Chapter Eight
Waking was always one of the pleasanter things about mornings, Kougaiji thought sleepily. The moments before one had to open one's eyes to the responsibilities of the day, and could lie back and savour the cold stone floor under one's back, the weight of Sha Gojyo on top of one, the softness of the other man's long hair like silk across one's face . . .
Wait. This wasn't how he usually woke up.
He sat upright, his head buzzing like a swarm of bees, and shoved the recumbent Gojyo onto the floor. The place was full of webs, great swathes of cobweb which fell like silk from the ceiling and sheathed thick pillars like tapestries. The web itself glowed with a faint light like fungus, not quite bright enough to worsen his headache, but enough to see by. They were in a low-ceilinged pillared hall of some sort, with passages leading off to either side.
Faintly, quietly, behind Gojyo's pained mutterings, he could hear the sounds of skittering whispering spiders.
Gojyo finally put together a coherent sentence. "Your teleport sucks. Mega-sucks."
"Something went wrong." Now, of all times, Kougaiji could have used one of Yaone's headache remedies.
"That one I figured." Gojyo sat up, and promptly pressed the heels of his hands against his forehead. "Shit. This is worse than bad whiskey."
Kougaiji focused on the steepled fingers of his hands, ignoring his nausea. "No," he said carefully. "Let me be more precise. There was a trap set for anybody who attempted to teleport from that room, set to redirect them to here, wherever here is."
Gojyo lifted his eyes, and stared at Kougaiji through the crimson curtain of his hair. "You're the only one that could have been set for, Red Boy, unless we really want to hit coincidence city bigtime. How many visitors does this place get?"
"Nnh. I should have thrown you out of the window after all."
"Hey, that's a fine way to talk to your bodyguard."
Kougaiji narrowed his eyes. "Bodyguard?"
"Eeh." Gojyo slowly rose to his feet, taking each inch carefully, and not swaying more than slightly. "You've been betrayed by someone here, right? So you're entitled to have a bodyguard, I figure. You're the Prince. Getting dumped on this way has to be grounds for some royal annoyance. Right?"
Kougaiji rose elegantly before Gojyo could offer him a hand. "You have a point. In the meantime, I suspect that we're in the cellars under the fortress." Something was prickling at the back of his mind, registering faintly on his senses, and he wandered across to one of the drapes of webbing to examine it.
Gojyo followed him. "So, why not do your red wind thing and blast our way out?"
"Two reasons." Kougaiji gestured around. "Cobweb's inflammable. Do you want to be in the middle of it while it's on fire?"
"Mm." Gojyo digested this. "And the second?"
Kougaiji scooped a handful of the thick dust from the floor, and used it to protect his hand as he peeled back a few strands of web. It was as he had thought. "We're in the middle of the nurseries. Look -- eggs. Do you want to be responsible for killing off the next generation of the youkai here?"
"Well, shit." Gojyo backed away, and paced a few thoughtful steps. The close-crowded pillars meant that he could only manage a few steps in any direction before having to bend his course. "So who's responsible for this?"
Kougaiji attempted to detach his hand. The web was extremely sticky. "The Princess seems the most likely candidate," he replied. "She is a sorceress. The Queen is, too, but she hasn't been seen for a while. Apparently she spends most of the time in seclusion, probably in the cellars . . ." His brain processed what he had just said.
"You've got your sleeve stuck now too," Gojyo pointed out helpfully.
---
"Lirin-san," Hakkai said, very seriously, "I would be much happier if you were to leave the fortress. I promise to tell your brother that there's a plot against him." Common sense and ethics had triumphed over the need for her potential muscle, and having to dodge three patrols while dragging her along had only cemented his opinion.
Lirin pouted at him. "If you're going to be mean, then I'll find him on my own!" Her voice rose alarmingly.
He waved his hands hastily. "No, no, that's not it at all. I'm just worried in case there's some sort of deeper plot going on." Inspiration came to him. "For all we know, there's some sort of secret plot to kidnap you and use you as part of some experiment, and this is all an attempt to lure you into danger."
