something. Is it a religious symbol, for instance?â
âThe serpent is, especially the cobra. According to legend, a gigantic cobra watched over Buddha as he meditated. But I donât know anything about scorpions.â
âCan you find out?â
âI would have to get in touch with that dreadful Ludovic Leblanc. Are you sure you want to ask me to make that sacrifice, child?â the writer grumbled.
âI think it could be very important, grandmother . . . Sorry, I mean Kate.â
So Kate plugged in her laptop and sent an e-mail to the professor. Given the difference in time, it wasnât feasible to call him. She didnât know when the answer would come, but she hoped it would be soon, because she wasnât sure she could use her computer in the Forbidden Kingdom. Following a hunch, she sent another message to her friend Isaac Rosenblat, asking if he knew anything about the Golden Dragon that supposedly existed in the country they were traveling to. To her surprise, the jeweler replied immediately.
Dear girl! What a pleasure to hear from you! Of course I know about that statue. Every serious jeweler knows its description, itâs one of the rarest and most precious objects in the world. No one has seen your famous dragon, and it has never been photographed, but there are drawings of it. Itâs about two feet long and is thought to be solid gold, but that isnât all: the craftsmanship is very ancient and very beautiful. In addition, it is covered with precious stones. According to legend, its eyes aloneâjust those two perfect, absolutely symmetrical, star rubiesâare worth a fortune. Why do you ask? I donât suppose that youâre planning to steal the dragon, the way you did the diamonds in the Amazon?
Kate e-mailed back, assuring the jeweler that robbery was precisely what she was planning, and decided not to remind him that Nadia had found the diamonds. It suited her to have Isaac Rosenblat believe she was capable of having stolen them. That way, she calculated, she would keep her former suitorâs interest alive. She burst out laughing, but the laughter quickly turned into a fit of coughing. She dug through one of her many carryalls and pulled out a canteen containing her Amazon remedy.
Professor Ludovic Leblancâs reply was long and confusing, like everything he did. He began with an exhausting explanation of how, among his many attributes, he had been the first anthropologist to discover the meaning of the scorpion in Sumerian, Egyptian, Hindu, and . . . blah-blah-blah . . . mythology; then followed with twenty-three paragraphs on his accomplishmentsand knowledge. But sprinkled here and there in those twenty-three paragraphs were several very interesting facts, which Kate Cold was able to extract from the tangle. The aging writer heaved a sigh of boredom, thinking what a burden it was to have to put up with that peevish man. She had to reread the message several times to be able to summarize the important parts.
âAccording to Leblanc, there is a sect in the north of India that worships the scorpion. Its members have that figure branded on their skin, usually on the back of the right hand. They have a reputation for being bloodthirsty, ignorant, and superstitious,â she informed her grandson and Nadia.
She added that during the fight for Indiaâs independence the sect had done the dirty work for the British troops, torturing and murdering their compatriots. Though they were widely despised, the men of the scorpion sect were still employed today as mercenaries, because they were ferocious fighters, famous for their skill with knives.
âTheyâre bandits and smugglers, and they also kill for hire,â Kate informed them.
Alexander then told Kate what he and Nadia had seen in the Red Fort. If Kate was tempted to scold them for having done something so dangerous, she contained herself. On the trip to the Amazon, she
âThe serpent is, especially the cobra. According to legend, a gigantic cobra watched over Buddha as he meditated. But I donât know anything about scorpions.â
âCan you find out?â
âI would have to get in touch with that dreadful Ludovic Leblanc. Are you sure you want to ask me to make that sacrifice, child?â the writer grumbled.
âI think it could be very important, grandmother . . . Sorry, I mean Kate.â
So Kate plugged in her laptop and sent an e-mail to the professor. Given the difference in time, it wasnât feasible to call him. She didnât know when the answer would come, but she hoped it would be soon, because she wasnât sure she could use her computer in the Forbidden Kingdom. Following a hunch, she sent another message to her friend Isaac Rosenblat, asking if he knew anything about the Golden Dragon that supposedly existed in the country they were traveling to. To her surprise, the jeweler replied immediately.
Dear girl! What a pleasure to hear from you! Of course I know about that statue. Every serious jeweler knows its description, itâs one of the rarest and most precious objects in the world. No one has seen your famous dragon, and it has never been photographed, but there are drawings of it. Itâs about two feet long and is thought to be solid gold, but that isnât all: the craftsmanship is very ancient and very beautiful. In addition, it is covered with precious stones. According to legend, its eyes aloneâjust those two perfect, absolutely symmetrical, star rubiesâare worth a fortune. Why do you ask? I donât suppose that youâre planning to steal the dragon, the way you did the diamonds in the Amazon?
Kate e-mailed back, assuring the jeweler that robbery was precisely what she was planning, and decided not to remind him that Nadia had found the diamonds. It suited her to have Isaac Rosenblat believe she was capable of having stolen them. That way, she calculated, she would keep her former suitorâs interest alive. She burst out laughing, but the laughter quickly turned into a fit of coughing. She dug through one of her many carryalls and pulled out a canteen containing her Amazon remedy.
Professor Ludovic Leblancâs reply was long and confusing, like everything he did. He began with an exhausting explanation of how, among his many attributes, he had been the first anthropologist to discover the meaning of the scorpion in Sumerian, Egyptian, Hindu, and . . . blah-blah-blah . . . mythology; then followed with twenty-three paragraphs on his accomplishmentsand knowledge. But sprinkled here and there in those twenty-three paragraphs were several very interesting facts, which Kate Cold was able to extract from the tangle. The aging writer heaved a sigh of boredom, thinking what a burden it was to have to put up with that peevish man. She had to reread the message several times to be able to summarize the important parts.
âAccording to Leblanc, there is a sect in the north of India that worships the scorpion. Its members have that figure branded on their skin, usually on the back of the right hand. They have a reputation for being bloodthirsty, ignorant, and superstitious,â she informed her grandson and Nadia.
She added that during the fight for Indiaâs independence the sect had done the dirty work for the British troops, torturing and murdering their compatriots. Though they were widely despised, the men of the scorpion sect were still employed today as mercenaries, because they were ferocious fighters, famous for their skill with knives.
âTheyâre bandits and smugglers, and they also kill for hire,â Kate informed them.
Alexander then told Kate what he and Nadia had seen in the Red Fort. If Kate was tempted to scold them for having done something so dangerous, she contained herself. On the trip to the Amazon, she
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