season avatars 03 - chaos season (3 page)

“My father knows I escaped from Salth and her son.” Ysabel crossed her arms as if she was holding herself. “He’s talking with some of his fellow Salth-lovers right now. I can hear them through his mare.” She gasped. “By All Four! If he doesn’t give an Avatar to Salth by the end of summer, she’ll claim him instead!”

“Nonsense,” Kron said. “She doesn’t have that much power in Challen. The Four limit what she can do.”

“Not according to my father. He says she controls Chaos Season.”

Kron frowned. “That’s true, but you control that. I mean, you and the other Avatars can take her magic and prevent it from permanently harming Challen.”

Gwen lifted her head as a maid handed her a cup of chocolate, so hot and rich Jenna could smell it from where she stood. “Then, Ysabel, you have to come with us,” Gwen said. “We can protect you.”

“Then who’s going to protect my family, if I’m not here?”

“What are you planning to do, summon more cats to guard them? Will they be able to protect you from your father too? Remember, if something happens to you, our quartet is useless.”

Jenna shifted so Robbie was hidden behind the curtain, then poked her head out. “There’s only one thing you can do. Stop your father from being a threat.”

Gwen gave her a curious look, but then nodded. “We have to turn him in to the local Watch.”

“Turn him in?” Ysabel glanced back at the house. “But…he’s my father. Even if he wants to give me to his false goddess, I can’t betray him. And none of the Watch in Tradetown would take the side of an unmarried woman against her father.”

Gwen drained her cup. “First we should protect you and the rest of your family. Even the servants, if he’s the type to take his anger out on them.” She turned to Ysabel’s mother. “Is there a secure room where your household can hide from him?”

She scowled. “He has keys for every frozen room. Even if we had a safe place from him, how long would we have to stay in there? That’s not enough, young Avas. I’ve done all that Fall asked me to. I married a man I didn’t want, I bore him children, I preached about the Four in secret and spied on my husband when he dealt with Salth-lovers.” She sighed, suddenly looking old. “I’ve had enough, Avas. I want to go home to Wistica and play pianoforte again. I may be out-of-practice for concerts, but I can still teach and write music.”

Robbie finished nursing, a sure sign the talk had gone on too long. Jenna fumbled with the impossibly tiny buttons on her dress. “Dame s’Ivena—” she deliberately left off the Selathen surname– “Please decide your future later. We should escape now.”

“I could portal us straight to the Temple,” Kron offered. “Or the Avatar’s house in Wistica. I know both of those locations well enough.”

Ysabel’s anilink streaked around the corner and leapt straight up into its mistress’s arms. She caught him, then looked up, her eyes even bigger than before.

“A squad of Salth worshippers is coming down the street,” she said. “My father is leading them.”

Ysabel’s mother sucked in her breath. “We need time to gather the household and pack some chals and a few essentials. Then you may make any of my doors into a portal to the Temple, Sir Evenhanded. I’ll plead our cause to Fall Herself.”

“We need a distraction,” Gwen said quietly.

Jenna glanced at Kay. “Let us handle that.”

Kay’s eyes grew larger. “Us?”

“You can do it, Kay,” Gwen said. “You have memories using your magic. All you need is practice.”

Kay swallowed hard but nodded in agreement. Jenna hoped she could rely on the reluctant Winter Avatar. “Could someone hold Robbie for me?”

“You have a baby? How wonderful!” Ysabel beamed. “I’ll hold him. Pouncer, get on my shoulder.”

“He’s very young.” Jenna still hated letting his nursemaid take care of him, let alone someone she’d just met. But Ysabel looked so eager she couldn’t refuse. Once Jenna eased her child into her arms, Ysabel cradled him, supporting his head with the confidence of someone who had helped raise her younger siblings like Jenna had. Kron’s expression became pained as he watched her murmur to Robbie.

“Ysabel, I need you to help me with our own family,” her mother said as she left the room. Ysabel trailed her, followed by Callie.

“Jenna, Kay, do you need me to link with you?” Gwen asked. She’d regained some color in her face, but she still looked drained.

Jenna shook her head. “Just rest.” She suppressed the urge to stroke Gwen’s soft cheek. She’d lost such privileges after her last life.

Maybe by protecting her, I can make up for my crime.
Kay’s weather magic was more powerful than Jenna’s talent with plants, but as long as there was a single blade of grass or seed available, she’d do what she could to protect her sister Avatar.

