Madame Guan helped Huo Qingtong down from the tree,

and told her to swallow one of the Snow Ginseng pills.

She did so, and soon after, a wave of heat rose from

the pit of her stomach, and she felt much better.

"You are very lucky," Madame Guan said. "With these

wonderful pills you will recover much quicker."

"She wouldn't die even if she didn't take them," Bald

Vulture commented coldly.

"So you'd prefer her to suffer a bit longer, would

you?" his wife snapped back.

"If it was me, I'd die rather than take one of his

pills. But you, you'd take one even if there was

nothing wrong with you."

Madame Guan put the girl on her back, and started

walking off north with Bald Vulture following behind,

nattering ceaselessly.

They went to the old couple's home on Precious

Mountain. Huo Qingtong took another pill, then slept

peacefully, and felt much refreshed when she woke.

Madame Guan sat on the edge of the bed and asked her

what she had been doing travelling alone and sick

through the desert. Huo Qingtong told her about how

the Manchu army had been destroyed and how she had met

the Three Devils on the road, but did not say why she

had left the camp. Madame Guan, however, was an

impatient person and pressed her. Huo Qingtong

respected her teacher more than anyone, and found it

impossible to deceive her.

"He...he has become friendly with my sister," she

sobbed. "And when I gave the orders to the troops

before the battle, my father and everyone thought I

was acting out of my own selfish interests."

Madame Guan jumped up. "Is it that Great Helmsman Chen

that you gave the dagger to?" Huo Qingtong nodded.

"Then he's fickle-hearted and your sister has no

sisterly feelings for you. They should both be

killed!"

"No, no..." Huo Qingtong replied hastily.

"I'll go and settle this for you," Madame Guan

declared fiercely and rushed out of the room, almost

bumping into her husband who had come to find out what

the shouting was about.

"Come with me!" Madame Guan cried. "There's two

heartless ingrates that need to be killed!"

"Right!" he replied, and ran out after her.

Huo Qingtong jumped off the bed, wanting to explain,

but she collapsed on the ground, and by the time she

had recovered, they were already far away. She knew

that together they could easily beat Chen, and was

worried they actually would kill him and her sister.

So disregarding her weakness, she climbed onto her

horse and galloped off after them.

As they rode along, Madame Guan talked at length about

how all the heartless men under heaven should be

killed.

"That dagger that she gave him is a priceless

treasure," she said angrily. "She gave it in good

faith, but what notice has he taken of it? None. He

ignores her and then decides he likes her sister

instead. He should be carved into a thousand pieces!"

"And how could her sister be so shameless as to steal

him away like that?" her husband added.

On the third day, the Twin Eagles spotted a dust cloud

in the distance and saw two riders galloping from the

south towards them.

"Ah!" Madame Guan exclaimed.

"What is it?" her husband asked, and then spotted

Chen. He moved to draw his sword.

"Not so fast," Madame Guan said. "Let's pretend we

know nothing and take them by surprise."

Chen had also seen them and galloped over. He

dismounted and bowed before them.

"It is fortunate that we have met you," he said. "Have

you seen Mistress Huo Qingtong?"

"No," Madame Guan replied, secretly furious at his

brazen behaviour. "What's the matter?" Suddenly, her

eyes opened wide as the other rider approached and she

saw it was an extremely beautiful girl.

"This is your sister's teacher," Chen said to Princess

Fragrance. "Pay your respects to her." She dismounted

and bowed before Madame Guan.

"My sister has often spoken of you both," she said,

smiling. "Have you seen her?"

Bald Vulture was stunned by her beauty and thought: no

wonder he changed his mind. She's much more beautiful

than Huo Qingtong.

Madame Guan was incensed at their craftiness, but her

voice betrayed none of her feelings she asked again

what was wrong. Chen told her.

"Let's go and look for her together," Madame Guan

said.

The four started out together heading north. That

evening, they set up camp in the lee of a sand dune,

and after dinner, sat around and talked. Princess

Fragrance pulled a candle from her bag and lit it. The

Twin Eagles looked at Chen and the girl in the

candlelight, so young and good-looking, like figures

from a mural, and wondered how they could be so evil.

