The Doctor and Tegan Jovanka are property of the BBC – you know the drill. Kimoto Takita and most everybody else are my creations!
A man has been killed at Kim's attempt to force information from him, and the Doctor is in a coma and at the mercy of one of Ashim's lackeys. What more can possibly go wrong?
Part ten
"Are you sure, he's dead?" Tegan asked as Kim almost ran to the wall for support, looking as if she'd fall without a good, strong wall to lean on. "Couldn't he just be out of it?"
"He's dead," the princess sobbed.
"How can you be sure?"
"No breathing, no pulse, nothing in his staring eyes," Kim yelled frantically. "What more do you want? A bloody post mortem?"
"No," Tegan said and came over to the shivering sheerar, putting her hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said. "But I don't think it's your fault."
"'Course it is", Kim sobbed, turning into the offered embrace and burying her face on Tegan's shoulder, warm tears flowing freely. "I did it, he died. I'll never use that probe crap again."
"There, there," Tegan tried awkwardly, stroking Kim's hair gently. "You couldn't know. And as you said, he refused to help us. At least now we may be able to find the Doctor."
"Find the Doctor…" Kim said in a rusty voice, suddenly looking up. "You're right. It would be unforgivably stupid not to use the knowledge gained now."
"Yeah, it would," Tegan agreed.
"I am a really impressive warrior and martial arts expert, huh?" Kim groaned, freeing herself from the embrace and wiping her tear-streaked face with the tea towel. "Breaking into hysterics at the first casualty. My teacher, the honourable master Jönsson, would scald me."
"Master what?" Tegan exclaimed.
"Master Jönsson?" Kim looked questioningly at Tegan. "What's wrong with that?"
"Oh nothing, it just doesn't sound much like an honourable master of martial arts, that's all."
"Oh he was very skilled. Is, he's not dead. He has just moved elsewhere to perform his art. And he would have been quite scornful of my reaction."
"Are you sure of that?" Tegan asked quietly.
"No…" Kim muttered. "Not really. He always did say that any fool could take a life, but the true warrior should know when not to. I suppose he also would have…" she gasped in a cross between a hiccup and a sob, "would have minded this death."
"It was an accident," Tegan insisted.
"Yeah…"
"Let's go and find the Doctor then," Tegan suggested, her voice much more confident than she felt.
"Yeah…"
"Dry your eyes and let's go. The servant look won't be very good if your face is all messy," Tegan said, turning on the faucet again and taking a napkin, soaking it with cold water. "Here."
"Thanks, you're right." Kim washed her face superficially and then threw the wet napkin next to the sink. "It's funny, really. Well, not funny-ha-ha, but a bit funny all the same."
"What is?"
"This… death. I have killed a man, even if it was an accident. But I am Princess Kimoto Takita of the imperial bloodline. I will not be punished, I am above the law."
"Really?"
"Yeah, not that it makes much sense." Kim managed a thin smile, obviously trying to avoid looking at the prone form on the floor. "But in theory, the emperor can kill whomever he chooses. Of course, if he started to do so regularly, the people would probably rally against him."
"But it means that you are not even a wanted murderer now?" Tegan asked. "That's great, isn't it?"
"Yeah, any child of the direct bloodline has the same right. Ancient tradition and almost never used. History books have accounts of the few cases where it has."
"Anyway," Tegan said, rummaging through the cupboard for a glass and finding one, which she started to fill with cold water. "I'm not even sure anybody will guess that you did this. He looks as if he's had a heart attack or something. Your fingerprints are not on the body, nor is there any sign of a poison or a weapon, right?" She handed the glass of water to Kim and said: "Here, drink this."
The sheerar did and then put down the glass, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "You're right. Nobody needs to know that I killed him today." She turned towards the door, suddenly a lot calmer. Quietly she made sure that the scarf over her hair was still in place and then put her hand on the door's handle. Listening for a brief moment, she then opened the door and went outside, followed closely by Tegan.
"But I won't forget it…" she whispered quietly under her breath.
o o o
The knock on the doorframe of chancellor Ashim's office was very quiet, almost as if the person knocking was hoping not to be heard.
"Come," was the merciless reply.
