Chapter 76 — The Last Seed Keeper

The rapid response team left Vom Cat less than two hours after news of Vom Soi arrived, a small group but better equipped than any group Khe Mien had ever accompanied—fifteen warriors recruited from the Vom Cat defense force, led by Bach Lam and Ngan The Binh, along with Khe Mien, Diem Quynh, and Kien, none of whom agreed to stay behind despite Bach Lam's attempts to persuade them.

"I'm not a warrior," Khe Mien said as she made one last attempt to remain at Vom Cat, "but I'm the one who promised Xa Binh Nguyen that he wouldn't be alone. I won't break that promise just because it becomes dangerous."

They moved through the night at the maximum speed the group could maintain, stopping only for short breaks so as not to exhaust themselves before reaching their destination, and as dawn began to break over the horizon, Ngan The Binh, scouting ahead, turned back with a tense face.

“Salt Dome's army has surrounded Gravel Dome from the north and east,” he reported. "I counted about forty men, better equipped than any patrol we've seen before. They haven't attacked directly, seeming to be waiting for something — perhaps an ultimatum, or reinforcements."

"Forty men," Bach Lam repeated, his voice heavy as he compared that number to their own squad of fifteen warriors. "This was no ordinary punitive patrol. This was a carefully planned operation."

When the party got close enough to observe the situation from a high ledge, Khe Mien saw the whole siege—formations of soldiers in black leather armor spread out around the small Pebble Dome, and at the command post, a tall familiar figure stood among a group of junior officers, the morning light reflecting off the corrugated metal of his armor.

"Kich Ba Hoanh personally commanded," Diem Quynh whispered, her voice trembling.

"That means this is not a random punishment," Ngan The Binh said. "They know Pebble Dome has joined our alliance. This is a message, sent not just to Pebble Dome, but to the entire alliance."

Bach Lam gathered the entire rapid response team together, spread a simple map of the area around Pebble Dome on the ground, plotting out the plan with the precision of someone who had spent his life learning how to survive in the most adverse situations. "We don't have enough troops for a direct confrontation," he said. “But we have the terrain advantage — they don't know we've arrived, and they're focusing their attention on Gravel Arch, not behind us.”

"What's your plan?" one of the Sand Dome warriors asked.

"We're divided into three small groups," Bach Lam explained, pointing to each location on the diagram. "One group approached from the west, creating noise and causing chaos to make them think a larger force was coming. Another group snuck into Vom Soi through the secret passage that Xa Binh Nguyen showed me last time, to evacuate the most vulnerable people before the situation escalated. The other group, led by myself and Ngan The Binh, would create enough pressure to force Kich Ba Hoanh to reconsider a full-scale attack, at least until reinforcements arrived from the surrounding areas. Other arches in the alliance may come."

"Have reinforcements been called yet?" Khe Mien asked.

"Diep Ba Nhan is sending an emergency signal to all Dom members as soon as we leave Vom Cat," Bach Lam replied. “But the closest distance, from the Stone Arch, would still require at least a day and a half to get here, even if they decided to send support immediately.”

Khe Mien felt a sharp sense of anxiety at that time—a day and a half in which their small army would have to hold off a force nearly three times its size on its own. "I will go with the evacuation group," she said. "Xa Binh Nguyen trusts me. Having me there can help keep everyone calmer."

Kien, standing nearby with a tense but determined face, spoke up. "I'll go with Mr. Ngan The Binh," he said, his voice not shaking even though he clearly understood the danger of what he had just suggested. "I've learned enough from you throughout this journey. I want to use what I've learned, not just stand by and watch."

Ngan The Binh looked at him for a long moment, a serious consideration in his eyes before nodding slowly. “You will stay with me the entire time,” he said, his voice stern but not in denial. "Do not leave my sight for even a second. If I give the order to retreat, you retreat immediately, without hesitation, without objection."

"I understand," Kien replied, sincere respect in his voice.

Diem Quynh, assigned to stay behind with the logistics team to maintain radio contact with Vom Cat and coordinate any additional resources, held Kien's hand tightly for a brief moment before the group split up in their designated directions. "Be careful," she said, her voice carrying an undisguised worry. "All of you."

As the sun rose higher in the Dong Tro sky, the three small groups separated to do their part, and Khe Mien, leading the secret evacuation group, clearly felt their hearts pounding as they approached Vom Soi from a direction out of sight of the besieging army, crawling over the rocks and sparse bushes with the utmost caution.

Xa Binh Nguyen was waiting at the secret entrance, his face pale with worry but his eyes lit up when he recognized Khe Mien. “You came,” he said, his voice choked with emotion. "I don't dare hope that anyone will make it in time."

"We promise we won't leave you alone," Khe Mien replied, holding his hand tightly. "Now, we need to get the most vulnerable people out of here before the situation gets worse."

Inside the Pebble Dome, an air of panic was evident on every face Khe Mien passed by—families hastily packed the few items they could carry, children were told to be absolutely silent in the trembling whispers of their parents, and in a small corner of the square, healthy men and women were gathering around the Dome's crude arsenal—mainly mining tools sharpened into something akin to weapons. gases, a heartbreaking testament to the lack of preparedness of a community that never thought it would need them.

"The old and the young first," Khe Mien ordered, her voice trying to remain calm even though her heart was racing. "We will take them through the old tunnel leading to the south, where Kich Ba Hoanh's army has not yet surrounded them."

Xa Binh Nguyen led the way through a network of old mining tunnels, dark and narrow, where the smell of damp rock and mineral dust clung to the throat of each person in the group. His daughter, a young woman in her twenties, held her baby tightly in her arms, walking trembling but not crying, as if she had learned to swallow her fear from her years living in the shadow of the Salt Dome.

"How long until we get out of the danger zone?" she asked softly.

"Not far," Khe Mien replied, trying to convey a reassurance that she herself didn't quite feel. "We have a safe staging point about half an hour's walk from here, where Diem Quynh is waiting with medical supplies and water."

As soon as the group reached the southern tunnel entrance, a loud explosion rang out from the north, followed by chaotic shouting — the sound of Bach Lam's diversionary plan beginning to take effect, and Khe Mien could imagine, even though he couldn't see it, the sight of Kich Ba Hoanh's soldiers turning their heads toward the noise, their attention drawn away from the siege for a precious moment.

"Go faster," she urged, accelerating the pace of the group, knowing full well that the elderly and young children could not move faster than their physical limits. "We don't have much time."

While Khe Mien and her team continued the quiet but urgent evacuation, from afar, she could hear the next noises of the diversion plan — loud shouts, the sound of objects crashing to create the fake sound of a large force approaching, mixed, at some point, with other sounds that were much more disturbing — the sound of metal colliding, the chants that had the tone of real combat and were no longer a diversionary act. Khe Mien stopped walking for a moment, her heart clenching as she realized that somewhere out there, Bach Lam, Ngan The Binh, and Kien were probably no longer just making fake noises, but actually fighting, and she prayed, with everything left in her heart, that this fragile plan would be enough to buy them the time they needed, and that everyone she loved would be alive for her to meet again at the meeting point.