Spider Wars: Book Three of the Black Bead Chronicles
Page 27
Hayrald swore long and hard before he shook his head and began to think again.
“Go find Zeff. Tell him to bring the dogs,” Hayrald said. His men scrambled to obey. Phillius turned but Hayrald stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Who is still out?”
“She is still out there,” Phillius said, knowing exactly what his First Prime was asking.
Hayrald scanned the distant forest. This day just kept getting worse. He realized his teeth were clenched so hard the muscles jumped in his jaw. It took a moment of conscious effort to get them to relax. His emotional control was slipping and he would be no fit company for the psi women inside the dome until this was done. Hayrald turned his head to stare off towards the deep forests to the south.
There was one more omeh to collect.
Trade Fair will be available Fall 2016
Glossary
Alpha: Dominant male or female in a group. The leader.
ambient: The communal psychic cloud surrounding all things.
Badnite Creek: The large creek that runs from the White Dragon, past Windfall Dome, down to the cliffs at Meetpoint.
Bear Under the Mountain: The group sentience of all life north of the Escarpment.
bennelk: Mountain antelope, a smaller cousin of the fenelk, used as a mount for patrols.
Beta: Second in command.
bhotta: Large lizard, predatorial, hunter. Penultimate predator of the High Reaches.
Black Bead: A failed Ear whose psi is suspect and not to be trusted.
bloodstone: Stones formed inside the bodies of the animals of the planet tuned by the power of the psi of the builder to vibrate in synchronized harmony.
blue tag: Permission tag given to Packs to foray outside.
Central Plaza: Plaza under the apex of the dome whose center is marked by a large water fountain.
Choosingday: The day three-year-old girls must prove their psi abilities.
click: The distance a human man can walk in an hour.
Com sphere: A machine made of bloodstones and crystal brains attached to the inside of a gold sphere that acts as an antenna which becomes an extension of an Ear’s psi abilities.
Coven: The First Mother and all her wives.
Darknight: The winter solstice.
Dragons Spine: The range of mountains that separate the High Reaches from the northern ice fields.
Drover: Mother learned in the art of riding and managing the herd animals of the dome.
dubeh leopard: Large black cat-like predator.
Ear: Female member of Pack; psi adept.
East Trail: Road leading out the East Gate.
Eiocha: The largest moon.
Elder: Tribal member over the age of sixteen.
Epona: The smallest moon.
Escarpment: The southern boundary of tribal land.
fenelk:Hhorned and tusked antelope from the southern forests, largest herbivore in the High Reaches that has been domesticated and used as beasts of burden by the domes in the caravans that move goods between villages.
First Mother: The penultimate Mother in the Dome hierarchy, responsible for all life in and around the Dome.
First Prime: First Husband of the First Mother and her Coven. Penultimate Father in the Dome hierarchy.
fuzzy gang: Small communal-minded predator as large as a child’s fist.
gaiters: Leather thorn guards; light armor worn on lower arms and calves.
Grimstorm: Large winter storm that comes out of the ice fields north of the Dragon Spine; continent-sized cyclones of snow and wind that scour the high meadows down to bare earth and deposit immense drifts of snow in the high forests.
High Mother: The leader of all the domes in the High Reaches, voted into office by the First Mothers of each dome.
hopper: Small ground-dwelling marsupial.
Little Father: Formal title of boys who have not reached their majority.
Little Mother: Formal title of girls who have not reached their majority.
Lowlands: The land below the Escarpment.
Lowlander: Humans who live in the Lowlands.
Maker of the Living Thread: Master Geneticist and Healer.
North Fork Trail: Northern trail that splits from East Trail to run along the top of the cliffs and skree slopes.
Occonomara: The name of the planet as named by the Lowlanders. Tearmann, according to the tribes.
Omega: The lowest rank in a Pack hierarchy; or someone who is outside the structure of a Pack, who is neither Alpha nor lowest but the wild card of the group that fills the niche that is in need of filling at any point in time.
omeh: Plasteel and bloodstone necklace woven whole around the necks of every child not long after their birth, the pattern of which is unique to each dome.
