Tho and Lien awakened somewhat refreshed from their sleep on the grass in Co Loa Citadel, twenty miles outside of Hanoi, oblivious to the night of terror in the capital. They also hadn’t heard anything further from Lady Trieu.
“Lien, you happen to have anything to eat?”
“I wish I had, Tho.”
“No matter. I would give away myself as weak if I wanted food. I’m sure the heroes of the past couldn’t afford such luxuries.”
“We could look in the buildings over there. Perhaps we could find something.”
“No, no. Perhaps the hunger will take me from this life sooner.”
“Tho, don’t say that. We need you. Without you—”
“We wouldn’t be in this mess.” He laughed and coughed and felt every aching muscle his body still could feel as he stood up to relieve himself. “Sorry, Lien. You might need to look away. I want to conserve my steps.”
She laughed and walked off around the edge of the closest building to do the same. When she returned, Tho had made his way to the edge of the pond outside the gate of the citadel. The center of the pond had a perfect circle made of cement, forming a massive round formation known as the pearl well. The present structure of the well had been reformed many times over the years, but excavations of the region hadn’t yielded its origins. Lien walked in beside him.
“Lady Trieu said to wait until dawn and go to the pearl well and find a way.”
“Why did she have to be so cryptic? Find a way to what?”
“Come on, Tho. That’s sounds exactly like something you would say.”
“Well, yes. The old mystic is allowed to be cryptic. I like to give, not receive.”
“You don’t think a two-thousand-year-old warrior from a lake has a little mysticism in her?”
“Fair point. So what do we do? Go to the pearl well. How do we get there?” asked Tho.
“We need a boat.”
Tho cringed at the thought. “That’s what I was afraid of. Remember the last time we were on a boat? The whole universe turned itself on its head.”
“It did so in an effort to save us. Would you do it again, if you had to?”
“I’m too old for such ruminations. So why not. If our ancestors feel inclined to provide us with a boat, so be it. Otherwise, I’m going to take a nap under that tree over there.”
Two elderly men dragged a thung chai basket boat to the edge of the pond. They stopped when they noticed the pair looking longingly out over the morning water.
“Did you eat yet?” asked one of the men.
“No food around here,” replied Tho.
“Here, I have some banh cuon. Would you each like some?”
The man carried over two plastic bags filled with piping hot steamed rice pancakes stuffed with minced pork and onions.
“Where did you get these?” asked Lien, eyes exploding with excitement.
“The old lady makes them every morning. Just beyond the walls.”
“Thank you very much,” said Tho, not waiting for any other niceties before reaching in and placing the divine concoction in his mouth.
“What are you doing with the basket boat?” asked Lien.
“Pulling weeds from the pond. The old lady likes to cook with them.”
“When are you taking the boat out?”
“We’ll be back in a few moments for it. The old lady made us some noodles. We like to eat them in the boat.”
“And you do all of this every day with a war going on around you?”
“Can’t fight the Hans on an empty stomach, I always say,” said one of the old men.
“I suppose,” said Lien. “You ever see patrols around here?”
“No, no. What would they want with this place?”
The two elderly men—still much younger than Tho—disappeared around the edge of the citadel.
“Tho,” urged Lien. He had another handful of the rice pancake ready to enjoy. “Now’s our chance. Let’s get the boat and go to the pearl well.”
“We can’t steal their boat. They gave me banh cuon.”
“Tho, you said if your ancestors gave you a boat, you’d take it.”
“Those aren’t my ancestors. I’m older than they are.”
“Tho, we’re taking this boat. Lady Trieu said at dawn.”
“But you heard what they said. The old lady made noodles. Maybe they’ll bring us back some of that too.”
“Now, Tho. We’re going in the basket boat!”
She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards the boat resting on the edge of the pond.
“Get in.”
“This is a bad idea.”
“The other boat was your idea.”
“I’ve reconsidered my life choices.”
“Too late.” She pushed the old man head first over the rough edge of the perfectly round woven boat, that indeed was more of a massive basket than an actual boat. She pushed it into the edge of the water and climbed in, using the single oar to try and get them moving toward the circular well at the center of the pond. Tho continued eating his breakfast, though he complained that Lien had smashed it when she pushed him in.
It took Lien several minutes to get the hang of the oar, but soon the basket had floated out from the edge of the pond towards the circular cement ring in the middle. By the time they had reached the halfway point to the well, the two old men returned to the edge of the water and yelled with an inflamed intensity.
“Come back here! That’s our boat.”
“Sorry,” yelled Lien. “We need to borrow it.”
