Hanoi awakened—dazed—from a sleepless night of terror, different from any other since the start of the invasion. The strange machines roamed the streets, identifying suspects and eliminating anyone thought to have given material support to the rebellion. Countless bodies lay strewn across Hanoi from the brutality and the remnants of Hanoi’s population huddled in fear in the back corners of their houses, praying the machines didn’t knock down their doors and accuse them of something they didn’t do. Chinese officials forced Vietnamese clean-up crews to gather the bodies on trucks to deliver to various incinerators around town. The burning couldn’t keep pace with the deliveries of the corpses.
The machines had also rounded up dozens of individuals they thought to be holding relevant intel for operations against the rebel forces outside the city. Sun Quan had led two pre-dawn attacks on rebel nests not far from the city limits. But of all the captives, none intrigued Sun Quan or the Chinese man more than the pair of teens, who had been foolish enough to stage an infiltration of the facility and ended up in a black-walled cell.
They had been in the cell for several hours when the wall opened and in walked Minh’s father. Minh’s mind churned methodically as it attempted to understand the image standing in the cell’s doorway. The familiar face invited him to step forward and run towards it, but his gut wouldn’t allow his feet to move. His father had been in the Vietnamese army for more than a decade. He had become a decorated officer. Minh remembered the party the family held in his father’s honor when he had been promoted. Minh was only six at the time. After the Chinese invasion nearly two years prior, the family had only heard from his father one time. A benign note telling everyone he was safe and fighting for the freedom of the nation. They had heard second and third-hand rumors from time to time of others running into his father as part of the rebel cause. But they were never sure of his location or what he was doing at any given moment. Minh had a sense of pride and duty knowing his father sacrificed everything for his country. His mother spoke of her husband in glowing terms, another honored member of the Vietnamese army—a family legacy dating back generations. Now as the memories and assumptions lay stirring in a stew of uncertainty, Minh lacked the will, or even perhaps the courage, to step out and acknowledge the man claiming to be the most revered person in his life.
“Minh, I’m not surprised to see you here. You’ve always had the same love for country our family has had for generations.” He walked into the cell further. The door remained open, but no one else was visible. “And your name is Nhan, isn’t it?” She didn’t respond. Minh remained frozen, staring at the man. “I know your father. Well, everyone knows the commander. But you have no reason to be afraid here. No one will hurt you. I’ll see to it.”
He walked closer to Minh, who had stood up with his back flat against the wall.
“Minh, you’ve gotten so much bigger. You must be thirteen now.”
“I’ll be fourteen next month.”
“Yes, on the twenty-seventh. I couldn’t forget your birthday.”
“Dad, what are you doing here?” The question finally emerged. Minh had been studying his father, not able to comprehend the situation, especially the unification symbol on his father’s left chest.
“Are you surprised?”
“You’re wearing a unification symbol.”
“Of course.”
“How could you?”
“Minh, I don’t expect you to understand yet, especially when your mind has been poisoned by all the propaganda.”
“Poisoned?”
“Yes. They’ve said many damaging lies about what has happened these past two years. Minh, you do know that your grandmother was Chinese, right? But did you know what happened to her? Forced to leave Hanoi in 1979. Not recognized as a true Vietnamese compatriot by the traitors who set up this government. Another thing you didn’t know, there was a group of ravenous vultures disrupting the Vietnamese government and threatening the peace and stability of the region, so a group of Vietnamese patriots sought help from the Chinese government to allow the region to be free and independent. We are always better and stronger when we are working together. Don’t you see?”
“That’s a lie,” accused Nhan. “All of it.”
Minh’s father laughed. “I would expect that from you, the commander’s daughter. But what about you, Minh. You believe your father, don’t you?”
Minh placed his hands on his neck and rubbed his palms nervously over his face. “You look like my father, but you don’t talk like him.”
“How is your mother? Do you know where she is?”
“No, and I wouldn’t tell you if I did.”
“Minh, why are you getting hostile toward your own father, whom you haven’t seen in two years?”
“Because you’re not acting like my father.”
“You’ve forgotten everything about me. Your mother has been listening to that fool Tho for so many years, she’ll believe anything he says.”
“Mr. Tho is not a fool. He showed me the magic and—”
“What magic? What has he shown you?”
Minh turned away, but Nhan stepped forward towards the man. “I don’t know who you are. We’ve come to destroy this place from the inside out, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us.”
