Kneeling, Remo took the dead man's head in both hands and turned it to one side so the left ear was suspended over the dirt. Shaking vigorously, Remo got a sound like scrambled eggs being agitated.
Gray brain matter began dropping from the left ear.
It was already congealing. Remo hurried it along with a few more encouraging shakes.
When he got the head emptied, Remo set it off to one side and stood up to regard the malodorous custardlike pile with the Master of Sinanju.
"What do you think? Is that all his brain matter?" he asked.
Chiun regarded the dead man's head a moment. "Yes. It is more than enough to fill his narrow skull. No doubt his eyes and tongue lie in that puddle, as well."
"Brains chewed but not eaten. Just like the corn in Iowa."
"It is the curse of corn descending upon the sons of corn, Remo," Chiun warned. "Take heed. Stick with rice for the rest of your days."
"I plan to. But not the rice you're thinking of."
"What other rice is there?"
Remo grinned. "Jean Rice."
Chiun turned to face the mud nest. "Now we must confront the author of the not-bees."
"I only see one door."
"We are Sinanju. We make our own doors."
"Lead the way," said Remo.
The Master of Sinanju approached by the back way. Coming to the boxes where bees made unhappy sounds, he skirted them carefully. Remo did likewise.
Going to a window, Chiun peered in.
Remo took up a position beside him. When Chiun withdrew one eye from the porthole, he motioned Remo to take his place.
Peering in, Remo saw that he was looking at a bedroom. It was an ordinary-looking room except for one thing. The wallpaper was done in a distinctive spiderweb pattern.
Eyeing Chiun, Remo shrugged, as if to say, So what?
Chiun drew near and hissed, "This is the lair of the fiend."
"We don't know that yet. So let's not jump to conclusions until we talk to Wurmlinger."
"Look again," said Chiun.
When Remo did, he frowned.
"Look at the wall above the head of the bed, and tell me that I am not correct, as always."
Angling around, Remo's eyes fell on the spiderweb-pattern wall above the bed. What he saw made his mouth hang open in surprise.
Before he could say what was on his mind, Chiun had turned, emitting a warning hiss more venomous than that of a cornered cobra.
Remo spun, too.
The Master of Sinanju had dropped into a defensive crouch, long nails floating before his face, ready to snap out and fend off the threat that had slipped up behind them.
Hovering in the air only three feet before them was an unmistakable death's-head bee. Its tiny legs were gathered up under its body, and it made no move to attack.
"Remo," Chiun urged, "prepare to execute the Silken Noose with me."
Remo frowned. Out of the side of his mouth, he asked, "Is that the maneuver where one of us gets behind an opponent while the other distracts him from the front?"
"No, you are thinking of the Meeting Palms," hissed Chiun. "The Silken Noose requires-"
The hanging bee interrupted his next words. In a voice tiny but loud enough to be heard clearly, it said, "Fools! How dare you molest the one who is protected by Bee-Master."
"Bug off," said Remo, whose own hands were crossed at the wrist before his chest in case the bee made a lunge at him.
"This dwelling, and all who dwell within, are under the all-encompassing protection of the Bizarre Bee-Master."
"Bizarre is right," grunted Remo. "You zap those nuts in the camouflage outfits?"
"They dared to thwart the Bee-Master's supreme will."
"Looks like they tried to hit Wurmlinger the Weird."
"And they paid the ultimate price, as do all who challenge the true protector of the insect kingdom."
"I don't know what makes me feel stupider," muttered Remo to Chiun, "having a conversation with a bee or having the bee parrot dialogue out of an old comic book."
"His stinger is not made of paper," warned Chiun.
"Gotcha. Okay, bee. Let's lay our cards on the table. We're here to talk to Wurmlinger. You planning on getting in our way?"
"No," said the bee. "I am but a guard bee. The wrath of the Bee-Master will soon be upon you, would-be thwarter."
"In that case, you're so much beeswax."
Without warning, Remo turned in a flashing sidekick. His foot snapped out with such blurred speed that it had returned to the ground before the bee could react.
The bee, however, continued to float in place, unfazed.
"You missed," it taunted.
"Yes, you missed, Remo. How could you miss?" Chiun demanded.