seer. That way, he could tell if it still existed. It might also give him
some clues about the state of Salth’s house—and Salth herself.
Kron closed his eyes as he reached through the grass rope and water
again, searching not just for the far-seer, but anything man-made, in-
cluding Salth’s house. He found that easily enough, but it had changed.
The walls were no longer wood or marble, but replaced by crystal, puls-
ing blue and red and yellow and green. Even stranger, he couldn’t sense
any breaks in the crystal. How did Salth enter or leave the house?
Maybe she was trapped inside—no, she was too clever to let that hap-
pen. He couldn’t sense anything inside the crystal structure; it was
impervious to his senses, both magical and mundane. He had to get
closer.
1 0 4 · S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n
He grabbed the braided coil as he stood up. He cracked the rope like
a whip, but at the instant it was perfectly straight he hardened it and
sharpened the edges. He was no soldier, but he’d watch them train often
enough that he could figure out how to use a sword. Salth wouldn’t
expect him to attack her with a weapon instead of magic.
Kron pressed onward, feeling as if he was walking uphill despite
being on level ground. More magic at work. He tried to gauge exactly
what the resisting magic felt like. Not a wall, not a go-away-I-don’t-
want-to-be-bothered impulse that would divert magicless people away,
not even a blast of fear. No, this was a draining, a sapping of his
strength. If he wasn’t wearing spells in his clothing, by now he wouldn’t
be able to take another step. Kron frowned. What would happen to
someone who wandered by unprepared for this trap and got caught in
it?
A few more steps forward, and he had his answer. In the bare dirt—
even the grass was gone here—lay a wizened body. From the clothes,
it appeared to be a goatherd. He’d fallen forward with his arms stretched
out in front of him, as if he’d found a new god to worship but had been
judged unworthy.
I’m always cleaning up after Salth these days. Kron prodded at the
ground, but it was too hard to dig out a grave. Instead, he retreated to
pick a few armfuls of grass and strew them over the body before con-
tinuing.
The next body, short enough to be a woman’s, covered a child’s
body as if vainly trying to protect it. Bella would weep if she saw this.
Kron grit his teeth as he eased the bodies over. The woman’s arms were
so tightly clenched around the child, dressed in a beaded leather tunic
similar to her mother’s, that he couldn’t separate them without damag-
ing the bodies. He hadn’t been able to protect these people from Salth,
and now he couldn’t even give them proper funeral rites. Kron threw
the last of his enchanted arrowheads to the ground, but they rose and
circled him like a hive of enraged bees ready to kill.
Sea so n s’ Be gin n in gs · 1 0 5
“What are you doing, Salth?” he screamed into the sky. “Why are
you killing these innocent people? They have nothing to do with you!
Leave them alone!”
He half-expected her to appear. Instead, the arrowheads grew big-
ger, losing their sharp edges as they became metal ingots. Their original
state. By the Four, Salth turned back time. If she was as strong as the
Four, how much of the world could she reverse?
The ingots sagged, as if Salth had to carry their combined weight
physically. While she struggled with them, Kron willed the tip of his
whip to burn hot enough to melt metal. He cracked his whip at an ingot
and set it on fire. As it melted, he realized that had been a mistake.
Flaming drops of metal were easier for Salth to manage than the heavier
ingots. The metal coated him from hair to sandals, burning him wher-
ever they directly touched skin. Hastily he wiped his face with the
sleeve of his robe. The enchantments woven into it quenched the heat,
but his face still felt stiff and raw.
Kron had no choice but to retreat, but the thought of another defeat
where so many had perished lit anger inside of him. Yes, Salth had al-
ways been more powerful than him, but he supposedly had the gift of
star magic too. Salth had unexpectedly done him a favor by transform-
ing the arrowheads into another manmade shape. He could manipulate
them too, and he had more experience with this type of magic than she
did.
The rest of the ingots drifted toward him. Kron dropped his whip
and reached out for them with both hands. They came to his call the
way Bella’s birds obeyed her. As he caught each one, he infused it with
power and redirected the target back to Salth’s crystal house. If he could
shatter it, perhaps he could handicap her magic. However, the first two
bounced off of the crystal and flew toward him with murderous intent.
He flung the rest—with similar results—then raced toward the portal.
If he had more time, he could try re-enchanting the ingots, but for now
he poured the rest of his energy into his sandals so they would carry
him at the fastest speed flesh could bear.
1 0 6 · S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n
As soon as he reached the portal, he hurried through it, remembering
to collapse it an instant before he passed out.
C H A P T E R T W E L V E
A House for Thirteen
“Thank the Four Gods and Goddesses you didn’t get yourself
killed.” Galia poured more beer on his wounds. It stung as if she was
trying to kill him herself. “No one would have known where you were,
let alone be able to fetch you.” She clicked her tongue. “Magic door-
ways indeed.”
