They disappeared into the void. The water crashed in above them, and they let go of each other and floated freely in opposite directions. Sun Quan looked around, disturbed. He had entered the realm previously denied to him. Lady Trieu had whispered “release us,” and the water obeyed, accepting them both. The wrestling match no longer mattered because a reckoning awaited them. They would not be alone for long.
Something swam past Sun Quan, and he jerked back to identify it. He couldn’t see it clearly and moved his head back and forth as if spooked.
“You wanted to meet me here. But we aren’t alone. We never will be,” she said, releasing her sword and allowing it float away. A ripple of water tingled Sun Quan’s back, and he rotated quickly again in a frantic search.
“You’re being hunted,” she said. “But yet, so am I.”
She relinquished her freedom to the history of the water. Massive arms reached around and clasped onto her wrists and bound them behind her back. She didn’t fight it. Something bit Sun Quan on his side, and he tried to slice his sword at it through the water, but it slipped from his arms and floated away into the black. The giant turtle fastened its jaw onto Sun Quan’s wrist, immobilizing him. He attempted to fend off the turtle with his other arm, but the weight of the water pushed him down, like his whole body was setting in a frame of concrete.
A gargantuan face appeared behind Lady Trieu. It was several times larger than her and its arms clasped the lady warrior in its grip. Behind the face stood an army of terracotta warriors with animated expressions and weapons on alert. To the rear of the tortoise encroached a bale of turtles, which had escaped from Van Mieu but had been lost in the battle above. The two sides stared down each other and waited for a signal. The giant head, that of a man with a long beard and massive eyebrows seemingly weighing down his face, pointed at Sun Quan.
“She brought him here, not me.”
“Yes, but he invaded our sacred land, and now the sacred water,” replied the turtle.
“Give him back to me.”
“A trade. One for one.”
“No,” said the giant face. “The battle cannot remain unchanged. Not after this round. The counterbalance has not yet come. It must sway one way or the other.”
The giant turtle still held Sun Quan’s wrist. The warrior centered his gaze on Lady Trieu, and she did likewise. They were pawns at the mercy of history. But also more. Things they couldn’t yet conceive. They awaited their fate with stoic stares and patience.
Lady Trieu remembered lying flat in the water with Sun Quan on top of her. The towering fire of Ngoc Son Temple burned to her right. The eyes from the shore waited for an answer, but now underneath, the answer still was not clear. Her body had been badly deformed by Sun Quan’s many blows. His body didn’t look as ruinous. He was bigger. He claimed longevity over her. He had had technology and weapons and innovations at his disposal. She had had struggle, and fight, and determination. Sometimes foolish. Sometimes courageous. But all the time just on the brink of survival. She had asked the historical water to allow them both in, knowing that they may never return, or that maybe only one would. But she wasn’t sure which one, because there were no safe waters. No safe havens. Even the most sacred of places holds an element of fear. It holds the seeds of destruction, whether one wants to admit it or not. The great turtle may be the caretaker, but he could not preserve at will without risking his own destruction. They played the gentle dance, all of them, in the epochal current of the region, and none of them could be assured of anything.
Trieu nodded at Sun Quan, and he seemed to understand. He nodded back in kind. Trieu, still bound at the arms raised her chin high and spoke.
“Honorable forefathers. May I offer a compromise.” The large head squinted towards the turtle as if peering far off into time.
“Proceed,” stated the turtle, like a judge in a courtroom.
“Loosen the one, and let him decide.”
The head leaned back and released Lady Trieu’s arms. She didn’t try to fight but continued to stand in its shadow. It looked at the turtle, which let go of Sun Quan’s arm. He too remained docile, perhaps even immobile.
“Will that be a fair fight?” asked the turtle. “I could not guarantee impartiality.”
“When has the fight ever been impartial for us Vietnamese?” replied Trieu.
The turtle nodded and the giant head spoke for both of them. “Then we will entrust it into Sun Quan’s hands. If he agrees, we will loosen the one—a judgment neither of us can reverse. Is this what you want?”
“Yes,” said Lady Trieu.
All eyes looked upon the ancient emperor. It had come to this. A binary choice distanced from both of their hands. It would mean a separation, unless there was a way to defeat the one. But he had never lost before. Trieu and Sun Quan came to an agreement with the eyes. They exchanged almost friendly glances and even smirked. A smile for the ages. Sun Quan nodded his head.
“I agree.”
The turtle turned to its side. Four other turtles converged and each grabbed one of the marble tablets from the scutes of its shell. Two of them were handed to Sun Quan and the other two were delivered to Lady Trieu by the Van Mieu reptiles. Sun Quan and Trieu held one of the tablets in each of their hands. They raised them vertically at the same horizontal height. The two warriors stared at each other and without saying a word, they dropped all four of the tablets simultaneously into the water. Each tablet formed a corner of a chute, which opened deep into the depths of the lake. It didn’t glow of iridescence. It was black. Dark. A lonely road to hell, or an envious way of escape. The bubbles burst forth from the deep. Small first, then growing, then large, then a bubble so big that it grew into a massive balloon between the parties with its opening still attached to the sides of the dark chute. Into the middle of bubble rose wings flapping frantically, and then rose a ferocious body of burnt orange and black with a massive Tiger head. Qiong Qi glanced to his right and saw Lady Trieu, unarmed, backed by a contingent of her enemies. It almost pounced but shifted its gaze to the turtles and the Chinese warrior also in enemy territory. Qiong Qi roared and the bubble burst. The sinking of the water commenced, and each side held back the other’s protagonist. The arms of the giant head held onto a leather strap on Lady’s Trieu’s back. The current whipped past her as if she stood on the precipice of a great cliff with just a feather’s weight holding her in place. The turtles, too, held onto Sun Quan, as the tiger roared again and pounced onto the Chinese warrior. It ripped opened the warrior’s chest as the turtles released him. His limp body floated downward as Qiong Qi attempted to devour him.
Lady Trieu yelled. “Fight!”
Sun Quan heard her plea and reached out for the beast, which had already shredded his sides. But the warrior revived, clasped onto the tiger’s body, and squeezed. Qiong Qi screeched and tried to lift itself upward in the water, but the weight of Sun Quan was too great. Sun Quan squeezed with all his might and they descended like a fallen rock pushed off a cliff, through the four corners of the chute held together by the four marble tablets. They careened downward into the abyss. The tiger roared, but Sun Quan made no sound. They disappeared into the black and the four tablets were released from the spell and floated innocently in the water. Four of the Van Mieu turtles pounced on the tablets and returned them to the great turtle. The massive head, without saying a word, turned around and disappeared into the water with the contingent of terracotta warriors following it. Lady Trieu rested alone and looked down where the portal would have been. She glanced up at the turtle.
“Come,” it said.
She went to them and the bale of turtles surrounded her, attended to her, and used their mouth to touch her many wounds. The great turtle held the four marble tablets in its mouth and reached its neck out to her.
“No,” she said.
It nodded and reached towards her again. She took the four into her hands.
“Take them back to where they belong.” Trieu nodded. “And you know what to do with the girl?”
“Yes. I will do it.”
Trieu looked upward through the surface of the water. The fight above ground continued.