Bhotta's Tears: Book Two of the Black Bead Chronicles Read Online Free PDF Page B

hobbled so?  
    A memory, half forgotten, flashed into her mind; the day of their first foray as they lay atop the rock spire, curled in a ball, terrified as the stone quaked with each blow from the treebear’s paws. It came back to her, now, every detail etched into her mind as real and as painfully vivid as if she were still there; the sounds of the bear’s grunts, the smell of black water bogs and pine trees, the texture of the stone under her face. She had worn the treebear that day, putting it on like a second skin, dancing it to her bidding, saving them all. The memory was not welcome. Nausea washed through her. She did not want to remember what it felt like to take over the mind of another.
    Why was her traitorous brain dredging it all up again? Did it pertain to this problem? Was that to be her only recourse when things got ugly? Was that to be her fate, solving all her problems using the strategy of desperation which required no skill or subtly? It was like trying to slice mushrooms with an ax. It got the job done but the results were barely palatable. Could she do that again? Dare she? She had forgotten who she was when she was inside the treebear. If it were not for Tam, perhaps she would be out there still, in her treebear skin, no longer human.
    The great monster, Bear Under the Mountain, heard her distress. It rolled over in its sleep, sending a tendril of a thought up out of the dark cold places under her feet, wanting to play again. She stomped that door closed, refusing it entrance.
    She came out of her fugue to find Tam sitting beside her, his arm around her shoulders.
    “What troubles you, wee bit?” he asked softly. She put her icy hands on his smooth cheeks.
    “Are you my Pack?“ she asked softly. “Though I have no right to call myself Cheobawn Blackwind yet, if I tell you we need to go somewhere, will you go, I wonder?”
    “What kind of question is that? Of course. You are my Ear.”  
    “How far would you go? I am afraid and it takes a lot to make me afraid. Wouldn’t that make me some kind of unnatural monster, to ask you to follow me?”
    “Tell me what is worrying you. Let me set your mind at ease, Little Mother.” Tam whispered softly, his confidence unshakable.
    “Something comes at us from below the Escarpment, but I cannot put a face on it and I do not know what to do.”
    “Lowlanders! Are we going to Meetpoint at the end of the summer?” Connor asked, a hungry look on his face. Tam opened his mouth to deny it, but then looked at Cheobawn.
    “What do you say, Little Mother?,” he asked softly.
    Cheobawn shook her head.
    “I am in the dark. There are too many secrets,” she choked out.
    “Do we need to learn about Lowlanders? I can try to hack the crystalmind hub for you,” Alain offered helpfully.
    “No! Stop it, all of you. Wait,” Tam ordered firmly, “I will see what I can do. Give me a couple of days. I will ask around and if I think it is safe to tell you, I will let you know what I find out. Alright?”
    “Safe?” Megan breathed in outrage. “Who are you to decide?”
    “By the Goddess, Megan,” Tam snapped in frustration. “I cannot risk the safety of the Pack because you girls think you need to know something the Elders have restricted for a purpose. The rulings from the High Council are not always arbitrary, you know.”
    “Alright, alright. Calm down,” the older girl said, holding up her hands in surrender, not liking to anger Tam. “Lets go pick some melons.”
    “Alright, wee bit? Can you wait?” Tam asked.
    “OK,” Cheobawn agreed, but only to set his mind at ease.
    They scrambled to get dressed and then streamed out the door. Alain fell into step next to Cheobawn.
    “I’d avoid using your night table for a while,” he said out of the corner of his mouth. “Just to be safe, use only your own passcode until I find out if the coast is clear.”
    Cheobawn nodded to appease him, but made no verbal contract. She was not totally sure she could