chen was extremely concerned at the news that thethree devils of guandong were out to get huo qingtong.

the image of her gradually disappearing into the dustof the great desert forced its way into his mind oncemore, but remembering how familiar she had been withmaster lu's pupil, he decided that he was foolinghimself about her feelings for him. but he was unableto forget her image.

the white horse was extraordinarily fast, and in lessthan two days he arrived at jiayu fortress, thewestern end of the great wall. he climbed up onto thebattlements and looked out at the wall snaking awayinto the distance, holding at bay the greatwilderness. he felt a sense of excitement at thethought of once more entering the border regions, andfollowed custom by throwing a stone at the wall. thesandstorms outside the wall were perilous, the waywould be hard, and according to tradition, if atraveller threw a stone at the wall as he passedthrough the jiayu gate, he would be able to returnalive.

he travelled by day, rested by night. after he hadpassed the jade gate and anxi, the desert changedcolour gradually from pale to dark yellow, and thenslowly turned to grey as he skirted the gobi. theregion was uninhabited, containing nothing but endlessexpanses of broad desert.

he passed through the stellar gorge, the main linkbetween gansu province and the muslim regions. it wasalready winter and the first accumulations of snowcoud be seen along the gorge, providing a thrillingcontrast of black and white.

"what a perfect place for an ambush," chen thought.

that night, he lodged in a small hut and the next dayfound himself at the edge of the gobi desert. the gobiwas as flat as a mirror, completely different from asandy desert with its rolling dunes. gazing into thedistance, it seemed to him as if the sky and earthtouched one another. all was silent, and it seemed asif he and his horse were the only beings in theuniverse.

the as he rode, day after day, he considered theproblem of how to find huo qingtong. as a chinese, themuslims could suspect him of being a spy, so to gaintheir confidence he would have to resort to deception.

he decided to disguise himself as a muslim, and at thenext settlement, bought a small embroidered cap, apair of leather boots and a striped gown. riding on,he found a deserted place and changed into his newclothes, burying the old ones in the sand. he lookedat his reflection in a nearby stream and was sopleased with his appearance as a young muslim boy thathe let out a laugh.

but he met no muslims on the road. the muslim villagesand dwellings he came upon were all burnt to theground, obviously the good work of general zhao wei'sarmy. he decided he was unlikely to meet any muslimson the main highway, so he cut off south, and headedinto the mountains. in such desolate wilderness, therewas little chance of finding any settlement, and afterthree days, his dry rations were finished. butluckily, he managed to catch and kill a goat.

two days further on, he met a number of kazakhherdsmen. they knew that the muslim army had retreatedwestwards in the face of the manchu force, but had noidea where it had gone.

there was nothing for it but to continue west. chengave the horse its head and made no attempt to divertit. for four days he covered more than a hundred milesa day with nothing but sand and sky before his eyes.

on the fourth day, the weather turned hot. the burningsun scorched down on both man and horse. he wanted tofind somewhere shady where they could rest, butwherever he looked there was nothing but sand dunes.

he opened his water flask, drank three mouthfuls, andlet the white horse drink the same amount. despite aterrible thirst, he did not dare to drink more.

they rested for two hours, then started out once more.

suddenly, the white horse raised its head and sniffedat the wind, whinnied loudly, then turned and gallopedoff south. chen gave it its head. soon, sparse grassesbegan to appear on the sand dunes around them, thengreen grass. chen knew there must be an oasis ahead,and his heart leapt. the white horse too was in highspirits and its hooves flew.

after a while, they heard the sound of running waterand a small steam appeared before them. chendismounted and scooped up a mouthful of water. as hedrank, he felt a coolness penetrate to his lungs andnoticed a slight fragrance to the water. the streamwas full of little pieces of ice which jostled eachother, emitting a crisp jingling noise, like the musicof fairies. after drinking a few mouthfuls, the whitehorse gave a whinny and gambolled about happily for amoment.

having drunk his fill, chen felt relaxed and content.

he filled his two leather water flasks. in the midstof the sparkling ice fragments, he spotted flowerpetals floating past, and realized it must be flowerbeds further upstream which made the waters sofragrant.

