season avatars 01 - seasons beginnings (6 page)

Kron’s eyes widened. “So, this event—it could affect Sal-thaath?”

“It’s possible.”

Kron couldn’t think while he was sitting, so he rose and paced the

length of the alcove. A magical event could change Sal-thaath’s

power—or even his nature.

“I should probably tell her what Sal-thaath did, though I doubt she

would care,” he said.

“Excellent.” Pagli studied his wine. “And then you can report back

to me.”

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“Then what will you do?”

Pagli lowered his glass. “Obviously, Kron, it depends on what you

tell me.”

* * *

The water level in the jar dropped two holes before the healer re-

turned with Bella and Phebe. Bella was smiling, and Phebe walked

normally instead of hopping, so the healer must have been successful.

If only Kron’s effort had worked completely, so this trip wouldn’t have

been necessary and Bella would be grateful to him.

“Kron! She’s better! Phebe’s herself again!” Bella danced forward,

face extended toward his. For a wild moment, he thought she might be

bold enough to kiss him, but she pulled back before committing herself.

“Thank you, thank you for all you’ve done for us!”

Phebe gave her sister a sharp look before giving Kron a tight smile.

“Yes, Kron, thank you. I would like to go home now, though.”

“I’ll guide you back to the portal, Dame.” Kron suddenly remem-

bered Phebe’s family might have found it. While he didn’t think they

would go through on their own, he hoped they hadn’t destroyed it. He

didn’t know the courtyard well enough to make another portal directly

to that location.

“I’m glad your mission here was successful, Kron,” Pagli said. “And

don’t forget about what I said.”

Kron led the women back to the portal. Before crossing through,

Bella asked, “Kron, will we need to bring these magicians any goods in

trade for their help?”

He shook his head. “No, that won’t be necessary. I’ll pay them back

in information.”

Which meant he had to return to Salth as soon as possible—to-

night—whether she welcomed him or not.

C H A P T E R S I X

A Midnight Visit

At Bella’s insistence, Kron paused long enough to eat with Phebe

and her family—a tasty meal, but one made uncomfortable by everyone

staring at him and asking him questions about magic—before taking

down the portal in the courtyard. Then he returned to his shelter and

studied his collection of materials. Salth wasn’t likely to be forthcoming

with information, so he might learn more by studying her unobserved

for a while before revealing himself—assuming she didn’t detect him

first. Maybe he should bring some protection along too in case she be-

came hostile. Weaving cotton into his sandals ensured no one would

hear his movements, and he already had a cloak enchanted to make him

difficult to see. He renewed the spell on it, then, for good measure,

swept a collection of nails, pottery shards, and other small items into a

pouch, which he tied at his waist. If he needed to, he could enchant them

into weapons or something else that was useful.

When Kron couldn’t postpone his departure any longer, he created

a secret portal to the spot where Sal-thaath had taken him. The sun had

set, so it was difficult to make out landmarks, but the river’s murmuring

and silhouettes of trees helped to orient him. Kron crossed through the

portal, then paused to consult his magic-finder. Traces of magic every-

where, most likely Sal-thaath’s trail. He couldn’t tell if Sal-thaath or his

mother had set up magic wards to detect another magician—or any hu-

man, for that matter. It was safer to assume they had done so. Kron felt

through the items he’d brought with him, enchanted a pottery shard to

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magically resemble a human, and threw it toward Salth’s house. When

nothing happened, he felt his way forward, then repeated the process. If

he was going to trip a ward, better to let a shard do it. However, he made

it to the threshold without incident. He backed off, then circled the

house. Salth would undoubtedly have set up some protection or ward

here. He tried to locate the ward with his magic-finder, but again he

couldn’t tease it out from Sal-thaath’s own magic.

Kron scratched his chin as he thought about how to outwit the ward

when he wasn’t even sure what or where it was and what it would do.

Whatever artifact I use, it has to keep things exactly the same so the

ward doesn’t warn Salth or Sal-thaath. Perhaps a mirror would work,

to reflect the magic back at the ward. Do I have any polished bronze or

glass?
He searched his pouch by feel. Eventually he found a silver coin.

Under his touch, the metal warmed, spreading out and softening, eras-

ing the king’s seal. He took the metal out of the pouch and let it expand

until it formed a ring large enough to go around his waist. He slid it

over his head and pushed it down until it fit snugly around his waist

without hampering his movement. Taking a deep breath, Kron crept, a

step at a time, up to Salth’s door. When nothing happened, he pushed

at the door. It was blocked on the other side, but Kron coaxed the bar to

slide back and let him in.

The fires had been banked for the night, but light still glowed from

Salth’s study. Kron listened over his unnaturally loud heartbeats. Two

sets of faint, regular breathing, one lighter than the other, answered him.

He smiled; even Salth had to rest sometime.

Salth and her son slept on a pile of reeds next to the fireplace. Sal-

thaath clung to her as if she was the only source of safety in the world.

Kron had never seen her look so peaceful, and he watched the pair for

a moment, wondering if Bella would be so tender to a child of their own

someday, before remembering his mission.

