She eased open the door and swallowed a shriek at seeing the huge shadow of a man who stood just outside in the corridor watching her with unblinking eyes.
Chapter Twenty-one
Skulkers and Stalkers
"Did you hear something?" Professor Death hissed in the darkness.
"Shhh!" came the answer, close to his ear. "Somebody will hear you!"
"I thought I heard something like a scream, cut off," the Professor persisted. "From downstairs, where Kate's room is."
"I didn't hear anything," Damien whispered back. "And even if you did, it could've been Sums or Kuragawa. If we go down to look, we could blow everything."
T.J. bit back a response. They had already spent hours hiding behind the rugs draping the corridor walls, hoping to catch one of their fellow guests returning from his nocturnal wanderings. Giving the game away now would mean all that boring waiting had been wasted. The mere fact that Kuragawa and Sums had been gone so long made clear that they had not simply ambled downstairs looking for the kitchen. But had they left separately or together?
All of their rooms, except Kate's, ran parallel along this corridor, which had stairs at either end. Ted was hidden at the far end so that no one could get by them that way, but it was doubtful anyone could traverse the corridor at all without being seen by both sets of watchers.
Damien put a hand lightly on T.J.'s arm, and they both tensed in anticipation. Soft light was flickering in the stairwell, growing brighter as it approached. The two held their breaths and tried to rustle the draperies as little as possible as the light reached their level and the man carrying the small lantern turned toward the sleeping chambers.
It was Sums, treading softly as one would expect in a hallway off of which others were sleeping. T.J. strained to ascertain if Sums were carrying anything besides the lamp, but he was not. If he had gone out seeking something, it did not look as though he had it with him. Reaching his room, he slipped through the door and there was darkness again.
"Kind of defeats the purpose of sneaking around if you carry a lantern," T.J. whispered.
"Kind of makes it look like you are sneaking around if you don't," Damien told him.
"Who came up with that stupid idea?"
"Apparently a lot of people. Look!"
Another glow was approaching, and presently another figure appeared at the top of the stairs. It was Kuragawa, carrying a lamp similar to Sums's. He too was otherwise empty-handed, and returned to his room. They waited a few minutes, but neither door appeared willing to open again before morning.
Damien and T.J. left their post, drifting down the hallway even more silently than had the two before them. Ted led them into his room.
"Okay, boss," Damien said when they were settled, "what did that tell us?"
Ted twisted his lip. "It told us a few things," he said at last. "First, it tells us that if Professor Death says a guy's not in his room, the guy's not in his room. That could be valuable in our line of work."
The Professor gave him a sour look.
"Second, they didn't come in together, so they probably didn't go out together. It's possible Kuragawa was following Sums, but then he wouldn't have risked the lantern. They were obviously both using lanterns so that they could explain themselves if they were caught by a servant or a guard."
Damien gave T.J. a superior look.
"And finally, it tells us that whatever they were looking for, they didn't find it. They didn't have anything with them, and they don't know the palace well enough to pick out a hiding place."
"Unless they found it and left it where it was," T.J. pointed out. "If something valuable disappeared, they couldn't risk hiding it in their room." He returned Damien's superior look with interest. Damien nodded, accepting the point.
"Well, they were obviously looking for something, both of them. And likely as not neither one of them found it."
"Unless they were looking for different things," Damien said.
"Or unless Sums was just tailing Kuragawa to find out where he was going," T.J. said.
Ted frowned. "How did you come up with that idea? How could Sums have been trailing Kuragawa if he got back to his room first?"
"Oh, I'm sure he had a plan," T.J. replied airily. "Eric's always got a plan."
Damien groaned. Ted stood up, towering over his friend. "Look, Professor, either Sums isn't Eric, in which case you'd better keep your mouth shut, or he is Eric, in which case we should follow his lead--and you should keep your mouth shut."
It was T.J.'s turn to frown. "What lead?"
"You should go to your room and go to bed."