Resolved, Jenna led Kay down the stairs and out the front door. A strip of lawn no wider than a carriage separated the house from the street, and a pair of shrubs cut into spiral shapes guarded the entrance. However, Jenna sensed strange seeds in the grass, seeds that had potential to grow into plants very quickly under the right conditions. The soil wasn’t as rich here as in the rest of Challen, but Jenna could temporarily feed the seeds with the grass. She could fix the lawn later, once Ysabel and her family were safe.

“Kay, can you bring the rain back?” she asked.

“Are you sure it’s safe?”

“You mean, is Salth going to sense your magic? She can’t attack us here in Challen, remember? I’ll need both rain and sun if I’m going to force-grow some seeds.”

Kay frowned, gesturing as if she needed to pull clouds to her. The sky darkened. A downpour drenched Jenna before Kay thinned the rain to a drizzle and allowed sunlight to return.

Jenna strode forward until she stood in the center of the lawn. Back on the farm, she used to pull off her boots so she could feel the earth with her feet. Noblewomen, however, wore boots with lots of little buttons that took forever to undo. Jenna had to squat and press her palms into the lawn to connect with the seeds.

These seeds were unlike any she’d ever worked with. They were light, with a leaf-like wing attached to the seed pod. The shape reminded her of a maple seed, but the color was as white as death. Maybe they were the seeds she’d seen earlier. How did they get here so quickly? Despite the hard seed pods protecting the seeds, the new plants inside seemed to sense her magic. She didn’t even have to focus on the seeds before they germinated. Each new plant drew upon its seed pod and wing so fiercely for nourishment they they crumbled to dust. These plants were hungry, hungry as animals, and just as willing to seek out their food.

Jenna didn’t like that at all.

There’s something not right about these plants. I shouldn’t encourage them to grow….

“Hold, two of them!” a man shouted. “Two of the harpies who attacked the most talented, most wondrous Sal-thaath!”

Further shouts answered him. Jenna didn’t speak Selathen, but she did know their word for “Avatar,” and that was the only word she could pick out. They had to be talking about her and Kay. Even if they were here for Ysabel, they wouldn’t mind giving Jenna and Kay to Sal-thaath, the boy who’d attacked Gwen, as well. Jenna had no other plants she could use as weapons, and she couldn’t count on Kay to defend them. It was up to her and the strange plants to stop the Selathens.

Summer, help me, I beg you. Help me make these plants grow faster than weeds.

Each sprout sank a tiny root into the dirt and stretched down deep. At the same time, the seed leaves opened, drinking in faint sunlight shining through the drizzle. The roots spread out and grabbed other plants next to them. The grass turned yellow and brittle, but the new plants shot up tall and thick, sending out heart-shaped leaves—and fine needle-like barbs covering their stalks. Jenna retreated before her own defenses attacked her. But the deathbush—the best name she could give this strange plant—continued to grow supernaturally fast even without her magic. In heartbeats, the stalks towered over her, each shoot half as thick as her waist. The Selathens would think twice about chopping the deathbush down. The spines would prevent them from getting too close. The only problem was the sidewalk to the front wasn’t blocked. Ysabel’s father charged down the path toward Jenna.

Before she could react, Kay stepped forward, her hand raised and her eyes paler than normal. Jenna shivered as a chill enveloped her for a couple of heartbeats. The sidewalk glimmered with a thin sheen of ice. Ysabel’s father slipped, fell, and slid into a deathbush. He yelled in Selathen.

Jenna cautiously stepped forward, grasping leaves of deathbushes to keep her balance. Ice melted in gaps around her. If Ysabel’s father regained his feet, he’d be able to catch her. Jenna probed the deathbush, analyzing spikes to see if they contained toxin. They did, but she wasn’t sure what effect it would have on a human. From the pained expression on Honored Lathatilltin’s face, he’d develop a rash at least. She hoped the toxin would stun him, but she wasn’t going to rely on that. Instead, she urged the deathbush to send out side shoots to block the sidewalk. It obeyed eagerly. The plants grew so quickly she could no longer see Ysabel’s father. Would he be able to break through them? Jenna backed up, repeating the process with more deathbushes. The ones farther away from the sidewalk continued to grow, smothering the grass. Some of them stretched toward the houses on either side of Ysabel’s, blocking the men from bypassing them. Jenna hoped the deathbushes would stop growing before they covered Ysabel’s house.

