"Prince Turandot…"

Summary: Can the courageous Princess Amy unfreeze the icy heart of the cruel Prince Sheldon Turandot? Well, she's giving it her all…In song as well as deed.

Disclaimer: What's Chuck's is Chuck's…No infringement intended…

Part XXIX…

The conference room at the Imperial Legal Research Division of the Imperial Californian Ministry of Justice where Scholar Emeritus Caspar of the House of Johnson and his colleagues entrusted with the creation and maintenance of the Three Riddles of the Great Bridal Trial confronted Penny…

"Zac's mom is the Dowager?" Penny stared. "You mean to say that …"

"Half-brothers, yes…" Caspar nodded. "But knowledge like that I would keep to myself, my dear…It has a way of being dangerous to display and impossible to trade."

Well, I was more going to express my amazement that Empress Mary once fell madly in love with you…She eyed the rather portly Caspar in his long robe gown…

Still, I guess to go then move on to a pretty, brainy type like Rosalind, who seems pretty happy with you, you gotta have somethin'…

Maybe that urbane wit and distinctive and unique voice?

Then, too, there is the vast fortune of the famed trading House of Johnson and Johnson…

But Rosalind seems largely the source of Zac's sweetness so I'll go with brains, wit, distinctive voice…

And I'm one to talk…I mean, after all, my Ping's a budding Caspar…

Which reminds me…If I survive this, soon as we settle down to a routine married existence, he's going on a diet.

Not that I don't love him just as he is, of course…

"So Zac isn't what he appears either…" Penny sighed. "A royal prince, half anyway…And I suppose a lot smarter than he gives out…"

"Oh, no…He's as dense as a block of wood, my dear…Or 'dumb as soup' as I believe the Dowager likes to say about her other children, excepting of course, Turandot himself." Scholar Caspar smiled… "But my boy has a very good and sound heart…And a reasonable amount of courage…And I have found, that in this often rather harsh and callous world, such qualities can be worth more than even the finest-edged of brilliant minds. And are far more rare…" he beamed.

"You got him to take the Minister's job…" she eyed him…

"In part, yes…" Caspar nodded… "My dear Rosalind and I knew our researchers would need protection after our beloved Minister Hofstadter met with his tragic fate…And my boy, whose intellectual attainments may be limited but whose heart is that of a lion, was more than willing to take the risk involved." Slight proud note…

"What did happen to Ping's…To Guardian Minister Ping's father?..." Penny asked.

The other scholars and Caspar eyed each other, Caspar sighing…

"Well…He made the fatal mistake of loving someone not sharing his high moral standards in hopes that her love and respect for him would overcome her ambition and lust for power…" Caspar explained. "In the circles in which our lamented Minister and guardian angel moved, that was not a safe bet."

"His own wife?…Ping's mom?" she gulped.

"Minister Hofstadter has always been quite ambitious…When her husband made it clear he would oppose her plans for controlling the Empire through the Regency council indefinitely, especially given the nature of her plans…His usefulness to her was at a end."

"Oh…"

"Perhaps even more disturbing, I believe she genuinely loved him, despite despising his preference for morality over power…" the scholar folded his hands, eyeing her sternly in her seat. "Now, Mistress…We have put a few of our cards on the table, as it were…" shrewd look.

"I'm not a noblewoman…" she sighed. "But you guessed that…"

"Quite. Apart from your fascination with my son, which even a noblewoman seeking favors might have feigned, your kind treatment of him and obvious desire not to lead him on too far…Where a true noblewoman seeking advancement would have simply enjoyed the sport…Was a dead giveaway. Plus you drop your Hs…" Caspar and several of the scholars eyed her.

"Damn…The Empress warned me about that…" Penny sighed. "Dead giveaway I was raised in the mid-West of the Empire, of non-noble stock, right?"

Oops…

Gulping…As Caspar eyed her shrewdly.

"So…You have contact with the Empress…And I think we can safely conclude which Empress you mean…"

In the darkened second Hall of the Suitors' Approach, no longer the expansive and gleaming mosaic and gold leaf of the first welcoming Hall but a rocky, faintly torch-lit inclined approach forcing the candidates to an uphill slog, Pong's technological schemes for dissuading the bold suitors for Turandot's hand had resorted to a tried but true approach…

"Snakes…On an inclined plane…" Suzi proudly noted.

"Kinda pushes our boys to make for their dance partners…" Pong nodded, with unconcealed delight.

Just as long as they be going away from us…Lilly hissed to Pang.

"She can kill a man in less than ten seconds but she's afraid of snakes..." he grinned.

"Just take as proof of my love that I'm willing to come to India in spite of that and clamp it." she glared. "And keep them away from me…Please?"

"On Her Majesty Secret Service…" he intoned. Gasping as she lept on his back with a shriek as a large clammy something passed over her leg.

"Guys…" Ping stared. "You're sure these are harmless? That one looks like a krait." He pointed to a smaller bluish snake slithering down the hall.

"Hmmn…Yeah, that's a krait." Pang nodded, shifting a bit to manage with Lilly's now terrified weight on him. "Good call, Ping…"

"See, your instincts were perfectly correct as usual…" he beamed up to Lilly.

"Oh, thanks, honey…" returned beam… "Gods, don't put me down!"

"Folks…Please…Do you think we'd be stupid enough to…" Pong caught Suzi's guarded look.

