Eunuch Quan said, "I finished those two at the risk of my life, and by then His Majesty had already gone under."

"The fire was too big by then. I could not get out through it carrying His Majesty, and the men outside could not get in."

"All I could do was take His Majesty down into the cellar and wait for somebody to come."

"But I waited a long time and no rescue came, and when I meant to take His Majesty out, I found the entrance blocked by a pillar... I was wounded and could not shift it at all. His Majesty and I were shut in."

"Luckily His Majesty came around. We kept going on the fruit in the cellar, but His Majesty grew weaker and weaker, and after a time he went under again... Before His Majesty went under, he was still saying you would certainly come for us."

"I was certain of it too, that you would find us... Ning Chen, if it had not been for you, I am afraid we would—"

Ning Chen waved a hand and laughed. "His Majesty's kindness to me is as heavy as a mountain, and I promised to keep you in your old age besides. How could I let anything happen to you?"

Then Ning Chen turned the talk. "That's not right, though. If you had no notion of getting clear by a false death, then why did you cut one of the assassins' roots off?"

Eunuch Quan's whole face was puzzled. "I did no such thing!"

"You didn't?"

"Wait..." Eunuch Quan looked as though something had come back to him. "In the fighting I caught a dagger one of the assassins threw at me and sent it back at him, and then I heard a scream. Could it be... that I hit his root by accident?"

Ning Chen: "???"

"You didn't see it clearly?"

Eunuch Quan smiled bitterly. "The smoke was thick and I could not see well, and I was in a hurry to get to His Majesty. Once the man went down, what reason had…