Book Sample: Courage and Brawn Ch 1

You've seen the interviews for Charmed and Lethal's characters and the where the idea came from, but have you heard about the Prequel? The prequel is actually about the first group of Guardians and takes place hundreds of years before Charmed and Lethal starts. I'm writing this one by myself. The first few chapters are available on Wattpad. If you follow me there then you'll get notifications when a new chapter is up. You should check out my account here.

Now, without any further ado.... here's the first chapter of Courage and Brawn. I hope you enjoy it.

I was going to die.

I stared into the lynx's eyes and knew he was going to kill me. Blue eyes. Can a lynx have blue eyes? I pressed the staff against his neck trying to keep the sharp teeth from clamping down to my throat. His claws reached and scratched my arms. I ignored the pain. How did I get here?

Why was I fighting the Were?

A memory from three weeks ago popped in my head.

I heard the muffled voices around the fire. "Shhh!" my mom whispered, "You're going to wake Margareta."

"Maybe she should wake up and tell us we're wrong. Tell us we misunderstood Gaia," my father declared the loudest of all. "She can't be a Guardian, especially not a Warrior. I want her to have a normal life. A safe life."

"Sam," it was Mr. Aldridge's voice, "you knew it would get passed to one of your children."

"But why her? Why not William? I always assumed it would be William. He's the man. He's strong. Not my baby girl." My father sounded so sad.

I felt movement next to me. William was awake and snuck over to my bed. "What is going on now? Are they meeting again?"

I nodded and pressed my finger to my lips. "I think I'm going to become a Guardian, like Father."

William sighed with relief, "I know I should be upset, but I never wanted that job. I am sorry you get it though. You're going to be a Warrior."

I sighed. "I know. I have no idea how to fight. I don't know that I want to fight."

William grinned at me as our father started back up.

"I won't let it happen!"

"Sam, I'm your friend; but you're being ridiculous. My daughter is going to be a Guardian, too. Catarina will be Margareta's duo. They'll work together."

"She's a witch though. It's less dangerous. She won't have to be in the actual battle." Father shut his mouth quickly. "I'm sorry, Old Friend. You know I don't mean your job is easy. You've worked hard as my partner all these years after my sister..." His words fell.

I knew he meant Aunt Margareta, my name-sake and his original duo partner. When Mr. Aldridge lost his Warrior, he and my father worked together. It wasn't as good as their original duo, but they made it work. Magic and strength need each other to survive in battle against the Were. "Warlock and Warrior. We've made a great team, but do we really think our daughters are ready for this?"

"Okay," Mr. Webb said, "we know that Gaia said it's time for our children to take over the fighting. But what are we going to do? Just sit back and let them do everything?"

"No," my father replied with a calmer voice than I had heard him speak with all night. "We are going to form a Council and train the new batch of Guardians. We are going to teach them to be us."

Chills ran up my arms and down my back. I smiled at William and felt tears streaming down my face. "Why are you--?" H asked, suddenly concerned.

I wiped my face quickly. "I don't know. I just feel excited about it all. This will be good. I'll be something more than a farmer's wife. I'm going to do something important, William."

"See, this is exactly why you have it and not me. Gaia made the right choice. I'd just groan that another chore had been thrust on me." William smiled, almost apologetically.

"What's going on over here?" I turned and saw Mother and Father standing by my bed. Behind them the other Guardians were making their way out the door.

I glanced at William as I quietly said, "Oops."

Father shrugged. "It's probably my fault. I was loud." He reached out and wrapped me in his strong arms. I wondered if my arms would be strong once I filled my role as a Warrior.

I buried my face into his chest as I spoke, "When do I start training?"

"So, you heard that, did you?" He asked with a half grin.

"You already said, you were loud."

"I'll have to get with George and figure it out. He still needs to talk to Catarina. She's going to be your duo." He paused, "Actually, all of us have children who have been chosen to inherit the Guardian powers."

I nodded.

"Of course, you heard that, too."

I continued nodding.

"Fine, off to bed, both of you."

He clapped his hand on William's shoulder. They shared a quiet.

Later, I heard Father whisper to Mother, "She seems excited. I don't think she understands how dangerous this is going to be for her."

"You'll have to teach her, Sam. The two of you will make a great team. She will be fine." She encouraged.

I snapped all my attention back to the teeth hovering above me. The training had been going well. Okay, I wasn't great. I wasn't keeping up with the other Warriors in training. But it had definitely been going better before the Were attacked.

My father, Mr. Gray, and the three newest Warriors had been out in the field practicing. I had been looking at the puffy breaths escaping my lips as I exerted myself trying to learn how to fight with a staff. After weeks of working, I still felt clueless. I glanced up, and in the distance I saw a large, brown bear in the tree line. I froze, just as Mr. Gray's staff slammed against my shoulder. I flinched and stepped back a bit, but didn't lose eye contact with the bear.

"What are you staring at?" Mr. Gray said. "Surely it's not more important than this."

I shook my head, "I'm not sure, but I'm not used to seeing a bear around here and it's really big."

Mr. Gray followed my gaze and froze. "Samuel." He said his name calmly, but the concern in his voice was clear.

"Yes?" My father's breath changed. "Marg, go get the rest of the Guardians, now."

"Isaac is the fastest." I blurted out quickly. I should have been grateful not to be present. I knew Father was trying to get rid of me, because he didn't think I could fight. It was true, though. Isaac would get help before I could.

