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

"you are very lucky," madame guan said. "with thesewonderful pills you will recover much quicker.""she wouldn't die even if she didn't take them," baldvulture commented coldly.

"so you'd prefer her to suffer a bit longer, wouldyou?" his wife snapped back.

"if it was me, i'd die rather than take one of hispills. but you, you'd take one even if there wasnothing wrong with you."madame guan put the girl on her back, and startedwalking off north with bald vulture following behind,nattering ceaselessly.

they went to the old couple's home on preciousmountain. huo qingtong took another pill, then sleptpeacefully, and felt much refreshed when she woke.

madame guan sat on the edge of the bed and asked herwhat she had been doing travelling alone and sickthrough the desert. huo qingtong told her about howthe manchu army had been destroyed and how she had metthe three devils on the road, but did not say why shehad left the camp. madame guan, however, was animpatient person and pressed her. huo qingtongrespected her teacher more than anyone, and found itimpossible to deceive her.

"he...he has become friendly with my sister," shesobbed. "and when i gave the orders to the troopsbefore the battle, my father and everyone thought iwas acting out of my own selfish interests."madame guan jumped up. "is it that great helmsman chenthat you gave the dagger to?" huo qingtong nodded.

"then he's fickle-hearted and your sister has nosisterly feelings for you. they should both bekilled!""no, no..." huo qingtong replied hastily.

"i'll go and settle this for you," madame guandeclared fiercely and rushed out of the room, almostbumping into her husband who had come to find out whatthe shouting was about.

"come with me!" madame guan cried. "there's twoheartless 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 shehad recovered, they were already far away. she knewthat together they could easily beat chen, and wasworried they actually would kill him and her sister.

so disregarding her weakness, she climbed onto herhorse and galloped off after them.

as they rode along, madame guan talked at length abouthow all the heartless men under heaven should bekilled.

"that dagger that she gave him is a pricelesstreasure," she said angrily. "she gave it in goodfaith, but what notice has he taken of it? none. heignores her and then decides he likes her sisterinstead. he should be carved into a thousand pieces!""and how could her sister be so shameless as to stealhim away like that?" her husband added.

on the third day, the twin eagles spotted a dust cloudin the distance and saw two riders galloping from thesouth towards them.

"ah!" madame guan exclaimed.

"what is it?" her husband asked, and then spottedchen. he moved to draw his sword.

"not so fast," madame guan said. "let's pretend weknow nothing and take them by surprise."chen had also seen them and galloped over. hedismounted and bowed before them.

"it is fortunate that we have met you," he said. "haveyou seen mistress huo qingtong?""no," madame guan replied, secretly furious at hisbrazen behaviour. "what's the matter?" suddenly, hereyes opened wide as the other rider approached and shesaw it was an extremely beautiful girl.

"this is your sister's teacher," chen said to princessfragrance. "pay your respects to her." she dismountedand 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: nowonder he changed his mind. she's much more beautifulthan huo qingtong.

madame guan was incensed at their craftiness, but hervoice betrayed none of her feelings she asked againwhat was wrong. chen told her.

"let's go and look for her together," madame guansaid.

the four started out together heading north. thatevening, they set up camp in the lee of a sand dune,and after dinner, sat around and talked. princessfragrance pulled a candle from her bag and lit it. thetwin eagles looked at chen and the girl in thecandlelight, so young and good-looking, like figuresfrom 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 isintelligent. i'm sure she's all right."princess fragrance had complete faith in him andrelaxed. "but she's ill," she added after a moment.

"when we've found her, we must convince her to comehome with us and rest." chen nodded.

madame guan's face turned white with anger as shelistened to them engage in what she thought wasplay-acting.

"let us play a game," princess fragrance suddenly saidto bald vulture. he looked at his wife. madame guannodded slowly.

"all right!" he said. "what game?"she smiled at madame guan and at chen "you two willplay as well, won't you?" she asked. they nodded.

she brought a horse saddle over and placed it in themiddle of the circle, then scooped a pile of sand ontoit, patted it down firmly and planted a small candleon top.

"we each take turns at cutting away a slice of thepile," she said. "the one who causes the candle tofall has to sing a song or tell a story. you startfirst, 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 hisface. madame guan gave him a push, "go on!" she said.

he laughed and sliced away a section of sand, thenhanded the knife to his wife who did the same. theywent round three times and the pile became a pillaronly slightly thicker than the candle on top. chencarefully made a slight indent in the pillar. princessfragrance laughed and made a little hole on theopposite side and the pillar began to sway slightly.

bald vulture's hand shook slightly as he accepted theknife.

"don't breathe!" madame guan hissed at him.

"even one grain of sand counts," princess fragrancesaid. he touched the pillar with the knife and itcollapsed, taking the candle with it. he gave a cry ofannoyance. princess fragrance clapped her hands indelight as madame guan and chen looked on smiling.

"well sir," said princess fragrance. "are you going tosing 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 andi, life when we were young was like a play, and wecried...." he glanced over at his wife.

as she listened, madame guan remembered how good lifehad been just after their marriage. if master yuan hadnot returned, they would have been happy for the restof their days. she leaned over and lightly squeezedhis hand. bald vulture felt dizzy at this sudden showof affection from his wife, and tears welled into hiseyes. chen and princess fragrance looked at each otherknowingly, both aware of the love these two old peoplehad for each other. they played the sand game againand chen lost. he told a story. then bald vulture lostagain.

as the night deepened, princess fragrance began tofeel cold and edged closer to madame guan, whoembraced her and carefully rearranged her wind-blownhair. the twin eagles had no children and often feltvery much alone in the great desert. madame guansighed 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 underthe starlight, she could see a vague smile on herface.

"let's get some rest," bald vulture said.

"don't wake her," his wife whispered. she carefullycarried princess fragrance into the tent and coveredher with a blanket.

"mother," the girl called faintly, and madame guanfroze 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 histent a long way from the girl's. she nodded slightly.

"are we going to wait till he's asleep or go over andgive him a chance to explain first?" bald vultureasked.

"what do you think?"his heart was full of tender thoughts and he had nostomach for killing at that moment. "let's sit a whileand wait for him to sleep so that he can diepainlessly." he took his wife's hand and the two satsilently together on the sand. soon after, chenentered his tent and went to sleep.

the twin eagles could normally kill people withoutbatting an eyelid, but they found it difficult to dealwith these two slumbering youngsters. theconstellations slowly turned, the wind grew colder andthe old couple hugged each other for warmth. madameguan buried her face in her husband's chest and baldvulture lightly stroked her back. before long, bothwere asleep.