season avatars 01 - seasons beginnings (22 page)

he should still be able to sense them. No matter what magic she used,

he ought to be able to sense it. Could she have moved the portal so that

it wasn’t on its anchors? Kron didn’t think that was possible, and his

reach into Salth’s domain was limited. Unless...Salth supposedly had

the magic of time now. But how could she use time magic to make a

portal?

Kron frowned and let his shoulders droop. “What did you do, mis-

tress of time?” Hopefully the flattery would distract her so that she’d

actually tell him.

Her grin widened. “Ah, you can’t figure it out?”

A pity she had to be too clever to fall for his trick. The Summer

Avatars didn’t speak, but disappointment showed in their eyes. If word

got back to the rest of the Avatars that he wasn’t as intelligent as Salth,

they wouldn’t accept him as their leader, no matter what the Four said.

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Besides, what if Salth figured out a way to send her magic through the

portal? She had to be stopped here and now.

Kron brought out one of his sundials and ran it up and down the

edges of the portal. When he reached the apex, the entire portal wavered

for a few heartbeats. Salth stretched her arm over her head as if to touch

something Kron couldn’t see.

He stepped away from the portal so Salth wouldn’t overhear him.

“The three of you can make plants grow, yes?” he asked. “What about

making something decay?”

The Summer Avatars exchanged glances. “We can try it,” Janno

said. “What do you want us to work on?”

“I think Salth’s concealing the physical supports of the portal by

moving them in time.”

“In time?” Flilya creased her forehead. “How is that possible?”

“She’s an expert in time now,” Kron said bitterly.

“But, time’s what we measure with a water clock or a sundial, or the

moon. What is it that you can move in it?”

“I don’t know. All I can tell you is that she’s using time on that por-

tal, and the only way we can destroy it is by using time against her. So

if there’s any wood in that portal, you can break it down and break the

portal as well.”

Janno crossed his arms. “And if it’s not wood, or anything we can

work with?”

“Then it’ll have to be an artifact, and I can handle that.” Kron

sketched a triangle in the dirt. “Portals are normally made with two or

three sticks. See if you can magically contact them without crossing

into Salth’s territory.”
Only the Four can save you then.
“I’ll keep her

distracted.”

He broke away from the Avatars and charged toward the portal,

brandishing one of his protective devices. As he advanced, it glowed.

Had Salth managed to send some of her magic through the portal? If so,

it might prove dangerous to the Avatars, since none of them were pro-

tected.

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“You won’t get away with this, Salth!” He willed the device to pull

in Salth’s magic.

“And who’s going to stop me, gods under my control?” Salth casu-

ally extended her hand toward the portal. It didn’t pass through, but the

surface rippled as if something had. The Avatars halted. Flilya bore an

expression of fear on her face, as if she expected to be struck down by

Salth any heartbeat.

“The Four are not under your control, stupid woman!” Janno yelled.

Kron winced. Salth would make Janno pay for that comment. How-

ever, he used the distraction to check if any of Salth’s magic had indeed

escaped into Vistichia. There was just a trickle winding its way around

a tree. Perhaps she intended to make it fall on them. Kron nudged Flilya

and pointed at the affected tree. She blinked a few times before stagger-

ing forward to check it. Meanwhile, Salth had sent more magic through,

this time directed at Janno. Kron stepped in front of the Avatar and in-

tercepted the magic with his artifact. The sundial burned in his hand

until he was forced to drop it. Kron shook his damaged hand about and

twisted to take another artifact out of his pouch with his good hand.

A sudden cry from Salth startled him. During the confusion, Carver

had managed to grab the portal—Kron would have to remind him later

about the risks of grabbing magical objects with bare hands – and had

broken it. The window through which they could see Salth shrank, then

disappeared. Kron stood on guard for several more heartbeats in case

she decided to return. Perhaps she’d decided she’d given them enough

trouble for one day, for nothing happened except for his hand throbbing

hard enough to make him long to cut it off.

“The Four didn’t come,” Flilya said sadly, hugging the tree Salth

had enchanted. At least no traces of her magic remained.

“They didn’t need to come because They knew we could handle

her,” Janno said. “That’s why They shared Their magic with us.”

“But is it true what she said about Them being under her control

now?” Carver asked.

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“They can do things Salth can’t—or won’t.” Kron scooped up snow

with his burned hand. The snow provided some relief until it melted and

ran through his fingers. “She’s just trying to trick us.”

Flilya came forward and peered at his hand. “I think I can find some

leaves that will soothe your hand until a Spring Avatar can heal you.”

“Thank you, Flilya. Carver, Janno, can you hitch up my ox without

my help? I need to let Galia and the others know what happened.”
And

make sure Salth isn’t attacking them.

“Of course, Kron,” the men answered.

While the Avatars busied themselves, Kron nudged fallen tree

branches into a portal. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make it large enough

for the ox and his burden, but it would allow him to return home and

check on the other Avatars. Too impatient to wait for Flilya, Kron

dashed through the portal as soon as it was active. He arrived in the

courtyard. “Bella? Galia? Anyone?”

Bella hurried out of the kitchen a few heartbeats later, cornmeal

sticking to her skirt. “Kron? Where are the others?” She gasped. “Your

hand! What happened? Galia, come quickly! You’re needed!” she

called over her shoulder.

“Is there any cold water? I can use that to soothe my hand.”

“Don’t be silly, husband. Why suffer when we have three Spring

Avatars here?” Bella ushered him into the kitchen. It was so hot in there

from baking that his hand burned again in sympathy.

Galia bustled in from a storeroom with a pot. She scowled as she

peered at Kron. “What did you do now? Is my son all right? Where is

he?”

