Beginnings
by
Tao’Rhi
The child grunted as once again his knuckles painfully smashed together. He shook his tiny hands to ease the pain, blinking wide golden eyes that showed only the tiniest hint of frustration.
He scoured his mind to recall everything the book had said. He knew the words so well he could speak them in his sleep; he knew the hand movements to the point where he would find himself unconsciously rehearsing them when he wasn't paying attention. But now that he was trying to put them together, his body just didn't want to cooperate.
Of course, that was the catch. He remembered the explanations at the beginning of the book, describing how each spell had its own defense against incapable users. In this case, it must be the process of putting the two halves, words and motion, together. It made sense.
He took a deep breath and stood straight, shaking his white kimono into order. Hke closed his eyes, calming his thoughts, and began the sweeping gesture that was the beginning of the spell.
Panicked shrieks broke his concentration. He knew the voice, and looking across the field he could see the town bullies who so often threatened him, now brutally chasing his adopted little sister. Why were they always picking on the little kids? Then he realized that his brother, too, was running alongside the little girl, fleeing the older boys.
He wouldn't let them hurt his brother, the brother who so often protected him from those very same bullies. Before he realized what he was doing, his eyes had closed and his hands whipped about almost of their own accord.
The silk of his kimono cracked as his hands violently switched direction, coming together neatly in the patterns he knew. His voice erupted, calling out familiar words in a timbre somehow bolder and lower than he thought possible from his tiny body.
"Spirits of Fire, lend me power!"
And his hands snapped together.
He felt the energy rushing through him, filling him, exploding from his hands into the form of a great flaming phoenix that sped across the field and dove towards the bullies' coterie. Screaming, the older boys scattered, some dropping to the ground while others fled as fast as their terrified legs would carry them. The fire rushed through the air, circling, seeming to scream in its magnificence and power.
Then it was gone. The energy was gone too; the boy felt as if he had been crushed and drained. He only vaguely saw the shape of his brother running up to him; then the world swam into a pool of darkness and he fell into the grass.
"You know, Marron?" he faintly heard, relieved to hear his brother's voice. "That was pretty cool."
