you,” she said glaring at him. She looked down and watched as her skin slowly knitted itself back together.

  Jerrick gasped when it disappeared. “It healed itself,” he said in awe. When she started rubbing her eyes and yawning he panicked. She laid herself back onto the grass and closed her eyes. Jerrick placed both palms on the sides of her face, trying to reenergize her.

  “Briahnna, look at me!” he begged.

  She tried swatting his hands away again. “Leave me alone! I’m tired.”

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yes, I just want to go to sleep,” Briahnna pleaded when he pulled her up.

  “Looks like you two get me today!” called Darian, Briahnna’s brother as he descended the palace steps happily. He made his way to the two children, whistling. “All right! What should we begin with today?” He paused when he saw Briahnna’s appearance.

  “Bri…what’s going on?” he asked, looking at the two of them suspiciously.

  Briahnna kept rubbing her face and yawning, trying to stay awake.

  Jerrick looked down shamefaced. “I cut myself and Bri healed me.”

  “Oh!” said Darian surprised. “That’s wonderful!” he exclaimed. “You can heal!” He glanced down at Briahnna again. Concern etched his face as he spoke to Jerrick. “I thought that when you touched, you could feed her your energy.”

  “I tried,” answered Jerrick. “But it’s not working.”

  “Hmm,” Darian paused. “Interesting…So healing you, sapped her energy?” asked the prince.

  Jerrick thought about this then answered. “No. She seemed fine after she healed me. It’s just that when she healed me, she took my wound and it was bleeding pretty badly.” Darian’s eyes widened and Jerrick continued, “Then she healed herself.”

  Darian exhaled, “She healed herself?”

  “Yes,” answered Briahnna annoyed. “Can I go to bed now?” she asked trying to push herself up.

  Darian picked her up and started toward the palace, astounded at the phenomenon.

  He looked back at Jerrick walking slowly behind them with his head down. Darian slowed.

  “Is there something else you’re not telling me?” he asked.

  Jerrick looked sheepishly up at him. “I cut my wrist.”

  Darian barked out a disbelieving laugh. “You cut your wrist?” he repeated. “Do you realize how dangerous that is?”

  “I do now,” Jerrick berated himself, hating his fat
her more and more.

  “Ok,” said Darian thinking out loud. “So we now know that when you heal yourself you exert a lot of energy.

  “A wound like that could be fatal,” he said looking down at Jerrick while he carried his sister. “So maybe a smaller wound, one that wouldn’t cause so much damage, wouldn’t be as bad.”

  Jerrick looked up at him. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, maybe tomorrow, if Briahnna is well rested, we can try something small.” He contemplated, “Like a scratch…right here.” He pointed to the top of his forearm with raised eyebrows, looking at the boy. “Where it’s not really going to cause very much damage.”

  Jerrick kept his gaze on the ground. “Is Briahnna going to be all right?” he asked.

  “Yes, Jerrick. I believe so. She just needs to sleep.” He shook his head. “I can’t imagine what it must be like to heal yourself.”

  “Okay.” Jerrick nodded and turned around. “I’d better go now.”

  Darian turned to look at him. “I can walk you home after I get Briahnna settled.”

  “No, I’m fine,” said the boy, looking away.

  Darian watched Jerrick trot off, his guard following behind as he headed out of the palace yard.

  After he tucked Briahnna into her bed, Prince Darian went straight to the King to tell him of this new discovery.

  Briahnna and Jerrick tested Darian’s theory the next day with Darian’s supervision. This time Jerrick insisted that he heal Briahnna, he was afraid of what would happen if she healed herself again in such a short amount of time. Darian was right, Briahnna scratched herself with a stick and Jerrick healed her scratch, after which he healed himself. He felt a little tired, but when Briahnna grabbed his hand to share her energy, he was fine.

  Each day they tested a little more to see what would sap their energy the most. They worked with cuts and bruises; the cuts took more energy to heal, not as much as a fatal wound, but enough to stop lessons for the day. It seemed that loss of blood took a lot of energy. Blood is a hard thing for one’s body to replace; the smaller the cut, the easier the healing process.