"I wouldn't insult him."
"You always said that getting the money in advance was the sign of a true assassin. Let's see his gold." Chiun turned to Caldwell, who had motioned everyone else aside so he could watch the two. With a great bow, Chiun said he had been arguing with his assistant.
"Not knowing great kings, your Majesty, my friend foolishly doubted thy awesome grandeur. Would you show him how foolish he is by showing him the tribute that I know abounds here?"
"It will be our pleasure," said Harrison Caldwell. With that, he ordered up his special family engraved bullion, in special two-hundred-pound bars, the crest emblazoned in the center of each.
Then he sat back triumphantly even as Remo stared angrily at him. He asked the younger man why he showed such anger to a king who only wished to please.
"Because my teacher, whom I respect and love, has made a beginner's mistake, one he knows not to make," said Remo.
"And what is that?" asked Caldwell. He felt truly safe now. He could enjoy his throne and expand its boundaries, and no one would ever stop him again. Nor would he have to resort to poisonings or even lying. He would merely have to dispatch his two assassins, men trained to appreciate true royalty. The younger, of course, would take a while to learn. But the gold would be a good teacher.
"When one's emotions are too strong, one does not see things he should. My father will see everything very soon."
The blare of horns announced the arrival of the gold, but Remo didn't need to hear them. He could feel it as it passed through the doors, stacked bar upon bar, gold pyramids on trolleys. He was sure Chiun would also.
But Chiun just stood his ground, a respectful distance from the throne. Finally Remo said:
"Look at the markings, little father, not at your hopes for our wealth. Look at what is here."
Chiun glanced imperiously at Remo and then with smooth gliding steps moved to the gold. He glanced at the glittering stack, then turned to thank the king. But when he looked again, when he saw the markings on the gold, he stopped. It was then that he began to be aware of the room. He looked around at the standards hanging from the wall.
He had seen it. The apothecary jar on the center of the crest.
"Is this your family crest?" asked Chiun.
"For centuries," said Caldwell.
"So you thought you were safe to try it again," said Chiun.
Caldwell could not believe what he saw. The usually extremely polite Oriental did not even bow as he approached the throne.
"You there, where are your manners?" said Caldwell. He was not going to lose control of the man now. Chiun did not answer.
"Stop," ordered Caldwell. Chiun did not stop.
Nor did Chiun kiss the hand of King Caldwell. He slapped him across the face. Not even as a boy had Harrison Caldwell felt the insult of a slap across the face. And then there was another.
"Adulterer. See now, world, what happens to him who adulterates an assassin's tribute," announced Chiun.
And Caldwell felt himself yanked from the throne and beaten around the room like a dog who has fouled the wrong place. The courtiers fled in panic. Chiun brought Caldwell to the cursed gold, placed his head on it, and sent head and soul to the place of the man's cheating ancestors.
"They never learn," said Chiun.
"I think he knows now," said Remo.
Before they left, they released the prisoners who were shackled in the dungeon. Some of them were losers in the combats Caldwell had staged. One of them was a woman. Consuelo Bonner.
She was surprised to see Remo up and about, and guessed that Chiun saved him.
"Again," said the Master of Sinanju wearily.