I Became an Ant Lord, So I Built a Hive Full of Beauties-Chapter 387: The Sand That Heard a Cry part one

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The cage door hung open on its bent hinge. Heat pressed down from the canvas roof like a heavy hand. Flies skated on the blood that had dried on the posts from other tests done on other days. A thin rope went from the door to a stake so the door would not swing shut by mistake. It made a soft creak each time the hot wind tugged.

Mardek stood with one palm on the frame as if the whole camp belonged to that hand. The other hand reached in and held Miryam by the back of her neck.

Miryam kept her face still, the way Kai had taught her. Inside she was a storm. Her heart ran fast. Her breath was small. She did not like how his fingers felt. She did not like how the steel kissed her cheek and then moved away. She wanted to be brave like Papa said. She kept her mouth closed. She held the Friend tighter with one arm.

Her Friend was small, quick, and warm. Its whiskers ticked her cheek as it looked up. Its little eyes went from the knife to Mardek’s hand to Miryam’s face. It did not know words. It knew her.

"Hold still," Mardek said. His voice was easy and smooth like water in a shallow pan. "Do not shake. It will be quick."

He drew the knife back a little so he could take a clean shaving of skin. He did not see the Friend’s eyes change. It tensed, a string pulled to the last inch. It leaped with all the life inside its tiny body.

Tiny teeth sank into the wrist that held Miryam.

"Ah," Mardek hissed. The grin broke off his face like a chip. His eyes went small. "Ouch." He shook his arm once. Miryam felt the fingers on her neck slip a little. The Friend hung on like a burr. It made a thin, angry sound. Its feet scrabbled for Miryam’s knee but held to skin and glove.

"You low thing," Mardek said, the voice still soft but sharp now. "You bite me? You dare?"

He did not pull gently. He did not pry. He simply drove the knife into the Friend’s side. The blade went between tiny ribs. It came out red on the far side. Blood burst out in a hot stream. It splashed Miryam’s cheek, eyes, neck, and body. Warm red ran down her chest. It ran into the lines of the wood under her. The Friend shook once. Then it did not shake again. The jaw let go. The little legs hung loose.

Miryam blinked once, very slowly. She saw red. She smelled metal. Her ears rang like little bells inside her head. Her brain tried to make sense. The shape in Mardek’s hand was wrong. It was her only Friend. A sob locked in her throat. She did not know how to breathe for one long, long heartbeat.

Then the sound came back to her mouth. The breath came back. Her eyes filled at once. Tears stood big on her lashes and made everything double. The first drop fell and made a round dark spot in the dust on the floor.

"You killed my friend," she said. The words came out in a shake. "How could you? He did nothing. He played. He was kind. He was mine. You killed my friend."

"AaHa AaHa"

Mardek laughed. He made it sound light again. "A one-star thing bit me. It cannot even speak. It is a wild animal. It learns only from pain. It earned the blade."

Another tear came. Then more. They ran down through the blood. The drops cut clean lines on her cheeks. She had not cried like this since the day the egg around her shook and cracked and went cold — since the day her mother died far away and the sand itself sang with pain. That was a big pain with no face. This pain had a face. It had a grin and clean armor and a hand that held too tight.

Her throat felt raw. She tried to speak on the soul road and could not find it in the panic. So she spoke with her mouth.

"Papa," she cried. "Papa, help me."

Kai’s voice rang in her ears — a steady warmth on the soul road. "Miryam, I am here. Papa is very close."

Her answer broke into a cry. "Papa..." She sobbed again, the words shaking. "Papa, my friend is dead. There is blood all over my body. Papa, I am in pain. Papa, kill them. They are bad ants. I don’t like them." Her breath hitched; the world tilted. She went limp and fainted.

This time, in her panic, she hadn’t kept it to the soul road. She had said it all out loud.

He turned, voice sharpening. "In the meantime, bring me the mountain leader. I want her to watch her father kneel at my feet. That will be... very satisfying."

He gave his dagger a sharp shake. The little body that had been stuck on the blade slid free and fell to the sand with a wet thud.

Mardek’s eyes got narrow again. He looked up, not at the moon, not at a flag, but at the idea of someone listening. He rolled his shoulders and put the dead Friend against the bars so it would slide off the blade. He shook his wrist. The small body slid down the steel and fell to the sand with a wet slap.

"So the golden child calls to the white hair man," he said. "And asks him to kill me. That is a good story." He tilted the knife and watched the light walk along the edge. "Let her sleep," he said to the bowl-man. "We will cut the piece when she wakes and can feel it. But first — bring me sport. One hundred of the best soldiers. Four stars only. Five if any rest is clean. Do not kill him. I want him to look up at me."