"Hey, I'm from India, dude. And I have the gruesome death family stories to prove I know what I'm talking about…" Pang frowned. Absolutely…Lilly's annoyed, supportive nod as she desperately clung to his back…

Nice balance…She noted… "Where'd you learn?" "I've been taking the gymnastics class at the Imperial gym. I know, some of the guys make fun, but it's a much better overall workout than weight training or the shield and sword stuff."

"Maybe in our rush to collect enough snakes in one evening to fill the hall…" Suzi began…

"Ooookkkk, then…" Pong nodded. "We've introduced an element of realism…"

"Only some poorer family members…Without means to keep their rooms manned night and day by an army of snake watchers and mongooses." Pang reassured the nervous Lilly, still hanging on frantically. "You'll like the mongooses, they're very cute. I've been writing this children's story about one…."

"Holy Mother!" Isabella, back down the hall with DePays at her side, just ahead of Mala and Hyman to her left and Amy and "Donnie" to her right, crossing herself and drawing sword. "We are set upon, by Satan himself, DePays!" she began slashing away…

"Ooooh…" Mala grinned, cooing to one large snake she now held up to show Hyman, stroking… "Look at the little boy…Ooooh, such a good little boy…Just like my sweet Burundi back home. Oh, I don't got no nice little lizard or rat for you, baby…Sorry. Hyman? You see any insects about here? Oh, careful of that one, he's a little balla trouble." She beamed at the deadly krait passing. "Hey!" she caught sight of Isabella, grimly hacking away… "They're not hurting you, you silly moron! Just let them pass and watch you keep clear of the little fellas…They're the deadly ones…"

Or not, as you will…She thought.

"God, Europeans…" she grimaced to Hyman… "No respect for anything that's outside their comfort zone."

"Donnie…Just stay right behind me…" carefully eyeing the floor ahead… "They're just snakes but I believe a few are…Donnie?" Amy sighed, turning to the fainted Turandot. Hoisting him on her back, she continued on her cautious way, sword out.

"How's it going?" Pong to a returned attendant who'd just made a quick dash down to observe the progress of the candidates…And raced back even faster, groaning, after being bitten.

"Thhheey're still…OOhhh…" the girl groaned… "Coming…Scared, I think, sommmme…Owww!"

"Hold still…" Pang cut at the wound with the dagger he'd just passed through the flame of the nearest torch on the wall. "Lilly, please…I have to get the poison out or this poor kid's a goner. Ping, help Lilly down please?" Ping moving to assist Lilly down from Pang's back. Pang kneeling by the injured girl.

"Awfully sorry…Oh…" Suzi, anxiously watching…

"Careful, sweetheart…" Lilly, concerned. "I think I may have some venom cure in my pouch here."

"It'll be fine now…" Pang patted the trembling, groaning girl… "Bowl, please?" He spit out the sucked poison into a small gold bowl proffered by an attendant.

"Tthank you, Master…" the girl got out, through chatting teeth.

"Really sorry, kid…" Pong patted her. "But you'll be fine…And we should use this opportunity to let our candidates know this isn't all fun and games. See the word get passed on to the princesses that the snakes weren't just for show…" he turned to another attendant.

"After they're allowed to move down to our holders…" Ping cut in. "I don't want any more accidents…Take very good care of her, guys." He waved to a couple of stretcher-bearers now carrying the wounded girl back up the Hall to the nearest emergency exit.

"Ok, so, they're a bit on edge now…Now what?" Pang eyed Pong.

"If snakes on the floor in a darkened confined space get you a bit jumpy, our next guests will really get in your hair…." Pong beamed. "Especially if our files on the candidates we know are corrected, one in particular…"

"Oh, God…Not…" Lilly looked up to the vaulted, rocky heights overhead…

"Just gotta stir them up a bit…" Pong noted, Suzi eagerly signaling to attendants who began poking with long poles. "And then, lets just say…"

Shrieks…Lilly, Pang, Ping… As a huge black cloud fanned out from the ceiling…Sound of thousands of flapping wings…

"…I'm the Batman…" Pong hissed harshly.

….

The carriage of Minister Hofstadter on her way to her office, there being no need to proceed to the final Hall of the Gong of Destiny for hours yet, paused in the street to allow a swarthy figure to enter.

"Minister…" quick bow.

"I expected Alexandra…" she eyed the man, one of the stretcher-bearers who just born the injured Alexandra out to the Imperial Clinic…

"Bitten by a snake a short time ago, Minister…Unavoidable that she could not make a report in person, a thousand pardons begged…But I have her verbal report."

"Fine, then…" impatient wave of hand from silk robe fold…

"The candidates are continuing so far but the Guardians are showing considerable creativity. She believes there is chance one or more may give in before the Gong."

"The Fowler princess must not be that one…" Beverly eyed the servant grimly. "Whatever happens she must reach the Gong and attempt the challenge, regardless of what happens to the others. It's imperative that she is one of those candidates who endures, to be publicly executed."

"She seems quite brave and capable, Minister…I have confidence she will be the least likely to panic under stress."

"Take whatever steps are necessary to see she does not…She must die, but at the right time."

"Minister…" bow…

"That includes, it should go without saying, that the lives of the Guardians and their people are of no importance here." she noted calmly.

"By your command…" nod.