I Became an Ant Lord, So I Built a Hive Full of Beauties-Chapter 386: Shadows and Bait

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The leather licked into flame. She fed it dry grass wads she picked from the desert bushes, then bits of shaken reed fluff, then branches of cut strap. The fire grew big and hard and clean. She walked it to the first pile in her two hands and set the edge.

She blew once. It caught on. Oil from belts and straps woke the flame. Hair hissed. Leather shrank. It smelled bad at first. Then it smelled like a sad cook fire.

She moved to the second pile and did the same. The heat found its own road through cloth and hair and scraps. The moon watched the ants bodies burning. The wind leaned the flame one way and then the other and then let it go up straight.

"If he tries to run," Kai said, "take his feet without any hesitation."

Azhara walked back and took the leash again. She planted her feet and tested the feel of a man on a string with no arms. "I will not wrap it around his throat until he tries anything funny ," she said, not joking.

Rauk made a dry sound that might have been a laugh. It might have been air leaving a broken thing.

Kai looked east. He lifted his chin a little and pulled in the night air like a swimmer takes one last breath before he dives. He rolled his shoulders once more. The light in his chest felt thick and ready.

"I will go," he said. "You follow two hundred meters back. Drag him if you must. If he slows you down too much, make him lighter."

Azhara nodded. "I will follow like you asked." She wrapped the leash twice around her forearm. "I am behind you, but I am not slow. Rabbits can run very fast."

Kai looked at the burning piles. He did not cross himself. He did not say a word. He put his hand on his spear and started going east.

Rauk watched him go until the spear point dipped below the next dune. He turned his head to look at Azhara.

"You love him," he said.

She smiled like a pervert. "I have a lot of words for what I feel. Love is one of them." She jerked the leash. "Walk."

He pushed to his feet with all the strength he had. He stumbled but he kept going. He would not crawl in front of her, an enemy, if he could help it. Pride still had a room in him with lights on.

They left the saddle behind with its two fires. The flame lit the ripples of sand like ribs. After fifty steps the light was a glow behind them. After two hundred it was a thought.

Far ahead, Silvershadow lay with his cheek in the cool skin of the dune and his eyes almost closed. The messenger he had watched had run hard on the far side of the camp rings and shot straight to the vice general’s shade. Silvershadow had wanted to put the runner in the sand with one soft step and a short knife. He had not. If he did it, he would pull many enemies’ eyes to the wrong shadow and turn the whole camp’s head. He let the man run. He let the word reach the grin. It was the better choice. It tasted bad. He swallowed it.

He slid like a slow lizard around a stack of water skins and a hanging net of dried meat. He slid between two carts with painted marks on the sides. He slid under a rope that went from one stake to another. He kept his breath level and his feet flat. He tucked his antennae down when a torch passed near and let the light go by him like a fish. He moved past the cook line, past the repair line, past the tent where men rolled bandages, and stopped when he could see the brown dome with the low edge.

The runner explained everything to the vice general....

The cage sat under it. He saw Miryam as a small light shape curled to shield another shape with whiskers. He looked away fast and looked again only with the edge of his eye. He let his breath push a little sand and then stopped. He counted the poles. He counted the guards. He counted the way the ropes lay like a trap set to snap if a hand touched the wrong knot. He counted all of that and then lined it up in his head like stones for Kai to step on and not slip.

The runner reached Mardek. He fell to one knee and panted and said the words with spit and pride. Mardek listened with his hands behind his head, a grin tilted to one side. Then he laughed, a full sound that pulled eyes.

"Without knowing I took a hostage," he said. "Fate likes me today. The mountain man is walking to my hand. I will use the small one to bring him the last steps. I will finish my task. I will take the key to my new star." He threw his head back and laughed again. Men joined. Some because they were glad. Some because they wanted to be near the sun.

He stood and walked to the cage. Silvershadow watched his feet. He did not look at his face. He already knew the shape of that smile. He had seen it on city boys who thought they were hunters when they were only clean and lucky.

"Bring me the test tool," Mardek said. "If I cannot read the child by scent, I will read her by trick." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

He went on. "I wanted to wait before, small one. I thought I would be gentle with your fear first. Now I will take your blood and find out what you are. Then I will know what he is. Some powers look like the parent even when the face lies."

He put a hand out for the cage bar. He did not touch it yet. He liked to make a line and then step over it slowly.

The men near him started to move. One ran for the small chest with the little glass things that Priests and low healers used when they wanted to see what a thing was made of. Another shook out a cloth. Another pulled a different rope across the space to block a path that was not blocked before. Small things. All right things. It made Silvershadow’s teeth hurt the way bad music does when you are too close to the drum.

He slid back two finger widths into shadow and froze there like an old stain.

Azhara’s feet made a soft sound behind Kai. The leash dragged a notch in the sand. Rauk’s steps scuffed and staggered. He did not ask for water. Azhara did not offer it.

Kai reached the crest of the last short dune before the camp’s outer carts. He went to his knees and listened. The hum had changed. One voice near the dome got louder. It smiled when it spoke. He did not need a name to know it was Mardek.

He drew the thin road in his head and set one picture on it for Miryam. It was his hand again. Palm open. Warm. Steady.

He felt a weak touch answer. She did not send a word. She sent the shape of her chin up and her mouth pressed tight and her hand on the Friend’s head. He sent the feeling of a wall behind her that she could lean on without looking. He sent it without words. He pulled his hand back. He would need the power this short road cost when he moved.

Azhara crouched beside him and put her mouth near his ear. "Two carts left of the dome is a small gap," she said. "Silvershadow marked it with a bent reed. Your path is there. I will be a knife behind you. If the enemy tries to switch hands with the child, I will cut one of the hands."

"Good," Kai said.

Azhara stood and stepped back. She wrapped the leash twice more and gave it a jerk. "Walk," she told Rauk.

Rauk’s breath whistled. He moved. He did not fall. He did not cry.

Kai slid forward, low and quiet, and set his palm on the sand. He watched the way the wind pushed the top layer. He found the line where his steps would look like wind work and not like feet. He drew his spear back close to his body so the head would not flash. He moved.

In the camp, a man set the small chest open near Mardek’s knee. Glass chimed. A thin blade with a hook on it gleamed. A tube with a soft mouth waited. Mardek did not touch the tools. He took his time. He liked the part where he told the story of what he would do almost as much as he liked doing it.

"Hold the bars," he said to the guard. "Lift the door."

Two men bent and heaved. The cage door squealed. Miryam held very still. Her Friend pressed into her side and made a small sound. She put one hand over its eyes. The other hand stayed on the floor so she would not look like she would scratch or bite. She was brave, but she was a child. Her heart hit her ribs like small fists.

Mardek reached in with his right hand and gripped the back of her neck. He did not squeeze hard. He did not have to. He could have. He liked that he did not have to. He liked the way control felt when it was easy.

He lifted her with one arm until her feet left the cage floor. With his other hand he took a short dagger from his belt and turned it so the flat lay against her cheek for a moment. The blade was not at her throat yet. It could be fast, if a shadow moved where it should not.

He looked up at the sky and grinned.

"Come then," he said to the darkness.

On the dune, Kai’s jaw set. His breath went long and thin. His eyes went bright.

He moved.

{Note: Guy, tomorrow I will upload 3-5 Chapters.}