-1IX

The Keeper's Daughter

For three days Lin pondered over the request. It was foolish, she knew… but he gave her every opportunity for escape and victory. She could not fathom why he would so suddenly wish the opposite. The third day arrived, and Lin decided she had nothing else to lose. Wang had not come for her. She had no one to return to China for… her only directive was the seal and the truth.

Midday had arrived, and the streets were bustling with English folk. Coaches clattered down the lane, peddlers sang to their drink or roses for sale and children giggled outside school grounds. Lin watched them from the rooftop. It hadn't been easy tracing Rathbone in London, but his residence had been the first thing she had discovered. Already she had spied on him before… she had watched him leave to the opera house, watched him look from his window, watched as he finished writing the millionth invitation at his desk.

Lin crept along the house, arms out as she balanced along the shingled roof. Taking hold of the brick chimney, she eased herself down to the skylight of the attic. With very careful hands, she unlatched the handle and pulled it open with a loud creak. She'd only set one foot inside on the wooden ladder when she felt eyes upon her. Looking up, she froze. A ragged, soot covered fellow stared dumbly at her with black, circular bristles. Feeling awkward, she offered him a bright, sheepish smile and a half laugh. The man chuckled lightly and tipped his hat in return, making a cascade of ash fall to his nose. Turning back to his own chimney, he continued his sweeping.

Lin lowered into the attic, pulling the glass down above her. Wrinkling her nose, she waved off the cobwebs that draped in her face, stifling a sneeze against the rise of dust while she descended to the attic floor. Old trunks, a broken mirror, discarded furniture and many boxes had been stashed carelessly about, leaving no clear path from the ladder to the door. She froze on her first step from the ladder, hearing the floor creak beneath her black slipper.

Not wishing to make any more sound than necessary, she looked around for an alternative path. A beam spotted, she leapt up and latched onto it, legs dangling below as she pulled herself across.

Dropping soundlessly to the floor, she grabbed the handle and turned. It didn't budge. Lin tried to force it three times before she concluded it was locked. Trapped…

In a last attempt, Lin took the floor, laying flat on her belly as she pressed an ear to the floorboards. Hearing nothing, she scooted a few more feet. Again nothing, she scooted further… Finally a muffled voice vibrated through the floor.

"Tea, sir?" A high woman's voice rang.

"Yes, that'll be all."

Lin blinked with recognition. She'd recognize that voice anywhere. Waiting a moment, she listened for the inevitable latch of the door… and then knocked.

No sound in return. She rapped upon the floor again… and again. Finally there came a light clatter of a teacup returning to the saucer. Some rummaging through perhaps a trunk or drawer, and then short silence again. The door opened below, and she heard the distinctive sound of muffled steps coming up the stairs. Lin moved to her knees, crouching behind the trunk as she used the broken mirror to watch the attic door, holding her breath.

Finally the handle jiggled. Then clicked. The door slowly swung open, and Rathbone's oval face curiously peered through. He let the door swing open and stepped inside, the attic key in hand. "…Lin?" He asked in a whisper while he tucked the key into his waistcoat and began rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt. Seeing nothing, he reached behind and closed the door quietly behind himself.

The moment the door latched, Lin sat upright from behind the trunk, peering over with the alertness of a cat hearing a mouse.

Rathbone almost jumped out of his skin, taking a breath to gather him self. "I expected you would come after dark."

Saying nothing, she got to her feet, staying right where she stood. Now that she was in his presence again, she half feared he would close in again on her personal space.

He had obviously expected some response. However, receiving none, he finished tucking his sleeves up and began moving toward the skylight, stepping past Lin at some distance. "Right, on to business then. Wu Chow is preparing a fireworks display on the Thames. There is a set of three barges beside a dock and storage house. He's surrounded by at least twenty Boxers, except when he is meeting me…"

Lin watched him, hearing his voice trail off. She was studying him a little more than she should have, watching his shoes as he turned to reach to the skylight and push it open. How he squinted against the falling dust from the hinges, and shook it from his hair, only to set the black strands in more disarray. Brushing off his sleeves, he looked toward her, "Unless you have help, I suggest you do not take him on alone."

Lin blinked out of her thoughts, feeling foolish. Her cheeks burned and she hoped they did not redden as well. Nodding, she forced her mind to work properly, "Do you expect him to come back soon?" She asked in a tiny voice.

Shaking his head, Rathbone said, "Not until the Jubilee Ball… if I'm lucky he will arrive alone. In order to keep him from stalking me I've agreed to let him see the seal. I'm going to need an excuse for extra security to keep him from attempting to steal it. I'm also going to need to think of a way to keep you from getting in my way." Crossing his arms, he looked at her, a smirk growing on his face as he watched her disapproval surface.

"I thought you said I could help." She quietly argued, making fists at her sides.

"And you will."

"I don't understand."

"You will."

The knowing tone in his voice brought Lin to shake her head. She began to storm past him, aiming for the ladder, "Forget it."