“They do work, Galia,” Bella said as she wrung out her washcloth.
“I’ve traveled through them myself.”
Kron eased himself into a sitting position. He hadn’t expected his
trip to Salth’s realm the night before to have taken so much out of him.
If I’m somewhere between humans and gods now, shouldn’t I have more
stamina, or heal faster? Then Bella wouldn’t have had to fetch the mid-
wife to mend me. He had planned to share his news only with Bella, but
once his wife told him Galia was also going to be an Avatar and would
know everything she knew, he couldn’t come up with a graceful excuse
to keep silent. Given how much Galia had questioned him between
treating his wounds, he wouldn’t have been allowed to hide what he’d
been doing anyway.
“ The portals are not the problem,” Kron told the women. “It’s
Salth—and maybe Sal-thaath. I couldn’t confirm that she is Time, but
she’s doing something. And I have a witness who saw a boy in the area.”
1 0 8 · S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n
Bella let her rag splash into a bowl of water. Her face grew pale, and
she leaned against the wall. “Are you sure, Kron? You didn’t see either
of them.”
“But what I saw—the sterile land, the dead people—fits with what
she originally planned, as well as what I saw at the Magic Institute.”
&n
bsp; “That’s a place where people go to learn magic?” Galia asked.
“Not anymore.”
“Then I guess we’ll need to practice our new magic on our own,”
she said.
Kron suppressed a cringe. Beginning magicians could make the
worst mistakes. He knew that from experience. Someone would have
to tutor these new Avatars, and he had a feeling it would be him. But
he’d deal with that later, once they actually had magic. If they were
going to get magic. He hadn’t seen one of the so-called gods lately. Had
They been real?
“I’m sure Kron will help us after the ceremony tomorrow,” Bella
said. “Won’t you, dearest?”
Trapped, he could only nod.
“Does this mean the gods are still around?” he asked.
Both women stared at him as if he’d asked a question a child could
answer.
“Of course They’re around,” Galia said. “They’ve been appearing
all over Vistichia, performing miracles. Haven’t you seen Them?”
“I’ve been busy making artifacts. And traveling.”
“I guess Fall visits Bella when you’re gone, then.”
Kron looked at his wife. “Is that true?”
She tilted her chin. “There’s nothing wrong with it. She’s teaching
me some of what I need to know to be Her Avatar.”
“But She seems so…young!”
Bella’s smile faded. “She’s much older inside, poor girl.”
“I don’t think She’s the one I need to talk to anyway. When I met
the Four of Them, Winter and Spring did most of the talking. Where
would I find Them?”
Sea so n s’ Be gin n in gs · 1 0 9
Spring manifested in the center of the room. She didn’t use a portal,
and no other magical effects accompanied Her arrival. Bella didn’t even
notice Her at first; she only turned around after Galia did. Both women
curtseyed as if meeting a queen. Kron could have managed a bow if he
exerted himself, but he wasn’t sure yet if Spring was worthy of one.
“Actually, it’s always easier for Us to find you,” Spring said, “espe-
cially when you’re in the company of Our Avatars.” She brushed Her
fingers over Galia and Bella. “So, what did you find?” Wisps of golden
hair fell over Her eyes as She gazed at Kron, but there was still enough
mystery there to make him uneasy—and irritated.
He pushed himself into a sitting position. “Don’t You already
know?”
“I’d like to know what you think is going on.”
“Something…evil. And deadly. But I’m still not sure Salth is Time.”
“Then what would convince you?”
A direct confrontation with Salth, without any dead bodies or spirit-
inhabited objects interfering. What did those things have to do with
Time anyway?
“We think there is more to Salth than manipulating time,” Spring
agreed with his thoughts. “But though We have seen her crystal house
and the ... energy it contains, We are not sure what she intends to do
with it. She has managed to shield part of her domain from Our obser-
vation, and that worries Us.”
Bella bit her lip. “Does Kron have to go back there? It sounds like a
horrible place. What if she attacks him again?”
“We do not think Kron should go alone next time,” Spring replied.
“You two and the rest of the Avatars will accompany him.”
Both women gasped. Anger gave Kron the energy he needed to rise
from the bed. He wavered on his feet, but his voice was steady as he
said, “I will not lead helpless innocents into danger, Spring!”
“You won’t be.” She sounded amused, which infuriated him. She
held up a hand before he could protest. “After tomorrow, Our Avatars
1 1 0 · S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n
will wield a portion of Our magic. They will assist you in shattering that
crystal house of Salth’s.”
