season avatars 03 - chaos season (28 page)

Gwen glanced at each of them, giving them slight nods, before glaring at Dorian. “Take your things from the One Oak and leave. You’re no longer welcome here.”

“It doesn’t matter what you or anyone else says. I’m still an Avatar. See?” He spread out his arms, and the wind picked up, trying to push them backward. Jenna reached out for Gwen to secure her. Kay frowned as she fought back with her own counterwind. “Winter hasn’t taken His magic from me.”

“Yet. How many heartbeats will it take?”

Instead of answering, Dorian summoned a stronger wind. This one seemed focused on Jenna’s tree, shaking it so hard the lightning rod came loose and fell off. Maybe Dorian was gearing up to attack her tree again. If he were any closer, she’d have her tree flail him with its branches. Too bad he’d chosen a spot out in the open. The grass where he stood was too short to do more than tickle his feet.

Jenna retreated just far enough so she could make contact with her oak. Linking with it, she searched for a nearby plant she could use against Dorian. No poison oak or dangerous mushrooms grew nearby. Maybe the other oaks could fling their unripe acorns at him….

Dorian raised his right hand, fingertips glowing with lightning. He pointed threateningly at her tree. However, a flicker of light drew Jenna’s attention to his left hand. The one aimed at Gwen.

Jenna released her tree. “Gwen! Watch out!”

She lunged toward Gwen, and then everything happened at once.

Twin bolts streamed from Dorian’s hands. Jenna’s heart leaped into her mouth. She’d never reach Gwen in time. The lightning bolt headed for Gwen abruptly faded away an instant before it struck her. Already committed to the action, Jenna couldn’t stop herself from knocking Gwen to the ground and falling on top of her. A thunderous boom overhead almost drowned out the sound of cracking wood. Leaves brushed against Jenna’s back. They were heavy, still attached to their branches.

Lex cried, “Guilty!” and advanced on Dorian with his sword.

“By All Four, Lex, you can’t kill him!” Kron said, searching for something in his satchel.

A blanket of fog descended, blinding them all.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Chaos Season Over Challen

“Get off of me, Jenna! By All Four, how can you be so heavy?”

Gwen’s complaints made Jenna smile. At least she didn’t sound hurt.

While Kay dispersed the fog, Ysabel and Kron helped pull the branches off of Jenna. She stood up and stopped smiling. Her tree had lost half of its branches on the side facing her. Strips of bark had been blown off and littered the ground. The trunk had split in a vertical groove deep enough for Jenna to insert her finger half way. She checked the other side of the tree for damage, then put her hand on the trunk and checked for damage to the root system. Thank the Four the injuries were confined to one side of the tree. She still had a chance to heal it.

I’m so sorry I stopped protecting you even for a heartbeat,
she told her tree. She pressed herself against it, sending all the magic she held into it. If she could force-grow new bark over the groove, it would protect the tree while she encouraged new wood to fill the gap.

Gwen touched her and gave her more energy.
Why did you let go of your tree?

You were in danger!
The memory of Dorian launching his lightning played in the link.

I wasn’t really, not with Kay there to take care of the lightning.

Jenna tried to repress her worries over Kay’s skill before they seeped into the link.
I was worried about you.

Silly goose,
Gwen said affectionately.
I’m just glad you weren’t touching your tree when it was hit.

I should have been. I could have stopped it from being broken up.

Not likely, Jenna. You would have been hurt by the lightning along with your tree. You can always rear another tree, but we can’t add another Summer Avatar to our group.

Thoughts of Dorian sobered them both for a couple of heartbeats. Then Jenna said,
You’re the only Spring Avatar I could ever follow.
She tried to put as much feeling behind the thoughts as she could. Not just how much she thought Gwen was a good healer, even with the shard embedded in her hand, or how dedicated she was to her role. After so many lifetimes, it went deeper than that. They were friends who’d weathered countless triumphs and sorrows together. No matter how often the Four reincarnated them into opposite backgrounds, no matter how much they argued with and hurt each other, they belonged together one way or another.

Gwen sighed.
We can talk about that later. But…thank you.
She released Jenna. “First things first. Ysabel, Kay, we need to link and help Jenna heal her tree. Then we tame every trace of Chaos Season we can find.”