Orchard Road: North road leading past the orchards into the north paddocks.
Orchard Trail: Road leading out the North Gate.
Orson’s Sea: The southern shallow sea between the continent and the Ten Thousand Islands.
Pack Hall: Residence where the declared Packs reside.
Pack: Group formed by children. A requirement of any who want to leave the dome. To Pack is enter into a formal binding contract with a chosen few. Upon reaching majority, these ties are permanent, the members considered Husbands and Wives.
Pantry: The dome’s communal food storage.
red tag: Foray tag for outside travel used to track all outside activities.
slab snow: The packed snow that precedes an avalanche.
Son of the Flesh: Boys born of the dome in which they reside.
Son of the Heart: Boys traded in Trade Fairs as future Husbands to the Mothers of the recipient dome.
South Road: The road that splits from the North Fork Trail and goes south to run along the southern edges of the bogs.
Tearmann: The name given the planet by the Domes. Occonomara, as named by the Lowlanders.
Temple training: 100 days of cloistered training starting the day after Darkday in which all dome 12-year-olds are taught the finer art of biofeedback to control fertility, healing, and energy management through focused exercise and meditation.
Trade Fair: Semi-annual events held in the host dome where the abundance and overstock of goods is traded amongst the domes and where the seven-year-old boys are traded as future husbands to other domes to ensure genetic diversity.
treebear: Man-tall clawed marsupial.
underager: Children under the age of eight.
Waste: The polar lands north of the Dragon Spine.
Waterfall Trail: Road leading out the South Gate.
Watch Ears: Mothers who use their psi ability to ling to an array of com spheres set at key points to monitor weather and herd movements.
Weapons Locker: Building on the south side of the Central Plaza where the weapons and tools are stored.
Weapons Master: Elder in charge of Weapons Locker.
West Road: Road leading out the West Gate.
White Dragon Peak: The tallest mountain in the Dragons Spine mountain range.
woolsey: Spider silk and wool fabric.
wrangler: Father in charge of caring for the animals of the domes.
yellow tag: Apprenticeship tag for those who do long-term study outside the dome.
Rank/Dome Affiliation
Blackwind Pack
Alain: Born in Firewalker Dome, Tam’s Second. Beta male of pack.
Cheobawn: Born in Windfall Dome, Mora is her Truemother, Nestmother, and natalmother. Black Bead in Blackwind Pack, a rankless Omega Ear.
Connor: Tam’s Truebrother. born in Waterwall Dome, Tam’s Third.
Megan: Born in Windfall Dome. Amabel is her Truemother. Rank – alpha Ear of pack.
Tam: Born in Waterwall Dome, Alpha male of pack.
House of the First Mother of Windfall Dome:
Amabel: Mora’s Second Wife. Master Geneticist, Master Maker of the Living Thread, Megan’s Truemother.
Brigit: Mora’s Fifth. Nursery Mother.
Hayrald: First Prime, Mora’s Fist Husband, Husband to the Coven, titular head of the Fathers of Windfall Dome.
Menolly: High Priestess to Windfall Dome, Mora’s Fourth Wife.
Mora: First Mother to Windfall Dome, Alpha Ear of the Coven. High Mother to all the High Reach Domes. Truemother of Cheobawn.
Phillius: Hayrald’s Third, Husband to the Coven, Head Pack Liaison.
Raddoc: Second Prime, and Hayrald’s second. Security Chief and Crystalline Mind expert.
Sybille: Mora’s Third in command. Brilliant warrior, mathematician, chief liaison with Fathers.
Wissen: Coven’s Husband, Hayrald’s Fourth.
Ramhorn Pack: Windfall Dome
Breyden: Sigrid’s Second. Ramhorn Pack’s strategical thinker.
Erin: Ramhorn’s Alpha Ear.
