season avatars 01 - seasons beginnings Read Online Free Page B

animals from his
    mother?”
    “I think so.” He didn’t want to reveal Sal-thaath’s origins to Bella
    unless he had to.
    “But who’s going to change her back?”
    “I will.” He smiled reassuringly at Bella. “Can you keep her calm
    while I prepare an artifact? It may take me a while to decide which ma-
    terials to use and how to combine them.” He felt in his pouches for
    supplies. “Actually, I may need to use some of your own things. My
    inventory is limited.”
    “Just do whatever you have to do to make Phebe herself again.”
    Bella glanced at the water clock in the corner. “But hurry. Troge will
    Sea so n s’ Be gin n in gs · 2 9
    be back soon for dinner. He’ll be angry enough if the meal is late. I
    don’t know how I’ll explain what happened to his wife.”
    Kron examined the household furnishings, weighing what would
    make an effective artifact against what the family could spare. They
    were neither extremely poor nor extremely rich. The whitewashed walls
    were plain, but embroidered pillows and blankets covered the wood ta-
    ble and chairs. A few children’s toys occupied one corner of the main
    room, while a couple of bronze pots, clay jars, and piles of dried food
    surrounded the fireplace. Bella mixed ground corn and a ladleful of wa-
    ter for flatcakes, shooing Phebe away as she pecked at seeds on the
    floor. All of these objects would have human associations for Phebe,
    but most of them were so ordinary they would be hard to enchant.
    “Dama?” When Bella didn’t look up, he said, “Bella? Does your
    sister have any jewelry?”
    She wiped her hands on her dress. “A few necklaces of copper and
    beads. But she won’t like it if they’re ruined.”
    “A necklace would be perfect. And it should survive being en-
    chanted and disenchanted.”
    Bella climbed to the upper level and returned a few heartbeats later
    with a necklace. Most of the beads were clay; only the center one, tur-
    quoise, was valuable. Kron wondered if Bella’s family was really this
    poor or if she’d chosen one of her sister’s least favorite necklaces on
    purpose. He hoped not, as something she loved would be more effec-
    tive.
    “Thank you. Now, may I have a few strands of your hair?” he asked.
    “Since you and Phebe are sisters, something from you will make the
    artifact stronger.”
    “Of course.”
    She didn’t flinch as she yanked a few wandering strands out by their
    roots. She had to be very fond of her sister. Kron told himself to be more
    courteous to Phebe in the future—if his artifact worked.
    He wrapped the hair around the necklace. He still needed something
    else. He could sense intuitively when his artifact wasn’t complete, but
    3 0 · S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n
    he couldn’t always tell what he needed to add. Perhaps a container to
    hold Phebe...no, he didn’t have anything big enough to hold a human.
    A covering, maybe?
    “Perhaps a blanket. Yes, a blanket sounds right. Something she
    made herself would be ideal.”
    “I know just the thing,” Bella said. She climbed up the ladder again
    and returned with a wool blanket. “She made it for her wedding.”
    Kron laid the necklace and hair in the center of it, then stepped back,
    judging what else he needed to do to bind everything together. He found
    the spot where the necklace had been joined and broke it apart with a
    touch of his finger. Then he wove the string through the blanket and
    tied the beads into the fringes in random patterns to disrupt Sal-thaath’s
    spell. He inspected the blanket a final time, adjusting beads and hair,
    infusing them with his will, until they crackled with magic. “Set her
    down in the center of the floor,” he told Bella. While he was tempted to
    chant or gesture the way other magicians did, Bella would be more im-
    pressed by the swift recovery of her sister than by showmanship. So as
    soon as Bella stepped away, he dropped the blanket over Phebe.
    The blanket didn’t move, and