A samurai entered, dressed in all the pompous attire, carrying the grand swords and a fan in his belt. His face, however, did not have the stoic look one would have expected of a true samurai. He looked distinctly uncomfortable.
"Ashim sama," he said, bowing. "I regret to inform you that the stranger, the girl, is no longer in the princess' quarters."
"She isn't?" Ashim growled. "Well, did you ask the princess about her then?"
"Well, erh…" the samurai hesitated. "She's not there either."
"What are you telling me, Tetsu san?" Ashim jumped to his feet, anger flaring in his eyes as he stared in disbelief at the samurai. "They are gone? Both of them?"
"Yes, Ashim sama," the samurai said quietly. "No guard has seen them leave, so they are likely still within palace grounds."
"Likely!" Ashim roared as he stepped around the desk to stand face to face with the samurai. The guard, Tetsu, was obviously uncomfortable with this, but it was still clear to the chancellor that he should not follow his instincts and strike the man before him. He was, after all, a samurai, and such indignity would not be tolerated, even from an imperial chancellor. Ashim stared at him briefly and then backed off a few paces. "You know as well as I do, that the princess has left unnoticed before today. I want the guards doubled. Nay, tripled. And I do not wish for the emperor to be informed lest he specifically asks about his daughter or we are sure she has left the buildings. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Ashim sama." The samurai was just as uninterested in dishonour as the chancellor. They did share an understanding after all.
"Now go and find her," Ashim demanded. "Use all the men you need, Tetsu san. I shall hold you personally responsible. The princess is not capable to of moving on her own and if discovered outside the palace, she may cause a scandal again. But if you are swift, then we may yet be spared the dishonour."
"Yes, Ashim sama," Tetsu said, bowing. Then he turned on his heel and left the room.
Ashim went back to sit down in his chair. This was bad news indeed, but Tetsu was one of his best men, loyal and obedient, the kind of samurai who took the title and honour seriously, not like a lot of the other samurais in the palace who just saw the codes, the attire and the swords as quaint leftovers of days bygone.
But Ashim knew better. In the long run, it was men like Tetsu and himself, who assured the continued survival of house Takita and its grip on the power of Honshu II.
o o o
"On the other side of this door is a corridor, and at the other end of that, we find the cells and…" Kim's voice faltered briefly and she took a deep breath. "With just a bit of luck, we will find the Doctor there too."
"What about guards?" Tegan asked, staring nervously at the closed door. They had descended into the depths of the palace basement levels, guided by Kim's instincts and the knowledge gained from the servant Hatfield. "If there are prison cells, wouldn't there be guards?"
"Undoubtedly," Kim responded, her fingers almost lazily closing around the handle of her gun. "And that's why we are armed too. If they recognise me, they will hesitate severely to use terminal force."
"Terminal force…" Tegan swallowed. "You mean, kill?"
"That is the euphemism used, yes," Kim whispered, unholstering her gun and making sure that it was ready to fire. "But if they know me, that won't happen. Now, being that we are dressed as we are, they may not. In that case, well, you can probably guess."
"So this is it, then?" Tegan asked, preparing her own gun in the manner explained earlier by Kim.
"Yeah…"
"I'm ready." Tegan did not at all feel up to this, but in the realisation that the Doctor would have done the same for her, she found that she could do no less for him.
"Three," Kim whispered, placing a hand on the door handle.
Tegan swallowed again. Why was her throat so dry?
"Two," Kim continued, her grasp firmer.
Tegan shifted her hands on the gun.
"One…" Kim also flexed her own fingers around her weapon and gave a last, brief glance at her friend.
Then she opened the door.
Kim had expected that the two of them would have to hurry into the corridor and attack whoever was there, guns firing the low-noise darts at everything moving and trying to win a potentially unwinnable fight.
She had not expected what happened.
The door opened into the landing on which they were standing, and as soon as Kim had pushed the handle and opened it, it slammed open under most of the weight of the guard who had been leaning up against it. Noisily the samurai fell backwards and onto the floor between Kim and Tegan, yelping in surprise and unsuccessfully trying to gain a foothold before slamming his back into the iron floor, sending a loud clang reverberating all the way through the seven storey stairwell.
