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."

"None of us will be able to live in central China again," said Bald Vulture. "We should all go to the Muslim regions."

The heroes had long lived in the south of China, and the idea of leaving their home was not easy to accept. But the Emperor was evil and dangerous and bitterly hated by all of them, and everyone was willing to do what was necessary.

Chen ordered 'Leopard' Wei to go to the west gate of the city with several of the heroes and to kill the guards at the right moment to allow them all to escape. He then ordered Xin Yan to arrange for horses to be waiting outside the Lama Temple. Turning to Yu, he told him to immediately inform all the Red Flower Society's members in Beijing and all other provinces to go to ground to avoid being arrested.

The arrangements complete, Chen turned to the Twin Eagles and Master Lu. "I would like to ask you three elders for suggestions on how the assassination should be carried out," he said.

"Isn't it simple?" replied Bald Vulture. "I go up and grab his neck and give it a good twist. That should finish him."

Lu smiled. "I'm afraid you won't get close enough to grab his neck with all the bodyguards he is bound to have around him."

"It would be better if Third Brother attacks him with poisonous darts," suggested Priest Wu Chen. "Even if just one hits the target, that will be enough."

Lu turned to Luo Bing. "You could dip your throwing knives into some poison too, and I could do the same with my Golden Needles," he said.

Luo Bing nodded. "If we all loose our weapons at once, a few at least will hit him no matter how many bodyguards he has," she said.

Chen watched the heroes as they dipped their various weapons into a pot of bubbling poison on the stove, and thought uncomfortably about how the Emperor was born of the same mother as himself. But then he remembered his cruelty and deviousness and his rage burned up again. He drew his dagger and placed it for a moment in the pot of poison along with the others.

9

That afternoon, the heroes had a large meal and then waited for the time to leave. At about four o'clock, Bai Zhen arrived with four bodyguards to accompany them. The heroes put on formal gowns, and rode to the Lama Temple. Bai Zhen noticed with relief that none of them were carrying swords.

At the temple gate they dismounted, and Bai Zhen led them inside. Three tables had been prepared in the Hall of Tranquillity, and Bai Zhen solemnly invited the heroes to be seated. Chen sat at the head of the middle table while Bald Vulture and Master Lu took the head seats on the other two tables. Underneath a statue of the Buddha, a fourth table had been set up with one large chair covered with satin and brocade, obviously the Emperor's seat. The heroes began to weigh up the distances in preparation for the assassination attempt.

Dishes of food were brought out and placed on the tables and the heroes quietly awaited the arrival of the Emperor. After a while, footsteps sounded outside and two eunuchs marched into the hall with a senior military official whom the heroes all immediately recognised as Li Keshou, the former Commander-in-Chief of Zhejiang Province. Yuanzhi gripped Yu's hand and almost cried out in surprise at the sight of her father. She wondered when he had been transferrd to the capital.

"Here is an Imperial pronouncement!" one of the eunuchs shouted, and Commander Li, Bai Zhen and the other officials present immediately knelt kown. Chen and the rest of the heroes had no alternative but to do likewise.

The eunuch unrolled a scroll and announced: "On the orders of the Heaven-ordained Emperor, the following proclamation is made: We are benevolent in order to encourage talent just as our ministers and the common people should strive for merit in order to gain rewards. Chen Jialuo and the others have been loyal citizens and deserve to be honoured. Accordingly, I bestow upon Chen Jialuo the title of Successful Candidate of the Imperial Civil Service Examination, while the others are to be given good positions in the Board of Rites and the Military. We invite you to dine at the Lama Temple. The Commander-in-chief of the Imperial Forces in Zhili Province Li Keshou will host the banquet." The eunuch looked up from the scroll and shouted: "Express thanks for the Imperial benevolence!"

The heroes realised with a shock that the Emperor had cheated them and was not coming.

Commander Li walked over to Chen and bowed before him.

"Congratulations, Master Chen. You are honoured to be so highly favoured by the Emperor. It is truly unexpected." Chen replied with a self-deprecating remark.