Spirit (Legend of the Dragons Book 1)

by Denelle Elison

  Forster strode over to her. “What did you tell her?”

  Briahnna observed the rest of the children, then answered, “When you can stop demanding my answers, I will give them.”

  “Fine!” he growled. Taking a deep breath he asked, “Princess, will you please show me how you can control magic so well?”

  She smiled to herself and looked around the grounds for a small object and found a ball. “Okay,” she said. “Come with me.” She led him ten feet away from the ball.

  He was obviously a wind magik, and even though he couldn’t do exactly what he wanted, he was able to make things fly. She knew this from experience. She had been hit multiple times behind teachers’ backs with small objects like crumpled paper, pencils, and food. She was fairly certain he didn’t know how to hit her in a specific spot and that he wasn’t confident enough to try larger objects. With practice, he might be able to carry a person a short distance away. But for a practiced magik that took quite a bit of energy. It required conditioning. It required going from smaller objects, to larger objects, to even larger objects.

  “Do you see that ball?” she asked and he nodded. “I want you to make that ball land on the middle branch of the tree that’s fifteen feet away from it,” she said, directing his gaze with her finger. “First, you are going to think of your exact target and know exactly what you want it to do. Exactly what you want it to do,” she repeated. “Then you will harness the wind with your object and target as your focus, and the wind will do the rest.”

  “Too easy,” he smirked. “It won’t work.”

  “If you want it bad enough and believe that it will work, then it will,” she said. “Once you have your target in mind, the wind will do what it needs to get your object there.” Briahnna smiled, thinking of Jerrick explaining the same thing to her.

  She saw a rock close by and demonstrated for him.

  Forcing his gaze away from Briahnna’s magic, Forster concentrated on his own. Briahnna felt the wind pick up around them and watched the ball rise into the air and fly to the branch of the tree. Instead of falling onto the branch, it landed nicely and stuck.

  Briahnna smiled. “Now bring it back.”

  They had an audience, and all of the children in the yard paused to watch.

  Focusing, Forster brought the ball back then smiled up at her, listening to everyone applaud raucously.

  . . .

  Word spread and Briahnna was finally welcomed into the school. Every free time she helped the magiks practice with their elements. They were elated to learn how to use their magic efficiently. The headmaster decided to give her a class of her own, and rearranged schedules so that the students also had elemental practice. Briahnna was a natural teacher. She loved working with the kids and watching them grow. It was fulfilling.

  Chapter 18

  Six months later, after her eighteenth birthday, Briahnna was sitting next to the pond watching the water ripple as she dipped her toes in and out. She was exhausted. Even though she loved it, working at the school was tiring.

  Briahnna heard a commotion outside of the gate. She knew those voices. Standing up, she sprinted to the gate, then stopped cold when she heard arguing just outside. She stood just within the gate so as not to be seen.

  “No!” Jerrick commanded. “You cannot take her there!”

  Rinald sighed. “Jerrick, see reason,” he said through his clenched teeth. “We need her, and you know it.”

  “No! I don’t know it!” Jerrick growled. “I could finish this war. We could be done in a matter of weeks if you’d just let me do what needs to be done. This is getting ridiculous. More are being wounded and killed because you won’t see reason.”

  “I cannot let you do it Jerrick. It is not a peaceable solution. It is a massacre, and more would die at your hand than are dying now,” said the King. “Once started it won’t stop. They would have no one and then there would be civil unrest and possibly a revolution. Think of the long-term consequences. It. Wouldn’t. Work.”

  “You still cannot take her there,” Jerrick repeated. “It’s too dangerous.”

  “Maybe I should decide that for myself.” Briahnna stepped out of the shadows and watched the surprise turn to annoyance on Jerrick’s face. “What do you need of me, Father?”

  “No!” Jerrick stepped in front of her. “I won’t have it!”

  “And what makes you think that you have any say?” she snapped at him. She turned to her father. “What exactly is going on?”

  “We need you at the battlefield infirmary,” Rinald answered.

  Briahnna’s eyes lit up. “Okay,” she said.