"if i follow the stream up," he thought, "i may comeacross someone who can tell me where huo qingtongmight be." he remounted and started along the bank.

the stream gradually widened. in the desert, mostrivers and streams are larger close to their source asthe water is soaked up by the desert sands andeventually disappears. having lived many years in themuslim areas, chen did not consider it strange. thetrees along the banks of the stream also increased innumber and he spurred his horse into a gallop. as theyturned a bend in the stream round a hill, a silverwaterfall came into view.

chen felt invigorated by the discovery of such agorgeous place in the midst of the barren desert, andwas curious to know what vistas would presentthemselves above the waterfall. he led the horse roundand up, and as they emerged from a line of tall firtrees, he stopped in amazement.

before him was a wide lake fed by another largewaterfall at its southern end. the spray from thecascade spread out in all directions, combining withthe sunlight to create a glorious rainbow, while aprofusion of trees and flowers of many colourssurrounded the lake and reflected in itsturquoise-green waters. beyond was a huge expanse ofverdant grass stretching off to the horizon on whichhe could see several hundred white sheep. a highmountain rose into the clouds from the western bank ofthe lake, the lower slopes covered in green foliageand the upper slopes in brilliant white snow.

he stood staring at the scene for a moment. the soundof small birds singing in the trees and ice slabs inthe lake jostling against each other combined with theroar of the waterfall into a work of music. looking atthe surface of the lake, he suddenly noticed a circleof small ripples, and a jade-white hand emerged fromthe water followed by a dripping-wet head. it turnedand saw him, and with a shriek disappeared back intothe water.

in that moment, chen had been able to see that thehead belonged to an extremely beautiful young girl.

"could there really be such things as water spiritsand monsters?" he wondered. he pulled out three chesspieces and lodged them in his palm just in case.

a string of ripples stretched across the surface ofthe lake northwards, then with a splash, the girl'shead re-emerged amidst an outgrowth of flowers andbushes. through a gap in the leaves, he could see hersnow-white skin, her raven hair splayed out over thesurface of the water and her eyes, as bright as stars,gazing across at him.

"who are you?" a clear voice asked. "why have you comehere?"she spoke in the muslim language, and although chenunderstood, he was unable to answer. he felt dazed, asif drunk or in a dream.

"go away and let me put my clothes on," the girl said.

chen's face flushed and he quickly went back into thetrees.

he was extremely embarrassed and wanted to escape, buthe thought he should at least ask the girl for news ofhuo qingtong. for a while he was undecided. then thesound of singing, soft but clear, floated over fromthe opposite side of the lake:

"brother, brother, passing by,please come backwhy have you run off so fastwithout a word?"he walked slowly back to the lake and, looking across,saw a young girl dressed in a brilliantly white gownsitting bare-foot on a bed of red flowers by thewater's edge. she was slowly combing her long hair,still covered in beads of water, as flower petalsdrifted slowly down onto her head. he marvelled thatsuch a beautiful girl could exist.

the girl smiled radiantly and motioned with her handfor him to come over.

"i was passing this way and felt thirsty," chen saidin the muslim language. "i chanced upon a stream andfollowed it here. i did not expect to run into you,miss. it was an unintentional error. please forgiveme." he bowed as he spoke.

"what is your name?" she asked.

"i am called ahmed."this was the most common name among muslim men, andthe girl smiled again.

"all right," she said. "then my name ayesha." this wasthe most common name among muslim women. "who are youlooking for?""i have to find master muzhuolun."the girl looked startled. "do you know him?""yes, i do," said chen. "i also know his son, huo ayi,and his daughter, huo qingtong.""where did you meet them?""they travelled to the central plains to recover thesacred koran and i happened to come across themthere.""why are you looking for master muzhuolun?"chen recognised the note of respect in her voice. "ishe of the same tribe as you, miss?" the girl nodded.

"they killed a number of bodyguard agency escortswhile recovering the sacred koran, and friends of theescorts are now seeking revenge. i want to warn them."the girl had had a smile constantly playing around herlips, but now it disappeared. "are the men that arecoming to take revenge very terrible?" she asked. "arethere many of them?""no, not many. they are good fighters, but as long aswe are prepared, there is nothing to fear."the girl relaxed and smiled again. "i will take you tosee master muzhuolun," she said. "we will have totravel for several days." she began to plait her hair.

