"And if the Emperor decided that invading Quanyu was in the greater interests of Japan?" Sums asked unexpectedly.
Kate gasped, and the others were taken aback, but Kuragawa accepted the question in stride.
"It is not my place to predict the path the Emperor may walk. It is merely my duty to see that his road is as smooth as possible."
Soon after Kuragawa left to visit the monks at the local temple Sums excused himself, saying something about hunting up a palace official who might be able to provide an English-speaking guide to the city. As Kate was dismissing the servants so that they could speak privately, that chance was taken from them by the sudden reappearance of Deng Zhongshu.
"I am delighted to see you all here," he said, looking around. "I regret that I have missed the others, particularly your Japanese companion."
"Oh, he's no friend of ours," T.J. said emphatically as Kate helped the scholar to a chair, earning her a wide grin of appreciation. She squeaked as he pinched her cheek.
"You are a very pretty lady. If I were fifty years younger, I might have given up my examinations for you." He sighed as he settled in. "But life is a river, and you must float at the speed it directs."
"And try not to drown," Damien said.
Deng Zhongshu laughed, which turned into a short coughing fit. "Ah, my teachers would have whipped me for saying that. Americans. You have no dignity. That is what makes you so funny. But excuse me, please. I came to tell you that I have discovered something. Something you very much want to know."
His audience exchanged glances. "And what is that, sir?" Ted asked.
"The reason for all of this excitement. Three days from now is the Princess's Day. Every year Quanyu celebrates the birthdays of the king and the princess. But this year is very special, because the Princess is about to turn eighteen, at which time she may marry, and ascend to the throne without a regent. There will be a parade, fireworks, and a celebration here in the palace. That is why all of the servants are running around like headless chickens. We are very fortunate to have timed our visits for now."
"Really…" Ted breathed. "How fortunate, indeed…"
T.J. and Damien suddenly seemed to be holding their breaths in anticipation, and Kate followed their lead. Although she did not have the decades of familiarity with Eric's friends that he had, she was quickly coming to the conclusion that although her brother was unquestionably a strategic genius, none of his buddies was far behind. She was willing to bet, in fact, that in their chosen fields none of them would willingly take a back seat to anyone west of the Mississippi, and only a few men east of it.
"Sir," Ted continued, "are there any men in Quanyu, have you heard, who might be in line for the princess's hand once she is old enough to marry?"
Deng Zhongshu laughed again, a full head-thrown-back braying that brought a servant to the door, poking his head through the doorway to see if aught was amiss. The old scholar slapped his knee over and over, so hard the others were afraid he might break his hand.
"Oh, you Americans!" he gasped. "So--quick out of the gate! I am sorry, my friend, but I do not think the king would allow it."
"No, no, sir! That wasn't why I was asking. I'm not planning to ask the princess to marry me."
Deng Zhongshu got himself under control. "Good. That's good. I do not need the competition." He cackled at their expressions. "See? Chinese can make jokes, too. Please do not tell the king. Yes, there are suitors. There are many; in fact, every young man in Quanyu has had his eye on the princess for years, and some from other places. Most of them have no chance. But the servants like to gossip, and they say there are two serious suitors. The first is Hano. He is the adopted son of the king's brother. He is very popular with the people, but perhaps not with the princess. She thinks he is a child because he likes to spend his time hiking and climbing in the mountains. The other is Xi, general of the army. He is a widower, and he holds great power."
"And what does Quanyu think of him?" Kate asked.
"According to the gossip, she would rather Hano take her into the mountains so she may marry an ice devil." His eyes twinkled. "Perhaps I have a better chance than I thought."
"You might, at that," T.J. said.
"Ah, but a princess will never marry an idle man," Deng Zhongshu said, hopping to his feet. "Perhaps I can find something in the histories with which to impress her." He bowed and made his way out.
"Wow," T.J. said. "A party. Fireworks and everything."
Damien rolled his eyes. "And food, I'm sure."
"Dancing girls?"
"This can't all be a coincidence," Ted mused. "We thought your parents were coming here to smuggle something out, but we may have had the wrong idea. Maybe the king wanted to get his daughter out of here before she was old enough to get married."
"You think he'd risk having her out of the country at a time like that?" Damien asked.
Ted nodded. "He might, if those were her choices. The king doesn't know who he can trust, so he doesn't know if he can safely throw his weight behind any of the candidates, particularly if his daughter isn't keen on any of them anyway. If he could get her to America, she'd be safer--and so would he."
T.J. frowned. "Why would he be safer? He's still here with whoever wants him out."
"Yes, but if that person can convince Quanyu to marry him, he's only one stop away from the throne. The only thing that has to happen…"
"… is for the king to die," Kate finished.
"Her birthday, her wedding, and her father's funeral," T.J. said. "That's a lot of parades in one year."
Chapter Twenty-four
Ambushed!
"So what do we do now?" Damien wondered aloud. "We need to look for Kate's parents, but we don't know anything about this place. There's no point trying to search the city if we're going to get lost in it ourselves."
"Not to mention I'm the only one who speaks the language," Kate added. "We don't know how many people outside the palace speak English."
"I speak English! I learned it from magazines!"
