The open market faded to an afterthought of their consciousnesses. The two peppered the old man with questions as they returned home to Hang Bac Street. Tho had been a silversmith, who retired thirty years ago. He still lived in his old workshop, across the street from Lien, who had spent countless hours in his shop when she was a little girl.
“You spoke to him?”
“Yes, yes.”
“What did he say?” asked an excited Minh.
“No, what did you say to him?” clarified Lien.
“It’s not important.”
“Of course, it’s important.”
“I have to get home, that’s all. None of us should be on the street, not with that beast on the loose. Who can be safe from that?”
“And yet, you were not afraid to talk with him.” Lien grabbed Tho’s shoulder, and he pivoted towards her. “Mr. Tho, what are you not telling us?”
“Everything you needn’t worry about.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I just need to get home.”
He waited for them to ascend to their second-story apartment before he unlocked the door to his place, stepped down into the cramped quarters and looked for the long-forgotten items.
“Where did I put them?”
He searched behind a stack of books. Half of them fell onto the floor, but he didn’t notice. He opened a wooden chest and leafed through folded cloth and trinkets, which had been stowed away for decades. But he couldn’t find them. “Where, where, where?” A blue silk cloth with embroidered dragons caught his eye. “Ah-ha.” It was wrapped around an object on the top shelf of a bamboo book stand. “Who put it up there?” He dragged a small red plastic stool to the edge of the shelf and stepped up, wobbling the entire time. “People would scold me.” His first attempt fell a few inches short. He grunted and move closer to the edge of the stool. “Come, now.” His foot slid off the side, and he hollered an unintelligible sound as his body careened downward and he landed back-first on the floor. The pain settled in as he found himself unable to move. He waited, but for what, he wasn’t sure. Then the door flung open. Lien and Minh rushed in with all the questions and exclamations they could muster.
“Mr. Tho, what happened?”
“We knew something wasn’t right with you. What are you doing?”
“Can an old man take a nap in peace?”
“Mr. Tho, here.” Lien put her arm under his shoulder while Minh helped from the other side and brought the old, fragile soul into the closest chair.
“My back has seen better days. But that could also be said for all of my body parts.”
“What were you doing? Were you standing on this stool?”
“I haven’t heard that kind of scolding since my dear wife passed twenty years ago.”
“Mr. Tho, you were never married.”
“Well, that explains a lot.”
Lien slapped him softly on the arm. “What were you doing?”
He glanced upward and pointed at the silk cloth.
“The dragon cloth. It’s wrapped around some items. Can you reach it for me?”
“I can,” volunteered Minh as he righted the stool and reached up with ease to bring the cloth and its contents down. “What is it?”
“Let me see, let me see.”
Minh placed the silk wrap in Tho’s lap, and the old man peeled back the layers of silk one at a time as if he too was expecting to find something unexpected.
“Mr. Tho, what is this all about?” asked Lien.
“I spoke to Sun Quan.”
“It’s him? For sure?”
“Yes.”
“But how? How is that possible?”
“There’s only one way,” he said as he unwrapped four black marble tablets. Each one fit comfortably in the palm of his hand. They had been hewn smooth as silk, and he rubbed his fingers against them.
Lien moved in closer to inspect. “Mr. Tho, is this what you used to use when …” She didn’t finish.
“They are one of a kind. Given to me many years ago. Originally from Marble Mountain in Danang. I used them for …” He paused. “Many things.”
“Oh, Mr. Tho, you don’t mean?”
“What? What?” pleaded Minh.
“I understand now what must be done to defeat the Hans. Someone has summoned forth the dead, and the only chance we have is to do the same. No amount of rebel spirit will be enough, not against this foe. We need a spirit of independence forged many centuries ago, which links our present with the past. That’s the only way. We must summon her.”
“Her?” asked Minh and Lien at the same time.
“He’s waiting for her. He wants to finish it once and for all, and he’s all too happy to use our modern-day misfortunes for his advantage.”
“Mr. Tho, who are you talking about?”
He hesitated. It seemed absurd to say the name sitting on the tip of his tongue.
“Mr. Tho?”
“Ba Trieu.”
“Ba Trieu? That’s the name of a street on the other side of Hoan Kiem Lake,” said Minh.
“And why do we put Lady Trieu on a street sign?” he asked the boy.
“I don’t know.”
“To remember how she raised an army and crushed the northern invaders. We need her once more.”
Lien and Minh looked at each other in disbelief. Tho had the same look.
“Mr. Tho, do you think you should …” Lien paused for a moment and looked around. She scooted closer to Mr. Tho’s ear then whispered. “Do you think you should get word to the resistance? Shouldn’t they know they’re fighting against a spirit king of the past?”
“He’s no king. Not anymore. He’s a demon. An impostor. Always remember that.”
“Well, shouldn’t the resistance know what they’re up against? Something not from this world?”
“No. We must tell nobody.”
“Then what?”
“We … I must summon her myself. You two have helped me a lot these many years, but I can’t have you involved. It’s too dangerous.”
“What about you? You can’t do this alone,” pleaded Lien.
“Why do you think I’ve lived to be this old? I have one final task. I cannot fail.”
“Mr. Tho, we can help you,” said an eager Minh.
“Yes, you could have killed yourself stepping on that stool. Then what good would you have done?” scolded Lien.
A rumbling in the street wrested their attention away from their disagreement. Minh peeked through the window as a Chinese patrol with four soldiers stopped right in front of their house across the street. They yelled something, then snapped the lock off the metal gate and charged upstairs.
