immediately after seeing the empress dowager out ofthe martial hero pavilion, qian long called for hisbodyguards. bai zhen came forward to report.

"master chen has escorted the lady back to the palace,and she is now awaiting your highness in the preciousmoon pavilion," he said.

qian long was delighted with the news and walkedbriskly to the door of the martial hero pavilion. thenhe stopped and turned. "was there any trouble on theroad?" he asked.

"your slaves came across a large number of red flowersociety fighters at one point, but luckily, masterchen intervened and prevented an incident."when qian long arrived at the precious moon pavilion,he found princess fragrance seated as before, facingthe wall.

"did you have fun at the great wall?" he askedhappily. she ignored him. qian long decided to dealwith more pressing matters first before questioningher further. he went into the adjoining room and gaveorders for his favourite, fu kangan, to be summoned.

before too long, fu rushed in and qian long orderedhim to lead a troop of imperial guardsmen and lay anambush around the lama temple. after he had departed,qian long ordered bai zhen to also hide near thetemple.

"i intend to hold a great feast in the lama templetomorrow evening," he added. "tell master chen and allof the senior red flower society people to attend."bai zhen immediately guessed the emperor intended todeal with all the red flower society leaders at onestroke and shuddered at the thought of the slaughterthat would take place.

"also," qian long added, "summon the head lama of thetemple immediately."as the old lama kowtowed his way into the imperialpresence, qian long asked: "how many years is it sinceyou came to the capital?""your vassal has served the emperor for twenty-oneyears.""do you want to go back to tibet?"the lama kowtowed again but said nothing.

"there are two living buddhas in tibet, the dalai lamaand the panchen lama," qian long continued. "why isn'tthere a third?""your highness, that has always been the way, eversince..."qian long silenced him with a wave of his hand. "if imade you the third living buddha and gave you an areato govern, no-one would dare to defy the order, wouldthey?"the lama's joy soared to the skies, and he kowtowedfuriously, unable to believe his luck. "yourreverence's benevolence will be difficult to repay,"he said.

"i want you now to do something for me. go back to thetemple and gather together all your trusted lamas andprepare gunpowder, firewood and other inflammablematerials." he pointed at bai zhen. "when he gives youthe signal, you will put the temple to the torch."the head lama began frantically kowtowing again, thistime in fright. "but it is the former residence of thelate emperor," he protested. many of his possessionsare there, i wouldn't dare...""do you dare to disobey my command?" qian long roared,sending the old lama into a cold sweat.

"i...i will do as your highness commands," he repliedin a quavering voice.

"if half a breath of this matter leaks out, i willhave you and every single one of your eight hundredlamas executed." after a moment, he added in a morefriendly tone: "there will be banner troops guardingthe suicheng pavilion in your temple, so you must becareful. when the time comes, i want those troopstrapped inside and burned to death. when things havebeen successfully completed, you will be the thirdliving buddha of tibet. now go!" he waved his hand andthe lama left with bai zhen, thanking the emperor forhis benevolence as he went.

his preparations completed, qian long considered howhis plan would enable him to kill two birds with onestone, both the red flower society and the dowager'sforces. after tomorrow evening, his position securedand stable, he could continue his reign in peace.

he felt very satisfied. looking round, he noticed alute sitting on a tabletop and went over to play it.

after a few phrases, his playing became increasinglystrident and aggressive, and with a twang, the seventhstring broke. he started in surprise and laughedloudly. then, pushing the lute aside, he stood up andwalked back to the other room.

princess fragrance was sitting at the window staringup at the moon. as she heard his footsteps, there wasa glint of light as she pulled the dagger out again.

qian long frowned and sat down at a distance.

"when you and master chen were at the great wall, didhe tell you to kill me?""he told me to do as you said.""are you going to disobey him?""i would never do that."qian long was both delighted and jealous. "then whyare you still carrying the dagger? give it to me!""no, i'll wait for you to become a good emperorfirst."aha, thought qian long, so that's how he hopes tocontrol me. anger, jealousy, lust and hatred rosewithin him all at once, and he laughed harshly. "i amalready a good emperor," he replied.

"huh! i heard you playing the lute just now. you'regoing to kill people, you're going to kill many, manypeople. you're...you are evil."qian long realised that his thoughts had indeedrevealed themselves through his playing. "yes," hereplied. "i am going to kill people. i have alreadycaught your master chen, but if you do as i say, i canrelease him. if you don't do as i say..." he laughedagain. "then you know i will kill many people."princess fragrance was shocked. "you would kill yourown blood brother?" she asked in a quavering voice.

qian long's face went white. "so he told youeverything?""i don't believe you've caught him. he's much clevererthan you.""cleverer? huh! and even if i haven't got him today,what about tomorrow?" she did not answer. "i adviseyou to forget this idea," he went on. "whether i'm agood emperor or a bad emperor, you are never going tosee him again.""but you promised him that you would be a goodemperor," princess fragrance protested. "how can yourenege on your promise?""i will do whatever i want," he roared. "no-one cantell me what to do." all his pent up anger from thehumiliating audience with the dowager spilled out.

