season avatars 01 - seasons beginnings (4 page)

more when Phebe frowned and turned sharply in his direction. Although

he’d thought about visiting Bella, he didn’t want to lead Sal-thaath to

her house to cause more problems.

“So, magician,” Phebe said as soon as she’d worked her way around

the crowd, “you never came back to tell me who or what killed my

chicken. I guess you never found him, did you?”

Sal-thaath giggled, but the women paid him no attention.

Instead of answering, Kron glanced at Bella to see if she was as up-

set with him as her sister was. She still smiled at him, but her lips

trembled. What should he tell them? Should he pretend he’d been un-

successful, or tell them about Sal-thaath? The boy would never learn if

he was never corrected for his mistakes. He had to convince Sal-thaath

to confess and apologize. It was too bad he hadn’t thought to discuss

this with Sal-thaath before coming to the market.

He drew Sal-thaath off. “Sal-thaath, do you remember using magic

on a chicken and twisting its neck backward?”

2 6
·
S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n

The boy nodded.

“Well, that chicken belonged to that woman. It laid eggs for her, but

your magic killed it. You should tell Dame Phebe you’re sorry for hurt-

ing her chicken and that you won’t do it again.”

“Why would I say that?”

Kron stared at Sal-thaath for a few heartbeats, speechless. How

could a child be so callous? “Aren’t you sorry?”

“It was only a double-stupid chicken, Kron. It bothered me, and

Mother always says I should try new things with my magic. Why should

I be sorry that bird can’t peck at me anymore?”

The women had advanced into Kron’s space while he’d talked with

the boy. Now Phebe gasped. “This boy...this boy killed my chicken?

And you’re sheltering him?”

Kron stepped between Sal-thaath and Bella, who stood there quietly,

but with such sadness in her eyes Kron longed to comfort her. “Dame,

I’m not sheltering him. I’m trying to teach him why what he did was

wrong!”

“I don’t care. You owe me for that chicken!” Phebe’s face grew red

as she shook a fist at him. “If you’re his master, it’s your fault—”

“My master!” Sal-thaath laughed scornfully. “Oh, Kron knows a few

things I don’t, but I’m much stronger than him. When I grow up, I’m

going to be the double-strongest magician ever — Mother said so.”

Phebe drew back, eyes wide. Sal-thaath wasn’t done, though. “And

when I’m a double-strong magician, all the Nils will do whatever I

want.” He approached her like a wolf stalking a deer. It should have

been funny to see a grown woman frightened by a boy half her size, but

it wasn’t.

Kron eyed his stock, but finders and enhanced tools wouldn’t stop

Sal-thaath from using magic. All he could do was bluff. “That’s enough,

Sal-thaath,” he said, grabbing at the boy’s shoulder but missing. “Leave

her alone.”

Sal-thaath didn’t even seem to hear him. He stared straight at Phebe,

who didn’t move despite the fear in her eyes. “What’s the difference

Sea so n s’ Be gin n in gs
·
2 7

between a Nil and an animal?” Sal-thaath asked softly, almost to him-

self. “I don’t know. Do you?”

Phebe shrank between one heartbeat and the next, her market-day

dress collapsing around her. A russet chicken poked her head out of the

neckline, clucking confusedly and cocking her head at Kron and Sal-

thaath. Bella gasped.

“Sal-thaath! Change her back this heartbeat!” Furiously, Kron

started to shake the boy, then stopped. His hands clutched air.

Sal-thaath was gone.

C H A P T E R F O U R

Breaking the Spell

Kron made sure the door to Bella’s house—actually, her sister and

brother-in-law’s house—was closed before opening the basket with

Phebe. Still a chicken, she poked her head out, but then cowered inside.

“It’s all right, Phebe. I’m here. I won’t let anyone hurt you.” Bella

crooned a lullaby as she held her hands out, inviting her sister to hop

into her embrace. When Phebe finally fluttered out of the basket to her

sister, Bella turned to Kron. “Kron?” She spoke his name hesitantly.