“I can manage from here,” she told Kay. “Head back inside and see if the others are gone. Once they are, we can kill these deathbushes.”

Kay nodded and slipped into the house. Jenna faced the deathbushes again. She had to maintain the fence until everyone inside had portaled to safety. That would be easy. The hard part would be killing such vigorous plants when they were no longer needed.

Jenna returned to the top step and peered over the plants. More men were coming with axes. Another one brought a torch. By The Four, would he be foolish enough to set the plants on fire? They could spread the flames to the houses too. She rang the door chime several times. “Kay? Better come out here again. We might need some rain.”

“Yes, bring the other wench out here too,” a man called at her in accented Challen. “We’ll sacrifice you both to Salth!”

“You’ll have to catch us first.” The Four would surely protect Their Avatars, but Jenna preferred defending herself.

She tugged on the nearest deathbush. Avatars performed mock fights with wooden staffs, and if she had a weapon, she could stave off anyone who managed to break through the deathbushes. To her surprise, it refused to give her a stalk. She’d never met a plant able to resist her magic. She decided not to force the issue until the men chopped a path to her—if they managed that.

Two men chopped at the branches blocking the path to the house. Jenna smiled as the men’s expressions of triumph turned to dismay, a dismay that deepened as they rubbed their arms. The thorns must have pierced them through their jackets.

A couple more men picked up the abandoned axes, but they couldn’t make headway against the deathbushes either. When they gave up, no more volunteers stepped forward. The group dispersed. Jenna scanned them, looking for Ysabel’s father, but he wasn’t there. Perhaps he had been taken away earlier to have his injuries treated.

Kay opened the front door. “Jenna, Ysabel’s family passed through. Kron’s going to send us directly to our house in Wistica. He’s changing the portal now.”

“Thank the Four.” Jenna surveyed the jungle that had replaced the lawn. The deathbushes had been exactly what she’d needed to delay the Selathens, but they were already spreading where they didn’t belong. She’d have to tame them if possible or destroy them if she couldn’t bring them under control.

Kay came out farther to stare at the sky. “A Chaos Season is forming.”

“Here? Right now?” At last she’d have a chance to help tame the magical weather storm and restore the plants around her. Gwen could use the magic to speed her recovery.

Kay seemed more dismayed than pleased by the coming Chaos Season. “By All Four Gods and Goddesses, we’re not ready for this! I’m not even sure Gwen and Ysabel are still here!”

“Freeze it,” Jenna muttered. Without Gwen to share magic, Kay would be the only one who could use the magic of Chaos Season. “Could you check? I’m going to take care of these bushes.”

Jenna grasped two deathbushes close to her and told them to drop their leaves. Probing the rest of the plant, she noticed how deep and thick the roots had grown. That meant the plants might grow back if she didn’t destroy the roots too. Repressing a groan, she sent her magic into them, shutting them down. They resisted her like Robbie fighting a nap. Some plants had even started to create their own seeds. She had to focus on one plant at a time, wilting its leaves and shriveling its root, before she could move to the next. Thank the Four the deathbushes competed with each other. The central plants had the hardest time reaching the sun, so they were shorter and less robust than the others—and easier to kill.

“Jenna?” Kay called. “Ysabel and Gwen are already in Wistica.”

“Can’t they just come back?”

“Ysabel went to the Temple with her family. I think she has to help them find lodgings.”

We went through so much trouble to rescue Ysabel, and she runs off to her family before we can tame our first Chaos Season.
Jenna hoped this was going to be a mild one. Clouds had gathered overhead, but down the street, the sun shone brightly.

“Kay, could you use some of the power of Chaos Season to ice up the rest of these plants?” Jenna gestured at the half-dead deathbushes. “At least that will weaken the storm.”

This time Kay didn’t object. She raised one hand above her head while pointing at the ground. Ice encased the deathbushes, making them glitter with strange beauty. Jenna flinched as she touched a plant to make sure it would die. Somehow, it still thrived.

“Can you try heat this time?” she asked.

Kay obliged. Ice melted and turned to steam, making each breath feel like a weight in Jenna’s lungs. The plants sucked up the water and grew plump again.