They all jumped as a young Quanyuan in a Western-style suit and tie bounced into the room, making them realize just how softly and circumspectly everyone else in the palace walked.
"Hello…" Ted began, but the Professor cut him off.
"Hi," he advanced with his hand out. "T.J. Gillis. Glad to meet you."
The newcomer pumped T.J.'s hand enthusiastically. "Howdy! I'm Hano. My father is the king's minister. The princess is my cousin." He shook hands all around, bowing to Kate, beaming all the while. "As soon as I heard there were Americans visiting again, I rode right over."
"Rode?" T.J. asked. "You have a car?"
"No, a horse. Just like Buffalo Bill."
Damien and Ted exchanged looks behind his back.
"Say, Hano," Damien said, "we were thinking of getting out and seeing the sights. Could you help find a tour guide, maybe somebody who speaks a little English?"
Hano lit up like a Christmas tree. "Really? I'd love to show you around! Lots of local color. My father says we need more tourists; this could be the start of something big!"
"Oh, we wouldn't want impose," Kate assured him. "I'm sure there are plenty of guides in town."
"My pleasure. I need to get of here anyway, with all the fuss going down. I was just going to look for Quanyu to see if she wanted to take a walk with me." He gave a sheepish shrug. "To be honest, she might be more inclined to say yes if you all went along."
In the end, the Americans' presence paid off for Hano when they found Quanyu consulting with Ruyan over the celebration. She tried to beg off, but Ruyan would have none of it. They emerged into the palace courtyard, a huge rectangle that stretched several hundred yards until it met a large, squat building at the far end.
"What's that?" the Professor asked with typical directness.
"That is the army garrison," Hano answered. "When Quanyu was founded, we were in danger of attack, so the king and the army were put behind the same wall. Now they
use the courtyard for the soldiers' exercise, and for big celebrations." He smiled at the princess. "Like the one coming up."
Quanyu did not take the bait, and at her urging, they soon found themselves immersed in the milling crowds, unintelligible sounds, and varied smells of a Central Asian bazaar.
Quanyu had wrapped herself in a heavy coat and covered her head with a dark scarf, but she could not hide her beauty, and in these close quarters, it was not long before news of her presence had rippled throughout the marketplace. Kate and the others had been accosted from all sides by sellers of rugs, hides, spices, pots, candles, and native craft pieces, but once they were known to accompany the princess, the calling and the clutching ended.
"I liked it better when they were all yelling at and trying to sell us stuff," T.J. confided to Damien, and Kate, overhearing him, silently agreed.
Hano led the way with Quanyu, allowing the group to wander, with frequent halts and side trips, yet always seeming to keep track of everyone, and to be herding them in a particular direction.
Damien leaned in to T.J. as he was examining a girl selling rugs, while pretending to examine the rugs.
"I'm not sure I like where this is going."
T.J. winked at the girl, who giggled. "I don't know, I think it's going pretty well."
"You don't think being led around town by the son of one of the guys who might be trying to overthrow the king is a bad idea?"
T.J. reluctantly let his conquest go. "Well, if you're gonna put it that way, I guess you have a point." He looked around to locate their friends, and frowned. "Hey, Damien, weren't there more people around a few minutes ago?"
Damien surveyed the area. "You mean, more women. All I see is men."
"And they're all looking at us."
Ted stood out in the crowd like one of the local mountains, so they set themselves shoulder to shoulder and headed in his direction. A knot of men appeared in the path ahead of them, their intent plain on their faces. They were shorter than the Americans, but looked heavy and determined in their winter coats. No guns or knives were visible, but more than one was armed with a stout stick or a rubber truncheon, and they were advancing slowly.
"Damien?"
"Yeah?"
"Go for the goal line!"
They exploded off their feet and plowed through the massed Quanyuans, who had never heard of American football, throwing them into the stalls on either side of the path, and just kept going. Seeing another group descending on Ted and whoever was with him, they redoubled their speed.
They hit the outer edge of the small mob with lowered shoulders, slamming their victims into the men ahead of them, confusing them and disrupting their attack. Ted was already taking a toll, sweeping his beefy arms from side to side, his fists crashing into eyes and ears with fearful effect. Beside him, Sums was holding his own until a man got behind him and pinned his arms. Suddenly a native dashed out of the crowd and broke a wooden bowl over the man's head. He lost all interest in the proceedings.
T.J. screamed and lunged forward, and Sums got a ringside seat to the show that battered linemen from California to Illinois had come to know as "Professor Death." T.J. was everywhere at once, slamming an elbow against a fragile nose, rebounding to knock out a set of teeth, stomping feet hard enough to break bones, and lifting men off their feet to throw them aside.
Damien and Sums were giving a good account of themselves, and Ted, with his overwhelming bulk and massive sweeping arms, was scattering men like tenpins--but it was T.J. Gillis they ran from.
In seconds, they free. Their attackers had been driven off.
"Everybody okay?" Ted demanded. "Professor? Damien?" They nodded. "Sums? You all right?"
"Yeah. It was touch-and-go for a moment, but a guy ran up out of the crowd and gave me a hand." He glanced around. "I don't see him now, though."
