The Ministry of Works diverted the stream feeding the waterfall filling the cataract Renjie wanted to climb into and explore. Even without rushing water, one slip meant a trip of three or four hundred feet straight down. Maybe maybe not so straight. There were probably rock ridges to get cut on before hitting the bottom.
Bon Bao couldn't tell, because the cataract was dark.
Fortunately, the deviant imp wasn't insisting on climbing in his bare essentials this time. Renjie's half-twink, half-muscle-hunk pet Garrett had advised the imp to wear tight leather. That suggestion worked like a charm. At first, the imp complained about how much the leather rubbed his skin. Once he saw himself in a mirror, however, it was unclear if the Fourth Prince would ever take the leather off.
He was particularly fond of its bronze studs.
Renjie's half brother, Parsifal, was an arrogant bastard. He enjoyed talking about discipline, duty, and devotion to some cause. But Parsifal understood the importance of preparation. Everyone got a suit of leather armor with bronze studs. Bon Bao's suit was particularly tight. That was a bit uncomfortable, but damn did his magnificent muscles look good underneath it.
The Ministry of Works tested the lines they had prepared and tossed them into the cataract. Renjie consulted with the lead hydrologist. Marakiri was no taller than the Fourth Prince or his sister. Three Warakirikobans gesticulating wildly on the side of a cataract hundreds of feet deep were stupefyingly cute. Renjie attached two lines to his armor and descended into the dark, wet hole.
His courage brought a tear to Bon Bao's eye. Nobody knew what dangers lurked in the darkness. Looking at the deviant imp standing still, it was easy to forget the strength of his tiny body. Unless he was naked. Which he often was. But watching him climb down into the hole, there was no mistaking the strength in Renjie's fingers. When he took out a hammer to pound spikes into rock, each strike made Bon Bao shiver.
It took time for Renjie to prepare the way for everyone else. The young man called Whisps went next. He looked so ordinary, Bon Bao couldn't believe he belonged on an expedition with two members of the royal family and a Gargogryeon muscle hunk.
Once Whisps started climbing, however, Bon Bao knew why he was there. Renjie's climbing combined acrobatics with dance. Whisps was thoroughly utilitarian. He checked Renjie's spikes, and (in a moment of heart-stopping drama) simulated a fall. When he joined Renjie on the edge of darkness far below, it was clear the two respected one another. A lesser man might have felt jealous.
Bon Bao, however, was a Gargogryeon muscle hunk.
When Renjie, and then Whisps, crossed into the darkness and out of sight, maybe Bon Bao started feeling more nuanced emotions. No lines moved in alarming ways, however, and eventually the Ministry of Works team sent down a whole bunch of lanterns. It was then that Bon Bao realized he preferred the darkness.
Although there was still some darkness left, it was a heckuva lot farther down.
Renjie came back up. His elation over climbing into a previously inaccessible dark hole radiated through his leather armor. He and Whisps had found a crack which must have served as an ingress for water – and which could now serve as the ingress for the expedition. The plan then was for Bon Bao to go down to Whisps. Renjie would follow, check the lines, and signal Parsifal.
Bon Bao stood on the edge of the abyss.
His force shells could protect him from falls. They had done so in the past – though never ever a fall like this. The muscle hunk refused to hesitate in front of his twink, however. Over the edge he went. Covered with ripples of force, his fingers were almost strong enough to crush into the granite. With practice, he could develop that technique, but the need would never come up again. Halfway down, Bon Bao resolved to develop the technique anyway.
If the need ever did come up again, he intended to grab the whole damn mountain.
When Bon Bao reached Whisps, instead of the most ordinary looking man the muscle hunk had ever seen, Whisps had become so beautiful Bon Bao gave him a hug. Then Renjie joined them.
Then it was Parsifal's turn.
Seiryu-no-kami Parsifal was the star pupil of three masters and an accomplished practitioner of Dao Peak Abbey's sword techniques. In contrast to tricky little Pin Fun, Parsifal was forced to move through the points between A and B when flash stepping. He could maintain his body in a state of equilibrium with reality, however. That allowed him to stand on ridiculous things – like twigs, water lilies, drifting leaves, or spikes hammered into the side of granite cliffs.
Parsifal couldn't have gone down first. He wouldn't have known where to aim and lacked the expertise to prepare the way for others. With the way prepared, however, it took him less than a minute to catch up. When he arrived, he signaled for those above to start the next phase.
"Parsifal's flash stepping was cool," said Bon Bao. "But I'm not sure I'll fit through this hole."
The squeeze scuffed his bronze rivets – but he fit.
The hole opened into a rectangular chamber. Half the floor had collapsed at an angle sloping toward one wall. When water was crashing through the opening, it had kept a pool filled in the slope's depression. Without water coming in, the pool was slowly draining beneath the floor. An archway in the far wall opened onto a dark corridor. The edge of the collapse had undermined half the arch, causing its blocks to tumble.
The chamber's remaining flat floor was twenty feet down from the opening. The opening's creation had not created enough rubble for a convenient slide. Renjie and Whisps climbed down the wall. Parsifal floated. Bon Bao jumped – absorbing the impact with a burst of Gargogryeon charisma.
"So," he said, "where are we?"
"Somewhere no one has been for ten thousand years!" said Renjie.
"I assume that big stone head is not the God of War?" asked Bon Bao.
"It would be funny," said Parsifal, "but I assume the same thing."
"What do we do now?" asked Bon Bao.
"Wait," said Parsifal.
They waited. Experts from the Ministries of Works and Antiquities began to arrive in numbers. Numbers meant labor. Labor meant widening the opening and stabilizing the route down to it.
Eventually, there would be stairs.
"Good, good!" said the Minister of Antiquities. "It's feeling like a real dig!"
"Phenomenal progress!" agreed Marakiri.
"Is this a giant tomb?" asked Bon Bao.
"It is," said the Minister of Antiquities somberly. "Or was."
"So something meant to remain forever imprisoned has been released?" asked Bon Bao. "Like an ancient vampire?"
The Minister laughed uproariously.
"Yes!" he said. "But I doubt it was a vampire."
"Are we going to continue down that partially collapsed corridor?" asked Bon Bao.
"Not today," said Parsifal.
"We're camping here?" asked Bon Bao.
"Yes," said Parsifal. "The Ministry of Works will bring down more supplies."
"What if the water comes back?" asked Bon Bao.
"It won't fill the chamber," said Marakiri. "We'll be fine up here. The diversions are not expected to fail, of course."
"What if it rains hard?" asked Bon Bao.
"Lovely streams will illustrate the water's preferred flows," said Marakiri.
"Lovely!" agreed Bon Bao. "This reminds me of home. Gargogryeo has rooms like this. We usually attribute them to hobgoblins."
"Good, good!" said the Minister of Antiquities. "You're correct! This chamber was excavated by hobgoblins. Giants don't require such spaces. But hobgoblins were so thoroughly integrated into the Arkhanate, this chamber can be called the product of giant culture – if not giant hands."
"Will we find any artifacts actually made by giant hands?" asked Bon Bao.
"That's the plan," said Parsifal.
"I like that plan," said Bon Bao. "Pity. I also liked my little imp's tubs."
"Muscular Benefactor," purred Renjie, "do you want someone to cast a hot bath spell?"