The sight-enhancer was still aimed out of the window. Kron crossed

the floor and peered through it. Stars beyond number revealed them-

selves to him. He blinked, about to look away and examine Salth’s

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scrolls, when something else caught his eye. Beyond the stars was a

golden haze, like a shower of sunshine in the middle of the night. Kron

didn’t spend much time using his sight-enhancers or viewing the night

sky, so he wasn’t sure if this was normal or not. But when he shifted

the sight-enhancer to look at another group of stars, he didn’t see the

golden shimmer. Frowning, Kron returned the sight-enhancer to its pre-

vious position and unrolled the scroll Salth had been writing in. She’d

first noticed the golden glow in the sky last moon. It had been so faint

at first she’d thought it was a mistake, but every night, it grew a little

stronger. She predicted that if it kept getting brighter, it would be visible

without the sight-enhancer within a moon.

“As to what happens then,” she wrote in her tightly cramped sym-

bols, “no one can know for sure. But I suspect what we see is magic, or

a source of magic, and if so, I mean to study it and use it for my own.”

What for, Salth? What do you need so much power for? Do you want

to lead the Magic Institute, or your own country? You don’t even like

being around other people!

Kron unrolled her scroll to see what else she’d written, but he

bumped into the sight-enhancer and knocked it into the wall. Salth

jerked in her sleep, then sat up. Panic filled Kron’s belly with a storm,

and he wrapped the cloak around himself. He must not have covered

himself completely, for instead of settling back down to sleep, Salth

blinked her eyes.

Maybe I can convince her this is just a dream.
Kron felt in his pouch

for something suitable for charming, but the clinking of his materials

made her blink more rapidly.

“Kron? Are you real?” She extracted herself from Sal-thaath’s grip.

“What are you doing in my house in the middle of the night?”

Kron took a deep breath, trying to calm his inner storm. Maybe he

could distract her. He did have another reason to be here besides spying.

“It’s Sal-thaath.”

The boy stirred, but he didn’t wake.

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“What about him?” Her voice was sharp now; she was awake, but

not hostile—yet. “He can’t be hurt. He’s never been hurt.”

“He hurts others, Salth! He cast a spell on a woman earlier today,

making her a chicken in mind and body. It took us two separate attempts

to break his hold over her.”

She grinned as she gazed at her son. “Yes, he has strong magic.”

Kron slapped the table, making her inkpot jump. “Is strong magic

all you care about? What about control? Sal-thaath is a menace. No

child should have so much power. He has to be contained before he kills

an entire city with a thought!”

“And here I thought you liked the boy.” Salth trudged over to the

farm part of her house and returned with a shallow bowl of a bitter-

smelling drink. She drank half of it, stared at Kron for a few heartbeats,

and slowly offered it to him. Coming from her, it was a generous ges-

ture, but the unfamiliar beverage made him refuse.

“I’ve heard nothing but ‘Kron says this’ and ‘Kron says that’ for

days,” Salth continued.

He has been listening to me?
Kron struggled to keep his surprise and

delight from showing on his face. If that was the case, why hadn’t Sal-

thaath listened in the marketplace? Something was off here, like trying

to assemble an artifact without some vital component. He’d have to talk

to the boy later and try to figure out why he was acting like this.

“And while I do appreciate you keeping Sal-thaath company,” Salth

continued, “I don’t want you teaching him things I don’t agree with.”

“Such as compassion and respect for other people?”

“People who will never be able to do what he can, people whose

only purpose in life is to work for others greater than themselves and to

make more servants?” She touched one of the tattoos on her cheek.

“Such people die faster than flies, Kron. One of them isn’t worth much.

Only when you have many of them do they add up to something with

value.”

She sounded as if she was already a city-queen. If she really had

been a ruler, some of the places Kron had traveled to would consider it

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blasphemy or treason to contradict her. Kron hadn’t been born to a rul-

ing family, or even a magic one. He’d spent much of his life with what

Salth would call ordinary people and couldn’t dismiss them so easily.

But he knew he’d never convince Salth of that while she isolated herself

in her house-palace.

“How many ordinary people have you met, Salth?” he asked. “If you

walked through a marketplace, or sat in a tavern and listened to musi-

cians and storytellers, you might see they have their own gifts too.”

“I don’t have time for that.” She glanced sideways at the sight-en-

hancer. “I’m busy with a very important ... project.”

The golden haze. Even if she’s right that she can sip magic from the

stars, is it worth trying? How could she control such power? And if she

can, what would she do with it?

This was definitely something that Pagli would want to know about,

but Kron couldn’t wait to report back to him before doing something.

If her project did involve the golden haze, then perhaps if he altered the

enchantment in the sight-enhancer, she wouldn’t be able to claim this

magic from the stars. All he had to do was touch the instrument for a

moment to make whatever she saw through there appear farther away

than it was.

“Do you want me to check your sight-enhancer then, to make sure

it’s working properly?” His conscience stung him a bit, since he’d be

ruining her equipment instead of repairing it, but Salth and her son

didn’t need more access to power.

Salth shook her head, then narrowed her eyes. “Perhaps you should

first explain how you managed to enter my house uninvited.”

It would be hard to veil his true intent from Salth now that she was

fully awake. Kron tried anyway. “I told you before, Sal-thaath caused

mischief in the market earlier, so I thought you needed to hear about

it—”

“But how did you enter my house?”

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For a moment he was tempted to say Sal-thaath had let him in, but

he didn’t want to see the boy punished unjustly. Kron raised his head

proudly. “Maybe artifacts are more powerful than you realize.”

“Really? Then why did you join the fishes last time?” Salth’s eyes

turned blood red, a trick that might have terrified someone unaccus-

tomed to magic. “You’re annoying me. I think it’s time you joined the

little people you’re so fond of.”

The air battered down on Kron as Salth attacked. He pushed back

with all of his magic, drawing on skills he hadn’t used since he left the