All three of them were almost equally surprised, but Tegan was the fastest to recover and without really thinking, she turned her stubby gun at the man and fired once. He was already staring at her in disbelief; now he gave a sharp twitch and lay still, his eyes half-way closed.
"Hee hee, that was a bit too close," Kim wheezed and it occurred to Tegan that her friend's whiskers were standing out again. She wondered if her tail had also fluffed up.
"Yeah," Tegan agreed, whiping her brow.
"You have good reflexes," the princess observed, feeling at the downed guard's neck and then jumping towards the door. "He's okay. Let's get going while our luck holds."
"Yeah…"
They both went through the door, fast and yet keeping a careful eye towards the corridor.
To the one side there were a few more metres of corridor, ending in an expansion with an elevator. To the other side, the corridor continued for a distance before twisting to the left.
Tegan fell behind as the young sheerar raced towards the part of the corridor where it turned, her bare feet obviously having a very firm grip on the floor.
Two samurais came round the corner, obviously summoned by their fallen comrade's yelp and the noise produced. Kim shot the one before Tegan had fully registered their presence and then, almost jumping up the wall, she made a sideways somersault and threw herself towards the other wall, shooting the second guard before he had any time to align his rifle.
The exchange was brief and eerily quiet, and both men were lying on the floor by the time Tegan came to the turn. Kim made a brief stop to feel at their necks and seemed satisfied, all the while staring down the next part of the corridor.
"That was amazing!" Tegan said as she reached her friend. "You looked like Bruce Lee on a really good day!"
"Who?" Kim asked, getting to her feet again. "Well, never mind. Let's just get on with it. Samurai guards usually operate in threes so that the guard is not left alone if one should be disabled or have to go to the little warriors' room."
"Little warriors' room?" Tegan said with a half-smile.
"Yeah, even samurai have to piss from time to time."
"Right. Now what?"
"We hope that the guard here was three and not six men strong," Kim murmured in a tense voice. "C'mon, let's move on. The cells should be at the end of this corridor."
They continued down the corridor, seemingly unheeded by any more guards. At the end, it formed a T-junction with another short corridor with the first doors they had encountered since coming down here. These doors were obviously cell doors as they had heavy locks on the outside and a small, observation hatch atop each door.
There were, however, also three more samurais here.
This time, Kim gave no indication of anything to Tegan, who was following a few steps behind. She just threw herself forwards in a roll, firing her weapon repeatedly down the right hallway towards the guards.
These guards did however seem somewhat more prepared for at attack and had their weapons at the ready. A virtual hailstorm of bullets ripped the edge of the wall, just before Tegan poked her head out to see what was happening. More bullets tore where Kim had been moments earlier, and a man yelled that they should surrender.
Tegan had thrown herself backwards as the bullets had sent dust and debris into her face, and she tried not to think about what would have happened if she had been at the corner just two seconds earlier.
Then silence fell on the corridor again and Kim's voice penetrated the dust in the air, asking if she was okay.
"You really are something, you know that?" Tegan coughed, wiping a small trickle of blood from a minor scrape on her brow and advancing into the now quiet cell corridor. "I'm okay, it was just a bit close. And you?"
"I'll live," came the reply. Kim was getting up from the floor, wiping her hands against the fabric of her trousers. "Sheesh," she muttered, bending over. "I need my tail! A cat needs her tail to keep perfect balance. That's why it is torture to cropthe tail from an animal. Especially felines."
"Are you all right?" Tegan asked, suddenly not liking the sharp edge that had seeped into the sheerar's voice. After the briefest of glances up the corridor, making sure that the three samurais were unmoving, she came over and looked at Kim, who was still bent over.
"Like I said," Kim muttered defiantly, once again wiping her hand against her grey trousers. "I will live. A cat has nine lives, remember?"
Now Tegan saw the smear of dark against the light grey fabric. It was clearly blood.
"How bad is it?" the Australian gasped, covering her mouth with a frightened hand. "Where have you been hit?"
"Chest and arm," Kim admitted, turning and straightening up to allow her friend to see.
