The team waited for the General in the stable block. His pretext for the visit was to inspect their mounts and he had boys bring out their horses one at a time. When Junseo brought Rufus over, he was surprised to see the playful way the old charger greeted General Tan.

"I'm impressed Knight-Master Lie is letting you use this old soldier."

"They are truly the best teachers," Junseo said. Then he signaled for Xuiyang to fetch out one of the weapons they had relocated to the war horse's stall.

"We found these planted in the loft after it had been tossed by someone and just before the Inspector and his henchmen started their search," Junseo was certain there was a connection.

The General inspected the arrows closely. "Fakes. Good ones, but fakes non-the-less," he declared.

"I don't know if these were meant to implicate us, or maybe pull down some of the people we have been working with like our new sword-master." San Jin said slowly. The other boys nodded as they made the connection.

"I will add it to the list of puzzles. Now let's see if you can help me with this." The General took out a scroll and passed it to Junseo.

After studying it closely for a couple of minutes he said, "the sketch is the same but the numbers on the back are different."

"You remember the others?" The General sounded doubtful.

Junseo asked for a pen and some parchment and quickly jotted out a string of numbers. He did some calculations and made a quick correction and handed the piece over.

The General just looked bemused so San Jin explained. "It's a thing he picked up from hanging out with Me Yan. He says it is just common formula substitutions."

"It is a lot easier to remember a shape and a substitution key than a whole string," Junseo tried not to blush.

"Easier for some," Song-hee muttered to himself but the others overheard him and laughed.

"Speaking of keys, can I see our favorite phrasebook?"

The General had barely finished his requested before the book was handed over. He quickly flipped back and forth in the book. First referencing the numbers on the back of the sketch and then the numbers Junseo had provided.

"It's too bad the patrols have gone out again. It would be easy enough to check which version is correct with someone who has been through the lower pass."

"I don't know but maybe it would help to ask the man they locked up on suspicion. The palace guards accused him of murdering a prisoner and are planning to send him to the Governor for execution."

The General seemed truly shocked by this piece of news and went to investigation. Before he left, he handed back the phrasebook.

"Please double check your copy is exact then you can return the original to me. I want you take the copy back to the forge with you when you go back there."

Song-hee solemnly accepted this assignment and the others eagerly offered to help so the task could be completed overnight. There were very few corrections needed but one required re-copying a couple of pages in the middle of the manuscript. This meant taking apart the sewn binding and stitching it back up again.

General Tan also had a busy night. He verified what he could from different sources but he was no closer to knowing who was behind the attempted theft and how they had known the code key would be in the study. Lang Yoo-suk's offer of assistance meant he had an idea of what was missing. That made him a suspect but there was no direct evidence.

He was also worried about what the veteran had told him about the palace guards. Again, it was not something he would trust without more evidence but it was very concerning the supposed mercenary showed evidence of the poison breath. The tattoo the veteran described, and quickly verified in the report, left little doubt the dead man had been higher level operative but left the question why the group had been overtaken so close to the estate.

General Tan had a very unpleasant interview with the local investigator who needed to be reminded who had precedence in the situation. The man positively bristled when asked how he decided whom to deputize, and what his personal connection to the Choi family might be.

"Who are you to question my motives and methods?"

"The Lord of this estate and the Commander of His Majesty's Western forces and that gives me authority over everything done here in my name or in the name of the crown."

"Well, it doesn't mean you are not under suspicion," the investigator whined.

"For what, exactly?" The General's voice was dangerously calm.

"Foreign sympathies," the man hissed.

"Sympathies with whom? The devils I have been chasing for months or the bastards who killed my son?" General Tan stood abruptly and pointed to the door, "You will give me a full written report in the morning and then depart."

The Captain who had overheard this exchange wanted to offer sympathy but was not sure how.

"You have to wonder if he was being malicious or is just that incompetent," he said.

"Probably a bit of both." General Tan sighed.

He was getting ready to call it a day when a man in a dark cloak entered the hallway. The guards immediately bristled but relaxed when the stranger offered the hand signal known only to elite couriers.

If General Tan was surprised to learn one of the King's most confidential agents had been providing sword-training at the estate, he did not show it. Instead, he listened closely. Some of the information, like how the warlords were using proxy attacks in Corranna to jockey for position at home in Masao, he had already worked out. What he could not guess was how the presence of the irregular patrols had upset the balance of power, making Takimoto fight for his own survival.

It was the sword-master's firm belief members aligned with a certain party in the palace had hoped to make use the estate to re-supply the foreign fighters. He did not have proof but this explained some of the activity around the warehouse before he had taken it over to use as a practice court for the boys.

To give himself time to think about this new information General Tan asked the King's man what he thought of the team.

"Honestly, each has the potential to make it into the Champion's League. A couple of them, including your nephew, should be strong contenders. I will give my training notes to their manager before I leave."

"I had to wonder if it made San Jin a target. It seems a bit far fetched though."

"Especially since anyone paying attention would have known he would be staying in the loft with the others the night of the fire."

"So, our message system has been compromised" the General said bleakly.

"It would be safest to assume so. You may also want to look into the number of senior staff who have come to work here in the past couple of months and where the previous incumbents have gone."

"After all the time I spent patrolling for others, it seems like some of our problems started right here on my home estate." The General shook his head sadly.

"You should thank your Brother-in-law and his friends for sending the patrols, and the trainees here. They must have spotted something from the reports the palace didn't see."

"I hate admitting I let myself get hemmed in before I realized what was going on."

"What matters is where you go from this point forward."

"Thank you." The General nodded.