Spider Wars: Book Three of the Black Bead Chronicles (13 page)

Connor opened his mouth to
shout back but Sigrid pressed his fingers into the boy’s thigh.

“
Listen to your Ear, young
Father,” Sigrid said. “The leopard was just a pebble. Be thankful
that the avalanche has not yet fallen on your head.”

“
What is that supposed to
mean?” Connor asked, his anger and suspicion seething just under
the surface of his words.

“
That in a rain of rocks,
one can count oneself lucky if your Ear lets the smallest one fall on
your head, knowing that a step in either direction will get you
squished,” wheezed Sigrid, amused by his own clever words. Cheobawn
laughed in spite of herself. Sigrid had taken her words and used them
for his own argument.

Connor’s eyes glittered
ominously from the depths of his mask. “Will somebody talk with
words that make sense, please?”

“
Your Ear just told you
that there are worse things than smoke leopards and grimstorms coming
at us out of the Waste,” Erin said softly.

Cheobawn turned her head and
met Erin’s eyes, unable to suppress her own look of surprise. Erin
shrugged and looked away to hide the pain in her eyes. Behind that
pretty face, Sigrid’s Ear had undiscovered hidden depths, it
seemed. Cheobawn shook that unkind thought from her head. Erin was
Sigrid’s Alpha Ear and knowing Sigrid as she did, she could only
assume that Sigrid had chosen well.

“
There is something else
we need to consider,” Sigrid said.

“
Other than rocks falling
on our heads?” Connor asked, glancing between his three companions,
a suspicious look on his face. Cheobawn understood the source of his
displeasure. He did not like Sigrid’s intimacy with her. Packs did
not fraternize with each other. The competition was too intense
between them. Connor suspected her of being too familiar with the
enemy. Perhaps she was, but it was very hard to think of Sigrid as a
foe.

“
Consider this,” Sigrid
said as he forced himself to sit upright. “If the smoke leopard did
not kill the cattle, as Cheobawn suspects, then he will not likely
try to hunt them anytime soon as he has an entire bennelk carcass to
fill his belly. We can still go get them tomorrow.”

Erin snorted in disbelief.
“You are out of your mind.”

Cheobawn wholeheartedly
agreed.

Their
tardiness in returning had not gone unnoticed. Cresting the last rise
before the descent down to the orchards, they spotted a small patrol
headed up the slope. Cheobawn stood in her stirrups and peered into
the gathering dusk. Erin did the same.

“
No cattle at the staging
area. They left without us,” she moaned. Erin’s anguish bled into
the ambient. Cheobawn flushed, embarrassed. It was not the foray Erin
missed, but her Pack. The rest of Ramhorn Pack had been forced to
abandon their two Alpha leaders to the elements, the needs of the
dome outweighing the needs of one small Pack. Cheobawn felt bad for
Erin and Sigrid. She had gotten them involved in this foray and the
mountain of negative consequences just kept growing and growing. The
Elders would not be pleased, especially the ones riding towards them.
She recognized one of the riders.

“
Sybille,” she said in
resignation as she slumped back down into the saddle, “and Hayrald.
I recognize his mount.”

“
We need to make sure we
have our stories straight,” Connor said.

“
What about just the
truth, you little bug,” hissed Erin, her patience at an end.

“
Because Blackwind is used
to being in trouble. You guys are so perfect you practically shine in
the dark,” Connor said. “We can make it sound like you guys tried
to keep us in line but we were horsing around and fighting, which is
not a lie. We say we didn’t find the tracks 'til it was too late.
We can even make it sound like it was our fault you got stuck on the
wrong side of the fence. That way Vinara won’t have your hide for
losing one of her animals.”

“
No,” Sigrid with some
finality. “Thank you, but no. We do not sully our reports with half
truths, ever, Little Father.”

“
OK, but don’t say I
didn’t warn you,” said Connor as Sybille’s patrol galloped up
the hill.

Sybille peeled off as the
patrol thundered by them. Herd Mother planted her feet in front of
Kite Wing, sliding to a halt in a spray of ice and snow that showered
them all with its stinging particles. The patrol continued on in a
long curving arc that turned the patrol around and pointed them back
down the hill while Sybille looked them over, her eyes missing
nothing.

“
Where is your mount,
Young Father?” Sybille asked Sigrid pointedly, her displeasure
written in every line of her body.

“
Dead, Mother,” Sigrid
said, trying to come at attention. He managed to get upright but it
was obvious by the way he bent to one side that he was hurt. “A
smoke leopard took her.”

“
It was all my fault,
Mother,” Connor interjected quickly. “I was messing around and
wouldn’t listen to Sigrid’s advice when …“ Connor squeaked in
pain as Sigrid punched the fist of his good arm into Connor’s
thigh. “Hey!”

Cheobawn covered her face
with her hands, and tried to stifle the laugh that was welling up
inside her. It was not funny, not really, but they were alive and
that seemed to be something to be very happy about.

“
You are such an idiot,”
Erin said to Connor with a long suffering sigh.

Cheobawn burst out laughing.
After a moment of surprise, Erin joined her.

“
Ignore them,” Connor
growled. “You know how hysterical Ears can get sometimes.”

“
No, tell me,” drawled
Sybille, Mora’s Third, her displeasure now bordering on incensed
outrage.

Sigrid snorted and would
have laughed, except his breath caught in his throat as he clutched
his side.

“
Stop, stop. You win,
bug,” he groaned. “You kill me. I surrender.”

Connor did not laugh but the
look he cast in Cheobawn’s direction was full of dark amusement.

“
Enough foolishness,”
Sybille snarled as she put heel to bennelk rib and wheeled Herd
Mother around as the rest of the patrol swept them up and herded them
down the hill. “Keep up or I will gut you and leave you for the
carrion eaters.”