“Ma! Why are they going in our house?”
Lien looked over Minh’s shoulders. “Mr. Tho, what’s going on?”
“It’s what I feared. Sun Quan already knows who’s involved and has sent a squad to take you.”
“How? Why?” Lien shook her hands, grabbed her son by the neck, and pulled him to herself. “What are we going to do? I thought you said Sun Quan wanted Lady Trieu to return? Why would he go after you and your neighbors? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Possibly to test me.”
“Test? What kind of test?”
“He doesn’t yet believe in me.”
“Ma, they’re leaving the apartment, and they’re coming this way.”
“Quickly, out into the back courtyard,” instructed Tho.
“But there’s no way to escape.”
“Go.”
“What about you?”
“This is my test.”
“We’re not leaving you,” protested Lien.
Tho motioned them toward the back. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Tho—“
“Go.”
Lien sighed, grabbed Minh’s hand and ran through the small kitchen and out the back door to an enclosed courtyard. They held each other and huddled in the corner behind a large flower pot, which would provide little cover if the soldiers emerged looking for them.
Tho sat in his chair facing the unlocked door. He held the four marble tablets in his palms and rubbed them back and forth, keeping enough pressure on them so none would slip out. He closed his eyes. He heard the Chinese soldiers approaching, yelling for him. Neighbors from all sides cowered in fear and curiosity as their eyes peered out at the humble former silver shop they all knew so well. Tho hummed a wordless chant, like the sound of a steady deep vibration, and he concentrated on the marble stones. He imagined their smooth surface sliding over top each other. Then he shifted the stones into a circular motion. The first soldier ripped open the door and stepped inside. Tho didn’t look at him. He kept his eyes closed and thought only of the movement of the stones. Then a word came to him, and he said it out loud.
“Chain.”
The soldier stepped fully inside the small house.
“Nguyen Van Tho, where are you? We know you’re here?”
He was plainly in view, three feet in front of the soldiers.
“Mr. Tho. Show yourself.”
He couldn’t have shown himself in a more ostentatious way if he had stood up and smacked the soldier in the face. But they didn’t see the man massaging the stones in front of them.
“Check the courtyard.”
Two soldiers ran through the house and scoured the enclosed courtyard. The soldier in front of Tho stood mere inches from the smooth stones rotating in Tho’s hands. His breath glided over the stones and dissipated into the blank air. Tho never opened his eyes, but he could hear the breathing over top of him, and the backs of his eyelids outlined the attacker against the light of the noonday sun coming through the window. The soldiers who had checked the courtyard returned after a few moments to report all was clear.
“They couldn’t have gone far. They were together at the market this morning. Let’s check the neighborhood. Someone has to know where they are.”
“Why are we searching for them?”
The patrol commander paused and let out a sigh before filling in the blank. “The beast wants them.”
The beast, thought Tho. Even they don’t know who he is.
The other soldier nodded, needing no other explanation.
“Keep a patrol on the street. They have to come back sometime.”
The door slammed behind them, and the rumble of the patrol vehicle tore off down the street. Tho opened his eyes and the four marble stones fell from his hands and into his lap. He admired them and smiled in a giddy, childish way.
Lien and Minh peeked through the back door and rushed toward Tho when they saw him sitting alone.
“Tho. Are you alright?”
“Never better. Indeed, I haven’t been this right in many decades.”
“What happened? What did they say to you?”
“To me? Nothing. They didn’t see me.”
“Didn’t see you?”
“Their eyes decided not to see what was glaringly evident.”
Minh couldn’t contain his excitement. “They didn’t see us either. The soldier walked right up to the potted plant, but it was like we were invisible.”
“Mr. Tho, what does it mean?”
“It means I passed the test.”
“Now what do we do?”
Tho thought for a moment and the word came to him. “Chain. We need a new link in the chain.”
“What chain?”
“The chain that binds Vietnamese history together. From Lac Long Quan, to the Trung Sisters, to Lady Trieu, to Quang Trung and right up to our beloved Uncle Ho. Our people are bonded to this land. Remember what Uncle Ho said?”
Every good Vietnamese student knew the answer to that question. “There’s nothing more precious than independence and freedom.”
“That’s right. And for as long as we have breath, we have to strive as our forebears did to preserve what’s most precious to us.”
“So what do we do now?” asked Minh.
“We …” Tho emphasized the word. There was now a we, an unlikely threesome chosen for some unknown reason to search for an impossible path to freedom once again.
“Minh, do you know where Ho Chi Minh delivered Vietnam’s Declaration of Independence?”
“Ba Dinh Square. Where they built his mausoleum.”
“That’s right.”
“We can’t go there. That place is a fortress of Chinese soldiers,” said Lien.
“No, we can’t,” confirmed Tho. “But where did Uncle Ho write the declaration?”
“I don’t know.”
“I do,” said Lien. “Hang Ngang Street.”
“Yes, 48 Hang Ngang Street. It’s where we will look for the link in the chain.”
“What are we looking for?”
“I don’t know.”
“How will we get in there? There will be a patrol there. I’m sure of it,” said Lien.
“Then we will need help. Lien, you said you have a contact with the resistance?”
“Yes, my nephew,” said Lien. “I know how to get word to him. He’s still within the city limits.”
“Set up a meeting with him at midnight tonight at the closest safe house to Hang Ngang Street.”
“I’ll try,” said Lien. “What do we do in the meantime?”
“Feed the boy some sticky rice. And pack some extra in a plastic bag. We might need it.”