“On the way back with the wood, I hope. After what we went

through to collect it, it would be a shame to waste the trees.”

Galia grasped his wrist and shut her eyes. His own skin tingled as

the redness faded. A few heartbeats later, his hand itched as old skin

flaked off to reveal shiny tender skin beneath.

“Well done,” Kron said as he inspected his hand.

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“Now, tell us what happened,” she said. “And Bella, get me some of

that grain mush from breakfast. A little honey would be good with it

too. Magic gives me such an appetite. I haven’t eaten like this in over

twenty years!”

Kron related what had happened, pausing occasionally to sip a

hearty beer Bella prepared for him. The women Avatars who were busy

cooking and baking drew closer to listen. To spare them worry, Kron

omitted the lies Salth had told about the Four being under her control.

“There’s been no sign of Salth trying to portal anywhere close to

here, has there?” he asked when he was done with his tale—and his

beer.

Bella closed her eyes for a moment. “The birds and cats and rats all

say they’ve noticed nothing like magic – or at least, nothing like our

magic.”

“Are the animals to become Avatars next?”

She gave him a look that was worth a thousand tongue lashings.

“As long as Janno and the other Avatars weren’t hurt.” Galia helped

herself to the last of the beer. “When do you think they’ll return?”

“Is anyone home?” Janno called from the courtyard. “Who’ll help

us unload? We’re short a man.”

Kron rubbed his palms together. His skin still tingled, but he sup-

posed he ought to assist the Summer Avatars. He should make sure

Salth hadn’t returned to harass them after he’d left. The ox had only

been able to haul two logs back to the Avatar’s house, so unloading

them and moving them to a storage area didn’t take long.

“Can you make a portal to the grove so we can finish fetching the

logs before dark?” Janno asked. “The sooner we finish, the less likely

Salth finds us again.”

“She can’t hurt you here,” Galia said. The way she drew closer to

her son suggested she thought otherwise. “The Four will protect us.”

Flilya shuddered. “But she said she controls the Four, since They’re

aspects of time.”

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All of the Avatars who’d come out to the courtyard turned to look at

Kron as if they expected him to know for certain.

“Salth did claim she controls the Four,” he spoke carefully, weigh-

ing every word, “but I’m sure she doesn’t. They are eternal in a way

she’s not, or can ever be. As much as she would like to claim the Four’s

power, that’s beyond her reach.”

Most of the Avatars sighed and relaxed at his words. However,

Flilya still didn’t look convinced. “Then what happened when we be-

came Avatars?” she asked. “Why haven’t the Four returned to us?”

“Spring did return,” Galia told her. “And They haven’t returned be-

cause we’re supposed to take over now.” She scowled at Flilya. “Unless

you admit you’re not fit for the task Summer gave you…”

“Enough of that, Galia,” said Tylan, the third Spring Avatar. He

stepped to Flilya’s side. “If you want to insult a member of my group,

you insult me too.”

Galia flushed, but Kron wasn’t sure if it was in anger or shame. Ei-

ther way, he couldn’t let these emotions run rampant and split this group

even further.

“If you think you work best in groups of four, I won’t tell you oth-

erwise—”

Domina sniffed. “You don’t fit into any of our groups, Kron.”

Bella stepped closer to him and said, “He’s my husband, so he be-

longs in my group.” She glanced at Galia, Janno, and Caye as she spoke,

as if she sought their agreement. Galia and Caye nodded immediately,

but Janno hesitated, nodding only after his mother glared at him.

Kron ground his teeth. He’d meant to establish himself as belonging

to no group, an outsider who could offer them impartial advice. Bella

meant well, but she’d inadvertently done the one thing he’d wanted to

avoid: force him to take sides. Admittedly, he did seem to speak the

most with Galia and Bella, but Galia had acted as an overall leader for

the Avatars until now. This divide disturbed him more than he’d ex-

pected.

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“All of you shouldn’t be so quick to divide yourselves up.” He

glared at all of them—except Bella. He didn’t have the heart to do that.

“The Four have told you over and over again you have to work together

to defeat Salth. Have you forgotten so soon?”

A few of the Avatars blushed and lowered their heads. Domina,

however, had to be defiant. “But we do work better together in the

smaller groups.”

“Have you been practicing as a full group, or in smaller ones?”

Silence answered him.

Kron shook his head. “You’d better start working as twelve, not

three groups of four. Otherwise, Salth will drain the magic out of all of

us before we reach her house.”

Suddenly fed up with all of them, Kron pushed through the group to

enter the house. He headed straight to his workshop and shut the door.

Once alone, he sat on a stool and rubbed his temples. What would it

take for the Avatars to realize how dangerous Salth was? Perhaps the

Four would protect the Avatars while they were in Vistichia, but that

wouldn’t last when they journeyed upriver. Bella knew from experience

what Salth was capable of. Perhaps he should ask his dearer half to tell

the rest of the Avatars how close she’d come to losing her life. If they

knew about that and still insisted on rushing into a battle they couldn’t

win, then he’d have to try to persuade Bella to stay behind, even if that

doomed the rest of the Avatars.

* * *

Nearly two moons passed while Janno, Carver, and Flilya worked

with the shipbuilders. In the meantime, Kron experimented with arti-

facts to protect him and the Avatars from Salth’s soul-trap. He

wandered around his workshop, touching items—hard, soft, smooth,

woolly, and cold—and trusting his training and instinct to lead him to

the proper materials. To protect himself from a magical draining, he

chose a scrap of wool for blanketing and warmth, a nail to channel

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magic away from him, a firestone as a symbol of renewal, and a four-