A/N: Thanks to all who have been reading this, whether you have reviewed or not, and I hope that my story has been enjoyable so far. Another chapter done!

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Chapter 11: The Search

Shang sat on the bed after Mulan left and folded his arms, staring at Ming. So, the tricky little monkey guardian could make himself look like different people.

He thought about the night that he saw Su-Tan with Chen; only when he approached them, it was another boy with her. Now he was beginning to realize that it was Chen that he saw. But somehow, before he caught up to them, Chen managed to disappear and Ming made himself look like a different boy of Chen's size.

Ming peered back at him, his face serene, expressionless.

Shang sighed and shook his head, wondering if Ming had ever impersonated him. It wouldn't surprise him at all.

"Shang?"

"What is it, Chen?"

"Ming was only trying to help."

"Hmm?"

"He didn't want you to know I was here because he thought you would worry."

"And he was right. Chen, I mean it. After this is over, if you ever do anything like this again…"

"I won't."

"You said that last time, and you went ahead and did it again anyway."

Chen remained silent.

"It's time for bed. Come on."

"What about Su-Tan and Mi-Ying?"

"They're fine. I took them back to Su-Tan's room after dinner. And I'll take you there in the morning, so you'll see them then."

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"We have a problem, Jiang Bin-Ling. The Emperor is still alive. I don't know who drank the poison and was buried. But I saw him in the hall earlier when I was on my way to Shen-Li."

"We have more than one problem. Come in and see what we found in one of the passageways."

She followed him into his chamber and gaped at the straw puppet in an Imperial guard uniform.

"What is it?"

"I suspect it's the 'guard' that the witnesses saw with Prince Ying."

"What is going on?"

"I don't know. But there's more. Prince Ying's body disappeared."

She pondered for a couple of minutes. "Someone killed Prince Ying before we had a chance to and must have stolen his corpse to make us nervous. They are playing games with us. We must find out who it is, who knows about us and is doing this; maybe they are setting it up so that they can blackmail us. What about the woman? Mulan?"

"No one has seen her since Ying's death. Ting is holding her responsible for his brother's death. She was supposed to be protecting him."

"She is in hiding then."

"I don't know," Bin-Ling spoke with great doubt in his voice. "This whole thing is not going as planned at all. We should leave and get away safely."

"We are not leaving."

"Mei-Lin, listen, we could…" he began, taking her hand.

"We are not giving up. Not after all this. We just have to alter our plan. Maybe it is just as well that we didn't succeed at killing the Emperor. He should know the truth anyway."

"What about my brother, Mei-Lin?"

"He is still alive for now. There may be more information that we need from him; especially since the old Emperor is still around. I'm sure we'll find some use for him."

"Mei-Lin, if you saw the Emperor, he saw you, too. Would he have recognized you?"

"Maybe. But I doubt he suspects me of anything. After all, it was a long time ago."

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In the morning Shang took Chen to Su-Tan's room so he could be with the two girls, then he went out to his troops.

The news of the so-called death of Prince Ying had been kept hidden, but there seemed to be a sense among people in the city that something wasn't right. Shang was worried about a disturbance of some sort, and he wanted to make sure the city guard was prepared for anything.

Mulan had told him to keep the information that she'd given him to himself for now. Though she trusted Yao, Ling and Chien-Po, she didn't want them to know yet either.

Shang sighed. He felt worried and helpless when he thought about her. It seemed that everyday he stayed in the same places, making sure the prince was safe, making sure the city was safe. Meanwhile, Mulan was running around inside the palace walls involved in a complicated intrigue that, though he was aware of now, he had absolutely no part of; and he had no way of intervening and helping her were she to wind up in trouble.

And now, thanks to his unique gift, Chen was involved again.

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Mulan and Chen left the palace through the inner passageway, both of them dressed in black cloaks again. Mushu hid in her cloak and Ming was hiding in Chen's. They came out in the forest to the east of the city, at the entrance that they were both familiar with already.

She knew this forest from last time, and didn't have any sense that Shen-Li would be hidden there. It was a dense, dark forest, with no temple, no structures at all, not even along the road; at least not until further away from the city. She glanced at Chen.

"What do you think, Chen?"

Chen looked at her.

"Do you have any sense of Shen-Li being here?"

He looked around the forest, then closed his eyes for a minute. Then he shook his head. "He's below the ground."

"Do you know where?"

He shook his head again.

"Can you see what the place looks like? Is it a cave or a hole in the ground? Or is it like a cellar inside a house?"

"It's inside."

"Good. That's a start."

She led him back into the palace.

"Where are we going?"

"We have to get into the Imperial Square, but we need to do it from inside the palace. We can't risk being seen by the guards at the city entrance."

"What if someone sees you?"

"I'll take care of that," said Ming.

"Thank you, Ming," Mulan said. "I was going to ask you if you would do that."

"No problem."

They went through the passageways again, stopping at the hidden chamber behind the room where she and Shang had been staying.

"I'll go first," said Ming.

Before their eyes he transformed himself into her exact double, though not dressed in a cloak. They all went out into the hallway then, Mulan and Chen following Ming with their faces still hidden.

One of the guards recognized 'her' as they approached the main hallway, near the palace entrance.

"Captain Li Mulan," the guard exclaimed, seizing Ming's arm. "Shen-Li has been looking for you frantically. I must take you to him."

Ming turned to Mulan and Chen and spoke in Mulan's voice. "Mi-Ying. Chen. Try to find Shang and tell him what has happened. Okay?"

They both nodded obediently. He turned back to the guard.

"I will explain my recent whereabouts to Shen-Li. He should know what has happened."

"Very well. That's between you and him. My orders were to bring you to him when you were found."

Ming winked at the two of them then followed the guard. Mulan and Chen hurried out the door and into the Imperial Square.

Mushu poked his head out of her collar as they walked through the square. "I guess it's up to me to look out for both of you now."

"You don't mind, do you, Mushu?" she teased him.

"Ming will be back soon," Chen said.

Mulan tried to perpetuate the illusion of a mother and son walking together as they strolled through the streets hand in hand, trying to seem like part of the crowd browsing in the market.

They reached one of the streets that formed the perimeter of the city and turned, following it for a little while. They turned again, back toward the square, arriving there at a point behind the palace. Mulan vaguely noticed a small temple at a distance behind the palace, thinking that she should go to pray.

Chen had stopped suddenly and he was staring at the same temple. He tugged at her hand and pointed to it.

She squeezed his hand in response and nodded. "Shall we go say a prayer, Chen?"

He nodded.

They strolled over to the temple casually. It was fairly run down and it looked like no one had been there in awhile. It was empty when they went in. Mulan lit some incense and knelt down to pray. Chen knelt beside her and caught her eye, pointing to the floor underneath the altar. She gave him a questioning look and he nodded.

She noticed the frightened look in his eyes suddenly as the sound of footsteps behind them came to their ears. Mulan bowed her head, pretending to be deep in prayer and Chen followed suit.

The person that had entered came up to her left and lit another stick of incense. After placing the stick in one of the burners, the person knelt down before the altar.

"It's the woman from the kitchen," Mushu muttered in her ear. "Mei-Lin."

Mulan pretended that she was finished praying, then stood up and held her hand out to Chen, keeping her face turned away from Mei-Lin. Chen, who knew to also keep his head down so he wouldn't be seen, took it and stood up, and they exited the temple.

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A/N: Thanks to all for reading. More to follow soon.