Kron’s first impulse was to claim he didn’t need anyone’s help, least
of all that of a dozen novice magicians. Instead, he asked in a carefully
neutral tone, “What will they be able to do that I can’t?”
“Your magic is linked to artifacts, or things you create or alter. Their
magic will be more in tune with the natural world.” Spring gestured
toward the window. Her stack of golden bracelets clinked together.
“Gaila and My other Avatars will be able to heal people; Summer’s
Avatars will tend to the plants, Bella and the other Fall Avatars will take
care of the animals, and Winter’s Avatars will control the weather. In
addition, My Avatars will also have the ability to link with the other
Avatars so they can share and magnify their magic. We plan for all of
them to work together to make Our domain one where mortals can live
in peace and prosperity.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Kron said sourly, “but what good will that
do against Salth, or Time, or Sal-thaath?”
This time, Spring didn’t answer immediately, but stared into the cor-
ner of the roof as if it held more answers than spider webs.
“Salth’s domain is severely out of balance,” She said softly, “And
since you, Kron Evenhanded, had a role in upsetting it, you will be re-
quired to set it right.”
“And how do I do that?” He stepped toward her. “What kind of ar-
tifact should I create?”
She faced him and shook the hair out of Her face. Her exposed eyes
were pure black, no whites or irises. Gazing into them was like looking
into the night sky and beyond, into something so vast as to make Kron
feel insignificant. Who was he to question such a one as Her, Someone
who had experience beyond his understanding? How did he dare even
breathe in Her presence? His vision narrowed. He needed to escape be-
fore he lost himself in the darkness. But then he remembered Bella. He
couldn’t lose himself; he needed to return to her. He pictured her face,
and the darkness retreated.
Sea so n s’ Be gin n in gs · 1 1 1
Kron found himself facing Spring again. Her eyes were veiled, but
he could still the weight of Her gaze on him, studying him. She nodded
Her head a fraction. “You would have survived Ascension, had you at-
tempted it,” She told him.
“I don’t think I would have wanted it, whatever this Ascension is.”
She laughed, and the room smelled like spring flowers. “I can’t an-
swer your question without changing the balance of power. Besides,
I’m no artificer. Use the skills you and the Avatars have, and you will
find a solution.”
“And if we don’t?”
“Then try another. Salth may claim she is the mistress of Time, but
We Four understand eternity. We see much farther ahead than she
does.” Spring turned to Galia and Bella. “Farewell until tomorrow, dear
Avatars—and you too, Kron.”
She vanished as quietly as She’d come.
Kron let out a long breath. He still didn’t have any answers about
Salth, but at least now he was certain Spring and the rest of the Four
were, if not what They claimed to be, more than human. He would be
honored to have Them as allies, even if that meant traini
ng Their ava-
tars.
“What did you see when you looked at Her eyes?” Galia asked.
“Darkness. Not evil, but something unknowable.”
“Ah.” She sighed. “She won’t let me look into Her eyes.”
“None of Them will,” Bella said. She slipped closer to Kron. “So,
does this mean we will be traveling to Salth’s realm after all?”
How could he tell her he would be happier if she stayed safely at
home? At least he could delay the trip. “No one will be traveling any-
where until you prove you’ve mastered your magic.” That could take
moons, even years.
“I hope it won’t be by portal,” Galia muttered. She packed some
medicines in a woven bag. “Since you seem to be recovered, you should
come with us to our new quarters and explain to the others who this
Salth is and what we’re supposed to do.”
1 1 2 · S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n
“New quarters?” It took Kron a few heartbeats to recall that Bella
had mentioned they would be expected to live with the other Avatars.
He hoped this new house was big enough to allow them some privacy,
but he wasn’t sure where they could find such a place in Vistichia.
“Yes, near the palace. It used to belong to Judge Tyr.”
Kron frowned. Tyr had had a reputation of taking bribes. He’d been
found dead a couple of moons ago, with his family and slaves gone.
“How is that possible?”
“The Four arranged it for us,” Galia replied. She surveyed their
house. “Perhaps you could bring some of your belongings over and start
moving in. Otherwise, someone else, like Domina, will pick the best
room. I’m surprised Bella hasn’t packed more.”
A flush crept over Bella’s cheeks. “Kron’s been so busy with his
artifacts and travel that I haven’t wanted to bother him.”
“Well, I see no reason to repeat my trip to Salth’s domain any time
soon, so now’s as good a time as any to see these new quarters and meet
the rest of the Avatars.” Kron stretched, surprised how full of energy he
felt now. A gift from Spring, perhaps? “I’ll be in my workshop.”
***
Kron hadn’t thought he had so many artifacts and raw materials, but
it took the rest of the day to pack and transport everything to their new
home. It would have been easier to prepare a portal between the two
season avatars 01 - seasons beginnings Page 12