Iroc: Sigrid’s Fourth.
Sigrid: Alpha male in Ramhorn pack.
Soral: Ramhorn Pack’s Second Ear.
Meshel: Sigrid’s Third.
Windfall Dome:
Brathum: Elder killed in the first grimstorm.
Brindle: An oldpa who occasionally stands light duty at the South Gate into the stables.
Finn: Master Tinkerer. Brilliant engineer.
Gudu: Finn’s apprentice, journeyman.
Nedella: Master Chef, Mother in charge of the communal kitchens and food storage.
Zeff: Packless oldpa, he runs the boarhounds, Lady and Prince.
The Stables:
Cloud Eye:Ttwo-year-old bennelk, novice mount; Cheobawn’s mount.
Druda: Vinara’s Alpha wrangler.
Gann: New apprentice wrangler.
Herd Mother: Alpha female of the domesticated Windfall Dome bennelk. Dancer, Sybille’s mount.
Kite Wing: Herd Mother’s sister and second in command of the herd. Connor’s mount.
Red Tail: Five-year-old bennelk. Soral’s mount.
Star: Older bennelk. Sigrid’s mount.
Vinara: Master drover.
Spacers:
CPC: Central Planets Consortium, the political body that oversees the governance of all human space; collects taxes and conscripts the humans to wage war against the Spiders. Headed by a Prince of the royal family, appointed by the CPC.
Colonel Bohea: Agent of the royal hegemony, titular head of the CPC forces arrayed around Cheobawn’s planet, Tearmann.
Nnursht: First spider to contemplate space travel.
Samwell Wheelwright: Lowlander, born of a wealthy merchant family; college dropout; former CPC conscript and survivor of the Spider Wars.
Sargent Garro: Spider Wars veteran; mercenary and agent of the star fleet commanded by Bohea.
Scerrons: A species of psi adepts used by the humans as pilots to drag their ships through dimensional hyperspace.
Spider:The personification of the Spider hive mind, being that amalgam of energies that contain all the memories of the species of multi-legged, exoskeleton, crystal brained spider-like beings who originated on the planet called Occonomara by the human settlers.
About the Author
J.D. Lakey was born and raised on the high plains of Montana under an endless sky and as far from civilization as anyone in the twentieth century could get. There she explored the finer nuances of silence and the endless possibilities of the imagination. The stories were always there. The shifting of fortunes finally granted her the time to gather all the stories and give them flesh. An avid reader of science fiction and comics, she currently lives in San Diego, California where she divides her time between her writing, commuting on the I-5, and spending time with her delightful grandchildren.
Message from the Author
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed Spider Wars: Book Three of the Black Bead Chronicles. This is a story I have been writing in various forms for the past twenty years and I'm pleased to finally be able to bring you the full story of Cheobawn. Many readers have written asking for more and I find the story continues to write itself, so I invite you to continue the journey along with Cheobawn in Book Four, Trade Fair.
You are the reason that I keep writing and Cheobawn's story continues to be told. I invite you to tell me what you loved about the stories, and yes, even what you hated. You can write to me at info@jdlakey.com and visit me online at jdlakey.com.
Finally, I need to ask a favor. If you enjoyed this book, I'd love a review of Spider Wars. As an independent author, reviews are the single most important way to ensure that I can keep writing. The powers that be look at quantity and quality of reviews in deciding to support me. You, the reader, have the power to make or break a book. So please, if you have time, here's a link to my author page on Amazon. You can find all of my books here: Amazon Author Page.
Thank you again for reading, please keep in touch.
In gratitude,
Spider Wars
Text Copyright © 2012 by J.D. Lakey
Cover design and illustrations © 2016 by Dylan Drake
All rights reserved. Published by Wayword Press
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval without permission in writing from the author or publisher.
Author Website:
JDLakey.com
Author Contact:
info@jdlakey.com
Illustrator Website:
DylanDrakeDesignInc.com
Printed in the U.S.A.
Second Edition, April 2016