“Bring back the boat. We brought noodles for everyone.”
Tho turned toward Lien and complained. “They brought noodles.”
“I doubt they would share at this point.”
“It’s all your fault.”
“Tho, focus. I need you in this.”
“I’m in it. Can you not see me in the boat?”
“But your head. Focus. I need your wisdom.”
“Wisdom stays on shore for noodles.”
“Tho, the rebellion.”
He breathed in deeply. “All right. The rebellion.”
The old men on the bank of the pond continued shouting at the boat thieves. Lien tried to make them understand that they absconded with it for official rebellion business, but the men didn’t take kindly to the explanation. One of them stripped down to his underwear and jumped in the frigid morning water. He swam toward them at a steady pace as the basket boat approached the circular embankment at the center of the pond.
Lien used the oar to hold the boat from moving away from the center ring. “Tho, shift your body to this side.” He complained that his body just does what it wants. But Lien insisted. The old man tumbled toward her. “Hold the oar. I’m going to try and climb onto the embankment.” Lien held the edge of the basket boat as she stepped out onto the circular ring, built up as a perfect concentric circle forming the appearance of a well in the middle of the pond. “I have the boat, Tho. Try and climb out.” He tried, as the other old man continued his swim toward them. Tho sat on the edge of the cement, feet dangling in the pearl well. Lien balanced herself on the ring while pulling the boat over the edge and into the well. It now sat right in front of them. “Get back in.” He did. They sat in the basket boat in the middle of the pearl well, in the middle of the Co Loa citadel pond, waiting for whatever it was.
“What did she say?” asked Lien.
“I believe her words were ‘find a way.’”
“Yes. Find a way. Tho I got us here, now it’s your job to find a way.”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
“Use your mysticism. I don’t know. How did you get us to the great turtle?”
Tho uttered an unintelligible cynical guffaw.
“The old man is here,” stated Lien, watching the swimmer put his hands on the embankment just a few feet away from them.
“I don’t consider him a threat,” said Tho with another laugh. “I can take him.”
The man climbed out of the water. “Give me back our boat. What are you doing with it in the pearl well?”
Lien pushed the boat further from the circular cement walkway.
“Give me my boat back.”
“Find a way, Tho,” she said. “Find a way.”
Tho closed his eyes and allowed his mind to focus. He spoke out in stream-of-consciousness as he tried to flesh out her meaning. “Co Loa … we were brought to the ancient citadel. The first one. The oldest one. 3rd century BC … build by King An Duong Vuong … hundreds of years before Lady Trieu defeated the Hans … and the turtle … and the lake … and …” He paused for a moment as Lien’s eyes lit with excitement.
“Do you know what to do?”
Tho let loose his breath. “No. I have nothing.”
“Give me my boat back,” yelled the old man from the cement circle. “Thieves!”
“The Chinese are the thieves,” Tho replied. “This is official business of the rebellion.”
“Tho, she said find a way. But find a way to do what?”
Tho perked up. “Maybe it’s not find a way to do something. Maybe it’s find a way to go somewhere.”
“Where?”
“Down.”
“Down?”
Tho looked over the edge of the boat and a toad lifted its head out of the water. “Lien, look.” She glanced over the rim of the basket. “A toad.” It dunked itself under the water once more only to resurface a second later with a mollusk sitting on its head.
“What is that?” Lien reached down and grabbed the shelled creature from the toad’s head.
“I would assume it’s a gift.”
“For what?”
“Let’s find out.”
“Hey! Hey!” yelled the old man still on the cement ring. “What did you find?”
“A mollusk.”
“Open it.”
“How?”
“Something sharp.”
Tho looked at Lien. “Do you have anything sharp?”
“How about the corner of your marble tablets?”
He handed one to her. “Try it.”
She pressed the sharpened corner into the muscle of the mollusk and it popped open as if it had a spring in it. Inside the mollusk lay a perfectly round, white pearl. Lien picked it up and held it between her thumb and index finger.
“What did you find?” shouted the old man.
“A pearl.”
“Throw it back. It belongs here.”