"That's stupid. Who'd do a thing like that?"
"Er, well," Hakkai said tactfully. Given the obsessive scientists, sorcerers, and holy men that the Sanzou-ikkou had already run into, it seemed to be more a question of who wouldn't, but this was hardly the time or place. "I can pass as one of the servants here, if I keep the shawl up, but nobody would believe that you were a serving-woman. If I find your brother and tell him what's going on, he can meet you outside."
"But you don't know where he is." With devastating accuracy, Lirin put her finger on the plan's main flaw. "Or where your friend Gojyo is."
"I'm sure I can find them," Hakkai said blandly.
Lirin raised one finger brightly. "I bet they're in the cellars. That's where the Queen is."
This was not the way that the argument was supposed to go. "How did you know that?" he asked, temporising.
"I heard some of the guards saying that the Queen was in the cellars!" she explained perkily. "So if this is all an evil plan to do with the Queen and which is supposed to put the blame on big brother, then they're going to have to put them down there to do it, aren't they?"
And he was not supposed to have plots explained to him by this child.
"So we're going to have to go down to the cellars!" She balanced on her toes, pointing down the corridor. "They're that way. Come on!"
Hakkai smiled vaguely as he followed her. He would have been smiling more cheerfully, but for some reason he was feeling just a touch piqued.
---
The still-unconscious Genjou Sanzou had been dragged over to one wall, and his hands had been cuffed behind his back. "He looks like a shifty, untrustworthy type to me," the Captain of the Guard had stated. "Droopy eyes."
Yaone had decided not to comment on the question. In the first place, Genjou Sanzou was a devious, untrustworthy type, who was entirely capable of faking unconsciousness until he could make a run for it. In the second place, it would have been inappropriate for her to question the other woman's idea of security in front of her troops. And, of course, in the third place, she was about to have to fight for his life, and she'd spare time wondering about whether or not he liked being in manacles at some point when she wasn't about to be hammered into the floor.
It was a pity that the match was to be bare-handed -- to avoid any lethal wounds, the Captain had pointed out -- and that she couldn't use her spear, or her grenades, or sleeping gas, or anything else that might conceivably have been useful. This sort of thing, she decided peevishly, was far more appropriate to bare-knuckle brawlers than to trained apothecaries who should really know better by now, devoted service to liege-lords or not.
One guard entered at a run from the nearer archway, and made her way across to the Captain. Yaone looked away from where her prospective opponent was busy strapping spiked knuckles onto her hands, not entirely relishing the sight, and saw the new arrival muttering hastily to the Captain. The Captain's brows drew together sharply, and she turned to look across at Yaone thoughtfully as the guard continued her whispered report.
Yaone smiled politely, and looked away before she could be accused of trying to listen in. She could still feel the Captain's gaze on her, and she wondered what was going on. Perhaps Kougaiji-sama has come out of his room and wishes to speak to me? No, they'd have called off the match in that case. He couldn't possibly have disavowed me -- there's nothing unreasonable about me being here. Maybe they've caught Lirin? Surely in that case they'd have brought her down here. Her thoughts ran round and round in circles. She stretched one arm, then the other, just as she would have in a standard warm-up.
The Captain brought her hands together in a sharp clap. "All right. Time. The match is to incapacity or yield. In the circle, ladies."
Yaone walked across, and bowed politely to her opponent. The other woman, who seemed to have a worryingly large number of scars, not to mention having a missing front tooth -- didn't she know that something could be done about that with an ivory replacement, she'd really have to suggest it after the match -- bowed back, but didn't seem to be taking things with the right degree of sober propriety.
The other guards formed a wide circle around them.
"Time," the Captain said.
The other woman moved first, coming forward in a smooth run and then turning the charge into a pivot-kick that would have put her foot in the middle of Yaone's chest and probably knocked her into the far wall of the room.
Yaone was oddly pleased that she was being taken seriously enough to warrant a proper attack. Even if her primary function for Kougaiji-sama was as apothecary, it was good to know that she was clearly an effective warrior. She sprang over the kick, as she would have over one of Doku's in practice, and landed rolling, spinning round to slam her own foot into the other woman's ankle.
