season avatars 01 - seasons beginnings (27 page)

tive magic into the necklace before draping it over her head.

Bella didn’t wait for permission before examining it. She smiled.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Not as much as you.” He pulled her closer to him, enjoying the feel

of her plump breasts against his chest. “Bella, I know you’re an im-

portant part of our plan to destroy Salth’s house of death, but please,

protect yourself. Don’t hesitate to flee if she attacks, even if I or the

other Avatars are in trouble.”

“How can you ask that of me? Do you think I could live with myself

afterward, knowing I was too much of a coward to save my friends or

my husband?”

“Do you think I like knowing the person I love most is also the one

Salth is most likely to hurt?” He touched the necklace. “I’ve put as

much protective magic into this necklace as I can manage, but against

Salth’s power, that may not be enough.”

“Salth may be powerful, but she’s not half as clever as you.” She

brushed her fingers against his chin. “You saved me once from her. I

have faith you’re as important to this task of stopping her as I am,

maybe more. Let’s forget about her for a while and enjoy being to-

gether.”

Kron pleasured her again, and afterward, she fell asleep in his arms.

Her drowsy warmth and the hushed murmur of the river nearly lulled

him to sleep too, but first he hauled himself out of the blanket—a tricky

thing to do without waking his wife—and set wards around the

campsite. Then he boarded the
Avatar
and set a ward there too. Mag-

strom might be angry at him, but they couldn’t afford to be enemies

when they ventured close to Salth’s territory.

* * *

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Kron started awake, unsure at first what had startled him. Then a

spark flashed by the river. One of his wards had gone off. He raised his

head, searching for whatever triggered the ward. Nothing moved, not

even tree branches laden with snow. The ward winked again, as if it was

trying to trick him. The boat creaked, and something splashed in the

water. Maybe an animal was wandering around in the night, but it

shouldn’t have triggered his ward, especially twice. With a sigh, Kron

pried himself out of Bella’s embrace and left their bed, tucking the blan-

ket around her to keep her warm.

Unwilling to use a light and scare off whatever had triggered the

ward, Kron waited until his eyes had adjusted to the darkness before

heading toward the ward by the boat. They’d tramped around enough

while setting up camp to make trails in the snow. He followed one now,

letting his feet find the path while he scanned the campsite. None of his

other wards had gone off. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe he hadn’t

been as careful in setting up the wards as he’d thought, and this one had

gone off accidentally. But he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep unless

he checked first.

When he reached the boat without further signs of activated wards,

Kron took a stone from his pouch and tapped it. The stone glowed with

enough light for him to see two or three paces in front of him. Kron

examined the ward he’d set on the boat’s hull near the bow, as high as

he could stretch. He’d made this ward using a strand of hair from

Bella’s head, a magic-finder, and a hunk of misshapen copper. The cop-

per had melted and the hair had snapped, both signs that the ward had

been triggered by magic and not accident. Could it have been one of the

Avatars? Kron thought he’d set the ward to recognize the four types of

magic the Avatars used, just as the ward would recognize his own magic

and not react to it. But even if he’d omitted that step, Magstrom’s quar-

tet had been inside the cabin since dusk. They shouldn’t be close enough

to the ward to set it off.

If magic happened around here, then what did it do?
Frowning,

Kron reached for the ward again, but his fingers didn’t touch it. He

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S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n

swung the glowstone around to make sure the ward hadn’t fallen into

the water. No, there it was, just above him. But he didn’t have to extend

his arm so far to touch it.

By All Four, what’s going on?

He touched the ward again to confirm that was indeed closer to him

now, then brought the glowstone closer to examine it. As he did so, he

noticed the wood planks no longer ran parallel to the river, but tilted at

an angle.

The
Avatar
was sinking.

C H A P T E R N I N E T E E N

A Sinking Boat

Kron tilted his head back and roared as loud as he could, “Mag-

strom! Domina! Carver and Sylva! Wake up! The boat is sinking!”

He took the glow stone between his teeth and placed both hands on

the hull. Now that he searched for it, he could tell that magic had been

used to breach the hull on the bottom. The hole was smaller than his

hand, but it resisted his first attempt to seal it.

I need to get as close to it as possible.
Since he wasn’t going to wade

into the icy river, Kron needed to get onto the
Avatar.
But when he

sprinted for the ladder, it had been drawn back onto the boat.

He spit out the glow stone and called again, “Magstrom! Domina!

Wake up and get off the boat before you drown!”

“Kron? What’s going on?” Janno yawned as he approached him.

“The boat—there’s a hole in the bottom. Can you fix it with your

magic?”

“A hole? Now? Which one of the Winters did it?”

“It wasn’t them! It must have been Salth!” Kron grabbed Janno’s

arm and dragged him to the
Avatar.
“Can you feel it? Better yet, can

you get the ladder? It’s on deck, and I need to get on board.”

“Only you would be crazy enough to board a sinking boat,” Janno

muttered. But he laid his hands on the wood.

“Can you feel it?” Kron asked.

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“What, the ladder? No. But I can feel the hole.” He grimaced, his

face looking monstrous in the low light. “It’s like the wood rotted away.

But I cut that tree myself. I know the wood was good.”

“Never mind that now. We need to board the ship and get the other

Avatars off.”

Janno grinned. “I should be able to get their attention.”

“No, I’ll do it,” Bella said behind them.

Kron turned to face her. “What are you doing here?”

“Your shouting woke us up.”

Sure enough, Galia and Caye plodded toward them. Kron felt guilty

he’d disturbed them, since they needed rest. But they might still be able

to help him.