“What about Dorian?” Kay asked.

Jenna forced herself to stop looking at her wounded tree. Dorian was nowhere to be seen. He must have used the fog as cover to make his way to the One Oak, though she wondered why he would have bothered. Surely Gwen would give him enough time to pack before throwing him out?

Lex jogged back to them, looking grim. “He’s gone.”

“Gone? He couldn’t have left that quickly,” Charles said. “He must be gathering his things.”

“Would he really do that?” Sophia asked. “Leave so easily, without protest? The servants don’t even know yet that we…that we…cast him out.”

“I don’t think he’s anywhere on the estate anymore,” Lex said. “I had a strong sense of an enemy just before the fog came, and the enemy presence faded very soon afterward.”

“But how could he have left?” Charles said.

Lex stared at Kron with hard eyes. “Kron is the only one of us who can create portals. And he didn’t want me to kill Dorian.”

“We need twelve Avatars to defeat Salth,” Kron said. “We can’t kill Dorian, no matter what he does. Salth is far worse than him.”

As they continued to argue, Jenna glanced at Gwen. Why waste time talking when her tree was wounded and Chaos Season raged? Gwen nodded as if she knew what Jenna was thinking. Ysabel, her cat Pouncer, and Kay came forward. Pouncer huddled against Ysabel, Ysabel and Kay touched Gwen, and Gwen linked them all to Jenna.

Jenna laid both hands on her tree and channeled magic into it. Dorian’s magic lingered in the wound, interfering with her ability to heal it. Even Kay, who could filter the wild magic of Chaos Season into something they could use, wasn’t able to remove all of it. Jenna did her best to push it into the outer layer of the bark, where it would do the least damage. She repaired the injured wood and coaxed new branches to sprout from the jagged stumps left behind. Ysabel hummed a lullaby in the background. Jenna thought of her son, comfortable in the nursery. This tree was also like a child of hers, and she hoped someday Robbie would be able to play in its shade. Her tree couldn’t experience feelings the way humans or even animals did, but its leaves rustled windlessly in what she hoped was acceptance, maybe even forgiveness.

Time for a break,
Gwen said before severing the link.

“But Chaos Season—” Kay started.

“We’ll manage it better once we refresh ourselves.” Gwen shook out her arms. “Ah, I thought I sensed food.”

A pair of maids carried a heavy picnic basket between them. While Gwen thanked them and showed them where to put it, Jenna inspected her tree. A white streak in the bark showed where the lightning bolt had run to earth, and the new branches were only half as big as the ones on the other side of the oak. Not only did it make her tree look strange, but the imbalance might cause her tree to fall over. She defied Gwen long enough to strengthen the root system. Her limbs shook with exhaustion once she stepped away from her oak.

“We’ll eat quickly,” Gwen said as she handed Jenna a plate loaded with bread, cheese, sliced tomatoes, and cold meat. “The break will give Kron, Lex, Sophia, and Charles time to find and destroy as many deathbushes as they can so the plants don’t feed the Chaos Season.”

“Does that mean Lex changed his mind about Kron helping Dorian escape?” Jenna asked.  “Or are they still searching for him?”

“I’m not sure,” Gwen replied. “I know they argued about it for a while before Sophia and Charles reminded them of the deathbushes. I listened to them through Pouncer. He understands human language very well, even for an anilink.”

“Pouncer’s always been very smart,” Ysabel said proudly.

The food did make Jenna feel better, although she wished there had been some chocolate to moisten her mouth and give her more energy. They must have taken all the powder for the deathbushes.

By the time they were done, the sun had come out. Summer heat would soon have them all sweating like farm girls, not glowing like ladies.

Gwen looked at each of them in turn. “Are we ready?”

They all nodded, even Pouncer.

“Good.” She gestured at Jenna’s oak. “Back to work, Avatars. By the time we’re done, let no one doubt we are Avatars indeed.”

Jenna raised her shoulders a little higher at the thought.

They returned to the tree, prayed to each of the Four, and linked again. As Jenna sunk her mind deep into the ground, Kay searched the sky for Chaos Season. Anywhere she found weather magic mixing up the seasons, she pulled it in her with her own magic. Gwen caught it and sent most of it on to Jenna and Ysabel while keeping some to heal people hurt in the storms. Jenna and Ysabel did the same for affected plants and animals.

