The heroes stopped their kung fu training, and Chen turned to him. "What is it?" he asked.
"She… Princess Fragrance is dead!"
The heroes blanched. For Chen, everything went black and he collapsed to the ground. Priest Wu Chen dropped his sword and helped him up.
"How did she die?" Luo Bing asked.
"The Muslim I talked to said she stabbed herself to death while praying in the mosque," Xin Yan replied.
"What else did he say?"
"That the Empress Dowager would not let her body back into the palace and had it handed over to the mosque. They are just on their way back from burying her now."
The heroes all cursed the Emperor bitterly for his cruelty in hounding such a pure, innocent young girl to her death. Luo Bing broke down and started to cry. Chen was silent for a while, and then suddenly said to Prist Wu Chen: "I haven't finished showing you all the moves yet. Let us continue."
To their amazement, he walked back out into the middle of the courtyard. Wu Chen decided it would be a good idea to help distract Chen from his grief, so he raised his sword and resumed the training session. The heroes saw Chen's footwork was just as sure as before and his hands moved with the same skill as if the news had had absolutely no effect on him, and they began to quietly discuss it amongst themselves.
"Men have no hearts," Yuanzhi whispered into 'Scholar' Yu's ear. "He thinks only of his great plans for the country, and doesn't care at all about the death of the woman he loved."
Yu said nothing. But he silently praised Chen for his self-control. If it were me, he thought, I think I would immediately go insane.
Aware that a great change had come over Chen, Priest Wu Chen did not dare press him too hard, and in a few moves, Chen had easily gained the upper hand. As the Priest retreated, Chen's hand suddenly shot out and touched his hand. The two leapt apart.
"Good! Excellent!" exclaimed the priest.
"You weren't really trying," Chen replied and laughed. But before the laugh was finished, he vomited a mouthful of blood. The heroes rushed forward as one to help him, but Chen waved them away with a wan smile.
"It's nothing," he said. He walked back into the house, supporting himself on Xin Yan's shoulders.
Chen slept for more than two hours. Upon waking, he thought of all the important things he had to do, including seeing the Emperor that evening, and knew he had to look after himself. But as soon as he thought about Princess Fragrance's tragic death the pain was such that he wanted to end it all. He wondered why she would suddenly commit suicide after clearly agreeing to give in to the Emperor. Could it be that she had changed her mind and decided she could not renounce her love for him? But she knew this was a matter of no small significance. He was convinced that something must have happened, but what? He meditated on the problem for a while but could come to no conclusion, so he took out a set of Muslim clothes he had brought from the northwest and put them on, then blacked his face with some diluted ink.
"I'm going out," he said to Xin Yan. "I'll be back in a while." Xin Yan quietly followed him. Chen, who knew he was simply acting out of loyalty, did not try to stop him.
The streets were full of people and noise, intermingled with many carriages and horses, but in Chen's eyes, all was deserted. He walked into the mosque on the Avenue of Eternal Peace, went straight into the main hall, and threw himself down on the ground to pray. "Wait for me in Heaven," he said quietly. "I promised you that I would be converted to the Islamic faith, and I will make sure that you do not wait in vain."
He raised his head and noticed what looked like an inscription on the floor about five feet in front of him. He went forward to investigate and saw it was several Muslim words etched into the stone with the point of a knife: "Don't trust the Emperor." There was some pigment in the grooves of the words, and Chen started in shock. Looking around, he found a part of the floor nearby that was slightly darker in colour, and thought: "Could this be her blood?" He bent down to smell the patch and caught the tang of fresh blood. In a second, he was overcome with grief and he threw himself on the ground, sobbing.
After crying for a while, he felt someone tap him lightly on his shoulder. He leapt to his feet ready to fight, then started in surprise: it was Huo Qingtong, dressed as a Muslim boy.
She had arrived that day with the Twin Eagles in the hope of rescuing Princess Frangrance, but had heard almost immediately that her sister was dead. She had come to the mosque to pray for her.
Chen noticed two palace guards enter the mosque, and with a tug on Huo Qingtong's sleeve, pulled her down to the ground where they prostrated themselves in prayer.
The guards walked over. "Get up!" they barked. Chen and Huo Qingtong did as they were told and walked over to a window. Behind them, they heard the sound of hammering as the guards used implements to prise up the flagstone on which Princess Fragrance's message was engraved. They carried the stone out of the mosque and rode away.
"What was that?" Huo Qingtong asked.
"If I had been one step late I would have missed the warning she wrote in her own blood and sacrifed her life for."
"What warning?"
"There are too many eyes and ears here," Chen replied. "Let's kneel down on the floor again and I'll tell you." So they prostrated themselves again and Chen gave her a brief account of all that had happened.
"How could you be stupid as to trust the Emperor?" Huo Qingtong declared angrily.
Chen was mortified with shame. "I thought that because he is Chinese, and also my blood brother…" he began.
"And what if he is Chinese? Do you mean to say Chinese are incapable of doing bad? And what use is he going to have for brotherly love, as Emperor?"
"I am responsible for her death," Chen sobbed. "I…I can't bear not to follow her immediately."
Huo Qingtong saw how heartbroken he was and felt she had been too hard on him. "What you did was for the good of the common people," she said softly to comfort him. "You can't be blamed." After a moment's silence, she asked: "Are you going to go to the banquet in the Lama Temple this evening?"
Chen gritted his teeth in rage. "The Emperor will be there, so I'll assassinate him and avenge her death."
"Yes," Huo Qingtong agreed. "And also avenge my father and brother, and all the people of my tribe."
"How did you manage to escape when the Manchu troops attacked?" he asked.
"I was very sick at the time, but luckily I had my troop of bodyguards with me who managed to get me out and took me to my teacher's home," she replied.
Chen sighed. "Your sister said that even if it meant travelling to the ends of the earth, we had to find you." The tears began to stream down Huo Qingtong's face.
They walked out of the mosque and Xin Yan came up to meet them. He was astonished to see Huo Qingtong with Chen.
"Mistress! How are you?" he exclaimed. "I've been thinking of you."
"Well thank you," she replied. "You've grown a lot since I last saw you."
They returned to Twin Willow Lane to find the Twin Eagles of Tianshan in the middle of a heated argument with the heroes. Chen swallowed his tears and told them of the blood-stained words he had seen in the mosque. Bald Vulture slapped the table.
"Didn't I tell you?" he demanded. "Of course that Emperor means us harm. The girl must have obtained some definite proof of it in the palace before she would give her life to let us know." The others agreed.
"When we go to the banquet this evening, we won't be able to carry swords, so everyone prepare daggers or darts," said Chen. "The food and drink may be poisoned so don't allow anything to touch your lips. We have to kill the Emperor tonight for the sake of revenge but we must also plan our escape route."