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

blotting out the light. Other things, pale as
starlight, hung in the air beneath it. She sat up, reining Cloud Eye
in, her eyes peering upward trying to see the strange objects better.
Between one blink and the next the spell was broken.
    There were no stars, no icy
plain, just the dusky violet sky above the Spine, the last rays of
the sun staining the snowy peaks a thousand shades of pink and
orange. Cloud Eye slowed of her own accord, her lungs heaving in the
intensely dry air. Cheobawn looked down in concern. Exertion in this
weather risked lung burn or worse yet, a malady called wet lung in
which an animal could drown from thousands of minute hemorrhages
inside the lung tissue. She knew this but had forgotten it in the
heat of the moment. Cloud Eye coughed. It was a small, dry sound.
Alarmed, she pulled her young friend to a stop.
    I am sorry , Cheobawn
thought. My heart is full of storms that cloud my mind. This is
all my fault.
    Rude males , Cloud Eye
seethed, should be put in their place . Slashing tusks filled
Cloud Eye’s ambient. Cloud Eye was still very angry.
    No. My error. Mothers
must shield their hearts from male thoughts. The one cannot exist in
the presence of the other, Cheobawn said sadly, trying not to
cry.
    You are Herd Mother’s
child. Your own herd is blind to your nature, Cloud Eye snorted
in contempt as she stamped her feet.
    I am tired of defending
my nature. Let’s go home, Cheobawn said. Cloud Eye hissed
softly and shook her head so hard the brass loops in her bridle
rattled against the bony carapace that armored the ridge line of her
nose, but she turned back all the same.
    Sigrid galloped up to them
and reined in hard. His mount, Star, planted her feet and skidded to
a halt, showering them in ice.
    “ Are you mad?” Sigrid
yelled. “You cannot just run off when the whim takes you!” He
reached out to grab Cloud Eye’s lead rope but her bennelk would not
tolerate any more interference. Tired as she was, Cloud Eye hissed
and swung her head just enough to let him feel the back of her tusks.
Sigrid jerked his hand out of harm’s way as Star danced away.
    “ Hush,” Cheobawn said
absently, patting the young bennelk gently. She glanced out of the
corner of her eye. Sigrid was staring down at her, his face flushed.
“Forgive our rudeness, Father,” she said. “She has no good
opinion of the males of her species and her sisterly advice is quite
fierce. You would be safer at a distance.”
    Sigrid kneed his mount away,
giving her space as she set Cloud Eye into a slow walk back the way
they had come. Sigrid followed after a pace and pushed Star to catch
up but kept her well out of tusk range.
    “ I know you have a
grievance with me,” Sigrid said, “and I am sorry for what
happened. I did not mean for you and Connor to bear the brunt of
Hayrald’s wrath.”
    Cheobawn shook her head
tiredly. “I am of the same opinion as Cloud Eye, I think. You,
Connor, and Hayrald are made of the same cloth. Your only failing is
your gender and that cannot be helped. There is nothing to forgive.”
    “ No, do not say such
things, Little Mother,” Sigrid said, pain in his voice. “Be
patient with us. Youth offends by its very nature and Elders offend
because they forget what it is like to be young. I know a bit about
how you and Connor must feel, with Tam, Alain, and Megan off
fulfilling their Sacred Duties. If you need someone to talk to, I
will listen.”
    Cheobawn imagined telling
him about the unspeakable things that had their claws in her insides
and flinched. She would spare Sigrid this, whose heart was an open
book to anyone who bothered to look into his eyes. He was still young
enough to believe in honor and honest dealings, which was one of the
reasons she adored him. They were his best qualities, having
attracted Erin to his side and taken him far up the ladder of
success. The hard truths about being an Elder would dawn in his mind
eventually but she did not want to be the one to tear down