his words struck princess fragrance like a fist-blowto the chest. "so the emperor is going to cheat him,"she thought in anguish. "if only we had known earlier,i wouldn't have had to come back here." she almostfainted at the shock of it.

seeing her face suddenly go pale, qian longimmediately regretted being so coarse. "if you willtreat me well," he said, "i will naturally not harmhim. in fact, i will make him a senior official andallow him to become rich and powerful."but princess fragrance was not listening. she wastrying to work out a way of letting chen know of theemperor's deceitfullness, so that he wouldn't fallinto a trap. she frowned deep in thought, herexpression adding to the beauty of her face, and qianlong stared at her, mesmerized.

"everyone in the palace is a servant of the emperor,"she thought. "so who can deliver a letter for me?

there's only one way to do it.""so you promise not to harm him?" she said.

qian long was delighted. "i promise, i promise," hereplied immediately. there was not the slightest touchof sincerity in his voice, and princess fragranceglanced at him in hatred.

"early tomorrow, i want to go to a mosque," she saidevenly. "i will only do as you say after i have prayedto allah."qian long smiled. "all right," he replied. "but thereis to be no more delay after tomorrow."princess fragrance watched him leave, laughing as hewent, then found a pen and paper and wrote out aletter to chen warning him of the emperor'sintentions, and telling him that the plan to overthrowthe manchus was just a dream. she urged him to quicklydevise away to rescue her. when she had finished, shewrapped the letter in a blank sheet of paper and wroteon it in the moslem script: "please deliver speedilyto the great helmsman of the red flower society, chenjialuo." she knew the respect all muslims had for herfather and sister, and the way in which theyworshipped her herself, and felt certain that if shejust had a chance to pass the letter on to any muslimin the mosque, they would certainly find a way todeliver it.

having written the letter, her heart felt much easier.

she was certain chen was capable of anything and wouldeasily find a way to rescue her. at that point, asense of indescribable warmth and sweetness swept overher, and tired out from the day's exertions, she fellfast asleep.

through the mists of slumber, she became aware ofbells chiming around the palace, and opened her eyesto find the sky was already growing light. hurriedly,she arose and washed herself, then combed her hair.

the maid servants went to look after her knew shewould allow no-one near her and watched from adistance. she carefully secreted the letter in hersleeve and then left the pavilion. eunuchs werealready waiting outside with a palanquin and took herto the mosque on the west avenue of eternal peacewhile bodyguards crowded round both before and aft.

seeing the round dome of the mosque as she descendedfrom the palanqin, she felt both happiness andanguish. she walked through the mosque's entrance withhead bowed and noticed two men walking on either sideof her. they were dressed as muslims, and she wasabout to pass the letter to one of them, then stoppedherself. his features and manner were not at all thoseof her people. she glanced at the other man and saw hewas the same.

"were you sent by the emperor to guard me?" she askedquietly in the muslim tongue. both men nodded, notunderstanding what she had said.

disappointed, she turned round and saw there wereanother eight palace guards dressed as muslims behindher, and that all the real muslims were being kept ata safe distance. she walked over to the chief imam ofthe mosque and said: "please make sure this letter isdelivered no matter what happens." the imam started inshock as princess fragrance pushed the letter into hishand. a guard rushed forward and snatched the letteraway and gave the imam a heavy push on the chest,causing him to stumble and almost fall. the otherworshippers looked at each other in surprise,wondering what was going on.

"what do you people think you're doing?" the imamdemanded angrily.

"mind your own business," the guard hissed at him. "weare from the palace."severely frightened, the imam did not dare to sayanother word, and turned to lead the gathering inprayer.

princess fragrance knelt down with the others andtears welled out of her eyes like water from a spring.

in the midst of her pain and sorrow only one thoughtremained: "how can i warn him to be on his guard? imust let him know even if i die doing it, but how?""by dying!" the realisation streaked across her brainlike a flash of lightning. "if i die here, word willget out and he will hear of it. that's it. there's noother way!"then the prophet's words sounded in her ears likethunder: "those who take their own life will fall intothe eternal fires and will never escape." she was notafraid of death, and believed that people who diedcould ascend to paradise and be re-united with theirloved ones for eternity. but with suicide, there wasnothing to look forward to but never-ending pain!

a violent shiver ran through her and she suddenly feltextremely cold. she listened for a moment to thecongregation reciting the scriptures.

for a true religious believer there is nothing moreterrible than the consignment of the soul to eternalhell, but she could see no other way. love overcamethe greatest fear of all.

"most sacred and holy allah," she whispered. "it isnot that i don't believe you care for me. but there isno other way except by using my own blood."she took the dagger out of her sleeve and on the stonein front of her, carved out the words "don't trust theemperor." then she lightly called out the word"brother!" and thrust the blade into the purest, mostbeautiful breast in this world.