"the great manchu army came and attacked us for noreason and all the men have gone away to fight. mysisters and i have remained here to watch over thelivestock."as she talked, chen gazed at her in wonder. he couldnever have imagined such jade-like beauty, even in hiswildest dreams. such a scene, such a situation wassimply not of this world.

the girl finished combing her hair, picked up an oxhorn and blew several notes on it. a short whilelater, a number of muslim girls on horse-back gallopedtowards them across the pastures. she went over andtalked with them while the other girls weighed chenup, very curious as to who he was. she then walkedover to a tent pitched between the trees and came backleading a chestnut horse carrying food and otheressentials.

"let's go." she mounted in one effortless bound, androde off ahead of him heading south along the courseof the stream.

"how did the chinese people treat you when you were inthe chinese areas?" she asked as they rode along.

"some well, some not, but mostly well." chen replied.

he wanted to tell her he was himself chinese, but hercomplete lack of suspicion somehow made it difficultfor him to do so. she asked about what the chineseregions were like. chen chose a few interestingstories to tell her, and she listened enthralled.

as the sky grew dark, they camped for the nightunderneath a huge rock by a river. the girl lit afire, roasted some dried mutton she had brought andshared it with chen. she was silent throughout, andchen did not dare to speak, as if words woulddesecrate the sacred purity of the scene.

the girl began telling him about her youth, how shehad grown up as a shepherdess on the grasslands, andhow she loved flowers more than anything in the world.

"there are so many, many beautiful flowers on thegrasslands. as you look out, you can see flowersstretching to the horizon. i much prefer to eatflowers than mutton.""can you eat flowers?" chen asked in surprise.

"of course. i've been eating them since i was small.

my father and my elder brother tried to stop me atfirst, but when i went out by myself to look after thesheep, there was nothing they could do. later, whenthey saw that it did me no harm, they didn't botherabout it any more."chen wanted to say that it was no wonder she was asbeautiful as a flower, but he restrained himself.

sitting beside her, he became aware that her bodyexuded a slight fragrance, more intoxicating than thatof any flower. light-headed, he wondered what lotionshe used that was so fragrant. then he remembered therules of etiquette and discreetly moved to sit alittle further away from her. the girl saw that he hadnoticed the fragrance and laughed.

"ever since i was young, my body has given off afragrance," she said. "it's probably because i eatflowers. do you like it?"chen blushed at the question and marvelled at hersimplicity and frankness. but gradually, his reticencetowards her faded.

the girl talked of shepherding, of picking flowers andlooking at stars and of the games that young girlsplay. since leaving home, chen had spent all his timeamongst the fighting community and had long agoforgotten about these child-like matters. after awhile, the girl stopped talking and looked up at themilky way sparkling its way across the heavens.

chen pointed up. "that constellation is the weavinggirl star," he said, "and that one on the other sideis the cowherd star."she was fascinated by the names. "tell me the storyabout them," she said, and chen told her how thecowherd and the weaving girl fell in love but foundthemselves separated by a silvery river, the milkyway, and how a stork built a bridge across to unitethem once a year.

the girl looked sombrely up at the stars. "i havenever liked storks before, but seeing as they built abridge to bring the cowherd and the weaving girltogether, i have changed my mind. from now on when isee them, i will give them something to eat.""they may only be able to meet once a year, but theyhave done so for hundreds of millions of years. theyare much better off than we ordinary people, doomed todie after a few decades," chen replied. the girlnodded.

the desert had grown very cold with the coming ofnight and chen went to look for some dead wood andgrass to build up the fire. then they wrappedthemselves in blankets and went to sleep. despite thedistance between them as they slept, it still seemedto chen that he could smell the girl's fragrance inhis dreams.

early next morning they started out again headingwest, and after several days arrived at the banks ofthe tarin river. that afternoon, they chanced upon twomounted muslim warriers. the girl went over and spokewith them and after a moment the muslims bowed andleft.

"the manchu army has already taken aksu and kashgar,and master muzhuolun and the others have retreated toyarkand," she reported to chen. "that's more than tendays's ride from here."chen was very concerned at the news that the manchuforces had scored a victory.

"they also said that the manchu troops are so numerousthat our army's only option is to retreat and stretchtheir lines of communication. when their rations areexhausted, they will not have enough strength left tofight."chen decided the muslim force would probably be safefor a while using this strategy. once qian long'sorder to halt the war arrived, general zhao wei wouldretire with his troops. huo qingtong was now far awayfrom central china and had the protection of a largearmy, so there was no longer any reason to fear thevengeful devils of guandong, tang yilei and his twofriends. with that thought, he relaxed.

they travelled by day and slept by night, talking andlaughing as they went. as the days passed, they becamecloser and closer, and chen found himself secretlyhoping that the journey would never end, that theycould continue as they were forever.

one day, just as the sun was about to disappearbeneath the grasslands, they heard a bugle note, and asmall deer jumped out of a spinney of trees nearby.

the girl clapped her hands and laughed in delight.

