Spider Wars: Book Three of the Black Bead Chronicles (5 page)

Mora, Brigit and Sybille
were standing outside the kitchen door, staring at her, guilty looks
on their faces. They had obviously been talking about her. Cheobawn
felt the heat rising in her cheeks.

“
I have someplace I need
to be,” Cheobawn said, deciding to go for the full frontal attack
in hopes that it would cut off any arguments to the contrary.

“
Yes, I know. I spoke with
Vinara,” Mora said. Cheobawn waited for the rest; Mora could forbid
her to go and not even Vinara could deny the First Mother that right.
Cheobawn looked from face to face trying to gauge their intent;
trying to hear inside their heads. Nothing. Her Nestmothers might
have been made of ice, for all they betrayed on the ambient.

“
Well,” Cheobawn said,
sliding around the end of the banister and easing closer to the door,
all the while watching for hints of their displeasure, “I guess I
need to get going, then.”

Sybille raised an eyebrow
and the corners of her mouth gave one small, quick spasm. She was
laughing at her. Goddess, how wonderful it was that she could be a
source of endless entertainment for her Mothers, Cheobawn thought
resentfully. She clamped her teeth together for fear of saying
something unwise and made a dash for the door.

“
Have a nice time,”
Brigit called after her, her tone cheerful and bright. Cheobawn
nearly choked. The dome was about to lose most of their livestock and
still the Coven insisted on playing games with her. She slammed the
door hard behind her and stalked down the stairway, her outrage
making her nearly blind.

Cheobawn forced herself to
pause at the bottom landing that she might gather her wits about her.
It did no one any good if her head got tangled up in her emotions and
made her stupid. Stupid got you killed faster than anything else,
Phillius always said.

The central plaza lay
deserted, the game play cut short. The battalions of wooden warriors
stood abandoned, awaiting the next battle, their faces blank, cold,
and silent. Cheobawn flinched under their accusing stare and hurried
on. The game had ended because of her interference.

Connor was waiting for her
just inside the door of the weapons locker.

“
By all that is holy, did
you have to kill the beast to make your leathers?” he asked, his
body vibrating with his barely contained impatience. He shoved a
bladed stick into her hands and a hunting knife into the sheath built
into the left thigh of her riding pants. She caught a glimpse of the
rest of the cavernous room just before Connor grabbed her by the
collar and jerked her out the door. The members of Sigrid’s Pack,
along with what looked to be all the junior patrol riders, were
milling about in front of the weapons racks.

“
Phillius does not go half
measures,” Connor said as he steered her towards the South Gate.
“Vinara is going to need every animal she has to mount that lot.
Let’s go. I want first pick. Some of the bennelk can be real
thick-headed.”

“
You do not listen to what
they tell you. It makes them peevish.” she said between ragged
breaths as she tried to keep pace with his half jog. “Slow down.”

“
No. We have an edge I
don’t want to lose. We have already been to the changing room and
that lot needs to find parkas and gloves and hats and such. We will
have time to impress Vinara with our speedy return.”

Cheobawn snorted in disgust.
“Living under the dome is all a big game of War to you, isn’t it?
Scoring points and maneuvering for advantages?”

“
Exactly right,” Connor
declared with utter conviction. “Why else would we work so hard? If
it weren’t for the game, I’d be hanging out with the oldpas
behind Nedella’s kitchen eating sweet buns and playing Sticks and
Stones all day long.”

Cheobawn opened her mouth to
argue but then closed it again. What Connor said and what he truly,
passionately believed down in the deep, soft center of his soul were
two entirely different things and it did one no good to contradict
him. It would only goad him on to tell more outrageous lies.

Gudu was standing in front
of the South Gate, a remote com unit in his hand.

“
Took your own sweet time
about it, didn’t you,” the junior tinkerer said, checking them
off on what looked to be a muster list.

“
I know for a fact,”
Connor said with a smug smile as he shrugged his way into his parka
and snow pants, “that we are the first ones to check in.”

“
Think you know a lot, do
you, pipsqueak?” Gudu asked as he put out a hand to help Cheobawn
with her snow pants. She accepted his help gratefully. Pulling the
fluffy trousers on over all that leather and armor while standing on
one foot took acrobatic skills. “Then I won’t bother telling
you,” Gudu added, a sly look on his face, “who else just walked
through this gate. I’ll just let you find out on your own.” With
that, Gudu reached out and palmed the door switch. A crack opened up
between the doors and a flood of cold air rushed into the dome.

“
Hey!” shouted Connor,
scrambling to get his headgear in place with only one riding glove
on. “What is the big idea? My Ear is not ready.”

Cheobawn was, in fact, more
than ready. Or as ready as she wanted to be for the barns. She would
put the rest of her gear on just before they all mounted. Snapping
the seal closed on the front of her duster she caught up both their
sticks and grabbed Connor, pulling him out the gate.

“
Honestly,” she said,
“do you have to pick a fight with him every time? Gudu might think
you dislike him or something.”

Connor shrugged. “Gudu’s
OK,” he said, taking his stick from her. “He knows I don’t mean
anything by it.”

Cheobawn shook her head.
“And you think girls are weird.”

She was going to say more
but the wide-eyed look of wonder on Connor’s face stopped her. She
turned and let her eyes follow his gaze. The stable yard was a wall
of steaming bennelk flesh interspersed with the frenetic motions of
tiny humans who scurried about them, tossing blankets and saddles
onto their broad backs, tightening girths, and replacing halters with
bridles. Vinara still stood where they had left her and she was still
bellowing out orders but now she was dressed for riding in the bitter
cold, her pale duster brushing the straw covered stones around her
booted feet and her face framed in the thick ebony plush of a dubeh
leopard fur hat and neck collar. Phillius and Cheobawn’s Da,
Hayrald, stood by the head drover’s side. Vinara looked around,
caught sight of Cheobawn, and gestured impatiently for her to join
them.

