The Book and The Sword - Yong Jin - Страница 129

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Princess Fragrance knelt down with the others and tears welled out of her eyes like water from a spring. In the midst of her pain and sorrow only one thought remained: "How can I warn him to be on his guard? I must let him know even if I die doing it, but how?"

"By dying!" The realisation streaked across her brain like a flash of lightning. "If I die here, word will get out and he will hear of it. That's it. There's no other way!"

Then the Prophet's words sounded in her ears like thunder: "Those who take their own life will fall into the eternal fires and will never escape." She was not afraid of death, and believed that people who died could ascend to Paradise and be re-united with their loved ones for eternity. But with suicide, there was nothing to look forward to but never-ending pain!

A violent shiver ran through her and she suddenly felt extremely cold. She listened for a moment to the congregation reciting the scriptures.

For a true religious believer there is nothing more terrible than the consignment of the soul to eternal Hell, but she could see no other way. Love overcame the greatest fear of all.

"Most sacred and Holy Allah," she whispered. "It is not that I don't believe you care for me. But there is no other way except by using my own blood."

She took the dagger out of her sleeve and on the stone in front of her, carved out the words "Don't trust the Emperor." Then she lightly called out the word "Brother!" and thrust the blade into the purest, most beautiful breast in this world.

That morning, while the Red Flower Society heroes were discussing the situation in their quarters in Twin Willow Lane, a servant appeared to announced the arrival of the Emeror's chief bodyguard, Bai Zhen. Chen went out alone to meet him. Bai Zhen passed on the Emperor's invitation to all the leading members of the Red Flower Society to attend a banquet in the Lama Temple that evening to be hosted by the Emperor himself. He explained that the banquet was being held outside the palace in order to avoid raising the suspicions of the Empress Dowager and the Manchu nobles. Chen expressed his thanks. He assumed the news indicated Princess Fragrance had already done what had to be done and had given in to the Emperor, and felt an inexpressible mixture of emotions. After having seen Bai Zhen out, he returned to discuss matters with the heroes, who were very excited that the Emperor was keeping his part of the bargain, although they were also painfully aware of the sacrifice Chen had made to make it possible.

They passed the rest of the morning in kung fu training, and Chen showed the others some of what he had learned inside the White Jade Peak. Just as they were in the midst of the practice, they heard wailing and mournful singing outside. At first, they did not take much notice, but the noise gradually increased in volume, as if thousands of people were gathering in an state of extreme grief.

Xin Yan had lived in the desert for a long time and recognised the song as a Muslim funeral dirge. His curiosity aroused, he ran out to find out what was going on, and returned a while later, unsteady on his feet and ashen-faced. He walked over to Chen. "Master!" he exclaimed, his voice shaking.

The heroes stopped their kung fu training, and Chen turned to him. "What is it?" he asked.

"She… Princess Fragrance is dead!"

The heroes blanched. For Chen, everything went black and he collapsed to the ground. Priest Wu Chen dropped his sword and helped him up.

"How did she die?" Luo Bing asked.

"The Muslim I talked to said she stabbed herself to death while praying in the mosque," Xin Yan replied.

"What else did he say?"

"That the Empress Dowager would not let her body back into the palace and had it handed over to the mosque. They are just on their way back from burying her now."

The heroes all cursed the Emperor bitterly for his cruelty in hounding such a pure, innocent young girl to her death. Luo Bing broke down and started to cry. Chen was silent for a while, and then suddenly said to Prist Wu Chen: "I haven't finished showing you all the moves yet. Let us continue."

To their amazement, he walked back out into the middle of the courtyard. Wu Chen decided it would be a good idea to help distract Chen from his grief, so he raised his sword and resumed the training session. The heroes saw Chen's footwork was just as sure as before and his hands moved with the same skill as if the news had had absolutely no effect on him, and they began to quietly discuss it amongst themselves.

"Men have no hearts," Yuanzhi whispered into 'Scholar' Yu's ear. "He thinks only of his great plans for the country, and doesn't care at all about the death of the woman he loved."

Yu said nothing. But he silently praised Chen for his self-control. If it were me, he thought, I think I would immediately go insane.

Aware that a great change had come over Chen, Priest Wu Chen did not dare press him too hard, and in a few moves, Chen had easily gained the upper hand. As the Priest retreated, Chen's hand suddenly shot out and touched his hand. The two leapt apart.

"Good! Excellent!" exclaimed the priest.

"You weren't really trying," Chen replied and laughed. But before the laugh was finished, he vomited a mouthful of blood. The heroes rushed forward as one to help him, but Chen waved them away with a wan smile.

"It's nothing," he said. He walked back into the house, supporting himself on Xin Yan's shoulders.

Chen slept for more than two hours. Upon waking, he thought of all the important things he had to do, including seeing the Emperor that evening, and knew he had to look after himself. But as soon as he thought about Princess Fragrance's tragic death the pain was such that he wanted to end it all. He wondered why she would suddenly commit suicide after clearly agreeing to give in to the Emperor. Could it be that she had changed her mind and decided she could not renounce her love for him? But she knew this was a matter of no small significance. He was convinced that something must have happened, but what? He meditated on the problem for a while but could come to no conclusion, so he took out a set of Muslim clothes he had brought from the northwest and put them on, then blacked his face with some diluted ink.

"I'm going out," he said to Xin Yan. "I'll be back in a while." Xin Yan quietly followed him. Chen, who knew he was simply acting out of loyalty, did not try to stop him.

The streets were full of people and noise, intermingled with many carriages and horses, but in Chen's eyes, all was deserted. He walked into the mosque on the Avenue of Eternal Peace, went straight into the main hall, and threw himself down on the ground to pray. "Wait for me in Heaven," he said quietly. "I promised you that I would be converted to the Islamic faith, and I will make sure that you do not wait in vain."

He raised his head and noticed what looked like an inscription on the floor about five feet in front of him. He went forward to investigate and saw it was several Muslim words etched into the stone with the point of a knife: "Don't trust the Emperor." There was some pigment in the grooves of the words, and Chen started in shock. Looking around, he found a part of the floor nearby that was slightly darker in colour, and thought: "Could this be her blood?" He bent down to smell the patch and caught the tang of fresh blood. In a second, he was overcome with grief and he threw himself on the ground, sobbing.

After crying for a while, he felt someone tap him lightly on his shoulder. He leapt to his feet ready to fight, then started in surprise: it was Huo Qingtong, dressed as a Muslim boy.

She had arrived that day with the Twin Eagles in the hope of rescuing Princess Frangrance, but had heard almost immediately that her sister was dead. She had come to the mosque to pray for her.

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