The guard was clearly expecting the counter, and made her own leap to avoid it. The two of them came to their feet, and stood, watching each other, breathing still even, balanced.
The circle came alive around them, with the guards yelling comments and suggestions. Yaone was surprised to find herself the recipient of a few shouts of encouragement.
"Beat the shit out of Shimiko! I've got my money on you!" someone behind her yelled.
Oh, so that was why.
Shimiko -- her opponent, presumably -- grinned her gap-toothed grin again, and moved in.
A hasty exchange of blows later, Yaone had managed to avoid any serious punishment, but was nursing a couple of lightweight bruises, including a set of scrapes on her left cheek, and was increasingly conscious of the time factor. She would tire much faster than this bruiser they'd put against her, and if Shimiko did manage to get a firm hold on her, or land a real blow, then the fight would be pretty much over.
She consciously slowed her breathing, again. This was a training exercise. View the other person as a set of muscles and nerves. Strike to immobilise or stun.
"You any better in bed with your Prince than in the circle?" one of the louder guards called out. A few snickers followed.
How curious. Everything seemed to have an odd red tinge. Not that that was important at this precise moment. Move in fast and go for the left inner arm then move out and curve and backflip and strike for the back of the right shoulder and oh dear, you nearly got her foot in the gut then, so back off and move round her fast and curve over and there, that's right, that's the back of her left knee, move in and kick and move out and keep moving and perhaps that's an opening? no, that's a feint, so pretend to be taking it and let her extend her left arm in the blow and strike for her temple, ah, she's tough, she rocked with the blow but didn't go down and now she's got hold of your left tail of hair, but that's all right, move in with the tug and pivot and both hands up under her chin, yes, and then spin and right elbow to where you hit her temple before, good, and watch the back arch as she goes down, and the instructor's saying something . . .
"Not bad," said the Captain. "Okay. You've convinced me."
---
Doku waited behind the curtain in the kitchens with Goku. Another search party was going through. At this rate, Bie Liao would be aging a few decades overnight, judging by the language she was using. Where the hell was Lirin, why hadn't Yaone managed to find her yet, why wasn't the monk back with Cho Hakkai, where was Kougaiji, and what the hell was going on?
"I think something's gone wrong," muttered Goku.
"Yeah," Doku sighed. "Me too."
---
"Something else has come up." The Captain tossed Yaone a damp towel. "Here. Wipe those scrapes before they start bleeding badly. And while you're doing it, take a little stroll with me over to the side here where my girls can't hear us."
Yaone did as she was directed. Adrenalin still hummed in her nerves, and she couldn't stop herself smiling just a little.
"Okay." The Captain leaned against the wall and lowered her voice. "First, and don't react too visibly to this -- your Prince has gone for a walk. Missing. Gone. Room empty."
It was astonishing, the alchemist part of her mind noted, how fast her spine could freeze and her stomach tighten. She kept her voice flat. "I'm assuming there's more to this and that you're about to tell me what it is."
"Good." The other woman nodded. "There is. Scuttlebutt, and it's not me who's saying this, is that a certain person in this fortress who is neither myself nor the Queen would be pleased if he turned up in an embarrassing location. At the moment, the most embarrassing and dangerous place he could possibly be found in is the cellars. Which is where I'm about to drop you. Am I clear?"
Yaone processed the information. Her eyes narrowed. "So, just for example, if I were to make sure he wasn't found down there, that would be a good thing?"
The Captain looked up at the ceiling. She had the air of a woman who, given half a grain of rice, would be posing for the Whistling Nonchalantly In An Innocent Fashion yearly award. "Some of us have been hearing things about new orders and civil wars and conquering the humans and that sort of shit. Some of us think it is shit. There's a back entrance to the kitchens if you go due east from where I'm having you dropped in. The women who work there know when to keep their mouths shut."
"I thank you for your helpful statement of the situation," Yaone said, as blandly as she could manage, controlling the urge to demand to be allowed down to the cellars without any further delay. "Oh, what happened to the woman who was in his room with him?"