The man laughed. “I do love your enthusiasm. Would the commander sacrifice his allegiance to his cause over his daughter’s well-being? Again, I’m not threatening you. You are safe here, but he doesn’t know that. Not yet. Come with me.” He turned around and walked toward the open door. Nhan didn’t follow. “Please.” He stopped, back still facing them, when two machines rolled into view. “Nhan, we’ll just have a talk. Minh will be fine, as will you.”
She looked at Minh, who nodded for her to go. She walked out of the room and the wall closed behind her. Minh was alone in the cell. At first, he paced back and forth with myriad thoughts bounding off him on all sides. A boy lost his father. Not only to the ideological shift, but to the coldness he showed his son. His fondest memories brought back images of a man who laughed, who teased a young boy, who played ball in the crowded park, and fished at the river, though they caught nothing. He had long been worried that his father had died, but now he wondered if death would have been preferable to a Chinese puppet wearing the unification branding as an honor. He missed his mother and Tho. He even missed Nhan. Would he ever see her again? Would he ever make it out of the facility again?
“Minh.” A low ethereal voice filled the room.
He didn’t notice at first, still lost in his thoughts, which had translated to tears from the corner of his eyes.
“Minh.”
He pivoted but saw no one.
“Minh.”
“Who’s there?”
A light shimmered across his eyes, and if he looked closely, he could see a faint shape completely see-through, but an image that moved in ceaseless motion.
“Minh.” He knew who it was. “Don’t talk. Their sensors will hear you. Listen with your heart to understand. Nod if you can hear me.”
He nodded. Eyes wide. Brain on edge.
“When the moment comes, use the tablet to open the doors. Don’t ask me how, just do. Don’t ask when. You will know.”
A smile came across his face. The type of smile he had been saving for his father’s return. The smile reinforced the hope within. It forced him to speak, even though she told him not to. “I thought you were—”
“Don’t speak. I know. Your mother and Tho saved me. We will never give up. Remember what I told you. At the right moment, use the tablet. You will know when. You will know how.”
The spirit left him, but he didn’t feel alone anymore.
Nhan followed Minh’s father from a distance into an open courtyard. Minh’s father exited and the two machines followed him, leaving her alone for a moment, or at least she thought so. She scouted in each direction and wondered if she should try to escape, but she couldn’t leave Minh. They came for a reason, a long shot, perhaps. A way to tempt fate into forcing Lady Trieu into action, if she indeed still lived after the hellish reports of the previous evening. Nhan realized, however, that she wasn’t alone. A presence hovered over her until it morphed into the towering warrior.
“The commander’s rat,” Sun Quan said.
She had never seen him in real life, and everything about him terrified her, especially the eyes.
“Let’s see what she knows.”
She had in her mind what she intended to say. But the words stopped as Sun Quan grabbed her by the sides of her head and lifted her off the ground. She screamed, which seemed to delight him all the more. “What do you know?” He looked inside her, not concerned with any audible gasp from her mouth. He forced her into his sphere, without her even knowing it. She succumbed to the grasp of history and space which pulsed through her head from hand to hand. He could see it all. The base. The numbers. The movement. They were on the move already. He would act decisively. It would end it. After Lady Trieu’s defeat. After the night of terror. The base would be annihilated, and the plan would be complete. He dropped her, her energy sapped. She lay in the courtyard near a bench and fountain, like a dog napping on a hot summer’s afternoon. She no longer had any worries and rested on the cement walk.
The Chinese man appeared from the rear.
“I know where the base is,” said Sun Quan.
“Tell me. I’ll dispatch the machines to take care of them.”
“No, I’ll do this myself.”
“Sun Quan, you should be reminded who’s in charge here.”
Sun Quan whipped around and pushed the Chinese man to his knees without even touching him. “You should mind that yourself.”
“You wouldn’t be here without me.”
“But now I am. And I said I’ll handle it myself.
The giant warrior released his physical form and the spirit ascended through the facility into the open air. The image from Nhan’s mind transported him to the cave’s entrance. A long line of rebels moved quickly with supplies toward the opening. An officer barked commands until Sun Quan appeared behind him and impaled him on his sword. The officer’s body dropped forward onto two soldiers carrying sacks right below him. Fear ripped through their hearts—the type of fear one gets from an undefeated demon hunting its prey with its eyes. Sun Quan acted without warning, slicing several soldiers with one swath of his foreboding cutlass. He entered the cave and slaughtered the next line of soldiers tripping over themselves in panic. Chaos exploded, yells and screams, instructions drowned out by the fear, as the ruthless demon devoured everyone in his path. Several, who had exited the cave, ran toward the commotion, weapons drawn, as any worthy soldier would. They fired off several rounds into the beast, but the bullets merely disappeared into the flesh of the warrior, each piece of metal making him stronger, each desperate scream displayed on the chest of Sun Quan as a badge of honor.
