season avatars 03 - chaos season (27 page)

She directed their attention higher up into the clouds. They were dark as far as Kay could sense—and that was over the entire country of Challen.

By All Four, is Chaos Season really that widespread?
Gwen asked.

I’m afraid so,
Kay replied.
I sense snow in the north and along the Selathen border and water storms by the coasts. The center of the country is heating up so quickly it’s lowering the level of the Chikasi River.

This isn’t the best place to tame the weather, then. We need to return to the One Oak.

A rattling sound diverted Jenna’s attention from the link. She looked around, trying to figure out what was making the sound. She heard it again, close by but from below. Her sash! She’d tied Kron’s rattle onto the sash of her dress.

Someone’s near my tree!
she told the others.
We have to go there now!

Gwen dropped the link. Kron was standing a short distance away, talking to the farmers. “No, I’m not a new type of Avatar. My magic doesn’t come from the Four or any other god. I was born with it.”

“So were the Avatars,” the older man said. He still looked pale under his tan, but otherwise he seemed fully recovered from the deathbush attack.

“It’s not the same thing. The Four gifted it to them. I should know—”

“Kron, how quickly can you take us home?” Gwen asked. “Could you open a portal to Jenna’s tree instead of the study this time?”

“Why the rush? Are you done here? I thought the weather seemed a bit strange a few heartbeats ago.”

“There are weather problems all over—” Kay said.

“And my tree is under attack!” Jenna said.

Kron pulled a bundle of sticks out of his satchel. They were hollow and strung together on a rope. He stood one stick on end and used the rest of the sticks to trace a doorway in the air. Jenna’ tree, complete with the lightning rod and alarm system, was visible on the other side.

So was Lex.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Jenna’s Loyalty

Jenna’s heart froze. Had Lex been sent here to sabotage the Season Avatars? By All Four, why? Even if he didn’t care for her after all, even if he sought revenge on Gwen for rejecting him, he knew how important the Season Avatars were for Challen. He couldn’t condemn the entire country to Chaos Season, could he?

Lex shifted into a guard stance, a long and narrow sword in his grip. Dorian was visible behind him.

“By All Four, which one attempted to sabotage Jenna’s tree?” Gwen whispered.

“You don’t have to lower your voice,” Kron said. “They can’t hear us when we’re on this side of the portal.”

“Then let’s watch them for a few heartbeats first.” A hard expression came over Gwen’s face. “Maybe we’ll learn what we need to know that way.”

“We can’t hear them,” Kay said.

“I can fix that.” Kron took a pen and a pot of ink out of his satchel and carefully inked some ancient characters on one of his sticks. He stared at them bemusedly as he wiped the pen nib on his jacket. “Sorry. I forgot to use the modern language, but it should still work.”

“—Can’t believe you’d defend the lightskirt.” Dorian sneered at Lex. “You must have lifted her skirts—along with half of the men in that small town she came from.”

“That’s not true!”

Jenna dashed toward the portal, but Gwen held up a hand to block her. “Not yet,” she said.

Jenna wondered what she was thinking. Perhaps Gwen thought Dorian was right. Yes, Jenna had flirted with and kissed half the young men in Bull Rock, but she’d rejected most of them after that. There had been only two she’d wanted to plow her field, but once she saw Lex, they both withered in comparison. She could show this to Gwen with her memories if they linked. Would that redeem her character to Gwen—or to Lex?

Lex didn’t respond to either of Dorian’s accusations. “Jenna is the Avatar of Summer, chosen by the God of Summer.” He held his blade in a guard position. “You would be wise to speak of her with more respect.”

“Or what? You’ll run me through with that sword?” Dorian laughed so bitterly he couldn't have shown more grief if he’d wept. “By the Four, do it then! Send me to my loving Margaret! There’s nothing else for me here.”

“You can’t win this battle,” Lex said with supernatural calm. “I advise you to retreat and seek other ground.”

Dorian paced back and front of the Avatar of War, fingers twitching as if he itched to throw lightning at Lex. Would he dare? Jenna’s heart raced. She wished she could hurl her own weapons at Dorian. She’d even sacrifice her own oak to save Lex.

Gwen and Kron grabbed her arms. “You’ll only make things worse if you charge in now,” Gwen murmured into one ear.

