Litou led them into the lower level of the Imperial complex, and they followed him down a long, featureless corridor. The clack of their footsteps echoed off the gray, cement walls and floor as they walked past dozens of closed, windowless doors. The other man, who Litou introduced as his aide, trailed behind them.
Aide, my ass, Gen thought. He wasn't all that politically savvy, but he didn't think that an aide to the Chairman of the Imperial Council should look like he could bend steel with his bare hands.
Kai did most of the talking, going on in great detail about his 'extraordinary find' and how perhaps the Empress could be persuaded to share some of the 'rare vintage' with Chairman Tenn.
The Chairman played right along, exclaiming how eager he was to sample such a rare wine.
Gen could see that Shaw and Gadget were just as tense as he was; they were all playing a dangerous game, pretending not to know that they were being led into captivity. Gadget stuck close to Gen's side, and—thankfully—kept his mouth shut.
"I never dreamed that the lower levels of the Imperial palace was so labyrinthine," Kai said, gesturing at the seemingly endless hallways that they passed. "I sure I could never find my way back out without your guidance, Chairman. Don't you agree, Gadget?"
"Hunh? Oh, yeah," Gadget said. "I'm lost already."
Gen frowned at the seeming non sequitur, but a few moments later he noticed that Gadget was moving differently. It was subtle enough that neither of their would-be captors caught on, but five days of close—and intimate—contact with Gadget allowed Gen to see that he was now acting more aware of his surroundings, more… ready. Some sort of instruction had been given and received, and Gen wondered how many times these three men had been in a tough scrape together.
Gadget stumbled into him, brushing against his side. "Sorry," he said. "My boots aren't made for this kind of floor."
Gen glanced over at him, ready to make a smart remark, when he saw Gadget's lips move.
Run, Gadget mouthed. Now. Then, with a loud curse, he elaborately tripped and sprawled on the concrete floor right in front of Litou and the other man.
Gen hesitated for a second, and then he ran.
He ignored the uproar that ensued behind him, and sprinted down the corridor. At the next intersection Gen veered off to the right, and when he encountered a stairway Gen took the stairs two, three at a time. He continued running down the new passage, barely noticing that the floor beneath him was now marble instead of concrete. At random spots he turned left, right, right, and then he turned a corner and stopped, his mouth dropping open at the sight before him.
He stood at one end of a long, high-ceilinged hallway, made of pink and white marble, with rows of wide, fluted columns on each side.
It's real.
Gen stared at the ornate corridor for a few seconds, and then he began to run again. But this time, his feet knew where to go, and his turns weren't random any longer. He passed a number of servants, some who gasped and exclaimed, "Lord K'zen! You're recovered!" and others who merely gaped at him as he went by. Up another staircase, this one made of elaborately turned wood, and soon the floor under Gen's feet turned from hard marble to thick, lush carpeting. He finally stopped in front of a closed, intricately carved set of doors.
A handpad blinked red above the door's curved handle. Gen placed his palm against the gray plas of the reader, and the light changed to green. He opened the door and went inside.
He found himself standing in the foyer of a luxurious suite of rooms.
An odd sense of nostalgia washed over Gen as he walked through the rooms. The first was a large sitting-room that had a side dining area, a fireplace, and enough seating to entertain at least half a dozen guests—although Gen knew guests were seldom invited, and when they were it was grudgingly. The next room was a study, filled floor-to-ceiling with books, and as Gen scanned the titles he recognized many that he had added to the library he had shared with his father at the vineyard. He passed by a spacious bathroom, tiled with tiny, iridescent tiles that formed breathtaking mosaic designs. The sunken bath was almost big enough to swim in.
At the end of the hallway Gen saw double doors the he knew led to the bedroom. Gen paused at the door, his hand hovering over the handle, and then he turned the know and quietly entered the room.
A man lay in the bed, asleep, propped up by a small army of pillows to recline against the scrolled headboard. His long, golden-blond hair was plaited and hung across one shoulder. Beneath a fall of shining bangs Gen saw a pale face, with sunken cheeks and dark smudges beneath the man's closed eyes.
Gen knew what color those eyes would be. He stood next to the bed, swaying slightly as he caught his breath, and watched the sleeping man's chest rise and fall.
"You and your friends have caused quite a commotion. I thought that I might find you here."
Gen started and turned to see a woman standing in the doorway. She had long, blue-black hair that cascaded in ringlets over her shoulders, and her garments were so sheer they left practically nothing to the imagination. It was the woman he had seen on the screens in Kai's ship.
The Empress.
For a few seconds they stared wordlessly at each other. "Look at you," she said, as she walked slowly toward him. "You're younger than I expected." A dozen bracelets jangled as she reached out to touch Gen's cheek.
Gen batted her hand away. He expected her to be angry at the rebuff, but he was surprised when she merely laughed.
"I suppose I deserved that, because you don't know me, do you?" She tilted her head and regarded him. "Or do you?"
A swirl of memories rose within Gen, of days spent with her in the gardens, of mornings feeding the fish, and her relentless teasing. "Aunt K'non," he said.
Her expression faltered then, and her eyes became suspiciously bright. "Yes, darling." She gestured at the still figure in the bed. "This is your… brother. Will you help him? We need some of your blood, so that he can recover."
"He's been poisoned," Gen said.
"Yes, we think so."
"By Litou."
She gasped. "Litou! Why would you think that?"
"The men who tried to kill me spoke his name," Gen said, "and they also mentioned a man named Uko." He told her about the information that Kai had collected.
The Empress sank down onto the edge of the bed. "Uko… all the gods, I told Uko you were coming here!"
"And Uko must have told Litou, because Litou met us at the landing bay, claiming that you had sent him. He tried to take us somewhere different than where you had instructed us to go."
She looked up at him. "But you got away, you clever boy."
"Because of my friends." The word sounded rusty on Gen's tongue. "But they are still with him."
Her expression turned grim. "Those two traitors need to be found, now. Jiro!" she shouted.
A man appeared at the bedroom door, the same gray-haired man they had seen on Kai's vidcomm screen. "Yes, Great Lady?" He saw Gen and visibly started. "One of the clones? Here?"
"Yes, thank the gods. Now, I need you to have Litou and Uko detained on my Imperial order, as well as any of Litou's associates."
"For what reason, Great Lady?"
"For the attempted murder of my nephew, the Douji," the Empress said, "as well as for conspiring to overthrow my reign. Go now, and also make sure that Kai Gonocho and his companions are safe."
Jiro bobbed a hasty bow and left. Less than a minute later, sirens and alarms started going off throughout the palace.
Gen turned back toward the bed. "So I really am a clone, then," he said, his gaze never leaving the face that looked so much like his own.
"Yes, dearest." The Empress touched his arm. "Will you help him? Please?"
"Yes," Gen said. "But when he recovers, I want to meet him. And you must tell him—and me—everything."