"a baby deer!" she cried. the deer had been born onlya short time before and was very small and veryunsteady on its feet. it gave two plaintive cries andthen leapt back into the trees.

the girl watched it go, then suddenly reined in herhorse. "there's someone over there," she whispered.

chen looked over and saw four manchu soldiers and anofficer carving up a large deer while the fawn circledaround them making pitiful cries. the dead deer wasobviously its mother.

"goddamn it, we'll eat you too!" cursed one of thesoldiers, standing up. he fixed an arrow on his bowand prepared to shoot the fawn which, ignorant of thedanger, moved closer and closer to him.

the girl gave a cry of alarm. she jumped off herhorse, ran into the trees and placed herself in frontof the fawn. "don't shoot, don't shoot!" she cried.

the soldier started in surprise and took a stepbackwards, dazzled by her beauty. she picked up thefawn and stroked its soft coat. "you poor thing," shecrooned. she glanced hatefully at the soldier, thenturned and walked out of the trees with the fawn.

the five soldiers whispered amongst themselves for amoment, then ran after her, shouting and brandishingtheir swords. the girl started running too and quicklyreached chen and the horses. the officer barked out anorder and the five fanned out around them.

chen squeezed the girl's hand. "don't be afraid," hesaid. "i'll kill these villains to avenge the death ofthe fawn's mother." she stood beside him, the fawncradled in her arms. chen stretched out his hand andstroked the animal.

"what you doing?" the officer asked haltingly in themuslim tongue. "come here!"the girl looked up at chen, who smiled at her. shesmiled back, confident that they would not be harmed.

"no weapons!" the officer shouted, and the othersoldiers threw their swords to the ground andadvanced. strangely, despite the usual preference ofsoldiers for young maidens, they seemed cowed by herglowing beauty and made for chen instead. the girlcried out in alarm, but before the cry was fully out,there was a whooshing sound and the four soldiers flewthrough the air, landing heavily on the ground somedistance away. they grunted and groaned, unable to getup, for they had all been touched on yuedao points.

the officer, seeing the situation was unfavourable,turned and fled.

"come back!" chen ordered. he sent his pearl stringsflying out and wrapped them around the officer's neck,then sharply pulled him back.

the girl clapped her hands and laughed in delight. shelooked over at chen, her eyes full of admiration.

"what are you doing here?" he asked the officer in themuslim language. the officer clambered to his feet,still dazed. he looked around and saw his fourcomrades lying morionless on the ground and knew hewas in trouble.

"we, general zhao wei, soldiers, orders, here, wehere," he replied.

well said, thought chen. "where are the five of yougoing? you'd better tell me the truth.""not cheat," the officer said, shaking with fear.

"orders, go, stellar canyon, meet people."his stuttering muslim speech was unclear and chenswitched to chinese. "who are you going to meet," heasked.

"a deputy commander of the imperial guard.""what is his name? give me the documents you arecarrying."the officer hesitated then pulled an official documentfrom his pocket. chen glanced at it and noted withsurprise that it was addressed to "deputy commanderzhang zhaozhong".

master ma zhen took zhang away to discipline him, hethought. how could he be on his way here?

he ripped the letter open and read: "i am delighted tohear you have received imperial orders to come to themuslim regions, and have sent this detachment to meetyou." it was signed by general zhao wei.

if zhang is coming at the emperor's command, he musthave been entrusted with passing on the order toretreat, chen thought. i shouldn't interfere. he gavethe letter back to the officer, released the paralysisof the four soldiers, then rode off with the girlwithout saying another word.

"you are very capable," the girl said. "such a man asyourself would certainly be very well known in ourtribe. how is it i have never heard of you before?"chen smiled. "the little fawn must be hungry," hesaid. "why don't you give it something to eat?""yes, yes!" she cried. she pured some horse's milkfrom the leather gourd into her palm and let the fawnlap it up. after a few mouthfuls, the fawn bleatedmournfully. "she's calling for her mother," the girlsaid.