season avatars 01 - seasons beginnings (9 page)

down, you’re afraid of handling magic directly. And that’s why you’ll

never be able to do this.”

She crossed her fingers as she glared at him. Kron felt his tunic and

trousers tighten around his limbs, but after a couple of heartbeats, his

clothing loosed as they neutralized the magic she’d thrown at him.

Kron grinned at Salth. “Sometimes I don’t need to wield magic on

the spot.” Maybe that would confuse her enough to let him enchant the

second magnet.

She narrowed her eyes. “Pre-set spells won’t protect you against

everything.”

The air in front of him thinned so much he could no longer breathe.

Kron fought down his panic and grasped the other magnet in his pouch.

Feed what your mate takes from Sal-thaath into...into the ground!
The

ground had to be immense enough to absorb the magic of one small

child, no matter how powerful he was.

“Mother, what are you doing to him?” Sal-thaath asked.

“Taking away the air he needs. He should pass out soon. Then we

can use his power to help us capture the magic of the golden haze.”

Kron obligingly collapsed, making sure he fell next to Sal-thaath.

How would the child react to his mother’s plan? Would he object? They

were supposed to be friends....

“That’s a good idea,” Sal-thaath said. “He always wanted me to do

things I didn’t want to anyway.”

Even though Kron had expected the betrayal on some level, it hurt

more than he’d expected. He didn’t dare speak or react, but he squeezed

his eyelids tightly, trying to hold his rage and grief inside. Maybe this

child was unreachable. If so, draining his magic was the best thing Kron

could do.

Salth grumbled. “The magic in Kron’s clothes won’t let me lift him

magically. You’ll have to help me.”

“I’ll grab his arms,” Sal-thaath said.

Perfect.

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6 1

Kron continued to lie still and fight off his growing dizziness until

Sal-thaath grabbed him under the armpits. His hand was still inside his

pouch, so he opened it, allowing a passageway for the first magnet to

fly out and attach itself to the boy’s forehead. Kron’s pouch ripped,

spilling everything as the second magnet broke a hole in the floor and

disappeared.

He roused himself enough to say, “This is for your own good, Sal-

thaath. ”

Sal-thaath screamed and fell to the floor, landing on his side. The

cloth ball Kron had given him escaped from his tunic and rolled into a

corner. The boy didn’t appear to be hurt at first, but then his face aged

until he appeared older than Kron’s grandfather. His body withered, his

hair fell off, and his skin darkened. Kron stared in horror. This wasn’t

supposed to be a side effect of his artifact. The swollen magnet emitted

a mosquito-like whine as it turned red. Sal-thaath drowned out the

whine as he howled. He rolled from side to side and pulled at the magnet

with all twelve digits.

“What did you do to him?” Salth screamed.

Kron gasped for air. “I just neutralized his magic.”

“You fool! He
is
magic! You’re killing him!”

Sal-thaath shifted back to normal, then aged again. What did grow-

ing old have to do with his magical legacy? Kron would have liked to

question Salth about that, but there wasn’t time. He’d created the en-

chantment; he should be able to banish it. But as Kron reached for the

artifact on the boy’s head, it pushed his hand away.
What? This

shouldn’t be possible.
Kron tried to mentally pull the magnet off of Sal-

thaath. Again it didn’t respond.

“Salth, a magnet, a crystal, anything else I can use on that artifact?”

He felt around in his pouch but found only the hole made by the other

magnet. “I can’t touch it directly.”

Sal-thaath’s convulsions ceased.

Salth was instantly at Sal-thaath’s side. “Get it off of him!” She

reached for the magnet and scowled as her hand stopped before she

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

could grab it. Her arm trembled as she pushed forward, but it didn’t

budge.

Sal-thaath opened yellowed eyes. Some remote part of Kron’s mind

noted the child now had only five fingers on his hand.

“I…I hurt, Kron,” Sal-thaath whispered. “Why did you hurt me?”

“I never wanted to hurt you, Sal-thaath. I just wanted you to be

someone I could be proud of. ”

A final breath left the boy's mouth, then he fell still. The magnet

dropped off.

Salth keened as she picked up the body of her son. “There must be

a way to undo death!”

Kron numbly reached for the magnet, so warm he could feel its heat

a foot above it. Sal-thaath had been malicious, but he hadn’t deserved

to die in pain and confusion.

“Sal-thaath, my son, forgive me,” he whispered.

Salth’s keens stopped. “Your son? He’s my son, all mine! I’ll take

your life for his!”

She dove at him, but Kron gripped her arms and kept her from

clutching his throat. Her eyes glowed, and she whispered a few sylla-

bles in a language he didn’t recognize. Air fled from his lungs and out

of his mouth. When he tried to breathe, nothing entered his nose.

What did she do? How did she bypass my protections?
Panic made

it hard for Kron to think of a way to counter whatever spell Salth had

managed to work on him. Perhaps she would succeed in killing him and

sending him to the next world. Would Sal-thaath be there, or would his

unnatural origins mean he lacked a soul?

The light in the room grew brighter. A sign of his approaching death,

or something else? Salth seemed to notice the light too, and she let her

attention slip from Kron long enough for him to let him put his hand to

his throat. Salth’s spell weakened enough for him to gulp in a mouthful

of air.

“I knew it!” Salth turned her face upward and raised her hands as if

she meant to grab something sent from the heavens. Light collected

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6 3

around her. “But you’re too late. Is this enough magic to turn back

time…time…time…?”

She knelt and draped herself over her son’s body, covering him com-

pletely. More light gathered around her until it seemed to form a shell

over Salth and Sal-thaath.