Just about one hand's breadth under the shoulder, the fabric of the uniform had been torn, both on the upper left arm and on the side of the chest. Blood was seeping slowly from the wound in the arm but it was the huge, darkened area on the left side of the torso that worried Tegan the most.
"That's bad," she said, plaintively.
"Yeah, it is," Kim smiled, her eyes more feline now and her white canines glittering as she bared them more than a normal smile would demand. "I don't think the lung is punctured, but I sure don't feel very much like strumming the shamisen right now. My arm hurts, but that's just a flesh wound, as they say. Did you know that it seems to me that flesh hurts much more than bone and sinew? That makes the 'just a flesh wound' a tad silly, don't you think?"
"We have to get out of here," Tegan muttered, reaching out to offer Kim a hand.
"Thanks, but we need to get the Doctor out," Kim replied, declining the offered hand. "If I lie down now, I won't be able to help him. We have to move while we still can."
"Are you sure about this?" Tegan asked worriedly.
"No, but what do we have to loose?"
Tegan did not know exactly what to reply to this and thus just followed closely, holding onto her gun for protection as Kim lead the way to the table where the guards had been seated before the fight.
There she quickly accessed the computer standing on the table and punched a few keys before looking up at her companion with a satisfied look.
"There's no doubt, this is his file," she said, tapping a few more keys. "Human, unidentified, charged with illegal entering into the palace. Oh, and the only prisoner here at present. Blond, blue eyes, blah, blah, yeah… Oh…"
"What is it?" Tegan scowled at the princess with a concerned frown. "What's wrong? Are your wounds too bad to go on?"
"Erh…"
"Tell me," Tegan demanded nervously.
"He has been taken about an hour ago by Doctor Krentz, to the…" Kim paused, suddenly paler than before. "To the clinic."
"The clinic?"
"That's where they perform my treatments. They are probably busy with him right now."
Kim's huge emerald eyes were glassy, and she gazed at Tegan with terror. "The electrodes," she murmured.
"Well," Tegan said in a tense attempt at a feisty voice. "I guess we'll just have to get him out of there then. Do you know where this clinic is?"
"Yes." The answer was barely a whisper, and tears welled forth in the sheerar's eyes.
"Well, is it far?" Tegan insisted.
"No…" Kim coughed and briefly hid her face behind a hand, then she visibly pulled herself together and straightened up. "No, it isn't. Let's go."
She led them back the way they had come, this time to the elevator, where she pushed the button to go down. As they waited for the elevator, Tegan studied Kim, not oblivious to her laboured breathing and pale features.
"Are you sure you can do this?" she asked hesitantly.
"I'll manage, if it's those bullet wounds you are referring to," Kim said, rubbing her left arm and sighing ever so slightly. "And as for the other one, I actually think it has stopped bleeding now."
"That's good," Tegan said, not too convinced though, but needing Kim's help all the same. "But keep me posted on this. After all, it wouldn't be good if you just collapsed on me when the action starts again."
"Really," Kim replied, managing a pale grin at her friend. "I can manage. Remember the sheerar in me, I have abetter constitution than most humans. Been there, done that, as they say."
"Been shot at before?" Tegan asked incredulously, gaping at her.
"Well, no, I don't make a habit of getting shot at," Kim grunted, rubbing her sore left side. "But I have been pretty messed up at times, running from guards, playing on the Lion Tower roof and falling down, getting a solid thrashing from my trainer, that kind of thing."
"Your trainer beat you?"
"Yeah, well, one doesn't learn much from just being shown or by having scores subtracted," Kim shrugged and then winced. "And here it is accepted to take a beating from a master, it's all part of the code and all that. But here's the elevator, and I can assure you that I shan't faint on you."
But Tegan could see that the princess was gritting her teeth and had her whiskers standing out and her ears flat again. She was quickly learning to interpret these signs.
"It's okay to be afraid," she said soothingly. "I'm scared too."
"Yeah," Kim muttered, swallowing. "And you haven't seen what's down there."
"No… But I guess I will?"
The elevator doors opened and they stepped into it. Kim pushed the lowest button and the doors quietly slid close.
"We'll just have to try," Tegan muttered defiantly.
"Yeah," Kim agreed weakly. We'll have to stop them torturing the Doctor!"
o o o
To be continued…