"Are you sure my sister is not in any danger?"

Princess Fragrance asked Chen.

He was also very concerned but he comforted her,

saying: "Your sister's kung fu is good and she is

intelligent. I'm sure she's all right."

Princess Fragrance had complete faith in him and

relaxed. "But she's ill," she added after a moment.

"When we've found her, we must convince her to come

home with us and rest." Chen nodded.

Madame Guan's face turned white with anger as she

listened to them engage in what she thought was

play-acting.

"Let us play a game," Princess Fragrance suddenly said

to Bald Vulture. He looked at his wife. Madame Guan

nodded slowly.

"All right!" he said. "What game?"

She smiled at Madame Guan and at Chen "You two will

play as well, won't you?" she asked. They nodded.

She brought a horse saddle over and placed it in the

middle of the circle, then scooped a pile of sand onto

it, patted it down firmly and planted a small candle

on top.

"We each take turns at cutting away a slice of the

pile," she said. "The one who causes the candle to

fall has to sing a song or tell a story. You start

first, sir." She handed the knife to Bald Vulture.

The old man had not played such a game for decades,

and an expression of embarrassment appeared on his

face. Madame Guan gave him a push, "Go on!" she said.

He laughed and sliced away a section of sand, then

handed the knife to his wife who did the same. They

went round three times and the pile became a pillar

only slightly thicker than the candle on top. Chen

carefully made a slight indent in the pillar. Princess

Fragrance laughed and made a little hole on the

opposite side and the pillar began to sway slightly.

Bald Vulture's hand shook slightly as he accepted the

knife.

"Don't breathe!" Madame Guan hissed at him.

"Even one grain of sand counts," Princess Fragrance

said. He touched the pillar with the knife and it

collapsed, taking the candle with it. He gave a cry of

annoyance. Princess Fragrance clapped her hands in

delight as Madame Guan and Chen looked on smiling.

"Well sir," said Princess Fragrance. "Are you going to

sing a song or tell a story?"

He could see it was impossible to refuse, so he said:

"All right. I'll sing a song."

In a high-pitched voice he began singing: "For you and

I, life when we were young was like a play, and we

cried...." He glanced over at his wife.

As she listened, Madame Guan remembered how good life

had been just after their marriage. If Master Yuan had

not returned, they would have been happy for the rest

of their days. She leaned over and lightly squeezed

his hand. Bald Vulture felt dizzy at this sudden show

of affection from his wife, and tears welled into his

eyes. Chen and Princess Fragrance looked at each other

knowingly, both aware of the love these two old people

had for each other. They played the sand game again

and Chen lost. He told a story. Then Bald Vulture lost

again.

As the night deepened, Princess Fragrance began to

feel cold and edged closer to Madame Guan, who

embraced her and carefully rearranged her wind-blown

hair. The Twin Eagles had no children and often felt

very much alone in the great desert. Madame Guan

sighed and wished she could have had such a daughter.

She looked down and saw the girl was already asleep.

The candle had been blown out by the wind, but under

the starlight, she could see a vague smile on her

face.

"Let's get some rest," Bald Vulture said.

"Don't wake her," his wife whispered. She carefully

carried Princess Fragrance into the tent and covered

her with a blanket.

"Mother," the girl called faintly, and Madame Guan

froze for a second in shock.

"It's all right, go to sleep now," she replied softly.

She crept out of the tent and saw Chen setting up his

tent a long way from the girl's. She nodded slightly.

"Are we going to wait till he's asleep or go over and

give him a chance to explain first?" Bald Vulture

asked.

"What do you think?"

His heart was full of tender thoughts and he had no

stomach for killing at that moment. "Let's sit a while

and wait for him to sleep so that he can die

painlessly." He took his wife's hand and the two sat

silently together on the sand. Soon after, Chen

entered his tent and went to sleep.

The Twin Eagles could normally kill people without

batting an eyelid, but they found it difficult to deal

with these two slumbering youngsters. The

constellations slowly turned, the wind grew colder and

the old couple hugged each other for warmth. Madame

Guan buried her face in her husband's chest and Bald

Vulture lightly stroked her back. Before long, both

were asleep.
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