season avatars 01 - seasons beginnings

• Book One of the Season Avatars
  
• Part One: The Magicians
  
• Part Two: The Avatars
  
• Part One: The Magicians ...................................................................... 7
  
• The Meeting ..................................................................................... 9
  
• Salth ..............................................................................................
  
• An Apprentice? .............................................................................. 22
  
• Breaking the Spell .......................................................................... 28
  
• The Magic Institute ........................................................................ 32
  
• A Midnight Visit ............................................................................ 41
  
• The Golden Haze ........................................................................... 58
  
• Part Two: The Avatars ....................................................................... 65
  
• Pagli ..............................................................................................
  
• The Four ......................................................................................... 7
  
• Timeless Artifacts .......................................................................... 83
  
• The Crystal House .......................................................................... 96
  
• A House for Thirteen ................................................................... 107
  
• The Avatars .................................................................................. 118
  
• Chaos Season ............................................................................... 127
  
• Spring Returns ............................................................................. 136
  
• The Summer Avatars ................................................................... 143
  
• Crystal, Gold, and a Shell ............................................................ 163
  
• Departure ...................................................................................... 174
  
• A Sinking Boat ............................................................................. 189
  
• An Encounter ............................................................................... 196
  
• Two Krons ................................................................................... 224
  
• The Water Clock .......................................................................... 240
  
• Afterword ..................................................................................... 250
  
• The Season Avatars of Seasons’ Beginnings ................................ 251
  
• Scattered Seasons (Book Two of the Season Avatars) ................. 252
  
• Other Works By the Author ......................................................... 257
  
• About the Author .......................................................................... 259
  

Seasons’ Beginnings

Book One of the Season Avatars

Sandra Ulbrich Almazan

Copyright © 2014 by
Sandra Ulbrich Almazan

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or trans-

mitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

Sandra Ulbrich Almazan

www.sandraulbrichalmazan.com

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are

a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead,

or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

Book Layout © 2014 BookDesignTemplates.com

Seasons’ Beginnings/ Sandra Ulbrich Almazan
. -- 1st ed.

ISBN 978-1500652548

This book is dedicated to all my friends and family members who

have supported my writing efforts over the years.

CONTENTS

Part One: The Magicians ...................................................................... 7

The Meeting ..................................................................................... 9

Salth ............................................................................................... 16

An Apprentice? .............................................................................. 22

Breaking the Spell .......................................................................... 28

The Magic Institute ........................................................................ 32

A Midnight Visit ............................................................................ 41

The Golden Haze ........................................................................... 58

Part Two: The Avatars ....................................................................... 65

Pagli ............................................................................................... 67

The Four ......................................................................................... 76

Timeless Artifacts .......................................................................... 83

The Crystal House .......................................................................... 96

A House for Thirteen ................................................................... 107

The Avatars .................................................................................. 118

Chaos Season ............................................................................... 127

Spring Returns ............................................................................. 136

The Summer Avatars ................................................................... 143

Crystal, Gold, and a Shell ............................................................ 163

Departure ...................................................................................... 174

A Sinking Boat ............................................................................. 189

An Encounter ............................................................................... 196

Two Krons ................................................................................... 224

The Water Clock .......................................................................... 240

Afterword ..................................................................................... 250

The Season Avatars of
Seasons’ Beginnings
................................ 251

Scattered Seasons
(Book Two of the Season Avatars) ................. 252

Other Works By the Author ......................................................... 257

About the Author .......................................................................... 259

Part One: The Magicians

C H A P T E R O N E

The Meeting

Kron Evenhanded was packing up his many unsold artifacts when a

woman in a scoop-necked dress pushed her way through the crowd and

halted in front of him. She had a grim expression on her face and one

hand behind her back. “I hear you’re a magic-user, stranger.” Her tone

made it clear she didn’t think much of his kind.

“I’m an artificer,” he replied. He waved his hand over his collection:

scraps of wood embedded with pebbles, a couple of bronze mirrors with

words carved into the handles, soapstone figures, cloth bags, and more.