Tho grabbed the pearl from Lien’s fingers, but it slipped from his fingertips into his palm. He curled his fingers to catch the stone, but it rolled off his middle finger onto the edge of the basket boat and plopped back into the pearl well. Both Lien and Tho shifted their heads forward to watch it descend out of sight. A loud popping sound came from the center of the well, and a bubble. Tho’s first thought was that they would be encapsulated by the bubble once again. But no. It popped. And after a short gurgling sound, a large swoosh came, as if a clogged drain had been unplugged. The water twirled clockwise, faster and faster, dragging the boat in a circular descending motion. Lien and Tho clutched their hands on the sides of the boat as best they could. The old man on the cement ring stood speechless. And with one great force of suction, the boat sank downwards with great speed and was quickly out of sight from the man gawking from the cement rim. The water closed back in on itself and within seconds turned back into the serene surface of the well once again. From the edge of the pond, the other man yelled to his friend, “What happened?” The man in his soggy, sagging underwear, which matched the dripping, saggy skin of his chest, simply replied, “The well swallowed them.” Then he glanced once more at the center of the water. “You can keep the boat.”
Tho and Lien clung for dear life as they fell bottom-of-the-basket-boat-first into a tunnel. Air surrounded them, leaving the water as a shimmering ceiling over their heads. They landed at the bedrock bottom of a cave, a solid granite wall to their backs and a dark invisible passageway ahead of them. Their eyes still focused on the iridescent light from the pearl well above them, until the rock ceiling closed and left them in pitch darkness. They couldn’t even make out the outline of each other. Lien screamed and reached for Tho, who screamed when he felt her.
“Where are we?” she asked. “I know. You don’t know either. We need light.”
“We need more than that.”
“Well, for now, I’ll take light.”
“For those who seek light, they shall find it.”
“Thank you, Tho. Thank you! I feel like you’re getting back to yourself. You’ve been acting like a big baby.”
“A ninety-five-year-old and a baby share the same traits that a mother hates.”
She laughed and reached over to slap him gently, because she had no idea where she would be hitting him. Tho pulled one of the tablets from his pocket.
“I shall try one of these.”
“I don’t know what you’re referring to, but fine. Try anything.”
He reached out from the edge of the boat holding the tablet forward, edging it slowly toward the rock wall to make sure he didn’t damage it. He felt it touch the rock, but it didn’t feel hard. It felt like the tablet made an indentation into the stone.
“Strange.”
“What?”
“I’m going to try it again.”
“Try what?”
He poked slowly until he felt the wall push back a little, then pushed the tablet in further as if it was being inserted into a gelatin mold.
“Tho, what are you doing?”
The walls of the cave lit like a dimmer switch slowly turned on. The cave’s walls were not rock. It glowed like a soft fluorescent putty.
“This doesn’t look like a cave.”
The marble tablet stuck an inch out of the side of the wall. Tho wondered and started to pull it out. The walls remained lit. As soon as he put the tablet back in his pocket, the basket boat took off like an amusement park ride, a logjam, or a giant slide. The boat accelerated through the tunnel like warp speed. They had no controls, but the acceleration didn’t make them fall over. They seemed to hover in the boat. Neither made a sound until they approached the end of the tunnel, and they were on a direct collision course to a transparent glassy wall. They screamed. Loud. Frantic. They would have covered their faces to prevent the bloodbath that was sure to occur if they could have managed to move their arms, but at once they stopped, without momentum, taking them forward. In stasis they hung in the air, not even touching the bottom of the boat, and looked through the glass which wasn’t glass at all. It was water. They could see fish swimming and a large turtle. It looked at them and suddenly poked its head out of the wall of water. Its head hung over the boat and dripped large wet droplets on them.
It spoke. The turtle spoke. A deep voice which echoed off the glowing walls. “Now, go and tell them about the portal. There isn’t much time.”
Lien, still looking up at the turtle, shifted her head toward the wall of water and looked upward. She could see it. The small island. “Tho, this is Hoan Kiem Lake. This tunnel goes from Co Loa to Hoan Kiem Lake.”
“Yes, said the turtle. “Now go. Tell them.”
Its head retracted into the water, but before it swam away, it said in its underwater gargled voice, “Find the one worthy of the magic crossbow.”
The amusement ride wasn’t over. The basket boat backtracked without warning like a capsule being sucked through a vacuum-sealed pipe. When it reached the end after only a few seconds, the lights of the tunnel went out, and they ascended through the open ceiling and popped back up to the top of the pearl well. The old man was still standing on the edge of the cement ring. The ascension of the boat scared him backwards, and he tripped into the water. He kicked his legs and resurfaced with one clear message: “You can keep the boat.” He turned and swam towards his friend on the bank of the pond.
Lien and Tho rested without words in the middle of the pearl well for a few moments until Lien asked the obvious.
“Who do we tell? What did the turtle mean?”
“I think I see it now, Lien. We have one more journey to go on.”
“Where to?”
“We have to find the rebel base.”