"what are they doing in the border areas?" yuanzhiasked.

"i have no idea," lu replied. "i've never heard ofthem operating out here before."as he spoke, they heard more horses coming towardsthem. this time, the riders were a taoist priest and ahunchback dressed in brightly-coloured clothes. thepriest had a longsword slung across his back. his facewas pale and sickly and he had only one arm: his leftsleeve was tucked under his belt.

seeing the hunchback's ugly face and his garishattire, yuanzhi laughed. "teacher," she shouted beforelu could stop her, "look at the hunchback!"the hunchback glared at her angrily and as he passed,stretched out his hand to grab hold of her. the priestseemed to have guessed what he would do, and stoppedthe hunchback's hand with a flick of his horse whip.

"tenth brother," he growled, "don't make trouble."lu and yuanzhi looked back and saw the two horsesbreaking into a gallop. suddenly, the hunchback did areverse somersault off the back of his horse, and withthree steps covered the distance to yuanzhi. yuanzhi'ssword was in her hand, but the hunchback did notattack her. he grabbed the tail of her horse, and theanimal, which was galloping along, reared back on itshind legs with a loud scream. the hunchback's strengthwas frightening: the horse had not pulled him forwardan inch. he chopped at the horse's tautly-stretchedtail with his right hand, and snapped off the end asif with a knife. the horse lunged forward, and yuanzhiwas almost thrown. the hunchback turned and ran offswiftly. in a second, he caught up with his horse,still galloping westwards, leapt onto its back andsoon disappeared from view.

"teacher!" yuanzhi called out in a plaintive voice. lufrowned and was about to berate her. but seeing hereyes glistening with tears, he stopped himself.

later, they heard a shout from behind:

"weiyang...weiyang."yuanzhi was mystified. "what's that?" she asked.

"it's the call of a bodyguard agency shouter," hesaid. "the agencies hire out bodyguards or escortgoods and people, especially on long journeys. everybodyguard agency has a different call, and they use itto let both outlaws and friends know who they are. thebodyguard agency business is based seven parts ongoodwill and three parts on fighting ability. if thehead of an agency is generous and creates a lot ofgoodwill, he will gain many friends, and his businesswill prosper. outlaws will hear the call and let thempass without attacking. 'being friends is better thanbeing enemies,' as the saying goes. now, if you wereto try the bodyguard agency business...ha! with allthepeople you have annoyed in less than half a day, youwould have trouble travelling an inch, even if youwere ten times the fighter you are now.""which bodyguard agency's call is that?" she asked,ignoring his teasing.

"the zhen yuan agency from beijing, probably thebiggest in north china. the head of the agency is'north china earth shaker' wang weiyang. he must beseventy by now, but they're still calling 'weiyang',so he hasn't retired yet. ah, perhaps he ought to. thezhen yuan agency has been making big profits for 40years now. that should be enough for anyone.""have you ever met him?" yuanzhi asked.

"i've met him. he uses an eight diagram sword and theeight diagram boxing technique. in the old days, therewas no one in north china who could beat him."yuanzhi was elated. "they're travelling very fast.

when they catch up to us, you can point the old heroout to me.""now why would he come out himself?" lu said. "youreally are a silly girl!"yuanzhi sulked. she was always being told off by herteacher. it wasn't fair. she spurred her horse forwardand caught up with the carriage, planning to talk toher mother for a while to relieve the frustration.

glancing round, she saw the stub of her horse's tailand shuddered. there was nothing unusual aboutbreaking a spear with one blow, but a horse's tail waspliable. how had the hunchback managed to snap it? shereined in her horse, meaning to wait for lu to catchup so she could ask him, but changed her mind andgalloped up the line to officer deng instead.

"officer deng," she said, pouting. "my horse's taillooks very ugly.""i don't know what to do with this horse of mine,"deng replied, guessing her meaning. "he's in a badmood today and won't do anything i say. you are a goodhorsewoman, mistress. perhaps you could help me breakhim in.""i probably won't be able to handle him either," shesaid modestly. the two exchanged horses. deng's horsewas of course very docile.

"very good, mistress," he complimented her. "evenhorses do your bidding."the bodyguard agency's call came closer and closer,and before long, a muletrain consisting of a score ormore heavily laden animals began to pass.

lu was afraid one of the agency men would recognisehim, so he covered the top part of his face with alarge fur cap. as the lead escorts trotted past, heheard one of them remark: "according to brother han,brother jiao wenqi's body has been found."lu's heart missed a beat as he heard the name. jiaowas one of the six devils of guandong and a formidablefighter. five years before while on an errand to themuslim regions, jiao had discovered lu was hiding incommander li's household and had come at the dead ofnight with two other fighters with the aim ofcapturing lu and taking him back to beijing to claimthe reward on his head. after a hard fight, lu hadkilled all three and hidden their corpses on adeserted hillside.

lu looked round at the escort who had spoken, but hadtime to see only that he had a full beard and a faceas black as thunder. once he had passed, lu saw he wascarrying on his back a red knapsack and a pair of fiveelement wheels, steel rings covered in knives.

"could it be that the guandong devils have becomebodyguard agency escorts?" he wondered. of the sixdevils, lu had only ever seen jiao, but he knew thatthe rest were excellent fighters, and that two ofthem, the yan brothers, used five element wheels.

lu thought about the number of top fighters they hadmet in the past two days and wondered if it hadanything to do with himself. from the look of things,the zhen yuan agency men were actually on an escortassignment, so they posed no threat. as to thefighters travelling westwards in pairs, they did notseem to be looking for him. but where were they goingand why?

having exchanged mounts with officer deng, yuanzhireined in her horse to wait for lu to pass.

"teacher," she smiled. "how come no more riders havepassed us? i want to see a few more of these heroes."her words jogged lu's mind and he slapped his thigh.

"ah, you old fool," he rebuked himself. "why didn'tyou think of the 'greeting the dragon's headceremony'?""what's that?" she asked.

"it is the most solemn of the ceremonies held by thesecret societies to honour an important personage.

usually, the six most senior men in the society arechosen to go to greet the guest, but for reallyimportant meetings, 12 are chosen and they go inpairs. five pairs have passed us now, so there must bestill be one pair in front of us.""which secret society do they belong to?" yuanzhiasked.

"that i don't know. but if the twin knights of sichuanand that hunchback are members, the society's powerand influence must be tremendous. whatever you do,don't provoke anyone else, do you hear?"yuanzhi nodded, and waited expectantly to see who elsewould pass them by.