It was not until they had returned to their own quarters that another shadow detached itself from the wall. A mere black blot on the darkness, needing no lantern, it floated down the corridor and away.
Quanyu sucked in her breath as she backed into Kate, who grabbed a lamp and held it up to illuminate the huge form in her doorway. It was the bodyguard she had seen in the king's audience chamber earlier, only magnified now by the darkness into a silent giant out of legend. He stared at the two women with arms crossed, his expression unreadable.
"Oh!" Quanyu gasped, one hand to her bosom. "It is Chang, my father's bodyguard. He must have followed me here."
"Not to be rude, but seeing him appear out of the dark would frighten anyone."
"I don't know what he is doing here. He is supposed to sleep outside of my father's chambers." She made a series of quick gestures with her hands. Chang did not react. "He is mute and almost deaf," Quanyu explained. "I cannot understand why he is here--unless my father told him to watch me." She made more gestures, pointing to him and herself.
Chang nodded once.
"He did." She turned to face Kate. "But why?"
"Perhaps since he heard of my parents' disappearance, your father is concerned for your safety."
"It could be," the princess said slowly. "As I told you--" she stole a quick look at Chang as though to reassure herself of his deafness--"we are worried that someone in the palace may be plotting against us. But if Chang is here, that leaves my father with only his personal guards."
"Can Chang be trusted?"
"We believe so. He has not been with the household too long, but the day he first arrived there was trouble in the city. Two merchants got into an argument, and it threatened to become a riot. I was shopping. Chang came to my aid, risking his own safety. My father was so impressed he made Chang his bodyguard. Since he was a stranger here, he had no loyalty to anyone."
"Oh? How long ago was that?"
Quanyu thought a moment. "Less than a month, for certain."
"Really…" Kate mused. "Well, your highness, you should return to your rooms before anyone else notices you're out." Closing the door behind the princess, Kate leaned against it. "Less than a month, eh?"
Chapter Twenty-two
A Distinguished Guest
Never having stayed in a palace before, Ted and the others found themselves reduced to knocking on Kate's door again the next morning. Kuragawa and Sums had not yet been seen, and there was some speculation they might not emerge from their rooms at all.
"If they were out all night searching, they must be tired," the Professor noted. "I wouldn't be up this early if I were them."
"You wouldn't be up this early if you were you," Damien said, "and if I hadn't gone in and dumped you on the floor."
T.J. felt his head dramatically. "You could have warned me."
Kate opened her door on this last and looked to Ted. "Are they at it already?"
Ted shook his head sadly. "They never stop." Then he added, "Can we come in a minute? We need to talk."
Kate stuck her head out and saw that the coast was clear. "You're right, we do. Come on in, but make it quick. I don't know what the local rules are, but if having three men in my room is a capital offense, I'd rather avoid it."
"I had a visitor last night--" Ted and Kate said simultaneously, and stopped, staring at each other. "You, too?"<
br />
"Ladies first," said the cop, leaning back in his best hearing-a-confession pose.
"The princess came to see me last night," Kate began, and filled them in on Quanyu's visit, including her appraisal of the current political situation.
The Professor whistled softly. "Wow. Not only don't we trust anybody, nobody trusts anybody."
"Apparently Quanyu trusts us, because we're outsiders and all we want is to find my parents. And that seems to extend to the royal bodyguard, too." At their confused expressions, she went on to explain how Chang had been waited outside and that while startled, Quanyu felt he was not a danger.
"He's been here how long?" T.J. asked.
"My thought exactly," Kate said. "Just about enough time for Eric to have assumed a new identity and established himself. If he wanted to be in the middle of things, he couldn't have picked a better way."
Ted held up both hands. "Before the two of you go off on your guessing game again, there are a couple of things to consider. First, we don't even know that Eric's here, let alone that he's this Chang fellow. Professor, yesterday you were sure he was Sums. And Kate, you suspected Kuragawa for a while." They had the grace to look abashed. "Second, if Eric is around, then all our guessing is just going to make his job harder. One of us is going to let something slip, and then all hell will break loose. So we should just do what we did in the Amazon: Carry on like he's not here. When he wants to break character, he will--whoever he is."