The chaos in the cave had a rippling effect. The units which had previously descended the hill scattered—small groups without direction, without commands, with only the desire to see another day. Some escaped Sun Quan’s wrath, but he hunted all within his reach. He searched the cave for anything relevant, especially the body of Commander Lieu, which eluded him. When the warrior reemerged into the sunlight, the main rebel base had been destroyed.
Lady Trieu watched Sun Quan from the mountain’s peak above the cave’s opening. She had arrived too late. A quick strike from the back could disable him, perhaps. Though she had underestimated him before, and she couldn’t allow the bloodshed to affect any plan, no matter how thin. But she had to let him see her. He had to know she survived; only then could the doubts do their work.
“You have left your fortress.”
A quick turn and stare at the lady on top of the mountain, a hundred yards above him.
“You’ve returned.”
“I can’t tell if your disappointed or happy.”
“I am always happy to be in your presence.” He didn’t move toward her. “You see now how weak they’ve become. A small chat with the girl and the base revealed itself. It will again, if they are foolish enough to regroup.”
“Oh, they are foolish enough. You should know that.”
“Why won’t you see that we are one, you and I?”
“Some claims can never be renounced. Claims that demand a fight till the death. Claims that live on despite that death. It’s in our blood.”
“Blood that flows freely on the ground today.”
“I won’t fall for your trap again.”
“Then why did you return too late to stop me?”
“Costs are never fixed. But the outcome is assured. I had to face you once more before we meet each other for the final time.”
“You think it will be the final time?”
“I suppose it will.”
“And I cannot persuade you.”
“No.”
“Then you know the ending.”
“Yes. But do you?”
Sun Quan morphed himself into a spirit and reappeared on top of the mountain, but Lady Trieu had already mounted the long-tailed bird and taken flight.
“You won’t follow me?” she asked.
“Not this time.”
The bird flew south toward Hanoi. Sun Quan watched it disappear before morphing to the other realm and arriving back at the facility. Nhan continued sleeping on the paved walk. The Chinese man entered.
“Did you find the base?”
“She’s alive.”
“Yes, I know the girl’s alive,” answered the perturbed Chinese man.
“No. Lady Trieu.”
“You said—”
“I was wrong.”
“Is there going to be a problem?”
“No, the base is decimated. Some had left previously, but all who remained behind will never walk this earth again. Now, with the girl and the boy?”
The Chinese man stood over top of Nhan. “Once she awakes, I’ll have the machines put her back in the cell. She’s still useful to us.”
They both walked away, leaving the girl immobile on the floor, but she had heard parts of the conversation. The weary girl struggled to her feet. Her energy sapped, she staggered in two different directions before she heard the machines surrounding her. They corralled her like a pack of dogs surrounding a lost sheep, and she obeyed them. Her body could do nothing different. The wall to her cell opened into the ceiling and she fell inside to her knees. Minh ran to her and knelt in front of her. They hugged. A moment they never would have willingly given, but it felt natural. Minh pulled away.
“Are you all right? Did they hurt you?”
“I’m not sure what happened. Sun Quan grabbed me on both sides of the head with his hands, and I felt weak and collapsed. But I woke up when they were still talking. I heard what they said.”
“What?”
“Sun Quan destroyed the rebel base.”
“The cave? It’s destroyed? Did you hear anything about your father?
“No.”
“Are you worried about him?”
“There’s nothing to worry about in a rebellion, except the next step forward. That’s what my father always said. There is no family in rebellion. Just country.”
“That’s not true, that’s—”
“Minh, that’s not all. I also heard that Lady Trieu—”
“Shhhh.” He placed his hand over her mouth to stop her from saying it. He nodded with a knowing smile written across his face. “Yes, I know.”
“You know?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I’m afraid the walls can talk. I’ll tell you later.”
“All right.” She stood to her feet. “But if that’s true, it also means …” Nhan hesitated. “Lady Trieu is real.”
“Yes. I know that too.”