“What’s wrong with the boat?” Bella asked. “Why is it tilting like

that?”

While they’d been distracted, the boat had sunk another handspan.

Why weren’t the other Avatars awake yet? Were they really stubborn

enough to shut themselves in the cabin while their ship sank, or had

they been spelled by the magic that had broken through the ward?

“The boat’s been sabotaged,” Kron said. “We need to wake the other

Avatars and get them off.”

“Oh, that’s easy enough. A few flea bites in sensitive areas should

get them going.”

One of the advantages of having a wife with a gift for animal magic

was that she’d discovered how to repel lice and fleas from their clothes

and bed. Kron would have expected Sylva to know that trick too, but if

she was sleeping, then she wasn’t actively protecting herself or the other

Avatars. Kron couldn’t help but grin at the thought of Magstrom’s

nose—and other areas—getting bit. Then he looked at the boat again.

This situation was too serious for jokes.

“Janno, can you do anything about that rotten wood around the

hole?” he asked again.

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“I...I don’t know. The wood’s not alive anymore, Kron. It was easier

to work with when it was fresher. Isn’t this boat like one of your arti-

facts now?”

“Yes, but I need to move closer to the damaged area. Can you get

the ladder, or maybe make one?”

“Let me see what I can find.”

Janno retreated to the bushes at the same time as Magstrom finally

bolted out of the cabin, followed by the other Avatars.

“Kron!” Magstrom shook a fist at him. “By All Four, what are you

doing?”

“Trying to save you and the boat! You get off and let me get on!”

When he stood there, glaring at Kron as if he’d wrecked the boat,

Sylva grabbed his arm. “Do as he says, fool! Can’t you feel we’re taking

on water?”

“I’m sure he did this,” Magstrom said. However, Carver grabbed the

ladder and lowered it.

About time.
Kron stuffed the glow stone back in his pouch and

climbed by feel, not sight. The ladder tilted for a heartbeat, and he

gripped it tightly, trying to brace himself against the side of the boat so

he wouldn’t fall over. Then the ladder steadied, and he hurried up as

quickly as he could.

As soon as Kron landed on the deck, he reactivated the glow stone.

Magstrom stepped in front of him before he could start searching for

the hole. “What did you do to the boat? You know the Four wanted us

to sail the Chikasi, not use your portals. Are you trying to force us to do

things your way?”

Kron sighed. He didn’t have time for explanations, especially when

he’d already given one and been ignored.

“Ask Janno what happened. Better yet, find me something water-

proof I can use as a patch. Carver, I might need your help with the

wood.”

Galia’s voice drifted up to them. “Janno, let me climb up there.”

“Mother, the boat’s sinking!”

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“It won’t with Kron here to fix it.”

At least one of the Springs believed in him. Kron let the conversation

fade into the background, like the water rippling under the ice, and

headed for the bow of the boat. Janno and the boat builder had laid a

deck over the hull of the boat instead of simply building the cabin right

on the hull. Kron had first thought the design extravagant and wasteful,

even though the boat builder had assured him the trapped air would help

keep the boat afloat. Now he appreciated their expertise. Without the

deck, the boat would be sinking even more rapidly than it was. How-

ever, the deck also blocked the hole in the hull. He might have to

remove part of the deck to fix the hole.

“Someone fetch my pouch and tools, please.” Kron paced back and

forth, narrowing down the area where the hole was. He was very close;

if he strained his ears, he could hear water bubbling up into the air space

between the deck and the hull.

“What else should we do?” Sylva asked as she handed him this

pouch.

“Leave the boat, of course.” Kron knelt and listened. Yes, the hole

was right below him.

“Isn’t there anything we can do to help?” Domina asked. “Do you

want me to freeze the water so it stops coming in?”

“Freeze all of the water? That could break the boat!”

“That’s not what I meant. I could create an ice cap over the hole.”

Kron glanced at Domina. “Do you really have that much control?”

“Of course!” She’d draped herself in a blanket, and her hair was

loose of its normal elaborate style, but she still seemed not just deter-

mined, but fully restored.

“Then do it.” If she could manage the ice cap, it would give Kron

more time to seal the hole. He still hadn’t found anything that could

work as a patch.

Domina knelt next to him. Kron ran his fingers along the planks,

searching for the pegs that held them together. When he found one, he

summoned it out of the plank with his magic and set it aside. Three

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more pegs followed rapidly, but the plank was so well shaped it fit in

snugly next to the other ones, as if all the boards had grown like this in

the tree trunk. He pressed against one end, but the board remained stuck.

Kron pulled a knife out of his pouch and outlined the board with the tip,

sending thoughts of separation through the blade. This time, he was able

to pop the board out of the deck. Cautiously holding the glow stone over

the opening, Kron peered into the air space.

A stench both magical and mundane assaulted him. Part rotten fish,

part spoiled egg, and part blood and death, the odor presented a barrier

almost as strong as the planks of the boat. Kron wished Galia was here

to block his sense of smell; it would need healing after he was done. For

now, he gripped his robe in his teeth and drew it up over part of his face.

The protections he’d placed on the cloth didn’t remove the bad smell

completely, but it did filter out part of the odor, confirming Kron’s

guess that Salth’s magic had contributed to it. If only he could fix the

hole as easily.

He had to get down on his stomach and press his head against the

deck to see the hole—or rather, Domina’s ice cap. It glinted against the

dark water like silver in a pile of rocks. He maneuvered so he could

stick his hand into the air space. Only by moving to the edge of the