T.J. grumbled something under his breath, and Kate assumed an expression of total innocence which was not to be believed, but it made her even more beautiful. Ted shook his head to clear it.
"Now it's my turn. I had a visitor last night, too." He pointed to the Professor. "Him."
"I didn't have any visitors last night," Damien interposed. "But I know which one I would've picked."
"Damien!" The color in Kate's cheeks flamed up. "You're not in a locker room."
Damien's own face turned red, and T.J. shot him a smug look. "I went to Ted's room last night because I did a little snooping. Neither Sums or Kuragawa was in his room." Kate raised her eyebrows at him, but did not ask for details. "So we stayed up and waited for them. They didn't come back for hours."
"And there wasn't any indication why they were gone, or where?"
The Professor shook his head. With no answers forthcoming, Kate suggested they try to find a servant to ask about breakfast.
Finding a servant turned out to be quite easy. Finding a servant who was not scurrying from one room to another overburdened with brightly-colored cloth, cleaning supplies, or various articles of furniture was very much a problem.
Despite being sandwiched between the borders of Mongolia and Russia, the dominant language of Quanyu appeared to be the Mandarin Chinese the first settlers had brought with them as refugees. Even though Kate's Mandarin was quite satisfactory, however, she could not seem to make a single person understand her--or even acknowledge that he had heard her. Whenever someone came up, he or she simply went around them without a word, like they were rocks in the middle of a river.
"Hello, gang!" Sums appeared behind them, watching the frenzy with a bemused expression. "I take it you can't find anyone who speaks English either?" Having been in one of the other trucks, he had not heard Kate arguing with the officer of the guard when they all arrived.
"I--" she started, but Ted cut her off.
"No! And we're hungry!" He gave Kate's foot a tap with his own.
"Huh," Sums replied. "Well, we're sure as heck not going to find any answers here. Anybody have any idea where their highnesses hang out?"
"Pardon me," a voice piped up in accented English. "Americans?"
They all looked around to see a thin, bent Asian man, grey-haired but of indeterminate age and wearing a black hat with crown of red silk tassels, peering at them expectantly. Of them all, only Kate had to look up to him.
She immediately bowed. "Yes, sir," she admitted. "We are. We arrived yesterday."
The little man bowed deeply, somehow keeping the hat on his head. He smiled, looking as though it would crack his wrinkled face in half. "My name is Deng Zhongshu. I am a guest of the king and the Princess Quanyu. I confess I was not aware there were any Americans in Quanyu at present. I am greatly honored."
"The honor is ours, sir." Kate introduced herself and the rest of the party.
Deng Zhongshu put his hand to his head and sighed deeply. "So many names! And so difficult to pronounce! You would think that my studies would have prepared me with a better memory. Please excuse me if I cannot remember you all at once."
Kate smiled at him. "We take no offense, sir."
"You are kind. I am in Quanyu studying the history of the kingdom. It has long been fascinating to me, like a sliver of my native land moved far away." His head bobbed once. "But I am delaying you! You have not eaten--and I know that Americans need to eat!" He cast a glance over Ted's huge frame. "More some than others, I imagine."
Ted imitated Kate's bow. "Thank you, sir. Uh, are you familiar with the palace? We were looking for the kitchens, but no one seems available to ask."
The face-splitting smile returned, giving a glimpse of crooked teeth. "I have been staying at the home of General Xi for a few days, but I returned to study in the Great Library. Please allow me to help you find your way." He turned and toddled slowly down the hall, the servants parting to either side of him.
Kate reached up to poke Ted in the ribs, and he woofed more in surprise than pain.
"Stop that!" she hissed. "He's a scholar, not a tour guide!"
"But he practically offered!" Ted whispered back. "And he seems a really nice old guy!"