Once again he caught her by the arm and she sharply turned to glare at him. Catching her gaze, "I've not permitted you to leave."

"You are not my master!" She snapped at him, yanking back her arm.

He grabbed her shoulders, and she quickly reacted, swiping them away and stepping backwards around the ladder. He followed her with his eyes. "You're going to have to get through me if you want out. I'm not letting you leave here without a proper escort."

Lin felt trapped behind the ladder, stepping left and then right, only for him to follow her lead. He quietly chuckled at her agitation with him. Pressing her lips together, she turned to the pile of junk and snatched up an old umbrella.

"Ah," He remarked with interest, snatching up an old cane and readying for a duel through the ladder. But Lin was quick. Instead of rounding the ladder, she thrust the umbrella through the steps and opened it. Rathbone blinked at the speed, catching only a blur of red and black. In the blink of an eye Lin slipped between the steps and kicked aside the umbrella and Rathbone along with it. Rathbone fell with a loud thump, the cane clattering alongside the umbrella. Lin was darting up the ladder to the open skylight.

"Oh no you don't." He said, taking the umbrella, using it as an extension of his arm to snag her ankle and yank her back. Lin gasped, holding tight to the outer frame of the skylight. With a last twist and yank her hand slipped free, and she was suspended in mid air.

Lin was flying back toward him in slow motion. Dumbly he cringed, his face wrinkling as he prepared for impact. She thudded hard against him and the two hit the floor. Dust puffed up from all around, filling the sun that beamed down through the skylight. Through coughs and sneezes, the two tried to gather their rattled brains cells.

Lin untangled her leg from his and sat upright, "You're crazy!" She yelled, kicking him.

Rathbone winced, propping himself on his elbows, "What?"

"You don't make any sense! You want my help and you hold me here captive!"

Sitting upright, he gave her a malicious snarl. Lin's eyes rounded with alarm. She darted for the ladder again, this time being snagged by two arms around her waist. Cursing in her native tongue, she kicked and flailed, elbowing him and then finally pushing against the ladder. The two slammed against both floor and the trunk she had hid against, falling into a struggle.

Rathbone wrestled her to the floor, finding her wrists were much easier to pin down than her legs. But Lin slowed her fighting, finding her legs were feeling more like dampened noodles than weapons. Everything had come to a standstill as Lin once again found his face just inches from her own. Their breaths mixed into the dust that drifted about them. She scraped her lower lip with her teeth, desperately trying to stop the pounding in her chest, only to find the more she fought, the harder it thundered.

Slowly his lips began to lowered to hover an inch over her own, and remained there. His voice vibrated through his breath that washed over her in warm puffs, "You're not struggling."

Lin's cheeks went hot.

The pounding in her heart had suddenly echoed elsewhere. She could hear it, feel the thudding against the floor… Both their brows furrowed and their eyes drifted towards the door at the sound of the coming servants. Lin gasped, squirming her wrists in his hands, "Let me hide," She pleaded, but he steadied her wrists, looking to her with some teasing regret and made no effort or show of releasing her.

Lin tried to search his eyes, wondering what he could possibly gain by being caught with her in such a manner.

The door soon opened, and a frantic maid and butler. The maid gasped at the scene, her hands coming to cover her cheeks at the sight of Rathbone holding the Chinese woman to the dirty floor.

Rathbone sighed, looking to the servants as though they had been just the blessing he prayed for. "Miles, get some rope – this woman is completely out of her mind!"

Lin's eyes widened as she looked at him. He sounded so convincing it startled her. "No!" She began to squirm again, her legs starting to kick hard at him.

Miles, the butler jumped to search the attic, pausing only momentarily to turn to the maid, "Uh, A-Agatha, call the police!"

In a scurry, the woman vanished from the doorway and down the stairs. Miles rummaged around before he frantically called to Rathbone, "I see no rope!"

Retorting so quickly he almost cut off the man's words, "Then go get something! Anything!"

"I… uh…" He turned on his heel and dashed down the steps.

Her eyes were glittering and red as she glared up at him, "You…!"

His frantic act soon faded as he finally returned to make eye contact. "I'm very sorry. I can't have you running around lose. It's the safest place and you brought this upon yourself."

Lin's face lengthened… he was serious. At the sound of the butler returning, Lin cried out, kicking and screaming until Rathbone sat upright, yanking her off the floor by her wrists while the butler tied down her legs first.

"My god… she is bloody insane!" The butler noted, having tied and gagged her.

"Yes," Rathbone replied, standing to brush himself off, "It's a good thing I heard her up here before it was too late…"

"What?" Miles looked to him curiously.

Rathbone looked to him, "The woman obviously came here to kill me." He gestured to the bruises, courtesy of her elbows.

"You're very lucky to be alive sir!"

Rathbone turned to regard Lin one last time at the doorway. His face lacked in all expression. "Perhaps." Refraining from adding anything more, he turned and stepped down the stairs to greet the oncoming wave of constables.