---
"Yes, Vice General," the nearest captain said. The man swallowed hard. He did not like the way his own voice sounded.
(Kai's point of view.)
"Kai," the soul road whispered to him in the shape of a sob. He was already on his legs in the lee of a dune with his chin lifted to taste the wind. His mind was quiet. The road was open. Her voice hit him like cold water.
"Papa," she cried on the road and out loud in the camp both at once. "My friend is dead. There is blood all over me. I am in pain. Papa, kill them. They are bad ants. I do not like them."
He did not answer with words. He sent his hand again. Palm up. Warm. Steady. I am here. I am close. He felt her answer for one breath. Then the line went slack as she fainted. The road showed him only the shape of her small body slumped and the smell of iron and dust.
He said the words out loud to make them real inside himself. He repeated her lines as if he needed to hear them twice.
