Page 59 of The Wind Dancer
Fu Shang spat at her, and the bloody saliva trickled down her cheek.
She didn’t even blink.
There was a flash of movement, and the spike drove under his thumbnail.
Fu Shang howled.
It was gut-wrenching.
Mei Lin turned the spike.
“Do you think this is the extent of what I’ll do to you?”
Fu Shang gritted his teeth but remained silent. The bastard had strong willpower, but by the looks of it, Mei Lin could break stronger people than him.
She sighed dramatically and went to the table. She stood in silence for a few moments and then picked up the next tool, narrow forceps with serrated edges.
“Do you know what happens to tendons when they are pulled? Hm?” she asked, walking up to him. “They don’t snap right away. First... they crack.”
The forceps dug into Fu Shang’s wrist.
“Ever heard a wet cloth rip?” Mei Lin leaned in to whisper to him, “It’s going to sound a lot like that.”
She jerked the forceps, and then there was a crunch. He screamed like a wounded animal.
His hand spasmed, but Mei Lin twisted the forceps, pulling out the pale tendon, drenched in blood. It didn’t tear immediately. It stretched like hot tar, and the fibers gradually gave way with nasty snaps.
“Look,” she said, holding the bloody tendon up to his face. “You’ll never pick up a sword again.”
Fu Shang wheezed, foam running down the corners of his mouth. But Mei Lin had already moved to his other arm.
“Now the elbow.”
The forceps dug in. This time, she pulled the tendon out slowly.
Fu Shang screamed again, fear mixing with agony.
Mei Lin leaned in again.
“I can go on. For a very long time. But it’s rough work. Perhaps, since you fed the creatures with the remains of people you used to climb in your disgusting cult... I could use you to feed my little friends.”
She straightened up, dropped the bloody forceps on the floor, and picked up more things from the table — a thin brush and a vial of amber liquid.
“Oh, it’s not poison,” she said, dipping the brush in it. “It’s honey.”
She ran a brush over his wounds.
Fu Shang was trembling. Unlike me, he seemed to know what she was doing.
“Ants love honey,” she continued. “Especially the fire ants. They are beloved at the Perimeter because nothing devours creature corpses better than them. And you’re already so corrupted...” She paused, and I felt sick. “They’ll slowly burrow and gnaw at you from the inside...”
I saw a shiver run down Fu Shang’s spine.
“Last chance,” Mei Lin whispered.
Fu Shang closed his eyes resignedly and said in a barely audible whisper:
“I’ll tell you everything...”
