exhausted.”
She probably was too, even if she didn’t admit it. But while she
made good points, the thought of lingering anywhere in Salth’s domain
Sea so n s’ Be gin n in gs · 2 1 5
made Kron uneasy. If she found them before they were ready, they
would have thrown their lives away for nothing and left Vistichia and
the rest of the Four’s domain vulnerable.
“Only if I decide it’s safe to stay here,” Kron said. “I’ll return as
soon as I can with the others. Guard the portal while I’m gone.”
Bella hadn’t disembarked, so Kron swiftly returned to the boat to
tell her he was leaving. She kissed him and said, “Bring back another
set of furs if you can. It’s cold.”
“I think Caye and Domina don’t have the strength to keep the cabin
warm anymore. There’s wood, so you can make a fire and have a hot
meal.” He lowered his voice. “And we can share a blanket tonight.”
She grinned, and that was enough to keep the cold at bay as Kron
descended back to the portal. He attached the blinded eye artifact on top
of it, then pictured the courtyard of the Avatars’ house and stepped
through.
His face broke out with sweat as he changed location. Caye and
Domina had spoiled them with warm air during the journey, but the air
and light here felt as bright as springtime. An apple tree bore ripe fruit
out of season. Kron walked a wide berth around it in case that was
Salth’s doing. Then he reminded himself that the Four had limited
Salth’s influence in the city, and she wouldn’t set up anything this pleas-
ant. It could still be a trap. But if it is, why haven’t these Avatars taken
care of it?
Kron ventured into the kitchen. “Flilya? Hala? Are you here?”
They weren’t, but embers glowed in the hearth, and the scent of ris-
ing bread filled the air. They must expect to be back by dinner. I could
wait for them here, but then we won’t be able to portal back until dark,
and it’ll be too late to go anywhere tonight. Where could they have
gone?
Kron retrieved a magic-finder from his abandoned workshop and
keyed it to the Avatars. As soon as he left the house, he saw crowds of
people everywhere, talking, preparing food, playing music, and eating
as if a festival was going on. The spring feel he’d noticed earlier in the
2 1 6 · S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n
courtyard was still here. By the Four, had these Avatars decided to do
away with the Season of Winter? Kron wondered what the god Himself
would think of that.
A maiden approached him with a ring of flowers. She tried to drape
them over his head, but he waved her away. “Could you tell me if the
Season Avatars are receiving supplicants today?”
She smiled. “No, not today.”
“Then where are they?”
“Why, they’re at the temple, of course, getting ready for the cere-
mony of season change.”
“Where’s the temple?” How much had Vistichia changed while they
were gone?
“In the old city-king’s palace, near the center of town.”
Kron thanked her, then turned and made his way as fast as he could
through the crowd. Unfortunately, no one else seemed to be in a hurry.
They strolled along in colorful lightweight clothes, making Kron feel
more out of place in his wool and fur garments. Stubbornly, he kept
them on. Soon enough he’d drag the other Avatars back to winter.
The crowd thickened as he approached the palace-turned-temple. It
had been built on a hill, and stone steps led up to a partly exposed porch.
He asked a bald man next to him where the Season Avatars were. The
man stared at Kron as if he were a stranger. “They’ll come out when
they’re ready,” he said. “About noon, I would say.”
Noon? I left close to dawn! At this rate, we won’t return to the grove
of trees until nightfall. He had to enter the temple and convince the Av-
atars to cancel this ceremony and come with him. However, the front
steps were blocked off, and watchmen with trained dogs paraded back
and forth. Kron approached the closest watchman. As the dog came to
attention, hair bristling along its spine, he said, “I need to get through,
please.”
“No one’s allowed up here.”
“But I’m Kron Evenhanded. I’m married to one of the Fall Avatars.”
Sea so n s’ Be gin n in gs · 2 1 7
The watchman laughed. “There’s only one Fall Avatar, and you’re
not her husband.” He scowled. “No go away!”
Only one Fall Avatar? How could the people of Vistichia have for-
gotten us already? The trip hasn’t been that long! Kron would have a
lot to discuss with the Avatars once he managed to meet them. But first
he needed an artifact that would enable him to pass both man and beast.
If he made himself invisible, the dogs would still be able to smell and
hear him. Could he outrace them or fly over them? Those seemed like
a waste of magic. Perhaps a simple distraction would suffice, and he
could do it with a piece of metal.
Kron took out the fire starter and twirled it around. The strange metal
resisted his magic at first, but after a few heartbeats, it yielded and dis-
played four other images of himself. The dogs might be able to sniff out
which one of him was real, but Kron hoped that if the artifact scattered
sound as well as images, the dogs would be confused enough to let him
through.
