needed to shave once a moon. Was that what she meant?
“Those could be part of your transformation,” She agreed as if he’d
spoken his thoughts out loud.
“Transformation? What do you mean, transformation? I’m still hu-
man!”
Spring sighed. Even Her disappointment created beautiful songs.
“You were born human, Kron Evenhanded, but when you absorbed star
magic last year, it made you into something more.”
He reluctantly remembered the night he’d killed Sal-thaath and res-
cued Bella. He wouldn’t have been able to do that if Salth hadn’t
become distracted by the star magic and wrapped herself and her son’s
body into a cocoon. “I remember some of the magic came to me as if it
wanted me to take it in, but I refused it. I thought it was dangerous.”
“But it still wanted you,” Spring said gently.
Kron studied the grass. “What would have happened to me if I’d
embraced it, the way Salth did?” He tried staring at Spring, but Her gaze
disturbed him so much he had to look away.
“That would have been entirely up to you, Kron Evenhanded, and
how much you were willing to … embrace,” Winter replied.
Kron shuddered. “I could have become a corpse-molester like
Salth?”
Sea so n s’ Be gin n in gs · 7 9
“Star magic can only change your nature, not your heart. And I don’t
see it in you to desecrate a corpse, especially a friend’s.”
Kron wondered what was in Salth’s heart now, if she still grieved
for her son. Of course she does. Why else does she seek vengeance on
me and Bella? “Can these changes be undone?”
Spring raised an eyebrow, as perfectly formed as a petal. “Why
would you wish to do that? The star magic not only enhances your own
magic, but your health. You can live much longer now than you would
have as a human.”
She must be forgetting about Salth’s plan for vengeance.
“But if he were to complete the Ascension, or Time does…”
Kron started when the green-skinned youth spoke. The other three
glared at Him as if he should have remained silent. Winter rubbed his
bearded chin.
“There isn’t enough star magic left over for both of them to manage
it,” He said. “In fact, the only way one of them could do it now would
be to drain the star magic from the other one.”
“Another reason we should protect Kron,” Spring said. “Salth—or
Time, as she calls herself now—has more star power, but Kron seems
better able to cope with Ascending.”
“Ascending? What’s that?”
The Four glanced at each other and remained silent.
“Well, if you’re not going to tell me that, could you at least tell me
what Salth would be like if she succeeded? Would she gain even more
power than she has now?” Kron wondered how she could even measure
her strength. Magic couldn’t be heaped into baskets or weighed on a
balance.
“Her magic would never be exhausted,” Spring said.
Winter lifted a finger. “It can be temporarily drained if, for instance,
She created Avatars as We plan to do, but Her weakness wouldn’t last
long.”
“Then how do we stop her from gaining such power?” Kron asked.
8 0 · S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n
“Keep her far away from you.” Winter slowly brought His hands
together, but a sheet of ice crystalized between them before they could
touch. “Or drain her own power. I would prefer that. She’s already
tipped her domain hopelessly out of balance, to the point where it could
affect Ours.”
“You expect me to drain her? How?” Kron asked testily. “Better yet,
why don’t you do it? You seem to be more powerful than her.”
“It’s because We’re so powerful that We can’t do it Ourselves, Kron
Evenhanded. There would be too much backlash, both in Our domain
and with others like Us, with domains throughout the rest of the world.
That’s why We need to create Avatars, humans who share in Our power
and serve Us in protecting Our domain.”
There were more powerful magicians like Them in this world? More
importantly, hadn’t They admitted They planned to recruit sweet, inno-
cent Bella, who wept when she had to sacrifice her birds for food, as
One of Their avatars? How could They expect her to defend herself
against Salth? Kron grabbed everything in his pouch, heedless of what
it was, and let it fuse together. “You’d hide behind someone weak?
Shame on you!” He pulled his impromptu artifact out of his pouch, in-
tending to do something threatening with it if necessary. Instead, the
clump of wool, wood, beads, and clay fizzled, emitting an unpleasant
burnt odor. Apparently his magic hadn’t been enhanced as much as
these Four claimed.
Spring held out Her hand. “I’m afraid you misunderstand, Kron.
When we gift Our Avatars, they won’t be helpless. Even so, We hope
you’ll help them learn how to use the magic We share with them.”
“But Bella—”
“Will be happier with magic than without it in the long run. We see
this, Kron Evenhanded.”
He struggled to keep his feelings off of his face. After the wedding,
Bella had borrowed the family cradle from her sister and filled it with
swaddling and baby blankets. But every moon, when she bled, she wept.
Last moon, she’d angrily covered the cradle and placed it in the back of
Sea so n s’ Be gin n in gs · 8 1
the storage area, as if it had been meant to hold food instead of a child.