She glared at him and hit him again. Behind them, T.J. and Damien were grinning.
"The red hat," Kate gritted. Ted stared helplessly. "It means he was a scholar of the first degree. An official in the Imperial Court. No wonder the king let him come here."
"Do they still do that?" Sums asked. "I thought they had stopped."
Kate looked at him with new respect. "No. They abolished the civil service examinations about twenty years ago, but the scholars still command a great deal of respect. And this oaf asks him where the kitchens are!"
Damien leaned forward. "I think he can hear you," he whispered.
Kate buried her face in her hands.
Chapter Twenty-three
The Gossip Network
Despite his claim to a weak memory, Deng Zhongshu led them through the hallways and corridors without the slightest hesitation. Before they knew it, they emerged into a spacious dining room, where a pair of servants stood waiting, apparently for them. They were surprised to see Captain Kuragawa already seated with plates and a cup of hot tea in front of him at a table that could have easily seated thirty.
"Ohayou," Kate said, wishing him a good morning, at least for form's sake.
"Ohayou," Kuragawa answered, turning in his seat. When he saw Deng Zhongshu, he stood immediately and bowed. "Ohayou gozaimasu."
The Chinese stiffened for a moment, then recovered himself and bowed in return.
"You must excuse an old man," he said to Kate. "I must see to my studies, or they will outlive me." He departed with a stiff dignity.
"He left in a huff," T.J. noted.
"He is Chinese," Kuragawa said, resuming his breakfast. "He is not happy with how the times are changing."
Stifling any response, the Americans sat down to await their food, which the two servants were very visibly taking care in preparing, so much care that no one could accuse them of following anything going on among the king's guests.
"Hard to blame him," Ted said. "Come to think of it, King Quanyu wasn't really glad to see you yesterday, either."
"And yet here I am." Kuragawa speared a piece of meat with one of his chopsticks. "I have you to thank for that. Had you not brought me here as your guest, I wouldn't be his guest."
"We didn't bring you here as anything!" T.J. snapped. "You brought yourself."
> "Nevertheless, he's right," Kate said. "He came with us; he's one of us."
Kuragawa smiled serenely, an expression that did not change when Sums spoke.
"Since he came with us, doesn't that mean we're sort of responsible for him?"
Kate inclined her head in his direction. "Absolutely it does. Whatever any of us does is going to reflect on all of us."
"In that case, Mr. Kuragawa," the Professor advised, "I'd mind my manners if I were you."
Kuragawa laid down his lacquer chopsticks and fixed T.J. with an even gaze, but his eyes were cold.
"Given that you will be returning to the United States via Japan, Mr. Gillis, I would advise you of the same thing."
The Professor was on his feet. "Listen--"
"That's enough." Ted's voice rumbled across the table. "Sit down, Professor. We're guests. Guests don’t fight over the breakfast table."
"Thank you, Mr. Kane, but I do not need your protection."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that."
Kate took advantage of the sudden pause to slip a few words to the servants, who hurried forward with plates of vegetables, bowls of rice, and cups of fragrant, steaming tea. While the boys were busy arranging matters to their own liking, she seized the further opportunity to defuse the tension in the room.
"Did you have any plans for the day, Kuragawa-san? I know you didn't come all this way simply to have breakfast with us."
Kuragawa broke into a friendly smile that fooled no one. "I had thought to visit the Temple of Quanyu. I am a Buddhist myself, and I think it would be interesting to see how the practices of the temple have deviated from the original after 500 years of near-isolation."
"A Buddhist soldier?" Ted asked, curious despite himself. "I studied philosophy in college, and I wouldn't have thought the two would go together."
"The Western image of the Buddha has become distorted over time. While Buddhists do not go out of their way to kill, there is a time and place for all things, so long as one does not practice anything to an extreme. The army is an arm of the Emperor, who governs and protects the Japanese people. While some of our actions may seem harsh to others, in reality everything the Emperor does, and commands us to do, is in the greater interests of Japan."
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