season avatars 01 - seasons beginnings (18 page)

in order?”

Kron’s magic-finder, already glowing its strongest, snapped as an-

other figure materialized out of nowhere.
Salth.
Everything about her

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had changed, from her face, bare of tattoos, to her feet hovering above

the ground. Bella let out a faint cry and squeezed Kron’s hand. He

stepped in front of her to shield her if necessary. But for once, Salth

ignored him as she faced the Four. Fall and Summer advanced as if

They meant to circle around her, but when she raised her hand, They

halted.

“You’re not allowed to attack Me, are You?” She smirked.

“We don’t want to unleash Our power here, surrounded by all the

humans,” Spring said.

Next to her, Summer cleared His throat. “But what you don’t under-

stand—”

Fall stepped forward, a feral expression on Her face. “Is that you’re

in Our domain now—”

“And while what We rule is more limited than your domain, We

have absolute rule here,” Winter finished.

They raised Their hands, but before They could join together, Salth

shouted, “And who rules the seasons but Time Herself?”

“If you really ruled time, you could make it run backwards and undo

your worst losses,” Spring said calmly. “But you don’t dare Ascend, do

you?”

Salth let out a hiss, then spoke in a language Kron didn’t understand.

The air grew so cold it was painful to breathe. Bella shivered as she

clung to Kron. One of the golden sundials he’d created fell out of his

pouch and clattered in the stillness.

Salth turned toward him as if orienting on the sound. But before she

could move, she and the Four vanished, leaving a breeze in Their wake.

“What happened?” “Where did They go?” “Did They take her with

Them?” “They must have defeated her!” The Avatars spoke over each

other, making it hard for Kron to tell who was speaking.

“Do you have any idea what just happened, Kron?” Bella asked.

“No.”
Other than Salth was about to attack us. Did the Four really

take her away? They seemed reluctant to finish her off. I don’t think this

is over.
He surveyed the area to determine if Salth and the Four had

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truly gone elsewhere or relocated away from the humans. No sign of

any of Them was visible.

“What should we do?” Galia asked. For the first time since Kron had

met her, her voice quavered like the old woman that she was.

What could they do? Kron weighed the options. They could wait

here, return to their new home, or search for the Four. The last option

he dismissed; the Four could go to places no human, however magically

gifted, could access. The Four also seemed able to find the Avatars no

matter where they were. Since the ceremony seemed to be over, there

was no reason for any of them to be here any longer.

“We may as well go home...”

The gentle breeze turned into a gale that attempted to blow his

clothes off of his body. Several bystanders who’d watched the cere-

mony staggered and fell to their knees. Fruit tumbled off of carefully

arranged displays, and a cart full of caged chickens started rolling

through the middle of the marketplace, straight for the Avatars.

C H A P T E R F O U R T E E N

Chaos Season

A few of the common people bolted or screamed. Even some of the

Avatars froze. “Get out of the way!” Kron shouted. When Caye didn’t

respond, he grabbed her arm and dragged her away before the runaway

cart could knock her down. It passed them to smash against a ware-

house. A few cages burst open, freeing their occupants. Other cages

tumbled out, and the birds inside protested with caws loud enough to

give Kron a headache.

“Don’t you have magic of your own now?” he snapped at the Ava-

tars. “Do something!”

“Do what?” countered Domina.

“Don’t you have weather magic? Well, use it! Stop the wind!”

As if the wind wasn’t enough, hail as big as Kron’s thumb pelted

them. The rest of the onlookers dashed for safety. However, a little girl

got separated from her mother and was knocked down by people run-

ning away. No one stopped to help her.

“Poor child.” Galia held out her hand as she approached the now-

crying girl. “Let old Galia see. I won’t hurt you. I just want to help.”

“Mama! I want my Mama!”

“Hush now, we’ll find her. Here, let me see that bruise. See, it’s

nothing.”

As Kron watched, a purple mark on the girl’s forehead faded away.

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Galia really is a magical healer now,
he thought with astonishment.

Domina, Caye, and a man named Ocul stood in the center of the

marketplace. Kron couldn’t hear what they said, but Domina and Ocul

waved their arms around as if they were arguing with each other. Caye

stood off to the side, her eyes closed. Although the wind tossed market

goods around, the trio’s clothes and hair lay motionless. They were all

devotees of the God of Winter; perhaps He had gifted them with

weather magic. Kron pushed his way against the wind to them. Once he

entered the wind-free area, it was easy to hear what Domina and Ocul

were saying—maybe too easy.

“We should go ahead and tame the weather!” Domina said. “That’s

what He would want us to do!”

“But what if He comes back and is angry with us? Worse, what if

we do something wrong?”

“I think Caye’s already trying to tame the weather,” Kron said. “And

I think you two should stop arguing and help her.”

Domina and Ocul turned to stare at him. Caye opened her eyes for a

heartbeat, then closed them. “How am I supposed to do this?” she whis-

pered. “I can feel the wind, but I can’t grasp it.”

“You can’t grab the wind, fool,” Domina said. “You have to com-

mand it, like this.” She gestured, and the wind died for a heartbeat. Then

it howled and flung gravel at her. Domina coughed and shielded her

face. Then she narrowed her eyes, glaring as if that was the key to con-

trolling the weather.

“Magic will try to test you if you let it,” Kron said. “Aim for firm,

but not too demanding. The more you try to control magic, the more

difficult it can be. Let it flow naturally.”

The women stared at him as if they had no idea what he was talking

about. But he couldn’t see Bella anywhere, so he couldn’t spare them

any more time.

