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

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.
    “ Stop that,” she said,
stamping her foot in irritation. “Stop trying to change the
subject. We are just going to find the herds. That is all. The ice
demons are not my problem.”
    “ What did she say?”
Druda asked. Druda, unlike the rest of the village who operated under
a burden of intractable skepticism, accepted without question that
Cheobawn could talk to his charges.
    “ Herd Mother,” Cheobawn
said, casting an acid glare at the bennelk, “feels the need to
share her wisdom, most of it unhelpful to the situation at hand.”
    “ Ah,” Druda said, as he
hid a smile against the bennelk’s nose and patted Herd Mother’s
neck, “One should not try to teach an oldma the difference between
bloodstones and acorns.”
    Cheobawn glared at him
crossly. It was just this kind of indecipherable oldma wisdom she did
not need to hear. Was he siding with Herd Mother? She opened her
mouth to defend her bruised honor.
    “ What do you mean by ice
demons?” Sybille asked. Cheobawn hiccuped in surprise and spun
around. How long had her nestmate been standing there?
    “ It is nothing. I … Herd
… it is Dancer’s word for grimstorms.”
    The skeptical sneer on
Sybille’s face made it obvious that she did not believe a word of
Cheobawn’s explanation. Herd Mother made a rude noise but otherwise
remained silent while Cheobawn clamped her teeth together to keep
them from chattering as she shivered under Sybille’s cold stare.
The silence grew as the air frosted with Sybille’s displeasure. The
Mother’s eyes did not leave Cheobawn’s face as she extended a
gloved hand towards the wrangler. Druda placed the reins in her palm
and left the stall, sliding silently around Cheobawn, the look on his
face attesting to the fact that he wanted no part of the conflict
that existed between the Coven’s Third Mother and the little Black
Bead.
    The moment would not end. It
seemed to stretch on and on, in the space between one breath and the
next. Cheobawn struggled under its weight. Like all the Mothers in
the Coven, Sybille was frighteningly ruthless and deadly in her
kindness. Though Cheobawn had never seen her kill with the knives on
her belt, she did not doubt for a moment that Sybille would use them
if she thought it would solve her problem. Cheobawn never wanted to
be that kind of problem.
    Sybille broke the spell with
a jerk of her chin.
    “ Vinara is holding a mount
for you. Move it. You waste my time standing about having imaginary
conversations with animals.”
    Cheobawn, her knees suddenly
weak, did not rise to the bait though the words were hurtful to both
her and Herd Mother. Instead, she pushed the stall door wide and
stepped away.
    “ Cheobawn,” Sybille
said, stopping her with just the word. Cheobawn turned