He positioned himself off to the side, between two watchmen, and
ran up the stairs. His doubles copied his every move. Shouts of “Look
at that!” “Who is he?” and other words Kron couldn’t make out rose
from behind him. More importantly, the watchmen both cried out,
“Halt! This area is off limits!” and ran toward the duplicates. The dogs,
still on their leashes, strained against their masters’ holds as they
pointed unerringly toward the real Kron.
If only I had meat to distract them. Could he conjure it? Meat wasn’t
something he normally used in his artifacts, and he didn’t have any bone
pieces in his pouch. Perhaps a carved disk of ivory would be close
enough. Kron rubbed it, flung it behind him, and put more effort into
climbing the stairs even faster. He couldn’t help gasping, conscious of
the years he had over the younger guards. But the scent of roasting meat
wafted into the air, nearly tempting him to turn around and find the
skilled chef preparing the food. A dog whined as its master yelled at it.
Kron reached the top of the temple and slipped behind a column to catch
his breath. He caught sight of one of his doubles doing the same, so he
2 1 8 · S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n
banished it, since it was no longer needed. Perhaps he’d been too quick
to dismiss it, as a set of footsteps pounded on the marble steps. What a
time for someone to do his job properly. Well, the sooner he found the
Avatars, the sooner they could cancel this ceremony so they could join
Bella and the others.
Kron squeezed into a narrow opening and checked his magic-finder.
/>
It glowed brightly, pointing toward the center of the temple. The corri-
dors here twisted into various storage rooms, making it hard for him to
navigate to the center even with the help of his magic-finder. Kron won-
dered if the watchman would follow him or report immediately to the
Avatars. Perhaps he would be better off trying to shadow his pursuer.
After running through dust and spider webs, Kron finally emerged
into an open space at the center of the temple. He froze as he saw the
Avatars. Although the trip upriver had taken less than half a moon, they
seemed as if they’d aged a bit more than that in the meantime. However,
they’d compensated by dressing in silks and jewels that Domina would
envy. Ocul stared overhead as if studying a cloud pattern on the ceil-
ing—or wondering how his beard had grown so much. Tylan stood with
his arms crossed as the watch man gestured. Hala petted the watchdog,
and Flilya turned around, faced Kron, and gaped.
“By All Four Gods and Goddesses, what are you doing?” Kron
asked as he stepped forward. “We’ve sailed up the Chikasi as far as we
can. Now it’s time for your four to portal back with me so we can march
to Salth’s house.”
Everyone turned to stare at him now. The watchman struggled to say
something, but Tylan held up his hand for silence.
“Kron Evenhanded, is that you?” he asked. “What happened to the
others?”
“They’re fine,” he replied, puzzled. “They’re waiting for you by the
boat.”
“What took you so long? Was the trip hard?”
He shrugged. “A few things happened on the way, but it wasn’t too
bad for a winter journey.”
Sea so n s’ Be gin n in gs · 2 1 9
“But it’s the first day of spring,” Tylan said, “We’re here to honor
the Four with a special ceremony. We call it the soltrans.”
“The first day of spring? It can’t be. We left during the first moon of
winter.” The Avatars stared at Kron with pity, and his hands trembled.
“I know we did.”
“Yes, Kron, you did.” Tylan dismissed the watchman with a wave.
“But we had no word from you for two moons.”
Kron was silent as he replayed the journey in his head. He was sure
they’d been traveling for twelve days, not a single heartbeat more. How
could the Avatars have gotten the time so wrong? He sucked in his
breath. “Salth. That cursed woman...or whatever she is....Come, Ava-
tars, we must hurry! If Salth managed to breach my protective artifacts,
the rest of the Avatars are in danger!” Bella, Bella, beautiful Bella....
“But the soltrans...” Tylan said.
“Freeze the soltrans!” The others gaped at him, but Kron continued,
“The Four asked you to take care of Salth, not create rituals for Them!”
Tylan pointed at Flilya and Hala. “Go ahead to the house and get
things ready. We’ll be there as soon as possible.” Kron glared at him,
but he said, “We promised the people a ceremony. If we cancel it, it will
cause more problems. I swear, Kron, we’ll keep it as quick as possible.”
Hala shook out her hair. “And if you don’t, Tylan, next time you
perform in costume.”
Tylan shuddered.
“Costume?” Kron wondered as the women led him to a flight of
stairs descending into the temple.
“When Tylan proposed this soltrans,” Flilya said, “we said since we
were doing this on behalf of the Four, we should each dress up as our
God or Goddess. Tylan would have had to dress like the Goddess of
Spring.”
Hala shook her head. “That would be an insult to Her.”
