XVIII
Pursuing Eyes
He stepped quietly down the hall. Full armor displays lined each side, the walls bearing medieval weapons collected over the generations flickered the torchlight, reflecting the dark shadow of Rathbone as he walked alone to the double oak doors. Silently, he opened them and stepped diligently inside the library. Quickly he scoped the room, the tables, the shelves, and finally the large paintings upon the wall. No movements, no sounds. Only the faint mist of old smoke from his guests' cigars earlier in the evening. He closed the door behind himself, shutting out the distant music and buzzing that echoed off the walls.
Rounding globe to stand beside a circular table, he unlocked the desk drawer and slid it open. A small panel behind the drawer was lifted and the dragon key removed. Rolling the chain around itself, he tucked it carefully into his pocket. Next his derringer was plucked from the drawer. The barrel slid open as he inspected its chambers. Loaded, he slid it into the metal fixture in his sleeve until it clicked back, ready for use if necessary…
Removing his cloak from the back of the chair, he tied it around his neck and stepped toward the large, marble hearth. The mantel of the hearth was decoratively held by two sculptured women, bare breasted and Venetian in their design.
Giving the familiar twins a desensitized glance, he pressed upon the right figure's left breast and steadied his feet. Immediately the hearth, and the stone floor beneath him turned in place 180 degrees. Should anyone decide to step into the library behind him they would find only the same looking hearth in its place, and the entire room empty.
As the platform settled to a complete stop, he turned to regard his most visited, most tended to room. Stolen treasures, confiscated goods, priceless gifts and artifacts lay organized about the horseshoe-shaped room. The walls remained brown and corroded, a sure sign of its secrecy for it had not been as well kempt or repaired as the rest of the castle. Among the orange flicker of the torchlight's he had lit hours earlier, there was the faint white glow from the library room itself, seeping through the backsides of the canvases to the library's paintings.
The center table, among an array of vases, urns and pottery sat the golden box of the Imperial Seal. Removing the key from his pocket, he stepped toward it, kneeling to better view the lock. He had only inserted the key for a moment when the feeling of being watched came over him. Rathbone sharply turned, gasping when he found Lin standing beside him. He looked up, semi peeved.
"You're going to see him." She noted, attempting not to clench her fists at her sides.
He stood up, leaving the key to sit in the lock. "How the blazes did you get in here?"
Lin paused a moment, debating if she should answer him. "I found a doorway. Over there." Her eyes darted to the side, away from the hearth behind him. Rathbone looked ahead, finding a faint line against the wall.
He blinked with surprise. "There's another doorway?" He asked himself aloud.
Lin's seriousness faded for an instant as she grinned with pride. "I followed a hall behind a pillar on a balcony."
Speechless, he turned his gaze back to her.
Quietly she laughed.
Suddenly he blinked and frowned. "No." Lin started, her grin dropped, "Absolutely not." He said with clarity, kneeling again, "You're not coming with me." It clicked.
"Wu Chow is mine!" She argued, watching him pull open the heavy lid to the box. The seal gleamed every color in the light, shimmering and singing in its brilliance in a velvet bed of crimson.
Snatching it up, he tucked it into his pocket and let the lid down to close. Impatiently he turned his attention to her and stood to meet her gaze at more an equal level. "You'll be placing me in danger, you'll be compromising the seal."
Lin stepped toward him until she was breathing onto his chin, squinting stubbornly at his face. "You can't stop me."
"If you attack him, he will know I'm letting you live. But if you follow, I might just kill you myself." Miffed, he stepped back from her, putting some distance between them before he sized her up with a scrutinizing glance, "You're becoming more of a problem than even I could achieve."
Lin's lips parted to retort, only to hear rummaging and voices echoing through the library. Both their eyes flashed toward the wall that divided the treasury room from the library. Lin turned back to Rathbone, only to remain silent. He had vanished.
Hearing the voices, Lin's curiosity grew. She stepped to the backside of the portrait, pulling herself up by a handle upon the wall to stand on the platform. Her eyes were close to the peephole, carefully designed to match the eyes of the portrait on the other side. Through two blurred holes, she found herself looking into the library…and spying upon two familiar men.
"Where is he?" Wang asked aloud.
Roy stepped in from behind, closing the doors behind them, "Lets see… We just came in through the only doorway, so that leaves only one explanation!" He whispered excitedly, looking to Chon. "Remember when, in Roy O'bannon Versus the Mummy, how the Zombie King got away when I chased him into the Pharaoh's tomb? There's a secret passageway behind the Sphinx. Now," He moved toward the bookshelves, "There's got to be a lever or button over here…" His voice trailed off as he began a task of pulling at the books upon the shelf.
Wang followed suit, far less enthusiastically. He pulled at two books, shaking his head at Roy and his wild ideas. Sliding the shelf ladder aside to continue with his book pulling, his eyes wavered upward with boredom. They settled upon the painting. With interest, he paused. The eyes gleamed from the light, clear as… He jumped and ran to his friend across the room. "Roy! The painting!" He pointed, drawing Roy's attention to it, "It's looking at me."
"Oh yeah, yeah, it looks like it's looking at me too…" He chuckled, "That's gre-"
"-No! Real eyes!" He looked back to the painting, memorized. "Moving…"
"No, Chon," Roy sighed, "That kid really got to you didn't he? Unbelievable. We're not in a haunted house. That's a technique an artist uses. Ubiquitous gaze or perusing eye is the technical term," He replied knowingly. Wang began to wander off, his eyes never unlocking from the painting. "It's unnerving though, I'll give you that." Roy turned back to read the spines of the books.
Wang finally looked away, only to find another framed picture. The painted dog looked at him. "Now! Roy – those eyes – look!" He yelped and pointed.
But Roy did not look up. Distractedly he replied, "Whatever you say Chon…" Plucking the small red book from the shelf, he read the title: Kama Sutra (The art of sexual technique). Immediately intrigued he flipped it open.
Chon wandered to the hearth, looking to all the portraits with uncertainty… perhaps he had been overacting… Sighing heavily, he leaned upon the hearth statue.
"ROY!"
"What, Chon, are the statues moving now?" After a moment of receiving no reply, Roy stepped to a nearby chair and seated himself, removing a magnifying glass for…more accurate reading. "Let's see what you got here, Rathbone…"
"ROY!"
Growling with frustration, Roy stepped up from the chair and slipped the glass and booklet to his vest pocket, "Dam nit! I can't even hear myself thinking with you shouting at me Chon!" But he turned to find an empty room. "…Chon…?"