Spider Wars: Book Three of the Black Bead Chronicles by J.D. Lakey Page A

to be sorted.
    “ You are right. That is
not possible, is it?” she said, her voice distant and strange to
her ears. “What is … ?”
    Cloud Eye threw up her head
and rose on her hind legs, her long spiky antlers slicing at the air
above her as she trumpeted in alarm. Cheobawn stood in the stirrups
and pulled back hard on the reins. Refusing to settle, Cloud Eye
fought her, clawing at the air. Riders shouted curses around her.
Connor made a grab for her, thinking to pluck her to safety but his
fingers missed, skidding along the skirt panel of her duster.
    No, no no , Cloud Eye
yelled into the ambient. Her alarm echoed back to her from a handful
of mounts up and down the line. Young fawns are not allowed to
look into the eyes of the ice demons. Herd Mother has declared it the
rule and the law of the herd .
    Behave, young Mother ,
Cheobawn insisted, sawing at the reins to get her attention.
    Do not call the ice
demons down upon our heads , Cloud Eye begged, as she danced
sideways before returning to all fours.
    I was just looking ,
Cheobawn thought crossly, scowling down at her intractable mount as
the young bennelk circled nervously, still too upset to rejoin the
column.
    Looking is a river that
can flow in both directions , Connor’s Kite Wing observed,
shaking her head roughly to remind her young rider who was in
control. Connor made a frantic grab as the leather reins slipped
through his mittened hands.
    Without warning, Meshel put
his mount in her path. Cloud Eye’s front legs came up again but
only part way, as she twisted about to avoid collision. The Ramhorn
rider had his bladed stick in his hands. Cheobawn hissed, angered at
his aggressive interference and annoyed that someone could take alarm
at so little provocation. Harsh words died on her tongue as Cloud
Eye’s pivot revealed all the riders around her, weapons drawn, the
air alive with the flash of steel.
    It was not Meshel, but
Sigrid, mounted on the bennelk named Star, who stood in her way when
she completed her turn and finally brought Cloud Eye to a standstill.
He too had his blade at the ready.
    “ What comes at us, Little
Mother,” Sigrid asked, “to make your mount sound the alarm?”
    Cheobawn cringed inside as
the eyes of the young Fathers and Mothers caged her in their circle
of judgment, her mind gone temporarily blank. She looked around,
wondering where Connor had gotten to when Kite Wing surged between
Cheobawn and the members of Ramhorn Pack, forcing their mounts to
back away. A look of alarm in Connor’s eyes made her suspect that
the move had not been wholly his idea. Had Kite Wing taken matters
into her own hands? Whichever was true, Connor was not one to let
this opportunity pass.
    “ Back off,” snarled
Connor at the young Fathers. “You want to talk to Blackwind Pack,
you talk to me.” Cheobawn hid a smile behind her face mask. The boy
loved a good scrap.
    “ Fine,” Sigrid said
calmly, “I ask, respectfully, why the alarm?”
    “ What my Ear knows is not
your concern,” Connor said, thrusting out his chin at the tall boy.
    Some of the riders took
exception to this rudeness. Sigrid ignored their angry mutterings.
    “ We are out here at your
Ear’s request. I think we should know if we are about to walk into
danger.”
    “ You know what you need to
know until the Elders wish it otherwise,” Connor said coldly,
glaring around at the sources of those mutters.
    “ Perhaps you might explain
it to me, then, young Father,” Hayrald drawled as his mount
shouldered its way into the circle. He had drawn his double bladed
lance and though he kept its butt resting atop his boot, the haft
held tightly upright by his knee, the presence of the heavy weapon
and its wielder intimidated the group all the same.
    “ What is the problem,
young Father?” Hayrald asked Sigrid. Sigrid jerked to attention,
his back suddenly straight, his eyes forward, his face carefully
devoid of expression. As if by magic, the tangle of riders sorted
itself