Read Spider Wars: Book Three of the Black Bead Chronicles for Free Online Page A

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