The Captain shrugged. "Missing too. Possibly bait or distraction. More likely dead."
"This one's stirring, Captain," one of the guards watching Genjou Sanzou called across. "You want us to knock him on the head again?"
The Captain looked to Yaone inquiringly. Yaone considered; the monk might be a nuisance awake and vocal, but he'd probably be even more of a nuisance if she had to carry his unconscious body over her shoulder. "Please leave him be," she requested politely. "But, ah, don't take the manacles off." She wasn't stupid, after all.
Sanzou blinked and looked around. His eyes narrowed menacingly. He paused to regard Yaone with one raised eyebrow, then returned to his customary snarl as he considered the rest of the room.
"Aww," said one of the guards, bending down to ruffle his hair. "He wakes up angry. Cute." She went sprawling as Sanzou kicked her legs from under her.
"Little, but fierce," said the Captain with an oddly maternal air. "A bit like you, Little Miss Competence. Right little vixen you are. Okay, girls, open the cellar door. Time for them to see the Queen."
---
"Sanzou's in trouble," Goku hissed. "I know he is."
"So?" Doku raised an eyebrow, though in the darkness behind the curtain, the effect was mostly lost.
"I think he's downstairs in the cellars." Goku's eyes had an odd light to them that Doku hadn't seen before. He hadn't thought that the monkey was capable of quite such intense concern. "Down that way." He pointed at a heavy door close to where they were standing. "Down there. Right down there. Very close to down there," he added, as if the point wasn't clear enough.
Eh. Odds were that anything which could inconvenience the monk would either be Kougaiji himself, or would be a danger on Kougaiji's level, and thus a danger to Kougaiji, and therefore something which ought to be investigated. All the other kitchen women except Bie Liao had gone to bed, and his obligation to Bie Liao could be discharged by knocking her on the back of the head and tying her up, to make it clear that she was innocent. "Sure," he said amiably. "But no squashing any spiders, right? Unless I give the word? We don't want to annoy the Queen by killing any of her relatives."
"You're no fun," Goku pouted.
---
Waking was always one of the pleasanter things about mornings, Kougaiji thought sleepily. The moments before one had to open one's eyes to the responsibilities of the day, and could lie back and savour the cold stone floor under one's back, the weight of Sha Gojyo on top of one, the softness of the other man's long hair like silk across one's face . . .
Wait. This wasn't how he usually woke up.
He sat upright, his head buzzing like a swarm of bees, and shoved the recumbent Gojyo onto the floor. The place was full of webs, great swathes of cobweb which fell like silk from the ceiling and sheathed thick pillars like tapestries. The web itself glowed with a faint light like fungus, not quite bright enough to worsen his headache, but enough to see by. They were in a low-ceilinged pillared hall of some sort, with passages leading off to either side.
Faintly, quietly, behind Gojyo's pained mutterings, he could hear the sounds of skittering whispering spiders.
Gojyo finally put together a coherent sentence. "Your teleport sucks. Mega-sucks."
"Something went wrong." Now, of all times, Kougaiji could have used one of Yaone's headache remedies.
"That one I figured." Gojyo sat up, and promptly pressed the heels of his hands against his forehead. "Shit. This is worse than bad whiskey."
Kougaiji focused on the steepled fingers of his hands, ignoring his nausea. "No," he said carefully. "Let me be more precise. There was a trap set for anybody who attempted to teleport from that room, set to redirect them to here, wherever here is."
Gojyo lifted his eyes, and stared at Kougaiji through the crimson curtain of his hair. "You're the only one that could have been set for, Red Boy, unless we really want to hit coincidence city bigtime. How many visitors does this place get?"
"Nnh. I should have thrown you out of the window after all."
"Hey, that's a fine way to talk to your bodyguard."
Kougaiji narrowed his eyes. "Bodyguard?"
"Eeh." Gojyo slowly rose to his feet, taking each inch carefully, and not swaying more than slightly. "You've been betrayed by someone here, right? So you're entitled to have a bodyguard, I figure. You're the Prince. Getting dumped on this way has to be grounds for some royal annoyance. Right?"