“Why didn’t you do something to stop your apprentice?”

Kron sighed. “Sal-thaath isn’t really my apprentice. I know his

mother from the Magic Institute, and he likes to visit me because I pay

him more attention than his own mother does.”

“So, he learned how to change people into animals from his

mother?”

“I think so.” He didn’t want to reveal Sal-thaath’s origins to Bella

unless he had to.

“But who’s going to change her back?”

“I will.” He smiled reassuringly at Bella. “Can you keep her calm

while I prepare an artifact? It may take me a while to decide which ma-

terials to use and how to combine them.” He felt in his pouches for

supplies. “Actually, I may need to use some of your own things. My

inventory is limited.”

“Just do whatever you have to do to make Phebe herself again.”

Bella glanced at the water clock in the corner. “But hurry. Troge will

Sea so n s’ Be gin n in gs
·
2 9

be back soon for dinner. He’ll be angry enough if the meal is late. I

don’t know how I’ll explain what happened to his wife.”

Kron examined the household furnishings, weighing what would

make an effective artifact against what the family could spare. They

were neither extremely poor nor extremely rich. The whitewashed walls

were plain, but embroidered pillows and blankets covered the wood ta-

ble and chairs. A few children’s toys occupied one corner of the main

room, while a couple of bronze pots, clay jars, and piles of dried food

surrounded the fireplace. Bella mixed ground corn and a ladleful of wa-

ter for flatcakes, shooing Phebe away as she pecked at seeds on the

floor. All of these objects would have human associations for Phebe,

but most of them were so ordinary they would be hard to enchant.

“Dama?” When Bella didn’t look up, he said, “Bella? Does your

sister have any jewelry?”

She wiped her hands on her dress. “A few necklaces of copper and

beads. But she won’t like it if they’re ruined.”

“A necklace would be perfect. And it should survive being en-

chanted and disenchanted.”

Bella climbed to the upper level and returned a few heartbeats later

with a necklace. Most of the beads were clay; only the center one, tur-

quoise, was valuable. Kron wondered if Bella’s family was really this

poor or if she’d chosen one of her sister’s least favorite necklaces on

purpose. He hoped not, as something she loved would be more effec-

tive.

“Thank you. Now, may I have a few strands of your hair?” he asked.

“Since you and Phebe are sisters, something from you will make the

artifact stronger.”

“Of course.”

She didn’t flinch as she yanked a few wandering strands out by their

roots. She had to be very fond of her sister. Kron told himself to be more

courteous to Phebe in the future—if his artifact worked.

He wrapped the hair around the necklace. He still needed something

else. He could sense intuitively when his artifact wasn’t complete, but

3 0
·
S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n

he couldn’t always tell what he needed to add. Perhaps a container to

hold Phebe...no, he didn’t have anything big enough to hold a human.

A covering, maybe?

“Perhaps a blanket. Yes, a blanket sounds right. Something she

made herself would be ideal.”

“I know just the thing,” Bella said. She climbed up the ladder again

and returned with a wool blanket. “She made it for her wedding.”

Kron laid the necklace and hair in the center of it, then stepped back,

judging what else he needed to do to bind everything together. He found

the spot where the necklace had been joined and broke it apart with a

touch of his finger. Then he wove the string through the blanket and

tied the beads into the fringes in random patterns to disrupt Sal-thaath’s

spell. He inspected the blanket a final time, adjusting beads and hair,

infusing them with his will, until they crackled with magic. “Set her

down in the center of the floor,” he told Bella. While he was tempted to

chant or gesture the way other magicians did, Bella would be more im-

pressed by the swift recovery of her sister than by showmanship. So as

soon as Bella stepped away, he dropped the blanket over Phebe.

The blanket didn’t move, and she didn’t make a sound. Was Phebe

frozen in fright, or was this a stage in her transformation back to nor-

mal? Beside Kron, Bella watched the blanket. Kron couldn’t resist a

glance at her, even though he worried the artifact wouldn’t break the

spell—or have an unintended side effect.