“Yes,” Kron said. “Let him realize how foolish he’s being and slink off like a lizard when the sun goes down. Maybe this is just all words. Maybe this doesn’t even have anything to do with whoever planted that deathbush.”

“That’s easy for you to say!” Jenna struggled in the dual grip. If only one person held her, she might have been able to break free, but both Gwen and Kron were stronger than she would have guessed. She glared at him. “You wouldn’t be saying that if he was threatening Ysabel!”

“I would worry about her,” Kron said quickly, “but I know the four of you have strong magic. She would find some way to protect herself.”

“Against the weather? What would she do, summon furry creatures to keep her warm? Even Lex’s sword wouldn’t shield him against lightning!”

“Jenna.” Ysabel leaned forward. “That’s not important right now.”

“Chaos Season is,” Kay said. “We should be taming it.”

Gwen studied the scene in front of them. “You’re right, Kay. People could be dying while we’re waiting for Lex and Dorian to finish their—quarrel. We may as well pass through—”

Dorian halted and raised his hands.

“By the Eagle, Avatar, I order you to leave!” Lex said. “There’s nothing for you to do here. Attacking the royal family is treason, even for you.”

“Then get out of the way, Royal Avatar. Better yet, take that lightning rod and Kron’s ridiculous fripperies off of Jenna’s tree. If I can stop the girls from becoming full Avatars, Salth will revive Margaret. The Honored Lathatilltin promised me she would.”

Kay gasped, covering her hands with her mouth.

“Now,” Gwen said grimly, crossing through the portal.

Jenna pushed past Gwen. As fast as she ran, lightning was faster. Bolts flew from Dorian’s fingertips to the tree she’d nurtured. Jenna screamed. But instead of scorching her tree, the lightning arced to the lightning rod and passed into the ground, leaving a burnt smell in its wake.

Thank the Four…
Jenna’s legs quivered from the remnant of her terror. Dorian raised his hands again…

“Stop!” Kay shouted. Her hair, too short for braids or chignons, stood on end as a ball of lightning hovered above her hand.

Dorian laughed. “Foolish girl, do you think you’re a match for me?”

She faced him. “I know my magic works better when you’re not around to interfere.”

Keeping her gaze on both of them, Jenna took a couple of side steps toward her tree, both to check on it and to be ready to tap into it. A dark shadow flickered over the ground as it headed toward the One Oak. Pouncer. Ysabel must have sent him to fetch Sophia and Charles. Jenna wondered if that was a wise decision. The three older Avatars could no longer link with each other, but if they chose to stand together, they would be formidable foes.

Since when does Avatar oppose Avatar, or one quartet another quartet?
she cried out to herself.
We should be facing Chaos Season now instead of warring with each other. By the Four, I hope Lex’s magic didn’t cause this.

“Dorian,” Gwen said, “We feel Chaos Season active in many places around Challen. Stop interfering with us and our magic so we can tame it. We won’t ask you again.”

“I should hope not. You won’t have reason to.”

Dorian raised his hands again. Jenna tensed, expecting another bolt of lightning aimed at her tree—or even them. Instead, the sky above them grew darker as clouds formed. The air dried out, making plants thirsty. Jenna reached out for her tree and caressed its bark reassuringly. The gesture didn’t make her feel any calmer, though.

Gwen, Ysabel, and Kay approached her and stretched their arms out to link. Before they could, Jenna glanced upward. A crow glided over them before settling in her tree. Brighteyes, Sophia’s anilink. Sophia and Charles hurried after him. They hadn’t bothered with their Chaos Season cloaks. That was probably a mistake.

Sophia halted several feet from Dorian and huffed for a couple of heartbeats. “By All Four, what’s going on? You’re staring at Dorian as if he caused a hurricane.”

“We fear he’s trying to do exactly that, Ava,” Kron said.

“We caught him trying to sabotage my tree—twice!” Jenna wrapped an arm around her tree’s trunk. “First he planted deathbushes next to it, then he shot lightning at it! If I hadn’t protected it earlier with a lightning rod, he would have burnt it up!”

“What?” Sophia’s whole face was circles, from her shocked eyes to her open mouth. “I know you haven’t seen Dorian at his best, but he wouldn’t do that.”

Gwen raised her head. “We saw him do it. The four of us, Kron, and the War Avatar.”

“Then there must be some misunderstanding.”