Kougaiji rose elegantly before Gojyo could offer him a hand. "You have a point. In the meantime, I suspect that we're in the cellars under the fortress." Something was prickling at the back of his mind, registering faintly on his senses, and he wandered across to one of the drapes of webbing to examine it.
Gojyo followed him. "So, why not do your red wind thing and blast our way out?"
"Two reasons." Kougaiji gestured around. "Cobweb's inflammable. Do you want to be in the middle of it while it's on fire?"
"Mm." Gojyo digested this. "And the second?"
Kougaiji scooped a handful of the thick dust from the floor, and used it to protect his hand as he peeled back a few strands of web. It was as he had thought. "We're in the middle of the nurseries. Look -- eggs. Do you want to be responsible for killing off the next generation of the youkai here?"
"Well, shit." Gojyo backed away, and paced a few thoughtful steps. The close-crowded pillars meant that he could only manage a few steps in any direction before having to bend his course. "So who's responsible for this?"
Kougaiji attempted to detach his hand. The web was extremely sticky. "The Princess seems the most likely candidate," he replied. "She is a sorceress. The Queen is, too, but she hasn't been seen for a while. Apparently she spends most of the time in seclusion, probably in the cellars . . ." His brain processed what he had just said.
"You've got your sleeve stuck now too," Gojyo pointed out helpfully.
---
"Lirin-san," Hakkai said, very seriously, "I would be much happier if you were to leave the fortress. I promise to tell your brother that there's a plot against him." Common sense and ethics had triumphed over the need for her potential muscle, and having to dodge three patrols while dragging her along had only cemented his opinion.
Lirin pouted at him. "If you're going to be mean, then I'll find him on my own!" Her voice rose alarmingly.
He waved his hands hastily. "No, no, that's not it at all. I'm just worried in case there's some sort of deeper plot going on." Inspiration came to him. "For all we know, there's some sort of secret plot to kidnap you and use you as part of some experiment, and this is all an attempt to lure you into danger."
"That's stupid. Who'd do a thing like that?"
"Er, well," Hakkai said tactfully. Given the obsessive scientists, sorcerers, and holy men that the Sanzou-ikkou had already run into, it seemed to be more a question of who wouldn't, but this was hardly the time or place. "I can pass as one of the servants here, if I keep the shawl up, but nobody would believe that you were a serving-woman. If I find your brother and tell him what's going on, he can meet you outside."
"But you don't know where he is." With devastating accuracy, Lirin put her finger on the plan's main flaw. "Or where your friend Gojyo is."
"I'm sure I can find them," Hakkai said blandly.
Lirin raised one finger brightly. "I bet they're in the cellars. That's where the Queen is."
This was not the way that the argument was supposed to go. "How did you know that?" he asked, temporising.
"I heard some of the guards saying that the Queen was in the cellars!" she explained perkily. "So if this is all an evil plan to do with the Queen and which is supposed to put the blame on big brother, then they're going to have to put them down there to do it, aren't they?"
And he was not supposed to have plots explained to him by this child.
"So we're going to have to go down to the cellars!" She balanced on her toes, pointing down the corridor. "They're that way. Come on!"
Hakkai smiled vaguely as he followed her. He would have been smiling more cheerfully, but for some reason he was feeling just a touch piqued.
---
The still-unconscious Genjou Sanzou had been dragged over to one wall, and his hands had been cuffed behind his back. "He looks like a shifty, untrustworthy type to me," the Captain of the Guard had stated. "Droopy eyes."
Yaone had decided not to comment on the question. In the first place, Genjou Sanzou was a devious, untrustworthy type, who was entirely capable of faking unconsciousness until he could make a run for it. In the second place, it would have been inappropriate for her to question the other woman's idea of security in front of her troops. And, of course, in the third place, she was about to have to fight for his life, and she'd spare time wondering about whether or not he liked being in manacles at some point when she wasn't about to be hammered into the floor.