“It’ll come to you,” he said as he turned away.
That is, if you really

are ready for it.

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“Bella?” he called. “Where are you?” Maybe she’d gone to help the

chickens. The wind blew against Kron as he fought his way to the ware-

house where the cart had turned over. The free chickens huddled under

the cart, while the caged ones still squawked. Still no sign of Bella.

However, the warehouse door was open. Maybe she’d sought shelter in

there. He peeked inside to find his wife dragging two caged chickens

inside.

“Bella, what are you doing?” he asked.

“I have to get them out of the storm! Could you help me?”

He automatically fetched two cages before he realized that he didn’t

know who owned these birds or the warehouse. Furthermore, this

wasn’t solving the bigger problem, that of the storm. Bella was sup-

posed to have animal magic now, not weather magic like Domina,

Caye, and Ocul. Still, there had to be something else she could do–and

he.

“We should go back to the other Avatars,” he told her as he dropped

the cages. The birds squawked at his rough handling.

“Why? Have the Four returned?” Bella glanced around before whis-

pering, “What about Salth?”

“I haven’t seen any of Them.” It seemed right to rejoin the rest of

the group, even though he’d always worked alone before and didn’t

know the Avatars very well. At least Bella would be safer with the other

Avatars.

“What do you think happened to them?”

“Who, the Avatars? I know the Winter Avatars are trying to calm

the storm—”

“No, not them, the Four.” Bella’s eyes glowed in the dim light.

“How long would it take them to defeat Salth? I thought They would be

more powerful than her, especially since there are four of Them and

only one of her.”

“They told me once They couldn’t fight Salth directly because They

are so powerful. Others around them would get hurt.”

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“But what if giving us magic weakened Them? What if something

happens to Fall?” Bella smiled painfully, the expression not matching

the fear in her eyes. “I know I shouldn’t worry about someone far wiser

and more ancient and powerful than me, but I can’t help it. She’s so

much like a real little girl, Kron.”

Maybe she was a real girl, once.
Was it possible for a human to

become divine if given enough magic? Kron struggled to remember if

the Four had told him that, but he wasn’t sure.

He shook his head. “We can’t help the Four, but we can help the

people of Vistichia—”

“And their animals.”

“And their animals too. Come, Bella.” He offered her his arm. “Let’s

go see what else we can do to help.”
And see if you have magic now too,

and what you can do with it.

Kron could tell as soon as they’d left the warehouse that someone

had done something about the weather. The wind had ebbed to a stiff

breeze, and the clouds overhead were slowly breaking up. Perhaps one

or more of the Winter Avatars was doing it. Winter Himself would have

restored good weather in a heartbeat. He glanced over to where Caye

and Domina had been standing, but he didn’t see them. Ocul, however,

stared up at the sky. Was he using magic? Kron didn’t want to interrupt

him if he was, but he did want to know what had happened to the

women.

Bella closed her eyes for a few heartbeats. When she opened them,

she said, “Caye and Domina are with Galia and some of the other Sea-

son Avatars. They took shelter in one of the marketplace booths. I think

it sells spices; there are a lot of strange scents.”

Kron looked around, but he didn’t see a spice merchant. “Strange

smells? I can’t smell anything with the wind blowing so hard.”

“There’s a cat close to the Avatars,” Bella said. “I’m getting the

scents from her.”

Kron gaped. He’d never heard of a magician who could manage that.

“How?

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“I ... I don’t know. If I try, I can see what she sees, hear what she

hears, and even smell what she smells.” Bella wrinkled her nose. “But

I don’t think cats and humans enjoy the same types of smells.”

“Never mind that. Can you take us there?”

Bella spun around in a circle, then led him to a section of the market

he seldom visited. He followed her, watching to see if she displayed any

other animal traits. He hoped the Four would return so They could ex-

plain exactly what type of magic They’d blessed—or maybe cursed—

the Avatars with.

Caye, Domina, Galia, and the other Avatars weren’t actually in a

spice stall, but they were next door to one. They sat in the middle of a

vegetable stall. Caye and Domina devoured carrots and beans, shovel-

ing them into their mouths as if they hadn’t eaten in a moon.

Galia smiled apologetically when she caught sight of Kron. “We

were all so hungry,” she said, “and I don’t know where the stall owner

is. Maybe we can barter our magic later to pay for the food.”

“I’d say we earned it already, getting rid of the wind,” Domina said.

“You did it, and not the Four?”

Caye nodded, looking away before he could encourage her to speak.

Domina reached for a dirt-covered turnip, scowled at it, and bit into

it anyway, dirt and all. “Caye and I struggled with the wind on our own.

We couldn’t feel anyone else interfering with the weather.”

Kron frowned. “No one? No one at all?” Too many people already

occupied the stall, so he paced in front of it. “But it didn’t seem like a

natural storm.”

Caye glanced up. “Maybe someone set it in motion, then stepped

back.”

“That might be possible,” Kron said. “Could you feel any magic in

the storm?”

“How would we know what magic feels like when this is the first

time we’ve experienced it?” Domina asked crossly.

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Kron had to acknowledge she had a point. He wasn’t sure if their

magic worked differently from his, but he had to attempt to teach her

anyway. He grabbed a potato to illustrate.

“For me at least, when I try to tell if an object has already been en-

chanted, I can learn a lot by touching it. Sometimes it seems to quiver

under my hands.” He shook the potato back and forth. “But touching an

enchanted object can be dangerous. If the enchantment is really strong,

I can feel the energy coming off the object before I touch it. I can also