  “You didn’t even think about it!” shouted Jerrick. “Do you have any idea what it’s like out there?”

  Briahnna paused, looking at Jerrick. “I’ll go,” she said to her father.

  “Briahnna, you are mine and I forbid it!” Jerrick commanded.

  “We’re not married yet, Jerrick.”

  “Just as good as,” Jerrick seethed.

  “Is this how you think that it’s going to be when we are married?” she asked. “That you will just tell me what I will and will not do, and I‘ll obey like a good little pet?”

  Jerrick’s jaw clenched.

  “I will have my say and my choices,” she continued, “and I am going.”

  Jerrick grabbed her by the arms, eyes pleading. “Briahnna, I feel like I’m losing you! I don’t want it to happen! I won’t let it!”

  Briahnna sighed, “You can’t control everything, Jerrick.”

  Jerrick’s head dropped when he released her. Bri grabbed his face. “Hey,” she said. “Where’s your faith?”

  He took her hands from his face, circled them around his waist, and pulled her in for a hug, holding her tightly. “I think it left me a long time ago,” he answered.

  “You know that I will go no matter what, don’t you?” Briahnna asked.

  “Don’t I know it,” he said in a strained voice. “Why do you think I tried to talk your father out of asking you?”

  Rinald snorted behind them.

  “You weren’t talking, Jerrick. You were demanding,” Briahnna said. “Demanding usually has the opposite affect on people.”

  “You’d think I’d learn that,” he laughed tiredly, still holding her in his vise-like hug.

  “If you’re going to cripple me,” Briahnna squeaked, “could you at least stop blocking me while you do it?”

  “Sorry, old habits and all,” Jerrick said, dropping his wall with a half-grin. “It’s so good to see you, Bri.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Are you sure? Because it got a little tense there.”

  “No matter how angry I am at you, I am always glad to see you,” he said.

  She snorted. “Could have fooled me.” Briahnna inhaled deeply, feeling reenergized.

  “I need to see your mother,” Rinald said, watching the two. “I’ll see you both in the palace. And thank you, Bumble Bee. It will help to be able to get our soldiers back on their feet within hours rather than weeks.”

  Briahnna watched her father walk away. She could tell he was exhausted to his core.

  “Why won’t you at least consider listening to me?” Jerrick asked. “Do you ever believe me? Do you always have to disagree with me?”

  Briahnna rolled her eyes. “I don’t do it just to disagree with you,” she said. “These are things that I believe in. Things that I know I’m supposed to do. You can’t protect me forever. We’ll always have obstacles. You can’t go through them for me.”

  “I wish I could,” He sighed. “I wish you’d let me.”

  Jerrick took a deep breath and grabbed Briahnna’s hand dragging her to the palace. “I need to take a bath.”

  “Yes,” Bri laughed. “Yes you do.”

  Jerrick stepped away from her as a dust cloud swallowed her whole. “Huh,” he said as the cloud dissipated and Briahnna emerged coughing and covered in dirt. “It would seem that you do, too.”

  Briahnna eye
d him furiously. “Race you!” she yelled as she took off toward the sea.

  Jerrick smiled, shook his head, and ran after her.

  . . .

  “Sir,” Jerrick said, knocking on the king’s study door. “May I have a word?”

  Rinald eyed Jerrick warily. “What do you need, Jerrick? Briahnna made her choice. She will be going, and you cannot change my mind.”

  “I’m not here to change your mind,” Jerrick said, entering the King’s study. He paused, rubbing the back of his head, obviously nervous. “I want to marry Bri before we return to the battlefront,” he blurted out.

  The King’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “We leave in a week. Maybe sooner.”

  “I know…But I want her to be mine completely before we return.” Jerrick looked at the King with determination. “I won’t lose her.”

  “You cannot let your fears drive you, Jerrick,” Rinald told him, walking around the desk to stand in front of him. “You know that even if you are married you cannot make her stay.”

  Jerrick closed his eyes. “Please,” he pleaded with the King. “If you won’t keep her here, then at least give me this.”

