Warren Murphy: The Last Monarch

There was a hopeful look on the old man's face. It was the one question Remo hadn't thought to ask. "Chiun?" he said.

The Master of Sinanju shook his head sadly. "Lamentably, no," he intoned. "It is rare, but for those who are affected as you by the Emptying Basin, there is no alternative."

The President took a deep breath. Turning from them, he stared off into the distance.

The battle raging far away was not even a distraction. He was staring beyond it, at the sky, at the land. At something unseen, far distant.

It was as if in that one moment he wanted to lock on to a small part of the world. Of himself. To try to hold on to something. When he finally looked back at them, his lopsided, youthful smile had returned. There was a hint of wetness in his tired eyes.

"I suppose now's as good a time as any," he said.

Remo returned the smile, a hint of sadness on his face. "It can wait till we get back," he offered gently.

The President nodded. "I suppose it can," he agreed. "As long as the two of you keep an eye on me until then."

"Sinanju will forever be by your side, noble one," the Master of Sinanju nodded.

The President's smile broadened as he appraised them both. "Well, what are you two lollygaggers waiting for?"

With a boyish energy that belied his years, the old man gave a wrench at his reins. For a minute, Remo thought he was going to fall backward off the animal.

The horse rose majestically onto its hind legs. Whinnying once, it dropped its front hoofs back to the sand, launching itself forward as it did so. The animal raced off across the desert. The President bounced expertly in the saddle, shoulders hunched, elbows raised like a Pony Express rider. A cloud of dust followed him.

"I reckon some people just have a knack for flamboyance, eh, Mr. Chin?" Remo commented, turning to the Master of Sinanju.

A smile toyed at the corner of Chiun's papery lips.

With a tug, his own horse repeated the maneuver of the President's, lifting its front legs high in the air. Chiun held the animal there for a moment, finally launching it forward before its front hooves had even reached the sand.

He raced off after the President.

"I hope I have half that energy when I'm a hundred," Remo muttered to his pony.

"You should live that long," Chiun called back. Laughing out loud, Remo dug his heels into the sides of his horse. The three men rode off toward Israel, away from the rising sun.