What is she doing?
Kron found himself able to breathe normally

again. However, he’d attracted a few particles of light. Fearful they

would harden around him too, he tried to swat them away. His hands

passed through them—or did they pass into him? If they did, they were

more intoxicating than the finest wine. His head buzzed with ideas for

artifacts more complicated than anything he’d ever made. If he were

back at the Magic Institute or even Vistichia, he could spend all day

contemplating these ideas. But he needed to rescue Bella and portal

away while Salth was distracted—or disabled.

Kron retrieved the magnet and used it to remove both spells on

Bella. The greedy artifact reached out for the golden light next.
Enough

of this.
Kron attempted to deactivate the spell he’d placed on the mag-

net, but it proved harder to disrupt than he expected. He had to reach

out for the rest of the golden magic to disable the magnet. Despite the

difficult task, his own internal store of magic seemed replenished.

Strange, but useful.

Come with us, Artificer,
a strange voice whispered in his head.
Come

with us to See the Unseeable.

Not now! I have to rescue Bella.

The voice didn’t respond.

Bella blinked and moved her head from side to side, as if searching

to see where Salth and Sal-thaath were.

“We’re safe for now,” Kron whispered, “but we need to leave

quickly. Can you stand?”

She nodded, and he helped her to her feet. She clung to him tightly,

but he didn’t mind. No matter what Sal-thaath, Salth, or any other ma-

gician thought about Nils, he had saved someone precious.

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

Some of Kron’s guilt and grief for Sal-thaath faded. He had pro-

tected those who needed him. And he’d do it again if he had to.

Holding Bella close to protect her from the cold, Kron pushed again

though the portal to Vistichia.

Part Two: The Avatars

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

Pagli

Once again, Kron sat in the marketplace at the end of the day by

himself, but that was because Bella had gone off to barter her duck eggs

for a shawl. He only had a few unsold items to pack, so while he waited

for Bella and any final customers, he set a ward on his selling space and

crossed to the other side of the square. The woman who brewed and

sold beer smiled at him as she strained it into a drinking bowl.

“You’re lucky I have anything left,” she told him. “It’s been a busy

day for me too. Thanks to the God of Summer, though, my hops and

barley are growing splendidly. I can hardly wait to harvest them so I

can brew my best batch ever.”

Kron sipped his beer. “This is already good. But what do you mean

by the God of Summer?”

She laughed, not unkindly. “You don’t pay any attention to anything

other than your lovely young wife and your artifacts, do you? You

should come over here and gossip more often, so you can learn what’s

going on in Vistichia.”

“I’m not that isolated. I see how everyone is happier now that the

old city-king is gone. The council takes less tribute from everyone, so

people have more to barter with.” Kron swallowed some more beer.

“It’s good for all of us.”

Crows-feet crinkled in the corners of her eyes. “Do you know why

they reduced the tribute?”

Kron shook his head.

“The Four appeared to the Council and demanded it.”

He handed the bowl back to her. “Who are the Four?”

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

“I thought you might know, seeing as They can do magic. They

might even be stronger than you.”

It was a good thing he’d finished his drink, or he’d have spat it out

in surprise. “They are? Who are they, and where do they come from?”

“That’s the thing. No one knows. No one even heard of them until

last moon. But then, They’re gods and goddesses, not humans, so I sup-

pose They came from somewhere beyond this world.” She gestured

toward her jar of beer. “More?”

“No, I’d better stop. What do you mean, they’re gods and god-

desses? How do you know they’re not just powerful magicians?” Kron

spread his hands. “My teachers at the Magic Institute said until we could

figure out the limits of human magic, we would never be able to tell

where magicians left off and gods began.”

“They can do miracles, Kron. Oh, I know your finders and other

artifacts are marvelous, but you can’t make seeds sprout and bloom in

an instant, can you?”

“My magic works best on manmade things—”

She continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “And the God of Summer cer-

tainly doesn’t look like a normal person, what with His green skin and

all.”

Kron felt like he might turn green himself, but with worry, not envy.

How had he not noticed the presence of such powerful magicians

sooner? What did they want here? Was Bella safe?

His ward pealed an alarm as a familiar but unexpected voice called

out, “Kron Evenhanded, what are you doing here? I thought you’d be

in Delns by now!”

Kron turned. Pagli waited at the boundary of his space as if he came

to the marketplace in Vistichia all the time.

“Pagli!” Here was one magician he didn’t have to worry about. He

crossed the square to greet his friend. “What are you doing here? I

didn’t even know you knew this city well enough to portal over! How

long are you staying? You have to come to my house and have dinner

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with us! My wife—” Kron still enjoyed being able to say that—“bakes

a fine flatbread!”

“I’d love to.” Pagli glanced at the artifacts set out on a blanket—and

sniffed. Illness, or contempt? He’d never disdained Kron’s magic be-

fore. “Though with your magic, I’d have thought you’d be living in the

palace complex by now, serving the city-king.”

“You know I never sought to serve power. Common people need my

talents too.”

The air stirred at Kron’s words. His magic-finder, which had started

glowing with Pagli’s arrival, flared, then cracked.

“I need you too.” Pagli reached under his cloak. “I found an artifact

unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Could you identify it for me?”

“Of course. Where did you find it?”

“Someone dropped it off at the Magic Institute.”

“Dropped it off? They didn’t want to trade something for it?”

“Oh, of course they did.” Pagli spoke quickly. “First they asked for

healing. Then they wanted a love potion, even though I told them no

one actually made such things. Then they asked for a gold nugget the

size of your thumb. I finally gave them that to get rid of them.”