It was a pity that the match was to be bare-handed -- to avoid any lethal wounds, the Captain had pointed out -- and that she couldn't use her spear, or her grenades, or sleeping gas, or anything else that might conceivably have been useful. This sort of thing, she decided peevishly, was far more appropriate to bare-knuckle brawlers than to trained apothecaries who should really know better by now, devoted service to liege-lords or not.
One guard entered at a run from the nearer archway, and made her way across to the Captain. Yaone looked away from where her prospective opponent was busy strapping spiked knuckles onto her hands, not entirely relishing the sight, and saw the new arrival muttering hastily to the Captain. The Captain's brows drew together sharply, and she turned to look across at Yaone thoughtfully as the guard continued her whispered report.
Yaone smiled politely, and looked away before she could be accused of trying to listen in. She could still feel the Captain's gaze on her, and she wondered what was going on. Perhaps Kougaiji-sama has come out of his room and wishes to speak to me? No, they'd have called off the match in that case. He couldn't possibly have disavowed me -- there's nothing unreasonable about me being here. Maybe they've caught Lirin? Surely in that case they'd have brought her down here. Her thoughts ran round and round in circles. She stretched one arm, then the other, just as she would have in a standard warm-up.
The Captain brought her hands together in a sharp clap. "All right. Time. The match is to incapacity or yield. In the circle, ladies."
Yaone walked across, and bowed politely to her opponent. The other woman, who seemed to have a worryingly large number of scars, not to mention having a missing front tooth -- didn't she know that something could be done about that with an ivory replacement, she'd really have to suggest it after the match -- bowed back, but didn't seem to be taking things with the right degree of sober propriety.
The other guards formed a wide circle around them.
"Time," the Captain said.
The other woman moved first, coming forward in a smooth run and then turning the charge into a pivot-kick that would have put her foot in the middle of Yaone's chest and probably knocked her into the far wall of the room.
Yaone was oddly pleased that she was being taken seriously enough to warrant a proper attack. Even if her primary function for Kougaiji-sama was as apothecary, it was good to know that she was clearly an effective warrior. She sprang over the kick, as she would have over one of Doku's in practice, and landed rolling, spinning round to slam her own foot into the other woman's ankle.
The guard was clearly expecting the counter, and made her own leap to avoid it. The two of them came to their feet, and stood, watching each other, breathing still even, balanced.
The circle came alive around them, with the guards yelling comments and suggestions. Yaone was surprised to find herself the recipient of a few shouts of encouragement.
"Beat the shit out of Shimiko! I've got my money on you!" someone behind her yelled.
Oh, so that was why.
Shimiko -- her opponent, presumably -- grinned her gap-toothed grin again, and moved in.
A hasty exchange of blows later, Yaone had managed to avoid any serious punishment, but was nursing a couple of lightweight bruises, including a set of scrapes on her left cheek, and was increasingly conscious of the time factor. She would tire much faster than this bruiser they'd put against her, and if Shimiko did manage to get a firm hold on her, or land a real blow, then the fight would be pretty much over.
She consciously slowed her breathing, again. This was a training exercise. View the other person as a set of muscles and nerves. Strike to immobilise or stun.
"You any better in bed with your Prince than in the circle?" one of the louder guards called out. A few snickers followed.
How curious. Everything seemed to have an odd red tinge. Not that that was important at this precise moment. Move in fast and go for the left inner arm then move out and curve and backflip and strike for the back of the right shoulder and oh dear, you nearly got her foot in the gut then, so back off and move round her fast and curve over and there, that's right, that's the back of her left knee, move in and kick and move out and keep moving and perhaps that's an opening? no, that's a feint, so pretend to be taking it and let her extend her left arm in the blow and strike for her temple, ah, she's tough, she rocked with the blow but didn't go down and now she's got hold of your left tail of hair, but that's all right, move in with the tug and pivot and both hands up under her chin, yes, and then spin and right elbow to where you hit her temple before, good, and watch the back arch as she goes down, and the instructor's saying something . . .
"Not bad," said the Captain. "Okay. You've convinced me."