Kron didn’t join in their banter. How could Salth have created the
time distortion between her land and Vistichia? More importantly, how
2 2 0 · S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n
much time was passing for Bella and the others, and what was happen-
ing to them? He reminded himself that he’d given the Avatars
protection before he left, so Salth shouldn’t know where they were. That
was, if they didn’t make a big display of their magic, or if she didn’t
have some way of tracking all living things in her domain. But if she
was the mistress of time…
Kron stumbled and had to brace himself against the wall. The Four
had said before that Salth wasn’t able to pass the final test that had al-
lowed Them to Ascend into godhood. Maybe that meant she didn’t have
complete mastery of time, despite her extensive talent and experience
with magic. He still had a chance to return to Bella before Salth could
hurt her. But how? What did he need to do?
“Come on, Kron.” Flilya unbarred a door leading to an underground
tunnel. The air felt close and damp. “I thought you were in a hurry.”
The tunnel was shorter than he expected, but it brought them far
enough from the crowd to escape without notice. Food vendors called
to them as they ran down the street, but for once the Avatars didn’t
seems to care about eating. Kron couldn’t run as fast or as long as the
women, especially after his earlier sprint. A sense of urgency propelled
him on without rest. By the time the house was in sight, he wished Galia
had come with him to give him a second wind. However, he pointed to
the apple tree and gasped. “We must be careful. Salth may have left a
trap for us.”
“No, I did that,” Flilya said. She turned red under Kron’s stare and
added, “Well, we were out of apples, and it seemed like a good way to
practice my magic.”
“Never mind.” Kron sank down on a bench. “You two go ahead and
gather supplies. We may have to stop somewhere overnight, so be sure
to bring bedding. Extra food and water would be good. I’ll stay here
and catch my breath.” And figure out if there’s any way my artifacts can
counter Salth’s talent with time.
While Kron waited, he studied the garden. No sign of the portal was
visible from this side, and he panicked for a heartbeat. He could rebuild
Sea so n s’ Be gin n in gs · 2 2 1
the portal, but it shouldn’t have closed like that. A new portal would
have to be stronger, resistant to time. The trees wouldn’t work. The
stone wall, however, might. It would only provide one side of the portal;
he needed more stone to form the other side and the top. All he could
see was a statue of a dancer with her arms overhead. He couldn’t lift
her, but maybe he could make her move of her own accord.
He’d sat long enough to be able to breathe normally again, so he
walked between the prickly bushes surrounding the statue. Then he
grasped the statue’s buttocks and pushed. The stone resisted his physi-
cal efforts, but once his magic poured into it, the dancer extended first
one leg, then another. With surprising grace, she leapt off her pedestal
and flattened a bush. Kron took her by the arm and guided her into po-
sition. She had to bend over to form an arch with her neck and arms.
Kron and the other Avatars would have to stoop to pass through the
portal, but it was worth it to have something Salth wouldn’t be able
to
tamper with.
Now, is there any way I can use Salth’s time magic against her, or
at least undo it? A water clock, I need a water clock.
As he hurried into the house, Hala came out with a bulging sack.
“Where is the water clock?” he asked.
She closed her eyes. “In the kitchen, opposite the hearth. Why bring
that, Kron?”
“I’m not going to bring it. I’m going to destroy it.”
“Destroy it?”
“Well, maybe just alter it.”
The water clock was where Hala had said it would be, but no one
had filled it recently. Kron rolled the jar outside, next to the portal. He
paused for a heartbeat, then knelt, touched the jar, and fused all the
holes. “Now we can add the water.”
Hala shook her head. “We had plenty of other jars in the pantry. You
could have used one of those.”
“But not for this magic.” He glanced around. “How much longer
will the other Avatars be?”
2 2 2 · S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n
“Flilya’s still packing. I don’t know where Ocul and Tylan are.”
“Can you use animals to check on them?”
After a few heartbeats, she replied, “The birds report that the crowd
by the temple is breaking up. But they can’t tell people apart, so I can’t
use them to track how close Ocul and Tylan are to us.”
At least they shouldn’t have to wait much longer for the other Ava-
tars. Kron rested, reserving his power, while Hala filled the water clock-
turned-artifact with water from the well. Magic bubbled up inside him.
Perhaps power wouldn’t be an issue in the upcoming battle with Salth,
but knowing how to use it would be.
Ocul and Tylan returned heartbeats before Flilya dragged the last of
her supplies—how did she suppose they would carry them all?—out of
the kitchen. She wiped her hands with an air of satisfaction. “That’s
food for everyone,” she said, “and I have things for them too.” She nod-
ded at the two male Avatars.
Kron stood up and stretched his back. “Then I suppose we can leave
immediately.”
“Right now?” Tylan asked. “We should—”
Kron didn’t care what Tylan was about to propose. “You two should
help me push this artifact through the portal.”
Despite the resentful expressions on their faces, they assisted him.
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