Hahetai asked him.
"I just want to touch her hand, then I can die happy," Gu whispered, looking up at Huo Qingtong.
"Mistress!" Hahetai pleaded. "He"s about to die. Take pity...." Huo Qingtong turned without a word, and walked away, her face deathly pale. Gu gave a long sigh, and his head fell to one side, dead.
Holding back his tears, Hahetai jumped up and pointed his finger accusingly at Huo Qingtong.
"You"re merciless!" he shouted. "I don"t blame you for killing him, but you could at least have given him your hand to touch, so that he could die peacefully. What difference would it have made to you?"
"Nonsense! Shut your mouth!" Zhang Jin said angrily.
Hahetai made no reply. He picked up Gu"s body and strode away. Yu led over a horse for him.
"Brother Hahetai," he said. "I respect you for being an upright man. Please take this horse."
Hahetai nodded and slung Gu"s body over the horse"s back. Yu filled a bowl with water and drank half of it, then presented it to the Mongol.
"This water can take the place of wine," he said. Hahetai threw back his head and drained the bowl at one draught, then rode away without looking back.
** 4 **
The heroes started out for the wolf stockade in high spirits, singing and laughing as they went. Master Yuan questioned Chen about the origin of the strange kung fu style he had used, and Chen gave him a detailed account of his discovery.
"What an extraordinary coincidence," Yuan said in delight. "One could never make such a find by purposely looking for it."
After several days travel, they arrived at the stockade and climbed up on to the parapet to look inside. The wolf pack had long since eaten the herd of animals and were now fighting over the carcases of their dead comrades, barking and snapping at each other. The scene was cruelly tragic and even the hardened heroes were shocked. Princess Fragrance could not bear the sight, and went back down to talk with the Muslim guards.
Yu pulled Zhang to the edge of the wall, and began to mumble a prayer: "Oh, spirit of my benevolent teacher, we have today avenged your death." He reached over and took the knife Xu was holding, cut the rope binding Zhang"s hands and feet and kicked him off the edge.
Zhang had been seriously injured by Chen"s last two blows, but his Inner Strength Kung Fu was profound, and he had basically recovered by the time they reached the stockade. As he fell towards the floor of the stockade, he knew he had no chance of survival, but he still had to fight one last time. The wolves threw themselves at him just before he hit the ground. He grabbed two of the beasts by their necks and whirled them round and round, forcing the others to back off and slowly made his way to the stockade wall.
They knew he would die. Despite their hatred for him, Chen, Luo Bing and the others with weaker stomachs could not bear to watch to the end and walked back down from the parapet.
** 5 **
That evening, after they had set up camp, Chen told Master Yuan about his meetings with the Emperor Qian Long. Yuan was amazed by the twists and turns in the story, and when it was finished, he pulled a small, yellow cloth bundle from his bag.
"Last spring," he said, handing the bag to Chen, "your foster father, Great Helmsman Yu, sent the Twin Knights to see me and asked me to look after this, saying there were two important items inside. They didn"t say what they were and I haven"t opened the bag to see, but I imagine they must be the evidence the Emperor wants."
Chen opened the bag and and found a small parcel tightly wrapped in three layers of water-proof oil paper. Inside was a tiny box made of redwood. He opened the lid, revealing two plain envelopes yellowed with age. Inside the first envelope was a sheet of paper on which was written: "Master Chen, send someone over with your newborn son for me to see. Yong Di."
Master Yuan read it, but could not grasp it"s significance. "What does it mean?"