Moonstones and Madness

Sixteen

     Brother Kuin was easily persuaded and found the competition officials receptive to the boy's proposal. Several of the matches had run shorter than expected and two had been cancelled due to the mounting numbers of injuries. One judge had been reluctant until he realized it would be another Sun-Moon match. He smiled warmly as he watched the boys limbering up with the salutations from their respective temples.

The boy's coordinated moves attracted attention so the outward flow of the late afternoon audience reversed. San Jin and In-Yeon managed to squeeze behind back row, where they stood dripping into the pools of water forming along the edge of the large tent. Chenhui made his way over to the drenched pair with a couple of towels he pulled from the ringside supply. They murmured their thanks but the unfolding match held their full attention.

Like his teammate, Kwang-jo kept strictly to the classical forms but his wiry build afforded him a smooth quickness that was hard to counter. It took until the second direction gong sounded for Junseo to get a proper measure of his opponent and take more control of the flows scoring two quick touches in a row. Junseo suddenly turned sideways took a sharp blow on his hip as he ducked out of the way of a flying object. Kwang-jo had not expected the kick to connect so was fully off-balance when the flash-bomb exploded. He fell heavily to the mat.

Junseo squatted down beside his fallen opponent, blinking furiously as he checked for injuries. He yelled for water, struggling to be heard over the shouts and whistles being blown by the guards. The referee reached over an grabbed a pitcher of water from the judges table and Junseo started to wash the sticky residue off Kwang-jo's face. A court healer appeared beside across from him and took over flushing out Kwang-jo's eyes before putting packs of cooling herbs in place. Junseo slipped of his belt to help hold the compress in place. As they worked the healer noticed the state of Junseo's hands and went for more medicine. A guard came and took swabs before the healer rinsed off Junseo's hands and dressed them with a soothing balm.

Another guard searched around the mat trying to collect any remnants from the flash-bomb. He looked Junseo up and down and said, "Lot's of witnesses say the bomb looked like it was aimed at you. How did you know to duck?"

"It's just one of the ways we practice. Not just my team. I first learned it getting beaned on the Temple Courts." Junseo said.

Kwang-jo's chuckled turned into a cough. Once he had caught his breath he said, "Our training masters will be disappointed I didn't get out of the way sooner."

"I'm sorry I didn't do more than duck out of the way." Junseo patted the other boy's leg.

"Either of you know a reason why you might be targeted for something like this?" The guard frowned.

Kwang-jo tried to shrug but winced. His "No" came out a bit strained.

Junseo agreed with this sentiment and added, "I don't think it could be planned for us personally. I mean we were not even on the roster for today. We just met up and decided to take advantage of a break in the schedule."

The guard looked to the official for confirmation and got pulled into a discussion of the schedule and team standings. His worried voice carried back to the ring. "This close to the finals, you know Crown Prince Sang-shuik will consider any interference in the matches akin to treason."

"Is it that serious?" Kwang-jo asked in a hushed voice. He turned toward the breeze coming in from the entryway and asked, "Are more palace guards arriving?"

Junseo didn't answer. He was distracted by a flash on Kwang-jo's collar. He focused a bit more closely and realized he had just spotted a sliver of crystal. "Can you hold very still for a minute?" he asked while gesturing for the guard to return. "It's possible you caught a piece of the detonator in your clothes," he explained pointing to the shard.