season avatars 01 - seasons beginnings by sandra ulbrich almazan

would find
    practical: bowls and jars enchanted to keep food fresh and pest-free,
    tools that wouldn’t break, and even a few toys that could move on their
    own. None of those would help him. His most ingenious creation, a
    carved bird that could fly, was back at the workshop. He could summon
    it to bring him something small, but nothing useful came to mind.
    Kron kept eye contact with Pagli—or whoever was pretending to be
    Pagli—and said, putting as much scorn into his words as he could man-
    age, “What, this thing? This is nothing next to all the traps I set on the
    tomb of that queen three years ago. Do you remember?” At the same
    time, Kron searched in his pouch for something, anything, he could en-
    chant. His fingers touched the rough edge of a broken chain link,
    discarded as useless. All it was now was a hole surrounded by metal.
    But maybe a hole wasn’t useless….
    “The queen’s tomb. Ah yes, I remember. There was a pit trap at the
    entrance, right?”
    “No, Pagli.” Kron willed true vision into the chain link. “There was
    no pit trap, or queen, or tomb. But the real Pagli would know that. So,
    by my true love’s eyes, who are you?”
    Sea so n s’ Be gin n in gs · 7 1
    He drew the chain link out of the pouch and held it up to his right
    eye. Kron closed his left eye and peered through the link. Pagli’s image
    wavered for a couple of heartbeats, but it didn’t disappear. Instead, his
    skin took on a waxy sheen, his eyes developed a glazed-over look, and
    his body odor became more prominent—and more rotten.
    Kron dropped the chain link in horror. This was the real Pagli, but
    he was dead. How could he still be moving and talking? Had Pagli’s
    ghost come back to wreak revenge on Kron for some forgotten crime,
    or was somebody abusing his corpse?
    “Get away from me, abomination!” Kron grabbed a bowl and altered
    its enchantment to create a fuelless fire in the bowl. It wouldn’t last for
    long, but it would destroy poor Pagli’s body and hopefully bring peace
    to his spirit.
    Pagli—or whatever force was animating his body—hissed, then
    threw the cursed sundial at Kron. It happened so quickly he didn’t have
    time to dodge, only attempt to catch it in the bowl. The flame leapt
    higher to consume the sundial, but although the sundial was wood, it
    resisted the fire and passed through to graze Kron’s hand. It felt like ice
    in his veins. Kron dropped the bowl, letting the flame die, and cradled
    his hand. Liver spots bloomed on his skin, and his hand grew thin and
    skeletal. They won’t be calling me “Evenhanded” anymore. Was it go-
    ing to spread?
    Foreign magic passed through his defenses and surged within him
    like a wave. The advancing signs of age disappeared.
    “Hold. Who defiles the dead in Our domain?”
    A man and woman materialized next to Kron. There was no sign of
    a portal opening behind them; they seemed to form from the air itself.
    Although the man was white-haired, he stood tall as someone in his
    prime. The woman’s hair was yellow, and her skin was paler than
    Pagli’s. However, she glowed with health and warmth, making the
    corpse appear even deader.
    The jewels on Kron’s magic-finders blazed, cracked with soft pop-
    ping sounds, and died.
    7 2 · S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n
    The corpse flung its arms to the sides, and a translucent blue bubble
    appeared around the four of them. Then it straightened up, and a new
    light shone in its eyes.
    “You two have many-strong power,” it said in a new voice.
    Only Salth speaks like that .
    “You may claim this land as Yours, but I have claimed time itself as
    My domain,” the new voice said. “Can You challenge Me for that? I
    could scramble the seasons of this land until not a blade of grass lives.”
    The man smiled thinly, his eyes hidden from Kron’s gaze. “No, you
    can’t. We are the Seasons themselves.”
    “Then You are below Me, under My control.”
    “After seeing what no one else