  The king let out a slow breath. “I guess there is no more delaying the inevitable. You do know that the Queen will have my head for this? She likes to plan for such things. I suppose we could make it small and short. Briahnna never was one for being the center of attention. She probably won’t mind at all,” he said as he slapped Jerrick’s shoulder.

  . . .

  Briahnna hid around the corner before the men emerged from the study. She heard everything. It was a good thing Jerrick was blocking her because she didn’t think she could hide her emotions from him. They were a downpour of confusion, anger, and longing.

  She couldn’t do it. She wasn’t going to marry him because of his fear.

  Everyone was retiring for the evening when she hurried back to her room. She would leave for the battlefront tonight.

  Briahnna arrived at her room, took out her satchel, and started throwing things into it.

  “Your Highness?” Gabriela came in and gasped when she saw Briahnna bustling about. “Are you packing so soon?”

  “I’m leaving tonight, Gabriela,” Briahnna said. Gathering up her satchel, she looked at her lady’s maid. “Please tell no one until morning at least.”

  “Oh, no! No, no, no. You are not leaving these grounds alone,” Gabriela insisted. “What are you thinking? Why do you insist on leaving tonight? Why not wait for Jerrick and your father?”

  “Jerrick wants me to stay. He will stop at nothing to keep me here,” Briahnna said. “I have to leave now.”

  “He can’t possibly be dumb enough to think that he can keep you here.” Gabriela tried to reason with Briahnna. “Wait for him. You will see.”

  “No. He plans to marry me before we leave. I’m not staying.” Briahnna paused, wondering what she was going to do to inform the school. Her heart ached at the thought of leaving them. She grabbed a paper and wrote a note to the Headmaster. She would drop it off on her way out of the city.

  Gabriela grabbed Briahnna to stop her packing and forced her to look at her. “Briahnna, why do you think that this is a bad thing? I thought that you always wanted to be with him. This would mean that you wouldn’t have to wait any longer. You’d be together.”

  “No, not like this. Not when he just wants to keep me here. I don’t want all of this strain and confusion between us,” Briahnna pleaded with her eyes. “Please, Gabby, help me.”

  . . .

  “You really don’t have to come,” Briahnna said, watching her lady’s maid look around one more time, her nervousness permeating the air. They had taken two horses from the stable and had just left the capital.

  “I’m not letting you leave alone,” Gabriela scolded. “It’s dangerous out here.”

  Briahnna smiled. “And you think that you can protect me from the bad guys?”

  “Don’t underestimate me, Your Highness. I have my ways.”

  “Thank you, Gab,” said Bri. “I love you, you know.”

  “I know.” Gabriela smiled at her. “Just remember that when the King, Queen, or even Jerrick decides to punish me for allowing you to leave.”

  “Oh please,” Briahnna laughed. “They’ve never punished you. Sometimes I swear they like you better than me!”

  Gabriela shrugged, smiling.

  . . .

  “What do you mean she left?” Jerrick yelled.

  King Rinald raised his eyebrows at Jerrick’s outburst.

  “Sorry,” Jerrick said, bowing his head. “Can you please tell me what has happened?”

  “Cook said that Briahnna hadn’t arrived to eat breakfast, so she had her meal taken to her room,” the King replied. “When no one answered, the maid opened the door and found a note lying on her stand, letting us know that she felt she needed to leave right away so as to help as many as she could.”

  “She left alone?” Jerrick asked.

  “Apparently, Gabriela went with her.”

  “I have to go,” Jerrick said, walking to the door. “I have to bring her back.”

  “Do you really think that’s wise?” asked Rinald. “She most likely traveled all night and continues today. By the time you reach her, she will be more than halfway. You might as well continue on and get there as soon as possible so that you all can get a little rest before going back to battle.”

  Jerrick exhaled slowly and nodded. The king was right. It wouldn’t make sense to bring her back just to leave again.

  “I’ll leave right away to escort her to the battlefront,” he said, bowing to the King.

  . . .

