Chapter 369: 369: Papa is coming part two.
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"Yes, Vice General," the soldiers said.
He looked back into the cage. Miryam’s friend had put its head on her arm. She did not blink. He liked that. He smiled again, a little wider.
"We will talk later," he said. "For now you rest. You will want your eyes open when the stars come."
He stood and brushed sand from his palms. "Move the line," he called over his shoulder. "Bring the second cart in. Keep the gap clear. I want space around her."
The ants obeyed. The column shifted by a cart’s width. Ropes were tied again. Two scouts walked a ring around the new position and tamped the edge of the track so the cart would not tilt. One checked the cage lashings one more time and stepped back.
Under the dome, the cage sat tight and shaded. Miryam watched the vice general’s boots move away and told herself not to cry. She kept her face dry and stubborn and counted to five again.
Outside, the men finished their work and went quiet. The net lay coiled on a mat. The leather weights sat in a neat row to dry. The iron dust clung to the reed where it had touched her skin. No one brushed it off.
The vice general sat on his own mat two paces away, leaned back on his hands, and looked at the sky as if it owed him a story. The beetle stone on his chest was still. He did not look at the cage again for a while. He did not need to. The ropes were tight. The shade was good. The task was done.
The net had an aura blocking effect. Now that effect is gone. They were in the cage. Now she can answer Kai’s soul call.
One hour later...
The light on the stone was softer, but Kai was still on the inner ledge with his eyes shut. He breathed slowly. He kept his mind smooth. He made the small soul road inside himself that he used to reach the ones he loved. He set a picture on that soul road. It was his voice, soft and warm and steady. He sent it out.
Nothing came back. The road felt heavy, like sound under water. It was not blocked by distance. It was blocked by something close to her.
He let out his breath and tried again. He did not force it. He pressed the same voice forward, calm and sure, the way you would hold your hand out to a child in the dark.
"Miryam. Can you hear me?"
Still nothing.
He opened his eyes, stood, walked the ledge once, and sat again. He closed his eyes. He made the road wider and simpler. He set down and made his voice into a small, steady lamp. Warm. Safe. He sent the soul lamp out and waited with it.
A weak buzz touched him, then slipped away. The feeling was wrong. It was like a cloth between two mouths. Not far. Just muffled. He remembered the way Miryam smiles when she is happy.
"My little princess. Where are you? Papa is worried. Answer to me if you can hear my call."
He pushed the lamp again, the way you push a boat through a patch of weeds. The weeds pulled. The boat moved an inch and found the bank of the river.
"Papa..."
Miryam’s voice came thin and far. It was barely more than a breath. It was enough.
"I hear you," she said without moving his lips.
His voice went down the road, slow and even. "Miryam!!! My little princess. Where are you?"
"I came to play with my friend," she said. Her words had little stops in them, like she was stepping through sand. "Then I wanted to do something. I wanted to make a report like Shadeclaw and Silvershadow and Skyweaver and the others. I heard from my friend that many ants came to the desert. So... I came to look. Then..." She paused.
The soul road trembled, like a hand bumping a door just as you put your ear to it. The touch faded. He caught the thin line with both hands in his mind and held it still. He knew something was wrong. He knew how she talked. He thought of many scary things. Then he asked with all his courage.
"Are you hurt," he asked. "Did anyone hurt you?"
"I am not hurt," she said. "But me and my friend were stuck on the net, First. Then they put us in a cage and they took us somewhere. I never came this far. Papa, I am scared. The big ant wants something from me. It was asking for my blood and gave us bread to eat. After I ate, my head got heavy and my tummy felt wrong."
A cold hit his body. Heat rose in his chest. He did not let either run down the road to her. He poured calm into his voice until it felt heavy and safe.
"Do not be afraid, little princess," he said. "I am coming. Stay strong. Do not show fear. Do what they ask if it does not hurt you. Save your strength. Can you show me what you see? Only a little. Do not push too hard. Just a few images is enough."
"I will try," she whispered. She sent images of her surroundings inside Kai’s mind.
The soul road filled with a dim square, as if a hand had lifted a corner of a cloth. He saw ribs of brown, shiny where fingers had touched them many times. A cage. There were ropes on it that ran to poles. There was a low roof over it, canvas stretched to make shade. He saw Miryam’s hands / paws on the floor of the cage, small and stubborn. He saw her friend curled at her side with its eyes half open and its whiskers twitching. He saw four soldiers in plain plates near the cart wheels, bored but not careless.