“How long will it take to change her back?” Bella whispered.

“Any heartbeat now.”
If it’ll work at all.
Kron frowned, studying the

artifact. It seemed complete to him. Maybe he needed to try something

else with it, like rub Phebe with it. She probably wouldn’t tolerate such

indignity. Instead, Kron draped the blanket around her like it was a

dress.

The blanket clung to the contours of her chicken body—and then

she was changing, shedding feathers and growing taller. Bella shouted

with delight, but Kron studied Phebe, looking for any residue of Sal-

thaath’s spell. As her beak changed into lips and her eyes became less

Sea so n s’ Be gin n in gs
·
3 1

beady, she turned her head from side to side as if searching for some-

thing. Her breathing became rapid. As soon as the change was finished,

she dove under the table and curled up around herself, making clucking

noises.

Bella squatted next to the table and reached out to her sister. “Phebe?

It’s over. You’re human again.”

She squawked.

Bella looked up at Kron with such worry his heart wrenched.

“What’s wrong with her?” she asked.

Kron brought out his magic-finder, but it didn’t flicker when he held

it next to Phebe. “It’s not remnants of Sal-thaath’s spell.”

Phebe clucked again and crawled about as if searching for a place to

hide.

“Phebe, you’re safe, you’re home.” Bella tugged on her arm. “Troge

will be home soon. Won’t you help me with dinner?”

She pecked at the ground.

“It’s like she thinks she’s still a chicken, Kron,” Bella said. “What

should we do now?”

Why were humans so much more difficult to fix than artifacts? This

wasn’t his type of magic, and Kron knew he couldn’t restore Phebe’s

mind on his own. That meant taking Phebe—and possibly her sister

too—to the one place he’d never expected to go again.

He sighed. “We go to the Magic Institute.”

C H A P T E R F I V E

The Magic Institute

Kron left Bella to dress her sister and keep her calm while he pre-

pared a portal to the Magic Institute in the courtyard behind the house.

When she came out to ask if she should pack supplies for their trip, he

shook his head.

“How long will it take?” she asked. “What do I tell her husband and

her children?”

“The trip will be shorter than the time it takes me to put this to-

gether.” Kron heaped more soil around the base of a pole. “But I have

no idea how long we’ll have to stay there. It depends on who’s left at

the Magic Institute.”

“Is that where you’re from?” Bella glanced back toward the house,

but she didn’t return to her sister.

“I grew up near the Northern Salt Waters. I used to repair my fam-

ily’s fishing net and boats so that they were better than new. After I

survived twelve springs, a passing magician realized I was using magic.

He persuaded me to leave my family and join him on his travels.”

“And he took you to the Magic Institute so you could be trained?”

Bella asked.

Kron frowned at the memories. “No. He kept me with him to make

magical artifacts he passed off as his own. He barely gave me enough

food to fuel both my body and my magic, and while he did teach me

Sea so n s’ Be gin n in gs
·
3 3

things I hadn’t learned on my own, he usually delivered his knowledge

with a slap.”

“You poor man.” Bella crept closer to him. “How did you get

away?”

Kron had wished for her attention, not her pity. He sat up straighter,

trying to make light of his years with Eldhid. “My so-called teacher met

up with another magician as we sailed up the Chikasi River. They’d

both studied at the Magic Institute together. The other magician, named

Milas, knew Eldhid, the one I was working for, wasn’t capable of mak-

ing artifacts like mine. So one night after dinner, as they emptied a

couple of jars of wine, Eldhid let slip to Milas that I was the one making

the artifacts, not him.”

Bella smiled. “And then Milas rescued you and took you to the

Magic Institute so you could become a magician yourself?”

If only it had been that easy. “Close, but not quite. I’d overheard

them talking about me, so I eavesdropped on them when I was supposed

to be sleeping. When I heard Eldhid tell Milas about me, I hoped that

he would take me away from Eldhid. But all Milas did was laugh and