"Where's Kate? Where's the princess?"
"They were headed that way. Hano was taking them down that street!" Sums pointed, and they ran toward an area of narrower, darker avenues.
"If that guy--if anything happens to them--!" Ted sputtered.
But his intentions mattered little when they arrived at a crossroads where the crowds disappeared--and so did the trail. Without a word, they split up to cover all the routes, but after a few moments, they began to drift back until they were all together again, alone.
Ted was breathing heavily, unmindful of a trickle of blood from his temple.
"We lost them. We lost them."
Chapter Twenty-five
Back Alley Battle
As a woman, and petite as she was, Kate Reinhold had long ago developed a sixth sense for personal danger. She knew she was more than capable of handling any ordinary masher or purse-snatcher, but she also knew her limits, that she was not indestructible, and that the best defense is often running as far away as you can as fast as you can. Unfortunately for the last, Kate had very short legs and generally wore high heels, so running away at any rate of speed was highly difficult. Hence, the danger radar to give her the extra second she needed to decide to fight or flee was invaluable, and she heeded it.
In the moments before the marketplace became a mob of rioting Quanyuans, her radar was making the hairs stand up on her arms.
Hano had been trying, with a charming lack of subtlety, to lure Quanyu into walking arm in arm with him, framing it as a gesture of chivalry, which fooled neither the princess nor Kate. In one sense, though, it had succeeded: The princess had joined arms with Kate in a sisterly fashion, steering her down an aisle to stands and shops featuring items that most appealed to the feminine eye--stands and shops whose significance was totally lost on Hano, to his eternal detriment. He was left standing in the middle of the path as the girls dived into piles of scarves, pillows, and brightly-colored dress fabrics.
It was as they were emerging from one of these awnings, Quanyu chattering about how she might look in the kind of more daring dress she would be allowed to wear after her birthday, that Kate saw two separate knots of men holding themselves carefully away from Hano, pretending to browse through some samples--but as they were samples of cookware and perfume, their charade was strained, at best.
The men were staked out where they could block both advance and retreat. The stall before which they stood was really an open yurt; there was no way through the back. Kate could not see any of the boys; they had probably fallen behind, distracted by some other vendor's wares. She risked a look back the way they had come--and the men noticed.
Instantly they abandoned their pretense and moved forward together. A sudden shouting arose behind them, and Kate knew that help would not be coming soon. She tugged the princess forward and stepped quickly into the narrow space between the yurt they had just inspected and the adjacent stall, holding Quanyu so she would not trip.
"What are you doing?"
"Follow me, please! There are men after us!"
Quanyu tried to look over her shoulder, and nearly fell onto Kate as she stumbled over her own feet. Kate hauled up with little gentleness. The men behind them were shouting now, too, but they were having to try to pass between the stalls and the way was too tight. Somehow, Hano had navigated through and was right behind Quanyu.
The path behind the back of that stall and the next row was a warren of boxes and crates of fruits and live animals, bales of cloth covered with hides, and all the detritus the long-time vendors had dumped that no one wanted in his work area. The space between each little shop was as tight as could be managed, but the area behind them was several feet wide, if littered almost to the point of obstruction.
Kate had planned to run straight through the vendors and come out on the next aisle over, but she realized that any of their pursuers who could not make it through the narrow space would simply run around the end of the row and be waiting for them when they emerged. She turned and ran down the path behind the stands, dancing her way through the debris and surplus merchandise, dividing her attention between placing her feet, hol
ding Quanyu's hand, and watching for anyone trying to intercept her. She had no attention to spare to see if anyone was behind them. She was hoping to get back to where Ted and the others were, but she could see nothing past the tents and lean-tos on either side of her, and had no idea where she was relative to her friends.
"This way!" someone called, and Quanyu stopped so suddenly she almost tore loose from Kate's grasp. Hano had halted at a point where two stalls had allowed a bit of space between them, and was gesturing madly. Seeing no one on their heels, Kate let go of Quanyu and the girls ran through the opening he had spotted.
To Kate's surprise, they were on the edge of the marketplace. Buildings crowded together almost as much as the stalls, but directly ahead of them loomed a substantial alleyway.
"We can hide in there," Hano said. "Once we're on the other side, we're not far from the temple and the monks will shelter us."
"What about Ted? And T.J. and Damien--and Sums?"
Quanyu took Kate's hand. "Hano is right. If we can reach the temple we will be safe. Then we can send someone to find your friends."
Reluctantly, but seeing no other option, Kate nodded and the three of them ducked into the alley. The buildings on either side seemed to lean--or to grow--closer together as they rose, cutting off the sunlight. It was dim, and noticeably colder than it had been. Kate shivered, and attributed it to the cold.
The alleyway was almost as long as an American city block. They had reached the half-way point before the trap was sprung.
Three men abruptly appeared at the far end of the passageway, not advancing, but standing. They had no weapons in view. A quick look to the rear revealed another five men, approaching slowly, silhouetted against the daylight. Kate noted that they also bore no weapons, at least not where they could be seen. So it was kidnapping, not murder on their minds--but who was to be kidnapped, and what would happen to the others?
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