"She's right, Sam, and you know it. Speed is vital right now. We need the Warlock magic if we're outnumbered." Mr. Gray said calmly, still watching the tree line.

"I know." Father paused and turned to Isaac. "Go! And be quick."

I gripped the staff in my hand tighter as I watched more animals gathering around the bear. There were a few wolves, a hawk, a lynx, and others.

I knew the smaller animals would be easier, but if they turned human, they were beyond normal human abilities.

Stephen, another Warrior-in-training, stepped over to me. "Are you okay, Marg?"

I nodded silently.

"Well, you're doing better than me." He let out a nervous laugh and placed his hand on my shoulder. "We'll stay together?"

I nodded again. I may have looked stoic, but only because I feared if I opened my mouth a cry would escape. I felt so frightened. There were four of us standing in the field with only staffs to defend ourselves and even more animals running at us.

I sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm my nerves and slow the shaking of my hands. I needed to be calm and controlled or I would lose this fight before it even began.

The lynx ran straight for me. I pulled my staff back, ready for him. When he jumped, claws extended, I smacked him in the face. He flipped, landing on his back, but quickly rolled to all fours and started circling me slowly.

A hawk flew down from the sky, scratching me on the head with its claw, as if claiming me for his own. Blood trickled down the side of my head. I wiped it with my shoulder before it could get in my eye.

Nearby, the other three Warriors were dealing with their own battles.

The lynx charged again. I swung, but missed and the he knocked me to my back. I held the ends of the staff in each hand and pressed it to the wildcat's neck, preventing him from getting my face. And there I was, frozen with a lynx holding me down, his teeth snapping above. I needed to remember my training or I wouldn't survive my first battle.

I tried to decide what to do next when a great shadow fell over me. I looked up and saw the great bear. He towered over me intimidatingly. I wasn't sure what to do, but I felt my heart speed up in fear. I was sure I was about to die. The bear only growled intimidatingly at me, or the lynx. I couldn't tell. The wild cat jumped back and started to lunge at me again, but the bear stomped his foot and roared. All the Were froze and looked at him. He stood over me, his blue eyes staring into mine. I had forgotten all Were had blue eyes, but it was eerie on a brown bear. We held the stare for a moment as the Were retreated, finally, he snuffed, turned and ran.

Stephen reached his hand down to help me up as the rest of the Guardians arrived. I looked around at the other three - we were all banged up and bruised with minor wounds, but nothing like it could have been.

"It's like they were just trying to frighten us." I said.

"Think they were trying to warn us not to train new Guardians?" Mr. Gray asked.

Isaac panted, "Is everyone okay?

"I think they were trying to kill us," Stephen said, "well, until the bear..." His voice trailed off as he looked at me.

"I saw that, too," Father added. "It was something about you, Marg. He stopped the fighting when he saw you."

The silence was intolerable as everyone stared at me. Catarina walked over to me, pulling the satchel off her shoulder as she said, "I think we need to clean you four up. I have Margareta. Think I could practice some of that healing magic we've been learning?" She asked with a smirk.

We sat down in the middle of the field and I let her bandage me up as I tried to stop the shivering. I wasn't sure if it was from the cold or my nerves. I knew my wounds weren't that bad.

"You have a nasty gash by your eye. You're lucky it wasn't a hair to the left, it could have blinded you." Catarina said as she cleaned the blood.

"Yeah, that was from the hawk. I would have had that wild cat, too, if it hadn't been for the bird attacking my head." I said angrily. We sat in silence for a minute. "I've missed you, Catarina. How is your training going?"

She smiled broadly, "It's going really well."

She looked over my shoulder with her lips pressed together. I glanced over, half expecting to see more Were coming at us again. Instead, I saw the jar of salve floating by my head. I laughed. "You're doing that?"

"Yes, they said I'm a Telekinetic. There are four types of witches - Telekinetic, Influencer, Healer, and Elemental." She grinned broadly as she lowered it back down to the ground. "All the types just have a special pull towards a certain type of power. So, even if I have trouble controlling the wind, there's a spell I can use to help. Moving stuff around, well, I don't really have to do much but think about it. It's getting easier."

"Have they taught you about combining our powers yet?" I asked.

She scrunched her nose. "Yes, they told us some about it, but I still don't understand. They explained it like we share strength. I don't understand it because wouldn't that make us the same strength as before if I take part of yours and you take part of mine?"

"Hmm... I understand what you're saying." I replied. "Maybe it's more that if we each have a little of the other's power then it is even more powerful. Like they said, no one person can have both Warrior and Witch power. They said it's too much power for one person, so maybe that's why we can only have both of it in small increments when it's really necessary."

"Maybe." She tied a rag around my head to try and stop the bleeding, "How is it working so closely with Isaac and Stephen? They are both so handsome."

I laughed, "You get to work with John and Roger. How is that?"

"Don't forget Cecily!" She added.

I grinned, "Yes, it must be nice having another girl over there."

Father yelled above all the chatter, "All lessons are finished for the day. Witches and Warlocks, thank you for coming to help. Guardians, nice job. Everyone, go home."

"Bye," Catarina said as she locked arms with her father and they walked back to town.

I waited for everyone to leave and stood up slowly. I was afraid my shaky legs would give away my fear. My father stood there, waiting for me. He put his arm around my shoulders. "You fought well today, Margareta. I was very proud of you."

I felt tears prickle my eyes, "Really?" I put my arm around his waist and squeezed tighter. We walked back home arm in arm knowing that I had made my father proud with something besides becoming a farmer's wife. I never thought that would be possible.