The Heir Chronicles

The Heir Chronicles is a fantasy novel series for children written by Cinda Williams Chima. The first book, The Warrior Heir in the series was published Hyperion in 2006.
Plot
The Warrior Heir starts off in the June of 1870, during the war between the White and Red Roses. Because of the tournament,a game in which two warriors fight to the death and the winners sponsor gets control or a magical treasury, both groups want to find as many remaining warriors as possible and train them in order to win the tournament and control the treasury of magical weapons and artifacts. As a result of this struggle for power, Lee's family gets attacked by the Red Rose because his sister Carrie was a warrior. With most of his family deceased, his mother changed, and sister dead, Lee, a wizard, grew to be a great wizard, but his hatred of the Red Rose continued.
100 years later, the story continues in the town of Trinity, Ohio.Jack Swift, a 16 year old boy who lives a simple life with his mother, Becka, and best friends, Will and Fitch. He has lived in Trinity all his life and the only thing that makes him different is a rare "heart defect" from when he was born and requires him to take medication everyday and he is told that if he doesn't he will die. One day, during his morning rush, he forgets to take his medication, and is unable to return home before his mother, Becka because of Varsity Soccer tryouts. He unintentionally knocks another student into the goalpost with a lot of force, without any effort. Then he notices that some of his friends are acting very strange and prompting him to take his medication. His mother is at home waiting for him, very concerned, but Jack was intrigued by the fact that he became very energetic and strong when he didn't take his medication. He stops taking his medicine.
Meanwhile, his aunt, Linda Downey, arrives in town and asks him if he wants to "dig up some old relatives." She explains that they are looking for an item that belonged to Jack's great-great-grandmother, Susannah, and may have been buried with her. Linda, Jack, and Jack's friends Will and Fitch travel to another county to research where Susannah's grave might be. As they break into a building to search for records, a wizard attacks them. All of them manage to escape, but Jack had been shot in the back by something that should have killed him if not for an odd gray vest his neighbor, Mercedes, gave to him as protection. As they are researching at the library the next day while Linda leads the wizard after them off their trail, a mysterious cowboy involved in genetics helps them out, hearing all their information. Finding out where the graveyard she is buried in is, which is near a methodist church, they travel there and dig up a jeweled box behind the grave. When Jack's friends try to open the box, they are unable to do so. Only Jack is able to do so, as the box only opens to the rightful heir of its contents. A blade and scabbard are found inside the box. Jack takes out the sword and examines it when the swords name pops into his head Shadowslayer. They are then attacked by the cowboy and a wizard and Jack reacts with unknown instinct and manages to protect his friends and escape.
When they return to Trinity, Linda reveals to Jack that he is a Warrior, part of the five magic guilds and one of the last of his kind. The five guilds are Wizards, Sorcerers, Enchanters, Warriors, and Sooth-sayers. The medicine he has been taking was revealed to be Weirsbane (Weir being a term that refers to the gifted, those who possess magical ability), which suppressed his warrior powers. She also reveals that she is an enchanter, and has the ability to captivate people. She also tells him that when he was born he didn't have a Weirstone (source of power) but was Weirflesh, and was dying. Linda Downey contacted Jessamine Longbranch, a wizard from England, to implant a wizard's stone in Jack, but she put a warrior stone in Jack instead. Linda tells him that since he is a Warrior, the two battling wizard houses of the Red Rose and the White Rose, he is greatly sought after to fight in the tournament to determine which house rules. Wizards are the superior race according to the ancient "Rules of Engagement," and have power over all the other guilds or races.
Jack comes to find that most of the people living around him are either wizards or some other Weir, and they are there to look after him and protect him. He finds his life to be getting more stressful and feels trapped. Jack begins training with a wizard named Leander Hastings (Who is later revealed as Lee from the beginning of the book), who becomes the assistant principal of his high school. They practice fencing, and types of unarmed combat unnoticed as he also trains with many other soccer players. Jack also faces ghosts of dead warriors, bound to be called for training bouts according to the Rules of Engagement, and his skills and physique begin to increase greatly. During this time, he starts to go out with Ellen, one of his classmates, and they become much closer. He also secretly trains in Wizardry with Nicodemus Snowbeard, his handyman, who is revealed to be a wizard.
Tensions rise when Jack is attacked and almost kidnapped by Traders working with Leesha Middleton, his ex-girlfriend (who is also a wizard). Leander Hastings kills both wizards and destroys the evidence that they were there. Jack's drink is also later poisoned at an amusement park with his friends, and he knows he is not safe anymore.
When Jack travels to England for the summer with his mother Becka, which Linda tried to get him not to go, he is taken for a physical exam with Dr. Longbranch, the wizard, and she knows that Jack is ready for the Tournament. She tries to get him to go, but he continually refuses, forcing Dr. Longbranch to chase Jack and his Aunt Linda as they try and make a safe getaway. Just when they think they are safe, Jack is badly wounded by a wizard's graffe cast by Jessamine Longbranch and the White Rose when they try to capture him for the Game. Multiple warrior spirits, Linda, and Sarah (a church worker) hold vigil for him in the church, where they cannot be attacked. Jack soon learns that the poison in the graffe can only be healed by an experienced wizard(The wizards want Jack to come outside and be healed) but Aunt Linda is convinced that Leander Hastings can make it to the church before Jack succumbs to his injury. He is soon healed by Leander Hastings and wakes up three days later in a strange cabin. Hastings later informs Jack that he wants him to participate in the Tournament, and attempts to convince him to play in the Game for his house- the Silver Dragon. The Silver Dragons was a team that he himself assembled, in an attempt to restore freedom to the people. He failed miserably, and his final plan requires Jack to win the Tournament in order to regain control.
At the Game, Jack's opponent is revealed to be his girlfriend, Ellen. As they fight, Jack refused to go on the offensive and hurt Ellen even though he held his defensive. At one point in the game, Ellen cuts Jacks sword arm and he uses his last defense, wizardry. He creates a barrier to prevent himself from being hurt which the master of games soon calls an illegal penalty move and if used again Jacks heart would be cut out. Ellen eventually gets the chance to kill Jack when he falls and breaks his ankle and is unable to move. However, Ellen cannot bring herself to kill Jack and then gave him a wizard's potion to stop pain in his wounds and helped him to the front. Instead, they say that the match is a tie. The Council of Wizards is furious and tries to kill them both, but all of the deceased warriors who fought in the tournaments appear as the dragon and kill many wizards. Jack's ancestor Susannah forces the Council to change the rules, or suffer further losses. They make all classes of the Weir equal, release the dead warriors bounds, make Trinity a sanctuary, and a tentative truce is declared between the houses along with the tournament being over for good.

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