He had the most eclectic merchandise in the city—and the most misun-

derstood. She didn’t seem like a customer, but he had to treat her like

one. “Each of these items is enchanted. Do you want me to demonstrate

what they can do, Dame, or should I make an item just for you—”

“Can any of your items do this?”

She thrust a white, bloodless chicken a thumbspan from his nose.

Kron blinked as he stared at the carcass. Its head was on backward,

melded smoothly to the neck as if the bird had been born like that.

Kron had only arrived in Vistichia a few days ago, but he hadn’t

encountered any other artificers—or other magicians, for that matter.

Many people blamed magicians for the recent plague of disasters that

had inspired Kron to return to his own family in Delns. What if they

blamed him for this? He could end up as dead as the chicken.

He smiled at the woman while wishing his tunic and leggings were

less torn and stained. “That’s not my type of magic, Dame. I work with

made objects, not natural creatures.”

“Well, could this be a side effect of your magic?” she asked.

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Kron shook his head. “None of my artifacts can do that to a living

thing. Where did you find the hen?”

“In my henhouse. She was one of my best layers.” The woman shook

the carcass at him. “We have laws in this city, magician. There’s a fine

for destroying someone else’s property.”

“But Dame, I didn’t—”

“Phebe, that’s enough.” Another woman, younger than the first,

stepped forward, her arms draped with baskets full of bread, vegetables,

and fish. “He’s not that kind of magician. Can’t you tell from looking

at his wares that he doesn’t practice magic on animals? Someone else

was cruel to our poor Mama Hen.” Her gentle voice became grieved at

the final words.

“She was an egg-layer, Bella, not a pet.” But Phebe looked down

and stepped away from Kron’s temporary shop as if ashamed by her

earlier accusation.

He turned to the other woman. She wore a simple white tunic with a

matching headcloth covering her dark hair. Her large eyes, flecked with

green and gold like gems, would have made deer envious. As Kron met

her gaze, she smiled and looked away. He couldn’t blame her; he was

hardly as lovely to look at as she was.

“Thank you, Dame.” He honored her with a slight bow.

“It’s Dama.” Bella smiled at him again, making his stomach feel like

a thousand butterflies were trapped inside. If he remembered the title

correctly, “Dama” meant she was unmarried. The men in this city were

fools to overlook someone this kind and pretty.

Phebe cleared her throat. “I still want to know what happened to my

chicken and who did it.”

Without looking away from Bella, Kron heard himself saying, “I’m

done with the marketplace for the day, Dame and Dama. Perhaps I

might be able to find out who killed your hen.” He picked up a finder.

“With this, I can track magic.”

Phebe didn’t seem impressed, but Bella stared at the finder, a silver

arrow mounted on a wooden base with a cat’s eye gem embedded in a

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corner. Kron wondered if she was sensitive to magic. Only one person

in a hundred possessed enough sensitivity and power to use magic. No

wonder he’d always been so isolated.

Kron packed all of his artifacts except for the magic finder into his

sacks, then followed Phebe and Bella out of the marketplace. A white-

haired woman wearing a midwife’s orange dress waved to Phebe as she

passed, while a youth with a strong resemblance to the midwife winked

at Bella. Kron grit his teeth, but Bella barely glanced at the other man.

She stopped instead at a weaver’s booth to finger finely woven wool.

The weaver, short and dark-haired, seemed even shyer than Bella.

“Not now, Bella,” Phebe said before Bella could ask the weaver the

price.

Bella’s shoulders drooped. Even though Kron already carried a

heavy load, he took a basket from her. Relief shone in Bella’s eyes.

“Who is she to you?” he asked Bella when Phebe was halfway up

the street from them. She led them to an area neither markedly rich or

poor. The houses here were mostly two-story and made of fired brick

strong enough to endure harsh weather, but they shared walls and had

small dirt yards.

“My sister.”

She seemed like a bossy sister. “What about your parents?”

“Both dead in the last plague.”

“I’m sorry.” Kron wondered if that was why Bella wasn’t married