They rode in tense silence
all the way down the hill.

The herd had passed through
the orchards when they finally caught up with the trailing riders.
Vinara had her hands full as the cattle tried to spread themselves
across the half click of fallow fields that surrounded the dome. The
head drover needed every rider on the fringes of the herd, driving
them back into a tight line and encouraging them to pick up the pace.
The glow of the dome was now brighter than that of the sky, acting as
a beacon to draw them on.

It was Hayrald who directed
the rear guard. Sybille gave a terse report to the First Prime before
abandoning her charges to his care. She raced away, her patrol close
behind while Hayrald put his fingers under his mask and sent a
piecing whistle out over the din of animal and human. Every head
within hearing turned as the First Prime took out his lance and
pointed it at the sky. Arm yourselves, it meant. No one hesitated. A
small forest of blades sprouted in the deepening dusk. Hayrald cast a
worried look in Cheobawn’s direction but did not ride close to see
how she fared. Hayrald had bigger worries. If there was one leopard
there could be more, perhaps even now hunting the shadows around
them.

It was a tense ride after
that, surrounded by silent warriors, their weapons at the ready,
their eyes peering into the darkness. Sunlight failed completely,
leaving only the dome lights to guide their way. The light reflected
off the snow, casting the people and animals in strange shadows.
Sybille, somewhere far in front of them, perhaps trusting the
instincts of the mounts, pushed them all hard until the
barrel-shaped, short-legged cattle were close to trotting. Cloud Eye,
her breath becoming labored, wanted to slow but was not allowed. Her
head started to droop with every step, a sign she had spent too much
of herself in too short a time.

Are you well, sister?
she asked.
It is not much further.

Cloud Eye said nothing.

Alarmed, Cheobawn pulled her
young friend to the side, bringing her to a halt and letting the herd
stream by. Hayrald wheeled his mount and raced back towards her.

“
Keep Moving!” he
shouted.

“
There is no danger,”
she said. “Why kill the animals ….”

“
Do not argue an order!”
he barked, furious at her insurrection. He brought the flat of his
lance down on Cloud Eyes rump. Cloud Eye shuddered and began walking
again.

Cheobawn glared after her
Da, furious at the abuse of her mount, but the First Prime was
already headed back to the end of the line. The other riders around
her, noting her humiliation, were quick to avert their gaze. She was
glad for the protection of her face mask as the heat rose to her
cheeks. Connor leaned over and muttered something, perhaps trying to
comfort her, but she heard nothing but the misery of the bennelk
between her legs.

Her energy faded as Cloud
Eye’s seeped away and she found herself drooping in the saddle.
unable to find the will to fight anymore. Her anger at Hayrald faded,
her heart gone cold and weary.

She began to wish a smoke
leopard really would attack them and break this spell.

The herd and its outriders
streamed around the dome past the stables and continued on towards
the animal barns. Hayrald peeled Cheobawn’s group away from the
rear guard and sent them into the stables, obviously glad to be rid
of them. It was a mark of how ill Sigrid felt, that he did not
protest or insist on gathering up the rest of his Pack. Erin looked
at him, deeply worried, and followed him quietly into the stable
yard.

Vinara, having led the drive
all the way home, stood at the stable-yard gates, a phalanx of
wranglers standing at the ready, a portable com unit in hand. The
Head Drover scowled down at them as they dismounted and handed the
reins of their bennelk to their keepers. Cloud Eye’s head drooped
nearly to the ground as she coughed wetly. Gann snapped a lead rope
to her bridle and looked at Cheobawn with reproachful eyes. Cheobawn
flinched and looked away, deeply mortified.

Vinara checked the animals
off on her list and scowled at Cloud Eye’s raspy breathing.

“
What have you done to my
elk?” she demanded. “One missing and the others barely standing.
Your carelessness is appalling. Appalling. They will all need
menthaleaf burnt in their stalls all night to heal the lung burn,
I’ll wager.”

Ramhorn and Blackwind hung
their heads. None of them could think of anything to say. The Head
Drover was right. The first rule of any patrol was keep your animals
sound. They submitted to her rant as she lifted the bennelk’s legs
to inspect the pads and nails, rattling off instructions to the
wranglers about caring for the cuts and abrasions and broken, ragged
claw tips. When the animals had been sent off to a well-deserved pail
of hot mash and a grooming, she turned and pinned Sigrid with her
hawk-like stare.

“
The cattle count was
eighteen short. You saw the tracks that showed where they went, I
hear,” she said coolly.

“
Yes, Mother,” Sigrid
said, flinching as he tried to stand straight. “We can lead you
there tomorrow at first light. I have consulted with Erin and
Cheobawn. It is felt that they are still alive.”

“
You are in no condition
to go anywhere, young Father,” Vinara said with a shake of her
head. “I will take your Ear and anyone else from your Pack that is
willing to volunteer.”

“
Yes, Mother,” Sigrid
said, casting a worried look back at Erin.

“
I will be safe with
Meshel and Breyden,” Erin said softly, touching Sigrid’s face to
ease the worried frown. “Iroc and Soral can stay and take care of
you. Cheobawn can ride with us and Connor can ride as her shield
man.”

“
That would be best,”
Sigrid said, “but do not …”

“
The Coven may have a say
in Blackwind’s duties tomorrow,” Vinara interjected. “If there
is a smoke leopard roaming the lower pasture, I need armed warriors
out there and not children.”

Erin considered the Mother’s
words solemnly and then shook her head.

“
I will not go out without
Blackwind, Head Drover. If we must play hide and seek with an
enormous cat and an impending storm, I would prefer to go with
someone who can tell me the mind of both.”