Maybe learning magic would distract her from her empty womb—or
help her find a way to fill it. But Kron had other reasons to reject this
task.
He crossed his arms. “How can you expect me to teach anyone when
I failed with Sal-thaath?”
“Sal-thaath wasn’t ready to learn what you wanted to teach him, es-
pecially with his mother telling him something else.” A breeze touched
Kron’s cheeks. “The Avatars We pick will be older, but still able to
learn.”
“My earlier advice stands,” Winter said. “Protect yourself with
every artifact you can create, then portal to Salth’s domain and see for
yourself what she’s doing.”
“We will have a formal ceremony granting Our Avatars their magic
in four days,” Spring continued. “I hope by then you’ll be more willing
to help Us—and them. In the meantime, be careful.” She raised Her
hand. “Farewell until We meet again, Kron Evenhanded.”
Kron found himself back in the market with his collection of arti-
facts. A faint stench of something rotten lingered in the air, but there
was no sign of Pagli or his cursed sundial. Kron pinched his arm. The
pain proved this wasn’t a dream. How could he dream up walking, talk-
ing corpses and green-skinned gods anyway, let alone the notion that
he wasn’t human?
I’ll portal to the Magic Institute first before I visit Salth, Kron de-
cided. I need to find out if Pagli really is dead, and if so, what happened
to him. Maybe someone there can tell m
e more about these super-ma-
gicians and Salth. Maybe they’ll have something I can enchant into
protective artifacts for Bella and me.
Bella came into view, her hands empty but a broad smile on her face.
“Kron, you’re never going to believe what happened to me!” she said.
“I was bargaining with a weaver for some cloth when I saw a man pass
by with a wriggling bag. It was full of kittens, and he wanted to drown
them in the Chikasi River. I told him he shouldn’t do that, that kittens
8 2 · S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n
can grow up to be good mousers, but he said this litter had all been born
deformed. I told him it was still cruel to drown kittens. Then he turned
into a young girl, about ten or eleven, and She told me She was the
Goddess of Fall and animals!” Awe filled her voice. “She wants to grant
me magic to heal animals and have them do my bidding, and I said yes!
Now I’ll be able to help animals—and people.” Her eyes sparkled.
“What do you think of that?”
Stunned, Kron felt his legs give out, and he sat down heavily, smash-
ing several enchanted cooking pots. “That’s…that’s amazing, my
dear.”
If the young girl he’d seen was a genuine goddess, then Salth—or
Time—was too. And so was the threat to Bella. Could the Goddess give
her enough protection from Salth? Kron couldn’t take that chance. He’d
have to prepare his own protective amulets and portal to the Magic In-
stitute as quickly as possible.
C H A P T E R T E N
Timeless Artifacts
Kron found he and Bella couldn’t even return home without encoun-
tering other new Avatars. There was Galia, an elderly midwife; her son
Janno, a carpenter who leered at Bella; Caye, a petite weaver who did
little more than smile at Bella and gift her with a shawl before scurrying
away as a noblewoman named Domina proclaimed she was going to be
the most gifted Winter Avatar of them all; and others with names Kron
forgot as soon as he heard them. Bella, however, seemed to know sev-
eral of the Avatars already. She hugged Galia and whispered something
in her ear, ignoring Janno’s attempts to flirt. When Domina ran Caye
off, Bella looked after the weaver as if she wanted to talk to her instead
of the sharp-nosed woman wearing more jewelry than both Bella and
her sister possessed. By the time they finally made it back home, all
Kron wanted to do was retreat into his workshop and develop protective
artifacts. But first he had to explain to Bella why they needed such ar-
tifacts. Hopefully there wouldn’t be more Avatars banging down their
door during their conversation.
Kron made sure the door was latched and that Bella had calmed
down before saying, “Dearest, there’s something you need to know be-
fore you agree to become an Avatar.” He sat at the table and indicated
she should do the same.
8 4 · S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n
Bella brought some peas over to shell before complying. “What do
you mean, Kron?” She gave him a sharp glance. “Don’t tell me you
don’t approve!”
“Of course not.”
She raised her head and stared at him.
“I mean, of course, I’m not going to tell you to turn a goddess
down.”
“It’s not just a role, it’s a calling.” She beamed. “Fall says once I
pledge myself to Her, I’ll be reborn with magic in each new life. I’ll be
able to help all types of animals, everything that lives in Her domain.
Did you know Vistichia is just a small part of the domain the Four Gods
and Goddesses care for, Kron? Oh!” She popped a couple of peas so
hard they fell on the floor. “Have you heard anything about the Four?
You spend so much time in your workshop I doubt you’ve seen Them
yet.”