“Of course there is.” Dorian shook his head. “It was simply a test of your magic. If I had meant to destroy your tree, why use lightning when the lightning rod was already in place?”

What he said made sense, but Jenna didn’t trust it. Lightning bolts were never friendly.

Gwen planted her hands on her hips. “You weren’t testing us, you were trying to prevent us from taming Chaos Season.”

“We heard you,” Kay whispered, her face pale. “And why.”

Dorian turned to face the rest of his quartet. “Charles, Sophia, we’ve been together hundreds of years. Will you stand by me now, for Margaret’s sake?”

“How could we not?” Charles smiled and held out his hand as if welcoming Dorian back into their group.

“Then help me drive off these interlopers so Margaret can live again.”

Charles and Sophia stared at him for a couple of heartbeats, and Charles let his hand drop. The wind picked up, hard enough to shake the branches of Jenna’s tree. Jenna reached out for the other members of her quartet before Dorian could blow them away. The four of them held on to each other’s arms to avoid being pulled into the link.

“By All Four Gods and Goddess, Dorian, are you mad?” Sophia asked. “They’re not interlopers. They’re the next group of Avatars, and they have just as much right to be here as we do, perhaps more so.”

“We can’t do our job properly anymore,” Charles held his jacket close about him. “You know that.”

Dorian looked smug. “But I can reach across Challen on my own.”

“How?” Gwen asked.

“Those new plants contain weather magic, and they’ve seeded all over Challen. Tapping into them extends my power.”

“Fool!” Charles said. “Those plants are dangerous and must be destroyed before they trigger a country-wide Chaos Season.”

Dorian’s smile deepened. “They already have.”

Gwen shook her cursed hand at Dorian. “We’ve been talking long enough. Let’s link and tame the Chaos Season!”

“We need to kill the deathbushes first,” Jenna said. “Otherwise, they’ll bring Chaos Season back when we think we’re done.”

The wind whipped up another level, shaking Jenna’s tree and ripping the lightning rod off. “What makes you think I’ll ever let you upstarts tame Chaos Season?”

“Dorian gran Garnell!” Sophia put a hand over her heart. “You can’t interfere with them! That’s going against everything we’re sworn before the Four to do! What would Margaret say?”

The wind ebbed for a heartbeat, long enough to give Jenna hope that Dorian would see reason. Then he screamed, “It’s never enough! Winter chose me first. Why do I have to share my power with other Avatars? Why do you always hold me back? If you won’t let me trade these girls to Salth for Margaret, I’ll trade you instead, freeze it!”

Sophia and Charles studied each other, identical stricken expressions on their faces. Then they turned to Dorian, chanting in unison. “By Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter, the Four Gods and Goddesses of Challen, we, Charles and Sophia vin Estcher, eject you from our quartet of Avatars. May we never link again, never share thoughts or magic with you, in this life or in any life to come. May the Four Themselves pass judgment on you.”

While their last words rang in the air, they turned their backs on him.

Stunned, Jenna gripped Gwen’s arm even tighter as they all pushed cloth aside to link. This was another first in the history of the Season Avatars. Every quartet had its share of troubles. Sometimes Avatars would isolate themselves from their companions for a while, or sometimes groups would break up once they’d passed their duties to the next generation of Avatars. But never before had a quartet of Avatars denounced one of their own.

Is that even possible?
Kay asked.
How will their quartet function if they don’t have a Winter Avatar in their next life? Would the God of Winter take his gift from Dorian and give it to someone else?

No one knew.

They broke their link to see how Dorian reacted. He stared at Charles’ and Sophia’s backs, his hand raised as if he meant to throw something at them. “Sophia? Charles? You can’t turn away from me. The Four put us together many lives ago. You’re my last link to Margaret, closer than our children. You can’t leave me too.”

They didn’t respond.

“Say something! Anything!” He circled around to face them, but they turned away from him again.

“You can’t ignore me forever.” He lowered his voice. “I can make you pay attention to me—”

“Dorian gran Garnell, that’s enough.” Gwen dropped contact with Jenna and Ysabel to stride forward. Maybe she was strong enough to handle him on her own, but she should have the support of her Avatars. Jenna followed her, running her hand along a tree branch until it rose out of her reach. Ysabel took a position on the other side of Gwen. Face still pale, Kay hesitated before edging in front of everyone else, ready to match her magic against Dorian’s.