  After a week of traveling almost nonstop, Briahnna heard a horse whinny behind her. She turned around and saw Jerrick sauntering up behind them on his horse. He looked somewhere between livid and amused, if there was such a look. He slid off of his horse, walked up to hers, and reached for her. Bri let him help her off her horse. He then took their two horses, tied them to a tree without a word, and began setting up for camp.

  Gabriela could feel the tension as she slid off her horse and took care of it herself.

  “I’m not going back to Estreed. It wouldn’t make sense,” Briahnna said.

  Jerrick stopped what he was doing and eyed her. “I know,” he said and returned to his work.

  They didn’t speak for the rest of the evening and soon after a few guards joined them. They then retired. Briahnna knew that she had crossed a line and wondered how long Jerrick’s silence would last.

  It lasted for the rest of their journey, Briahnna making small talk with Gabriela and Jerrick speaking only with the guards.

  . . .

  Upon their arrival, Jerrick took Briahnna directly to the infirmary without a word and opened the tent flap for her to enter. He was about to leave then stopped and grabbed her arm.

  “Be safe,” he said, his eyes pleading with her. “If you need me, ask one of the guards on duty, and he’ll direct you. Please, Briahnna, anything.”

  “Okay,” she said. Then she paused and said, “Jerrick…It would be easier for me to do this if you would stop blocking me.”

  Jerrick nodded at her and dropped his wall. His eyes narrowed in consternation. “Are you blocking me?” he asked.

  “No.”

  He stepped closer to her. “I’m not blocking you anymore.”

  Briahnna paused, astonished. “What?”

  “I’m not blocking you.”

  “How can that be? I swear I’m not blocking you either.”

  Jerrick clenched his jaw and concentrated then he shook his head. “We can’t feel each other outside the forest.

  “I don’t understand,” Briahnna confessed.

  Jerrick thought. “The magic from the forest is ancient and powerful. It’s the only thing that makes sense. It must have something to do with the spirit element.” He looked at her, eyes sad. “I have to go to my troops.”

  “But,” Briahnna tried.

/>   Jerrick stopped her. “There’s nothing we can do about it now.” He was obviously agitated. “Like I said, don’t hesitate for anything.” And with that he disappeared behind the flap.

  Gabriela appeared at Briahnna’s side after Jerrick left. “Well, what now?”

  Briahnna looked around at all of the soldiers and healers. A lot of soldiers were lying on the floor because there weren’t even enough beds. This was why she was here.

  “We work,” she said.

  “Princess!”

  Briahnna turned around. “Healer Kyar!” She and Gabriela walked to him.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  “Didn’t my father tell you I was coming?”

  “No.”

  She shrugged. “I’m here to help.”

  “Well, I am surprised. We definitely can use all of the help we can get.” He gestured to all of the patients. “If you are rested and ready?”

  “We are,” she replied.

  Healer Kyar smiled. “Go wash up, and I’ll give you further instructions when you return.”

  Chapter 19

  Briahnna had been at the infirmary for two weeks without seeing Jerrick at all. Of course he could have shown up during one of the times after she had healed and was unconscious from exhaustion, and nobody had told her. She was pretty sure that was not the case.

  Healer Kyar was astonished with her ability. He tried to use her skill the best way possible without making her completely useless afterward. When someone with an extremely bad injury was brought to them, they made that person as comfortable as possible, stabilizing them until the rest of the patients were seen for the day. Kyar taught Briahnna and Gabriela how to wrap, stitch, and care for the patients, not wanting to waist Briahnna’s energy in case of an emergency. Then she healed the serious injuries that caused a person to be useless for weeks on end. These were usually broken bones or large gashes. She found that she could heal a broken bone and still be able to heal at least one or two more people, depending on how bad the break was. The down side was that she was in constant pain. Every time she healed someone, she cringed when someone with a worse wound entered. Although she was grateful for being able to help, she had never felt such a barrage of anxiety over what was to come next. Sometimes she prayed for a particularly bad wound just so she could pass out from exhaustion and have to rest for at least twelve hours, pain free. Sometimes the healing kept her down for an entire day, sometimes longer.