They followed this pattern as they worked their way all over Challen. Tradetown had been suffering a torrential downpour that Kay had to stop. On the other side of the country, in Wistica, high winds and rough water threatened to turn into a hurricane. She turned them back out across the Salt Waters, away from known shipping paths. Further inland, Jenna intervened to make sure the crops didn’t ripen too soon. In other areas, where grain, fruits, and vegetables had been blasted with out-of-season chills, she reached back into the plants and forced them to start over. Sometimes she was able to coax them to fertilize themselves, but more often, Ysabel recruited bees to spread pollen. Ysabel was busy herself with keeping animals from molting or growing the wrong type of coat for the season, making sure they didn’t migrate at the wrong times, or even attempting to mate.

With Chaos Season affecting the entire country, there was an incredible amount of plants and animals to take care of. Jenna and the other three Avatars managed them all, from the smallest seeds to the tallest trees. All she sensed was plant life—what it was, how many individual plants there were in a particular spot, and what she needed to do for them. Gwen fed magic to her the heartbeat before she needed it. Jenna felt someone tuck a cloak over her shoulders; a few times, broth or water brushed her lips. She could scarcely divert her attention long enough to swallow it. Once or twice she caught plants magically returning to their natural state before she could take care of them herself. Charles must be assisting her with his limited abilities. Dorian would probably complain that wasn’t right, but she didn’t care. With so many different Chaos Seasons to tame, help was appreciated.

Finally, Kay swept the clouds away from a small town and said wearily,
I can’t find any more traces of Chaos Season anywhere in Challen.

Well done, Kay,
Gwen sent to her.
Jenna, Ysabel, are you finished?

Nearly.
Ysabel separated a pair of stags before they could lock horns.
Now I am.

Jenna inspected a final field of corn and decided she didn’t need to do anything, as the ears were at the perfect stage to harvest. If she was there in person, she’d devour half the field without bothering to roast and butter the corn.
So am I.
Gwen?

She sighed.
Healing is never done…but I don’t have enough magic left to close a paper cut. We’ve done our share; now we leave the rest in the Four’s hands.
Despite her fatigue, a strand of elation threaded through her thoughts.
We did it. We tamed our first Chaos Season, thank the Four.

Technically it wasn’t their first, as they’d also managed the one on the peach farm. But they hadn’t worked as well together, and Jenna didn’t even want to think about the reasons why.

We praise Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter for granting us the means of taming Chaos Season,
Kay said.
May the Four watch over us and Challen in all seasons.

May it be so,
they echoed.

Gwen released the link, and they could focus on their surroundings again. A cluster of lanterns glowed nearby, but otherwise it was dark. Not quite; a faint glow appeared in the east. Had they really worked all day and through the night? Jenna opened her mouth but found her tongue too dry to speak clearly.

“Avas?” the butler asked. “Are you finished?”

Jenna nodded before she realized he probably couldn’t see her. She tried to step toward the waiting lights and servants, but her legs collapsed under her. All was darkness again.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

A Talk with Lex

“This is Mama’s tree, Robbie,” Jenna said as she placed his hand on the tree trunk. “It’s an oak, like the One Oak where we live.”

Robbie reached for a twig and attempted to put it in his mouth, but she took it away. “No, Sweetie, you’re not a beaver.”

It had been two days since Jenna and the others had finished restoring the country after Chaos Season. She was grateful no other storms had occurred in the meantime. They had all needed the chance to rest and replenish their strength. Jenna also needed to give her tree attention and an occasional boost of magic as it continued to heal. The view of the Chikasi River from here soothed her. Why, it was so quiet here she could hear the sound of a horse cantering up to the house….

Jenna sighed. That would be another messenger with damage or death reports from another part of Challen. At least Kron was willing to use his artifact magic to travel and fix damaged buildings. Every time Gwen received more death reports, she retreated to the Spring Study to grieve in private. Jenna wished she would let her offer comfort. Maybe if she’d been born a man in this life Gwen would be willing to cry on her shoulder. She’d have to help Gwen find someone who could hold her and remind her she couldn’t keep everyone alive forever, out of season.