“
I kept Dancer, I mean
Herd Mother …” Vinara corrected herself. It was hard to change a
lifetime of habit. Over a year had passed since Cheobawn discovered
Sybille’s mount was sentient and she had a truename and a title of
rank, as Mother of her herd. “I kept her in her stall until last.
Go keep her calm until Sybille comes to collect her. The last thing I
need is for this lot to get nervous.”

Cheobawn nodded, spun on her
heel, and started wending her way through the forest of legs, both
human and animal. Connor moved to follow her but Vinara called him
back to give him duties of a sort more suited for his skills.
Cheobawn did not mind. If Herd Mother felt disturbed, she would not
welcome Connor’s presence.

A bennelk squealed in
irritation as Cheobawn passed. Gann, its wrangler, swore loudly as he
dodged a kick from Cloud Eye’s hind leg. Cheobawn reached up above
her head and ran her cold fingers through the thick ruff on the young
bennelk’s belly, wishing her patience. Gann was new at his job,
picked just this fall to fill an empty apprentice position. Cloud Eye
said something that involved a bennelk tail smashing a cloud of
stinging bugs. Cheobawn imagined a baby bennelk with Gann’s face
and ran on. This amused Cloud Eye immensely. Her nearly subsonic
thrumming filled the yard and was taken up by those animals closest
to her - the bennelk version of laughter. She wondered if Gann knew
enough about his job to know his charges found him amusing. Probably
not. She would never tell him. That kind of information went down
better coming from another wrangler.

She ran into the dimly-lit
barn and was halfway down the long, dark aisle between the stalls
before she remembered to stop and clear her mind. Cheobawn closed her
eyes and built an illusion; she was slick as glass; she was
transparent as smoke, she was infinite as the sky, she was an
unquenchable fire. Compared to this, all her worries faded into
insignificance.

At long last
,
whispered Herd Mother into her mind,
you have come to help me
battle the ice demons.
The thought was fierce and full of teeth
and claws. Cheobawn’s eyes snapped open as a shudder of dread
passed down her spine.

I have not
, she said.
I just want to go get the herds and bring them back to the long
houses.

Herd Mother snorted in
amusement.
Pretending that we dance upon the flowers of the spring
meadows while walking the stone mountain paths does not make the
rocks softer.

“
I, uh. …. What? Are you
still talking about ice demons or did you just change the subject?”
Cheobawn asked out loud, utterly confused. Was Herd Mother annoyed
with her for avoiding her company for so long? “We are not going
nearly so far as the stone mountains. The herds are just beyond the
orchards, grazing in the hayfields.”

Y
ou can try to avoid the
leopard waiting over the trail by backing away but you end up backing
into something far worse, surprised and unprepared,
Herd Mother
insisted, her voice sliding softly through Cheobawn’s mind like
bubbles in a mud pot, rising image by image until they formed a
string of thoughts.

“
Or I might circle around
him and avoid him altogether,” Cheobawn said, not exactly sure what
they were arguing about. Reason and logic sometimes did not fit well
together inside a bennelk’s skull.

All circles lead back to
the place of beginning
, Herd Mother said, her amusement heavy on
the ambient.

Cheobawn laughed out loud,
shook the bennelk out of her head, and found herself standing at the
stall door with no memory of having finished her walk down the aisle.
“Let it go! We are not hunting ice demons. Please stop lecturing
me,” she said as she opened the door. “I get enough of that from
Connor, thank … oh.” Cheobawn froze in embarrassment.

Herd Mother was saddled
already. Druda, Vinara’s alpha wrangler stood at her head rubbing
the boney plates on her forehead. Cheobawn could feel her cheeks grow
hot under Druda’s curious gaze.

“
My apologies. I did not
realize you were there, Father,” Cheobawn said. “Vinara sent me.”

You might have told me
you had company,
she thought, extremely annoyed.
Vinara
thought you
were
upset but here you are, letting a male
nibble behind your ears
.

We wait. Waiting is what
we do until it is time to do otherwise
, the old bennelk said
serenely.

“
It is good to see you,
Little Mother,” Druda said gently. “It has been too long since
you came to visit us. I think Dancer misses you.”

Cheobawn smiled and reached
out a hand to pat the velvet on Herd Mother’s questing prehensile
lip.

“
It is kind of you to say
so,” she said.

You are an old fraud,
pretending to be proddy. Do you upset Vinara just to get attention?
Cheobawn asked.

You were not here
,
Herd Mother thought, as if this were any sort of explanation.
I
have felt you coming for days, so I went happily under the saddle.

I only thought to come this
morning. Perhaps you have me confused with some other human fawn.

Herd Mother laughed, the
subsonic sound pressing at the air in the close confines of the
stall. Druda, infected by the sound, laughed as well. Cheobawn cocked
her head and stared at him. It was not the first time she ever
wondered about the male psi abilities. Druda grew nervous under her
silent inspection.

“
Sorry, Little Mother,”
Druda said, swallowing his laughter. “I don’t know why but that
sound always makes me laugh.”

Your attempt at hiding
has confused only you. The rest of us can see you just fine
, the
Mother of her mind informed her. An image bubbled up in her mind of a
fawn with its head hidden in a bush and only its backside still
visible, tail wiggling madly with suppressed delight. It reminded her
of playing hide-and-seek with the three-year-old kids. Cheobawn
almost laughed but she caught herself just in time. She had no time
to play this game.