---
Doku waited behind the curtain in the kitchens with Goku. Another search party was going through. At this rate, Bie Liao would be aging a few decades overnight, judging by the language she was using. Where the hell was Lirin, why hadn't Yaone managed to find her yet, why wasn't the monk back with Cho Hakkai, where was Kougaiji, and what the hell was going on?
"I think something's gone wrong," muttered Goku.
"Yeah," Doku sighed. "Me too."
---
"Something else has come up." The Captain tossed Yaone a damp towel. "Here. Wipe those scrapes before they start bleeding badly. And while you're doing it, take a little stroll with me over to the side here where my girls can't hear us."
Yaone did as she was directed. Adrenalin still hummed in her nerves, and she couldn't stop herself smiling just a little.
"Okay." The Captain leaned against the wall and lowered her voice. "First, and don't react too visibly to this -- your Prince has gone for a walk. Missing. Gone. Room empty."
It was astonishing, the alchemist part of her mind noted, how fast her spine could freeze and her stomach tighten. She kept her voice flat. "I'm assuming there's more to this and that you're about to tell me what it is."
"Good." The other woman nodded. "There is. Scuttlebutt, and it's not me who's saying this, is that a certain person in this fortress who is neither myself nor the Queen would be pleased if he turned up in an embarrassing location. At the moment, the most embarrassing and dangerous place he could possibly be found in is the cellars. Which is where I'm about to drop you. Am I clear?"
Yaone processed the information. Her eyes narrowed. "So, just for example, if I were to make sure he wasn't found down there, that would be a good thing?"
The Captain looked up at the ceiling. She had the air of a woman who, given half a grain of rice, would be posing for the Whistling Nonchalantly In An Innocent Fashion yearly award. "Some of us have been hearing things about new orders and civil wars and conquering the humans and that sort of shit. Some of us think it is shit. There's a back entrance to the kitchens if you go due east from where I'm having you dropped in. The women who work there know when to keep their mouths shut."
"I thank you for your helpful statement of the situation," Yaone said, as blandly as she could manage, controlling the urge to demand to be allowed down to the cellars without any further delay. "Oh, what happened to the woman who was in his room with him?"
The Captain shrugged. "Missing too. Possibly bait or distraction. More likely dead."
"This one's stirring, Captain," one of the guards watching Genjou Sanzou called across. "You want us to knock him on the head again?"
The Captain looked to Yaone inquiringly. Yaone considered; the monk might be a nuisance awake and vocal, but he'd probably be even more of a nuisance if she had to carry his unconscious body over her shoulder. "Please leave him be," she requested politely. "But, ah, don't take the manacles off." She wasn't stupid, after all.
Sanzou blinked and looked around. His eyes narrowed menacingly. He paused to regard Yaone with one raised eyebrow, then returned to his customary snarl as he considered the rest of the room.
"Aww," said one of the guards, bending down to ruffle his hair. "He wakes up angry. Cute." She went sprawling as Sanzou kicked her legs from under her.
"Little, but fierce," said the Captain with an oddly maternal air. "A bit like you, Little Miss Competence. Right little vixen you are. Okay, girls, open the cellar door. Time for them to see the Queen."
---
"Sanzou's in trouble," Goku hissed. "I know he is."
"So?" Doku raised an eyebrow, though in the darkness behind the curtain, the effect was mostly lost.
"I think he's downstairs in the cellars." Goku's eyes had an odd light to them that Doku hadn't seen before. He hadn't thought that the monkey was capable of quite such intense concern. "Down that way." He pointed at a heavy door close to where they were standing. "Down there. Right down there. Very close to down there," he added, as if the point wasn't clear enough.
Eh. Odds were that anything which could inconvenience the monk would either be Kougaiji himself, or would be a danger on Kougaiji's level, and thus a danger to Kougaiji, and therefore something which ought to be investigated. All the other kitchen women except Bie Liao had gone to bed, and his obligation to Bie Liao could be discharged by knocking her on the back of the head and tying her up, to make it clear that she was innocent. "Sure," he said amiably. "But no squashing any spiders, right? Unless I give the word? We don't want to annoy the Queen by killing any of her relatives."
"You're no fun," Goku pouted.
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