Kron would have liked to have asked some more about new lives
and being reborn with magic, but she’d given him the perfect opening
for what he had to tell her. “Actually, I met all Four of Them today.
Two of them appeared in the marketplace and took me to a meadow,
where I met the other two. Then they sent me back to my stall heartbeats
before you arrived.”
She gasped. The basket of peapods fell on the floor. Feeling like it
was his fault, Kron helped her pick them up, then related the whole
story. Bella absently reached for the peas once or twice, but she stared
at him the whole time, opening her mouth as if inviting him to toss peas
between her teeth.
“So, Salth isn’t really...gone?” she asked when he finished. “And
she’s using dead people to threaten you?”
“And you too,” he reminded her. “You need magical protection.”
He’d be the one to provide it, not that timid young girl. How had she
ever found the courage to speak to Bella if she cowered from him?
Sea so n s’ Be gin n in gs · 8 5
Bella shivered, and her face went pale for a few heartbeats. Then she
bit her lip and put a determined expression on her face. “When Fall
grants me my magic, I’ll be able to defend myself.”
“Against Salth? Dearest, I’ve practiced magic for twenty years, and
I’ve come closer to losing against her than I like to admit.”
“But I won’t be alone. I’ll be working with the other eleven Ava-
tars.”
There were only twelve of them? Kron had thought there were more.
“Twelve magicians might have been able to defeat the Salth we
knew,” he agreed, “but remember, she’s gained even more magic since
then. And she seems to have time magic now. I don’t know what that
allows her to do, but she did capture Two of the Four in her time bub-
ble.”
Bella shook her head. “They only let her do that so They could speak
with her, I’m sure of it!”
“I hope you’re right.” The room dimmed as daylight faded. Kron
activated an artifact that gave off heatless light and set it in the center
of the table. “The question is, can I protect us against time? If Salth can
play with time, she could undo anything I do, or prevent me from doing
it. Can she?” He frowned. “I’m not sure what the rules of time magic,
are, or how powerful Salth is now. The Four said she wasn’t as strong
as They are.”
Bella glanced at him through a lock of hair that had fallen over her
face. It made her expression seem guarded. “And...you said They
said...you’re different too, didn’t They?”
“It doesn’t matter if I only have to shave once a moon instead of
once a day.” Kron crossed to her and pulled her into his embrace. “I’m
still the same person I always was.”
Bella let him hold her for a few heartbeats before pulling away. “I
better start supper.”
As she hurried to the fireplace, back turned to him, she brushed her
hand over her stomach for a heartbeat. He knew her well enough to
8 6 · S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n
guess what she was thinking: would he be able to give her a child if he
wasn’t fully human anymore?
Kron ground his teeth together
. His magic dealt with artifacts, not
living things. If their childlessness was his fault, he didn’t know how to
fix it.
If I can’t create a child, at least I can make artifacts. He left the
house to go to his workroom in the back. Maybe small sundials can be
enchanted to protect us from Salth....
He busied himself with his artifacts until Bella silently fetched him
for dinner.
* * *
Kron found his services much in demand the next day, as people
brought him items to repair, not just enchant. As he was eating lunch, a
servant came by and promised him a bag of gold if he would enhance
his master’s house so the walls wouldn’t crack or let out heat. That job
took him most of the afternoon. By the time he returned home for din-
ner, the sun had set, leaving him no time to finish the protective artifacts
he’d started.
“I wish there was a way I could test these artifacts before I portal
into Salth’s domain, or even the Magic Institute,” he told Bella over a
meal of flatcakes, baked fish, and roasted vegetables.
“You think the Magic Institute isn’t safe anymore?” she asked.
“It must not be, if Salth was able to murder Pagli and take over his
corpse.”
Bella pushed her plate away. “Maybe that part wasn’t real. Or maybe
she found him outside the Magic Institute. That must be what hap-
pened.” She shook her head. “The Institute seemed like a wonderful
place when you took me there. Wouldn’t they have enough magicians
there to protect the Institute?”
“Normally they do.” Did he dare go there without the artifacts? Kron
considered the matter as he finished the fish, garnished with salt and
Sea so n s’ Be gin n in gs · 8 7
herbs grown near the Chikasi River. It was disturbing enough to think
of Pagli’s fate, but Kron might be in danger if he went there. Worse,
he’d be too far from Bella to protect her if Salth sent another corpse
after her. If the Four had given Bella Their protection, Kron hadn’t de-
tected any signs of it yet.
He activated the light artifact. “I’m going to work on the protective
artifacts some more, Dearest. I won’t be able to sleep well until I know
for certain we’re both protected from Salth—or Time, or whoever she
is now.”
“What about the Four?” she asked. “They promised to protect us.”
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