he shouted.
Zhang"s eyes glazed over and he fell forward onto his face.
He had been tracking Chen and Princess Fragrance with Prince Herda when he had met the wolf pack. Herda had been devoured, but with his superb kung fu, Zhang had managed to escape after killing several dozen of the ferocious creatures. He had fled across the desert for a day and a night, but finally his horse had dropped dead under him. He had no alternative but to continue on foot and kept going for another day without food or water. Finally, he had spotted the flames in the far distance and had fought his way over.
Princess Fragrance moved to help Zhang up, but Chen stopped her.
"This man is extremely dangerous. Don"t fall for his tricks," he warned. He waited for a while to make sure Zhang really was unconscious before going closer.
Princess Fragrance wiped some cold water onto Zhang"s forehead, then poured lamb"s milk into his mouth. Zhang slowly revived, drank half a bowl of the milk, then fell back onto the ground, sound asleep.
Chen wondered what sort of devil"s emissary had delivered this traitor into his hands. Killing Zhang now would be as easy as blowing away a speck of ash, but taking advantage of another"s hardship was not a manly thing to do. What was more, Princess Fragrance would certainly be unhappy to see him kill a defenceless man. He decided to spare Zhang once more. In any case, he thought, Zhang would be a great help in killing wolves. Perhaps the two of them together could save Princess Fragrance. He knew he would never be able to do it alone. He drank a few mouthfuls of lamb"s milk, then closed his eyes to rest.
After a while, Zhang woke again. Princess Fragrance passed a piece of dried mutton to him, and helped him to bandage several wolf bite wounds on his legs.
"Brother Zhang, all three of us are in great danger," Chen said. "Let us temporarily put aside our differences and cooperate."
Zhang nodded. "Yes, if we fight now, we will all end up inside a wolf"s stomach." Having rested for more than two hours, his strength had partially returned, and he began to consider how he could kill Chen and escape with the girl.
Chen wracked his brain for a way out of their present predicament. He saw the many piles of wolf droppings outside the circle of fire, and remembered how Huo Qingtong had used them to fuel signal fires. Using his Pearl Strings, he dragged some of the piles over, formed them into one heap and lit it. A thick pall of smoke rose straight up into the heavens.
Zhang shook his head. "Even if someone saw it, they wouldn"t dare to come to help us," he said. "It would take an army to chase away so many wolves."
Chen also knew it would probably do no good, but it was better than doing nothing.
The daylight faded, and the three gradually added more branches to the ring of fire and took turns to sleep.
"He is a very bad man," Chen whispered to Princess Fragrance. "When I"m asleep, you must watch him with especial care." She nodded.
Towards midnight, the moon rose and the wolves began to howl mournfully, a sound which made their skin crawl. Early next morning, they saw the wolves were still pacing around outside the ring with obviously no intention of leaving.
"The only thing that would draw these devils away would be a herd of wild camels passing nearby," said Chen. Suddenly they heard more wolf howls from the distance.
"It looks like more of the devils are coming," Zhang said.
A cloud of dust arose, and three riders galloped towards them with several hundred wolves on their heels. The wolves on that side of the ring of fire spotted them too, and surged forward, encircling the three riders, who fought them off frantically.
"Help them!"